by Sasha Burke
“Cade?” she says breathily, cupping my face in her hands and gazing up at me softly.
“Yeah, baby?”
“I need it, too. I need to feel you in me. Feel you coming just for me. Hard and fast.”
And fucking forever.
I hear it in my head and I feel it in every cell of my body. Katelyn’s it for me.
I start pounding into her harder then, fighting off the urge to come while drawing out her pleasure, pinching her clit until her pussy is practically strangling my cock as she starts to come. My name leaves her lips on a moan and I know I’m seconds from losing control completely. Really, how I’ve hung in this long is a miracle.
When she finally screams out my name one last time and starts milking my cock with that tight, perfect pussy of hers, I know I’m a goner.
I fucking explode inside of her, coming harder than I ever have before, hurtling so far over the edge that I all but black out before I’m even done coming.
By the time I manage to catch my breath, she’s fast asleep in my arms. And already, I know I’m going to knock out and have the best night of sleep I’ve had since she left.
Tomorrow, I tell myself as I start to go under. We’ll talk and cement all this tomorrow. Because she belongs here, damn it. On this ranch, in my bed. With me, period.
That’s the last thought I have as I pass out, holding her tight.
A couple of hours later, it’s still dark out when I feel Katelyn carefully slide out of bed. Silently, she puts her clothes on before staring down at me for a long while.
I don’t say a word.
Though it goes against every fiber of my being, when she slips out of my room a few minutes later, I let her go.
22
| Katelyn |
I tape up the last of my moving boxes and pile them up at the door.
With all my rock stuff already out of my apartment, I discover the remaining sum of my life fills just four whole boxes. While the minimalist in me is proud of that fact, I can’t help but think about what Professor Cooper had said about my not being all that present in, well, the present.
Granted, being forced out my home isn’t the most ideal impetus for me to re-evaluate my life, but it certainly is an effective one.
It’s time for me to make a few changes. Starting today. Which is why, right after I’m done here, I’m driving over to Cade’s and telling him everything, like I promised.
An hour later, with every last thing I own now stuffed into my SUV, I’m tempted not to answer my phone when I see my father’s number in the caller ID. But, I want a clean break. Our lawyers finished up the paperwork yesterday. Hopefully today will be the last time I ever have to speak to the man.
“Hello?”
“You screwed me over!” he snarls by way of greeting. “Of all the stupid things you could’ve done, I never thought you’d be this dumb.”
Definitely a clean break after today. “What are you talking about?”
“Your billionaire boyfriend sent over a bunch of legal bullshit today. Do you have any idea how much my lawyers are going to charge me to deal with all this crap?”
“Wait, Cade did what?”
“Don’t play innocent, no way a guy like him does all this over a pile of rocks. This has you written all over it.”
“I really have no clue what Cade and his lawyers did or didn’t do.”
“You signed the mineral rights over to him as soon as I signed them over to you,” he lashes out like I’d committed some mortal sin.
“Yes I did.” Which I informed Cade of via certified letter just this morning. The fact that he already mobilized his lawyers against my father a mere couple of hours later doesn’t surprise me.
“You two played me. You know something’s on that land so the mineral rights deal you made with me was in bad faith. I’m going to get a judge on my side on this. If your boyfriend thinks he can scare me off, he clearly doesn’t know who he’s dealing with. I’m not just going to go away quietly.”
By the end of his angry tirade, it finally hits me what’s got him so worked up. “You were still going to try and dig up the land weren’t you? Even after I gave you the apartment. You were going to try to get a judge to let you evaluate the land so you could make sure there wasn’t something worth mining.”
Whatever minute familial feelings I may have still had toward this man is now completely dead and buried. “God, it’s always the same with you. You’re never happy with what you have; you’re always looking for something else, something more. Well, sorry I ruined your big plan to have your cake and eat it too, but I was well within my rights to sign those mineral rights over to Cade.”
Disgusted exasperation filters over the phone line. “You’re so damn naïve, just like your mother. The guy’s a billionaire, Katelyn. You don’t think he’s going to get the land tested? You may be stupid enough to believe otherwise, but I’m not. And believe you me, the second he finds something, I’m bringing my lawyers to get my cut.”
I’m not worried. Not even a tiny part of me believes Cade would do that. He’d be entitled to, of course. And I’m not under the grand assumption that his protecting the land is solely because of me. That’s the part I appreciate the most about the situation.
Before I can tell my father where he can shove his assumptions about Cade, my cell phone gets plucked out of my hand.
I spin around and see Cade calmly glaring at my phone screen, the quiet rage in his expression at odds with how gently he’s stroking my back with his free hand. By his dark, deadly look, anyone with two working eyes could see how much rage he’s got bottled up. And by the turbulent thunderclouds rolling in, he’s getting ready to rain retribution.
“Mr. Carr,” he grits out in a barely civil tone. “As you are well aware, one of the main stipulations in the paperwork my lawyer sent over was that you never contact Katelyn again. Seeing as how you’re already violating that, you’ll be hearing from my lawyer in about five fucking seconds. Life as you know it is now done you piece of shit.”
Click.
Just like that, he hands me back my phone.
“He’s going to call your bluff and call right back,” I tell him, trying to prepare him so he doesn’t fly off the handle.
“I never bluff with assholes. I called my lawyers as soon as I heard your voice while you were talking to him. I knew it was him on the phone. My lawyers are dealing with him as we speak. Trust me, he’ll be lucky if he has two pennies to rub together once I’m through with him.”
I shake my head. “No. I don’t want that. I don’t want him to suffer. All I want is for him not to be able to touch your land. That’s all. Beyond that, I just don’t want anything to do with him. Negative or otherwise. So please, call your lawyers off.”
He exhales a heavy, unsurprised sigh. “You and your bleeding heart. Fine. I’ll tell my lawyers to go easy on him. But I’m still going to tell them to do whatever they have to to make damn certain he never comes anywhere near your life again.”
“That’s…liberating. Thank you, Cade.” I take in my first deep breath in days and slump back against my front bumper.
All the tension in his frame that had started dissipating as soon as he’d hung up on my father comes rushing back with a vengeance when he peers into my overfilled SUV interior. “So, you’re moving out.”
Even though the odds of him not already knowing about my condo deal with my father is slim to none, I still avoid bringing it up. “I decided to rent a place closer to campus.” Totally true.
“Long term contract?” he asks after a measured pause.
Wow, loaded question. “Month to month.”
His jaw ticks. “We’ll circle back to that. First things first. Why didn’t you tell me about what was going on with the mineral rights and your father before this morning’s letter? You should’ve come to me. You didn’t have to give that bastard your apartment. In fact, if you give me a couple of days, I can get it back for you.”
Smiling,
I shake my head. “No. Honestly, it really is okay. My mother and I didn’t actually spend all that much time in the apartment. It was just where we slept after work and school. We spent almost every weekend on mini roadtrips in our beat-up station wagon. By the time I’d graduated high school, she and I had camped in every single campground on the West Coast.”
His expression softens. “That sounds pretty amazing.”
“It was. I mean I’d be lying if I said I’m not going to miss the apartment. Because I will. With it being a one-bedroom, Mom and I shared it like roommates. Which is how we managed to stay best friends through all my squirrelly teen years.”
I stare up at the sunny yellow condo I’d spent over half my life in. “But it’s not as hard as I thought it’d be to let it go.” Nodding resolutely, I pat the hood of my trusty little SUV. “It’s time for me to move on. And I’m okay with that.”
“Is that what all this is? You moving on?”
Startled by his raw voice, I look up and see him staring at me with a hooded expression as he says woodenly, “Your grad advisor told me you’re finally going to turn in that finished thesis you’ve been sitting on for the past two years and officially graduate this semester.”
“You spoke to Professor Cooper?”
“After I got your certified letter, I had my old PA do whatever magic she does to dig up info on people and get me a list of everyone in your life I could contact to find out what the hell else you’ve been hiding from me.”
“I see.” That must’ve been a short list. “So she got you in contact with Professor Cooper?”
“Actually, he called me first.”
Huh. That, I didn’t expect.
“Your professor called to tell me how he and his wife were going to be renting you a spare room until you graduate. And then he went on to tell me that if I didn’t hurry up and get my head out of my ass, you’d go off to your fellowship up north and walk right out of my life.”
Geez, who knew graduate mentors could be so darn meddlesome?
Cade crosses his arms and drills me with a look. “I informed your professor that had I known you were even thinking of moving away from me, that I would’ve cuffed your little ass to my bed before you were done explaining yourself.”
Seriously, how on earth he manages to make insane statements like that sound so adorably sexy is beyond me. “I was always going to tell you. But I wanted to make sure I dealt with my dad first. Because—”
“Because you were trying to protect me from him,” he says with equal parts frustration and admiration.
“Yes.”
“Damn it, Katelyn.” He yanks me into his arms and buries his face in my hair. “How the hell could you think I’d be okay with you just picking up and moving up north?” He pulls back and sucks me deeper into his vortex with that intense stare of his. “And don’t give me any more temporary talk. You and I both know this thing between us was never temporary. Not from the first day you trespassed onto my property.”
Okay, really starting to melt now. “I was hoping it wasn’t.”
“It’s not. So, are you still taking all this stuff over to rent that spare room or are you bringing it back to the ranch where it belongs?”
“Cade—”
“Don’t try to negotiate with me right now, Katelyn. Because the thought of you leaving me has me so fucked up, I’m not going to be anywhere near reasonable. Just tell me you’re going to drive straight back to the ranch with your stuff. We’ll figure out the whole fellowship part later. I don’t like the idea of being away from the ranch for too many days at a time, but I absolutely hate the idea of being away from you for more than a few days. So I’ll work out a plan with Jonah running things while I’m gone that’ll work with your dig schedule and—”
I seal my lips over his to stop him before I’m reduced to a pile of goo.
Of course, Cade being Cade, immediately takes over the kiss, making me practically mindless and boneless in mere seconds.
“Is that a yes, sweetheart?” he asks gruffly, breathing as ragged as mine.
It takes me a bit to unscramble my brain enough to reply, “Cade, did Professor Cooper fail to mention the part about my only needing to be at the dig site for the summer? After that, I have every intention of moving back here as my home base to fulfill the rest of the aspects of the fellowship, and just driving over every couple of weeks as needed.”
He frowns. “No. He didn’t explain that part. But, to be fair, I went apeshit as soon as I heard him mention you moving up north so I don’t think it was a deliberate omission on his part.”
I smile up at him. “So, does this added info help calm you down?”
This time, his frown is utterly confused. “Why the hell would the length of your time up north matter? I told you, I don’t like the idea of being away from you for even a few days.”
He reaches in his pocket for a small velvet satchel and an even smaller velvet box. “Which reminds me, I’m going to need you to wear something for me those days we are apart. I don’t want any geology prick thinking you’re fair game while you’re up there.”
“Cade, stop.” My knees are this close to giving out on me. “You can’t just propose because my professor freaked you out this morning.”
He stares down at for a beat before shaking his head in wonder. “Jesus, woman. That’s why you think I’m proposing?” He gently peels my hands off his shoulders and opens them palm up in between us. “I’ve had this for over a week now.” He places a ring with no stone in its setting in my left hand, and then pours out about a dozen gorgeous gemstones in my right.
I gasp.
“Honey, I admit, your professor did have me losing my shit on my way here, but I was already mostly unhinged when I saw that you left all of your granddad’s rocks in a pile on the hill overlooking the mustang run. I’d been trying to figure out the meaning behind it when your professor’s call interrupted me and confirmed all my worst fucking fears.”
This time, my gasp is even more incredulous. “How did you know I snuck onto your property this morning?” It was my best break-in to date. I even parked half a mile away this time to avoid any chance of detection.
“My surveillance caught you.”
“So you really do have cameras surrounding your property?” I’ve always wondered.
He shrugs. “Of course. But that’s not the surveillance I was talking about.” He grins. “Winston called me up at the butt-crack of dawn to tell me you were over the fence and heading to the hill by the mustang run.”
My jaw drops in disbelief. “Winston called you?”
“Yup. That meddling old grump would call me every single time he’d catch you sneaking onto my property from the very start. It was less sporting after you began visiting him before breaking in, of course, but I still think one of the highlights of his weeks was calling me to tell me you were prowling around my land.”
Well, I’ll be damned. Didn’t see that one coming.
Cade adds ever so casually then, “The way I see it, had it not been for him, I wouldn’t have been able to catch you every single time you broke in. Which is why I had a talk with his kids to set up alternate housing arrangements for him…on my property.”
Tears immediately flood my eyes. “You did?”
“Yeah.” He pulls one of those travel packets of Kleenex out of his pocket. “Here. I figured you’d get all gushy about it so I came prepared.”
Without a spare hand to take the tissues, Cade quickly resolves the issue by slipping the ring onto my ring finger of my left hand.
Instant adoration and total possession washes over his expression. “Now just pick which stone you want to go with it, baby, and I’ll get it set in the ring.”
“But I haven’t even said yes yet.”
He captures my lips in a hard, quick kiss. “That ‘yet’ will hold me over for now. Let me know if you don’t like any of these stones. I figure since rocks are your thing, this should be your choice.”
&nbs
p; That’s when I take a really good look at the gemstones he wants me to choose from. “Cade, there has to be over a million dollars sitting in my hand right now.”
“Roughly. The suspense is killing me, sweetheart. What stone do you pick? I’ve got a hunch I know which.”
While each stone is positively stunning, only one of them is making my heart race and melt at the same time
And that’s exactly the one he picks up to let me get a closer look. “I knew it was going to be this one. It’s a raw, uncut diamond.”
“It’s beautiful.”
“It’s yours.” He re-bags the rest of the stones and stuffs them back in his pocket like they’re loose change.
Seriously, this whole billionaire business is going to take some getting used to.
With the gorgeous, unpolished stone in hand, Cade drops down on one knee. “Despite what you think, I’m not asking because I’m worried you’re going to run off and leave me. I’m asking you to marry me because I can’t imagine my life being anywhere near complete without you. Because I want to fill your life the way you fill mine. Because I don’t ever want you to feel like you’re alone in this world, or that you don’t have a place in this world. Because I want a big ass happy family with you. And because of countless other reasons I’ll spend a lifetime reminding you of. So, just say you’ll marry me, Katelyn. And make me the happiest goddamn man on this planet.”
The second he puts the raw, uncut diamond in my hand, a deafening chorus of hoots and hollers and horn honks from across the street swallows up my yes. But from the breath-stealing kiss Cade plants on my lips, clearly, he heard me just fine.
When I eventually catch my breath and remember that we have an audience, I turn to see all of the guys from the ranch, and Winston, filling the beds of three trucks on the other side of the street.
Winston waves at us with his rifle and shouts out with a frown, “You two ain’t planning on one of ‘em long engagements are you? Because I ain’t getting any younger. I want to walk Katelyn down the aisle before I croak.”