Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 40942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 205(@200wpm)___ 164(@250wpm)___ 136(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 205(@200wpm)___ 164(@250wpm)___ 136(@300wpm)
Yeah, that seemed like the best plan.
19
Stafford sat down on the porch chair and looked out across his land as the sun started to rise. He should be out there, working. He had a long to-do list.
He couldn’t afford to sit and drink this second cup of coffee.
But he really needed it.
Because he’d been awake most of the night wondering what he was doing wrong.
Everything was good in a lot of ways. Better than good. Over the past week, Blakely had been in his bed every night. He’d moved all of her stuff into his room. She didn’t have much so it hadn’t taken long.
Last night, they’d gone to the quiz at The Wishing Well. It had been . . . interesting.
He’d lived here for close to a year now and hadn’t been to The Wishing Well for a drink once. It had actually been good to get out. And to see other couples interacting.
Other couples who had a relationship dynamic like theirs.
Except their relationship didn’t have that dynamic because Blakely didn’t seem to want to show him her Little.
And he had no fucking idea how to get her to.
Watching those other couples had been interesting. Kiesha was definitely more out there and more open about who she was than the others. But he’d seen how protective and caring their men were.
Attentive.
He’d wanted to ask one of them what he should do, but he didn’t know them well enough.
“Second cup of coffee?” Grandpa Jack asked as he shuffled out onto the porch.
Stafford had to resist the urge to get up and help him. He understood about pride and wanting to do things yourself.
“Yeah. I needed it.”
Jack sat and sighed. “You know, I was thinking it’s about time we did things up around here.”
Stafford tried to keep his surprise off his face. “What? Seriously?”
“Yeah, Blakely tripped on one of the porch boards. Fell on her knees. Can’t have that. And if you two decide to give me some great-grandbabies . . . well, we have to make it safe for them.”
“Wait, go back. Blakely tripped and fell? When was this?” he asked urgently.
“Hmm, yesterday morning, I think.”
“I need to go check on her.” He stood.
“Easy, boy. She’s fine. Just a bit of a scrape.”
“She never told me!” When he’d gotten home last night, they’d quickly eaten dinner before heading to The Wishing Well. When they’d gotten home, she’d fallen asleep quickly.
Still, she’d had plenty of opportunity to tell him what had happened.
“Why didn’t she tell me?” He’d be speaking to her about that. It wasn’t acceptable for her to keep things from him.
Perhaps you should sit her down and go through the rules.
Yeah. That was something he kept meaning to do. He just kept getting preoccupied with other things.
Like fucking her until they were both exhausted every night.
He had a feeling that he wasn’t doing a good job as her Dom.
“Maybe she didn’t think it was important enough, boy.”
“Everything about her is important,” he said as he sat again. “I need to know if she’s injured so I can take care of her.”
“What do you want from her? By the time you got home, she was all bandaged up and as good as gold.”
“She could have called me. I would have come back.”
“Funny. Does she know that? Because all she said when I offered to call you was that you were too busy to be bothered with something so inconsequential.”
What the hell?
“Shit,” he muttered with a sigh. “I think I’m messing things up.”
“Yep. I think you are too.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Stafford said dryly.
“I have confidence in you over a lot of things, boy. But I don’t want to see you mess this up.”
“Everything is good apart from the fact that she won’t show me her Little.”
“She won’t show you? Or you haven’t made her feel secure enough to let her Little out? She probably needs to know that this is something you really want.”
“I told her it was.”
But had he shown her? No.
She’d let her Little side peek out before, though. So why was she locking it down so tight now? Did she really not feel secure enough?
“You have to do more than tell her, boy.”
“How do I do that? I’m new to this, remember?”
Grandpa Jack grunted. “Yeah, well. It’s like any relationship, isn’t it? You got to talk to her. Which means actually being here. There’s nothing more important than your girl. Nothing.”
Stafford closed his eyes and nodded. He really had fucked up. “I’ve been so focused on getting the ranch up and running that now I can’t seem to switch off from it.”
“You’ve got to learn how. The ranch is fine. You’ve done a good job with it, boy.”
He had?
That’s the first time his grandfather had told him that.
“Now, it’s time to nurture other things. Like your girl. Talk to her. Figure out what she wants. What she needs. Lay out what you expect. Like for her to call you if she gets hurt. Might not hurt to ask her about her Little. You know, how young she is. What she likes to do. Get her a few things to help. Set the scene. Yeah?”