by Hannah Skye
“This is you,” he whispered. “Let me focus on you. You’re everything.”
She started to protest, but another kiss silenced her words into something half growl, half moan. He pinned her hands down, drew away and kissed her fingertips, her wrists, then he leaned back to stare at her. She stared back through half-lidded eyes, aching for him, wet for him, but letting him have his way.
He caressed her thighs, then pushed them apart. She spread for him, watching him intently, reveling in the nearly frenzied lust she saw on his face. But he was gentle, dipping down to spread her lower lips wider. His delightfully warm tongue tasted her. She cried out at the pleasure. His tongue teased her. Up and down her wet pussy, tracing around her clit, bringing her toward her edge, then holding back, and a second later he thrust his tongue deep inside again, changing the sensation until her head was spinning.
“Wait…wait,” she panted. She was so close to coming she felt the massive shadow of her orgasm looming over her, ready to crash down. He looked up at her from between her thighs, his expression focused. “I’m going to come if you don’t stop.”
He licked her once again, and the quick brush of his tongue over her clit pulled a scream of pleasure from her and left her trembling. He was grinning as he trailed kisses up from her wet slit, up her stomach. A pathway of kisses to her breasts. He did not linger over them. Kissed his way higher. To her collarbone, then to her neck, and again he found her mouth and claimed it. The kiss was deep. She gave herself to it.
He growled—a deep masculine sound that sent trills of desire through her. He pushed her thighs wider, spreading her pussy for him. He grabbed his cock and a condom from out of the nightstand drawer. She stared, ogling him without the slightest embarrassment as he unwrapped the condom and unrolled it over his cock. He met her gaze again, moved over the top of her, then slowly, achingly slowly, eased himself into her heat.
She cried out, helpless to stop the pleasure in the sound. He pressed deeper, sinking all the way into her. She stretched for him as his cock filled her. Then he drew back and thrust again. She gasped. Again he thrust, building a steady rhythm that had her eyes rolling back in her head with ecstasy. He crushed a kiss to her lips as he leaned over her, supporting himself with his muscular arms. She kissed him back feverishly. Broke the kiss as moans escaped her lips. Helpless little moans.
He drove into her faster. She matched his pounding rhythm with her hips. The muscles in her pussy clenched around him, and she toppled off the cliff into orgasm, loosing a cry of intense pleasure that surprised her. But it surprised her for only an instant before she was lost in the explosive haze as she came hard around him. If he’d been holding himself back, he was no longer. He drove into her even faster, and she rocked with every thrust, her hands scrabbling for leverage as he pushed her back. His eyes were closed. His face rigid with his own world of pleasure as he fucked her. His cock still sent wild waves of pleasure through her every time he rocked her back, plunging deep into her pussy. Her breath rasped in and out of her mouth, her heart beating so fast it felt as if she’d sprinted a mile.
He said her name when he came inside her, shuddering, his muscles tensed and straining, his cock pulsing in her pussy. He leaned his head against hers, his breath warm on her neck. They stayed that way for awhile, locked together, riding the slowly diminishing waves of their pleasure.
Afterwards, she lay content in his arms, the scent of sex in the sheets, the unique smell of him all around her. And she loved it. She didn’t know what came next for them. But this had meant something special. Something she’d never forget. She traced her hand across his chest, and stared at the tiny skylight in the trailer’s ceiling. Snow had covered it, turning it into a white curve of mild light. More snow had stuck to all the windows, darkening the trailer enough that it seemed like dusk. A constant, soft tapping sounded at the glass as the wind blew flakes against it. The air was colder in here, but snuggled as she was against him, she felt good.
“You pushed me over the edge, girl,” Harlan said softly. “There’s no going back.”
She looked into his eyes. They were at first fierce, and then, as she gazed into them, they softened. He blinked slowly, and a smile curled on his lips.
“I don’t want to go back, cowboy,” she said, searching for the right words. “I’m just scared this is like…like a blizzard. Blows in, buries you, blows right back out again.”
“No. It’s a storm maybe. Been building for a long time.”
“We didn’t solve anything,” she said, hesitant, almost afraid another fight would erupt if she said the wrong thing. She desperately didn’t want that. All the same, she had to know. “I’m still leaving.”
He traced a finger along her jaw. The tenderness in the gesture filled her with hope. “We said what needed saying.”
“But—”
“You aren’t going far. Maybe I can ease up a bit.” His expression darkened. He looked away, up at the windows.
She stroked her hand along his slick cock. It twitched at her touch. “Not ease up too much, I hope.”
“You’ll be the end of me.” He kissed her deeply. She closed her eyes and gave herself to the kiss. She focused on the soft contact between their lips and how it warmed her better than the best cup of hot chocolate she’d ever had. He finally broke the kiss and looked deep into her eyes. “Ride the fences with me tomorrow.”
“That sounds like work,” she teased, though she was thrilled to have him ask. She’d ridden with him before and she’d worked alongside him before, but somehow this was different.
It was different because now everything had changed.
He favored her with a lopsided grin. “I need to look for damage. We’ll put the cattle to forage and go inspect it together.”
“You got it.” She closed her eyes, listening to his heart. She was already looking forward to riding with him tomorrow…but then again, she didn’t want this moment to ever end.
Chapter Five
The sky the next morning was clear and crisp, without a hint of cloud. The sun was out, so bright off the snowfall that they both had to wear sunglasses. Harlan was enjoying Carol’s company, though neither of them had spoken much so far. She seemed satisfied while enjoying the quiet, beautiful scenery around them as they rode together. He was content to simply be with her. The fact that he could do so outdoors, with the smell of evergreens all around them, the quiet, the stunning Colorado beauty…well, he reckoned that made him a fortunate man. For once in his life at least, a very lucky man.
The surprise storm had dumped over a foot of snow yesterday. In the aftermath, it clung to the tree branches and piled in drifts against the fence posts. Their horses had no problems with the snow, plowing through almost indifferently after a few curious snorts at the cold white ground cover. Harlan kept them to the trails he knew best, away from the places where difficult ground might turn a horse’s ankle.
A beautiful day, and yet a part of him was not at ease.
This would never work, he thought, and he glanced at Carol again, a cold and heavy weight seemed to be pressing down on his chest. The rest of his contentedness began to vanish like frost in the sunlight. He clenched his teeth. What had he been thinking?
It would be easy to say he’d been thinking with his cock. Giving himself over to primal needs. But he knew different. He’d been thinking with something deeper inside him, truer, something that needed her for a whole slew of reasons besides that gorgeous face and stunning body.
So what was he afraid of? He frowned, not liking the question. He looked at her again, wanting to touch her, catch some kind of comfort that she was still here beside him, and he wasn’t simply imagining everything that had happened to them since yesterday. All the changes. The complications. If he touched her, that would set his thoughts to rights, ease his mind…
He kept his hands on the reins and forced his attention back to the ride. Live in the moment. Forget the complications. Dwelling on the bad would only tangle him up,
snare him like lasso around a running calf. He wanted her to be happy. Hell, he wanted to be happy, and this was a fine day for it. Bright and cold, but without a cutting wind. He could even smell the cold. The scent of evergreens. The earth. His horse and the leather, and from time to time, a hint of Carol’s perfume.
They continued in easy silence for the first half of the circuit around the ranch’s fence line, and he managed to focus on the task at hand. Fortunately, the storm damage had been minimal. When he spotted a place where the fence had been damaged—by yesterday’s wind or fallen branches overloaded with snow—he would climb out of the saddle and tie a bright red piece of plastic strip to the post. The red plastic marked the place for easy finding when he returned to repair it with tools and supplies in either the truck or the ranch’s ATV. It was good work though. Work he enjoyed. Outside. Working with his hands. Surrounded by all of this…the words majestic beauty might sound like overkill to someone not standing in the shadow of the Rockies, but he thought they applied well enough.
He allowed himself a wry smile at his thoughts. Look at him now, a little taste of sweetness between the sheets yesterday and pretty soon he’d be spraying poetry like water from a dog-chewed garden hose.
Carol reined in. She sat very still in the saddle, back straight, staring off at Snowbrook Ranch in the distance, below them as the land gently sloped away from the foothills. “I’ll miss this place.”
Those words made him tense up again, shattering any hope of the peace from his worries he’d been hunting for. Pike sensed his tension and tossed her mane and snorted. He felt the scowl gathering on his face and forced it away, shifting into an easy smile. Despite the power of their lovemaking yesterday and the intense connection they’d shared, this remained treacherous ground. He didn’t want to misstep and break an ankle. Or worse.
“You talk as if you’ll never be back,” he replied, keeping his tone nonchalant.
“It’ll never be mine again.” She shrugged. “It always felt like my place. An entire world, just for me to explore. I loved growing up here. So many good memories.”
“So you make new memories. At your new place.” All the same, thinking of her gone made him cold. He’d been weak yesterday. He’d been unable to watch her walk away. She’d been right after all. He was a selfish bastard. He’d been keeping himself in check for so long that when he’d lost control, he’d been willing to do anything to have a few more minutes with her. Worse, he didn’t regret an instant of it.
“You’re right,” she said. “Of course you’re right. But it seems so unreal to me right now. My ranch.” She grabbed the sides of her head. “All the things I still have to do. Oh my God, you have no idea—”
“I think I have some bit of an idea,” he said, drawling out the words with a wry smirk.
She glanced at him and a hint of a blush reddened her cheeks. “Of course you do. Not many other people would understand though.” She readjusted her cowgirl hat, knocked askew when she’d grabbed her head. “And…us. Together. I think that might seem the most unreal.”
“It felt real.”
“It did…and it didn’t. Am I making any sense?”
“No more than usual,” he quipped with a grin, but he still felt colder than snow inside, the feeling sinking through him from his chest to his guts.
She didn’t grin back, though. “Things feel too good to be true.”
“You say that as if it’s a bad thing.”
“Maybe that feeling is a bad thing. I feel like my life has been so charmed that someday the universe will realize how good I have it and snatch it all away. Because I don’t think I deserve it sometimes…”
He nudged his horse closer to her, reached out and took her hand in his, the coldness inside him fading as concern for her replaced it. Their gloves kept them from skin to skin contact, but he gave a squeeze anyway, trying to reassure her. He wanted to wrap her in his arms and hold her, which was a tricky prospect from the saddle of a different horse. She was being too hard on herself. Her life hadn’t been as charmed as she’d claimed. Her parents killed in a car crash that she’d miraculously survived. That must hurt her, shadowed her, even if she didn’t show anyone her pain. And here she was, worried she had it better than everyone else.
“Maybe you do have it good,” he said, slowly, struggling to pick the right words. He’d never had a silver tongue, and he desperately didn’t want to say the wrong thing. “Better than some. Worse than others. If you worry too much about losing it, you’ll never be able to enjoy what you have. One thing I learned, working out here, is enjoy what you have.”
She smiled, then leaned toward him from her saddle, tilting her head for a kiss. He was more than happy to oblige. The smell of her perfume brought back memories of their lovemaking. Carol, naked, her mouth open in passion and those delicious sounds slipping out of past her lips, and her eyes closed as they both worked to lose themselves in each other…and succeeded.
Carol pulled away after the kiss, still holding his gaze, her expression serious. “You’re surprisingly wise for someone so handsome, Mr. Cowboy. I’m impressed.”
He pushed his hat back on his head. “Thank you, ma’am.” He coughed into his hand and regarded her gravely. “Hear how polite I am? Politeness should be rewarded. Kisses will do.” His grin grew wicked. “For a start.”
She leaned toward him, her eyes full of amusement, and kissed him.
“And a man who wears a cowboy hat also deserves a kiss,” he said. “A well known fact among decent folk.”
She kissed him again. “Getting a little desperate, are we? I wear a cowgirl hat, and it never earned me anything but some protection from the sun.”
“When I get you back, I’ll give you all the kisses a cowgirl could want. And more besides.”
“Guess you forgot how greedy I am. Hope you’re up to it, cowboy.”
“More than looking forward to the challenge, cowgirl.”
They rode on, again with that easy quiet between them like a still water in a mountain lake. Even their horses got along. No biting or stamping. They finished riding the fence a little past midday. The sun was still high in the sky, throwing only short shadows on the ground, the day still bright and cold. After they checked on the herd again, they ate lunch in the saddle while watching the cattle nose around in the snow for covered grass.
“Where’d you learn to ride?” she asked him between huge bites of a steak sandwich.
“My pa. He used to do rodeos.” He chuckled and pushed his hat back. “Not professionally. Just for fun. Also, trick roping, the Texas Skip and the like. Ma wouldn’t let him ride the bulls or broncos, but I’m not sure he minded much, to tell the truth. That’s a young man’s show.”
She cocked her head and regarded him with interest. “Did you ever ride rodeo?”
“Me? No. I never liked the crowds.”
“You’re shy?”
“I wouldn’t tell it that way. I don’t relish attention much, is all. But me and my dad, we used to trail ride mostly.”
“Is that where you got your love of the outdoors?”
He nodded. Pike nickered, and he patted her neck and slipped her a carrot from the saddlebag.
Carol looked around at the rolling field and the trees. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, the steam of her breath clouding around her. “There’s nothing better, is there?”
“Not much.” He met looked at her. She seemed to feel his stare and met his gaze. He kept his words even. “A few things rank up there, though.”
“That right?” Her eyes sparkled with amusement.
“Yep. All those things involve you. Some of them involve nakedness. Well, I reckon you can keep wearing that cowgirl hat if you like, but everything else needs to be naked. But mostly I agree.”
“I could get used to how you think, cowboy.” A chiming musical tone sounded. She pulled out her cell phone and glanced at the number. “Darn. Have to take this. Give me a minute?”
He nodded. She ans
wered her cell, but cursed after a moment and said into the phone, “Hold on, Mr. Comstock, the reception’s spotty, let me get clear of these trees.”
She veered off to a clearing and rode around in a wide circle, trying to get better reception. Harlan watched the cattle, leaning on the saddle horn and frowning when he heard Carol’s voice rise in alarm, then fall with disappointment. He glanced at her, wondering what was wrong. She pressed the cell phone tightly to one ear, her head tilted, and covered her other ear to better hear with the spotty reception. The expression on her face was both angry and dismayed as she stared at the ground and listened to what could only be bad news.
She finally ended the call with another curse that would’ve done any cattle-driver proud and shoved the cell phone back in her pocket. He waited, not wanting to intrude if she didn’t want to talk about it. He needn’t have worried. She rode straight over to him.
“That was Mr. Comstock up the road. He was driving past my place and saw the storm caused some damage.” She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “A tree came down on my trailer. He says it looks pretty bad.”
A part of him—a dark, selfish part that he hated, that revolted him—was happy to hear the news, because it meant she’d be forced to stay here with him. He stomped that ungrateful talk down flat. His pa had raised him to be a better man than that, and damned if he’d delight in her misfortune, even if it meant he could have her longer.
“We’ll round up the cattle, get ’em home,” he said. “Then we can head on over to your place and see how bad things are.”
She turned in her saddle to look off toward the land she’d purchased, though there was no way she could see it from here with a ridge slope and tree cover in the way. “No.” She hesitated and glanced at him with worry in her eyes. “Thanks, but I feel as if I should handle this myself.”