Reading his intention, she offered her other wrist.
Offered.
Sterling met her gaze, trust echoing in her expression, and he lowered his lips to her palm, kissing that one as well. As he tied that hand to the frame, he brushed his lips on hers. “Does this hurt?”
She arched up to kiss him then answered, “No.”
Sterling nodded, then darted his tongue in, meeting her warm mouth, wanting to lose himself in every part of her body, but restraining himself, building it up—for them both.
“What about this?” He bent down and flicked his tongue against her perfect breast then retreated, waiting to hear her words.
He could feel her heart pounding through her soft creamy skin, hear it echo in the stillness of the room.
“No.”
“No what?” he demanded gently, nipping at her tenderly.
“No, Captain.” She breathed, desire in her eyes, needing him like he needed her.
He kissed along the faint line that led to her navel then lower, nuzzling his nose against her thigh, just shy of where he wanted to be. “Does this hurt, baby?” he asked, tasting her soft skin.
“No...Captain.” She was breathing heavily, and his body pounded with the same tension, the need for release nearly driving him mad.
“Can you touch me, Harper?” he asked, moving his nose gently and kissing up to her hipbone before nipping at it.
“I can’t.”
“But are you safe?” he asked, knowing he needed to walk her through this to set her free.
“Y-yes,” she stammered, not from fear or indecision, but from passion denied as she focused on his face. A wildness gleamed from her eyes that reminded him of how she looked when she raced.
Running.
Racing.
But not away.
Rather than focusing on the horizon, her focus on was on him, and it was erotic as hell.
“Sterling...” She spoke with an almost demanding intensity.
He trailed kisses back up to her lips, trying to steal her words.
Wanting to steal her heart.
“Captain,” she mumbled against his lips, and his body damn near ignited. “Not to be demanding...but since I’m on the pill...” She didn’t finish.
Sterling knew what she needed, desired.
But he wanted her to say it.
To ask for it.
It was his way of giving control back...when she was otherwise powerless.
“Say it, Harper,” he commanded, slowly removing the lacy pink panties that were torturing him. Moving to hover just above her lips, he aligned their bodies in every way, taunting.
“I want you.”
“Want?” Sterling asked, caressing her with just the lightest touch.
“I need you.” She raised her body against him, her arms still tied to the bedpost as she met his gaze.
Sterling slowly eased into her, his body pounding with anticipation, with too many months of denial, with the primal instinct to go deep. But she was tight, surrounding him with such a powerful pressure that his world damn near went black. It had clearly been a while for her as well.
Rather than follow his lead, Harper wrapped her legs around his backside, pulling him down. The second he was surrounded by her heat, the will to fight every instinct that was yelling at him from within to go slow was forgotten in the passion.
He lost himself in her over and over. Sweat beaded on his back, trailing down his spine as he fought to hold on, to wait till she was cresting with him. Yet as Harper’s body wound up tighter, it was impossible to hold on. Just when he’d reached the edge of his control, she screamed his name, her body careening over the edge in her release. Sterling looked down at her body, heard her cries of pleasure he’d given her and joined her, his orgasm rushing through him like a tidal wave until there was nothing left but cool, calm waters and her.
Harper...beneath him, kissing every part of his neck and chest she could reach...
Bliss.
Heart pounding, he rested his head against hers, breathing in her air, exhaling his into her lungs, being one.
His leg started to tremble, and he reluctantly rolled to the side, his body both relaxed and tense as his other senses started to take account. Pulsating pain radiated from his calf, and he rolled his ankle around, trying to alleviate the cramp that had started.
Well, that’s not exactly sexy.
But apparently, that was his life now. Damn, it sucked to have to deal with that after the most incredible orgasm of his life.
Harper rolled over to her side, and he turned to meet her green gaze.
“Sterling?” she asked, her eyes looking upward.
“Yeah?” he replied, his gaze rising to where her hands were tied.
“You can let me go now.” She grinned shyly.
“Honey, who says we’re done?” he asked, kissing her nose. Still, he reached up and untied the simple knot and released her hands.
“Are you all right?” Harper asked, glancing down at his leg then back, her brows pinched in concern.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Sterling sighed. “Well, half of me is blissed out, but the other is trying not to cramp. So...” He gave a chagrined smile.
“Let’s wait on round two then.”
“So, I made the cut, huh?” he asked, rolling out of bed and watching as Harper did the same. Unabashedly, he memorized her naked body. Damn, God had been in a good mood when He made her.
“You’ll do.” Harper grinned and walked into the bathroom. “Give me a minute.”
She closed the door, and Sterling did several stretches to his leg while he waited. When she was finished, he traded places with her, taking a moment to open the medicine cabinet and pull out his prescription.
Two. He had enough for now...or tonight.
But no more.
His body cringed inwardly at the thought.
He opened the cap but misjudged the angle, and the two little pills rolled down the sink before he could catch them.
Damn it!
He could only imagine the pain he’d be in later, but maybe it wouldn’t be as bad as last night. Lord only knew he needed to wean himself from the damn things anyway.
But that was easier said than done. All too clearly, he remembered the sweating, the pain, the ache. With a deep breath, he tossed the bottle into the trash.
No. He’d be fine.
After he finished cleaning up, he walked out to the bedroom to find Harper gone. He quickly changed into some basketball shorts and a T-shirt and walked, trying not to limp, out to the living room, but she wasn’t there. He checked the kitchen next and found her over the kitchen sink, her hair a tangled mess from making love, filling a glass of water. Quick as a flash, it was as if everything fit. Something about her standing there made him wonder what it would be like to come home to her in their kitchen, in their home, to the life they’d build together.
And he wanted it, so damn badly, a trajectory, not just aimlessly moving through life. To have a purpose, just like Harper had said. But rather than a career, maybe it was a person.
Her.
And everything else revolved around it, like the moon orbited the earth. The give, the take, the perfect balance that brought out the best in both worlds.
Harper turned and, upon seeing him, gave a slightly shy grin. “I kinda feel like I ran a marathon.”
Sterling chuckled. “You too, huh?” He grabbed a glass and filled it up as well. As he drank the water, Harper sighed.
He set down the glass and grasped her hand, tugging her till she was close enough to hold tightly. Chin resting on the top of her head, he asked her, “Why the big sigh, honey?”
She relaxed in his arms, mumbling the words against his chest. “I need to go home.”
“And you don’t want to?”
>
“No. Does that freak you out?” Harper leaned back, studying him.
“That you want to stay or that you have to leave?” he asked, trying to lighten the mood.
“Ass.” She rolled her eyes, but he could see the answer was important.
“Freaked out,” he answered honestly, keeping his expression sober.
She tensed.
“The thought of you leaving isn’t something I’m prepared to deal with just now. Give me, oh, I don’t know, a few years—decades, something like that.”
She shook her head, but Sterling was dead serious.
“Harper, someday you’re going to marry me. Not today, not tomorrow, and probably not next month, but I can honestly tell you that someday, you’ll be mine. I hope that doesn’t freak you out.” He turned her words around, grinning slightly even as he was anxious about her reaction to his candid words.
“That sure of yourself, huh?” She tilted her head, studying him, probably evaluating if he was serious or not.
He decided to take it a step further. “Is that so wrong? To be that sure about someone?”
Harper shook her head slowly, her green eyes darkening. “No. It just doesn’t happen that often.”
Sterling refused to let her go, so he shrugged while he held her, the motion ruffling her long hair slightly. “Often doesn’t mean never.”
Harper gave a slight grin. “True.”
“And you didn’t answer the question. Does it freak you out?” he asked.
“No more than you usually do,” she replied, grinning with more freedom.
“Good to know.” He released her but reached out to hold her hand, wanting to have contact, never wanting to let go. “So, you need to leave? Are you sure?” he asked, though he knew the answer.
“Yeah, Jasper’s probably blowing up my phone right now.” She rolled her eyes.
“Where is your phone?” Sterling asked, realizing it hadn’t made a sound.
Harper blushed. “In the car. I kinda left it there on purpose.”
Surprise slowly registered through Sterling as a grin broke across his face.
Harper shrugged.
He groaned, wanting her all over again, and again after that, never being able to have enough. “Damn, how do Kessed and Jasper do it? Not run off to Vegas just so they don’t have to be apart?”
She grinned. “So...Kessed pretty much lives at our house. But I won’t lie. There’s been talk. And if I wake up and they are gone, I’m checking Vegas first, because Kessed is not into this big wedding thing.”
“I thought it was going to be a smaller wedding,” Sterling commented as Harper started out into the hall. He followed her lead, still holding her hand.
“It is, but it’s all big to Kessed, who is happy to have a justice of the peace. I think Jasper is the one who wants all the bells and whistles.”
“I’d have never guessed,” Sterling replied, surprised.
“Yeah. We’ll see how it plays out. They have less than two weeks. C’mon...Captain. Let’s get me home.”
“Harper...” Sterling warned, his body all too ready to have a repeat performance.
With a giggle, Harper pulled her hand away and ran out the front door.
Sterling shook his head and followed slowly, knowing he’d been bested.
After all, sometimes when chasing what you loved, you didn’t have to run.
You just had to catch up, even if it was a walk.
CHAPTER 18
Harper couldn’t stop the grin that kept creeping across her face. True to form, Jasper had inundated her phone with texts, but they’d ended up with one main goal.
Call me back.
It wasn’t surprising, as much as he blew up her phone. He hated tapping out long messages. So, as Sterling drove her home, she’d called her brother to find out what he wanted.
Turned out, there had been an emergency on one of the ranches, and he was probably going to be out all night with Kessed. No big deal, but he was as caring as he was annoying, so he wanted her to know so she wouldn’t go home to an unexpectedly empty house.
Harper sighed contentedly, soaking up the idea of belonging to someone. As Sterling made the drive back to her home, she thought back over his words.
Someday, you’ll be mine.
His words echoed deep in her soul, feeding a need she didn’t know she had vacant.
When they pulled into the house, Sterling turned off the car and reached for her hand as she walked to the front porch. “I had a great time today,” he started conventionally.
Harper laughed, the anticlimactic statement the understatement of the year. “That’s all you’ve got?”
“Need to up my game, huh?” He grinned, his eyes crinkling at the edges, his shadow of a beard giving him a rugged appearance in the semidarkness. She caressed his face with her gaze, trying to remember when she’d felt like this.
Never.
“You want to come in?” Harper asked as they paused in front of the door toe to toe. She stretched up and playfully nipped at his lips.
“Hell yes.” Sterling emphasized his answer with a kiss that left her breathless and scrambling for the doorknob. She almost tripped over the threshold, but Sterling’s arms corrected her, and they shared a laugh at their eagerness.
Tugging on his arm playfully, she led him to her room, fleetingly thinking about how she had left that afternoon a different person than she was now. Sterling’s hands pulled at her clothes as his lips first nibbled at hers, then diving and devouring like his hands as they mapped her body while she stripped down.
Unlike last time, there was no tentative movements, no fear. Harper surrendered winningly, and in turn, Sterling found himself having to give up control when she took command.
And when she couldn’t hold on, Sterling’s name was on her lips; it was her litany, her prayer.
Sterling followed her in his own release, and she gloried in the sound of hearing her name.
The silence that followed was almost holy, and Harper closed her eyes, resting in the sensation of being thoroughly loved. She rolled from her position over him and snuggled into his embrace as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. He held her close, her head over his heart. The mad rhythm was soothing, comforting, safe.
Safe.
“I think I’m going to fall asleep,” Harper mumbled, not wanting to move and having the sensation of being a jellyfish.
Sterling chuckled, but the sound was strained slightly, and she glanced up at him. “You all right?”
A slight sheen of sweat dotted his forehead, and he nodded once. “Yeah, I just showed up to my A-game with the B-squad.” He nodded toward his leg.
“Does it hurt?” Harper asked, concerned.
Sterling took a deep breath. “Not bad. It’s part of life, at least now.”
Harper nodded and relaxed when he kissed her forehead tenderly.
“I’m going to clean up.”
She gave a wolf whistle when he stood from the bed and walked to the door, gorgeously naked.
“I’m...going to get dressed here. I know Jasper is gone and all, but...” Sterling gave a chagrined glance to Harper.
“Weak,” she taunted.
“Pain in the ass,” Sterling grumbled and picked up his clothes. With a narrowed glance, he accepted her challenge and walked into the hall toward the bathroom, albeit rather quickly.
She noted his limp and wondered if maybe he was in more pain than he let on.
But she didn’t dwell on it; rather, she lay in her bed, languid, satisfied, and wanting to fall asleep.
But not alone.
Damn it.
Taking a deep breath, she stood and wrapped her bathrobe around her body just as Sterling walked into her room, his smile wide, welcoming.
Home.
Harper
kissed him on the cheek.
“Harper I’m going to leave before I talk myself into staying, or rather let you talk me into staying.”
She giggled at the statement; it wasn’t far from the truth.
“But can I see you tomorrow? It’s Monday, so I don’t know what you have planned....”
“I work tomorrow. Mondays are usually busy with paperwork since Jasper will probably have had emergency calls over the weekend, but I’m free after five. Can I see you then?”
“I’ll be here waiting.” Sterling kissed her lips, lingering then growling as he pulled away. “You’re addictive, Harper.” He shook his head.
“I kinda like you too,” she answered.
“Tomorrow.” He whispered the word like a promise.
“I can’t wait.”
With one more kiss, he headed toward the door and disappeared into the night.
Grinning widely, Harper padded to the bathroom and started the shower. After time in the hot water, she toweled off and pulled the tube of toothpaste from the cabinet. Her gaze flickered around the familiar arrangement, landing on her prescription. In a bold move, she picked up the bottle to toss it in the trash.
But there wasn’t the rattle of the few pills she’d left inside.
After twisting the cap off, she realized it was empty.
Had she taken them? She frowned as she thought. No, she hadn’t.
She used the restroom and padded back to her bed, her brow pinched as she tried to solve the mystery. Tossing in bed, she came up with several different scenarios. Maybe Jasper had finally thrown them out, and if so, it was for the best. But usually he told her when he did stuff like that. He might be bossy, but he was always honest.
It was only a few pills anyway. Who would even know what they were? Her heart froze mid-beat then picked up double time.
Surely Sterling wouldn’t...
No. He wouldn’t.
Not after knowing how hard it was for her to trust him, to trust anyone.
Not after promising her brother that he wouldn’t break her heart.
No.
Yet the smallest voice asked her... What if?
Her heart fractured a little at the thought, and she dismissed it, silencing the question.
The Cowgirl Meets Her Match Page 20