Make Me Smile

Later that night, Vaughn drew me a bath and urged me to get in and soak. He said that Dr. Trent suggested it, to ease my sore muscles. He kneeled by the side of the tub, rubbing my back gently with the washcloth. I just closed my eyes, leaning forward against my knees, and felt very thankful that I had such a caring boyfriend.

The next morning, I actually woke up before Vaughn did. Since I had been sleeping on and off all day, I had already met my sleep quota, apparently. Vaughn always seemed to need a lot less sleep than me, so the usual thing was that he was up and out before I even opened my eyes in the morning.

The sun was just coming up, and I turned over to look at him sleeping in the dim light. I smiled. He was sleeping on his stomach, his face turned towards me. His silvery hair was rumpled, sticking up in places. He breathed heavily out of his nose, reminding me a little of a sleeping horse. I looked down to his body. He was so tall, that he slept a little diagonally in the bed so that he would fit without having to bend his legs. He had the covers kicked off, and as usual, wore nothing but a pair of boxers. I thought it was ironic that he wore such heavy, dark clothing all day, even out in the heat, without a complaint, but at night he chose to wear very little. Not even a T-shirt.

I admired his lean physique, reaching out and stroking his long back gently. His eyebrows lowered, and he grumbled a little in his sleep. He cracked one eye open and looked out with annoyance, which melted away when he saw me. A little wisp of a smile curled the edge of his lips. I just smiled back at him. “Good morning,“ I whispered.

“Good morning,“ he grunted in return. He yawned and stretched, then turned on his side towards me. “How do you feel?”

“I still hurt all over,” I replied. “But my head doesn’t ache as badly any more.”

He nodded, pulling me in close and resting his chin on the top of my head. “Good,” he said simply. He held me for a little while longer, then released me, rolling onto his back. “Well, I guess it’s time to get up.”

My attention was drawn to his boxers. He was visibly aroused. I stared at it with my mouth open, and his eyes followed my gaze down to it as well. “Oh, that?” he shrugged. “It’s always like that in the morning.” I silently vowed to myself to start getting up earlier. I just kept staring, and he smiled, dropping his hand to stroke at it lightly. “Why, do you want some…?”

I just nodded mutely, and he didn’t hesitate to roll on top of me and begin kissing at my neck. He started to grind against me, and I moaned happily. He pulled away for just a moment. “Are you sure that you’re up for this?”

I nodded. “Maybe it will make me feel a little better?” He just groaned and went back to grinding at me. He brought his hands to my hips and peeled my panties off, then pulled his own boxers off as well. He parted my thighs with his hands, and pushed himself inside of me. We rocked together, our pleasurable sighs and moans the only sound in the quiet morning. I rolled my eyes back in my head, grabbing at his back. It felt so amazing, that all my pain was being washed away.

I wrapped my thighs around his waist, pulling him in close to me. The weight of him pressing on me combined with the friction of his movements brought me to an easy and satisfying climax. I moaned his name softly over and over in ecstasy, which drove him over the edge, making him thrust furiously into me until he found his own release just moments later. He cried out in pleasure as he spilled inside of me, and planted kisses all over my neck. “Oh, Chelsea, I love you,” he groaned.

“I love you, Vaughn,” I whispered into his ear as he still trembled against me. We relaxed together for a while, then he brought himself off of me.

“I have to go see to the animals,” he said, as he stood up and pulled on his boxers. “It might rain today, so I need to get them inside before it starts.” He leaned down to me, brushing my hair out of my face. “Oh, Chelsea, you’re so perfect,” he whispered, leaning in deeper to kiss me, and I blushed, extremely flattered. He pulled away with a wistful look on his face, and resumed dressing himself for the day. He headed out into the fields.

Later in the day, Dr. Trent dropped by to check on me, and while he agreed that I seemed to be doing better, he cautioned me against overexerting myself. I smiled to myself, wondering if what we did this morning fell under “overexertion” or not.

Luckily, it was a rainy day after all, so my crops didn’t need watering. Vaughn was busy with herding the animals in out of the steadily increasing downpour, and then getting them fed inside. I sat up in bed, feeling a little bored. I watched the rain pelt against the window.

The door swung open suddenly, and Natalie stepped in from outside, shaking the rain off herself. She came forward to me. “Sorry about not knocking, but I saw Rodeo Boy stomping around in the rain out there, and I knew it was safe to come in. I don’t want to walk in on him lassoing you or something.”

I groaned and rolled my eyes. Natalie sat down on the edge of the bed, her sarcastic demeanor softening. “How ya doing?” she asked, looking concerned.

I gave a little nod. “I’m all right.”

She shivered. “That was really scary, everything that went down yesterday. I’m really glad you’re okay.”

I nodded. “It was my own dumb fault. I saw some wild carrots growing in the ram’s pen, and I stupidly went in to get them. The ram was just being a ram.”

Natalie raised an eyebrow. “So that’s what that was all about.”

I was puzzled. “What, you didn’t know I got attacked by the ram?”

She shook her head. “I knew that. Grandpa told me. But yesterday evening, I saw Vaughn leading the ram out to the beach. I saw him later coming back, and he didn’t have the ram with him.”

I decided to ask Vaughn about it when he came inside. “Vaughn…what happened to Rammy?”

Vaughn sighed. “I sold him back to the trader’s company.”

My eyes widened. “Why? Because he attacked me? But he’s just an animal. I shouldn’t have gotten in his pen.”

Vaughn nodded. “I know that. But I also knew that I wouldn’t be able to treat him the same anymore, knowing that he had hurt you. So, whether it was his nature or not, I couldn’t keep him any more.”

I looked down, feeling guilty. “It’s all my fault…”

He sat down on the bed. “No, it’s all right, Chelsea. All four ewes are pregnant, so we don’t really need a ram right now. We can get another one later, or maybe one of the lambs will be male. It doesn’t really matter right now.” He stroked at my face. “I’m just happy that you’re okay.”

He changed the subject, smirking a little. “Rammy…what an obvious name for a ram. You really have a knack for naming animals, Chelsea.” I pouted. “Moomoo the cow, Woolly the sheep, Cheeps the chicken. I find it hard to keep a straight face having to call them by those goofy ass names.” He burst out into laughter, something he didn’t do very often. “Here, Moomoo!” he called out in a falsetto voice. It was so unexpected, that it caught me off guard and I burst into laughter as well. I laughed until my sides hurt, and he laughed even harder, watching me lose it.

I gasped for breath. “Well, rename them if it’s so bad!”

He shook his head. “Naw, I like your goofy ass names. It gives me something to tease you about.”

I huffed. "Well, you're lucky the horse just ended up being called 'Ree." Natalie wanted me to call it - "

Vaughn groaned, cutting me off. "Oh, I can only guess." He smirked. "Vaughn, right?"

I nodded, covering my mouth as I started laughing again. He just rolled his eyes and laughed with me.