by Claire Adams
Emma pointed at a shady spot close to the house where Riley was curled up, nose to tail and dead to the world. “Every time I see that dog, he’s asleep. I can’t recall seeing him on his feet once since I started at the ranch.”
I snorted a laugh at that. “He’s one lazy son of a bitch, that’s for sure. But he’s been that way since he was a pup. He ain’t but eight years old.”
She laughed, too, the color high in her cheeks. “We had a few dogs on the farm growing up. But they never sat still. They’d run around the property from morning ‘til night, chasing each other and sticking close to our heels.”
“Riley sure ain’t that way. He sleeps about twenty-three out of every twenty-four hours!”
She laughed again, much deeper this time.
When the burgers were about medium well, I took them off the grill and handed Emma the steaming plate. She took it to the table while I put the cover on the grill and knocked the vents closed with the wooden end of the long metal spatula. I went to join her at the table, taking a paper plate when she handed it to me. I fixed a burger and scooped a few ample spoonfuls of sides onto my plate while she did the same.
“This looks great, Pete,” she said.
“Let’s hope it tastes good, too,” I replied.
She pushed her thick hair back and off her shoulders before digging in. I caught myself watching her too closely and looked down at my own food. I picked up my burger and took a big bite, juices and ketchup dripping down my chin.
“Was it hard at first?” she asked me, after dabbing some ketchup from the corner of her mouth with a napkin. “Running the farm?”
I nodded. “Oh, sure. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing.” It sometimes felt like I still didn’t, but I kept at it anyway, trusting things would turn out the way I needed them to in the end. “I grew up on the farm, so I knew how to do a lot of things. But my daddy handled paying all the bills and worrying over money. He died suddenly and wasn’t that old. I never got the chance to learn from him the way I would’ve liked to.”
“My mother died when I was pretty young,” she said in a soft voice. “I don’t really remember her. I know what she looked like because we have pictures. But I don’t recall the sound of her voice or have any clear memories of the two of us together. My sister swears that she does, but I don’t know how that could be when she’s almost two years younger than I am.”
“Do you miss her?” I asked and cursed myself out for being so thick. Of course, she did. I couldn’t have asked a dumber question. But her answer flat out surprised me.
Emma shrugged, her smile shrinking as her green eyes widened, the sadness making them much darker than usual. “I miss the idea of her. Does that make sense?” She paused, chewing her lip, but more to think, not for me to answer, so I just kept quiet and let her continue in her own time. “Growing up, I was jealous of other kids who had their mothers around. I wanted that so bad, but that’s not really the same thing as missing a person. And, my daddy was there. He made things okay for us.”
I took a bite of her macaroni salad. It was really good. I lifted an eyebrow. A girl who knew her way around a ranch — maybe even better than I did — was pretty as a picture, and could cook? I couldn’t believe how lucky I was all of a sudden.
And, more importantly, she was letting the door to that safe creep open again, a little at a time. I didn’t want to do anything to make it slam shut on me again. That had been terrible. I wanted to know everything about her. And, I wanted to tell her whatever I could about myself before she begged me to shut my mouth already and give her poor ears some rest.
“I miss my daddy every day,” I said. We had a nice rhythm going that I didn’t want to lose. She shared something, then I did. “We did so much together on this farm. I see him every place I look.” I glanced at the barn, expecting, as always, to see Daddy out there, still working in the hazy dark.
“Growing up, all my teachers and adults in town told me I wasn’t living up to how smart I was. I goofed around too much. I wasn’t even using half of the potential I had. But this farm is what my daddy cared about most. It’s where he lived with my mama, where they came home to after my mama had me at the hospital in town, where I learned just about everything I know today. I can’t imagine being anywhere else. This land is all that’s left of my family.”
Emma wasn’t smiling, but she was looking at me with such warmth in her lovely eyes, elbows on the table, her curled hands resting against the side of her head. “I want just what you have,” she whispered, and I leaned closer, putting my own elbows on the table, to keep hearing whatever it was she wanted to tell me. I couldn’t look away from her if I tried. “My own self-sustaining farm. I want to grow things and take care of horses, cows, and chickens. I just need to save the money to buy the land.”
“Can’t you work on your daddy’s farm?”
She’d taken the last bite of her burger. Smiling, she covered her mouth and finished chewing before she answered. “He sold off a bunch of land after my mama passed, to put me and Kasey through college and give us some seed money after. He still grows his own vegetables and stables our horses on the property, but I want more animals and land than that. I want to sell what I grow and stable other people’s horses, too. I want a full-service ranch.”
“Well, you’re welcome to stay here as long as you like,” I said, stopping well short of blurting out that I was willing to share whatever I had with her. But it was the truth. My heart was wide open for her to take or leave. “You fit in just fine. Lacey and I were worried about hiring someone new. We had our own rhythm going that took us years to settle into. But you picked it up without even trying. I can’t imagine the ranch without you on it.”
A pretty blush colored her cheeks, and she put her eyes on her empty plate, but she was grinning. “I really like it here. I was worried about finding a place back in Round Rock after being in Austin for so long. Most farms don’t need the kind of help I wanted to give.”
I took the last few bites of beans and macaroni salad, not wanting to waste a bite. The sun had set over our heads as we were talking and eating. Most of the light had just about drained out of the sky. Once my plate was almost licked clean, I looked up at her, my own cheeks turning red at finding her staring at me.
“I have something to show you,” I said. “It’s not part of the official tour.” I rose from the picnic table and managed to pull my long legs free of the bench without ending up on my ass.
“What is it?” she asked. She stood up and got free of the picnic table much more gracefully than I had. Riley was still asleep next to the house. No amount of movement would wake him. He’d follow me into the house later, but only after I called him four or five times. I’d swear he was going deaf, except he’d never listened to a damned thing I had to say when he was a puppy, either.
“It’s a surprise.” We walked past the stables, the horses silent inside — I saw Emma cock her head to listen to what was going on in there — and to the large equipment barn where I kept my tractor and stored the hay I baled for my horses.
I opened the doors and led her inside. It was dark in here, but I knew the place back to front and could find my way around with my eyes closed. I reached back for her hand. She curled her fingers around my own, and a thrill moved through me.
“This way,” I said and plunged into the dark, going straight to the back of the barn, moving in between the tractor and the baler. It smelled like oil and sweet fresh hay in here. I’d left the hatch open, so some of the light was drifting down onto our upturned faces once we reached the ladder. “Can you climb in those shoes?”
She giggled a little, and that warmth spread from our joined hands to the rest of my body. I didn’t think I could ever get tired of the sound of her laughing.
“I could do just about anything in these sandals,” she replied.
“I’d say ladies first, but seeing how you’re in a dress, I’ll go up and you can follow me.” I let go of her hand and sta
rted up the ladder, moving slowly but steadily. The ladder shook some when she started up after me. I got to the top and climbed out onto the slightly angled roof of the barn. I’d spent many a night up here, watching the stars, planning my best schemes, or licking my wounds.
It was my secret place. Always had been. I’d never even invited Lacey up here. It was where I’d come to cry in private after Mama died and where I came to get so drunk I passed out after I lost Daddy. I was lucky I hadn’t fallen right off the roof that night and broken my damned neck.
When Emma reached the top, I helped her climb out onto the roof. She looked around, her lips parted, to take in the view. I couldn’t help myself, not after holding back all week. I leaned in and pressed my lips to hers. I hadn’t been able to get the taste of her out of my mouth since last Friday night and had spent the entire week suffering at the loss of that soft sweetness.
I brought her closer, not kissing hard, just enough to taste how sweet she was as that heat built in my body, that burning need for her. She responded by tilting her head back and parting her lips even more, her tongue venturing into my mouth as mine ventured into hers.
I pulled away, nearly breathless already and grinning. “Surprise,” I whispered.
I’d come up here earlier and set out a few blankets and a small cooler with a few beers in it. I sat down on the blanket, and she joined me, so close I could feel the heat rising off her skin.
“I used to come up here as a kid. On a good night, you can see all the stars in the sky from this barn. I’ve never brought anyone else up here. It was my secret place.”
Emma leaned back on her hands and gazed up at the sky. There was still some light at the edges of the clouds close to the horizon, but, over our heads, the clouds were scarce, leaving the stars to twinkle and shine, giving us the best private show nature had to offer. Between the soft breeze and the clear, deep blue sky, I couldn’t have planned it better if I’d had the power to try.
“It’s gorgeous,” she said.
I agreed. But I wasn’t looking at the stars. I was looking at her, that need expanding at my core, my insides dropping into a bottomless well of yearning that was driving me steadily insane the longer I went without the feeling of my hands on her. Without the feeling of her lips on mine. Without the feeling of my fingers sliding over the warm wetness between her legs as I watched her eyes widen with how much she wanted me.
I lay back flat, trying to keep from just grabbing hold of her like a man possessed. My feelings were welling up inside me — all that hot need boiling in the blood racing furiously through my veins — and fit to burst. But the last thing I wanted was to scare her off again. I thanked my lucky stars for the darkness that hid the growing bulge in my pants. I wanted her so bad, I could barely think straight.
“I’m glad you came to dinner tonight,” I whispered.
She looked down at me, her eyes so wide and dark. “I’m glad, too.” Her voice had changed. She scooted closer, her bare knee touching my leg. “I almost didn’t.”
I scrunched my eyebrows together, never breaking eye contact. “Why not?”
She shrugged her tiny shoulders. “I don’t really remember.” Without another word, she slid her leg over my body, sitting down on my lap, the hard shape of my cock nestling right into the heat between her legs. I was too stunned to move. Too stunned to even speak. But she didn’t wait for me. She leaned down and kissed me, her lips on mine better than the whole sky full of stars over our heads.
Chapter Eighteen
Emma
Saturday
I sat up again, ending the kiss. I could feel how hard Pete was, his cock grinding into me through his pants, so I bucked my hips a little to draw an excited gasp from him. I’d told myself not to let anything happen tonight, to just eat my meal and go, but dinner had changed everything.
It was the way he’d talked about his life and his daddy. The passion he had for the farm. The warm look in his eyes whenever he’d glanced at me. I sat through that meal, sharing things I’d never told anyone, coming a little more undone the longer I listened to his deep, sexy voice. I told myself to wait for the perfect opportunity, promising to leave at the end of the night if it never did. But then that perfect moment had presented itself, as if I’d planned it that way from the beginning.
He sat up, shifting me so my crotch rubbed over the stiff shape in his jeans, only harder this time. Moaning, he kissed me again, much deeper than before. I closed my eyes, melting into the heat in his mouth and the feeling of his hips rising to press himself further into me. I rocked harder, increasing that pressure. He moaned into my mouth, his tongue venturing further as his hands dropped to my hips to keep me gliding over his lap.
I pulled at the bottom of his t-shirt, only taking my mouth from his to wrench it over his head. His hands moved to my knees, clutching hard before they traveled up my leg. I dipped my head to kiss him again, more aggressively this time, my tongue pressing into his mouth and toying with his own.
I couldn’t get enough of the taste of him. His hands paused on my thighs, massaging them as that heat inside me grew. My skin tingled at his touch. The itch was back between my legs. And now I that I knew how well he could scratch it, I never wanted him to stop.
I rubbed my sex more firmly against the hard length of his cock. I wanted him out of his pants and on top of me. As he worked his fingers under my dress, I unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans. I reached through his boxers to take his firm, warm cock in hand, squeezing a little.
He made the most erotic sound I’d ever heard, a gasping, groaning sound that got me even hotter than I already was. I didn’t understand why I’d even considered denying myself what I so clearly wanted and needed. I closed my fist around his cock and moved my hand up and down slowly, loving how his hips rose and fell to match that teasing motion.
He took me by the back of my neck and brought my lips to his, kissing hard enough to draw the breath from me without putting it back again. I couldn’t breathe, but I kept up that slow pumping motion and didn’t pull away from him. The fingers of his free hand were inches from the pulsing center of all that luscious heat building under my skin.
I slid off of his lap, pulling my fingers and my lips away from him. But I didn’t go far. I reached under my dress and slid off my panties while he watched, breathing heavily, his fingers running over my bare arm.
“Pull your jeans down,” I whispered, trying for a commanding, sultry tone.
He rocked back on his butt and lifted his legs, yanking his jeans down to his knees and freeing that long, gorgeous cock. I didn’t get the chance to appreciate the sight of it sticking straight up in the moonlight before he took me by the arms and pulled me on top of him again.
I locked lips with him, drawing him into a deep, passionate kiss. I lifted up on my knees, hovering over his lap, and reached between my legs for his cock. Taking it by the base, I directed the head to the throbbing heat of my sex. I was so wet already, so prepared to swallow him whole. I sank onto him slowly, my lips parting to let him in. He groaned into my mouth, and his kisses got deeper. His hands found my hips again, pressing me down onto his cock.
Now it was my turn to groan as he entered me completely. I sat down onto his lap, pushing him even further inside me, the tingling turning into sharp stabs of pure pleasure. I rocked my hips, his hands moving onto my ass and squeezing to keep me going, the friction of our crotches rubbing furiously together causing its own pleasurable sensations. Our lips broke apart, both of us breathless as I kept that rough rhythm, jerking my hips hard as I came forward, sinking him into me up to the hilt. I wanted him deeper. I wanted to explode with the agonizing passion I felt, the nerves firing between my legs and traveling upwards. The way he filled me completely was a luscious sensation — one I didn’t want to end.
“Emma,” he gasped. “Fuck.”
I rode him harder, snapping my hips firmly and wrapping my arms around his neck to steady myself. I could feel the painfully delicious tingling b
uilding with every stroke of his cock against my throbbing, soaking wet walls. I went harder, screaming behind clenched teeth, my arms tightening on Pete’s neck as he gasped beneath me, his hands clutching my hips painfully to keep me going as fast as he wanted.
The orgasm exploded warm and prickly between my legs, the sensation clenching my entire body, so hard my cheeks tingled. The tense muscles in my legs released and I sank forward onto him, gasping for breath, the aftereffect of my climax moving through me, making it difficult to do anything but succumb to it and my sudden exhaustion.
His hands ventured further underneath my dress, pushing it free of my hips. His fingers found the back of my bra and unfastened it while I continued to catch my breath, my hot mouth on his bare shoulder. His fingers rubbed over my nipples, the callouses scratching the tips. I gasped and sucked harder on his shoulder. I swore I could taste the sunshine on his skin. He was warm and salty from sitting outside. I never wanted to take my mouth off of him.
He wrapped his arm around my back and twisted his body, bringing me up and around quickly. I cleaved to him as he set me gently onto my back on the blanket, my knees on either side of his hips. He leaned over onto me, the slick head of his cock pressing into my sex. I lifted my hips in invitation, staring up at him, my breaths coming short and jagged.
“I want you,” I whispered, reaching for him. I locked my arms around his neck, pulling him closer. But he balanced onto his elbows, keeping himself from entering me just yet. He reached for his cock, rubbing it up and down my moist lips, drawing tortured moans from me. “Stop teasing.”
He laughed and pressed himself into me a little more, my lips parting only slightly. He was driving me out of my mind.