by Kendall Duke
It hurt—it cut me in half, it split me at the seams, it burned like fire—and it felt so good. So much pleasure, all in one intense second—so much power in his body, humming with life as he gently deepened the thrust, lingering as long as he could at each miniscule interval, spreading me further and further until my body was completely open, my thighs pressed flat into the mattress as the weight of his own pushed further in. I was breathing in short, clipped gasps; Sebastian continued to kiss me, his soft lips tracing each part of my face as his hands cradled my head. He was supporting himself on his elbows, still slightly aloft, but he was so big that I was compressed anyway. Thank God he knew what he was doing—for the first time, I realized how big Sebastian really was. He could have hurt me without even meaning to.
But he didn’t.
No… No, he knew exactly what he was doing.
When my breathing slowed down, the searing pain in my body mingling with the more pronounced heat he drew out of my center, Sebastian kissed me deeply, teasing my tongue with his own as he rolled his hips firmly against my bare, swollen pussy. I felt myself tighten around him, and his soft exhale told me I felt good to him too. “Damn,” he murmured, and nipped my collarbone as he reared back and watched his body slowly enter mine. “Goddamn, baby.” I drank in the hiss of breath through his teeth as he felt me, was pleased by me--Sebastian sped up, just a tiny bit, and my body began to flower, the sweet sensation of opening for him just as intense now that I was completely ready, the pain ebbing away and becoming nothing but more pleasure—the deepest, most intense pleasure I had ever felt. Ever.
“Sebastian—” I didn’t know what I needed to tell him, just that I called his name-- I needed him, oh my God, I just needed him-- The wave of my orgasm crashed over me again, sucking me into an abyss of ecstasy so complete I felt like I was entering a trance. I felt his hot mouth on my nipples, and it drew me back; I felt his hands on my inner thigh, repositioning me so he could get even further inside; I felt his other hand cradling my face, my jaw, as he picked up speed again. My God. “Sebastian!” The orgasm roared through me, a hurricane of feeling. I heard him grunt as his body began to rhythmically pound into me, grinding us into one flesh with each thrust—we were melding, our bodies so entwined that when I looked down I couldn’t tell which gleaming line of flesh was connected to me or to him. And then I felt him stiffen in climax, his body so far inside of mine that his heat rippled up my spine as I came for him one last time.
I didn’t want him to leave when it was over, when my senses started to return and I was able to refocus my eyes on the room around me. “Holy shit,” I whispered, and used the very last bit of my strength to wrap my legs possessively around his waist, sealing our torsos together.
“Did you mean it?” I turned my head. Sebastian’s face was right next to mine, his shoulders collapsed to the side in a twist. He didn’t want to leave me either, I realized, and locked my ankles. He flexed his ass and pushed into me again, his body growing hard already. We were going to go again, I realized, and felt… Relief. Because I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to be apart from him. Right now, I think I could be perfectly happy laying exactly like this, entwined in one another, pinned, opened, belonging to him.
“Yes,” I whispered, and he kissed me. I felt his long arm wrap around me and then, suddenly, he flipped onto his back and I was perched, upright, straddling him. He was hard as a stone inside of me, his dark eyes daring me to ride with that wicked smile.
“You ready?”
“Please,” I said, already feeling my hips move as they centered themselves on the rod inside, the fat, swollen button of my clit pressing into him. Sebastian’s hands snaked over my thighs, across my belly, and undid the clasp of my bra. My shirt was in tatters and I pulled it the rest of the way off, completely naked on top of him.
“Jesus, what a fucking view,” he murmured, and when I rolled my hips experimentally he sucked in a breath. “Do that again,” he told me, and when I did he thrust from below, slapping my clit with his hard body where we met and sending a thrill of electric pleasure through me. I cried out as he did it again, as my clit thrummed against him, then met his gaze as he stared up at me, his chest rising and falling rapidly as we both felt the rush of our bodies meeting. I angled my back, preparing for more, and he positioned his hands on my hips, his long fingers digging in to my ass.
“Please,” I whispered, and he gave it to me again, and again, and again. Sebastian bit his lip, his thigh muscles and abs flexing as he pushed up and into me, meeting me and pleasuring me as I wailed. My hips moved of their own accord, matching his rhythm, and my head fell back as he picked up speed, forcing me wider and supporting me as I grew weak, helplessly swept along. We both came at the same time, panting and charged with the lightning we made together, my ecstatic screams filling the room as his body filled mine. Tiny stars danced on the edge of my vision, and when I pitched forward he caught me, gently laying me down across his broad chest. When I woke up we were side by side, his long fingers tangled in my hair.
“I love you,” he whispered.
“Good,” I whispered back, and he smiled at me. We slept just like that, face to face, and as I felt his gentle breath on my skin I smelled it again, the scent of Sebastian, and the west: the flowers, trees, roads, rivers, rain, and sky, mixing beautifully as they were carried along on the wind. The scent of freedom and safety, all in one.
~~~
Epilogue
Sebastian
She was late. I found myself pacing in the dirt, back and forth, back and forth, for all the world like a restless young stallion. “Relax,” my mother scolded; she was making dinner, but at the moment she was parked in the recliner on the porch with her feet up, her eyes on her only son as he marched to and fro like some kind of maniac. “This is the right thing to do,” she called, but I shook my head at the ground. I didn’t actually disagree with her—I trusted her judgment, the importance of everything happening in the right way; I trusted my family. I just couldn’t keep still. She watched me for a little longer, then went back inside to make sure nothing burned. The smell of delicious food filled the twilight air, and I continued scuffing my boots, kicking the dust like a kid.
“She’ll be here any minute,” my uncle said calmly, and I scowled over at him. Again—I wasn’t mad. I wasn’t even irritated with him; I was just irritated. Would Sierra think this was romantic? Would she think it was strange, or silly? I’d thought about tonight for three months straight, since she agreed to stay with me in Montana; I’d probably had it in the back of my head when I joked about us getting married the first night we met. And I’ll be damned if watching her hips roll on top of mine while my cock filled her from below didn’t seal the deal—I wanted to marry her that morning. Right then. Peach skin, thick thighs, chocolate and violet eyes—the girl was heaven-sent. She belonged to me, and I sure as hell belonged to her. I probably would’ve ended up moving to fucking Idaho if she hadn’t agreed to stay… Not that Idaho was so terrible, of course, but I’m from Dakota. And in the end, I guess, I wanted her to come home with me.
My real home.
So here we were.
“How’s the job working out?” My uncle recommended me to the police department in Pierre, and the transfer went through two weeks ago. I knew half the guys on the force already, and the ones I didn’t knew me from my riding days. So far it’d basically been one long party.
“Great,” I told him, truthfully. I made myself stop moving long enough to look him in the eye. “Thank you.”
“I just wanted to get rid of you,” the old dog said, and I grinned and went back to kicking the dirt. Another ten minutes passed before I snapped upright, staring down the long dirt drive into the distance; sure enough, the trail of dust rising in the air promised she’d be here soon.
“Hot damn,” my uncle said, opening the door of his truck and stepping down into the driveway. “I thought you were going to dig a damn hole with the tip of your boot by the time they got here
.”
“Should I go get Sierra now?” I was still pacing, but now I froze and stared at him, unsure. I’d never missed my dad so much before—not even after the accident. I was glad to have a man around I could ask these things.
“Absolutely not,” he said, waving his hand. “Let the girl rest. Her whole family’s arriving tomorrow, your house is almost finished, and she’s still got another three weeks of feeling like shit, if we’re lucky. Then you can drag her down here for no goddamn reason at all to watch you wander around like a ninny.”
“I’m not—”
“Let’s get everything set up,” he said reasonably, raising his eyebrow at me. “And then, and only then, we will wake Sierra.”
He was right.
We got to work.
~~~
Sierra
I woke up aching all over. No one told me pregnancy felt like this—that you were so sick you could barely think for half of every day, your body retching constantly, and then for the other half you were so tired you couldn’t see straight. Louise, Sebastian’s incredibly kind mother, promised it meant good things; a healthy baby, she explained, takes a lot from its mommy. It grows stronger every day, which is challenging for your body—but brief. She brought me cold cloths to place on my forehead and ran a mild bath for me every evening. “This will be over sooner than you realize,” she swore, “when your beautiful, healthy baby enters the world. But it’s more likely you’ll feel better in about two weeks, honey.”
I loved her. I loved the crazy uncle that set Sebastian and I up.
And holy crap, did I love Sebastian Miguel Redhorse Walsh.
We’d been living in Dakota—his term, one I’d already absorbed—for a little less than a month. Our home, a beautiful little A-frame, was popping up about a mile and a half down the road from his mother’s house. Their plot of land was mostly unused these days, she explained, after Mr. Walsh’s death; now that Sebastian was home, though, I think she wondered if ranching might be feasible again. I had a good job lined up in Pierre, but when we found out I was pregnant I was very happy to put off work and enjoy the sky in the country for a while. Sebastian worked long shifts, but he was home with me at least three days a week.
And everything was kind of… Heavenly.
Particularly now that Ripley was in jail.
I did testify, just as he said, with Sebastian sitting in the third row of the court room, a full foot taller than the people on either side of him—my father and brother. But it wasn’t a charge for stalking that put him away. Ripley was a bad guy, and it turned out that once Sebastian contacted the FBI—don’t ask me, I’ve given up wondering how he knows everybody in the surrounding states—they were building a case against him for something worse. Another girl from our school believed he’d perpetuated a fraud, contacted the police, and after digging a little deeper the case went federal when it turned out he used those nefarious internet skills to commit identity theft on a wide scale. I was happy to be a character witness for the prosecution. I didn’t need to spend much more time in Ohio than that. My family was looking forward to their new vacations on a real ranch, even if it wasn’t currently in action, and my life was now west.
Everyone was arriving tomorrow, and it was going to be so much fun—the last time we were all together, Sebastian met and charmed them all. This time, my brother and his sweet wife were staying with us in our new house while my mom and Louise stayed here with my dad. Some of Sebastian’s cousins were going to keep close by and act as companions for my father so my mom could enjoy herself while she was here without worrying constantly. There were some serious advantages to having a huge family.
I forced myself to the edge of the bed, swinging my legs over the same way I trained my patients to when they were relearning how to move. As I rocked upright, I held tight to the edge of the bed and waited… Nope. Good to go. We were away from the puking half of the day and into the exhausted half. I stood up slowly, stretching my back, and grinned when I heard heavy footsteps on the floorboards outside in the hall. “Baby?”
“Hey baby,” Sebastian’s deep voice called out, and his lovely face appeared in the doorway, smiling at me. The sparkle in those dark eyes made me tingle all over, and I reached out both hands to him. He swept me up in an embrace and kissed the top of my head.
“I must have slept really late,” I said, looking out the window and over the driveway in front of the house. “The sun’s already set?” We often sat with Louise on the wide porch and watched the giant red star settle behind the horizon, the whole sky lighting up with stars as it went. An unfamiliar horse trailer was in the driveway. “Are your cousins staying over tonight?”
“The sun has set, my cousins arrive tomorrow—well, the rest of them do, Marvin is here for dinner—and I have something to show you. Do you feel up to a little walk?”
“Not really,” I confessed, but he just smiled, held me by the hand and gently led me to the door. I figured dinner was ready; Louise was very careful to try and only cook healthy food that happened to have a low first-trimester rejection rate, and the house smelled fantastic. When we got to the kitchen I made to turn in, but Sebastian wordlessly shook his head and tugged my hand. We went to the front porch and slowly walked down the steps, the violet sky above us endlessly perfect as always.
Sebastian turned towards me, the stars gleaming overhead. I was shocked when I realized there were tears in his eyes. “Baby? Is everything okay?”
“Sierra, I…” He took a deep breath and squared his broad shoulders, then cupped my cheek with one wide hand. “I love you very much. And I have something for you.”
“Okay,” I said softly, still concerned. He took a step back, glanced over at me, and then walked towards the horse trailer. Sheriff Redhorse, that crafty old man, had been standing there the whole time; I gave him a grin and was startled to see that he had tears in his eyes too, even though he smiled back at me. He opened the grate on the back of the trailer and Sebastian stepped up and disappeared for a moment. When he returned, he led a beautiful horse down to the ground, the silken black and pearly gray coat gleaming in the twilight, a long white tail swishing in the air. She was perfect—somehow, I just knew it was a mare. Her dark eyes took me in, and with a soft burr she stepped towards me before Sebastian even lead her over. “What—” I found I couldn’t speak either, tears swarming in my throat as the velvet muzzle nosed into my cupped palms and I buried my face in her cheek.
“The Sioux began marriage rituals by offering horses to their potential wife’s father,” Sebastian explained, his voice soft in the still air. “So… I got you a horse. I think, given the modern times and mixed cultures and all, it’s okay if I offer it to you. But if you say no, I’m just going to give her to your dad tomorrow.” His grin faltered as he sucked in a deep breath, his dark gaze burning me even as he tried to make a joke.
“Marriage?” My eyes widened. I stood upright and stared at him.
“Yes,” Sebastian whispered. We stood there in the violet light, taking each other in, for a long moment.
“Marriage,” I said softly. Sebastian nodded. “Marriage!” He nodded more enthusiastically, grinning at my huge smile while the mare shuffled her feet at the sudden loudness. “Marriage,” I whispered, smiling as the tears came, and he rushed toward me, kissing my face all over, as his family watched, yipping and clapping from the porch.
“Is that a yes?”
“Yes,” I said, grinning, and Sebastian stepped back and offered his knee to me, then pointed to the silky back of my mare. I stumbled, unsure, and he raised an eyebrow at me, that wicked grin of his returning all at once.
“Come on, Al,” he said, and I laughed.
“Is it safe?”
“Your baby is Lakota and rodeo royalty,” Louise called from the porch. “He’ll be fine!”
I knew better than to ask how she knew the baby’s gender. Instead, I stepped onto my fiancé’s firm thigh and swung my leg over the back of my mare, the way I’d seen him
do it countless times before. He’d chosen perfectly; she softly knickered but didn’t move an inch as I settled on her, and her gait was as smooth as her coat. The world slowly darkened around us, as if a curtain were being drawn. With a couple final yips and hollers, the family went inside and it was just Sebastian, me, and my horse.
My bridal price. I grinned down at him. “Okay. Where to?”
“That’s my girl,” he said, smiling back at me. “How about we go… Home?”
I turned my head and glanced up at Louise’s place. “What do you—”
“No, our home,” he said, his eyes gleaming as he looked up at me. He took the mare’s lead and guided us past the horse trailer, further along the driveway. Sebastian pointed in the direction of our little house, down the road.
Tiny, twinkling solar lights lit up the entire driveway, illuminating the path once the sun set and the darkness wrapped around us. It looked like the heavens came down to guide us home. In the distance, I could see a beautiful little house, bright against the sky and waiting for us to start our lives.
“So what do you say, Sierra Davenport,” the beautiful man next to me said. He was so tall that he only had to tip his hat back to look at me; our eyes shone in the dark, taking one another in. “The real party requires dancing and food and all kinds of stuff, but that’s for tomorrow. In the meantime… Do you want to get married?”
“I do,” I promised, and he took the lead and kissed my hand before moving slowly towards the light, towards freedom and safety, and most importantly, I realized, love.
The End
Kendall Duke’s Innocent Series
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