“I think I am falling in love with you, Leah,” I said. “I’ve never loved someone who wasn’t family before. I don’t even know if that’s what it is, to be honest with you, but it sounds like what everyone else describes. I am falling in love with you. I have been since the first second I saw you, and it’s only gotten so much stronger. I don’t know for sure what all this means, but I think it’s the start of something really great. If you want it to be.”
“I am falling for you too, Colt,” she whispered, the words barely audible as she fought to clear her throat. Emotion was gripping her like it gripped me. “I know I am.”
“What does this mean?” I asked.
We had never defined ourselves before, never taken that step of saying what we were. But now, with this conversation, I knew that was going to change. We were no longer just two people who spent time together in a nebulous connection. But what exactly were we?
“It means we need to be alone,” she said, a smile stretching wide across her face. She reached up and wiped a tear away with the back of her hand, and something deep in my gut clenched.
“Alone, alone?” I asked.
She nodded her head and a wash of warmth rolled over me. She wanted to be alone with me, somewhere other than my brother’s truck. Somewhere we could solidify the new definition of what we were, who we were to each other. I smiled too. I knew just the place.
“Come with me,” I said. I turned and opened the door of the truck. She followed me out and I walked around to the driver’s side, turning the engine off and leaving the key on the seat with the door unlocked. Our ranch wasn’t a place people came to lift cars, so leaving the key in the truck wasn’t exactly something new. I assumed that Cassidy would understand my reasoning, though if I could remember, I would grab them for him later when we made our way back inside.
If we made our way back inside.
The thought made me giddy like a teenager, and as I shut the door of the truck, I turned and held out my hand to Leah. She took it and we started walking toward the barn. Only a few steps later, we were lightly running, and a few steps after that, we were in a full sprint, giggling and laughing as we made our way to the barn door.
It was dark and warm inside. The generator had kicked on to keep the heaters going. It was an unusual thing for a barn to have internal heat, but since this barn doubled as a workshop, we kept it at least livable. Especially upstairs in the hayloft. I grinned as I made my way to the light switch on the wall. There were three switches, one for a main light downstairs, one for a main light upstairs, and a third. I flipped it and watched Leah’s reaction.
Icicle lights high from the ceiling on both floors cast a gentle, yellow light. It was just enough to see by, and I reached out my hand again to take hers. They melded together like they had been designed for one another. Gently, I pulled her into me and our lips touched. The kiss was soft and exploratory, a remnant of the renewal of the relationship. But soon, it dived into the hungry longing kiss that both of us desired, needed from one another. Our tongues wrapped up in each other and a soft moan escaped her when I broke us apart.
I held her close to my chest and looked down into those sparkling eyes. The reflection of the yellow light danced in them. I gently nudged her nose with mine and then pulled her with me as I walked backward toward the barn steps.
“Up here,” I said.
She smiled and followed my lead. Up the steps, we went, and when we made it to the top, I guided her to a mound of hay in the center of the room where I knew we would be comfortable. A few blankets were strewn about and I gathered them, laying one out on the hay to make a makeshift bed. When I turned to her again, I pulled her in slowly and she made a giggling sound as she melded into my arms.
I kissed her again, and this time, there was no hesitation. I wanted her. I needed her, and with that kiss, I left no doubt. Her arms wrapped around my neck and her body melted into mine. My hands slid down to her ass and squeezed her into me, pulling her core into mine and letting her feel how hard I was. My stomach clenched as my cock twitched, pressing against the tight jeans in an effort to get to her.
Suddenly, she stopped, pulling her face away from mine but making no effort to pull the rest of her body away. She scanned my face with worry, and it suddenly dawned on me how ugly I must have been. My face was bound to be a mess after the fight, and while the blood had stopped flowing, I knew the bruising would have started and I wasn’t looking my absolute best.
“What about your ribs?” she asked. “I don’t what you to hurt yourself.”
I grinned, pulling her tight into me and reaching over to grab one of her wrists. I pressed her hand into my ribs and kissed her deeply. When our lips broke apart, I looked deep into her eyes and smirked.
“My ribs are fine,” I said. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Are you sure?” she asked.
“Try me,” I said.
Chapter 38
Leah
Our lips pressed together again and I slid my hands down to the front of his shirt. Using my thumb to press the buttons out, I worked my way down the front until I reached his waist and gently pulled the shirt up out of where it was tucked in. Letting his lips go, I focused on pulling the sleeves off him softly. I knew he didn’t want to show any weakness, any hesitation, but I didn’t want him to be in pain either.
As I slipped the shirt off his left arm, he moved it to make it easier and I could see the clenching of his stomach. He was hiding the pain, but I knew deep down that it was the only thing he was hiding anymore.
His white T-shirt underneath had blood and dirt stains on it from the brawl. I pulled at the hem and raised it until it was up and over his head and then down off his arms. Large purple bruising covered his left ribs and more scratches and bruises were littered around the rest of his body. He was beaten up but still standing, stoically defiant against what had to be raging pain. Pain that I was sure he would gladly suffer if it meant being with me. Pain I knew I would gladly suffer to be with him too.
I pressed my lips to his chest, kneeling slowly and trailing my lips over the bruises. I wanted to kiss each place where he hurt, if not to heal it to give it my touch. I wanted to erase the last thing that area saw being violence and replace it with my embrace. Moving from one side to the other, I kissed him slowly, letting my lips press gently into his skin.
Making my way back up his body, I felt his hands slide back to my neck. Starting at the top, he began to unbutton my baby blue cowgirl shirt. I had always felt like a cartoon character in that shirt, but it was great for meeting fans and doing warmups. It helped me get into character. As Colt removed it, I realized it was. It was a character. And as Colt reached the last button and I shimmied it down my arms, I was removing it, and with it, the only barrier between my actual self and Colt. I wasn’t Leah Lightning. I was Leah Mason. The shirt dropped to the floor and suddenly I felt so much more alive.
We kissed as he reached behind me to unhook my bra, and I pressed my chest against his while he removed it. Then it was his turn to slowly kneel as he kissed down my neck to my breasts. Lathering them with his tongue, my nipples rose to attention, perky and wet in the warm loft with the cool air coming from the slats of wood facing the chilly spring air. He took one into his mouth and sucked on it, flicking the nipple with the tip of his tongue, and I moaned.
One hand slid up the inside of my leg slowly, rubbing deep into my core when it reached it before moving up to my belt. He unhooked it and then yanked on the button of my jeans until it opened as he moved his mouth to the other breast, letting his free hand fill with the one he had just released. He kneaded into me as he took as much of my breast into his mouth as he could.
I wiggled my hips as Colt pulled my jeans down over my ass until they gathered at my knees. I pulled one leg up behind me and yanked on the leg of them until I could kick it off then repeated with the other side, my boots coming off with them. I was naked except the pink cotton panties I wore, and Colt began to move
his lips down to them as I reached beside me to put my hand on a beam for balance.
His tongue slid along the side of my panties, brushing past my lips as I gasped at the sensation. Then with both hands, he gathered up the fabric in his hands and pulled down until I kicked them off across the hayloft. I meant to sit down, but his hands held me there, lifting one leg and placing it on his shoulder.
Adrenaline filled me in anticipation as he positioned himself below me. I filled my hand with his hair and his tongue flicked out, sliding through my folds until it reached my clit. Swirling around it, he made me cry out into the night and then he went to work, pleasuring me with his expert touch. One thick finger slid inside me as he licked and I rocked into his clutch. His other hand reached under me, holding my ass and pulling me toward him as he played with my clit and brought me to the edge of a full climax.
Suddenly, I spilled over, and I screamed in ecstasy as I came. Colt eagerly lapped me up and then gently set my leg down, standing and kissing me as he did. When he reached my lips, I sank into them and guided him to the blanket where he gently lay back. When he was fully on the floor, I released his lips, trailing my mouth down his neck as my hand worked on his belt. When I had it undone and the fly of his jeans too, I purred at him as I kissed his chest.
Colt’s head fell back as I made my way down his abdomen, gently caressing his bruised ribs with my lips before pulling down on the waistband of the jeans. He lifted his ass up to help me get them down, and when they crossed past his core, his thick, massive cock sprung out at me. I grinned and purred again, grasping it in my palm at the base and stroking it. He was hard and straining against my touch, and a sexy groan rumbled from deep in his chest when I let my tongue slide over the tip, gathering up the sticky fluid there.
I plunged down over him and he shouted out in surprise and pleasure. I took him deeply into my throat and then slid him languidly back up until my lips were pursed around his head. Opening my eyes, I looked up over the deeply riveted muscles of his chest and stomach and the dark bruises that covered them until I met his eyes. He looked down at me with a mixture of awe and hunger. I could see the battle in his eyes of wanting me to continue and wanting me to mount him, to be so fully inside me.
But I took my time. This was not a moment to hurry. Not a moment to rush. Our bond was growing beyond what it was, what we had ever dreamed, and it was manifested in our touch. I wanted it to last forever, but I would settle for all night. I had a feeling he would too.
Using my lips and my tongue and stroking him in slow, long movements, I worshiped his body with my soft but firm touch. Occasionally his hands would roam to fill with my hair and guide me to speed up before reaching for my skin. I moved so that I was accessible to him and his hand slid between my thighs. I reveled in the sensation of his massive cock on my tongue while his fingers dove deep inside me, brushing against the sensitive upper wall and making me stop every so often, holding him at his base as I leaned into the touch. Then I would bury him deeply into my mouth again, my moans vibrating around him and causing him to groan as well.
His fingers worked like magic on my body, and finally, I had to have him inside me. He produced a condom from his jeans pocket as I released him from my lips. He rolled on the condom while I crawled over until I mounted him. I stood on my knees and reached behind me to stroke him and guide him to my opening. His hands slid up my sides and filled with my breasts as his cock filled me and I sat down onto it. My pussy stretched to accommodate him and I gasped as the line between pain and pleasure was blurred. I knew in that moment it was for him as well. Colt groaned deeply and I rocked slowly on him, letting him sink deeper into me.
Colt tried to sit up but grimaced and lay back again, so I leaned down, crouching over him. Eagerly, he took one of my breasts into his lips and I rocked slower but harder onto him. Each thrust pressed deeper into me and I disappeared into the moment. The outside world with its rodeos and ranches, friends and foes, night and day, they vanished in the sweat and warm, soft light of the hayloft. Nothing mattered but our bodies, relishing each other, satisfying each other as only they could.
My skin was slick and warm as I rocked on him, my pace quickening as I felt the tension build. His hands moved down to my waist and began to guide me in sharper, faster movements. I began to moan in short bursts as my clit brushed against the rock-hard area above his cock and he buried deeper into me. Soon, I was back on my knees, bouncing hard and letting my hair fall into my face as my head lolled back. I felt alive and exquisite in his touch. He completed me in every possible way, the same as I did for him.
The rush of an upcoming climax was building and I felt like I could barely hold it off anymore. I looked down into his eyes and saw that he was feeling the same way. Suddenly, he sat up, wrapping my waist in his arms and rolling over so that I was on my back. I gasped but his lips covered over mine and stole my breath. I moaned into the kiss, and he moved his lips to my neck, burying his face into me as he slammed his cock deep in my pussy.
I throbbed with pleasure as he sank deep inside, filling me with his stiffness. My legs wrapped around his hips loosely, ankles crossing over his ass as he pounded into me. I could hear his grunts of passion and pain. He was close, and ribs be damned, he was going to bring us both to the edge of insanity and drive us over the cliff. I wrapped my arms around his neck and buried his face between my breasts as he got faster, more desperate with his thrust.
Suddenly, I felt the wave crashing over me and my hands went to the soft blanket below, tearing at it, picking up strands of hay in between my fingers. My legs shook and my toes curled. My eyes clenched shut hard and then opened with the floodgates as I lost all control.
Colt’s thrusts were wild, unhinged, and animalistic as he joined me in an orgasmic explosion. He came deeply inside me and his body clenched, muscles bulging as his cock throbbed. He filled me with his essence and we both held ourselves there until he was empty. He collapsed into me, his breath heaving and his body shaking, occasionally twitching with the last spurts of his orgasm.
When we both finally settled, our breathing returning to normal again, I kissed the top of his head and relaxed into the hay. He reached over with one hand and grabbed another of the blankets, draping it over both of us as he climbed off me to lay on my side. I curled into his arm and pressed a kiss to his chest and sighed, my body still vibrating and my soul on fire.
Chapter 39
Colt
The last few nights had been spectacular. We stayed in the barn all night that first night, making love as the sun rose before getting our clothes on and making it inside before anyone noticed where we were. Cassidy said nothing when we came in, but I noticed his keys hanging from the coatrack where he always put them, so he must have known we were somewhere. Still, he kept his mouth shut about it and instead offered us to sit down for breakfast.
Over the next few days, I showed Leah around the ranch and introduced her to our stable of horses. She fell in love with the place immediately and it warmed my heart to see it. Things I had taken for granted for years, I was seeing through her eyes in a new way, and it was making me feel a pull I hadn’t felt in my entire life. A pull to be home. To make a home. In Montana.
We had to head back to the rodeo for the weekend so Leah could compete, and I could face the music over whatever discipline they wanted to take out on me over the fight. Then Tuesday it would be time to pack up and head out on the road for the next destination, in northern Idaho. It was going to be even colder there than it was in Montana, but I didn’t care. I knew I was going to be as warm as I needed with Leah in my arms each night.
Before we left though, there was going to be a big family dinner as Cassidy had already planned. I was nervous for Leah, knowing she grew up alone, to see so many people in one place. The ranch house was big and sprawling, but when we all gathered in that dining room, it was the tiniest place in the world. It was getting tinier every time I was in it as the brothers kept adding people to it. I was lo
oking forward to it, though, much to my surprise. Being around everyone was something I hadn’t done in a long time, and being able to formally introduce Leah as my girl was something I was especially excited about.
Leah helped out in the kitchen a bit, doing prep work as Gia, Anna, and Jane all gossiped with her and made Wade wildly uncomfortable. He was the surliest of the brothers, but he also had an affinity for cooking and insisted on being part of the crew in the kitchen for the big family meal. It was fun to walk by the kitchen and see him roll his eyes as a round of giggles broke out with the women. When Shannon joined them, Wade finally had enough and headed into the dining room to join the rest of the boys around the table.
By the time dinner was being served, the job of whoever didn’t do cooking, along with cleaning up, Leah was sitting in the dining room with me, clenching my hand under the table as the room filled with people. Hugh, Annabelle’s father, introduced himself and took a seat by Leah, creating a buffer between the rest of the family and her on that side. I was appreciative of that. Hugh was a sweet older guy, and Leah instantly seemed to feel comfortable around him. I noticed the way the other boys acted around him indicated that he had taken on a bit of a fatherly role with them, but a more laidback and benign presence. Sitting there in his plaid shirt and jeans, he fit right in though, and kept mumbling things that made Leah laugh.
“My goodness,” Leah said under her breath as Walter, Jane’s father, walked into the room.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“I just didn’t realize how many of you Montgomerys there are,” she said.
I laughed. “That’s Walter. He’s Jane’s father.”
“Oh, Jane’s dad!” she said as the realization came to her. “She mentioned him when we were in the kitchen. She said he was in town.”
“I bet,” I said. “When he left the Dude Ranch, I thought he was going to go buy a plot of land right then and there in Montana.”
His Sexy Smile Page 22