Bayou Bruiser

“He smeared his own reputation, baby. And a man who isn’t capable of loving an angel like you isn’t capable of loving anything at all. Except for maybe himself.”

My heart is fluttering with such gratitude by the time he’s done that all I can do is blink and sniffle. Does he realize how impactful his words are? Does he realize no one has ever said anything so kind to me…and truly meant it? As I got older, boys around the bayou would compliment me on my way to the tackle shop or to buy bread. They would say I’m pretty and smart and sweet, but they didn’t mean any of it. They only wanted my body.

With Benny, this man who hides nothing, his sincerity is so obvious.

I will treasure him until the day I die.

“I didn’t finish school, either. But hell, I didn’t even pay attention while I was there. I was too busy fending off attacks from other boys. They wanted to prove their strength. No better way to do that than picking a fight with the biggest kid.” He reaches for a washcloth and dips it into the water, slowly dragging it over my cheeks, behind my ears. “After a while, my mother got tired of being called to the school over fights. No one believed me that I wasn’t the instigator. All they had to do was look at me to see I was built for bullying.” One of his big shoulders rolls back. “Eventually my mother kicked me out. Told me to use what I had to fend for myself. What I have, Fawn, is muscle. And this scary-ass face. You’re going to get sick to death of looking at it and I can’t blame you.”

My heart pumps wildly in my throat.

The tips of his ears are red and he can’t look at me.

“I have to tell you something,” I blurt.

His eyes lift to mine warily. Full of dread. “It’s already happening, isn’t it?”

“What? No!” My body moves on its own, climbing out of the tub drenched and naked, straddling my giant’s lap and clasping his face in my hands. “I need to tell you that…I’ve seen you before. Many times.”

A line forms between his brows. “When?”

“In the forest.” I’m a little embarrassed by the fact that I’m admitting out loud to light stalking, so I duck my head and begin unfastening the buttons of his shirt. “On the days where my dad was in a decent mood, or the nights when he would pass out without chaining me up, I’d go out for walks. Long ones. And I would see you collecting injured animals. Or releasing the healed ones back into the wild. A-and….and…”

“What is it, baby?”

“I fell in love with you. I’ve loved you from afar for a while now and I should have told you, but I was afraid you would be freaked out knowing I spied on you. I couldn’t believe it when you just w-walked into my basement—”

Benny stops me from talking by placing a finger across my lips, his face a mask of disbelief. “Let me get this straight. You’ve been watching me.”

I nod guiltily.

“And you think I’m going to be upset about that?” Benny continues slowly. “About the fact that you—a fucking angel—has been pining for me?”

Confusion clouds my embarrassment. “You’re not upset.”

He surges forward to capture my mouth with a hard kiss, his fingers spearing into my hair. “Hell no, I’m not upset, Fawn,” he says, bringing our foreheads together. “I love you, too. I loved you the second I saw you. But to have you love me back?” His laugh is incredulous. “Don’t you see? I’m the luckiest bastard on the planet.”

My vision blurs with tears. He loves me! “Watching you save the animals…it’s how I know you aren’t meant to be a killer.” I scoot closer on Benny’s lap, finding his bulge with my sex and pressing down. “You’re nothing but my sweet giant.”

He groans through his clenched teeth. “The way I want to fuck you ain’t sweet, little girl. Not at all. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. You’re so goddamn fragile. I want to carry you around on a pillow and pound you with my cock at the same time.”

I’ve just succeeded in getting all of his buttons undone. Now I push the shirt off his incredibly wide, musclebound shoulders, moaning shameless at the priceless artwork I’m revealing. He’s covered in scars and hair and I love every single inch. “Maybe your body is just listening to mine, Daddy,” I murmur, brushing his ear with my mouth. “And my body is telling yours that I love being pounded.”

“Oh my God,” he says hoarsely, looking down at where my womanhood rides his sex up and back, up and back. “I can’t believe this is my life.”