Milk and Honey
by Pan
Chapter 1:
McKayla rolled her eyes at the sign that welcomed her to Scaphis Valley. “The Land of Milk and Honey,” it read. “Population: 6313.”
How do they even know that? she asked herself. Is that number going to go up for the week that I’m here?
Almost as if responding to her thoughts, she noticed a truck pull up beside the sign. As they approached, a burly man pulled out a ladder and a bucket of paint and began climbing.
But it wasn’t the specificity of the number that bothered her the most—it was the size of it. Barely six thousand people. How could anyone live like that?
McKayla was a city girl—currently living in New York, after her home town of Chicago had begun to bug her. It might have been the country’s third-largest city, but it still felt like a small town in many ways, and that was not a feeling that McKayla liked.
So why was she heading into Scaphis Valley, home of six thousand, three hundred and... fourteen people now, she supposed.
She swiped at the lock-screen of her phone, and began texting her boyfriend.
“Almost in,” she wrote. “Pick me up in five?”
“Sure thing,” Theo responded, almost as soon as she finished typing. “See you soon.”
McKayla hadn’t specified where the bus was dropping her off. In a town this size, she didn’t have to.
When McKayla and Theo had met, three years earlier, they’d both been living in Chicago. They’d gotten along almost immediately—the pair were both vegetarians, they shared an easy sense of humor, had similar taste in music and films, and there was an intense physical spark between them.
In fact, it hadn’t been until they’d been together for almost a year that McKayla had discovered that she wasn’t at all Theo’s type.
“What do you mean?” she’d asked, not sure whether or not she should be hurt.
“Just that...well, you’re not the kind of girl I would normally go for.”
McKayla wrinkled her nose.
“For real?”
She wasn’t a particularly cocky person, but McKayla knew she looked good. When a model hadn’t shown up for a photoshoot at her marketing agency, someone had suggested McKayla step in...and the idea had been taken seriously.
It wasn’t that McKayla was model-level gorgeous—she was attractive, but she never stopped traffic or evoked proposals from strangers. It was mostly just that she had a look which was very “in” at that moment—she had tattoos running up both of her slender arms; a dragon wrapped around her right forearm, and an inspirational quote surrounded by flowers on her left.
She had a collection of black and grey beanies, which she’d gotten a lot of use out of throughout New York’s wintery months, and she was almost always dressed in a leather jacket.
“I think you’re gorgeous,” Theo had been quick to clarify, and she’d laughed at the apologetic tone of his voice. She’d decided not to be mad at him—after all, he wasn’t exactly her type either. She normally went for guys a bit taller, more muscular. Theo kept in shape, but he had a runner’s frame—McKayla’s ideal guy was more Thor than Loki.
“Normally, I go for...curves, I guess.”
“Oh yes?” McKayla smirked, wrapping her arms around her boyfriend’s neck. “Could that be because they remind you of a woman being...knocked up?”
As she whispered the last two words into Theo’s ears, he shuddered. McKayla had to hold back a laugh—ever since he’d revealed his pregnancy fetish to her a few months earlier, she hadn’t stopped using it to torment him...and turn him on.
It made no sense to McKayla. In all other ways, Theo was the perfect feminist. He knew that she wanted to focus on her career, and that the idea of having kids was at least a decade away (if ever)—but for whatever reason, just the mention of getting her knocked up was enough to get him immediately hard.
The conversation had ended with the two of them fucking right there in the kitchen, but McKayla had thought about it often. She wasn’t worried about him cheating—Theo wasn’t the type. But when they were out together, she’d sometimes mentally compare herself to the woman showing off her cleavage, or the rear ends of curvy girls passing by.
She was still proud of her slender build, despite her lack of boobs and butt. She felt lithe and sexy...and when it was snowing and she was buried under twelve layers, what did it matter what her body looked like?
McKayla looked good in winter clothes, and Theo certainly seemed to enjoy her naked body...especially when it was writhing in pleasure underneath him. That was what mattered, after all.
“McKayla!”
“Theo?”
The 24-year old woman almost did a double take as she saw her boyfriend striding towards him. Apparently the job that had brought him to this town in the middle of nowhere was working him pretty hard.
It had only been a month since he’d last visited her in New York, but in that time he seemed to have packed on twenty pounds.
Of muscle.
McKayla’s wide-eyed look made him laugh, and as he swept her off her feet and firmly pressed his mouth against hers, the young professional happily melted into his kiss.
She had no idea how he’d managed to hulk out so quickly, but she certainly wasn’t complaining.
“Thanks for coming out,” he said, and McKayla pressed her hand against her mouth, trying to hide her amusement.
“What?” he asked, grinning broadly. “Whatcha laughin’ at?”
He’d only been here for ten weeks, yet he’d somehow already picked up a hint of a Southern accent.
“Nothing,” she replied, returning his smile. “Just happy to see you.”
And she was. Despite the fact that his work had brought him into the middle of nowhere, despite the fact that he’d resisted her efforts to follow her to New York City and get work there...despite the fact that he’d even suggested they break up when it became clear that they were going to be apart for two, maybe three years...she was still happy to see him.
“C’mon,” he growled, and a shiver ran up her spine at this new...manlier?...version of her boyfriend. “Lemme show you my place.”