Total pages in book: 28
Estimated words: 26514 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 133(@200wpm)___ 106(@250wpm)___ 88(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 26514 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 133(@200wpm)___ 106(@250wpm)___ 88(@300wpm)
But, when I get to the doors, they are closed and there’s no sight or sound of him.
“Eli?” I try again, rolling the huge doors open just enough for me to get inside.
“Here.” His low voice comes from the end of the aisle. It’s quiet. Quieter than usual except for the sound of a few cows in the stalls at the end of the barn.
“Everything okay? I’m ready for chores.”
Eli steps out, the sun in tiny stripes coming through the barn walls silhouetting him against the darkness.
“Chores are done.”
My heart drops. “But, we always do Friday morning chores together.”
“Things are changing, it would seem.” He steps my way and there’s no air. My lungs burn as his dark eyes come into view. He’s wearing his black and red plaid shirt and jeans. Friday morning clothes but they don’t look like he’s worked a minute in them. “I couldn’t sleep, angel. I took care of our chores so we would have time to do other things.”
Tingles scurry up my back. “What kind of things?”
“Whatever I say. Remember. You agreed to do what I tell you.”
I’ve never been a rebel but following blind orders has also never been my thing but somehow, the way Eli says it, I’d crawl across a barn full of manure if that’s what he wanted.
He’s confident but never arrogant and somewhere in my core, I know whatever he asks me to do, it’s either good for me or at least not harmful and there’s probably a lesson involved.
I step forward, letting the sun catch on the front of my t-shirt which already is showing two dark circles around my nipples.
“I did say that, didn’t I? But, I was under duress.”
Eli nods, scratching his chin, and I see the huge outline of his hardness behind the denim.
“If memory serves, you liked that duress. A lot. Three times if I counted correctly.”
I snort on a giggle. He looks like my Uncle Eli but there’s a new look in his eyes and it only fuels this new wanton part of me.
“Your laugh is like sunshine. Whenever I hear it, I wish I could write it down as a memory and read it over and over. I want to remember everything that makes you laugh so I can do it again and again.”
“Is there anything else you want to do again?” I sweep my hands down the sides of my breasts, with a squeeze spreading milk circles on the thin white t-shirt.
“You are being a very, very good girl. Now, come. We have other chores to do.”
He reaches for my hand leading us through another door to an old milking stall we don’t use anymore.
Inside, I stop in my tracks. The walls are painted a pure white. There’s a new light hanging down and the floor is spread with fresh straw covered in layers of soft quilts. In the corner is one of the newest stainless steel goat milking machines I convinced Eli to buy thinking it would speed up our production time but he never took it out of the box, choosing instead for us to milk the goats by hand while the dairy cows used the old milking stalls in the east barn.
“What’s this?”
“If you’re a good girl, I’m going to show you. But first, of all that happened last night, there is one thing I left out.”
I chuckle again looking down at the front of his pants. “Well, you took it out, but yeah, it didn’t get in.”
“Not that.” He strips off his shirt and his body shows the years of hard labor with right angles and thick muscle. “I need to give you something. And say something.”
His face shows the strain of whatever this is and that ominous feeling cloaks me in doubt again.
“Okay, I’m here. What do you want to give me?”
He reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a folded piece of paper and presses it into my palm.
There’s a sorrow in his eyes that breaks my heart and I’m sure what’s in my hand is going to break mine.
“Open it.”
My fingers tremble as I hate each second. I can’t imagine what’s inside but it doesn’t feel like it’s something good.
Four little folds take an eternity to flatten out and there on the white page is the sweetest, most romantic gesture ever written in any book ever.
In thick pencil, there are twenty-nine words. Rough and childlike but more meaningful than volumes of poetry.
My Ruby
I loved you when I met you. I love you more every day.
I am sorry I did not say it before now. I love you.
Eli Daddy
I clap my hand over my mouth as he sweeps his arm behind my back, harsh groans rumbling from his chest as his lips crush to mine and lust warms the room.
Before I know it, his weight is on top of me, his rough hands stripping my clothes as he does the same with his. We are naked together and I take the first long look at what God gave him and gasp.