Crushing on Love (The Bradens of Peaceful Harbor, Book Four)

by Melissa Foster

  Dangerous. He closed his eyes against the word and kissed his way down her spine. She lifted her hips off the bed, angling her beautiful ass before him.

  “So trusting, baby,” he said, tucking a pillow under her hips. He used his fingers again, kissing her back as he loved her until she was ready to receive him.

  “Now, Grizz, please. I can’t take another second.”

  He guided his slick shaft to her tightest entrance. Feeling her soft cheeks against him made him want to slam into her, but he kept control. He kissed her upper spine, and they both groaned as he breached the tight rim of muscles. Her ass squeezed around him, and it took all he had not to thrust. She gripped the sheets, her eyes closed tight.

  “Okay, baby?”

  “Yes. More.”

  He took her slow and steady, until he was buried to the root, and then he came down over her back and laced his fingers with hers. She was so tight, they were both trembling, breathing hard and shallow at once.

  “God,” she whispered. “You’re huge.”

  After a beat of silence, they laughed, and that humor broke the thread of fear that had held him back.

  “I love you, Butterfly. So much…”

  He loved her gently, and when she asked for more, he loved her harder. He slid his hand beneath her and teased her over the edge. After they’d both lost themselves to their lovemaking, he carried her to the shower and they made love beneath the warm spray.

  Back in his bed, on clean sheets, with Shannon lying safely in the confines of his arms, she asked him if he’d ever done that before.

  “No, baby. You make me crave all of you. I’ve never wanted that before.”

  “Oh,” she said softly.

  Closing his eyes and saying a silent prayer that she’d have the same response, he said, “You?”

  “You know how high schools have prom queens?”

  “Yeah,” he said, confused.

  “I was the anal queen.”

  He closed his eyes, biting back the anguish knotting his gut.

  She lifted a finger and pretended to chalk one up. “Gotcha!”

  He hugged her tighter, losing himself all over again in her confidence and carefree giggles. When she turned in his arms and they gazed into each other’s eyes, he knew the truth before the words left her lips.

  “Only you, Grizz. You own me.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  THE NEXT WEEK passed in a blur of campaign and rally coordination, and falling head over heels in love with the area, the people, and the man whom she couldn’t look at without wanting more of him. Shannon and Steve’s lives had melded together seamlessly. Steve had spur-of-the moment meetings with various associations throughout the week, and she was busy every second with research and the campaign. But they’d found time to slow down for each other, making love late at night and talking into the wee hours about everything—with the careful exception of the future, which they tiptoed around as if it were a land mine. Lately they’d been getting up early to watch the sunrise together from their back porch. They’d even found time to go out with friends. They’d had lunch with Mack and Will to discuss their hosting the rally, and she was pleased that there had been no weird feelings between any of them about breaking her date with Will to be with Steve. They’d also met Jade and Rex for dinner, and she’d even convinced Steve to go to a barbecue at the Bradens. They’d invited his parents as well, and it was like a coming-out party.

  They’d become a real couple, and it felt wonderful. Shannon’s research was no longer a solo project, which made it even more enjoyable. After Steve took care of wildlife forestry concerns, he inevitably ended up where Shannon had set up for the day. He brought picnic lunches, and if they were both still on the mountain at the end of their workday, he sought her out to walk her back to the cabin. It was dating, mountain-man style, and as she was falling deeper in love, the ominous countdown to her departure loomed. They had a little more than two weeks before she had to return home, and every time she thought about it she nearly drowned in sadness.

  Now she and Steve sat in a café surrounded by their friends and family to finalize the plans for the rally, Steve’s hand spread possessively over her thigh. When they’d made the promise that they could handle moving on after she went back home, she hadn’t fully believed it. She knew for sure there was no way she could ever look at Steve and not be madly, deeply, passionately in love with him. But she had a full life to return to in Peaceful Harbor, a family she adored, friends she’d grown up with.

  Her eyes danced around the table, taking in the smiling faces of family and friends who had gathered to help them without expecting anything in return. Max, Treat, Jade, and Rex were chatting happily across from her. At the end of the table, Jo had Cutter Long’s rapt attention. Cutter was Wes’s barn manager, and he had volunteered to help Wes with the cattle-roping event at the rally. Jo looked quite taken with the handsome, blue-eyed cowboy. Shannon had gone to see Jo earlier in the week, and they’d had a long conversation about the rally and about Steve. Shannon had been surprised to hear that they’d been intimate only once, especially since she and Steve couldn’t keep their hands off each other. And as far as she and Steve went, they hadn’t revisited the sensual depths they had the night with the oil, but that night had changed everything. It had brought them to a new level, strengthening their bond and solidifying their relationship. They’d built an even stronger foundation of trust and truth that left no room for worries.

  She shifted her gaze to her right, where her cousins Ross and Wes were sitting with their fiancée and wife, Elisabeth and Callie. Wes’s hand rested on Callie’s burgeoning baby bump. On the other end of the table, Shannon’s cousin Luke and his wife, Daisy, were chatting with Cal and Rachel. Shannon had received a supportive call from her cousin Emily, who also lived in Trusty, and wished she could be there to help, but she and her fiancé, Dae, were in Italy preparing for their wedding.

  Shannon wondered if it were possible for a person to have two full lives?

  “What do you think, Butterfly?”

  Steve’s rough, sexy voice sent shivers down her spine. Uh-oh. She’d missed whatever they’d said.

  “I’m happy to do it.” Elisabeth’s blond hair framed her pretty face, and she smiled brightly. “Rossie’s assistant, Kelsey, said she’d help me with the booth. We’ll make mini pies, like I made for the fair, and give them away for a small donation. Every dollar counts, and the community loved the beer cakes I made.”

  “That would be wonderful. Thank you.” Shannon’s heart swelled at the support she had here and ached at the idea of leaving it all behind. Steve was looking at her like she was the only one in the busy café. How could she leave him? How could she give him up? Could they manage a long-distance relationship? Would they want to?

  She pondered that thought as Elisabeth described the pie she had in mind for the rally. “I’ll call it River Pie, and use creamy white chocolate and give it a greenish hue so it looks like water, with chunks of chocolate as rocks poking out through the water and whipped marshmallow cream to add a few whitecaps.”

  “And I’ll be your taste tester,” Ross said, leaning in for a kiss.

  “Back off, brother-in-law,” Callie said teasingly. “Pregos before significant others. I’ll be the chocolate pie taste tester, thank you very much.”

  Ross scowled.

  Wes gave him a dark look. “Don’t even think it, bro. My wife wants the pie, and I’ll take you down to make sure she gets it.”

  Everyone laughed as Wes pulled Callie into a scorching-hot kiss. Shannon’s grown cousins were always wrestling like a pack of teenagers.

  “Thanks for helping with this, you guys,” Shannon said. “As of this morning the campaign was up to one hundred and eighty-seven thousand. Only three hundred and thirteen thousand more to go.”

  “I have to admit,” Treat said, “I was skeptical about crowdfunding, but you two are really pulling people together. It’s a different business model, but
it could free up funds for renovations to the ranch and maybe even more land trust deals down the road.”

  Shannon’s ears perked up.

  “Thanks to my favorite girl,” Steve said with pride. “And we have a solid plan for the event now, thanks to each of you. Mack and Will are excited to host the rally, and I spoke to the Weston Times this morning. They’re going to publicize it.”

  “If you and Steve decide to try to buy more properties through campaigns, or other creative means, and put them into trust, Treat,” Shannon said, “I’d love to help.”

  “We’ll plan on it.” Treat slid a serious look to Steve, who gave one curt nod. “I think it’s the type of work you could do remotely.”

  Her stomach knotted up at the reminder.

  “It was a brilliant idea to hold the rally the afternoon of the barn dance,” Jade added.

  “Right?” Max said. “Everyone will be excited, and hopefully the dance will be a real celebration.”

  “I bet we’ll see a lot of new dance moves that night,” Treat added.

  “Right, Steve?” Rex said with a coy look.

  “Should be great.” Steve turned away, but not before Shannon caught sight of the nervous look in his eyes.

  She wondered if he was thinking about her leaving, as she was, or if he and Rex had an inside joke about her dancing with Cal the other night. Cal was busy chatting with Rachel. Clearly he wasn’t worried about an inside joke.

  “You guys have taken a triple two-step into this relationship,” Jade said.

  Steve ran a hand down his face.

  “No, they didn’t.” Max raised her brows. “They line danced right through the barn doors.”

  She knew they were teasing Steve because he didn’t dance, and bit her tongue because although Steve was shaking his head, he was smiling.

  “You think, sweetness?” Treat said to Max. He turned a teasing grin to Steve. “I think they’ve been waltzing since Rex and Jade’s wedding, and they’ve finally mastered the ‘Cotton-Eyed Joe.’”

  “Christ,” Steve mumbled.

  “Okay, that’s enough, you guys.” Shannon didn’t mean to raise her voice, but that was enough teasing. “You guys are relentless. So Steve doesn’t dance? Leave him alone.”

  Steve turned a warm smile on her. “I’m fine, baby. Are you?”

  “Yes.” She loved him so much she could feel the ache of it in her bones. She was glad that he wasn’t crazy jealous the way Rex was. She loved Rex to pieces, but she could never stop dancing just because Steve didn’t like to dance, and she didn’t need everyone making such a big deal out of it.

  She laced her fingers with his, feeling like the luckiest girl on earth to have found such a loving, thoughtful man who was also, undeniably, the sexiest man on the planet. If only she could take him back home to Peaceful Harbor. But she couldn’t ask him to leave his life here in Colorado any more than she could step away from hers in Peaceful Harbor.

  Maybe she should put her efforts into DNA cloning. Or a 3-D printer.

  “Thanks to Max and Jo,” Steve said, “who have offered to take over the social media nightmare—”

  “Hey!” Shannon swatted his arm.

  He laughed. “I mean, social media mania, Shan and I are going camping tonight,” Steve said. “If you need us, wish upon a star, because we’ll be sleeping beneath them.”

  Her throat thickened. There was no way she could stop seeing him. Could a person die from boyfriend withdrawal?

  Suddenly a long-distance relationship didn’t seem like such a bad idea.

  AFTER LEAVING THE café, Steve and Shannon gathered their camping gear and headed into the mountains. They hiked up to the first habitat Shannon wanted to observe, and she gathered data all afternoon. While she studied the habitat, Steve made a wide sweep of the surrounding area, looking for evidence of bear activity. They’d opted to bring foods they didn’t have to cook, so they wouldn’t have to worry about cleanup. Subsisting on cheese and crackers, energy bars, and jerky wouldn’t kill him. Steve didn’t care what he ate—or if he ate, for that matter. He just wanted this time alone with Shannon and to know she was safe while out in the wilderness. Shannon, on the other hand, might die without her requisite sugar fix, which was why Steve had packed Pop-Tarts, a pink-frosted cupcake he’d picked up while they were in town, and one of those premade fancy Starbucks drinks.

  She’d insisted she carry as much gear as Steve, but when she’d gone inside to use the bathroom, he’d taken half of her gear and added it to his. He admired her desire to pull her own weight, but she didn’t have to prove a darn thing to him. He admired everything about her. She was sitting on a bed of rocks taking notes in one of her notebooks with a pen that wrote with pink ink. He’d noticed she had two notebooks, and in each she’d used both pink and blue ink. The fact that he’d even noticed such a thing—much less thought it was too adorable for words—told him just how far gone he was over her. As if he hadn’t already known.

  He moved behind her and gathered her hair over her shoulder, kissing the back of her neck.

  “Mm. That’s nice,” she said with a dreamy sigh.

  “How’s the research coming?” He breathed in her unique scent he’d come to love so much.

  “Good. I’ve got enough data for today.” She looked up at the dimming sky. “We should get our tent up, shouldn’t we?”

  He’d brought a tent, but he had something more fun planned. “I thought we’d build a shelter.”

  She set her notebook down on the rock and her eyes widened. “No way. You would build a fort with me?”

  “Don’t you know by now I’d do anything with you?”

  As he leaned in for a kiss, she sprang to her feet. He laughed and tugged her in for that kiss he wanted, and a few more to hold him over while they built their fort. “You lead, baby, and I’ll follow.”

  She tapped her finger on her chin and scanned the woods. “We need tall branches. A bunch of them. And lots of leafy ones, too.”

  Steve pulled a coil of pink rope from his bag.

  She shouted with glee and threw her arms around his neck, her eyes twinkling in the dimming sun. “Have I told you lately that you’re the best boyfriend in the world?”

  “No. In fact, I don’t think I’ve heard the ‘B’ word come from your pretty mouth before.” He slid his hands beneath her hoodie, beneath her shirt, and ran them up her warm back, holding her tight against him. “And I like it a whole heck of a lot.”

  Their mouths came together in a hot and hectic kiss. She rubbed against him like a cat, purring deep in her throat. As he roused her passion, his own grew stronger. She pushed her hands up the sides of his head, holding him possessively. Lord, did he love the feel of her claiming him—almost as much as he loved claiming her.

  They came away breathless.

  “Wow,” she said breathily. “Kissing you is like…” She bit her lower lip and narrowed her eyes. “It’s like the difference between breathing mountain air and city air.”

  He kissed her again. “I want to be your only air.” It was a risky statement, one he hadn’t expected. As she melted against him, the sleek caress of her body told him how much she loved hearing it.

  His hands moved down the length of her back. It was torture staving off the desire to undress her right then and watch the dusky evening roll in over her naked body. But he felt the distinct tingling beneath his skin that warned him of impending rain. They needed shelter. Once he knew she’d be warm and safe for the night, he’d make up for the time they’d lost.

  And then some.

  An hour later they’d gathered branches and were halfway through constructing their teepee-style fort a safe distance from the fox den, so as not to disturb them. The clearing they chose was buffered by trees, as if the space had been dropped from the sky just for them. The ground was hard and cold, still working on the springtime thaw. He couldn’t wait to bring Shannon out when wildflowers were in full bloom and at the turn of fall, when autumn colors kissed ev
ery surface.

  Emotions pooled inside him as they secured the tops of the branches with the pink twine. Pipe dreams.

  Dangerous pipe dreams.

  They had only two more weeks together. The end of their time lurked like a villain in the dark, threatening to tear them apart. He’d known how powerful his emotions were even before they’d kissed, but he hadn’t realized she’d had the power to strip him to his very core. How would he survive her leaving?

  He grimaced, pushing those feelings down as deep as he could. And then he pushed harder, forcing them further into the pit of himself as he spread their sleeping bags out inside the fort. Then he gathered their belongings and tucked them in the shelter. They’d built this fort together, and in his love-crazed mind, he saw a connection to the very heart of their relationship. They’d been laying a foundation for weeks, building things together. The land trust, this camping-research trip, going out with friends as a couple. They were building a life together. A temporary life. He unpacked the tent and began laying the waterproof material over the branches, wanting to stay the night in the shelter they’d built.

  “I didn’t think you brought a tent.”

  “I would never bring you out here completely unprepared,” he said more sharply than he’d meant to. His emotions were eating him up, and he had to figure out how to put them in their place before he burst.

  Shannon danced around in her skintight jeans and pretty yellow hoodie, alternating between humming and singing different songs, jumbling up all the lyrics as she tossed leafy branches over the material. She swung her hips and made googly eyes at him while she sang, and Steve was having a heck of a time keeping his hands to himself. He was surprised when his feet began to move to the beat of her mixed-up songs. The rally coordination was the perfect excuse for his impromptu sessions with Rex and the others, which were definitely paying off. Every one of their friends showed up for the lessons, which was embarrassing but also endearing. He couldn’t believe he’d ever felt like an outsider around the people who were giving up an hour a day to help him find his right foot.