The XOXO New Adult Collection: 16 Full Length New Adult Stories

by Brina Courtney

  Chapter 9

  I watched as Jade curled her braids around a thick curling iron preparing for a night out in our small town. I could never understand how she got her hair to look like that. Even in college I would spend hours in front of the mirror and she would get out her curling iron, some mascara, and a hot dress and be ready to go. It was a complete mystery to me, I had stick straight hair that refused to do much of anything. Jade was so stunning with her chocolaty brown skin and dark black hair. And tonight she was practically glowing with excitement.

  “I can't believe Jared Howard invited you out! You know what this means?”

  She had her eyes on me in the reflection of the mirror, watching for what she expected would be an epic reaction, but I just shrugged. “Jade you know he's not really my type. I was just flirting to get the bank deal, and I must know what I’m doing since I was so successful. Can you believe it only took a week for me to get all the paperwork approved?”

  Jade shook her head, “You know he pushed for you to get passed faster than probably any client he’s ever had. And girl, you also know if he asked you out, you’re getting a lot more than a loan.”

  I ignored her little quip so she moved on, “Have you picked a place out yet? You know I think getting out of this apartment would do me some good too.” She winked in the mirror.

  “I did actually. I'm going put an offer on it next week. I already discussed it with my commercial realtor and she thinks that it's a really great piece of property. The house was recently flipped so it’s brand new on the inside, but the barn needs some work. And then I'm going have to purchase horses and cattle, but that will come by the end of summer. I can't believe it's all coming together Jade, I'm finally getting my life back on track.”

  “And don't you think it’s about time to have a man back in your life? And don't tell me about how you've dated, because we both know that isn't really true. A couple one night stands here and there doesn't count as dating someone.”

  She put down her curling iron to cross her arms and turn around to assess me. As she leaned back on the sink counter I had to admit she was a little bit right, and with her jacked arms and steely gaze she looked formidable. I wasn’t going to argue with her.

  I put my hands up in surrender, “Okay you're right. It would be nice to have Jared visiting me on my new ranch. But really Jade he's not my type. Besides I think I heard once that he goes for girls with a little bit more darker complexion, if you know what I mean?”

  She smiled devilishly, “You mean he likes a little chocolate with his white milk?”

  I rolled my eyes and laughed, “You're such a mess.”

  She turned back around to the check her lipstick in the mirror, “Look who's talking.”

  I fake pouted, “That's not fair! I'm doing a lot with my life, it just took a little while for me to get going.”

  “Right Cheyenne. I know.”

  +

  “One, two, three, chug!” Jared was holding up my third shot of the night. I was feeling looser than I had in months. My head was swimming with thoughts of success, of my new ranch, a great business plan, and the delicious man sitting on the barstool next to me. This was the first time I felt free since the cabin in the woods. But I felt open in a different way, careless, perhaps even a little reckless. Jade was also drinking, but she had downed a lot more than I had. I’d lost count after her sixth shot of the evening, and that was at least two beers ago. But she was chatting it up with some guy at the end of the bar I didn’t recognize. He looked a little sketchy with an unshaven face and dark features, but Jade liked a bad boy. She had ditched our group almost immediately when she realized they were old high school friends of mine. She and I met later in college. Jade and my friendship had been easy once we realized that we lived in the same town. But her parents had moved here when she started college, so she didn't know any of the townies.

  “So how do you feel to be in a landowner? A successful business woman as it were?”

  I smiled at Jared as he lazily hung his heavy arm over my shoulder. “I'm not a landowner yet. But I am one step closer thanks to you.”

  “Oh sure, anything I can do for a friend.” He winked at me sloppily in his drunken state.

  “I’m sure.” I raised an eyebrow at him. I hadn’t felt so alive since Luke. Something about Jared brought out the wild side in me again.

  My subtle flirting had worked like a charm, or maybe it was the copious amounts of alcohol in his system but suddenly he was very close to my face whispering just along my cheekbone. “Do you want to get out of here?”

  Could I do that? Could I go somewhere with this guy had known since high school and let him take me? I didn't know. It was the first time I had felt anything since Luke, and I wasn't sure what those feelings were. Just as I was about to agree to go find a quiet spot to discover my true feelings, a stranger walked into the bar. A stranger, who wasn’t so strange to me.

  He had a dark navy hoodie on covering his head, but I knew that gait anywhere. I knew that strong upper body, and those thick riding legs.

  “Luke,” I whispered.

  I attempted to make eye contact with the new arrival but he just walked up to the bar and sat down right next to Jade. She hardly noticed his presence, still flirting with her new potential boyfriend. Jade had never met Luke, she was one of the girls I had told my father I was spending the weekend with when instead I spent it alone at the cabin with Luke. But he was in my life for such a short time, she never got the chance to see us together. It didn’t surprise me that she didn’t recognize him.

  Jared still had his arm draped over me and as much as I wanted to find out if this flirtation had a chance to go anywhere, I couldn’t do it in Luke's presence.

  “I'm really sorry but I have to go,” I told Jared.

  “We have to go,” I called to Jade. She didn’t even look at me, still deep in conversation with her potential fling.

  I knew he would hear me, I knew he would look up and I would recognize his eyes from underneath the dark hood. But instead when he heard my voice he just turned and looked the other way. Maybe I was wrong, maybe it wasn't him. Or maybe he didn't think that I would be here. Maybe he didn't want to see me with someone else.

  I still held on to the shred of hope that one day we would be together. And now my hope was renewed, if it really was Luke.

  “Jade come on, we need to go.”

  I thought the Jared would be harder to get away from but instead all that I had to do was peel his arm off of my shoulders and he slumped over in his barstool, placing arm on the bar and allowing his head to find it. He looked a little ridiculous, but I guess everybody has those evenings. And if I was lucky he wouldn’t remember any of this in the morning. I didn’t want to reject him, I just had to be sure about the stranger.

  I walked over to Jade right past the hooded stranger, but when I tried to untangle her from the man that she was currently making out with, he wouldn't let go.

  I quickly realized the situation could escalate if I didn't stop it. She was trying to get some air but he dug his hands further into her hair. I tried to put myself between them. “Hey buddy listen, my friend and I, we've got to go. She’ll call you I promise.”

  I had successfully gotten his attention which gave Jade enough time to get some air. She stood up, collected her things, and attempted to move away from the bar. But she stumbled and I realized he hadn’t let go of her hand. I attempted to break his grip on her wrist but when she tried to move away he yanked it back.

  “I'm not done with her yet.”

  I heard Jade giggle but she also tried to remove his hand from her wrist and I caught a glimpse of a panicked look in her eyes when she realized she couldn't get him off of her.

  “Oh come on baby I got your number. I'll call. But my friend and I, we gotta bounce. You understand don't you?”

  He shook his head, “I said you're staying.”

  Now typically Jade wasn't the type of girl to back down that easily
but after a few drinks I could tell that she was scared. She knew she couldn’t fight him if she had to.

  “I promise she'll call you, but we’re leaving. You need to let go of her or I'm calling security.”

  There was still no reaction from the stranger in the navy sweatshirt, but I could almost feel his presence coming closer to us. If push came to shove would Luke reveal himself to me?

  “Listen bitch I don't know who you are but I said she's staying with me. If you’ve got a problem go ahead and call security but there ain't nothing they're going to do about it.”

  I was starting to panic, what if this guy tried to hurt one of us? I pulled Jade a little bit harder but his grip was too tight.

  The group I had arrived with had dwindled to just Jared, myself, and Jade. With him passed out on the bar, he wasn’t going to be much help. I looked behind me to see if the stranger was still there, but he was gone. We were in some serious trouble. And that's when I heard him.

  “I'm pretty sure the lady said that it's time for her to go.” The voice was gravelly but strong and I knew exactly who it belonged to. “Now if you don't let her go I'm going to break your God damned neck. I don’t think security is going to do anything about that either.”

  I turned around to see the man with his hood still up with one arm around Jade’s assailant’s neck.

  The man simply nodded and let Jade go. I wanted to stay to confirm my suspicion about the knight in shining armor but Jade quickly grabbed my hand and pulled me from the bar.

  “Oh my God Cheyenne! That was crazy!”

  “I know. In so many ways, I know.”

  I looked back, hoping I would catch a glimpse of Luke leaving the bar, but sadly I saw nothing. Just the shadows of the night, once again, taking in my secrets.

  Chapter 10

  Three weeks later I sat at my new desk in my shiny new office. I had gone to the bar to find Luke every other night since the incident with Jade, but he hadn’t been there. Part of me wondered if I had made him up. If I just wanted that guy to be him.

  There was hardly any furniture at Jade and my new house. Most of our belongings were still in boxes, but I had a desk and that was all I needed. I was working diligently on purchasing a few foals when I heard a knock at my door.

  “Give me a second Jade, I’m just trying to find this last figure.”

  “I heard you’re looking for ranch manager.”

  I knew the voice without even looking up. There was a different texture to it though, almost gruff. Much more mature than that once been. But it had been months since I had heard his voice clearly and I had learned that a lot can happen in that time. A lot, and sometimes not so much.

  Slowly I put down my pen and took a deep breath allowing my eyes to travel up to see Luke’s face. He stood smugly leaning lazily on the door frame with his hand in his pocket, one of his legs supporting the other. It was exactly how I expected to see him, but not here. Maybe never even in Colorado, he left me. He wasn’t ever supposed to come back. I had even almost convinced myself it wasn’t him in the bar that night. But here he was in all of his mysterious glory and I was taking in every inch, reveling in his rugged beauty.

  “Been in any bar fights lately? You gotta keep that one on a leash.” He pointed over his shoulder at what I assumed was Jade in the front of the house.

  “Luke,” I breathed barely above a whisper. I shook my head to calm myself and pull it together. There were so many things I planned on saying to him that had run through my head a thousand times in the past few months, but now that he was standing in front of me, my mind was completely blank. I felt a surge of hope that he was here for more than just a job.

  I stood up and walked around my desk still in my business skirt, a black pencil skirt that I had kept from college interviews and a button up blouse. I didn’t look like my usual self, but Luke wouldn’t know that anymore.

  “It was you at the bar the other night? Why didn’t you say something?”

  He ran his fingers through his dark hair. “I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t expect to see you there. I mean you are a businesswoman now! I knew you had it in you.”

  I stood in front of my desk and leaned back on it attempting to appear casual but his proximity was killing me. How could he look so good after all that had happened between us? And how could he act like any of it didn’t matter?

  He took his hat off and sat it on box next to an overstuffed chair where he gingerly sat down still trying to appear calm. It still had the plastic on from the store, and made a noise under his weight.

  “So how do you want to do this interview Cheyenne? I don’t really have a resume, but you know my skill set and you know I’m good for the work. I always wanted to be a trainer.”

  I nodded chewing on my lower lip, he was going to ignore the elephant in the room after all. “Well the job is available. But I’ll be looking at multiple candidates, maybe I’ll give you a call next week.”

  I quickly turned around and walked towards my window behind my desk hoping that he wouldn’t see the fear in my eyes. I hardly knew how to interact with him anymore, a man I once loved more than anything. I was willing to completely leave my life to be with him and he left me. This wasn’t how it was supposed to work out and I was obviously still bitter about it.

  I continued to stare out the window hoping he would just get up and leave but instead I heard the chair that he was sitting in start to rock. I turned around intending to scold him for marking the floors but when I did I could only just look on. Luke was looking at me like a wounded puppy, like I had done something truly horrible to offend him and I suddenly got it. He was here for more than a job, much more than a job.

  Before I could rage on him for leaving me he stood up and crossed the room. “You look good Cheyenne,” he said as he got close to me. “You always look so damn good.”

  I could feel his breath on my face, it was drawing me in to him, to his lips. I knew that they were soft under the initial roughness, just like him. I felt those lips once not only on my own but on my skin, covering every inch of me like a warm blanket and freezing winter’s night. That’s how our relationship began, and I yearned for it now.

  “Luke I...”

  But he didn’t wait to hear what I had to say, instead he wrapped his rough hands around my face and pulled me onto his lips. It was slow and sensual and something I had been craving for months. My knees trembled under my weight and I leaned back against molding of the bay window. Without even thinking about it I pulled myself up and sat on the windowsill grabbing him by his collar of his shirt and pulling him into me. He completely understood my motives and quickly ran his hand through my hair continuing to hold me close to him, nibbling slowly on my lower lip.

  He moved his lips down my chin and over my neck slowly suckling on my flesh. When he let go to breathe he whispered in my ear, “Cheyenne, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking, leaving you was the worst decision of my life.”

  I shook my head back and forth, “Don’t talk. We have time for that later.”

  He nodded against my head and moved his hands down the curves of my body until he reached the bottom of my pencil skirt. His hand lingered on my leg for a moment and while I hoped my nerves would settle my heart beat only increased. His fingers subtly searched up my skirt and found my black lace underwear. He slowly pulled them down dangerously teasing me which only made me want him more. I looked over his shoulder noticed that the door was open to my office but I didn’t care, Jade wouldn’t disturb us. It was just me and Luke, like I had waited for so many months. He pulled my underwear down my legs caressing the soft skin with his fingertips. When he reached my heeled feet I expected him to take off my shoes but instead he left them on. He stared at me for a moment his hungry gray eyes making my pussy tingle and setting my skin on fire. I was so ready, I could feel the juices flowing from between my legs. I wanted him, all of him. I stood up and unbuckled his belt pulling the leather from his pants. I put it behind me
on the windowsill, unbuttoning and unzipping his jeans. Once his jeans fell to the ground I knew how much he had missed me. His cock was bulging from beneath his boxers and I drove my finger along the top of them so that he could feel his own torture. I waited on the edge with him for a moment. I was living completely in the moment with him. Dying a little from the pain, while reveling in the pleasure.

  When I yanked down his boxers and wrapped my hands around his pulsating cock he threw his head back in ecstasy, but only for a moment. Then he was on me again, like fire. He lifted me up under the arms and pulled my skirt up as fast as he could. He took the belt from behind me and latched my hands together above my head over the curtain rod left by the previous owners. It only took him seconds but suddenly he had complete control over me. My ass landed on the hardwood but just an inch or so away from the edge so that he would have clear entry. I was trapped, and loving it. He pulled my hips and waist to the very end of the windowsill and looked at me again with a devilish grin on his face. “Did you miss me?”

  “You know I did.”

  He leaned forward whispering onto my lips, “Then show me.”

  Suddenly he angled his hips up and allowed his cock to enter me. He used his hands to lift my ass up just a little bit from the windowsill so that he remained completely in control. I held onto the leather of the belt feeling like it would brand my skin with our sin and knowing that I wouldn’t want it any other way. He rocked my hips back and forth with his hands being able to move me so magnificently with such ease. My resilient cowboy. He had come back after all this time. He had saved me in the bar. He was everything to me again.

  He rocked our bodies back and forth, carrying all my weight in his arms.

  “Tell me you wanted me, that you thought of me.”

  “I thought of you every day! Damn’t Luke. Fuck me.”

  It was all he needed to hear. He pushed into my core filling me with his juices. I cried out as he hit my g-spot again and again. Luke release me from my hold and I crumpled down on top of him. He held me close while all the emotions that had been building up inside of me came crashing out. His fingers gently moved through my hair and his other arm supported my back. I cradled into him, never wanting to let go.