Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 76759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
He grabs me then, throws me on the bed, and hovers over me. “I want to tell you, Brianna. I want to try to help you understand. But I can’t. Not with this raging hard-on. I have to have my release.”
I slip out of my thong. “I’m not stopping you.”
He plunges inside me then, and I gasp out. He’s so large, and though I’m still aroused, talk of Dale and the vineyards and Jesse’s family tightened me back up a bit.
“Okay?” he rasps against my neck.
“Yes. I’m okay.”
“Thank God.” He pulls out and pushes back in.
This is a hard and fast fuck, nothing like my first time.
He made that special for me after he found out I was a virgin.
This time isn’t for me. This is for him.
He’s suffering, and I want to give it to him.
I wrap my arms around his neck, massage his shoulders, as he thrusts, thrusts, thrusts…
When he pushes in hard, I feel him spurting his release inside me.
I smile against his neck.
He stays inside me for a moment, and then he rolls off me onto his back, flinging his arm over his forehead.
I stay quiet a moment. Let him bask in his afterglow.
Until—
“Let me know when you’re ready to talk.”
He grunts.
So I stay lying next to him, biding my time, trying to be patient. Until he finally turns, propping himself up on his shoulder.
“Try to imagine what it might be like to not have everything your heart desires. Not to be able to go into any store and buy whatever you want.”
“I can imagine that.”
“Can you? You’re probably thinking of someone who’s gone hungry. That isn’t me or my family. We’ve always had enough to eat.”
“I’m glad of that.”
“But the difference is that I have to think before I go to Taco Bell for a meal. I have to think before I go to Lorenzo’s for some lasagna.”
“But I just saw you in there, with Ava, Brock, and Rory, before the holidays.”
“Yeah, I was with Brock and Rory, so Brock picked up the tab.”
“I know you’re not going hungry, Jesse.”
“No, I’m not. I never have, and I’m very grateful for that. I’d sell my soul to the devil if I had to if it meant feeding my sisters.”
“I believe you would.”
“Of course I would. But that’s not even the point. Our small ranch is everything to my mom and dad. Uncle Scott and Aunt Lena as well. Our vineyards were destroyed. All of them. Our winery operation isn’t as good as yours, isn’t as big as yours, and we don’t produce fine wines like Ryan and Dale do. We produce table wines. Wines that people buy in bulk, and we sell a lot of them. It’s the major source of our income, and now it’s gone.”
I gulp audibly. “But you keep beef as well.”
“We do. But our operation isn’t like yours. We have enough beef to feed ourselves, and to sell to local markets. But it’s not our operation’s major focus. We don’t have orchards, like you guys do. It’s just wine. That’s our business.” His lips twist into a frown. “And it’s gone, Brianna.”
“I think Callie said something about you guys buying grapes from other vineyards to keep your business going.”
He shakes his head, laughing sarcastically. “And you don’t see the issue with that? Those grapes cost money. Money we don’t have. We’ve had to go into debt to keep our operation going. Plus, we have no control over the quality of the grapes we buy. When they come from our own vineyards, we do. We know their quality. Now we have to start from fucking scratch, Brianna.”
My heart breaks.
Mom and Dad, and my aunts and uncles—they taught us how to value our money. We all grew up working on the ranch, learning good family values, learning that nothing comes free.
But it’s not the same.
Even though we all worked our fingers to the bone when we were kids, learned how to run the ranch, we never wanted for anything.
We never worried about where any kind of income was coming from. On Christmas morning, there were always piles of gifts under every tree for each one of us.
And the parties… The infamous Steel parties, where barons of Steel roast were served along with Dom Pérignon and Uncle Ryan’s best Bordeaux blends. Practically the whole town was invited to feast on the Steel riches.
It’s a part of my life. It always has been and always will be.
It’s not a part of Jesse’s life. Or Maddie’s. Or Callie’s or Rory’s, for that matter, although it will be once they marry into our family.
I open my mouth, ready to tell him that I understand, but then I realize that’s not what he needs to hear.
“I won’t insult you by saying I understand, Jesse. But thank you for telling me this. I want to understand.”