“See?” Gramps says with a shit-eating grin. “That’s the spirit. You’re working it out already.” He lets out a long sigh. “In all seriousness, you two have made me a very happy man. I know it wasn’t the ceremony you’ve probably dreamed about, Brooke, but you two will have a lifetime together to get it right—”
“Six months,” I remind him. “Let’s not get carried away.”
Chapter Two
Fix the hay baler and check the feed trough in pasture five for rot. Inspect the new cattle and make sure the ticks are gone. My to-do list runs on a seamless loop in my brain. I roll over another lump in the couch and feel a spring dig into my shoulder. It’s been a fucking nightmare of a day, and I’m determined to get at least a few hours of sleep before starting the next one.
I try to forget my never-ending inventory of tasks, and focus on the peaceful image of the cool stream behind the paddocks in the east field. Something grabs my leg.
“What the hell?” I bolt upright, ready to grab the gun I have stashed in the cushions. Then I see the shiny wheels. “What the fuck, Chuck?”
“Good. What the fuck is right. We’re seeing eye to eye, then.” The wheels take off to the side table, and a lamp clicks on, filling the space with light.
“What’s going on?” I grumble, snatching my phone off the coffee table. “It’s two fucking thirty.”
“And you’re not following the rules. First day and you’re already going off the rails.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“I guess I should’ve specified that living together under the same roof means sleeping together.”
“Fuck. You’re a goddamn pimp. You know that, Chuck? A pimp.”
“Ha,” he cackles, throwing his head back and wheeling over to me. “I didn’t say the same bed. If you’re ready to give me a grandchild, that’s up to you. But you need to be in the same room. For God’s sake, save the couch for your first fight. You’re newlyweds. This is lovey-dovey time.”
I squint at him.
“Well? You coming?” He spins his chair, almost popping a wheelie. “Get the lead out. People need to sleep around here,” he gripes from halfway across the room, and then takes off.
“Shit,” I mutter under my breath. “I’m the one who has to wake up in two hours.” I hang on to my phone and wrap the thin, itchy blanket around me. I sleep in the nude. I guess it was too much to expect a little privacy. Keeping the blanket tight around me, I march though the living room.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I hear Brooke yell as I turn the corner to the hall. For whatever reason, it makes me chuckle to know Brooke and I had the same reaction. I pop my head into the only bedroom with the lights on.
There’s an empty twin bed under a small window. Brooke’s bed is directly across from it on the other side of the small room. I can’t see her face because Chuck is blocking my view while lording over her.
There’s no use arguing with Chuck. At this point, it’s hard to even get mad at him. I keep half expecting him to keel over in front of me. I know he’s just trying to do his best before his time runs out. I can’t really blame him.
I clutch the blanket around me, keeping myself covered, and climb into the free bed and get under the sheets. Not that I’m shy. Under normal circumstances, I don’t give a shit who sees me naked. I’ve got nothing to be ashamed of, but this isn’t a normal anything.
Chuck pivots, eyeing me. “Harrumph. Better.”
“Okay. Satisfied? You can leave now,” Brooke moans. I glance over at her. All the makeup from today is gone. She looks soft and sleepy, like an angel. I don’t know what she’s wearing because she has the covers tucked all the way up to her chin. But her arms are bare, and her lips are temptingly plump and kissable. She looks like a fucking late-night snack.
“Fine.” Chuck still has his back to me, but by the sound of his voice, he’s glaring at Brooke. “This is how it’s going to be for the next six months of your married life.”
“Whatever you say.” I hear Brooke’s mattress squeak. And fuck. I still can’t believe I’m in this goddamn situation. My head is butted against the wooden headboard. My feet hang off the bottom of the mattress. This bed must’ve been made for a little kid. What the fuck am I even doing here?
As though Chuck is reading my mind, he spins his wheelchair to face me. “Now, I’m not going to force you to give me grandchildren.”
I balk. “How kind.”
“Well, with Brooke still being a virgin and all, it might take a little more time than usual.”
“Wh—
“Gramps, please! For the love of God. Please go back to sleep,” Brooke begs, obviously mortified. But my cock only hears opportunity and swells with the thought of being the first inside her virgin-tight pussy. I’ll bet she tastes like cherry pie. Damn, she’s going to make my no-touching rule torture.
It’s been a long time since I’ve been with anyone. All the women I date want a commitment after a few months, and obviously that’s a deal-breaker.
“Fine. We won’t talk about your maidenhead, Brooke.” Chuck wheels his chair to the door. “But, for what it’s worth, there shouldn’t be anything that you can’t discuss with your husband.” Chuck crooks his neck, apparently waiting for me to speak. But I’m seeing cherries popping in my brain, and I’m not saying a thing.
Thankfully, without another word, Chuck shuts off the light and leaves the room.
Brooke and I are left alone. The only sound breaking through the shadowy silence is my hammering pulse. If my cock could make any noise, Brooke would hear it say, I’m going to be the first to fuck you, baby girl. I glance over, my eyes roaming over every one of her buttery velvet curves.
Even with the light off, the moon is so bright I can see her clearly. She’s brushed the covers off and is lying flat on her back, staring at the ceiling. My mouth is fucking watering. For the first time, I get an eyeful of what she wears to bed. Almost nothing.
Christ.
Her flimsy pink top looks about three sizes too small. The tiny straps are strained, working overtime trying to cover those creamy tits. I swallow thickly, trying to distract myself from my aching balls, as my eyes latch on to her juicy nipples. They’re sticking straight up, like they’re reaching for the ceiling. Hard as rocks, clear as day . . . My dick is already oozing precum as it bumps against the wooly blanket.
Her long smooth legs almost touch the foot of the bed. All soft and sugary sweet, she’d be so easy to fuck. I could be on top of her in under a second.
A fiery heat roars through my blood. And goddamn, it makes me want to throw all my no-contact rules out the window.
One flick to the left or right of those minuscule shorts and my dick would be prying that pretty virgin open. I’d stretch her wide and fuck her deep, while kissing that plump, pouty mouth of hers. I’d wrap that thick hair around my hands and hold it away from her face so she’d never forget who made her come the first time. My seed would be leaking out of her for days . . . Shit, she’s so ripe.
Brooke clears her throat, and my eyes shift back up to her face. She quirks a brow, her dark eyes sparking with fire, knowing exactly what I was doing. She gives me one of those cutesy smirks that makes me want to teach her a goddamn lesson. Then she draws the blankets up and covers herself.
How the fuck am I going to keep my hands off of her? Because you have to, a faint voice of reason reminds me. I close my eyes and try to think of getting my teeth drilled.
“It’s true, you know.” Her throaty whisper goes straight to my cock, making it stand up straight again.
Are we really going to talk about her cunt?
“It’s kind of embarrassing, to be honest,” she explains, and what the fuck? Does she know what the hell she’s doing? “To be twenty-one and still a virgin is a pretty rare thing these days.” She sounds humiliated.
“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” I say softly, going right back to wanting to put a lip-lock on her.
That ought to make her shut up. “If the timing wasn’t right, it wasn’t right.”
“And it hasn’t been right. Until now, technically.”
“Now?”
“I was saving my virginity for my husband. I thought you should know. I’m sure men like you have a thing for virgins.”
Holy Christ.
“You have no idea who I am or anything about me,” I say, fucking agitated that she’s goddamn right. My cock is so hard it could cut through steel now. “It might be the other way around, sweetheart. Virgins might just have a thing for men who know what they’re doing. And you can bet your sweet ass I do.”
What am I saying? The last thing I want is to dare her, or take this conversation one step further. We haven’t even spent one night in the house together and we’re already talking about fucking. She’s more than a decade too young for me. This could get messy fast. No way in hell am I popping her cherry. Although now, I’m fucking obsessed with the thought.
“Goodnight.” Brooke’s soft, sexy voice cuts through five feet of darkness.
“Goodnight,” I respond, trying to sound sleepy.
“So my pussy’s probably really tight. I mean, I have nothing to compare it to,” she whispers. “But I’ll bet it is.”
What the fuck? My eyes flip open and my heart starts hammering. I say nothing.
“And if you were gentle, it probably wouldn’t hurt much. I wasn’t going to mention it after your no-touching tirade, but now that Gramps let my secret out . . . Maybe you could be my first? You know, then I wouldn’t have to worry about what it would be like. I could get all that awkwardness out of the way with you . . .”
Jesus H. Christ.
“How much did you have to drink tonight?”
“Hey, we are married, after all.”
“What the fuck are you saying?”
“Nothing any other virgin wouldn’t say on her wedding night. I know this is different, but I’m just thinking out loud.”
“Well, turn down the volume. I have to go to work in a few hours.” Thank God my sanity finally comes knocking again. “I’m sure someone your own age will be happy to comply. As far as you and I are concerned, there won’t be any touching and certainly no—”
“Losing my virginity?”
“Christ, no.” I’m never getting any sleep.
Chapter Three
I gave up trying to get some shut-eye. Brooke had me so fucking horny talking about her tight little cherry-hole, I had to get up and rub one out in the bathroom last night, and again this morning.
Brooke is still sleeping. There wasn’t a peep coming out of Chuck’s room. Ethel doesn’t get him out of bed until seven.
It’s only five and I’m running late. I like to move the cattle before the heat of the day when they’re not as ornery. It’s only March, but it’s been warm.
I dig in to my bowl of cereal and flip through a stack of resumes. I placed an ad on one of those job sites last week. But I don’t think any of these applicants will be able to hold a candle to Blade Parker.
The Parker family are big-bucks, big-time ranchers in Texas. But they’ve had a bad drought and want to diversify. They’re thinking about starting an operation here.
Blade knows my reputation and wants to work with me first, to get a sense of how we do things in Montana. You never know, we might want to partner up on projects in the future. You can never have too many connections.
“Morning, husband,” Brooke announces, traipsing into the kitchen. What is she doing up so early? And goddamn it, she’s wearing the same fucking barely-there nightie I just jacked off thinking about.
“You might want to put a bathrobe on,” I grumble, doing everything I can to concentrate on the resumes. But fuck. Her tits are going to be the death of me. I can see her dark pink areolas and big nipples right through that top.
“Oh, sorry,” she mumbles, bending over and reaching into the fridge. Those shorts barely cover her smooth round ass, and she sure as shit isn’t wearing panties. My cock starts throbbing, and I can’t think of anything other than fucking her. And fucking her good.
She closes the fridge and turns, holding a milk carton. “I didn’t mean to distract you.” Her dark eyes shine. Then she gives me a sly grin, giving me no doubt she knows exactly what kind of effect she’s having on me. “I wouldn’t think you’d want your wife wearing anything. I thought the pajamas would be enough . . . cover.” She pours a glass of milk as my pulse thuds in my ears.
“You’re going to be the death of me.”
“Why?” she asks, feigning innocence. “Don’t you like my jammies?” She grins and reaches into a cabinet.
And this little game stops here and now.
I get up from the table and storm over to her. I wrap my big hands around her tiny waist, ignoring the rockets going off in my bloodstream, and roughly turn her around. My eyes rake over her jiggling breasts.
“I’m warning you,” I growl, so pissed off I almost don’t recognize my voice. “I know what you’re doing, and you need to stop.”
“What?” Her big brown eyes flash with excitement, and she doesn’t make any move to wiggle out of my grip. In fact, I’m almost certain she loves being manhandled. “I thought you said no touching.” She chuckles lightly, and I tighten my grip around her so she knows I’m serious about this.
“Not when you’re purposely toying with me. Not when you come out here, tempting me, wearing practically nothing, refusing to put a goddamn bathrobe on.” Fuck. I’m losing control.
I need to teach her a lesson if I’m ever going to survive for six months. “You want to play?” I ask, running my hands over the plump, luscious tits I’ve been lusting over. Her nipples grow under my touch, making my blood roar. “Is this what you want, cherry girl?” I keep my eyes fixed on hers as I roll her right nipple between my thumb and forefinger and tug.
Brooke moans almost on contact, just as I thought she would. Her face flushes pink as she silently stares down at my fingers. “You better be sure, darlin’.” I tug harder this time. “Because I won’t go slow and easy. I’ll fuck you so hard I’ll ruin you for anyone else.”
She parts her lips to say something, but I can see the shock written all over her face. I’m obviously the only one who’s ever talked to her this way. I can see she’s nervous, but goddamn, there’s a fire raging in her eyes too. And she’s licking her lips like she’s ready to kiss me.
I bring my other hand up and crudely cup both of her breasts in my massive hands. I slowly tug on her nipples, making them grow under my fingers. She’s slack jawed, in shock. I wonder how much wider that little mouth of hers can go.
“Keep your mouth open like that, and I just might teach you how to suck my cock. It’s big, so it might take some practice. But I think you’d like my sticky cum dripping from your mouth and all over your tits.” That ought to teach her a lesson. “Is that what you want? Huh?” I let go of her and make a big thing out of reaching for my belt buckle.
Her eyes are as wide as saucers. She steps back, folding her arms, trying to cover her tits. “No, no, no. I’m not—”
“You’re not? Well, I’m not the kind of man you want to tease.” My cock throbs against my zipper. I bring my hands back to my side. Now that I think I’ve got my point across, I step away before I rip that fucking top off her with my teeth. I keep my gaze locked on hers. “I’m sure as shit not one of the little boys you’re used to playing with.”
“I’m sorry.” Her voice trembles, but when she moves her arms, I see her nipples are still the size of sugar cubes. “I guess you’re right. I didn’t realize—”
“That you’ve got my cock so fucking hard I could bend you over that table and pump you full of cum right this fucking second?”
Brooke’s mouth drops open in shock again.
“Well, now you know.” I gather up my paperwork and try to ignore my painful hard-on. Shit. What is it like to not be hard around her? I start to head out of the kitchen but turn back around. We
have a long road ahead. As long as she behaves herself, I don’t want her to be afraid of me. “Hope you have a good day.”
“Thanks.” I see the relief trickle through her body as she relaxes. “I’ll probably do a little painting and hang out with Gramps for as long as he’s awake.”
“That sounds like a plan,” I say, heading out. “I’ll be back after dark.”
“Be careful out there, cowboy.”
Chapter Four
May
It’s dark, but the porch lights are on. The whole day’s been a blur. I’m so exhausted I can barely lift my feet. My dressy black heels scuff over the gravel as I trudge from the car to the front door. One foot in front of the other, I remind myself, step by step.
Shane is by my side, and even though he’s not saying anything, his silent presence gives me strength. We’ve been getting along pretty well since I’ve been making a point not to wear anything too revealing around him. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been tempted to entice him.
That morning, when Shane grabbed me and played with my nipples and told me every filthy thing he’d do to me, I’d never wanted anyone more in my life. No one has ever talked to me like that. I still get wet just thinking about it.
In fact, last week I told him I was nervous that morning, but that I still want him to be the first one I sleep with.
Mr. No Commitment refused, of course. I see the hunger in his stare sometimes and still feel the sparks pinging between us. But Shane hasn’t touched me since that one and only time.
On a positive note, there isn’t any awkwardness between us, which is a good thing right now, because I can’t imagine coming back to this house alone.
I’ve been crying nonstop since Monday, when Ethel tearfully gave me the news. Gramps passed sometime during the night in his sleep. She doesn’t think he was in any pain.
Long Hard Ride: Arranged Marriage, Brothers, Cowboy Romance (The Wild Wests Book 3) Page 2