Demanding All Of You Read online

  “Yes, and then you met Damion.”

  “So?”

  “So, you are not the type to have sex with random guys in the barn. You like this guy.”

  I chewed on my lower lip. “I think I screwed up with that one.”

  “How so?”

  “The last night we were together, he kind of told me he liked me.”

  “Kind of?”

  I smiled. “I’m not going to give you all the details, but it was implied.”

  “What did you say?”

  I put my hand over my eyes. “I told him I was going to Wyoming.”

  She groaned. “Oh no.”

  “Oh yes.”

  “And then you didn’t talk to him for a month?”

  I nodded. “I didn’t talk to him and he didn’t talk to me. I did run into him last night. Actually, he ran into me. I got a flat tire just as I was coming into town. He happened to come to my rescue. It was so weird. He was standoffish. I could tell he was a little pissed at me.”

  “I think you should talk to him. Don’t run off when the going gets tough. You’re a tough girl. You don’t have to prove yourself to anyone.”

  I knew she was right. “I’m a coward. I hate talking about feelings and all that crap. I just like things to happen.”

  She slowly nodded. “I get it. I’m not asking you to bare your heart and soul. Maybe just be casual about it. Tell him you like him and want to see where things go.”

  I cringed. I physically cringed at the thought of having that kind of conversation. I was so not that type of person. “That sounds awful.”

  She laughed. “It sounds like something adults do.”

  “Ugh, I don’t want to.”

  “Hey, what is the worst that can happen?” she asked.

  “Um, he can laugh in my face. He can tell me to get out. He can say he got what he wanted from me and it was all he wanted.”

  She shrugged. “There. That’s the worst that can happen. If it does happen like that, you still have Wyoming. You can pack your shit and run without looking back. You can start a new life, find a good man, and have everything you’ve always wanted.”

  “What about you?”

  “Maybe I’ll follow you. It isn’t like there is anything holding me here. I can cut and style hair anywhere.”

  I smiled, knowing she was lying through her teeth. She would never leave Geraldine. She loved our hometown. She had a solid client base. I appreciated her trying to make me feel better. “Thank you.”

  “Of course.”

  Our meals were delivered and we both dug in. I had been starving and missed the food at the restaurant I ate at on a regular basis. “It’s like coming home all over again,” I said.

  She laughed. “Do you have a job lined up?”

  “Nope.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. Clean my house. Do a little shopping. Relax.”

  “You don’t relax. I don’t think you know how to relax.”

  “I am going to learn how. I’m serious. Working Wayne’s farm was intense. It was the hardest I have ever worked. I need a few days to recuperate.”

  She laughed again. “I give it a day before you’re chomping at the bit to get out of the house.”

  “Maybe. We’ll see.”

  “Call him,” she said.

  “Right now?”

  “Yes.”

  I rolled my eyes, pulling my phone out. She would not let it go unless I did it. “I’ll text him. I don’t want to call in case he’s with the horses.”

  I sent him a quick text, asking if we could meet. I wasn’t expecting a text in return.

  Dinner? Tomorrow night?

  I smiled. “He wants to have dinner tomorrow night,” I said.

  She clapped her hands. “Ha! Told you.”

  “Is it really a conversation I want to have with a five-year-old eavesdropping?” I asked, wrinkling my nose.

  “I’ll babysit,” she volunteered.

  “Really?”

  “Sure, you guys can go out and have a real dinner. I think that will help set the mood.”

  “I don’t know if he’ll go for it, but I’ll ask.”

  Can we go out? I sent the text.

  My phone pinged a second later.

  I have Oliver.

  I took a deep breath. I hoped he didn’t think I was being too forward by suggesting a babysitter. I texted him and offered Sadie’s services. I was expecting a hell no. Expecting him to take offense at my suggestion.

  Instead, he asked a few questions about her and then promptly agreed. My eyes widened. “Oh my god,” I breathed.

  “What?” she asked.

  “He agreed to it. He’s going to let you watch Oliver. Are you sure you want to do this?”

  “Absolutely,” she said.

  “Thank you. I can take you out there. It’ll probably be better if you watch him at his house.”

  “I agree. I don’t dare bring a kid to my place. Not until I can babyproof it.”

  “He’s five. He’s not a baby.”

  “Still,” she said. “Better to be on his turf.”

  I quickly texted Damion again, confirming the details for our dinner date tomorrow. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”

  “It’s dinner. You aren’t exactly breaking new ground with this one. It’s something we call a date. You go out and eat a meal together. Maybe you have a conversation and then a kiss. You can do it.”

  “I’ve been on a date,” I said dryly.

  “You’re not acting like you have been.”

  “This is different. He’s different. This whole situation is different.”

  “Because you like him,” she said with a smile.

  I let out a breath. “Yes, I do.”

  “Then for your sake, I hope things work out for you. For that to happen, you have to be honest with him. Don’t let your fear of being hurt hold you back. You already have an exit plan if he rejects you. You have nothing to lose. Live in the moment.”

  I sighed. “I will, but I’m holding you responsible if he breaks my heart.”

  She laughed. “Duly noted.”

  We finished eating, with her going to work and me heading home to tackle the month worth of housework I had waiting for me. Before I got started on the dusting and cleaning, I decided to take a peek in my closet. It had been a long, long time since I’d been out anywhere. I didn’t exactly have a varied wardrobe that included outfits for dates. I had about twenty pairs of jeans, but I didn’t want to wear jeans. I wanted to dress up a little.

  I wanted to show him I could be more than just the farmgirl. I could clean up, wear makeup, and put on heels. Small heels, but heels. Maybe even a dress.

  Did I dare?

  Chapter 31

  Damion

  I had picked up my phone to cancel the date at least five times. I was nervous as hell about leaving Oliver with a woman I had never met. I trusted Alex’s judgment. I also trusted Oliver. If Sadie did anything inappropriate, he would call her on it.

  “Are you sure you’re okay with me leaving?” I asked Oliver, who was curled up with a book in his favorite chair.

  “Yes.”

  He didn’t even look up from his book. To his credit, I had asked him the same question repeatedly. I was nervous as hell and it wasn’t only about leaving Oliver with a new babysitter. I wondered what it was Alex had to say. I was hoping it was a good thing and not her telling me to fuck off for good.

  I had changed clothes several times, trying to decide what was the best outfit. I ended up going with slacks and a simple polo. I didn’t want to be the stuffy guy from New York, but I didn’t want to be the farmer that wore dirty jeans everywhere.

  I heard the sound of a truck coming down the driveway. Nerves threatened to do me in. I shook it off, literally. I shook my hands, shaking it off. “They’re here,” I told Oliver.

  He closed his book and jumped out of his chair. The two of us waited on the porch
to greet them. When Alex climbed out of her truck, the first thing I saw was legs. Lots of legs. I felt a twisting in my gut that reached right down to my dick and tugged.

  Alex was wearing a dress. It was a little black dress with a flirty skirt and a cinched waist. I could barely draw breath as I took in the sight of her. She was stunning. Her hair was left loose, but it looked different. I realized it was styled in a sexy, slightly bedhead look. She was wearing makeup as well. The woman looked like she belonged on the cover of a magazine.

  “Hi,” I breathed.

  “Hi,” she said, her hand nervously smoothing over the dress. She walked toward me and stepped onto the porch.

  “You look beautiful,” I told her.

  “You look really pretty, Alex,” Oliver said from beside me.

  “Thank you,” she said with a smile. “Guys, this is Sadie. Sadie, this is Oliver and Damion.”

  I looked at the woman that I would be leaving my son with. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  She winked. “It’s even better to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you.” The huge smile on her face and the mischievous look in her eye told me she was a bit of a firecracker.

  “Sadie,” Alex growled.

  “You must be Oliver,” Sadie said, bending over to look directly at him.

  “I am,” Oliver said with a smile.

  She extended her hand. Oliver stuck out his little hand and shook hers. “It’s so nice to meet you, Oliver. We’re going to have a lot of fun tonight.”

  “Do you want to see my room?” he asked her.

  “Yes! Absolutely! Show me what you got.”

  Oliver grabbed her hand and led her inside, leaving me and Alex alone. “I guess those two are going to get along just fine,” I said.

  “Sadie has never met a human being she doesn’t like. She loves all people. I know it was kind of weird for me to put you on the spot and I’m sorry for doing it. Sadie offered, and I thought it couldn’t hurt to ask you.”

  “I’m fine with it. If I’m going to stick around here, I need a babysitter on occasion.”

  She smiled. “Good. So, are you ready?”

  “Let me give Sadie the list and grab my keys and we can go.”

  “The list?” she questioned.

  “Yes, the list. Things he can and can’t do, my phone number, and general rules.”

  She burst into laughter. “I see. I keep forgetting you’re one of those very protective daddies.”

  “Hey, this is a first for me,” I defended.

  “And I’m so proud of you for trusting her with your baby for a couple of hours.”

  I chuckled as we walked inside. “If she hurts him, I hope you know you’re helping me take care of the body.”

  She burst into laughter. “Got it.”

  I gave Sadie the rundown and tried to say my goodbyes to Oliver, but he didn’t even see me. He was wholly focused on Sadie. It was like I wasn’t even there.

  When I returned to the living room, Alex was just coming back into the house. She had a worried look on her face. “Is everything okay?”

  “I left my purse at home,” she groaned.

  “We can swing by and pick it up,” I offered.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Of course, it’s no big deal.”

  “Thanks.”

  We got into my car and, with her guidance, drove to her place. It was a small house kind of out of the way. It was cute and quaint, but I knew she wanted more.

  “Do you want to come in?” she asked.

  I grinned. “Yes, I do.”

  I followed her inside, taking in the small living room with a single sofa pushed against a wall. The dining room was nothing more than a tiny space big enough for a two-person table. There weren’t any personal pictures around. It looked a lot like a rental house with nothing to indicate who the person was that lived there.

  “Right there,” she said. “I’m not used to carrying a purse. I always leave my stuff in my truck.”

  “Are you going to give me the tour?” I asked.

  She laughed. “You’re pretty much looking at it. It’s not exactly on the large side, but sure.”

  She pointed out the doors that led to the bathroom, her spare bedroom, and her bedroom. All doors were visible from the living room. Then, it was into the kitchen that was barely big enough for the two of us. “This is cute.”

  “Cute? Nice.”

  “Seriously, my first apartment in New York was half this size. You’re living in style compared to what I had.”

  I noticed the assortment of liquor bottles on top of her fridge and raised an eyebrow.

  “It isn’t what it looks like,” she quickly said. “I don’t party a lot. Some of that stuff is over a year old. Every once in a while, Sadie will have a girls’ night and mix up drinks. The bar in town isn’t really all that big on the fruity drinks, so we make them here.”

  I held up my hands. “No judgment from me.”

  I realized in that moment I didn’t want to go out. I didn’t want people around us. I wanted it to be just me and her. She said she wanted to talk. I wasn’t sure which way that conversation was going to go and figured privacy might be a good thing.

  “I’m ready to go,” she said.

  “Let’s stay in,” I blurted out.

  “What?”

  “What do you have in the fridge? We can whip something up and eat here. Unless you have your heart set on going out.”

  She shrugged. “I definitely don’t have my heart set on going out. I don’t know what I have to make, though.”

  “May I?” I asked, putting my hand on the fridge door.

  “Go ahead. I cleaned it out yesterday, and there isn’t much in there.”

  I opened it up and was nearly blinded by the light reflecting off the white walls and the empty shelves. “You weren’t kidding. Freezer?”

  She shrugged. “Maybe.”

  I opened it up, rummaged around, and found a couple of backstraps. “Venison?” I asked.

  “I’m not great at cooking it.”

  “I am. Years of practice when I lived here a million years ago.”

  She grinned, kicking off her heels. “You’re on. Let me see what else I can rustle up to go with the steaks.”

  “I need a frying pan and some oil,” I told her.

  She bent over, pulling a frying pan out of a lower cupboard. I took a second to admire the view of her bent over. It was a hell of a view. She stood up and looked over her shoulder. She caught me staring at her ass.

  “Here you go,” she murmured, handing me a frying pan.

  “Thank you.”

  I set about seasoning the meat with the spices I found in a cupboard. Alex was rummaging around in another cupboard. “Rice or beans?” she offered.

  I laughed. “How about both?”

  “Are you sure you don’t want to go out?” she asked again.

  “I can do a lot with a little,” I promised.

  “Well, you’re in luck. I have very little. I haven’t had time to go grocery shopping. Truthfully, I don’t really keep a lot of food in the house because I never know when I’m going to be gone for a few days or a week.”

  I smiled. “Back home in New York, I didn’t do a lot of shopping either. It was so much easier to order in.”

  “I can’t imagine picking up my phone and having a full meal delivered to my doorstep.”

  I laughed. “It was very convenient. For a single working father, it was a godsend.”

  “You often refer to New York as home,” she said. “Do you still consider it your home?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t mean to. I guess it is still my home, but I am trying to adapt to here being home.”

  She opened the can of beans before grabbing another pot and dumping them in. We stood side by side at the stove, her stirring the beans and me cooking the meat.

  “I am sorry I didn’t reach out while I was gone,” she said.

  “Don’t be. I wasn’t sure if I should te
xt or call. I didn’t want to bother you or come off as being too pushy. I didn’t want to push you. I got the impression I was coming on too hard.”

  “No,” she immediately answered. “Not at all. I’m just not great at things like this. For what it’s worth, I did miss you while I was gone. You and Oliver.”

  “I missed you as well,” I said, my voice husky with emotion. “I can’t begin to tell you how much I missed you. All day long at the farm, I felt alone. I felt like I was on an island all by myself.”

  She dropped the spoon into the pot. “Really?”

  I turned off the burner. “Really. I got used to having you around. When you left, I felt like I had been abandoned. I know that wasn’t the case. I’m a grown-ass man and being alone isn’t a big deal. I’m chalking it up to being in a new place and grief over my grandfather’s loss.”

  “I’m so sorry,” she said, her eyes staring into mine. “I didn’t mean to run off or abandon you.”

  I shook my head. “It wasn’t your fault. It was mine. It was my old issues coming to the surface. I don’t want to freak you out. I feel like I scared you off and I don’t want to do that again.”

  She sighed. “That was on me. I shouldn’t have cut and run.”

  “Alex,” I breathed her name. I couldn’t take it another second. I needed to touch her. My hand drifted to her cheek, staring into her eyes.

  I searched her eyes, looking for her approval. I saw desire. I lowered my mouth to hers and gently kissed her. I kept it light, keeping my need reined in. I didn’t want to repeat what had happened the first time. I didn’t want to risk her running off and leaving me for a month again.

  “Damion,” she whispered my name.

  The breathy sound stole away the self-control I had been barely holding on to. I dropped my hands to her waist and hoisted her up, dropping her on the one section of countertop that was free of any appliances. I pushed her legs open and stepped between them. Her hands went to my face, holding me as she covered my mouth with her own.

  I groaned. All the dreams and fantasies that had been filling the long lonely nights the past month sprang to mind. She was everything I had been thinking about. It was so much sweeter the second time around.