by Joanna Sims
“You can ask him tomorrow. I’m pretty sure he’ll say yes.”
Skyler got into bed, turned off the light and stared up at the ceiling. She was exhausted and wide-awake. An hour ticked by and she had tossed and turned until her blanket and sheets were tangled around her legs. Frustrated, she kicked and kicked until she was free. Quietly, she padded out to the kitchen to get a cold glass of water.
“You can’t sleep?” Hunter asked the question in the dark and gave her a start.
“You scared me.” She filled a glass with water and drank it down. “I thought you were asleep.”
“No.” He sat up and leaned forward, resting his head in his hands. “This couch is killing my back.”
Skyler put the glass on the counter. This was ridiculous. She couldn’t sleep; he couldn’t sleep. They were both adults. It didn’t make sense that they should be apart.
“Come to bed,” she said.
Hunter lifted his head and looked over at her. She breathed in, held it and then let out a breath slowly, awaiting his response.
“Skyler, if I come to bed with you, we will end up making love,” he said with the honesty she had come to expect from him.
How many seconds slipped by while she absorbed his words. She knew he spoke the truth and her next words would decide the path that their relationship would take. She knew what she wanted—she wanted to be with Hunter, even if they only had the summer.
She put the empty glass in the sink, walked to the couch, held out her hand for him to take and said, “Come to bed with me, cowboy.”
* * *
Her bravery waned when she found herself alone with Hunter in the cabin bedroom. Out in the living room, she had felt empowered, like a woman in charge of her own sexuality. Once in the bedroom, the lights thankfully off, and the cowboy of her dreams outlined by the dim light streaming in through the window by the bed, she faltered.
“Having second thoughts?” he asked her, standing shirtless by the bed.
“No,” she whispered. Then, after a moment, she said, “Yes.”
Hunter walked over to where she was standing in the doorway, cupped his hand around the back of her neck and kissed the top of her head.
“There’re bunk beads in the spare room. I’ll sleep there.”
“No.” She caught his hand. “That room is full of boxes. It’s like a storage room. You’d have to move things around just to get to the beds.”
“Then I’ll go back to the couch,” he said. “I don’t want you worrying about me. I’ve slept on the ground working cattle than in a bed.”
Skyler grabbed his hand and held on to it.
“I’m serious,” he said, trying to reassure her. “This is too fast. You’re the tortoise, remember?”
Hunter was doing his level best to make her feel comfortable in an awkward situation. But he was getting it all wrong. She wanted to be the hare; for once in her life, she was determined to be the hare.
“I don’t want you to go.”
He leaned down and touched his forehead to hers. “I don’t think you know what you want right now, Skyler. And that’s okay. I don’t want you to wake up with regrets. I just know that if I get into the bed with you, I’m going to need to touch you.”
Skyler lifted her head so her lips naturally touched his. She lifted up on her tiptoes, put her hands on either side of his face and kissed him. Hunter looped his arm around her back and pulled her tightly into his body. He could lift her and hold her against him with one arm—the strength of the man made her feel womanly. The soapy, clean scent of his warm skin and the feel of this bicep flexing against her back as he held her close to him were heady sensations. The kissed deepened as her breathing became shallow and quick.
“Tell me what to do.” Hunter kissed her neck right below her ear.
She shuddered with pleasure, her eyes closed, her fingers in his hair.
“What do you want?” His face was pressed into her neck.
“I want you to stay with me.” She raked her fingers through his hair. “I want you to make love to me.”
No words from the cowboy, just kisses—on her neck, her chin—and then his strong, firm lips found her softer lips.
“I don’t....” She moved her head back an inch or two so she could tell be as honest with him as she thought he was being with her. “I don’t feel sexy.”
Hunter stopped trying to kiss her and straightened his arms so there was a little distance between them.
“What?” He genuinely sounded surprised. Confused.
“My hair,” she said. “My body in general, I suppose. I just don’t feel...like myself yet.”
Hunter stared down at her face, his eyes appearing almost black in the darkened room. “Do I have some say in this?”
When she didn’t respond, he asked the question again. “Do I have a say in this?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “What do you want to say?”
Hunter slipped his hands down, cupped her bottom and pulled her upward into his body. “I think you’re sexy, Skyler.”
Their groins were pressed tightly together now and she could feel Hunter’s rock-hard erection; her body responded with a more intense ache. The moment she felt it, she wanted it. She wanted to touch it, hold it, kiss it. She wanted to get it inside her, sink down on it.
“I think you’re very sexy, Skyler.” Hunter suddenly lifted her up in the air and she naturally wrapped her legs around his waist. He walked them back a couple of feet to the nearby wall and pressed her against it, his hard-on hitting the bull’s-eye on her body. He grabbed her arms, lifted them above her head, linked their fingers together and kissed her hard and long.
“Tell me that you believe me.” Hunter stopped kissing her and held his lips away from her even as she leaned her head forward, trying to recapture his mouth with hers.
“Tell me.” He thrust his hips into hers and she wanted—needed—to rip away the layers of material separating their flesh.
“I believe you,” she gasped, desiring him like she had never desired another man. She was in pain, a pleasurable, exquisite, throbbing pain she had never known existed before. “I believe you.”
With one arm secured around her back, he let her slide down his body until her feet were touching the ground. He kneeled down before her, running his hands down to her backside, then hooked his fingers in the waistband of her simple white cotton panties. She was sure he was going to pull off those panties; she wanted him to rip them off, bite them off, get them off as quickly as he could. But he didn’t. He teased her, kissing her mound through the thin material, making her push her body toward his lips, moaning and holding on to his head to keep herself upright on legs that felt like they were made of Jell-O.
Hunter slipped his hands—such large, strong hands—under the short nightie she was wearing, lifting it as he went. He stood up and kept right on lifting the nightie until she had a choice—stop his progression or raise her arms. Slowly, languidly, feeling dazed with so many wondrous sensations bursting all over her body, she raised her arms.
Hunter smiled—she saw the flash of his white teeth—as he freed her from her simple, unremarkable nightgown.
Her chest rising and falling from passion, and with a strip of light illuminating her left breast and the nipple that was tight and hard, Hunter stared at her chest just as she was staring at his.
“You are incredibly beautiful.” The cowboy traced the side of her small, pert breast with his finger. “The rarest of flowers.”
She caught his hand and pressed it over her breast, closing her eyes at the feeling of his warm palm on her skin.
One hand still on her breast, his thumb gently worrying her nipple, Hunter’s free hand cupped the back of her head and he kissed her again. She opened her mouth as she intended to open her body to him. Hunter lifted her with ease and carried her to the b
ed. She watched as he stripped off his jeans and his underwear. He was unabashed in his nakedness—strong, muscled thighs, corded abs, a beautiful defined chest and a thick, magnificent, hard cock.
Skyler reached for him, heard him gasp with pleasure and surprise. She put him in his mouth, something she knew she would do, and heard him groan at the feeling of her tongue on his skin.
He let her take her time with him, explore him, feel him, dominate him. And then, when she had taken him right to the edge of no return, Hunter stripped off her panties, kneeled down on the ground between her thighs and turned her into a midnight snack.
“Oh, my God.” She grabbed the blanket on the best in her fists. “Oh, my God.”
“No.” The cowboy kissed the inside of her thigh. “Hunter.”
“Hunter,” she moaned. “Hunter. Hunter.”
By the time he was done with her, she was screaming his name, grateful that there were miles of woods between them and another living soul. After he brought her up to the top of the mountain, and she’d shouted his name to the rooftops, Hunter hovered his body above hers.
“I have to go get a condom,” he said regretfully.
“The drawer.” She flung her hand weakly toward the nightstand. “The top drawer.”
Hunter looked at her, surprised, as he reached across her and fished a condom out of the drawer.
The wrapper was soon on the floor, the condom secured, and the cowboy was all the way inside her, making her gasp and arch her back. He knew how to love a woman’s body and she just held on for the ride. His movements were long, slow, deep, and he nibbled her ear, sucked on her nipple.
“You’re about to come,” he whispered in her ear.
How did he know? How could he know?
He pushed deeply into her one more time, his hand beneath her bottom, and then stopped and let her take control of her own destiny. She writhed against him, panting, straining, using him just the way her body needed, until the wave, that glorious wave, crashed over her, again and again, and again.
Hunter had watched her take her pleasure; he was her witness. She opened her eyes, saw him watching her, and to his surprise, she didn’t look away. Instead, she watched him. She watched him as he pushed into her body, faster, harder, doing what his body needed...what it craved. He threw back his head and growled loudly as the climax ripped through him. He hadn’t felt this before—this intensity, this satisfaction. This love.
They were breathing heavily, their bodies still connected, the air feeling cool against their hot skin.
“Why?” Skyler asked with an emotional catch in her throat.
He understood what she was asking. Why did he do everything in his power to make her happy? Why did he always try to make her every dream, no matter how small, come true? Why had he just made love to her with every fiber of his being? Why he had loved her like he was on a mission to spoil her for every other man who had a thought to touch her?
Hunter lifted his head, closed his eyes and tried to catch his breath. Then, staring deeply into her lovely eyes, he said, “Because I love you, Skyler. I love you.”
* * *
Skyler was lying on top of her cowboy, who was catching a nap after their second round of lovemaking. Her body couldn’t seem to get enough; in fact, instead of her passion waning, it was building. She had a fire in her that Hunter had deliberately lit, and as far as she could figure, it was up to him to put it out.
She kissed his smooth, defined chest, encircling his nipple with her tongue, and used his hard thigh to ease some of the ache she was feeling.
“Why aren’t you sleeping?” He mumbled the question.
“Just one more time.” She reached between them and wrapped her fingers around him. He was soft now, but she was well aware of how quickly that could change in her favor.
Hunter smiled, not opening his eyes. “Bad kitty.”
She bit his nipple playfully. “One more time.”
“If you can get it hard,” he said, still refusing to open his eyes, “it’s all yours.”
It took some effort, but she had always been a goal-oriented woman. Straddling him, she reached for the drawer, pulled out a condom and handed it to him.
Sleepily, he unwrapped it, tossed the wrapper on the floor with the other two, rolled it on and smiled with his eyes closed as she slid down onto his shaft. Her hands planted on his chest, her head down in concentration, she rocked her hips, building speed, moving faster and pushing down harder, until she was panting and climaxing. Somewhere along the way, Hunter had opened his eyes to enjoy the show. The moment she started to climax, Hunter held on to her hips, moving her back and forth on his cock until she felt him stiffen beneath her. With a laugh, she collapsed on top of him, finally feeling satisfied.
He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on the neck. “For the love of God, Skyler, go to sleep. I need at least a couple of hours of sleep before I get up.”
Skyler fit herself into his side, threw her leg over his leg and rested her head on his chest. “Hunter?”
“Hmm?”
“I’ve always dreamed of you.”
“That’s nice,” he mumbled and she was certain, by his response, that he hadn’t been awake enough to register what she had said to him. He rolled his body toward her, tightened his grip on her and added groggily, “Me, too.”
* * *
“Oh, that’s terrible,” Molly exclaimed. “I’ve been so busy with my stuff that I haven’t called, I haven’t texted. I’m so sorry. Is he okay?”
“He is truly a miracle horse.” Skyler was sitting on the porch in a rocking chair with Daisy curled up on her lap. “He’s been getting better, a little better, day by day.”
Molly had her curls gathered up in a single pom-pom on top of her head, so that her pretty, heart-shaped face was highlighted. “I’m so glad, Skyler.”
“Me, too.”
It had been a week of working and lovemaking and basking in the love she felt for Hunter. It was a love that he seemed to very much return—not just in his words, which were important and lovely, but, more importantly, in his actions. But she still hadn’t told Molly and she felt guilty about it.
“I’ve been kind of radio silence lately,” Molly said with a little frown.
“Same,” Skyler said, on the verge of talking about her summer romance with Hunter for the first time.
Skyler was about to open her mouth to confess, when Molly said, “I can’t believe I’ve been keeping this from you.”
Her eyebrows drew together and her mouth closed. “Keeping what from me?”
Molly gave a little shake of her head. “I’m in love.”
“What?!” Skyler sat upright, disturbing Daisy, who complained with a meow before she repositioned herself and closed her eyes.
“I am.” Molly smiled softly. “I am in love.”
“Don’t keep me in suspense a second longer, Molly! Who is he?”
“Chase,” her best friend said. “I’m in love with Chase.”
“Chase Rockwell?”
Molly nodded, her cheeks flushing prettily.
“When? How?” Skyler exclaimed. “Details! I need details!”
As it turned out, she wasn’t the only one having a summer romance. While she was busy finding any excuse to be naked with Hunter, Molly was having a virtual romance of her own.
“We video-chatted one night and that one call lasted for eight hours. I’ve never in my life had that much to say to anyone other than you.
“We’ve been texting and video dating, and talking on the phone ever since, and, Skyler—” Molly’s amber eyes were sparkling “—he told me that he’s in love with me.”
“Oh, Molly...”
“He wants to marry me.”
Skyler was stunned speechless. She could only stare at her friend, who was beaming with more happiness than
Skyler had ever seen before.
“He wants to marry you?” she finally asked.
Molly nodded. “He told me last night.”
“How could he possibly know that after such a short time? You haven’t ever been in the same state much less the same room.”
“He knows.” Her friend’s body stiffened defensively. She lifted her chin and said, “And so do I.”
“Molly.” She said the name in a higher-pitched tone. “You don’t even know him. How could you even consider marrying him?”
“When you know, you know,” Molly said with a frown. “I just know, Skyler. You’re the first person I wanted to tell. I wish you were happy for me.”
Skyler was taken aback. She wasn’t being supportive; she was being judgmental and that’s not what Molly need from her right now.
“I’m sorry, Molly,” she apologized. “I am just shocked.”
“So am I,” her friend acknowledged. “But I love him. I do. And I already feel like I’m going to have a fight on my hands with my family. I need at least one person in our corner.”
“I’m always in your corner, Molly,” she reassured her friend. “Do you guys even know how all of this is going to work? Wait a minute,” Skyler exclaimed at a thought that suddenly occurred to her. “Are you moving to Montana?”
“No,” Molly said. “Chase knows I just got accepted to law school here. He’s going to move here.”
Skyler looked past the phone to her small Montana oasis, her mind whirling with thoughts. She wanted to be insanely happy for Molly, but what she really felt was concern.
“Molly,” she said after a moment of thought, “I love you and I want the best for you. I just wonder...” Skyler paused, not wanting to offend or upset her dear friend.
“We’ve never had to hedge our words,” Molly reminded her. “Just say what you want to say.”
“Could you be confusing how you feel now with how you felt when you were young?”
“Like I only think I love him now because I thought I loved him back then?”