Haley & Bentley (Falling for Bentley #2.5) (4 page)

“Hey!” I grumbled.

“She’s right,” Whitney confirmed.

Before taking the card from Maggie, Dania asked, “Are you interested in a veil, or maybe a flower to put in your hair?”

“Not a veil, it’ll be too much with the dress, but I like the flower idea.”

“I saw the perfect one in the showcase,” said Whitney. “I’ll go grab it.”

I moved my hair around my head in a few messy poses, thinking about what I wanted. “I think I’ll leave my hair down with summer curls and pin one side of it up.”

Whitney came back with an ivory flower with crystal beading in the middle.

“This one matches the lace.” She helped me pin it in my hair, and the four of us stared into the mirror.

“I will give you ladies all the time you need. I’m going to order the size you are wearing now and ring up the final total with the flower. When I come back, I will help you out of the dress.”

Maggie left with Dania while Whitney and I bounced around excitedly before she helped me take off the dress.

“The total comes to eight seventy-nine, twenty,” Dania stated to Maggie, who didn’t even bat an eye, as Whitney and I joined them at the counter.

As she handed her card over the counter, I touched her arm. “Maggie, at least let me pay for half.”

She pulled her arm out of my grip and preceded to hand
her
card, and not my father’s, to Dania. “I certainly will not. You are your father’s only daughter, child for that matter, and if he ever found out I let you, he would be so hurt. Let us do this for you Haley.”

“The flower?”

Maggie glared at me, and I knew instantly I’d just made her mad. I took a step back and surrendered. “Fine,” I grumbled to myself then took the shopping bag with the flower.

“Haley, your dress is officially ordered and should be here in February. I recommend you come back and try it on, then make an appointment to have it altered. Then you will need to come back and try it on once more. If it fits perfectly you can take it home, but if we still need to make a few minor adjustments we will still have time.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll call you when it arrives.”

“Thank you, Dania.”

Maggie and Whitney waited for me to slip on my shoes then we made our way to the parking lot. I paused at the passenger door before getting in. “Thank you for buying my dress, Maggie.”

She brought me in for a hug. “You’re quite welcome, sweetheart, but a word to the wise, if your daddy wants to pay for something, just let him; otherwise, I hear about it all night long.”

“Okay.” I smiled into our hug.

“Before we head back to the farm, do you mind if we make one more stop?” Whitney asked.

I glanced at my watch, thinking about how long Charlotte has had Emerson, and if he’s still screaming she would probably want me back so she could be released of her grandmother duties.

“We have time,” Maggie said. “I checked in with Charlotte while Dania was ordering your dress. She said E was sleeping.”

THE WEDDING IS four months away, and I have put everything off until now since we don’t need to do a whole lot. We only have twenty-five people invited.

I asked Grams if she could make her pumpkin cake for the wedding cake. I know she is a little disappointed I don’t want anything fancier, but it’s my favorite cake, and I know Bentley won’t care; he loves everything Grams makes.

Bentley and I are trying to get our schedules on the same track, but it seems to be really hard lately. The past few months we’ve really only seen each other in passing because of harvest then track and football.

I guess Christmas break we saw each other more, but with Emerson, our time is mostly spent with him. Now the second half of the school year has started, and I offered to help with the talent show fundraiser our school was hosting, so most nights I’m not home until six or six thirty. Just enough time to catch the end of dinner and spend an hour with Emerson before he goes to bed. The rest of my night is usually spent planning, making individualized programs for struggling students, or grading.

Since football season has ended, Bentley really has taken on the parenting roll with Emerson, which is wonderful to see, but I’m feeling jealous he gets to spend so much time with our son.

When Charlotte or Maggie take Emerson, it’s usually because Bentley and Travis are busy checking in on the cows, fixing up farm equipment, changing oil in the vehicles, or moving stuff around on the farm and maintaining the yard; all before Travis leaves for his first year of agricultural mechanics.

By the time we hit our bed, we are both so tired we quickly fall asleep with the television tuned to the Discovery channel. I’m beginning to miss him.

Lost in thought, I sat at the kitchen table, and watched the sunset through the patio doors with an empty glass of Grams’ sweet tea in my hand. Emerson and I spent the day there, baking bread and a few other goodies for the freezer. My son was fast asleep, which he always is, when we left the ranch. I never know who’s more tired at the end of the day, him or Papa.

The house has been really quiet for the last few nights with Bentley helping Curtis with a home renovation contract he is running behind on. I looked at my watch and saw it’s seven thirty. I didn’t want to start a movie because when Bentley came home, I’d want to stop and visit with him to see how his day went. I really didn’t feel like reading, and all my school stuff was caught up, so I decided to grab a nice warm bubble bath, and maybe by the time I’m finished, Bentley would be home.

Adjusting the water temperature, I added some bath salts and bubble bath and lit a few candles. I went to the hall closet and grabbed one of my favorite fluffy bath towels and left it on the bathroom counter, walked into the bedroom and undressed before grabbing my robe and iPod.

I slipped the robe on then went to the kitchen for a glass of water to drink in my bath. As I went to hang the robe on the door, I felt something in my pocket. Confused, I pulled it out discovering my pink waterproof personal toy. I haven’t used this thing in ages. I turned it on, surprised the batteries still worked. I looked at the toy, then at the tub, and shrugged. It’s been a while since Bentley and I got it on, I may as well.

Sliding into the warm tub felt like heaven. It’s very easy, I discovered, for a mother to miss these moments to herself. I closed my eyes and fully emerged myself in the water before coming up and resting my head on the back of the tub. I lay there for a few minutes before the quiet kicked in again. Opening one eye, I noticed I forget to push play on the iPod. Rolling my eyes, I got out, making a huge puddle on the floor, and pushed play before settling back into the tub.

I sang along softly with the best of them as I swished the water around with my hands and slid them over my silky body, enjoying the smell of coconut emanating from the bath salts. Even with my eyes closed, I could see the flickering of the candles around the bathroom. I took a deep breath and relaxed into the tub with my toy.

After adding hot water for the second time, and Bentley still wasn’t home, I decided it was time to get out. I dried myself off and moisturized my entire body before slipping my robe back on. I towel dried my hair, slid into bed, and quickly fell asleep with a much-needed relaxed body.

I woke up to Bentley nibbling my neck and rubbing the side of my hip and down my leg through my robe. “Hey, did you just get home?” I rolled onto my back to face him. He kept nibbling and mumbled, “Mmm-hmm.”

I smiled as I reached out and grabbed a hold of his hair. “Your hair is wet. Have you been home long?”

Bentley moved closer and kissed down my neck and started to open my robe with his index finger, “I’ve been home long enough to check in on our son, let the dog out, shower,
and
discover this little toy on the edge of the tub.” He opened his hand that was opening my robe and showed me my toy before dragging it between my breasts.

Embarrassed that I was caught, I quickly tried to get it from his hands. “Give me that.”

Reaching his arm higher so I couldn’t get it he asked, “Why?”

“Because you don’t need to be knowing about it.” I reached again, but was unsuccessful.

“Baby, what were you doing with this?” he snickered, leaning over my body once more, trying to lay kisses on my chest.

I pushed him away, pulled my robe closed, and crossed my arms over my chest, giving him a
you better give it back and shut the hell up
look. Bentley started laughing. “Babe, are you embarrassed?”

I closed my eyes. “Just give it back, please.” I opened my hand, expecting him to put it there. I waited a few moments before I opened my eyes. Once my eyes were fully opened, he pulled me up to his mouth and kissed me, hard.

“Haley, this is hot, knowing what you were doing before I got home.”

“Well, you were not supposed to find out, never mind see it.”

“Do you have more?” he asked with a huge grin on his face.

I rolled my eyes. “I’m not responding to that.”

Bentley dropped the toy on my nightstand and crawled into bed, opened my robe completely, and settled on top of me. “Want to know what I think?” he asked between kisses.

“Not really,” I said playing with his hair again.

“I think you have more, but you’re too nervous to tell me.” He kissed each breast before moving down the middle of them to my stomach.

I let out a heated breath, more for the enjoyment of what he was doing than anything he was saying. “I also think you’ve been feeling neglected lately and forgot to share that with me.”

“We just haven’t had any time.”

“But as a soon-to-be husband, I should be making the time, and I haven’t.” He nipped my hip before kissing it. I tugged his hair letting him know he bit me a little too hard. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, for making you feel neglected.”

Bentley pulled himself up, resting on his forearms. Brushing my bangs out of my face, he kissed my nose. “Did you think of me when your eyes were closed?” he asked, closing my eyes lids. “Did you feel my fingers when you pinched your nipples?” he whispered, tweaking them.

I squirmed to get out from under him, but his strong arms held me in place. “When you could feel things starting to build, did you think of my massive cock?”

Having enough, I pushed Bentley off me and closed my robe then shifted to sit up in bed. “It’s not funny; quit making fun of me.”

Bentley crawled behind me, wrapping his arms around my body. “It’s certainly not funny. In fact, when I saw it in the shower, and realized what it was, I thought it was fucking hot. I even jerked off in the shower thinking of you using it.”

“You did?” I asked surprised.

“Hell yeah, I did.”

I turned to face him, slowly letting go of my annoyance. He cupped my cheek, “Baby, why didn’t I know you had these toys?”

“Because they are private…to me.”

“Where do you keep them? I don’t remember moving anything in here that could be holding
treasures
.” He raised an eyebrow.

“It’s not like I keep them in a pirate’s treasures chest.”

“You should; one with a hell of an X on it in red.”

“Bentley, can we please stop talking about this?” I asked, shifting uncomfortably on the bed.

“Only if you answer two more questions.”

“Fine,” I grumbled, knowing it was the only way he’d stop pestering me.

“Do you have more?”

“Yes.”

“Do you use them often?”

“Not as much since I met you and got pregnant.”

“But you do use them?”

“That’s three questions.”

“Humor me, babe.”

“Sometimes.”

“And where do you keep them?”

“If I tell you, do you promise not to go searching for them?”

“Promise,” he smirked. I knew not to trust that smirk; that smirk bought us more cows.

“In the house.”

Bentley leaned his head back and growled. When he finished he grabbed my feet and pulled them down the bed before pouncing on top of me. I let out a fit of giggles having missed playful Bentley.

“God, baby, I missed the smell of your skin and the taste of your lips.”

We spent the next twenty minutes kissing, exploring each other bodies with our hands and fingers. I wanted nothing more than to spend the whole night wrapped in his arms.

“I have been dreaming of you like this all day. I couldn’t get home fast enough to hold you.” Bentley kissed my neck. “I’ve missed touching you…being close to you as much as I can.”

I cupped his face in my hands and made him look into my eyes, “Make love to me.”

“Until the sun comes up.”

I smiled, still looking into his eyes.

“God, I love you,” he said before taking my breath away.

He lifted my arms above my head, singing softly in my ear, “
Hold on tight, don’t let go. I want to feel you in my soul. Until the sun comes up, let’s make love
.”