Rough Love (Tannen Boys 1)

I want her, I just don’t want her to see me that way. How stuck I’ve been, how meaningless it’s all been.

She’s thoughtful for a moment. “You said before that it’s a bit bachelor pad-like. Are there posters of half-naked women on the walls or anything like that? I didn’t see any when we FaceTimed, but maybe you were choosing your angles?” She dips her chin, but I saw that grin.

I scoop her up into my arms. “Are you giving me shit, woman? I’m being all honest with you about some embarrassing stuff and you tease me about it?” I’m teasing her back, glad she’s not mad at my reluctance.

Her head falls back. “Just take me in the barn, for fuck’s sake. Like old times.”

It’s the best idea I’ve heard since Shay pulled away, and I damn near run for the barn. Inside, I turn on the bare minimum of lights so the sleeping animals aren’t disturbed, giving the barn a soft glow. I let Allyson slide down my body until her feet hit the floor, but I keep her tight against me, dancing her back toward the ladder. “Hay loft. Now.”

We’ve been here before, but this feels new and different. I like it.

Allyson smiles, just the corners of her mouth tilting up a bit, and then bolts for the ladder. I give chase, her laughter bright in the quiet. From a stall, I hear a rustling and shush her. “Don’t wake up the goats or they’ll start bleating for food and never shut up. Hungry little monsters.”

“You talking about them or us?”

“Tou-fucking-ché. Up.” I gesture at the ladder with my chin and she starts to climb. I stay below her, enjoying the view and sampling it by popping the right globe of her ass with a quick smack. It bounces back nicely, making climbing the ladder a bit more difficult as my cock thickens in my jeans.

“Oh!” Al exclaims at the spank, but when she looks down at me, ready to give me hell, I can see the heat in her eyes. “Don’t make me fall!”

She’s joking, but I’m dead-serious as I answer truthfully, meaning so much more than her footing on the ladder. “That’s the plan, Al.”

That shuts her right up and she turns back around, hustling the rest of the way up. I follow, and once in the hayloft, I search her expression. There’s a longing there, but uncertainty too. She blinks, and the view to the depths of her mind clouds over with lust. I want all of her, even those scary thoughts, but I’ll let her hide a bit longer.

I’m getting to her, more and more, bit by bit. And she’s getting to me too. Just like I want. I want to weave myself into her and never let go.

“Come here.” She hooks her finger, bidding me closer, and I stalk toward her, trapping her in the back corner by a stack of bales.

“Whatcha gonna do now that you got me where ya want me?” It’s a dare and we both know it. I’m also giving her a chance to lead for a minute because we both know that once we’re naked, things will change.

But if she wants to talk instead, I’m down for that. I want every bit of her—mind, body, and soul. And I’ll get them all in due time.

Her eyes drift off, taking in the hayloft like it’s a new space even though nothing much has changed since the last time she was up here, and then they return to me. She used the pause to devise a plan. I can see it in the subtle flicker in her baby blues.

She ducks past me, expecting me to grab her again, but I’m intrigued and want to let this play out to see what she’s got in mind. She stands on her tippy toes, reaching into a small crate screwed into the wooden wall, and pulls out an old quilt.

It’s not the same one from ten years ago. That one gave in to the passage of time and the effects of the elements years ago. But there’s always a new one to take the last one’s place. She smiles, fingering it lightly. “It’s soft.”

I grunt, never having noticed one way or another. She flicks her wrist, letting the blanket bubble in the air before floating to the floor, and then sits down on it looking prim and proper. Suddenly, I want this quilt to be soft as butterfly wings because she’s going to need the contrast of the soft cocoon with how I want to fuck her. Rough, dirty, hard . . . till she’s begging to stop coming on my cock.

I drop down next to her, knowing she can see all that in my eyes. I don’t even try to hide it from her. I want her to not only know but to want it too. To want me too.