Corralled

"So, you're saying I'm the flavor of the week, then, right?" Sally asked, tossing the cloth on the bar. "Listen, Max. I don't know you well, but I always had a pretty good opinion of you, thus far. Don't fuck that up. I don't care what your opinion is, and you telling me that stuff is just plain old shitty. Right now, you're no different from Mindy and Ally and I don't appreciate it. You should probably stop talking to me."

Max stepped back, obviously as stunned as Sally was, herself, by her words. Sally rarely ever stood up for herself and would rather run than ever confront someone. What was happening to her?

Sally walked away, reminding herself not to run, and felt like the queen of the world.

*****

There was a concert nearby that night, some country star Sally wasn't too fond of, so that meant that the place would be practically empty. She decided to leave Elvis behind and go home early. Such a decision was incredibly out of character for Sally, but she decided she enjoyed her new outlook.

She got home and took a long bath filled with her favorite bath bomb. She poured herself a glass of wine and opened the book that had sat, unread, on her bedside table for nearly a year. Then, she decided to check the news and turned on the TV. There was nothing on when she flipped around, of course, but she was restless and eager for a better distraction than her once-again discarded book. She fidgeted in bed and checked her phone a few times, looking for some kind of inspiration as to what she should do.

Then, she laughed. She was bored. Sally couldn't remember the last time she was actually bored, and decided it was a good thing she was feeling a little out of her element.

"Is this what they call relaxation?" she asked the empty room.

She picked up her phone again and nearly called Rhett, but she thought of something better with a dirty grin. She put on the frilly nightgown she had shown him previously and covered it with a nice coat, giggling as she dressed. It was just like a movie. She was going to surprise Rhett, and hopefully he would cook her something to eat and have delicious sex with her again. He'd probably love that she was taking the initiative. She was feeling herself, nice and fierce and ready for anything.

Sally couldn't fight the grin as she drove over to Rhett's place, and though she was puzzled by the unfamiliar red sports car sitting in front of his house when she arrived, she still hummed as she shut off the ignition and walked up to the house.

She wasn't trying to spy, but her eyes were drawn to the well-lit dining room that presented itself through Rhett's front window. Finally, her good mood dissipated instantly and she literally felt as if she had been covered with an icy water bucket.

Rhett sat at his table, looking absolutely gorgeous as he leaned in and smiled at a beautiful woman. The woman was older than Sally, probably closer to Rhett's age, but she possessed a certain flair and style that Sally had never been able to duplicate. She had long red hair and plump lips that were pursed in what was obviously mock disapproval of Rhett. They looked cozy, content, charming... exactly like a couple.

Unfortunately, Max's poisonous words from earlier flooded into Sally's brain and she took an unsteady step away from the house. No wonder he made plans with her tomorrow. He was entertaining another woman.

Sally turned around slowly, feeling mostly frozen, and was surprised she wasn't crying. When she reached her car, she heard the front door open and looked around, desperate for a place to hide. Rhett's property was too open for anyone to hide, and Sally realized with total horror that she was probably already spotted and would have to face the music.

And she was right. Rhett was already stalking toward her, but he didn't look embarrassed or guilty. His expression was thunderous.

"What are you doing here?" he hissed once he got to her.

Sally tried to remember the fierce fox she had been only minutes before, but she felt all too much like the shrinking flower she had been for most her life. "I... just wanted to s-surprise you."

His eyes scanned her up and down. "What the hell are you wearing?"

She peeked down and saw that her coat had fallen open and the sad nightgown was now on display. She quickly shut the coat, but the damage had been done: her humiliation was complete. Her lower lip trembled and she couldn't look at him anymore.

That's when he touched her. "Damn it, Sally. I told you tomorrow for a goddamn reason!"

Sally's ire flared back into her belly. "Right!" she yelled. "So you could screw someone else!"

Rhett stared blankly back at her. Then, the bastard had the audacity to laugh. "'Screw'? 'Screw'! Kitty, is that what I do? Is that what we did?"

Tears fell down her cheeks. "Don't make this a big joke, Rhett. It's not funny. You have another woman in your house and you didn't tell me. I'm completely embarrassed right now."

"That'll teach you," he said.

Sally's confusion battled with her anger. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't show up to a grown man's house unannounced, especially when he deliberately made plans with you on another night." He rubbed the back of his neck and peered back at his house. "Now, you need to leave."

Sally's mouth dropped open. She was beyond speechless. He turned around and saw her expression.

"It's my ex-wife. I'm tryin' to charm her into selling me back part of the property I lost to her in our divorce settlement, okay? Okay, Miss I-jump-to-all-kinds-of-wild-conclusions?"

She rubbed her forehead. "I am... confused."

"No kiddin'. You're hearing information I wasn't ready for you to hear. Now, that woman in there might look like a nice lady but she can be a viper, especially to other women. So, get into your car and get movin'. Don't piss me off anymore than you already have."

She narrowed her eyes. "Don't talk to me like that, Rhett!"

"What part of 'get out of here' have you not understood? Get goin', Sally. I will call you later."

Sally stomped to her car and dropped into her seat. "Don't think I'll answer, you old prick!"

She sped away, ignoring the sound of his maddening laughter behind her.

*****

"Then I says, I says, 'If you here are lookin' for trouble, I got two fists just lookin' to pound at a face,' and then you know what he says?"

Sally topped off her regular's drink and shrugged. She wasn't trying to be rude but she hadn't recovered from the night before.

"Sally, he says, 'Good, 'cause I love...,' and then bam! I hit him right in his stupid face. I wasn't lookin' for no answer. Idiot couldn't even fight right."

"That's really interesting, Bill."

Rhett walked into the bar and Sally stood up straighter. He had called her a few times since their run-in the night before, and Sally was not in the mood to meet with him yet. He had disappointed her, and it scared her how deeply he got to her already. She refused to listen to whatever nonsense he had to say.

She brought over his favorite beer and put it in front of him. She had the distinct feeling the entire place was watching them, but she didn't care anymore. "The usual?"

"We need to talk. You know that."

She was tempted to say no, but he was right. They needed to have some closure on this stupid, ill-advised fling. So, she nodded her head toward her office and he walked behind her. She ignored the whistle of one of her regulars, and gave a small smile to Elvis when she saw him watching with concern. Her attitude change from the day before had not gone unnoticed to her cousin.

Once she shut the door, Rhett began. "I am sorry I didn't tell you my ex-wife was coming over. In hindsight, I probably should have, but I wasn't too keen on reminding you how much of a failure I've been in the love department. I was also worried you'd get jealous, and I was also a bit proud about the whole thing. I want you, Sally, and I want this to work, but 'this' also just began and I didn't feel like I needed to tell you about meeting with her, at least just yet. It wasn't a romantic thing. You need to trust me. We have talked about that before, too." Rhett sat on Sally's desk and whipped his hat around his finger. "You also just can't show up at my house. I appreciate the gesture, but I'm a private old man, okay? I need some boundaries. Maybe, once we're more official..."

Sally didn't realize she was crying until Rhett stopped speaking and reached over to rub a tear away.

"Damn, Sally. I don't mean to make you cry. I just want us to be mature about this, and get on the same page. Did I ruin this whole thing?"

She leaned against her office door and thought about what he said. "You looked pretty romantic last night. Candles. She was in a red dress. You were smiling."

The corner of Rhett's mouth lifted. "She can be an entertaining lady, when she wants to be. She gave me the land. She was in a good mood. Signed the paper, then and there. But, Sally, honey, if she had known you were there? My Lord. It all would have been done for me. She would use you as a pawn. Come around here, harass you, ask me a million questions, maybe even think the land was for you. I just didn't want to complicate matters any more than they needed to be. Can you understand that?"

He stepped closer and stroked her hair. "I'm interested in you, Kitty. I want you. Not my ex-wife who made me miserable. Not my other ex-wife who broke my heart. But you have to give me time and allow us both the permission to make mistakes. And you're going to have to trust me, and respect my boundaries and how I do things. I ain't sayin' what I do all the time is right, either, but it's the way I do it right now. I would have told you about Lucia if maybe we'd been seeing each other a little more, but this is all new and, like I said, Lucia is a real bitch when she knows she's got something on me."

Sally moved away from him and sat in her chair. "Remember I said men aren't usually very gentle with me?"

Rhett stared down at her. "Yeah, I remember you mentionin' that the other day."

"One of the 'gentle' ones cheated on me, like you wouldn't believe. I thought he was the best boyfriend I ever had. Really respectful. Opened doors, kissed my hand, always wanted to go where I wanted to go and do what I wanted to do. He really listened to everything I said, or he at least pretended, really well. He was unbelievable. Then, one day, I caught him kissing my mom." Sally forced herself to laugh, even as she cried. "Then, all of my friends started confessing, one after the other. Some had slept with him, others had done other things. A few just knew about it all. Everyone knew and never told me. It was the most humiliating thing ever. Mom and I patched things up after and I never told her husband at the time, which was Husband Number Three, if I recall correctly, but of course things were never the same." Sally leaned back in her chair and felt exhausted. "Things were never great between us to start with, anyway. So, you see, I have a very cliché tale of a cheating boyfriend with a twist. A few people got into my head about you yesterday, but I stood up to them. I really like you, Rhett. But then, I saw what I saw yesterday and I am so confused." She looked up at him with tear-filled eyes. "How can you trust yourself after something like that? How can you really know a person? How can you ever be confident that you have yourself a good guy? And oh, if you knew about the other men I dated, how disgusted you would be!"

Rhett's intense eyes sparkled down at her. Then, he stood. She figured he was leaving, but he walked around the desk and took her hand, giving it a light tug. "C'mere."

"No," Sally sobbed, "please just leave me alone. I'm a mess."

"Yep. Total mess. I've decided I don't like your face when you cry."

That stopped her. "Excuse me?"

"I said, c'mere."

"Well, I don't want to."

"I didn't ask if you wanted to. I didn't even ask, ma'am. I said for you to come here, right now."

Sally wiped at her face and rolled her eyes. "Rhett, what are you doing? Whatever it is, I'm not in the mood."

"Woman, you better stand that cute behind up or you'll be sorry. I'm corralling you."

"Corral? Damn it, Rhett, I'm not cattle!"

"You're being as dumb as cattle right now. Get up."

"Wow, go away, Rhett!"

"Get. Up."

"Oh, for God's sake!" She stood up and let out an annoyed sigh. "Let me guess. You're going to kiss me, or you're going to try to say something swoon-worthy, or tell me you're not like my ex, or who knows! I am just not interested in this relationship, or whatever it is. So far, it's been nothing but drama and one big fucking headache."

He hugged her, instead. Really hugged her. Sally couldn't remember being hugged like that in the longest time, like she was dear and precious. "I'm sorry that happened to you. And you're right: I am going to say I'm not like him, because I'm not. You just described a boy, a selfish boy. I may be selfish, but I am all man. Maybe you don't trust me yet, but you will, baby. You will. Until then, I'll be patient and I'll try not to fuck things up. Okay?"

Sally could feel herself softening. She really wanted to hold onto the anger, but then she wondered for what purpose? Rhett wasn't her ex. He was a complicated, older, mature, stubborn, super-stuck-in-his-ways cowboy who would probably make a lot of mistakes and hurt her more than a few times. But she could tell he would try not to, if he could help it. She wasn't perfect, either, that was for sure.

"I'll tell you the honest truth. You scare me a little, kitty. You're all refined and you don't suffer fools gladly, and I'm a fool. I'm the opposite of refined. I've been divorced, more than once, and I seem to piss you off a lot." He leaned back and looked into her eyes. "And I truly am sorry I upset you, and not just because you looked hot as hell in that nightgown, Sally."

"I scare you? That's funny."

Rhett thumbed a tear away beneath Sally's eye. "I'm glad you think it is, 'cause I sure as hell don't. I'm a grown ass man and I'm a love fool for a young woman who could do much better." He kissed her, and she let him. "You gonna give me another chance?" he asked against her lips.

She let out a small burst of air. Then, she nodded. "If you stop treating me like one of your animals." She stood back so she could look him in the eye. "Also, you need to get that what you did last night wasn't cool. I get you have boundaries, and you said not to come over, and I'm sorry for that. You still should have told me."

Rhett smiled. "I'll take it under advisement, okay? All I can do is try."

Sally took his hand and squeezed. "Then, let's try this thing. Just don't be a prick again."

"Don't you mean an 'old' prick?" he corrected with a laugh.

"Don't start."

"Oh, honey," he said, his sugary smile back on his face, "I started a long time ago. Stopping is a lost cause now."

Sally just smiled, but deep down inside, she hoped he was right.

*****

Sally and Rhett decided to forego the Italian restaurant that night and just hang out at his place. Rhett disappeared for a bit and then returned, playing some chill romantic music that immediately put Sally at ease. Then, he poured her a generous glass of wine and surprised her as he brought her into the bathroom. The bath was filled with bubbles, and the surface of the tub was covered with a bunch of candles.

"Since you didn't feel like going out tonight, I still wanted to pamper you. Do you like it?"

"I love it," Sally answered, taking off her clothes. Rhett's eyebrows rose.

"Well, I can tell. I think that's the fastest you've undressed for me."

"You better start undressing, too. You need to catch up, old man."

The two eventually sank into the luxuriating hot water. Sally rested against Rhett's chest and sighed. She could feel him partly hard beneath her ass, and she felt a lovely and relaxing amount of arousal.

"This is amazing," she said after a few minutes.

Rhett took a sip of wine, then said, "I'm glad you like it. You deserve it."

Sally shut her eyes and allowed herself to finally relax, so when Rhett spoke again, Sally jolted and her eyes fluttered open.

"Does my age bother you?"

Sally didn't know how to answer at first. Then, she skimmed a hand down his leg underwater. "No. Does mine?"

"Sometimes," he said. "Not that I think you're immature, but that I think you might find something better. I'm older. I've been married. I also didn't woo you properly. We sort of just got into this thing, and now we're catching up."

Sally turned her head for as far as she could so that she could look at his face. "Did you just say 'woo', seriously? Maybe you are too old for me!"

Rhett splashed her. "Bad girl."

"I like you. A lot. You've been very good to me, and I tried to fight against this and lost. I don't want to fight against it anymore. I think we could be good together. I'm excited to learn even more about you. You're right, though; we rushed into this and a lot of this is based off of lust. I know that. But there is something else there, and I can't wait to pursue it. Does that fully answer your question?"

His hand reached my breast and tweaked a nipple. "So, you don't mind this old prick?" he asked as he ran his fully hard cock against her ass.

"Not in the least," she answered breathlessly.

"Guess what I can't wait for? Teaching all that I know, 'cause this old dog knows plenty of tricks."

Sally kissed him deeply. She knew they had a lot more to work out, but in that moment, in the bath Rhett drew for in his home, with his body warmly wrapped around her, she felt confident that she was going to be happy to be corralled by someone like Rhett.