Redemption

by R. R. Banks

“Do you ride?”

  “Not since the fair when I was ten.”

  “Perfect.” He jumped down from his horse and looked me over. “You look adorable, by the way. Useless as all fucking hell, but adorable.”

  What was with this guy? He’s supposed to be my fantasy date and he’s acting like I’m getting in his way.

  “You know what? I think I’ll just head back to the retreat now. I appreciate it.”

  I turned to start back down the path, but I felt his hand wrap around my wrist.

  “Wait,” he said. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have talked to you like that. It’s just that I got started late this morning and I haven’t gotten as much done today as I wanted to.”

  “But it’s still early,” I said.

  “Early for me is still dark for you.”

  Damn.

  “If it’s alright with you, I can help you with your work.”

  “I had a date planned.”

  “I’m sure you did. So, what are you doing?”

  “I have to feed the herd.”

  “Sounds great. How do we do that?”

  He gestured toward a pile of hay bales against a fence and I walked over to it, grasping the twine around the bale and giving it a hard tug. It didn’t even move an inch and I lost my grip, falling back and landing directly on my ass. Shane walked up to me slowly.

  “Please don’t try to do that again,” he said.

  “Those things are not light,” I said.

  “No,” he said. “They aren’t. They also aren’t what we feed the herd.”

  “Then why did you point to them?”

  “I pointed at the horse behind them. You need to ride if you’re going to help me.”

  Well, damn-shit-hell.

  There is a reason that the old adage is about riding a bicycle and not about riding a horse and I learned that reason very quickly. Sitting in the saddle felt awkward and I felt like I had to grasp the reins for dear life just to keep me in place. Fortunately, I had only had to attempt to ride for a few minutes before a large truck came into view. It eased to a stop beside Shane and the window rolled down. A weathered face looked out at us.

  “Hey, son, I called in some extra hands for the day if you want to go ahead and take off.”

  “Are you sure?” Shane asked.

  “Yep. I know you were looking forward to your date.” The old man’s eyes came to me and he grinned. “Hi, there.”

  There was something queasy in his voice and I was relieved when Shane leaned to block his view of me with his body.

  “That’s enough of that. I really appreciate it, Greg. I’ll make it up to you.”

  The window rolled up and the truck drove away slowly.

  “Now that we’re off for the day, do you want to take a ride through the ranch?” He looked at my position on the horse. “Do you want to take a walk through the ranch?”

  “I would love that.”

  He jumped down off of his horse and came to the side of mine, reaching up for me. I let him grab onto my waist and help me down. My body glided down his as he lowered me to my feet and I felt a flutter in my belly. We brought the horses to the stable and he showed me how to brush them and tuck them into their stalls with fresh water. He reached into his pocket and drew out a palm full of sugar cubes. He offered a few to me and then held the others flat on his palm under the mouth of the horse he had ridden. I followed his lead and smiled as the horse I had ridden quickly ate the treat from my palm.

  Shane gave a hint of an approving smile and then led me out of the stable. We walked along slowly and I enjoyed the scenery in the silence before Shane spoke again.

  “So, I’m guessing that this is your first visit to a ranch.”

  “Are you allowed to ask me that?” I asked, tilting my head at him.

  “Grey area,” he answered.

  “Then I’ll be risky and say yes, this is the first time that I have been to a ranch.” I looked back ahead and then back at him. “Wait. Does a pumpkin patch that advertises itself as a real working farm count?”

  “No, it does not.”

  “Then, yes, this is the first time that I have been to a ranch.”

  “Do you have any other plans for the day?” he asked.

  I was slightly startled by the question and shook my head.

  “No,” I said. “I had it set aside for you.”

  “Would you mind if I planned a different date for us?”

  He spoke slowly with very little inflection, but I could still sense the slight shift in emotion in the question.

  “What did you have in mind?”

  “I’ll get it set up. Come back before supper. Wear the dress.”

  Without even the most subtle of shows of affection, Shane walked away from me. Feeling confused, I reached into my pocket and withdrew my phone so that I could call for the limo to come back for me. There were still hours to kill before I was to be back at the ranch and I spent the drive back to the retreat thinking about how to spend the time. I was thinking about curling up with a book when I saw Noah standing in the front room of the cottage.

  “Hey,” he said. “Back so soon? What was wrong with him?”

  I laughed.

  “There was a little change of plans, but I’m going back to the ranch tonight.”

  “The ranch?” he asked.

  “Oh, yes,” I said. “I tried my hand at cowboying today.”

  “Wouldn’t that be cowgirling?”

  “I guess you’re right.” I glanced over my shoulder at the steps leading to my room and then back at him. “Do you have time for a snack?”

  “How do you know that there’s one there?”

  “You’ve become a bit predictable.”

  Noah gave a mock gasp but then followed me. After sharing the cup of tea the day after my date with Sam, Noah had come by my room a couple of other times for a snack and chat, and I was really beginning to look at him as a good friend. In all of the questions and unpredictability of what was happening around me, it was nice to feel like there was a friendly face I could rely on when I got back to the cottage.

  We had been laughing and eating our way through the plate of chopped vegetables and cheese in my room for almost an hour when I heard Fawn’s voice calling from the main room.

  “I should go,” Noah said. “I hope you have fun tonight.”

  “Thanks.”

  I watched him leave, the bright green of his eyes seeming to still sparkle in mine even when he was gone.

  This time when I arrived at the ranch, Shane was waiting for me. He held what looked like a pile of blankets in one arm and a truck was parked to the side of the trail. Instead of the driver helping me out of the car, Shane offered his hand and I climbed out. He led me to the truck and opened the door for me. I contemplated the vehicle for a moment, trying to come up with the most appropriate way to climb up into it wearing a skirt. I finally pressed my skirt down to my legs and hopped in sideways, gliding across the leather seat. Shane closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side.

  “Ready?” he asked.

  I nodded and the trucked roared to life.

  The sun had set completely and we were surrounded by dark blue night two hours later as we sat beside a glowing campfire. The smell of chicken and vegetables he had cooked right in the flames was still lingering in the air and Shane was holding a stick with a marshmallow in the flames. He pulled it out and I saw it engulfed in flame, the fluffy white sides quickly blackening. I jumped back away from it, causing the blanket I had around my shoulders to fall off and I caught it, tugging it back into place as I laughed at Shane’s efforts to blow out the flames. When he had finally succeeded in extinguishing the fiery confection, he grasped it with two fingers and peeled it away from the stick. He took a bite of it first and then pulled off more for me. I opened my mouth and accepted the soft, melted marshmallow. I reached up to catch a string of the marshmallow that clung to my lip and saw Shane staring at me. His eyes were smoldering nearly
as much as the embers of the fire and I felt the energy between us change.

  The blanket slipped off of my shoulder again and Shane drew it back into place, letting his fingertips trail along its edge before bringing them up to rest on the curve of my jaw. I looked into his eyes and saw them flicker down to my lips and back. He leaned forward slowly and I tilted my face up until our mouths met. Shane’s lips were tender and soft on mine, unhurried as if that kiss was all that he wanted. When it ended, he rested his forehead against mine.

  “There’s something else I want to show you,” he said. “It’s one of my favorite places on the ranch.”

  I nodded and let him help me up off of the log where I sat. Shane used a bucket of water that he had brought with us to douse the flames and then to scoop dirt over the embers. When the fire was completely extinguished, he took my hand and guided me back to the truck. We climbed in and he started to drive further away from the main path that we had walked down earlier. His eyes flashed over to me every few seconds as he drove and I found myself smiling at the subtle attention. Finally, we drove out of the trees and into what looked like a huge, empty field. It was slightly overgrown, as though it hadn’t been used for crops or grazing in some time, and I heard the whishing sound of the grass on the tires as we drove into the center of the field. Shane stopped the truck and turned it off. He got out, taking the blanket I had brought with me from the campfire. A few moments later he opened my door and helped me down. We walked around to the end of the truck bed and he put the tailgate down. I noticed that he had spread the blanket out along the bottom of the bed, creating a cushion for us. I crawled onto it and turned to look at him.

  “Lie down and look up,” he said.

  I did as he said and couldn’t withhold my gasp as I saw the breathtaking expanse of stars overhead. Shane lay down beside me and gazed above us.

  “This is incredible,” I said.

  “I come out here sometimes when I want to think,” he said.

  I pointed up at the cluster of stars above us.

  “The Pegasus,” I said. “It was always my favorite when I was a little girl. My mother used to tell me that the star at the very tip of its wing was the Wishing Star. I have made a lot of wishes on that star.”

  I let out a sigh and looked over at Shane, who stared back at me.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Snow

  Shane rolled over onto his side until he was facing me and I did the same so that we were looking at one another, our bodies only inches apart. We weren't touching, but we were close enough that I could feel the heat radiating off of him and the ripple of his breath sweeping down between my breasts. He reached forward and cupped his hand around my face, tilting it so that he could better look into my eyes.

  "You look incredible," he whispered.

  "Not adorable?" I teased, remembering how Shane had reacted to me when I had tried to help him with his ranch chores earlier in the day.

  He shook his head and licked his lips as his eyes traveled along by face, down to the swell of my cleavage, and then further along my body. He eased his body closer to mine until the hands that were supporting us on the floor of the truck bed were pinned tightly between us.

  "No," he breathed, his face coming closer to mine, "Definitely not adorable." He drew closer and nuzzled my nose with his, "Sexy," he whispered, "So sexy I could barely keep my hands off of you while I was driving out here.”

  "Really?" I asked breathlessly.

  The softness that was starting to show through Shane’s rugged exterior was enticing in a way that was completely different from what I had experienced with the first two men. With them, the attraction and sexual spark was sharp and explosive. With Shane, the burn was slower, the sense that he desired me making me feel more feminine and beautiful than wild and erotic.

  He nodded.

  "I am having a hard time keeping my hands off of you now."

  I lifted my eyes to his. They looked slumbering, holding a gentleness that seemed to correspond with the rich, slow quality of his voice.

  "Then why are you?" I whispered.

  Shane leaned forward to touch his mouth to mine in the same soft, natural way that he had as we sat beside the campfire that evening. I felt him ease his hand away from where it had meshed lightly with mine between us so he could bring it to my thigh. I parted my lips beneath his to welcome his tongue into my mouth, sighing as I finally tasted him. His hand slipped under the hem of my skirt and I felt him pause as he discovered the top of my thigh highs and the garter belt that held them in place. It hadn’t been included in the clothing that had been in the date box, but I had packed it anyway. Wearing it tonight had been a risk, but the slow, gradual attraction between us had left me wanting to do something special for Shane, to primp myself a bit more, and the lacy white lingerie had seemed the perfect choice.

  He groaned, pulling his mouth away from mine and looking down so he could push my skirt up around my hip and watch as his fingertips traced along the lace at the top of one thigh-high.

  "Do you like it?" I asked softly.

  He kissed me again, nipping lightly into my bottom lip.

  "Let me take off your dress.”

  I rolled onto my back and sat up, lifting my hips so that he could ease my skirt out from under me. His hand went to my back and I felt him lowering the zipper on my dress. It went all the way to the bottom, so when he finished I was able to peel the fabric away. He took it out of my hands and leaned around to toss it through the driver's window into the cab of the truck. I shivered in the cool air of the night and Shane opened the large black case that we had been leaning against to pull out another blanket. He draped it over the side of the truck, a promise of cuddling up later. For now, we didn’t need the blanket. There was plenty of warmth coming soon.

  My hair tumbled around my shoulders and pooled around me on the worn quilt as I lay back. Shane took a breath as he looked down at me, taking all of me in, and I had never felt so beautiful. His fingers moved quickly down the buttons on the front of his shirt and he let it slide off of his broad shoulders before tossing it into the cab of the truck like he had with my dress. My breath caught in my throat as I saw the moonlight shining down on his sculpted body. All of those days spent working on the ranch had done amazing things to him and the only word that I could think of to describe him appropriately was magnificent.

  I reached up and touched my hand in the middle of his chest, flattening it and letting it run down his hard belly to pause at the front of his belt. The heel of my hand brushed against his fly and I could feel the swell of his hardening erection straining against the denim. He shifted and I heard the thud of his boots hitting the ground as he kicked them off and let them tumble off of the edge of the tailgate.

  He eased himself back down beside me and cupped his hand at my waist, stroking my skin with this thumb for a few moments before bringing his upper body up to hover over mine. I arched slightly to touch my skin to his, seeking his warmth, and he gently pressed me back down into the softness of the quilt beneath me.

  "Slow," he whispered, and lowered his mouth to brush against mine.

  His lips moved down to my neck and he created a gradual, torturously slow path to the hollow between my collarbones. The tip of his tongue slid across the tender skin there before he continued his progress down the center of my chest toward my breasts.

  "Patient," he whispered.

  I was feeling many things at that moment, but patient certainly wasn’t one of them. I could feel his control, however, and knew that if I maintained myself and allowed him to set the pace, there would be something truly luscious to discover. He kissed along the white lace edge of each cup of my bra, then followed the path again with the tip of his tongue. I gasped when he lifted his mouth to blow a stream of air across the damp area, chilling me even further yet illustrating how much my body had heated up since he had come to lie beside me. I writhed beneath him and he lifted his mouth away until I calmed again. He was committed t
o this slow progression, allowing the burn that had been smoldering to continue to grow naturally. I told myself to savor it, to appreciate every moment of what we were creating together. Once I was still, Shane's lips rested on my stomach. He continued to kiss until he reached my navel, and then drew his tongue back up to the underwire of my bra. I could feel the heat building between my thighs as he continued to coax me.

  "Sit up."

  I did as he asked so that he could reach behind me to unhook my strapless bra. It immediately fell away from my body and I tilted my head back to enjoy the now-familiar feeling of the cool night air grazing my nipples. It was something that I never would have expected would seem comforting and familiar, but it had become another way that I had become more aware of my body and the sensations it was capable of enjoying. Already taut from Shane's touch, they hardened further, sending a thrill through my core.

  Shane's hand cradled one breast and he drew the nipple in between his lips. I whimpered, clutching the back of his head as he suckled me. He brought the same attention to the other breast and I pressed up into the touch. I had never been treated with such reverence and my body was tingling with anticipation, ready for the next delectable attention he would give.

  Shane gently led me to lean back against the box at the back of the truck bed and rolled onto his knees. I felt him release the hooks of my garter belt and slide it down my hips and off of my legs. He ran his fingertip down the front of my panties and then further, encouraging me to part my thighs. His finger slid under the edge of the lace and I gasped, closing my eyes to revel in finally feeling the intimate touch. He eased the panties out of the way and suddenly his tongue was on me.

  I cried out and let him lift my hips to remove the last bit of fabric that kept my body from him, leaving me in only my white thigh highs, which he peeled off tenderly. I looked down and watched as Shane drew a long lick up through my folds. Watching the act was intensely stimulating and I felt my hips buck. This gave him the chance to catch them and tilt my pelvis up so he could hold it against his mouth. His tongue dipped inside me and I felt my body completely give in to him, readying with a wash of hot, slick fluid. I watched without shame as he continued to explore all of the intimate folds and crevices of my core, then focused on my clit for a few, powerful seconds. One of his hands left my hips and went to his belt so that he could release the buckle and draw the zipper down.