by Claire Adams
I ran my hands down his muscular back, loving the feel of him even as he denied me what I wanted most at that moment: to have him press inside me in a flurry of blissful pleasure, his deep thrusts bringing me to climax.
He scooted back a little, his mouth dropping onto one my erect nipples and sucking hard. I arched my back into him, moaning. I took him by his thick, soft hair, closing my fists over it. He moved to the other nipple, kissing it before he closed his lips around it and sucked with gentle, loving force. I cried out a little at the pressure of his teeth nibbling, the pleasure rushing through me.
“I want you inside me,” I whispered, and he nibbled my nipple harder. Gasping, I tilted my hips, trying to entice him with my pulsing hot sex. I was so wet for him, so ready.
He brought his lips to mine, kissing hard, our tongues deep in each other’s mouths. I wanted to devour every inch of him. I wanted him to sink himself into me as deep as he would go.
He took himself in hand and rubbed the tip of his cock between my legs, pressing through my lips to feel the wet heat just outside of my shivering entrance. I opened my knees, not wanting to give him a reason to stop.
“Mmm, Emma,” he moaned. “You’re soaking wet.”
He entered me slowly, teasingly, his cock going in halfway before coming out again.
I moaned at the denial. “Go all the way,” I whispered. The heat had risen to my cheeks. I was flushed and shivering. That itch between my legs was so close to being satisfied by the feeling of him filling me up. I’d never burned so hot for anyone.
He bucked his hips, burying himself into me up to the hilt. I shrieked with the ecstasy exploding inside me, hot as my desire for him. Every thrust stoked that heat, and the blissful pressure built inside me, that need for sweet release. A moan rumbled in Pete’s throat as he pushed inside me, and I cried out again with the climax that squeezed my entire body like a vice, the tingling prickling over my skin as the blood rushed to my face.
I ran my hands down his back to take hold of his muscular ass, trying to pull him inside of me as deeply as he would go. I tilted my hips, wanting every inch of him, that delicious itch inside me almost satisfied. He groaned behind clenched teeth, his muscles rigid, his hips bucking sharply into mine, and his cock buried. He shuddered, drawing a gasp from me, the straining muscles shivering beneath my hands.
We relaxed together, our bodies slick with sweat, the air steamy in the room, the scent of our lovemaking settling over us, so sweet in my nostrils, as we caught our breath. I loved the smell of him, of us together, and the way my heartbeat slowed the more my shivering muscles relaxed.
Pete slid to lie on his side on the bed, keeping one arm draped over me. I sighed, letting my eyes drift shut. I didn’t want to fall asleep here — I needed to get some things done back at my house tonight — but I was happy to be next to him. He kissed the side of my face with moist lips, and I couldn’t help my smile.
“You never answered me before,” I said, keeping my voice low. I liked this quiet time after we’d been together.
“What do you mean?” he whispered, directly into my ear.
“Meeting Daddy tomorrow night.”
He hesitated, his nose nuzzling my cheek. “I haven’t met a girl’s parents in a long time. I’m willing, as long as you don’t mind how rusty I am.”
I laughed, still a little breathless from our roll in the hay. “You can’t be that bad.” I turned my head to face him, our noses pressed together. “He’s been the most important person in my life since I was born.”
“Oh, I’m damn sure gonna be there. If it made you happy, I’d walk from here to Dallas, barefoot.”
“You don’t have to do all that,” I said, giggling. “This will make me happier than I’ve been in a long time.”
“Well, making you happy is almost as good as the fun we just had.” He kissed my nose while I laughed again. “Almost.”
I leaned to kiss him on the mouth, still giggling.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Pete
Sunday
I was putting the finishing touches on my outfit when I heard Emma coming in the house.
“I’m in the bathroom!” I called out.
She appeared behind me in the mirror, grinning. “Are you wearing a tie, Pete Gains?”
I turned away from the mirror, trying to smile, too. I hadn’t been this nervous in a long time. I really liked this girl. I didn’t want to fuck things up by getting off on the wrong foot with her father. I knew how much of a daddy’s girl she was. If I fell out of the saddle tonight, I might not get another chance to get back on the horse.
She looked me up and down, from the tips of my nicest boots to my khaki pants — I hadn’t worn them in years, and they were a little tight — to the dressiest shirt I owned topped off with my only necktie. She laughed, but her green eyes were kind.
“The first thing you need to do is get that tie off.”
I didn’t need to be told twice. I tugged it off my neck and threw it on the back of the toilet, happy to never put another one on as long as I lived.
“Daddy’s not gonna be dressed up,” she said. “And, you can see what I’m wearing.” She had on a sundress and sandals, her long hair loose down her back. “You’re not gonna be able to relax if you aren’t comfortable. Go put on something else.”
I went to my room to do just what she’d asked, keeping the nicer boots, but trading the uncomfortable khakis and dress shirt for a pair of jeans and a button up shirt I might wear to ride in. Her daddy had horses and a good chunk of his own property. He probably didn’t expect me to show up in my Sunday best. That relaxed me a little, but I still didn’t know how I was ever going to settle down enough to eat. My stomach had been in knots since Emma’d brought up this dinner.
She looked me over again, this time nodding once to show she approved. “You look great, Pete. Much more natural.” She stepped closer and lifted up onto the tips of her toes to plant a kiss on my mouth. “Let’s get on. Daddy’s got the grill going already.”
We walked out to her car. I’d never ridden in it before. Damn, it was tiny. I felt like I had to fold my legs in half to fit inside of it. I reached under my seat, pulled up on the lever, and slid it back as far as it would go.
She turned us around and headed out to the main country road.
“Should I be worried about today?” I asked.
She shrugged a bare shoulder. “I’m not the one to ask. I’ve never done this before.”
“Damn, I’d think you’d at least have some advice for me.”
She glanced over at me briefly, displaying her warm grin, before putting her eyes back on the road. “You’ll be just fine. Daddy’s a sweet man.” Her grin deepened, those emerald eyes flashing with a light I didn’t quite care for. “At least, he is to me.”
We pulled up to her Daddy’s property, and I had a second to look around before she parked the car and we got out. I could see lots of rolling, grassy land and a barn set back a few hundred feet from the main house.
She turned to me, taking my hand and squeezing. “Don’t worry. You’ll do fine. Kasey’ll probably do most of the talking, anyway.” She leaned to give me another quick kiss, then she was gone, opening her car door and getting out.
Reluctantly, I followed her. We walked up to the porch together, not holding hands. It might’ve been some time since I’d met a girl’s parents, but that didn’t mean I was stupid. I knew better than to keep putting my hands on Emma with her daddy around, not even an innocent arm around her shoulders. I wasn’t about to do anything that got me led out of the house by the barrel of a loaded shotgun.
As soon as we hit the porch, the front door flew open. Kasey was there to greet us, grinning excitedly, her green eyes blazing and hair loose and bouncy around her shoulders. She was wearing a dress, too, but it was a fair bit shorter than Emma’s was.
“Oh my God, I’m so glad you’re here!” she cried, and jumped into my arms for a hug.
I looked ov
er at Emma, who shrugged, a small smile lighting up her face.
Kasey bounced out of my arms and then hugged her sister. “Daddy’s out back.” She took Emma by the hand and dragged her into the house, leaving me to follow along after them. Kasey chattered the whole way through the house, but I couldn’t concentrate on a single word of it. I was swallowing back the sick trying to rise up from my stomach, my mind racing through all the things I shouldn’t bring up, what Emma and I had done last night in my bedroom the first item on the list.
The more I thought about it, the more certain I became that it was only a matter of time before I said something stupid. Emma looked over her shoulder at me once before we reached the back of the house, Kasey chattering away, and gave me a reassuring smile that I couldn’t return.
We walked outside into the last of the sunshine. We had some daylight left, but the sun was dropping out of the sky in a hurry. Mr. Flowers was standing with his back to us, standing over a charcoal grill. I could smell the barbecuing meat the minute I stepped out of the house.
“He’s here, Daddy!” Kasey cried, letting go of Emma. She ran to join her daddy at the grill, bouncing across the back lawn on the balls of her bare feet, her light hair flying in every direction.
Emma took me by the arm, leading me the way she would her prom date. “Relax,” she whispered. “He won’t bite.”
Mr. Flowers set his tongs down and turned from the grill to face us. He didn’t look much older than sixty, with a tanned, weathered face, light blue eyes, and a nose that looked like Emma’s, only bigger. He looked ready to jump right onto the back of a horse, in jeans, boots, a button up shirt that looked a lot like the one I had on, and a worn cowboy hat.
“Daddy, this is Pete Gains,” Emma said, her hands sliding away from my arm. “Pete, this is my daddy, John Flowers.”
I held out my hand, and he took it in a tight grip. “I’m pleased to meet you, Sir,” I said.
He nodded once, the way Emma always did. “I’ve heard plenty about you over the last few weeks, son,” he said in a low, gruff voice. “Chicken’s done.” He turned to start putting it on the plate.
“Can I help with anything, Sir?”
“Just by eating it,” he replied.
We walked over to the table, me sticking as close as I could to Emma. We sat down, Kasey and Mr. Flowers on one side and me and Emma on the other. The table was laid with all manner of sides — baked beans, potato salad, macaroni salad, corn on the cob — and glasses of iced tea that were sweating all over the checkered tablecloth.
“As you can see, the girls were busy this morning,” Mr. Flowers said.
Smiling as a pretty blush colored her cheeks, Emma took the plate of chicken from the center of the table, serving me a piece and then herself before handing it to her sister. She did the same with the rest of the sides. I found, staring at all this food, that I was starving half to death. I hadn’t eaten a damned thing since the night before.
“Emma tells me you raise horses,” Mr. Flowers said.
I nodded. “Yes, Sir. I have quite a few on the ranch. We raise them, train them to race, and sell them. I only have two that I’d never sell off.”
“Did you really get that big old farm at eighteen?” Kasey asked, her light eyes shining. She had on a lot of makeup. Not that it looked bad, it was just hard to get used to because she looked so much like her sister and Emma didn’t wear a stitch of the stuff. I liked that about her. She and Lacey had that much in common. They liked to be dirty and sweaty at the end of a long day, and makeup just didn’t fit in with that.
“I did,” I said, relaxing some more. Talking about things I cared about helped. “My daddy passed, and I took over from there. I had some help, of course.”
We all dug into our food, keeping up the conversation, so it felt natural. I tried to keep from sneaking glances at Emma, but I could see her smiling at the edge of my vision. Kasey kept bringing up funny stories about her adventures as a waitress in Austin, at one point I nearly spit out a mouthful of tea. Mr. Flowers just watched his daughters laughing and talking, a calm, pleased look in his eye. He didn’t talk much and only asked a few questions. Even Emma was mostly quiet. I talked to Kasey the most out of everyone. She kept the table smiling and laughing, me included.
At the end of the meal, I rose to help the girls clear the dishes. “You gotta hand wash in this damned house,” Kasey grumbled.
Emma laughed. “She acts like we just laid out the last supper.”
“I’m happy to help with the washing up,” I said.
Emma lifted a dark eyebrow to cap off a surprised expression.
“What? My mama died when I was young. My daddy and I split the chores inside, same as we did outside. I did my fair share of dishes.” I rolled up my sleeves. “Tell me what you want me to do, wash or dry.”
“You got yourself a good one, Em, if he’s willing to clean up!” Kasey turned to leave the kitchen, nearly running into her father in the process. She shrieked, and everyone in the kitchen jumped. “Daddy, you scared me!”
“You help your sister wash up,” he said, completely unaffected by her outburst. “Pete, can we have a word out back?”
I turned to look at Emma, but she only smiled and shrugged. I followed Mr. Flowers from the kitchen to the backyard. He closed the door behind us and motioned for us to sit down in a pair of wooden chairs on the back patio. He stared out at the rear of his property, not looking over at me, which helped me to calm down a little. I felt like some kid trying to take out my sixteen-year-old girlfriend, not a grown man who owned his own business and several hundred acres of land.
“I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how special my girls are to me,” he said.
“No, Sir.”
“It’s been just the three of us for a long time. I worry that the girls think they can’t move on with their lives and leave me behind.”
I didn’t know what to say to that.
“Emma likes to make everybody happy before thinking of herself. Her mother was the same.” He was quiet for a moment, but it was a casual, comfortable silence. “That’s why I’m glad she’s found a place for herself and someone she cares about.”
I swallowed the lump rising up into my throat. He looked over at me, his light eyes more open than I’d expected. He nodded to me once, and I nodded back, hundreds of unspoken words passing between us in an instant before he glanced back out to the yard again. I looked over my shoulder and into the house. I had a clear view of the kitchen where Emma and Kasey were laughing and talking as they did the dishes.
“I’m glad, too, Sir.” I had to think of the best way to express the flood of feelings that welled up in me whenever I looked at Emma. “I truly care about your daughter. I don’t know how the farm got along without her. Or how I did.”
Mr. Flowers nodded again, only once, and we sat in a companionable silence until the girls came out to tell us the dishes were done and it was time for dessert.
Chapter Thirty
Emma
Monday
I ran by Daddy’s place on the way to work to drop off a few odds and ends I’d borrowed over the last couple of weeks. I was just going to run them into the house — he was always out back working with the horses before the sun rose, so I didn’t want to trouble him during his thinking time — but there was a light on in the kitchen. Kasey was digging around in the pantry, dressed in a night shirt and shorts, her hair pulled back into a messy ponytail.
“What are you doing up?” I asked her.
“I woke up so hungry, I couldn’t go back to sleep,” she said and pulled a box of cereal off the shelf.
“You damned near ate your weight in lemon meringue pie last night after dinner,” I said.
She laughed, and so did I. “You know how much I love your lemon meringue pie. It was your own damned fault for making it in the first place.” She reached into the box, pulled out a handful of cereal, and started munching on it. “What are you doing here first thing in the morning?�
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I shrugged. “I had some things of Daddy’s I wanted to get back. And, it’s okay if I get to the farm a little late this morning. I’ll still be there before sunup.”
Kasey groaned, rolling light eyes that looked much bigger without all the liner and mascara. She could have been fifteen standing there in front of me, her cheeks and forehead fresh and clean of their usual foundation, powder, and blush. “I don’t know how you get up that early every morning.”
“I get up the exact same time we did growing up.”
“We didn’t have a choice then!”
I laughed. “I don’t have a choice now if I want to keep my job. Besides, I’m excited to see the new horses today. Lacey ran up to just outside of Dallas over the weekend to buy a pair of fillies. Today will be our first day getting them used to the ranch.” I’d hardly slept the night before, thinking about how much fun we had in store today.
Kasey’s face got serious, her smile evaporating as her eyes stayed steady on mine. “You need to be careful about that girl.”
I tugged my eyebrows together, scowling just a little. “What do you mean?”
“That Lacey is always hanging around all the time. Pete’s your boyfriend now. You need to put your foot down.”
“No, things aren’t like that. Lacey and Pete are pretty damned close to brother and sister. You should see them together. They fight like cats and dogs.”
She put her box of cereal down on the counter and dropped a hand onto her skinny hip. “Emma, ain’t nobody like brother and sister who ain’t actually brother and sister.” She stared hard at me, the heat in her gaze keeping me from arguing. “You need to get that snake the fuck out of your garden before it’s too late.”
I blinked, shocked by her directness. It took a minute to get myself together enough to come up with a response. “I’m really not worried about that, Kasey.”
“Well, you should be. Boys and girls can’t be friends without one of them having feelings for the other. Just keep your eyes open is all I’m saying. I like Pete a whole lot. I could tell Daddy did, too. I’d hate for this girl to ruin it because she decides she wants him all to herself.”