“Has Mitch tried to change you? Did he ask you to dress differently, to speak differently, to give up anything or any part of who you are for him? It could be as simple as you’re finding yourself. Let’s go for a walk, Hannah, and I’ll tell you how Donovan showed me the difference between a moral man and an immoral one, and moral actions versus immoral ones.”
They walked along the fence line and Hannah listened in horror at what Anna had suffered at the hands of her first husband, the very pious son of friend’s in her preacher father’s church and the terrible circumstances surrounding his death. “I’m so sorry,” she told her sympathetically. “It must have been horrible to go through that. I’m surprised you even wanted another relationship after such a betrayal.”
“But, don’t you see, Hannah. If my oh so religious husband hadn’t shown me that he thought beating me and locking me up for eight days was okay but simply researching alternative sexual practices was the sin to end all sins, I may never have met Donovan and known how a man, despite his own demons riding him, could give such pleasure. And when I fell in love with him, that pleasure became twofold. Everything happens for a reason, that teaching I firmly believe. Maybe meeting Mitch was to show you what Caleb either didn’t know or, and I apologize for being blunt, maybe didn’t care to know.”
It was that very thought that plagued Hannah the most. Did her husband not love her as much as she did he or was it simply a matter of ignorance? She hoped, prayed it was the latter. Otherwise, she had given up her youth and a good number of years for a man who hadn’t put her first in his life the way she had him.
“Tell me something,” Anna continued. “How does Mitch make you feel? Keep it simple.”
Hannah took a moment, smiled and replied, “Let’s just say I know what the saying ‘hot and bothered’ means now.” It was more than that, she knew, but how much more she wasn’t sure she was ready to delve into.
“Then just go with that for now.”
“Thanks, Anna,” she said quickly when she saw Mitch heading towards them leading two saddled mares.
Anna’s revelations had been an eye opener as well as a conscience easing revelation. The hypocrisy between her husband’s actions and his beliefs wasn’t lost on Hannah. At least she had that in her favor. She wasn’t a hypocrite.
Mitch stayed behind Hannah as she let her horse out, her long hair flying out behind her as they galloped back to the stables, her laugh echoing back to him on the breeze and making him smile. Her quiet, contemplative mood on the drive out here had disappeared after her talk with Anna and Mitch was grateful for whatever Anna had said that made Hannah feel better.
They had ridden for over an hour, Mitch giving her the tour of the farm that was given regularly to paying tourists. Their ride ended at the five acre lake that glistened like a sheen of glass under the noon sun and made the idyllic spot for their picnic. They had picked up fried chicken and coleslaw on their way but Hannah managed to bake a couple dozen of the best oatmeal chocolate chip cookies he has ever tasted before they left. Sitting on a blanket under a Weeping Willow tree eating messy chicken and listening to Hannah talk animatedly about her growing photography business, he couldn’t remember when he had enjoyed spending time with a woman that didn’t include sex more.
Of course, it took most of his concentration and iron determination not to strip her and lay her out on that blanket and feast on her body. As good as their lunch was, the taste of her berry nipples as well as the cream she always had in abundance just for him was better. Images of Hannah at the club, naked, bound and crying out in pleasure were plaguing him more and more, his need to test her boundaries in the hopes that they matched what he needed to give was becoming an obsession. An obsession, he knew, he was going to have to deal with sooner rather than later.
“That was so much fun!” Hannah exclaimed when she slowed her mare and trotted up to the stables at a more sedate pace. “I haven’t ridden like that in years and I forgot how exhilarating it can be. Thank you, Mitch.”
He could drown in the happiness glowing in those blue eyes, Mitch thought, and for a man who never waxed poetic, that thought startled him. Her face was flushed from the sun and the ride, her hair in wild disarray and she had a spot on her top from eating juicy chicken. Fucking A but he had it bad for this woman. “You’re welcome. Shall we take care of these girls and see what mischief your baby’s been up to?”
Hannah cringed, hoping Roxy hadn’t ruined any chance of getting to come back. “May as well. We can’t put it off forever.”
As it turned out, Roxy had kept not only Ethan and Duke thoroughly entertained, but Keith too, the other student employee working that afternoon. After being assured the feisty, daring three legged mischief maker was welcome back any time, Mitch drove them home then reluctantly left Hannah alone to spend the evening catching up on paperwork. The surprise and disappointment on her face would have been comical if he hadn’t been having such a hard time sticking to his intent to make this day about spending time together that didn’t involve sex. He didn’t know if keeping Hannah guessing was going to work in his favor or not, but he did know it was going to wreak havoc on his own desires.
Hannah spent most of Monday on her computer editing pictures and returning inquiries, breaking only to entertain Roxy periodically. She was grateful for the work, which, thanks to Aunt Mary’s social networking skills, had already brought her enough business she was going to net a profit this first month. Not much of one, but then, she didn’t need much. She knew she had a free room with her aunt for as long as she wanted and with the money she had saved from her ten-year marriage, she was financially stable.
She had work she enjoyed, a beautiful place to stay and an adorable companion with Roxy as well as an exciting sex life for the first time in her thirty-one years. Maybe it was because her birthday was tomorrow and she was officially ‘over thirty’ that she had the urge to do something daring, something unlike her, something that would not only surprise Mitch, but please him as much as he has been pleasing her. For the first time since they met, her conscience was clear and she wasn’t second guessing her actions. Hearing Anna’s story had been an eye opener, how she had married her first husband because she thought it was the right thing to do to please her parents and how she had paid dearly for that choice. Unlike Anna, Hannah loved Caleb and didn’t suffer from their union, unless she counted the pain of losing him at such a young age. She still missed her husband, and probably always would in some way, but she didn’t regret moving on and forging a new path for her future.
Now, the only question remaining was how far along that path was Mitch going to travel with her. She had been hoping he would want sex again yesterday when they returned from their outing, had been eager to feel him filling her so fully again, shredding her control with another one of those powerful climaxes he was so good at giving her. But, after giving her another toe curling kiss that ratcheted up her already simmering arousal, he had returned to his house, a simple ‘see you later, sweetheart’ as a farewell.
As Hannah checked her calendar for tomorrow before shutting down her computer, an idea began to form. Since her day was clear, she decided the best way to get the birthday gift that she wanted was to go get it herself. The idea forming had her giddy with both excitement and a little unease. She really had no clue what Mitch’s reaction will be, but she hadn’t entered into this relationship or agreed to this affair only to back down when he wasn’t forthcoming. What she was planning wasn’t on his terms, but she figured if he didn’t like it he would simply take over. That thought had her shivering with excitement and so aroused at what he might do that she spent a long night tossing and turning over his possible reaction.
The high rise Mitch was building was currently a skeleton of iron and cement beams holding up concrete slabs that will one day be floors. Hannah saw Mitch’s truck as soon as she pulled into the construction site and parked next to it. With her window down, she could hear the steady beat of hammers hitting their targets, men calling out to each other and the grind of a bulldozer clearing away debris. It was almost noon and she was hoping to catch Mitch in the trailer marked office in front of her, but a visual sweep of the men scattered around the site found him coming down the side of the building in a makeshift lift no one could ever talk her into getting on. She held her breath as it swayed precariously, looking weak and fragile and way too far from the ground. When it creaked to a grinding halt at the bottom and Mitch stepped off, laughing and slapping his companion on the back, she was able to breathe again.
Dressed in jeans, work boots, a white, shoulder hugging tee shirt and hard hat, she had no trouble picking him out among the men swarming around him at the sound of a bell. Only a few of his crew were as tall as he and none of them packed a punch like just the sight of him did for her. Her mouth went dry as she watched him joke around, pulling off his hard hat to run his fingers through his damp, coal black hair. Any second thoughts she had been harboring about coming here flew out her window as he sauntered slowly towards his trailer in that loose limbed stride that emphasized his long legs and the thick muscles that had developed naturally through hard labor.
Quickly, before he saw her and those pesky second thoughts blew right back at her, she got out of her car to greet him with a smile, her lunch basket clutched in one hand while the other remained on the door handle. Catcalls and whistles rent the air, making her shift uncomfortably at the attention she was all of a sudden getting from his men. Then those dark brown eyes zeroed in on her, widened in pleasure and lit with a smoldering fire she could detect even though he was still several feet away. His immediate, unguarded reaction calmed her nerves and boosted her confidence as well as igniting a similar fire within her, one that had been mere smoldering embers ever since Sunday.
It was the noises and comments hitting his back that alerted Mitch to her presence first. Recognizing the sounds his crew made whenever they spotted a woman had him looking automatically for the source of their brief entertainment. When he saw it was Hannah, he damn near tripped over his own feet at seeing her standing by Mary’s bright yellow car looking cock hardening sexy in a navy blue skirt with white polka dots that hit right above her knees and emphasized her bare legs. He always had been a leg man and Hannah had the finest pair he’s ever seen. The white halter top tied behind her neck left her softly rounded shoulders bare, the low vee showing just enough of her cleavage to let him and every man there know she wasn’t wearing a bra.
Let them look, he thought smugly as he quickened his step, she’s mine. He spent the last two days debating his next move with her, how far to push her the next time they were together, what to introduce her to next. His thoughts had kept him frustrated to the point of using his fist the last two nights just to get a little relief. This surprise visit afforded him an opportunity he hadn’t counted on and one he wasn’t going to let slip by.
“Hannah, this is a pleasant surprise. What brings you out here?” he asked, not really caring why, only that she was.
“I brought you lunch. Do you like meatloaf sandwiches?”
“Love ‘em.” Taking her hand, he led her into his trailer, ignoring the ribald suggestions being tossed at him. “Excuse my men, sweetheart, but you can hardly blame them. They don’t get views such as yours very often.” As soon as he closed and locked the door, he pinned her against it, kissing her with all the pent up lust his hand jobs hadn’t alleviated.
His mouth ravaged hers, swallowing her soft cry as he tasted her over and over. His hands slipped automatically under her skirt, rising slowly up the back of her soft silky thighs, expecting to reach cotton panties. But instead, he found his palms filled with the lush globes of Hannah’s bare ass, a minute string snuggled in her crack the only barrier.
“Christ, Hannah,” he swore when he pulled back an inch. “Are you wearing a thong?” Hannah in a thong. Could anything be more arousing?
“Yes, but if it’s going to make you blaspheme, I’m never going to wear one again,” she told him, trying to sound primly stern but knew she failed miserably. His hands on her cheeks felt too decadently good to take too much umbrage over his language. Looking up at his tanned, sweat streaked face, feeling his hard muscles bunch under her hands and pressing against the sensitive tips of her breasts, she felt her body come alive and respond in an all too familiar way.
“I think you’d do better to concern yourself with what I’m going to do about you standing in front of my crew wearing nothing under those clothes but a tiny scrap of material.”
It was hard to concentrate with him kneading her buttocks, but she managed to sputter in her defense, “
They
don’t know what I’m wearing or not wearing. I dressed for you.”
“And I do appreciate that, but I’m still going to do this, mostly because I just plain want to.” The trailer was small and it took only a few steps to pull her behind his desk, sit down and have her face down across his knees. One toss of her skirt bared her ass in all its naked glory, those tiny strings across her hips and bisecting her buttocks doing nothing to hide the sheer perfection of her ass. He always had been an ass man, and Hannah’s ass topped his list of favorites.
His first slap was fast and sharp, eliciting a cry from Hannah and leaving an enticing red spot marring her lily white cheek. His cock hardened further and jerked against her stomach, letting her know exactly what this was doing to him. “I’d tell you you’ve been naughty, Hannah,” he stated as he slapped her other cheek then caressed both red splotches, “but the truth is, you’ve been very good. So far I’m loving your impromptu visit.” He peppered both cheeks with several smacks that had her shifting her hips enticingly.
Hannah shoved her long hair out of her face and turned to look up at him. Her head was swimming from her upside down position, or was that from the excitement of being in this position again and the pleasure inducing painful smacks she didn’t know she wanted? “Mitch, please, I want…”