by Sasha Burke
Oh God. My fingers do his bidding, circling my clit while he laps at me hungrily.
I swear, touching myself has never ever felt half this good, but for some reason, I can’t get there. I need more. I need him. And I tell him so.
Immediately, his fingers take over for mine, sliding deep in my pussy until he’s teasing that one magical spot inside me that soon has me ready to detonate.
He stops before I do.
I watch with eyes at half-mast, my entire body trembling from being so close to orgasm as he slips a condom on and runs his hungry gaze over every inch of me. “Goddamn, you’re beautiful.” Bending over me to give me a hard, deep kiss, he takes his cock in hand and rubs the head against my clit in slow, sexy circles, bringing me right back to the brink in no time at all.
I’m breathless and shaking by the time he wraps his arms around me and flips onto his back, taking me with him so I’m straddling his lap.
“Ride me,” he rumbles, in a deep, gravelly voice that messes with my equilibrium big time.
As I brace my hands against his chest, I purposely keep my nipples just an inch too far from his mouth, partly to regain some control, but mostly to tease him the way he’d been teasing me. The banked fire in his eyes blazes even more when I pull back and glide my wet pussy along the front of his shaft instead of sliding him into me right away.
“You know I’m going to get you back for torturing me,” he says.
“Promises, promises.”
He groans at my words, and bucks up into me like he just can’t help himself.
Lifting my hips, I slowly hitch myself over the broad head of his cock and then sink down slowly. Inch by thick inch.
When I finally have him all the way to the hilt, the wave of pleasure that rushes over me is almost overwhelming. He’s never been this deep inside me before.
And it’s affecting him, too.
He’s all tight, corded muscle and barely reigned control, his bicep bunching with tension when he slips his free hand behind my scalp to pull me in for a rough, demanding kiss.
“Fuck.” He breaks the kiss and drills me with a wild, untamed look. “You have to move, baby. If you don’t, I will.”
My whole body stiffens, even as my core practically drenches his cock. Every nerve in my body starts combusting, heat pouring into my core when I feel him grind into me harder, deeper.
That’s when I leave my inhibitions behind and start riding him.
Gripping my hips, he starts thrusting up to meet me stroke for stroke. With every rough thrust, he reaches some hot spot deep inside me that’s making the earth tilt on its axis. My heart starts pounding a dizzying beat in my chest as I look down to see him gazing up at me with a look of pure, savage possession and pleasure.
Closing my eyes, I struggle for command of the intense emotions rising up and ripping through me.
“Open your eyes,” he orders gruffly.
Oh God, if he’s trying to wreck me for all other men, he’s succeeding. This connection we have, it’s unbridled. All-consuming. And just like that, I’m spinning out of control, mere seconds away from coming.
As if he knows I’m on the edge of oblivion, he reaches between us to pinch my clit, just as his mouth latches onto my tight nipple.
A broken shudder tears out of me as everything around me just flies apart.
His free arm tightens around me, holding me to him as I try not to let my orgasm splinter me into a million pieces.
And as I continue to pulse all around him, I feel his limbs start to shake, his struggle for control start to slip.
When I finally stop coming, like a caged animal finally breaking free, he flips me over and plunges his cock back inside me in one swift motion.
Rough hands pinning my legs to the bed to keep me spread wide, he begins a punishing pace, driving his cock in and out of me, over and over, harder and deeper, until soon the pleasure is almost violently out of control, each wild, relentless thrust filling parts of me I’ve never thought of as empty before now.
And before I know it, my world feels like it’s coming apart at the seams.
Pleasure screams through every nerve ending I possess and I give over to the sensations, my muscles clenching around him before rippling so hard my whole body shudders.
Just as I do, I see him drag his eyes open and lock his gaze on mine as he comes. With a deep shudder, he stiffens, raw, naked emotions filling his features until he’s wrung out and collapsing on his side next to me.
Even then, he doesn’t pull back.
His arms stay wrapped around me, tucking me in closer so I can rest my head against his chest.
While the orgasms—yes, plural—were of course, amazing, I know that this right here is my favorite part of the night. Him holding me tight as if he doesn’t intend to ever let me go.
The thudding of his heart under my ear sounds like home as time seems to catch up with us and slow down all at the same time.
“I’m never going to get enough of you,” he mutters thickly, drowsily as he falls into an instant, deep slumber.
It sounds like a wayward thought more than anything else, but it feels like something more…
18
| Cade |
I wake up like I always do at the crack of dawn and it’s almost shocking how much I want Katelyn again.
Just seeing her in my bed right now, having her in my arms, is making a surge of intense, uncharted emotions I’ve never felt before hit me from all sides. And it feels like the only way to get it all to settle down is to be inside her again.
I can’t explain it. The feeling is almost feral. And to be honest, I don’t know that I’ll be able to control it tomorrow, or the next morning.
And oddly enough, I feel okay with that, which is again, just intense.
Instead of giving in and waking her up slowly with my cock in her pussy, I get up and let her sleep while I start my morning routine outside, all the while thinking about what I’d said to her before I passed out last night.
I meant every word. I truly don’t think I’m ever going to get enough of her. And I don’t just mean that in the context of the bedroom, either.
Lately, I feel…unsettled when Katelyn’s off at one of her part-time jobs. I’ve been doing my best not to overanalyze it since reflecting on my emotions isn’t exactly something I excel at. But this, the way I’ve been feeling lately, it feels pretty clear-cut.
“Hell, son, you keep riding around all moon-eyed like that and you’ll ram that pretty boy face of yours right into a tree branch.”
Chuckling, I head on over to the fence separating my property from Winston’s. “That what happened to your mug, old man?” I say that good-naturedly, of course, seeing as how I’ve actually heard a few old biddies at church call him—with his disheveled scowl and all—a dead ringer for a silver-haired James Bond.
But he doesn’t need me plumping up his ego.
Also, weird as it sounds, the more we insult each other, the closer the man gets to actually smiling. Hasn’t happened yet, but I’ve still got a lot of insults in me. I’m pretty confident he’ll crack before I run out.
“Katelyn still staying in that guest bedroom every night?” he asks while polishing up his rifle till it gleams.
“No offense, but that’s none of your business.” Why the hell do I feel like a teenager getting grilled by a girl’s dad on prom night?
He lets out a disgruntled grunt. “So that’s a no.” Leveling me with a loaded stare, he says plainly, “That girl ain’t like those other women who’ve come through here.”
“Shit, Winston. I know that. I’m not an idiot.”
“Yeah? Well good. She’s special. And she comes from good stock. God rest all of them.”
That throws me for a big ass loop. “Wait a minute, you knew Katelyn’s family?”
“Just her granddaddy and grandmama. I didn’t get a chance to meet her folks. Though I heard enough stories about that piece of trash who fathered her to know she was bett
er off growing up without him, young as she was when he left them.”
“How come you never told me you knew her relatives?”
He shrugs and pitches my own words back at me. “Wasn’t none of your business.”
Fair enough. “So you’ve known her from before she started sneaking onto my ranch?”
“Nope. Never met her before that first day she took a header off your south fence.”
Lord, I remember that day. I’d thought the beautiful little accident magnet had knocked herself out unconscious for sure.
The more I process what Winston’s telling me, the more I feel like I’m missing important pieces of this puzzle. “You said you didn’t think Katelyn’s past was any of my business. You still think that? You still think she’s none of my business?” I ask Winston, point blank.
He raises a judgement-packed brow at me. “Depends. You let her know you’re loaded yet?”
Clearly, I’ve been underestimating the old-timer.
“What? Just ‘cause I’m old, you think I don’t know what’s what? I know how much the property values around here have gone up, even more so for working ranch land like yours. I figured you out a long time ago.” He gives me an appraising nod. “You never once acted like a rich jackass though, I’ll give you that.”
I study him for a beat. “You going to tell her?”
He leans back in his rocking chair. “Not my business. I’m sure she’ll find out eventually. The only question is if you’re going to be fool enough not to be the one to tell her about it.”
I exhale heavily. “I just don’t want things to change; I like how things are with us.”
Winston shoots me a killing look. “Boy, if you’re think that girl is some kind of gold digger, you’re an idiot. And you damn well don’t deserve her.”
“It’s not that. I know she’s not one of those women. Figured that out the day I met her.” As I say it, I feel in my bones how true it is. “What I meant was that I think my money will work against me, not for me in this case. And I haven’t wanted to risk that. Not with her.”
He eyes me for a long few seconds before giving me a mollified nod.
Can’t help but smile over his protectiveness. Everyone knows that next to messing with his chickens, saying anything remotely unflattering or otherwise objectionable about Katelyn is the quickest way to find yourself at the business end of Winston’s shotgun.
“Take my advice,” he tells me, sounding more serious than I’ve ever heard him. “Don’t put it off any longer. You and I both know you’re never going to find a better woman for you than her. And if you screw this up, someone else will swoop in and steal her from you.”
Shit. The very thought of that, of Katelyn ending up with some other asshole, rips through my chest and shreds my guts up worse than a chain saw, making me so blind with jealousy, I can’t fucking think straight. “I’m going to tell her,” I bark, trying to calm my ass down. “Soon. But the thing is, when we’re together, my old life is the last thing on my mind. It’s like I just forget all about my past.”
“Because you’re thinking about the future with her?”
Nosy bastard.
He smirks. “That answers that. Okay, now that I know you’re not a total dumbass, I tell you one thing, boy,” Winston continues with a glare. “That sweet girl is the closest thing I got to the daughter I’ve always wanted. I don’t care if that old folk’s home I’m getting shipped off to locks me up and pumps me full of geezer meds, I’ll find a way to escape and beat your hide if you don’t let me walk her down the aisle.”
Hell, I really am going to miss the crotchety son of a bitch when he leaves. Continuing to piss him off every day to keep him from kicking the bucket or growing lonely and senile isn’t going to be nearly as much fun long distance, but, I’m game if he is.
“Aw, you planning on whittling a cane to whoop my ass with, old man?” I call out, getting back up on my horse as fast as I can.
Laughing when I hear him turn and storm into his house for his shotgun, I put some serious giddy up in getting the hell out of there.
Katelyn returns from a full day of playing with my rocks a little after sundown and comes out to the barn to help me tend to the horses.
“Hey.” She gives me a thoroughly puzzled look. “Any reason Winston’s currently sitting on his porch glaring at your ranch? He barely took his eyes off your house long enough to say hi to me just now.”
I chuckle. “You know how temperamental the old coot can get.” Not so subtly changing the subject, I pull her in for a hug. “I meant to ask the other day, but didn’t get the chance because of the mare giving birth, but how did the meeting with your professor go?”
“Good.” She gives me a crooked smile. “Provided I keep doing things exactly as I am now, I’ll be right on track for Year Five in the program.”
I’ve given up trying to figure out why a smart woman like her would want to prolong her master’s degree for so long. But right now, I’m liking that her plans will keep her close by. “So you’re saying I can expect to see you sneaking onto my ranch for another year?”
“At least,” she replies without missing a beat, eyes twinkling with humor.
I’m hit with this sudden, intense relief hearing her answer, and I realize that right there is why I brought this topic up all these days later. The unsettling feeling I had in my chest when I woke up didn’t go away even as the day went on.
Between my talk with Winston and the all-too-real fact that Katelyn’s two-week stay here will be coming to a close soon, I’ve got way too many questions in my head, and not nearly enough answers to keep me sane.
As if sensing my strange mood, for the next half hour or so, Katelyn doesn’t say a thing. She just quietly helps me around the barn and together, we just finish up some chores.
In fact, everything’s going so smoothly that for a large portion of the time, I fail to recognize how she’s going about every ranch chore with me like a seasoned ranch hand. She’s at ease here. She fits here. How the hell did I miss seeing that before now?
Not only that, but she even knows some tricks a lot of my guys don’t know—like how to use the finicky old well pump out back.
That little discovery makes a few more pieces of the puzzle from my chat with Winston click into place.
Then, after another half hour, and a few google searches on my phone I probably should’ve run on her months ago, the rest of it all finally makes sense.
“So were you ever planning on telling me you grew up here?” I ask, not bothering to beat around the bush. I don’t say it as an accusation because I truly don’t mean it as one. I’m genuinely curious.
She stops working and turns around slowly. “Did you know the whole time?”
“Not hardly. I just figured it out tonight. Thanks in no part to my less-than-helpful neighbor. Who’s pretty darn proud of how you turned out, by the way.”
Gazing over in the direction of Winston’s farm, her eyes soften. “I never had a chance to meet him back then. My life was kind of in shambles with everything at the time. I kept meaning to ask him if he remembered us…”
“He did. He had nice things to say about your grandparents.” I leave the part about her dad out. Mostly because I’d be tempted to say much worse things about the asshole.
A small smile tips her lips. “That’s good. I’m glad he remembered them the way I do.” Taking a deep breath, she meets my gaze. “Are you upset I didn’t tell you?”
I’ve been asking myself that for the past couple of minutes, too. “I’m honestly not. I get wanting to keep parts of our past private. I do the same thing. So it wouldn’t be fair of me to judge anyone else for doing the same.”
“I wasn’t trying to hide it from you or anything. Not outright. I mean yes, after I found out what happened to your brother here, I didn’t know when or how to bring it up. But truthfully, the main reason was that I just didn’t want you making a snap judgement about me, thinking I was some sort of gold digg
er. Literally speaking, I mean.”
Huh. Not what I was expecting to hear. Especially since I’m fairly certain she’s never run a google search on me either. “What do you mean?”
“You know that area you don’t like anyone to visit? Where the mustangs run?”
“Yeah.”
“My granddad used to say the mountains there could be mined for pegmatite.”
Huh. From what I’ve been reading in my rocks for dummies book, that sort of rock can be pretty valuable. “So, he thought there were crystals and gemstones back there?”
She shrugs. “He never speculated one way or another. He wasn’t a prospector, and he didn’t want anyone thinking there was something worth mining out there so he left it all untouched.”
I study her expression and see nothing but matter-of-fact truth there. “Is that why you don’t ever go in that area when you come out here?”
“I guess maybe subconsciously in part. But like I told you before, it’s more the fact that I know how you feel about people getting too close to the mustang run.”
“You’re not at all curious?”
“Nope.” She studies me quietly. “Are you?”
“Not even a little bit.”
She gives me a smile that lights up the whole place, and I feel like I just aced some sort of test with her.
It’s one thing to meet a woman who doesn’t care that I’m rich. It’s a whole different thing to find one who respects me for having the same values she does.
Of all the things I find incredibly hot about her, this one’s climbing the chart. It’s definitely time to come clean with her. “Listen, Katelyn, there’s something I should’ve told you a while ago.”
“I already know you’re some kind of millionaire, Cade. And it’s okay. I get why you didn’t tell me. If the positions were reversed, I’d probably have kept it a secret, too.”
I’m not sure what surprises me more, the fact that she’s talking about this so candidly, or the part about her being one zero short and still looking a little queasy about the whole thing.