Blue Ridge Romance Ch. 01: Welcome

"I'm afraid it was all in vain, Darlene. Last I remember, Mike was winning."

"Well, he won the fight, but the bartender and his friends gave him hell for being a jackass, so he did come over and apologize to me."

"Well, I'll be damned. Guess the beating it was worth it." She smiled and looked down.

"You got a new nickname now. Mike's pals named you Scrapper, 'cause you didn't back down from a fight you had no way of winning."

She leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. "Thank you, Scrapper," she said, giggling, "I got to go home now. I need a little nap, after staying up all night to watch over you." She got up and left. I didn't want to be rude but getting up to walk her out the door was not possible at the moment.

I heard the front door open. "Morning, Mrs. Swensen," I heard Darlene say.

"And good morning to you, Darlene." I heard the screen door slam as Darlene left. Mrs. Swensen came in. "I heard about your fight, come to look in on you. Seems like Darlene nursemaided you pretty good. You're still drawing breath." Mrs. Swensen had her silver hair tied back into a ponytail, and it made her look ten years younger.

I sat up, groaning in pain. "Yeah, nothing seems to be broken, all my teeth are in place, but I don't think I want to look in a mirror right now."

"Good idea," she replied. "You're a mess." Then she changed subjects. "You know, Darlene is a sweet girl. She's just a lost child, really. Grew up with an abusive daddy and a neglectful momma. Dropped out of high school to become a hairdresser. Pretty much all her life she never had nobody stick up for her until last night. You did a good thing, Mr. Durling, but it may have consequences."

I held up my hand. "Wait a minute, Mrs. Swensen. I did not have sex with Darlene, I was in no shape to."

"That's not what I mean," she replied. "You're probably the first man in this town that was a gentleman towards Darlene, not some man paying attention to her just to get into her panties." My eyes got wide, and Mrs. Swensen frowned. "Oh, please, Mr. Durling. Don't act all prudish on me. We're no angels, you and me, let's speak plainly. Now, we have things to discuss."

"Can I get up and take a shower first?"

++++++++++

It's amazing the recuperative powers of the shower. My face was a little red here and there and I had a black eye, but the rest wasn't too bad. The rest of my body had assorted bruises, but everything seemed to function normally. While I showered Mrs. Swensen made coffee, toast, and even scrambled a couple of eggs for me. Aside from my head aching, I felt OK. When I walked into the kitchen, she gestured for me to sit down.

"You eat, I'll talk," she commanded. The stern look in her beautiful blue eyes made it clear I didn't have a choice.

"First thing, I need to warn you. You're an eligible bachelor in a small town full of single women and bored married women on the prowl. Darlene may have noticed you first, but after your little brouhaha last night every one of their tongues is wagging about the new feller from the mining company who got into a fight at Jumbo's over a woman he didn't even know. Pretty soon there's gonna be a line of women out your door, every last one of them looking to put their hooks in you and use you to escape this place. You're a gentleman, educated, and well-off financially compared to most of the local boys. The young girls especially, they all got the same plan - for you to get them pregnant so you'll marry them and take them to better circumstances."

I chewed and swallowed the last of my eggs and kept listening, a little distracted by how pretty Mrs. Swensen looked sitting at my table in the glow of the morning sun. She must not have noticed, because her lecture continued unabated.

"I want you to promise me you'll always use condoms." I nodded in agreement. "If one of these women swears she's using birth control, don't believe them. All you got to do is ask me, I'll find out from my sister Hope over at the drug store if they're telling the truth. She knows every prescription for every person in town."

"I promise I'll use condoms," I said distractedly. Mrs. Swenson was so pretty, AND she smelled so good, like lavender. It took me by surprise when she lightly slapped my cheek and sighed in an exasperated fashion.

"You damned fool, stop mooning at me like a schoolboy and pay attention," she said almost teasingly. "Condoms that YOU buy, yes. Never use a condom that these women give you - the sneaky bitches will poke holes in the package and hope you don't notice. That's how desperate they are to escape this town."

I had to ask her, "So Mrs. Swenson, you've lived here your whole life, why didn't you try to escape?" I noticed that she had surreptitiously unbuttoned the top two buttons on her sundress, giving a tantalizing peak at the top of the slight cleavage that lay hidden beneath. I felt my loins begin to stir.

"Well, this was way before TV and computers and internets and such; back then girls of my generation didn't get bored so fast or get lured by the outside world like they do now. I fell in love with the boy next door and he was a miner, so that's all there was to it. For 30 years Kurt was a good husband and provider, until the accident. The last 9 years or so it's been my turn to be the provider."

"Yes, I'd heard about his accident from Mr. Lancaster," I responded. "There's no getting around mining being so hard on the men who do it."

"And that brings me to another thing I wanted to discuss with you," she said, getting out of her chair. She walked over and pulled me and my chair away from the table, then sat on my lap with her arms around my neck. Her body warmth felt wonderful. "Funny how you come to town, next thing I know my husband's disability check went up." Now fully awakened from prolonged inactivity, my cock began to stir.

I was feeling physically dizzy and a little overwhelmed emotionally at Mrs. Swensen's sudden presence in my lap. "I - I am not sure what you're talking about," was all I could get out as my manhood got rock hard.

She leaned over and whispered in my ear, "Tell me the truth, Ray Durling," and kissed me on the neck.

"I, uh, well, maybe just a little," I answered as she planted her kisses up the side of my face.

"I thought so," she sighed, and kissed me full on the lips. My left hand was now on her stomach, and my right hand unbuttoned the front of her sun dress, reaching in to cup her breast. I was surprised and delighted to find there was no bra. I felt her nipple harden as my palm caressed it.

"What about Mr. Swensen?" I asked as we exchanged light kisses.

"Kurt's my husband, but for the last 9 years he's been paralyzed from the armpits down. He knows my natural needs ain't being met and he knows I'll never leave him, so if I were to stray a little bit, he wouldn't mind. And I seen how you look at me when my hair bun comes undone, so I'm thinking you sure don't mind."

"That much is true, Faith." I figured since she was on my lap now and my cock was rising to meet her, I could stop calling her "Mrs. Swenson'. With my free hand, I pulled her sundress open. Her breasts were b-cups, drooping slightly but with enormous aureoles and nipples. I bent my head and sucked on one, and she gasped in pleasure.

"My tits have sagged some, but my nipples are way more sensitive. Don't stop!"

My cock was too hard to be denied now; we got up and I led her into the bedroom. She dropped her sundress to the floor, undoing her long hair as well. She looked like an angel with silvery hair. Her arms and legs were a little droopy, but since she'd had no children her torso looked like a 30-year old's. She stood still as I looked her up and down, then gently pulled her panties down as she stepped out of them. Her pubic hair was silver - the carpet matched the drapes, as they say.

We lay down on the bed, kissing and caressing until I moved on top of her. "Be gentle, Ray, I'm not as young as I used to be," she warned me. I kissed her, encountering some resistance in her pussy as I entered her; I used short, easy strokes and soon she was wet enough for full penetration. When I was able to thrust my entire cock was in, she gasped in pleasure. "It's been a while, so my cunny forgot how to work for a second," she laughed.

"Working OK now?" I asked teasingly. I began thrusting in a slow easy rhythm, still not quite believing I was fucking this beauty.

"Yup," she answered, "just took a second."

"I forgot the condom," I teased, "should I be worried about getting you pregnant?"

She grabbed my head with both her hands and pulled my mouth to hers. We kissed deeply, tongues intertwined as I began to move in and out of her pussy. When she stopped kissing, she whispered, "smartass" in my ear...

We fucked missionary style. I was slow and gentle the whole time, not wanting to hurt her. She moved beneath me, pushing back against my thrusts. It was very stimulating, and it surprised me as my orgasm was just beginning to build that she had one of her own. She arched her back in pleasure and I pumped more firmly as she began to relax, but as I was about to release she began to breathe more rapidly and arched her back again, and climaxed for the second time as I reached orgasm.

"Damn, Ray," she said in a low voice as we lay together, "Whoever marries you will be one lucky gal."

"I wish it could be you, Faith," I murmured back. My cock softening I kissed her deeply, my fingers finding her nipple and playing with it. She reached down caressed my balls; my cock began to stiffen once more. As I got hard again, I turned her on her right side and plunged into her pussy from behind. She gasped but did not resist. Instead, she lifted her left leg to give me better access.

After we finished the second time, we got into the shower together. We soaped each other up and it made me hard again, almost painfully so. After we rinsed off she knelt down, took me in her mouth and drained what little cum I had left in my balls. Faith was a hell of a woman. If she wasn't married, I swear I would have proposed right then. I reciprocated by covering her body with kisses and bites until the water heater gave up and the shower water turned ice cold.

By the time she left, Faith had suck marks on her tits and she was walking rather unsteadily. As she finished dressing I tried to pull her back into bed just to kiss for a while, but she playfully slapped my hands away. "Ray Durling, you stop right now or I'll never go home."

++++++++++

Monday at work I was called into the office of the mine's General Manager, Don Parker. Waiting for me was the union foreman Ed Berry as well as Mike, the guy I mixed it up with at Hank's Hi-Life. I was asked to take a seat next to Mike, who looked kind of nervous.

Don started speaking. "Ray, let me make this quick. I understand you were in a fight on Friday night with Mr. Crews here. Since you got the black eye and Mike's none the worse for wear, I'm guessing you got the worst of it. I want to make it very clear that we take assault by an employee on a member of the management team very seriously. If you want us to take disciplinary action towards Mike, we'll be glad to do so."

Don was glaring at Mike, like he wanted to lower the boom on the guy. The way he was sweating, I guessed this was not Mike's first time in this office. Ed Berry was sitting there with an expression on his face that was impossible to read. I thought about it for a few seconds, took a deep breath, then replied. "Don, I appreciate the support, but honestly it was hardly an assault." I held up my hands in front of me to show it was no big deal. "Yeah, me and Mike got into a little disagreement, and we mixed it up a bit like guys do, right? But there's no hard feelings, we're still buds, right, Mike?" I held out my hand to him. Tentatively he took it, and we shook.

"Yeah, sure, Ray, we're buds," he replied, a very confused look on his face.

Don looked at the two of us, shaking his head. "Yeah, OK, get out of my office, but for crying out loud you're both grown men; quit fighting like high school kids. Now get your asses back to work."

A few minutes later when I was back in my office, Ed Berry stepped in. I looked up from my spreadsheets, puzzled; Ed seldom came into my part of the building. "I just wanted to say you're starting to look like a good guy, Mr. Durling. Not like that asshole before you, Jarrett. It may come as no surprise to you that everybody hated that fucker. I heard what you did for Kurt Swensen."

"That was supposed to be a secret," I replied, scowling.

He ignored my remark and continued. "Then just now you stood up for Mike. He's a hell of a worker, but he's got a problem with authority. Parker's had him on the carpet a few times, and this would have been the final straw. He could have been kicked out of the mine and put on some useless job that he'd hate. But you didn't roll over on him." I held up my hand to stop him.

"Look, Ed, as big as he is Mike could have done some serious damage to me, but I woke up with only a few bruises. He went easy on me. I figured I could cut him some slack." Ed nodded in acknowledgement. "And as to that other thing, well, you didn't hear or see anything, you understand me?"

Ed nodded and held out his hand. We shook. "Understood," he said, and left.