18+ MDNI
Chapter 3
The sharp, persistent chirp of a morning bird snapped the haze right out of me. I blinked, the reality of the shadowy milk house rushing back as the golden dawn light filtered through the cracked windowpane.
I rubbed my palm down her inner thigh, turning my head to brush a kiss against the smooth, silky skin.
Lacey stirred, her legs shifting, moving my head. I sat up and looked at her, she was flushed and radiant but her eyes suddenly widening with panic as she glanced at the old battery-operated clock on the shelf.
“Oh no,” she gasped, bolting upright and sending the patchwork quilt pooling around her hips.
“Oh god, it’s past seven. I have an eight o’clock lecture at the community college. Professor Vance drops a letter grade if you’re even five minutes late.”
I watched her scramble out of bed, her beautiful, naked body shifting in the morning light. As much as my lower half begged me to pull her back down and finish what we started, the cold splash of reality hit me too.
The stables ran on a rigid schedule, and the head trainer didn’t tolerate slackers, even ones who worked directly with the prize stallions.
“Calm down, Princess,” I said, my voice still a low, gravelly rasp from sleep. I swung my legs over the side of the bed, reaching for her discarded denim skirt and tossing it to her. “You’ve got time. Just slip out the back trail behind the orchard. Your old man won’t see you from the kitchen window.”
She scrambled into her clothes.
She looked at me, breathless, a sweet smile breaking through her panic, before she kissed my cheek and went to leave.
I grabbed her wrist and pulled her back towards me. Her eyes pleaded as she reluctantly gave in and let herself collapse onto the bed next to me. I grabbed a fistful of her hair at the nape and pulled her on top of me. I brought her lips to mine as I reached towards her, my other hand grabbing her hips and thrusting up into her.
“Don’t forget me when you get around all those college boys,” I breathed, sliding my lips to her neck.
“What college boys?” she smiled and pulled away.
She jumped off of me and ran out the door before I could say another word.
Priorities, I thought. I do like that.
I lay there for a moment, the scent of her lingering. Strawberry and vanilla. My hand fell to my cock and I unzipped my jeans. I thought of pulling her down on top of me, penetrating her, hearing her moans as she pushed back onto my cock. I came fast.
By noon, the romantic fog of the morning had completely burned off, replaced by the heavy, sweet scent of hay, leather, and sweat. I was in the main barn, running a curry comb over the sleek flank of a three-year-old thoroughbred, when Marcus leaned against the half-door of the stall.
Marcus was an old-timer who’d been fixing fences on this estate since before Lacey was born. He chewed on a piece of straw, his weathered eyes tracking my movements with a heavy, uncharacteristic seriousness.
“You’re a damn good hand with the horses, James,” Marcus started, his voice dropping to a low murmur that barely carried over the rustle of the bedding. “But you need to keep your eyes on the dirt and off the main house.”
I didn’t stop brushing, but my muscles tightened. “Don’t know what you’re getting at, Marcus.”
“Don’t play stupid. A couple of the boys saw a flash of blonde hair booking it from the old milk house toward the back veranda right around dawn,” he said bluntly. “The boss finds out you’re messing with his daughter, he won’t just fire you. He’ll make sure you never handle a horse in this state again. She’s a kid, James. A freshman in college. Clean. You... well, you’ve got the look of a man who’s left a trail of broken things behind him.”
His words hit me like a bucket of ice water. He wasn’t wrong. I was twenty-seven, worldly enough to know better, and carrying enough internal rot and dark history to ruin a girl like Lacey permanently.
She was all innocence and soft edges; I was jagged corners and selfish appetites. If I kept this up, I’d destroy her just because I liked the way she broke. I shook my head.
I wanted her to be different. She felt different. I couldn’t explain it. But Marcus was right. I break things. And Lacey would rip like her delicate namesake under my grip.
By dusk, the sky had turned a bruised shade of purple. I was wrapping up the late-night feeding in the back barn, the shadows stretching long across the dirt floor, when the door creaked open.
Lacey stepped inside. She was wearing a blue sundress, her blonde hair brushed out, her eyes bright and hopeful as she scanned the dim aisle. The moment she spotted me, her face lit up, a shy, expectant smile tugging at her lips as she walked straight into my space, clearly expecting to pick up exactly where we’d left off.
I stayed frozen, holding a pitchfork, my face carved from stone.
“What are you doing here, Lacey?” I asked, my voice flat, devoid of the warmth or the teasing “Princess” from the night before.
She stopped a few feet away, her smile faltering. “James? I... I just wanted to see you. I thought we could go back to the milk house tonight.”
“Go home,” I said, turning my back on her to toss another flake of hay into a stall. “Last night was a mistake. I was tired, you were crying about some boy, and things got out of hand. You need to stay up at the main house where you belong.”
I heard her sharp intake of breath. When I turned back, her cute little face was flushing a deep, furious red, her big eyes welling with sudden, hot tears. But it wasn’t the vulnerable sadness from last night; it was pure, unadulterated fury.
She had moved to just a foot behind me. I felt her trembling heat and heard her faltering breath.
“A mistake?” she whispered, her voice shaking. “You absolute bastard.”
“Listen, Lacey,” I started and turned to meet her angry gaze.
“Does this have something to do with my father?” She asked. “I’m 18, he can’t tell me who I can date.”
“Yes, but he can decide who works here,” I said firmly.
“So, this is about a job?” she asked, getting more livid.
“Well, it’s a little more than just this job, your dad has a lot of influence...” my voice trailed off. I was trying to make this about the job, which it was, but...I wanted to be a good guy here. She was too untouched. I would ruin her.
As if she took the words right out of my head, “I’m not some innocent little thing, you know...”
“No, after last night, Lacey...”
“Then why are you pushing me away?” she asked, her voice breaking.
“I was going to say, after last night, I realized that you are too inexperienced for me. It won’t work out.” The words tasted like venom on my lips.
The words no sooner left my mouth when she stepped in and slapped me across the cheek.
The sharp crack echoed through the quiet barn. My head snapped to the side. The sting on my skin instantly lit a roaring fire in my gut, obliterating every single shred of my self-restraint. The righteous, protective instinct I’d spent all afternoon drumming up evaporated into thin air.
I dropped the pitchfork. In one swift, predatory motion, I lunged forward and grabbed her by the waist, pulling her flush against my chest and crushing my mouth down onto hers. It wasn’t gentle. It was a possessive, branding kiss, punishing her for the slap and punishing myself for trying to be a good man when I was inherently wicked.
She gasped into my mouth, her hands instantly coming up to press hard against my shoulders, fighting me. She shoved against my chest with all her might, breaking the kiss and pushing herself back a few inches.
We both stopped, standing there in the shadows of the waning day, panting, staring into each other’s eyes. Her breath was coming in ragged gasps, her lips wet and bruised, her eyes searching mine with a wild, reckless intensity.
The tension snapped.
Lacey didn’t run. Instead, she launched herself at me. She jumped, wrapping her slender legs tightly around my waist and her arms around my neck. I caught her instinctively, my large hands gripping the underside of her thighs to hoist her up, taking her full weight as I slammed her back against the sturdy wooden wall of the barn, pinning her there in the dark.