Branded (30 page)

A leather chair sat in the corner,
near the fireplace. How had she missed noting that last night? Oh
yeah, the lust had been flowing freely and nothing else mattered.
This morning, she liked seeing what looked like a wood-burning
stove on a green tiled surround. The carpet was cozy, but she
imagined a fire heating up the room on a cold night and
smiled.

She could see herself sitting there
with a good book and cup of hot chocolate. That was cozy to her,
but more heated ideas started to flood her imagination. The best
one was her straddling Jon’s lap. She’d hold her breasts and tease
them as he watched and used his hold on her hips to take what he
wanted until he came.

As her pussy throbbed, she told
herself to stop thinking about sex. It wasn’t going to happen
anytime soon if Jon didn’t come back, and she needed to change her
focus.

Seeing a door, she figured it was
the bathroom he’d carried her to the night before and she should
use it. Problem was she was too comfortable to move.

Eyes closed, she relaxed, almost
dozed until somewhere a door slammed.

Immediately she thought it was Jon,
hoped it was. He could announce his presence anyway he wanted, but
she wished he’d shout out her name or something.

Footsteps walked down the wood
floor hallway and got louder and louder. Whoever it was stopped
outside the door and she couldn’t move. With a firm grip on the
blanket and eyes glued to the door handle as it slowly twisted, she
held her breath and waited.

Even though she watched, Molly was
surprised when the door pushed open.

“Surprise!” Saki shouted with a
huge grin on her face, and Molly collapsed on the bed.

“That wasn’t fair,” she cried and
rubbed her eyes.

Her friend joined her on the bed
and wasted no time in digging for information.

“Last night must have been pretty
spectacular for you to be lounging like a mistress.”

“It was…” She knew what their time
together had been. The night remained fresh in her mind. Special.
Mind-blowing. Incredible. She could go on and on, but she couldn’t
think of the perfect word. They were all too blah and weren’t
reflective of their intimate time together.

“It was…” Molly didn’t want to use
the wrong word and she stuttered, trying to describe their coming
together.

“Beyond words?” Saki asked and she
nodded.

“Yes, it was much more than I ever
dreamed possible.” Even though they were best friends, she wouldn’t
go into details. They were private moments, between her and Jon,
but she could share a bit. “I’m in love, Saki, and loved. Jon said
he loves me.”

“I’m so happy for you,” her friend
said as she reached out for her hand and pulled it from where it
covered her eyes. “Even though I knew Jon as much as you, it was
obvious what he was feeling. Shoot, the guys were telling me he was
a lost man if you didn’t take him, and that it wasn’t simply
lust.”

The word lust made her want to
laugh, but she smiled instead. There was plenty of that between
them.

“What are you doing here, anyway?
Actually, what time is it? I don’t see a clock anywhere.” Taking
the blanket with her, she sat up and looked around specifically for
a clock but could see nothing.

“It’s after eleven,” Saki told her
with a giggle.

“Seriously? I haven’t slept this
late in like forever,” she cried out. She wasn’t sure how it
happened, but she had to get up and start working. They were at the
ranch handling a project with a stiff timeline that had to be
adhered to, and she was lazing about.

Molly jumped up and found her
clothes neatly folded in the bathroom. She made quick work of
dressing and knew she had to stop off at their place to change. No
way was she going to work in what she’d worn last night.

Her friend laughed all the way back
to the house where they were staying and waited while she changed.
It was only after she was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt with
another shirt over it that she tuned in to how unhurried her friend
acted.

“What am I missing? Why aren’t you
rushing me? Don’t we need to look over how the data is coming into
the system?”

“There’s no need to rush because
we’re meeting the guys for lunch at the diner. We all got a late
start,” Saki told her as they both collapsed on the couch. “They
drove out to check on how everything was going. Jon asked me to
wake you up and see if you wanted to do lunch. Ted and Matt heard
and decided we’d make it a group thing.”

“Oh, well, okay. Great, lunch
sounds good.” Her brain was muddled around but her growling stomach
ensured she knew food was needed. She hardly ate last night and
hadn’t had anything since.

“Want to grab your purse? You’ll
need your driver’s license.”

“Sure, but why?” She went to get
her purse off the pegs by the back door.

“We’re driving one of the ranch’s
trucks,” Saki muttered and turned to leave.

“What? Really? I’m not sure about
this. You’ve never driven one and I haven’t in years. Are you sure
there’s no one around who can take us?”

“Everyone is out catching newborns
for tagging, repairing fences, or at the diner. We’re it and when I
say we, I mean you.” The smile on Saki’s face was infectious and
Molly relaxed a little. It would be interesting to see if she could
still drive a truck or not. She used to drive her horses, but that
was a long time ago and in a different country.

“Fine, let’s give it a go and hope
for the best.” They walked down to the barn and eventually stopped
in front of a big black beast. There were four doors and a rail to
use as a step up, only it wasn’t quite enough. With a hop, she made
it onto the driver’s seat.

They sat in the front of the huge
truck cab and started laughing.

“This thing is huge!” Molly said as
she looked for a way to move the seat forward. “I’m not sure the
seat is going to go far enough forward for me to reach the
pedals.”

“Do you want me to sit behind you?
It might help get you closer to them.”

“I don’t know, maybe. Let’s see how
well I do.” With a giggle, she checked her mirrors and started the
truck. It rumbled to life with ease as she slipped back in the
seat. Looking over at Saki, she couldn’t hold back the laughter.
“This is ridiculous!”

While her friend was small, Saki
slipping in behind her in the driver’s seat did take up space and
ensure she wasn’t moving away from the gas or brake. It wasn’t
legal and she hoped they weren’t pulled over. The position they
were in wouldn’t be easy to explain.

Molly put the truck into gear and
drove slowly away from the barn and eventually off the Big W ranch.
It was about fifteen miles to the diner and the drive was unlike
any they’d ever done before. She drove slowly, and not just for
safety reasons. She feared getting pulled over for their odd
seating or, worse, having an accident.

“Are you seeing some of these looks
we’re getting?” Saki said with a hint of laughter. “Can you imagine
what they’d say if they saw the full picture. Some people would
think my legs on either side of yours and hands on your hips were a
sexual thing. It’s a friend thing, people. Don’t gawk with your
mouths open. Something you don’t want is sure to fly in and take up
residence.”

“Oh, geez, you’re making me laugh.
Stop, I’ll crash.” She tried so hard not to laugh but it was
impossible. Thankfully they were at the diner and Molly pulled into
the parking lot. Molly collapsed against her friend and finally
relaxed. The ride was over and they’d survived, she couldn’t ask
for anything more.

“Fuck!” Matt whispered and stood
up, laughing hard. “I may need some help getting the ladies
inside.”

Ted and Jon turned to look out the
front window. If he didn’t know better, Jon would think they were
drunk. They looked like two noodles slithering out of the
truck.

“Shit,” he muttered and went
outside. Shaking his head and laughing, Jon was dying to know what
the hell happened that had them both coming out of the driver’s
side. It had been hard to leave her side that morning, and now he
wanted to take her right back.

His lover was happy and enjoying
herself while looking lush and heated. Sex was on his mind, but so
was contentment. They needed to talk about their next step. He
wanted to start and end every day with her at his side.

First, he needed to get a hug from
her. His priorities were settled. As he walked up, Ted picked Saki
up and held her close, and he took an extra step to Molly’s side
and she jumped into his arms.

“That was so scary but fun. I won’t
do it again, promise.”

“Do what?” Jon whispered in her ear
as he leaned against the truck with her in his arms. He needed to
hold her close and not let go.

“I will never again drive a car
that’s far too big for me. I couldn’t reach the gas or brake, so
Saki sat behind me to keep me from sliding away. I swear, I drove
very carefully, but it was scary. Then Saki kept making me laugh
and it was funny, then terrifying. People would pass us and stare.
We must’ve looked so weird.” She talked non-stop and gave it all to
him, well, shared it with his neck.

“You two had quite an adventure,”
he told her and tried not to laugh. The strength of her arms
wrapped around him—he figured she needed support and
comfort.

“Yes, I didn’t like it, but I did.
Am I making sense?”

“Absolutely.” Everything she said
made perfect sense and his cock hardened. It was hard to hold her
so close and not pay attention to how her breasts felt pressed
against him. They were probably tender from all he did to them the
night before. He’d be happy to soothe them with his
mouth.

“I love you,” Molly said as she
lifted her head and looked him in the eye. Those three words were
like a punch to the gut. He had no way to breathe and felt fine
with that. They’d shared their words of love the night before, but
today had nothing to do with sex. They were how she felt. To hear
them in such an innocuous setting meant the world to
him.

With a little shift he pressed his
lips to hers, content.

“You are everything that is good in
my life. I want more with you. Is it too soon to ask you to move in
with me?” Jon didn’t follow what society thought was the proper
timing of everything. He asked because he wanted to wake and go to
sleep with her. The regular things like cooking breakfast, doing
laundry and just sitting around together were what he wanted to do
with her. Sex was important and he wanted it with Molly, often, but
the day to day stuff was also what he’d like to
experience.

The white picket fence lifestyle
with a pie cooling on a window ledge and kinky choices were within
their reach.

“Really?” She pulled back and
looked at him. Under her deep perusal he smiled and wondered what
she hoped to see.

“Yes, really. I’m not looking for a
cleaner or sex slave, but a lover who loves to be tied up and taken
and wants to tend roses in the front yard and bake pies. What I
want is to spend time with my lover in all ways that make up
life.”

“Do you mean I might occasionally
be your slave? I wouldn’t mind giving that task a whirl and I can
clean, mend, and roll socks.” Molly made light of his request and
he knew there was more involved. She was a British citizen. He
didn’t know the rules that would allow her to get on with living in
the US. Maybe he should ask her to marry him. That would make
everything easier.

“Or, you could marry me,” he said
as the idea came to him. Jon hadn’t thought about marriage because
no woman in his life had ever inspired him to think it would be a
good idea. Everything about Molly made him think
differently.

“Let’s start with living together
and move on from there,” she told him and sealed their agreement
with a kiss.

The change didn’t feel big, neither
did her agreement make him want to take the offer back. The small
shift in their living arrangements brought them closer together. It
was the right thing to do.

“Shall we tell our friends who are
staring out the window at us?”

She looked over her shoulder and
laughed before turning back to face him.

“Maybe we should wait to tell the
nosy buggers our good news.”

“I like the way you think,” he
agreed and set her back on her feet. “What do you fancy? A burger?
A salad?”

“A grilled cheese with two pickles
spears and a lemonade, please. How about you?”

They talked food as they walked
into the diner and sat at the table. Sunny had joined them with her
usual large glass of Coke with no ice. There was no conversation
going on as they walked up, and Jon almost laughed.

“What’s going on, you two? If I
didn’t know better I’d say that was a proposal or something. It
looked like serious stuff was discussed.” Sunny broke the silence.
She put the question out there and finished with a big gulp of her
drink.

“Nothing big, simply talking about
the adventure the ladies had getting here.” He was calm and spoke
the truth, but he struggled not to share. These were their friends
and they had good news to tell them. Looking at Molly, he noticed
she fussed with her water and couldn’t look up.