Coming Home to the Mountain: Complete Edition

7. Rye

CHAPTER 7

Rye

T he room is so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Prairie is looking up at me, her eyes wide, her lips parted. I can feel her heart beating. Her body pressed against my own.

“I don't want you to do anything you're going to regret,” I tell her, my voice slow, gravelly.

All day long, while I was at the urgent care, I was telling myself that I would hold back, have restraint, give Prairie space, all the space in the goddamn world. But now we're here, alone in my cabin with the fire blazing and the door locked.

It's just us.

This feeling that is pulsing between us is not one I've ever felt before. Damn.

This is beyond anything I believed could be true. Real.

“I don't want you to think about things,” she whispers. “I want you to say it all. I need to hear your words, Rye. I spent too long cooped up in my own mind.”

“You want to stay up all night talking?” I ask. “Because I'll tell you every damn thing. I'll tell you my life story. I'll write out an ending for ours.”

She shakes her head. “No. That's not what I want. I want you to make love to me.”

“You sure you know what you're asking for?” I ask her.

She lifts her shoulders. There are tears in her eyes. “I spent so many years alone, wanting to be touched. Desperate to be held and kissed. I wanted someone next to me when I went to bed at night, in my bed when I woke. And then somehow, today my life changed. I’m free and I’ve found you, and Rye, I'm scared.”

“Tell me what you're scared of.”

“I'm scared I'm going to wake up and this will all have been just a dream. You're not gonna be real. Your parents showing up here and checking in on you? Who has that? That's not real life.” She shakes her head. “I grew up in foster care. My mom, she died when I was little. I never had a family. Not like this, not like you.” She turns around, spinning in my cabin, her hands waving in the air. “This place? Your home? This is not anything I would have imagined for myself.”

“What are you saying? You don't want to be here anymore?”

“No,” she says. “Rye, I'm saying you seem too good to be true. All of this does.”

“It's not pretend,” I tell her. “What I'm feeling right now, it's fucking real.”

“What do you feel?” she asks. “Tell me what you feel. Tell me I'm not crazy.”

I run a hand over her back. I drag her body to mine. I tilt her chin and look deep into her eyes, straight to her heart, her soul.

“I feel like I fell in love with you the moment you fainted in my arms. Like I would do anything I could to protect you for the rest of my fucking life, Prairie Jones.” I kiss her forehead. “I want you to be mine. Whatever that means. I want to hold you tight and kiss you goodnight. I want to wake up with you in my arms. I want to cook you bacon and eggs and make you coffee. I want to make you happy and keep you warm. I want to give you everything. Things I never even considered before. I'm not this kind of guy. I'm a fucking mess.” I shake my head. “But Prairie, I want to be the kind of man you need, a good man, your man. I feel alive when I'm with you. Like I have a meaning in my life. A purpose.”

“And before me?” she asks, her voice cracking. “What were you before? Just a feather floating in the wind?”

“Maybe,” I tell her plainly, ”I was missing something, missing you. I went to work, built houses for my father. I did my job. I showed up for Sunday dinner. I did my best, most often. Probably wasn't good enough. But I tried. God knows I tried. But for you, Prairie, I'll do more than fucking try. I will be whatever you need me to be.”

“You're going to make promises to a girl you just met? I could be crazy. I could be certifiable. I could have lost my mind in that cabin. I shot a man today.” She stares up at me.

She pushes me away with her hands on my chest, but she's not looking for a fight. She's looking for a promise.

“You're not crazy. And if you've lost your mind, then so have I. And it wasn't in cold blood. You killed a man to save yourself. Because you're a strong-ass woman who wants to live. So let's fucking live. Wild and reckless and free.” I cup both her cheeks with my hands. “I know my parents thought we'd lost our goddamn marbles when they showed up here today. I know what they were thinking.”

Prairie nods. “I know too. They think I’m a fragile, breakable thing. A girl who probably needs medical attention.”

I nod. “Yeah. And they probably think I'm not fit to be taking care of you.”

“Are you?” Prairie challenges me. “Are you fit to take care of me? Because I'm going to need help, Rye. I'm going to need to see a therapist, and I'm going to need to go to the doctor. And I'm probably going to have to continue dealing with the police. Because what happened up there was really fucked up.”

“I understand that,” I say. “And I'm not going anywhere. You need a home base. This is it. This cabin, hell, you can move right in.”

“Again,” she says, “making promises to some girl you just met.”

“No. You're not some girl I just met. You're the girl I'm spending the rest of my fucking life with.”

“Stop it,” she says, tears on her cheeks. “Stop.”

“No,” I tell her. “It’s the goddamn truth, Prairie.” I take her body against mine. I lift her up in my arms, and I carry her to my room.

I lay her down on my bed, and I begin to undress her because I need her naked and bare. I strip off my clothes too. She can have all of me.

“Is this what you really want?” she asks.

“You're all I want and I'm gonna make you mine right here, right now. Do you understand me?”

She nods. “Don't make me wait another minute. Come here. Come closer. I’ve been dreaming about this moment for so long, Rye. I wanted to be with someone, to be touched, held… but never in my dreams did I imagine someone that felt so good, so right. Someone like you.”

I move to the bed, taking in her body. Her dress on the floor, bare. Ready. Mine.

I run my hand up and down my shaft as she takes in the sight of my thick cock.

It's a lot.

I know that. We've gone from zero to 100 in a minute but we've been waiting for this moment since our eyes locked in that clearing.

“You want me?” I ask her.

She nods, wrapping her arms around my neck, drawing me to her. Kissing me hard.

Fuck, her lips are like pillows, her body so soft, so supple, her breasts round and full, her nipples hard. The curves of her body make my cock ache with need.

“I've never seen a man naked before,” she tells me. “You're so big and strong. You have muscles everywhere .”

“Do you like that?” I ask her.

She nods. “It makes me feel safe.” She runs her hands over my biceps. “Like no one will hurt me.”

“I have you now,” I tell her. “I have you.”

“I want you inside me,” she says.

“I don't want to hurt you.”

“I've already been hurt enough,” she fights back. “Just put yourself inside me and make me feel something good. Deep and real. Let me feel pleasure. Rye, please.”

“I’m going to give you everything you want,” I tell her, running my hand over her cheeks, kissing her gently. “But sweetheart, I need to get you ready before you can take my cock. I'd rip you in two, and darling, that just won't do.”

Her eyes widen. “Whatever you need to do to make this feel good, I trust you, Rye.”

“Damn, you're so innocent,” I growl. “You lost so much time up there in the woods.”

“Will you make it up for me?” she asks. “We can stay in this cabin. And you can show me everything I've missed.”

I groan in her ear, kissing her, biting her earlobe. “I fucking want you so damn bad. Everything about you turns me on. Your body is so ripe. So pure. Your pussy is so innocent,” I say, running my hand between her thighs and touching her slit.

She's wet and juicy. And my cock thrums with need as I touch her folds.

I lower myself on the bed between her knees, spreading open her thighs.

“Just relax,” I tell her. “Just close your eyes, Prairie, and imagine something good.”

“This moment is pretty damn good,” she tells me as her fingers run through the strands of my hair. “Oh, Rye,” she moans as I breathe warmth against her pussy.

“Oh, Rye,” she whimpers, “oh God.”

Fuck, this girl is going to come so hard. She's wound up so damn tight.

She hasn't ever come with a real man like me.

I need her to understand what it feels like to feel alive.

She says she wants pleasure. Oh, I'll give her some fucking pleasure.

I begin to lick her up and down the way she needs, sucking her sweet clit. My tongue rides her tight hole, licking her the way she needs. My cock aches as I run my hand over her ass, eating her deeper, sucking her cunt as I finger her nice and slow.

“There you go, baby,” I groan.

She's clutching the sheets on my bed. Her back arching as I begin to finger fuck her the way her body needs.

“Oh God,” she whimpers, “oh God. I can't. I can't. You're going to make me…”

“Yeah,” I tell her. “That's exactly what I'm going to make you do. I'm going to make you come all over my fucking face. You understand?”

She laughs but it's mixed with a moan as she begins to unravel against me. I suck her sweet slit as she comes against my mouth. Fucking her with my tongue is my pleasure and delight.

“My God,” I growl as she gets off against me, riding my mouth like I'm a fucking horse.

My girl is wet. Her knees fall open. Her juicy cunt so ready for my cock. She's panting and grabbing at my shoulders.

“Come here,” she says. “Kiss me, kiss me please.”

I give her what she needs.

“That's me on your lips,” she moans. “I taste myself.”

“Yeah, darling. That's you.”

“Oh my God,” she cries, wrapping her legs around me. Her knees hitching around my hips. “Rye, you make me feel so good. This is what it feels like to be alive,” she says.

“Yeah,” I say. “And you're not gonna wake up from some make-believe fantasy. I promise, Prairie. This is real.”

She smiles, sated and sublime. “Real as ever.”

I pet her pussy, unable to stop. Fuck. I love how innocent her ripe cunt is. I need my cock in her hole so fucking bad.

“Do you think I'm ready to be filled up by you?” she asks, her mouth dripping with eagerness.

“Yes, darling. I think you are,” I say, my cock rock-hard at her words.

She grins. “Good. But first, can I put you in my mouth?”