by Vanessa Vale
“You know where I live,” she said, finally looking my way.
“I keep track of those I care about.”
I didn’t offer her more than that. For now.
I parked, helped her out, led her up the steps to the front door. She lived in a small house in the older section of town. The porch had a swing, and the door was painted a glossy red. She’d been renting it from an older couple who’d moved to Arizona. It was small but all hers. “Give me your keys, baby girl.”
She blinked at me. “I left my purse at the shop. I’ve got a hidden spare.”
As she went down the steps to pick up what appeared to be a fake rock from her front flower bed, I called Noreen again, asked her to send someone to O’Banyons to collect Sarah’s things. I didn’t trust Bill, and I didn’t think he’d mess with someone in a uniform.
She opened the door, and I followed her in, shut it behind me. Locked it.
I noticed the size of the room. The color of the walls. The furniture. How neat it was. How it smelled like Sarah. All of it, because that was what I did. Observed. But I didn’t look away from my baby girl.
“Huck,” she said, then stopped as if other words were stuck.
I didn’t say anything, just pulled her into my arms. Hugged her tight like I had at the rollover scene earlier, but this time there wasn’t anything between us any longer.
She’d cried then, for coming upon a dead body. It was a shock that I’d sadly gotten used to.
But now she cried for a different reason. There were so many possibilities for the tears. Her dad being an asshole. Learning the truth about what he’d done before she went to college. For what he’d just said to her in the shop. I’d heard every fucking word.
I wanted to punch him in the face. I wanted to rip him to shreds telling him what I thought of him. Fuck, I’d been wanting to do both for so fucking long.
But Bill O’Banyon was nothing to me now. I had Sarah in my arms, and I wasn’t letting go.
Her hands came around my back, and she clung to me, cried into my shirt. I stroked her hair, her back, whispered to her how perfect she was. How special. How I’d missed her. Needed her.
I did. I needed Sarah, and holding her was as if I was finally coming alive again. I could feel. See. Breathe. I’d walked away and made something of myself. For her. For me. For my parents. I’d done that, but I’d left a piece of me behind with Sarah. My heart. She hadn’t known it. Hell, neither had I. Not until now.
I’d been fourteen when my parents were killed in a plane crash. The last thing I’d said to them had been in anger. We’d fought about stupid teenaged shit, and I’d stormed off, rode an ATV out to the farthest corners of the Manning land. When I’d returned, the then chief of police had stood on the main house front porch with Sawyer and Thatcher to tell me the news. My parents were gone.
I shut down then. Hadn’t cared or given a shit about anything. Cut school. Went wild. For years. The person who’d finally tamed me had been Sarah. She’d made me want to be a better person. Lead a life that my parents would be proud of.
I sighed, then kissed the top of her head.
I was exhausted. I’d been woken up for the preschool fire, dealt with Kelsey and Sawyer in the jail, then I’d driven halfway back to the ranch before getting the call for the rollover. The lovebirds had returned first thing for Kelsey to give her statement. That had been followed by the Bunky bombshell and Sawyer punching him in the face and Sawyer stalking out. I’d driven Kelsey to the ranch—yup, she fucking hated me—and then got the call about Sarah’s argument with her dad.
Sarah had gone to the rollover and probably hadn’t slept since either.
“Come on, baby girl. Let’s get some shut-eye.”
Her fingers loosened on the back of my shirt, and I led her into her bedroom. Her bed wasn’t made, and I had to assume she’d climbed out for the call. A sleep shirt was on the floor and a bra slung over the footboard.
I sat on the side of bed and got her between my knees and began to undo the button on her jeans. Her hand stilled mine, and I lifted my gaze to look into her pale eyes. I saw my whole world there. We had so much to work out between us, but we would. Later.
“You can’t sleep in these pants,” I murmured. I kept my words soft and gentle. I’d jerked off to the idea of getting her bare more times than I could count, but this wasn’t the time to do anything. “Let’s get you comfortable. Nothing more.”
She let go, and I got the button open, the zipper down. She took over and shimmied the denim down her legs. They caught on her sneakers, and she toed them off, then got rid of her jeans and socks.
Once done she stood in a T-shirt that hit her mid-hip and a pair of pale blue panties, I leaned my forehead against her chest. She was so small, tiny compared to me, that the soft swells of her breasts were a cushion. I breathed her in as I set my hands on the backs of her bare thighs.
It was easy to lift her and turn, settling her into the center of the bed. I stood and set my gun on her nightstand—no kids around for it to be an issue—took off my utility belt, and laid it on top of her dresser. Then I stripped down to my boxers and climbed in beside her, pulled the blankets over us before hooking my arm around her waist and settling her close. I wasn’t satisfied until my arm was her pillow and she was tucked up against my side. One of her legs was over mine.
I sighed. Hard.
Fuck yes.
The room was bright with the midday sun, but I didn’t give a shit. I was too tired to care, and besides, I had my girl in my arms.
“Sleep, baby girl. I’ve got you.”
SARAH
* * *
The sound of my shower woke me. I rolled over, my arm reaching out to where Huck had slept. His spot was warm, meaning he hadn’t been up for long. Wiping my eyes, I glanced at the bedside clock. We’d slept for hours. Together.
Just slept.
Being in his arms had been… heaven. I’d felt small and precious. Cared for. Protected. Safe. His dark scent clung to my sheets, and I lifted the pillow he’d used and breathed him in.
Huck.
He was here. He’d come to me when I needed him most. How had he known? How had he just… been there?
I realized it didn’t matter. He was naked and in my shower. Using my rose-scented soap. The corner of my mouth tipped up at the thought of a guy as big and brawny as Huck smelling like me. That made me think of the other night when we’d been in his bed. When, while he hadn’t been stripped bare, he’d been so attentive. I’d left him with a throbbing hard-on and probably a horrible case of blue balls. That had been my plan. To make him realize how much he’d hurt me.
But in reality he hadn’t. He wasn’t the one who’d hurt me.
It had been my dad.
I sat up and pushed my messy hair out of my face.
I’d gone to Huck’s bed wanting revenge. While I’d responded to his touch, consented to it all, it had been given for a purpose. But Huck had been into it. He’d craved me. Gotten hard and eager enough to let me handcuff him to his headboard because he wanted me. He’d eaten me out because my pleasure had been his sole goal.
Huck Manning still desired me as much as I desired him. It was time to make a decision about what I truly wanted from Huck. I’d had six years thinking the worst of him but only a short time to know the truth. I wasn’t who I’d been back then. Neither was Huck. I didn’t really know much about this older version of him.
But I knew him.
Huck Manning was in my shower. Did I want him as much as I had all those years ago? I wasn’t nineteen any longer. Not an innocent young woman who was infatuated with the rugged older cowboy. After what my dad had done, how I’d not gone to Huck and talked to him about Claire, he still wanted me. No guy would wash with rose soap otherwise.
I climbed from the bed and pushed the bathroom door open. Steam billowed over the top of the shower curtain. His boxers were on the yellow bath mat.
I took off my T-shirt, bra, and panties and s
lid back the shower curtain. I wanted Huck for all the right reasons now. It was time to show him that.
13
SARAH
* * *
Sunday night
* * *
Huck was naked. Wet. I took in the strong back muscles. Soap bubbles sliding down over his taut butt. He turned. Then my mouth went dry. I stared. I couldn’t help it. I shouldn’t objectify the man by ogling his body.
But… holy shit.
I couldn’t look away from his broad torso, the rock-hard abs. The jutting cock that was thick and long and now aimed straight at me.
He’d been inside me. Once. We’d made out for months, getting hotter and heavier until that night in the back of his truck. It had changed everything for me. Gave me something that had come from our love, even if only for a short time.
“Joining me, baby girl?” he asked when I hadn’t moved, my hand still on the shower curtain.
It pulled my thoughts back to the present. Finally I met Huck’s gaze. Saw the question there. The heat. The amusement. I couldn’t help but smile, and knew what he was asking wasn’t as simple as me stepping into my tub.
Was I joining Huck? For good? Because I knew this was it. Huck was all in. He could’ve snuck out while I slept. He could’ve never come to O’Banyons.
I’d made up my mind when I took his hand at the shop, so I stepped in beside him, slid the curtain closed behind us. His body blocked me from the hot spray.
He set one hand on the tile behind me, the other on my hip, lowered his head, and kissed me. His lips were insistent, and his tongue immediately plunged and found mine.
He growled, low and deep, as he drove me wild with just his mouth. He angled his head, took more. His whiskers rasped my skin as he kissed along my jaw to my ear.
“Baby girl, what you do to me,” he murmured, then nipped the spot where my neck and shoulder met. Stepping closer, he set his knee between mine, his dick pressing long and thick against my belly.
“Huck,” I whispered, my eyes closed, my head angled back to give him room. I was more aroused from just a kiss from Huck than having sex with another guy. Neither previous lover had gotten me off. Only Huck had been able to do it, and I was close now. My breasts ached. My nipples were hard. My pussy longed for his touch. To be filled. It was as if my body remembered him.
His lips returned to mine, devoured me. His hand slid up my body to cup my jaw. I felt the callouses, how big his palm was. He pulled back, and I blinked my eyes open. He was right there, his pale eyes so close I saw the darker flecks. The heat. His gaze dipped and roved over my body.
We were breathing hard as we just… looked.
We’d gotten naked that night in his truck bed, but it had been dark. The only light had been from the sliver of the moon, and I’d seen him, but not like this. He was so much more than I remembered.
I hadn’t even realized I’d pressed my hands to the shower wall behind me until I couldn’t resist touching him. As I set my palms on his chest, he sucked in a breath, his abs going tight. I slid my fingers down over the ridges, then lower still to grip his thick length. His dick was hot and like steel.
“Fuck,” he growled.
My gaze whipped up, and I caught the look on his face. The clenched jaw, the narrowed eyes. The heat in them.
I wasn’t the virgin any longer. While I’d been with two guys since Huck, I didn’t even remember their faces. They’d been placeholders as I waited for Huck and me to be together again. Nothing more.
Now I thought of pleasing Huck. He’d made me feel good the other night. It was time for me to have a turn. He was slick in my hold, and I worked my grip up and down his length, running my thumb over the broad crown each time. Gently I cupped his balls with my other hand.
Huck’s head dropped and he held himself still, but when I started to lower to my knees so I could take him into my mouth, he gripped my elbow.
I looked to him, frowned.
“You might have your hand on my dick, but I’m still in charge, baby girl. You’ll get me off with your hand because I’m a few pumps away from spurting over your belly. I’m okay with that because I gotta get that first one out of the way so I can take my time with you.”
I went to work, gripped him in both my hands. He was so big my fingers barely closed and long enough where I could still get strokes in. God, it was so hot watching him lose his firm control.
He swore under his breath. Growled. His hips bucked, and he slapped his hand against the wet tile as he came. His body shuddered as thick ropes of his cum pulsed onto my belly. I only stopped when his hand gripped my wrist.
His breath was ragged, and it took him a few long seconds to recover. Looking into my eyes, he shifted so the hot spray washed my stomach clean. Then he reached back, shut off the water, and yanked the shower curtain open. With hands on my waist, he lifted me and set me on the bath mat. Following me out, he grabbed a towel and dried me off, then gave himself a quick rubdown.
“Bed. Now.” I turned in that direction, eager. I was wet and not from the shower. His hand came down on my butt, a light smack that had me gasping.
I looked over my shoulder and he grinned. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
It seemed something in my eyes gave me away. Besides being startled by the single spank, I was also turned on by it. Who knew?
Huck.
“I want you in that bed, knees bent, legs spread nice and wide so I can see all of you.”
I flicked my gaze down to his cock, which was hard and ready as if he hadn’t just come.
“I took you once, nice and gentle. You ready to see how it’s really like between us? I took you missionary so I could take your cherry and watch your face as I did it. Now that’s not going to be enough. For either of us.”
I bit my lip, took in the huge naked guy filling my tiny bathroom. “I want more,” I confirmed.
A flush spread down his cheeks, and his eyes went dark and intense. He pointed. “Bed. Now.”
My father had told me what to do and what to be, and I’d hated it. But a few dirty words that were bossy as hell from Huck and I felt safe. Empowered. Beautiful.
There was a world of difference when I gave myself to the right person. I had a feeling I was about to find out just how much.
HUCK
* * *
Holy fuck. I had never come so hard before, and that had just been a hand job. I swore I’d gone blind there for a second. I took a moment in the bathroom to come to grips with where I was. Who I was with. What we were about to do.
I’d made Sarah mine six years ago. It was time to do so again.
This time, nothing was going to tear us apart.
I left the bathroom, and there she was, just as I’d ordered. Sarah was bare and beautiful, legs bent, knees spread.
I took in every inch of her. From the wild blonde curls on her head to the little patch at the top of her pink pussy.
Fuck me.
Stalking over, I climbed up onto the bed, crawled on top of her, loomed. Looked down at her. Took in the trusting eyes, the flushed cheeks. I shifted lower and surveyed her perfect tits. I couldn’t resist sucking a little nipple into my mouth and giving it a tug.
Her hands dived into my hair. Clung. Tugged.
“Huck!” she cried.
I lifted my head. “What is it, baby girl? What do you want?”
“You.”
“You’ve got me.”
“In me,” she added.
“Gotta get you ready first.”
She squirmed. “I’m ready.”
I shook my head. “If you remember, I’m big and your pussy’s a tight little thing.”
“I’m not a virgin anymore,” she reminded.
I hadn’t asked if she’d been with anyone else besides me. While I assumed it was a yes, I wasn’t going to ask. I hadn’t been celibate either. The time that had come between when I made her mine and now was in the past. She was mine. She was beneath me. That was all that mattered.
She nodded.
“I’m going to eat you out, get you nice and soft and wet and ready for my dick. Then I’ll fuck you. On your back. On all fours. Over the edge of the bed. Hell, against the wall. All night long.”
“Please.”
I leaned down, kissed her nipple, then the other. “That’s right, I love to hear you beg. But it’s a little early yet.”
Shifting down her body, I gripped one thigh, then the other, spread her wide, and settled my shoulders between. Breathing her in, I looked my fill. My pussy.
She was wet and eager for me.
“Shit,” I muttered, shaking my head. “I don’t have a condom.”
Fuck me. My girl was naked and spread and ready, and I didn’t have anything to protect her.
“I do.”
I arched a brow, narrowed my gaze.
“They came in a party favor bag from a bachelorette party. It’s in my bedside drawer.”
Reaching over, I yanked it open and found her stash. There were at least five. That would hold us… for a few hours. I ripped one open, slid it on.
“Huck,” she whimpered when I finished.
I’d gotten off in the shower. She hadn’t.
I didn’t make her wait any longer. While I might tease her someday, she was being a good girl and deserved all the orgasms I could give her.
I licked down her seam, then used my thumbs to part her, then licked her again, from her dripping opening to her clit. I’d figured out what got her hot on Friday night, but now I had my hands and slipped two fingers into her. Found her G-spot when she arched her back and cried out my name.
I worked her hard. Watched what made her gasp, writhe, clutch at my hair, and did it again. And again. She came quickly, her pussy gushing onto my palm.