Claim Me, Cowboy

by Maisey Yates

  “Danielle,” he said, his tone filled with warning.

  She didn’t care about his warnings.

  She was going to marry this man. He was going to be her husband. That thought filled her with such a strange sense of elation.

  He had all the power. He had the money. He had the beautiful house. What he was giving her...it bordered on charity. If she was ever going to feel like she belonged—like this place was really hers—they needed to be equals in some regard.

  She had to give him something too.

  And if it started here, then it started here.

  She leaned in, cautiously tasting his neck, tracing a line down to his nipple. He jerked beneath her touch, his reaction satisfying her in a way that went well beyond the physical.

  He was beautiful, and she reveled in the chance to explore him. To run her fingertips over each well-defined muscle. Over his abs and the hard cut inward just below his hip bone.

  But she didn’t stop there. No, she wasn’t even remotely finished with him.

  He had made her shake. He had made her tremble. He had made her lose her mind.

  And she was going to return the favor.

  She took a deep breath and kissed his stomach. Just one easy thing before she moved on to what she wanted, even though it scared her.

  She lifted her head, meeting his gaze as she wrapped her fingers around his cock and squeezed. His eyes glittered like ice on fire, and he said nothing. He just sat there, his jaw held tight, his expression one of absolute concentration.

  Then she looked away from his face, bringing her attention to that most masculine part of him. She was hungry for him. There was no other word for it.

  She was starving for a taste.

  And that hunger overtook everything else.

  She flicked her tongue out and tasted him, his skin salty and hot. But the true eroticism was in his response. His head fell back, his breath hissing sharply through his teeth. And he reached out, pressing his hand to her back, spreading his fingers wide at the center of her shoulder blades.

  Maybe she didn’t have skill. Maybe she didn’t know what she was doing. But he liked it. And that made her feel powerful. It made her feel needed.

  She slid her hand down his shaft, gripping the base before taking him more deeply into her mouth. His groan sounded torn from him, wild and untamed, and she loved it.

  Because Joshua was all about control. Had been from the moment she’d first met him.

  That was what all this was, after all. From the ad in the paper to his marriage proposal—all of it was him trying to bend the situation to his will. To bend those around him to his will, to make them see he was right, that his way was the best way.

  But right now he was losing control. He was at her mercy. Shaking. Because of her.

  And even though she was the one pleasuring him, she felt an immense sense of satisfaction flood her as she continued to taste him. As she continued to make him tremble.

  He needed her. He wanted her. After a lifetime of feeling like nobody wanted her at all, this was the most brilliant and beautiful thing she could ever imagine.

  She’d heard her friends talk about giving guys blow jobs before. They laughed about it. Or said it was gross. Or said it was a great way to control their boyfriends.

  They hadn’t said what an incredible thing it was to make a big, strong alpha male sweat and shake. They hadn’t said it could make you feel so desired, so beloved. Or that giving someone else pleasure was even better—in some ways—than being on the receiving end of the attention.

  She swallowed more of him, and his hand jerked up to her hair, tugging her head back. “Careful,” he said, his tone hard and thin.

  “Why?”

  “You keep doing that and I’m going to come,” he said, not bothering to sugarcoat it.

  “So what? When you did it for me, that’s what I did.”

  “Yes. But you’re a woman. And you can have as many orgasms as I can give you without time off in between. I don’t want it to end like this.”

  She was about to protest, but then he pulled her forward, kissing her hard and deep, stealing not just her ability to speak, but her ability to think of words.

  He left her for a moment, retrieving his wallet and the protection in it, making quick work of putting the condom on before he laid her back down on the couch.

  “Wait,” she said, the word husky, rough. “I want... Can I be on top?”

  He drew back, arching one brow. “Since you asked so nicely.”

  He gripped her hips, reversing their position, bringing her to sit astride him. He was hard beneath her, and she shifted back and forth experimentally, rubbing her slick folds over him before positioning him at the entrance of her body.

  She bit her lip, lowering herself onto him, taking it slow, relishing that moment of him filling her so utterly and completely.

  “I don’t know what I’m doing,” she whispered when he was buried fully inside of her.

  He reached up, brushing his fingertips over her cheek before lowering his hand to grip both her hips tightly, lift her, then impale her on his hard length again.

  “Just do what feels good,” he ground out, the words strained.

  She rocked her hips, then lifted herself slightly before taking him inside again. She repeated the motion. Again and again. Finding the speed and rhythm that made him gasp and made her moan. Finding just the right angle, just the right pressure, to please them both.

  Pleasure began to ripple through her, the now somewhat familiar pressure of impending orgasm building inside her. She rolled her hips, making contact right where she needed it. He grabbed her chin, drawing her head down to kiss her. Deep, wet.

  And that was it. She was done.

  Pleasure burst behind her eyes, her internal muscles gripping him tight as her orgasm rocked her.

  She found herself being rolled onto her back and Joshua began to pound into her, chasing his own release with a raw ferocity that made her whole body feel like it was on fire with passion.

  He was undone. Completely. Because of her.

  He growled, reaching beneath her to cup her ass, drawing her hard against him, forcing her to meet his every thrust. And that was when he proved himself right. She really could come as many times as he could make her.

  She lost it then, shaking and shivering as her second orgasm overtook her already sensitized body.

  He lowered his head, his teeth scraping against her collarbone as he froze against her, finding his own release.

  He lay against her for a moment, his face buried in her neck, and she sifted her fingers through his hair, a small smile touching her lips as ripples of lingering pleasure continued to fan out through her body.

  He looked at her, then brushed his lips gently over hers. She found herself being lifted up, cradled against his chest as he carried her from the couch to the stairs.

  “Time for bed,” he said, the words husky and rough.

  She reached up and touched his face. “Okay.”

  He carried her to his room, laid her down on the expansive mattress, the blanket decadent and soft beneath her bare skin.

  This would be their room. A room they would share.

  For some reason, that thought made tears sting her eyes. She had spent so long being alone that the idea of so much closeness was almost overwhelming. But no matter what, she wanted it.

  Wanted it so badly it was like a physical hunger.

  Joshua joined her on the bed and she was overwhelmed by the urge to simply fold herself into his embrace. To enjoy the closeness.

  But then he was naked. And so was she. So the desire for closeness fought with her desire to play with him a little more.

  He pressed his hand against her lower back, then slid it down to her butt, squeezing tight. And he smiled.

 
Something intense and sharp filled her chest. It was almost painful.

  Happiness, she realized. She was happy.

  She knew in that moment that she never really had been happy before. At least, not without an equally weighty worry to balance it. To warn her that on the other side of the happiness could easily lie tragedy.

  But she wasn’t thinking of tragedy now. She couldn’t.

  Joshua filled her vision, and he filled her brain, and for now—just for now—everything in her world felt right.

  For a while, she wanted that to be the whole story.

  So she blocked out every other thought, every single what-if, and she kissed him again.

  * * *

  When Joshua woke up, the bedroom was dark. There was a woman wrapped around him. And he wasn’t entirely sure what had pulled him out of his deep slumber.

  Danielle was sleeping peacefully. Her dark hair was wrapped around her face like a spiderweb, and he reached down to push it back. She flinched, pursing her lips and shifting against him, tightening her arms around his waist.

  She was exhausted. Probably because he was an animal who had taken her three, maybe four times before they’d finally both fallen asleep.

  He looked at her, and the hunger was immediate. Visceral. And he wondered if he was fooling himself pretending, even for a moment, that any of this was for her.

  That he had any kind of higher purpose.

  He wondered if he had any purpose at all beyond trying to satisfy himself with her.

  And then he realized what had woken him up.

  He heard a high, keening cry that barely filtered through the open bedroom door. Riley.

  He looked down at Danielle, who was still fast asleep, and who would no doubt be upset that they had forgotten to bring the baby monitor into the room. Joshua had barely been able to remember his own name, much less a baby monitor.

  He extricated himself from her hold, scrubbing his hand over his face. Then he walked over to his closet, grabbing a pair of jeans and pulling them on with nothing underneath.

  He had no idea what in the hell to do with the baby. But Danielle was exhausted, because of him, and he didn’t want to wake her up.

  The cries got louder as he made his way down the hall, and he walked into the room to see flailing movement coming from the crib. The baby was very unhappy, whatever the reason.

  Joshua walked across the room and stood above the crib, looking down. If he was going to marry Danielle, then that meant Riley was his responsibility too.

  Riley would be his son.

  Something prickled at the back of his throat, making it tight. So much had happened after Shannon lost the baby that he didn’t tend to think too much about what might have been. But it was impossible not to think about it right now.

  His son would have been five.

  He swallowed hard, trying to combat the rising tide of emotion in his chest. That emotion was why he avoided contact with Riley. Joshua wasn’t so out of touch with his feelings that he didn’t know that.

  But his son wasn’t here. He’d never had the chance to be born.

  Riley was here.

  And Joshua could be there for him.

  He reached down, placing his hand on the baby’s chest. His little body started, but he stopped crying.

  Joshua didn’t know the first thing about babies. He’d never had to learn. He’d never had the chance to hold his son. Never gone through a sleepless night because of crying.

  He reached down, picking up the small boy from his crib, holding the baby close to his chest and supporting Riley’s downy head.

  There weren’t very many situations in life that caused Joshua to doubt himself. Mostly because he took great care to ensure he was only ever in situations where he had the utmost control.

  But holding this tiny creature in his arms made him feel at a loss. Made him feel like his strength might be a liability rather than an asset. Because at the moment, he felt like this little boy could be far too easily broken. Like he might crush the baby somehow.

  Either with his hands or with his inadequacy.

  Though, he supposed that was the good thing about babies. Right now, Riley didn’t seem to need him to be perfect. He just needed Joshua to be there. Being there he could handle.

  He made his way to the rocking chair in the corner and sat down, pressing Riley to his chest as he rocked back and forth.

  “You might be hungry,” Joshua said, keeping his voice soft. “I didn’t ask.”

  Riley turned his head back and forth, leaving a small trail of drool behind on Joshua’s skin. He had a feeling if his brother could see him now, he would mock him mercilessly. But then, he couldn’t imagine Isaiah with a baby at all. Devlin, yes. But only since he had married Mia. She had changed Devlin completely. Made him more relaxed. Made him a better man.

  Joshua thought of Danielle, sleeping soundly back in his room. Of just how insatiable he’d been for her earlier. Of how utterly trapped she was, and more or less at his mercy.

  He had to wonder if there was any way she could make him a better man, all things considered.

  Though, he supposed he’d kind of started to become a better man already. Since he had taken her on. And Riley.

  He had to be the man who could take care of them, if he was so intent on fixing things.

  Maybe they can fix you too.

  Even though there was no one in the room but the baby, Joshua shook his head. That wasn’t a fair thing to put on either of them.

  “Joshua?”

  He looked up and saw Danielle standing in the doorway. She was wearing one of his T-shirts, the hem falling to the top of her thighs. He couldn’t see her expression in the darkened room.

  “Over here.”

  “Are you holding Riley?” She moved deeper into the room and stopped in front of him, the moonlight streaming through the window shadowing one side of her face. With her long, dark hair hanging loose around her shoulders, and that silver light casting her in a glow, she looked ethereal. He wondered how he had ever thought she was pitiful. How he had ever imagined she wasn’t beautiful.

  “He was crying,” he responded.

  “I can take him.”

  He shook his head, for some reason reluctant to give him up. “That’s okay.”

  A smile curved her lips. “Okay. I can make him a bottle.”

  He nodded, moving his hand up and down on the baby’s back. “Okay.”

  Danielle rummaged around for a moment and then went across the room to the changing station, where he assumed she kept the bottle-making supplies. Warmers and filtered water and all of that. He didn’t know much about it, only that he had arranged to have it all delivered to the house to make things easier for her.

  She returned a moment later, bottle in hand. She tilted it upside down and tested it on the inside of her wrist. “It’s all good. Do you want to give it to him?”

  He nodded slowly and reached up. “Sure.”

  He shifted his hold on Riley, repositioning him in the crook of his arm so he could offer him the bottle.

  “Do you have a lot of experience with babies?”

  “None,” he said.

  “You could have fooled me. Although, I didn’t really have any experience with babies until Riley was born. I didn’t figure I would ever have experience with them.”

  “No?”

  She shook her head. “No. I was never going to get married, Joshua. I knew all about men, you see. My mother got pregnant with me when she was fourteen. Needless to say, things didn’t get off to the best start. I never knew my father. My upbringing was...unstable. My mother just wasn’t ready to have a baby, and honestly, I don’t know how she could have been. She didn’t have a good home life, and she was so young. I think she wanted to keep me, wanted to do the right thing—it was just hard. She was a
lways looking for something else. Looking for love.”

  “Not in the right places, I assume.”

  She bit her lip. “No. To say the least. She had a lot of boyfriends, and we lived with some of them. Sometimes that was better. Sometimes they were more established than us and had better homes. The older I got, the less like a mom my mom seemed. I started to really understand how young she was. When she would get her heart broken, I comforted her more like a friend than like a daughter. When she would go out and get drunk, I would put her to bed like I was the parent.” Danielle took a deep breath. “I just didn’t want that for myself. I didn’t want to depend on anybody, or have anyone depend on me. I didn’t want to pin my hopes on someone else. And I never saw a relationship that looked like anything else when I was growing up.”

  “But here you are,” he said, his chest feeling tight. “And you’re marrying me.”

  “I don’t know if you can possibly understand what this is like,” she said, laughing, a kind of shaky nervous sound. “Having this idea of what your life will be and just...changing that. I was so certain about what I would have, and what I wouldn’t have. I would never get married. I would never have children. I would never have...a beautiful house or a yard.” Her words got thick, her throat sounding tight. “Then there was Riley. And then there was your ad. And then there was you. And suddenly everything I want is different, everything I expect is different. I actually hope for things. It’s kind of a miracle.”

  He wanted to tell her that he wasn’t a miracle. That whatever she expected from him, he was sure to disappoint her in some way. But what she was describing was too close to his own truth.

  He had written off having a wife. He had written off having children. That was the whole part of being human he’d decided wasn’t for him. And yet here he was, feeding a baby at three in the morning staring at a woman who had just come from his bed. A woman who was wearing his ring.

  The way Joshua needed it, the way he wanted to cling to his new reality, to make sure that it was real and that it would last, shocked him with its ferocity.