“Haven’t you run enough?”
Her body no longer listened to her mind. She leaned back against his warm frame. Rae looked at them, smiled, waved, and went to her car. They stood and watched her drive off. Lang had opened Cassie’s coat and placed his hands on her breasts. He bent to kiss the side of her neck. Her heart beat almost uncontrollably fast as his thumbs rubbed across her pebbled nipples through her thin blouse and bra. His teeth nibbled on her earlobe as a spark of sheer pleasure shot up her spine.
“Haven’t you missed this?” His soft voice blew across her ear. “I have.”
He stepped back with her and, reaching around, closed the door. Turning her, he cupped her face and just stared.
“So many nights, I visualized your face in front me, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to love you or hate you.” Anger flashed briefly in the depths of his eyes. They darkened like gray clouds before a storm.
“I imagined this, finally having you in my arms. And still a part of me wants to throw you away.”
“Why don’t you?” She stood on her tiptoes and brushed her lips across his. “I deserve to be punished for hurting you and Nick.”
“Yes, you do.” He swung her into his arms and took long strides across the room and into the large bedroom with the plush, light-green carpet. “It’s the one furnishing I picked. It reminded me of your eyes.” He laid her on the floor and stood towering over her.
From some of her recent past experiences, she should be frightened from the look in his eyes and the tension in his body. But neither Lang nor Nick would ever hurt her. His arrogant stance above her only raised her temperature and her desire.
He unsnapped his shirt and threw it aside, and then sat and pulled off his boots. Next his jeans and shorts were gone, and he stood before her. His tanned body was well muscled. His wide, hard cock jutted out, ready to plunge into her.
When he pulled the rawhide tie from his hair, it fell to his shoulders like black silk. His scent had gotten stronger and flowed around him, inciting her hunger. Straddling her body on his knees, he yanked the scarf off that held her hair back and ran his hands through the strands. Lang brought a handful to his nose and breathed in.
“I recognized your scent at the wedding. It almost tripped me up during my song. I had given up expecting to find you here at the ranch. And then after the wedding pictures were taken, I looked around. You were gone as quickly as mist floating away on the early morning breeze. Nick saw you, though.”
“On some level, I knew he’d be the first to seek me out. You wouldn’t.”
“No. I wouldn’t.”
“Can you forgive me?”
“Are you ready to come home all the way?”
Silence stretched between them.
“Then this may be all there is.” His hands quickly undressed her. When she was naked, he ran his fingers across her body. “Soft skin, sweet scent, but an uncertain heart.” He kissed her chest where her heart pounded.
Then his lips closed over her breast, while his other hand went down and separated her wet folds. When his thumb rubbed against her clit, she was on fire. His lips suckled her breast, and his fingers moved from her nub and into her pussy. She rose to meet the movements of his hand.
He moved his mouth from one breast to the other. His teeth scraped across her sensitive nipples. Below, his fingers moved in and out of her wet pussy. She grasped his cock in her hand. He was soft as satin, and yet hard. Her finger ran across the wet tip, and she sucked his essence into her mouth. He’d raised his head and watched her lick her fingers and smile.
Leaning down, he kissed her mouth, and his tongue plunged inside to taste her. His finger pinched the tip of her peaked nipple, and his other hand brushed across her sensitive nub. He surrounded her, and her body ached, screamed inside her mind for him to fill her.
Her one hand moved up and down his cock, and with her other she grasped his silky hair as he tormented her hungry mouth.
In this moment there was nothing but her and him. The scents, the taste, the touch of skin on skin surrounded her. Her pussy tightened around his probing fingers. She pulled her head back. “Take me.”
“Please?” A wicked look gleamed in his eyes.
“Please, damn it.”
His deep chuckle rumbled against her chest. “I will in time.” He rose and pulled her up against him. “Let’s check out the shower.” Lifting her in his arms, he carried her to the bathroom and stepped around the brick shower wall.
As her feet touched the floor, Lang turned on the water, cold at first. She shivered both from the cold and hunger as he licked the first drops of moisture from her face. His mouth kissed all along her body. No other part of him touched her but his mouth. She began to tremble and shake.
“I need you inside me.”
“Do you? I ached for you for ten years, and now you breeze back into our lives. For how long?” He held her head tight and tilted it to face him. “How long, Cassie? For today, or next month or forever?”
Lang bent his head, touching his forehead against hers. He groaned as though a sharp pain cut through him and then stepped back and out of the shower.
What was he doing? He’d taken a towel off the heated rack. His eyes pierced into her. “I can’t make love to you until you are surer of what you want.” He turned on his heels and left her standing with the now-warm water running over her.
Anger gripped her. Grabbing a towel around her, she ran behind him and yanked on his arm.
He raised an eyebrow when she jerked him around. Standing tall, she slammed her lips against his. Her tongue pushed into his warm mouth and did a dueling dance of anger and lust.
When he didn’t move, she slid down, kissed his hard abdomen, and then took his large cock into her mouth. She moved her head up and down his length. Her tongue ran over his satin hardness. She cupped his balls, and satisfaction swept through her when he groaned and grasped her head to steady himself.
Her tongue licked up the sides and swirled across the tip as her other hand gently massaged his sac. The air steamed around them with heat and frustration. When she thought he must be ready to explode, he stopped her. He pulled her up to face him. His throbbing cock pulsed against her abdomen. She put her arms around his neck and leaned harder against him.
“Damn you! Hold on to me.” He gripped her legs, pulling them around his middle. In one quick move he pushed her back against the wall and his cock plunged into her. He was so big at first she felt a slight discomfort, but then she sat further on him and her inner walls clenched him even tighter. Heat and pleasure spread outward as he pushed deep inside. Ripples began to massage his cock and send sparks of excitement flowing in her blood.
Lang savaged her mouth as he plunged in and out, taking them both out of themselves and sending them flying high until everything exploded around them. He held her trembling body tight between him and the wall. His hot seed spurted against her womb. As though reality hit him in the head, he moved quickly out of her and let her legs slide to the carpet.
He went across the room and started to dress. She stood where he left her and watched. Throwing her a glance, he walked to the door. “I’ll meet you outside in my car.” He walked briskly away from her.
She went back to the shower, turned on the warm water, and rinsed off. The water mingled with the tears sliding down her face. She got out and reached for a warm towel. The soft material caressed her supersensitive skin. Her hunger wasn’t gone, just slightly appeased.
He was waiting in the car with the motor running when she came out to join him. He didn’t comment when she got in. Since her hair was still wet, she’d left it down. The car heater felt good. Her body was chilled inside and out.
Lang drove quickly and silently down the roads to town. He stopped in front of her shop.
“Will you come in?”
“No.” He didn’t look at her, but stared straight ahead.
Cassie got out and went around to his window. He lowered the glass. “Don’t wor
ry. You aren’t compromised. I’m on the Pill.” Turning, she went inside. As she shut the door to her shop, she heard him drive off. Pain sliced through her, but she raised her chin and smiled at Cindy. There’d be time enough later to think about what happened.
* * * *
Lang was mad at himself. He believed in staying calm. He didn’t allow emotion to rule him, not until today.
When he’d seen Rae’s car he had to find out if Cassie was with her. The first sight of her sent a piercing pain into his chest and desire flooded his system. He’d refused to admit how much her desertion had hurt him until he saw her. A confusion of desire, anger, and hunger all swamped him. Memories he’d buried deep rushed to the forefront and floored him.
Part of him wanted her so badly he could hardly wait until Rae was gone. Then he promised himself to just taste and touch her skin. To take deep breaths of her sweet scent, but to hold back until she was sure what she wanted. But when he held her soft breasts in his hands and kissed her neck right where her pulse pounded, all his sense left him and his blood ran to fill his hungry dick.
Still, he managed to pull away at the last minute and put them both in a cold shower. It took every bit of his self-imposed training to turn and walk away.
But she followed, all angry and hot. His floodgates broke along with his control. He couldn’t stop himself. His world was shattering around him, but still he plunged inside her wet, hot pussy. He pounded inside her sweet pussy as her inner walls clamped tight around his dick. And he found the release he’d tried to deny them both.
Nick was right. She was theirs, whether she wanted to admit it yet or not. They were going to reclaim her and marry her. They had her house ready.
He drove past their new house toward the mountains. He took a side road and crossed the bridge to Nanna’s home. She raised her head from where she’d been tending her flowers, stood, and brushed the dirt from her hands.
“Langundo.” She opened her arms as he stepped out of his car. She was one of the few people who called him by his full name. It meant peaceful, and she’d remarked that he’d been aptly named. But not today. All his peace had left him. He stepped into her soft embrace and leaned down to hug her.
She patted his face. “You have come just in time to join me in a cup of tea.” Nanna ushered him inside her small cabin.
As usual, the scent of herbs and spices filled the air. “What new flavors have you made now, Nanna?”
Nanna washed her hands at the sink, and then filled her teakettle with water. “Sit.” She motioned him to a chair by the small table. “Nothing new today. I sense you need my calming tea.” She smiled. “It will be new to you, as you have not needed this particular tea in a long time.” Nanna sat and took his large hands in her small ones. “She is back.”
“Yes.”
She studied him for a long moment in time. They faced each other, and she stared into his eyes. “You have always amazed me. Even as a little boy, there was a look of maturity, a quietness about you. Your mother worried that you were not the normal rowdy child, but loved your books and the study of nature. But I told her you would do well, and you have.”
The teakettle whistled. Nanna got up and made their tea. She cut pieces of banana bread and placed several on a plate for him. “Eat and sip some tea, then we will walk outside and talk.”
A sense of calmness returned. His muscles loosened, and the anger biting at him smoothed out and evaporated. He smiled at the small woman sitting across from him. “What would we do without you, Nanna?”
“You’d do just fine. Now come, let’s go outside and walk.” They walked toward the creek and along the bank. Sunlight glinted through the trees, sparkling off the water as it gurgled over stones and fallen leaves.
“You’re right, Nanna. I was always fascinated with nature and the land around me. The time away at college to get my agricultural degree seemed to take forever.”
She glanced at him. “That’s why you seldom go on assignment with Nick and the others.”
“Yes. Mitch and Daren and I agreed I do best watching out for things here at home.” He grinned. “Mitch says the main times he needs me are when there are sensitive negotiations to be done and agreements to be made. I enjoy that part of the work, but I’m always glad to be back home.”
She nodded. “You remind me of my father. He was a man of the land, settled as strong as an oak tree on his particular acres.” A soft laugh escaped her lips. “Momma would get frustrated trying to get him to travel, take a vacation. He told her he was on vacation every day when he rode across his land and saw the sun rise and set.”
“Were they happy?”
“Yes, in spite of their differences, they had a fierce love for each other.” She stopped walking and turned to him. “You fear the two of you are too different?”
“Perhaps, and yet on another level I know she is the one for Nick and I.”
“Once you find that special person, if you do, because not all of the men are so lucky, then you will not be satisfied without her.”
“She isn’t even one of us, Nanna.”
“No? Time will tell.”
“She’s aware of our special skills, the extrasensory powers and strength. Which has made her feel inadequate. But others have found spouses from outside our community, and the women have not reacted as Cassie. Look at Mitch, Daren, Justin, and Ethan, and most recently Sahale and Jack to name a few.”
“Ah, but Sara was found to be a descendent of the lost tribe, and her friends were not young teenagers. They were mature women. Your Cassie was only eighteen when she ran away. Something has brought her back. Give her time to settle, to see this is the place she can’t leave behind.”
“Ten years isn’t enough?” But when Nanna didn’t answer him, Lang knew it was useless to try and get more information from her.
They turned and walked back to the house. At her door, he bent and kissed her cheek. “Thanks, Nanna.”
When he straightened and turned to go, she caught his arm. “Arrange for her to talk with the Priestess, when the time is right.”
Lang stared into her beautiful aquamarine eyes. A quietness settled over his heart. “I will.”
He drove away quickly. He had work to do and men to check on. For now, he pushed Cassie to the back of his mind.
Chapter Four
Cassie rushed. She’d overslept, and she needed to pick her mom up at nine sharp. This past week she’d worked late on designing her jewelry while trying to keep thoughts of Lang and Nick out of her mind. She didn’t go to bed until exhaustion claimed her.
“You look as bad as I feel,” her mother said as she came out of the house. She handed Cassie the keys to her SUV. “Let’s take my vehicle. The seats are more comfortable.”
“Are you having a lot of pain?”
“Some. The last treatment didn’t seem to help as much.”
“Put your seat back and rest.” Cassie helped her mother up and in the SUV. Her skin had a grayish color, and her mother’s golden hair hung dull and limp around her head and shoulders.
She saw Cassie’s look. “It’s coming out. I thought I’d have you take me to the beauty shop next to the hospital, after my treatment, I’ll have my hair cut short. I can’t bear to shave my head, not yet.”
“Sure, Mom. I’ll make an appointment for you while you’re with the doctor.”
Her mother nodded and closed her eyes. Cassie turned on the radio to a jazz station her mother liked.
“I’m glad you came home, Cassie.”
“I came as soon as I knew. I’m sorry we missed these past years.”
“It doesn’t matter. You’re back now.” She turned her head toward Cassie. “You are going to stay, aren’t you?”
A lump formed in Cassie’s throat. “Yes.” She hoped she wasn’t lying.
“My wish is to see you happy and married.”
“I am happy, Mom.”
“Not totally. You should be married already and have little ones running ar
ound. But it’s not too late. I’m certain Nick and Lang still care for you. They’ve never seriously dated anyone from the ranch or town. They’d make you good husbands.”
“I know.”
“Then do something about it, soon. I want to see my daughter at her wedding.”
“The oldest of my brothers has married and given you a daughter-in-law. Isn’t that enough?”
Her mother gave her a glance like she did when Cassie was younger and spouting nonsense. “It’s not the same. You know it.”
“I can’t just marry to please you. I have to be sure.”
“You are sure. Whatever is holding your back, get rid of it.”
After several minutes of silence, Cassie saw by her mother’s soft breathing that she’d gone to sleep. Get rid of what is holding me back. If only she was certain the threat was gone, she would go on with her life.
* * * *
She left her mother in the nurse’s capable hands and went to the salon, as her mother had directed, and made a hair appointment. That done, she decided to look for rugs for Lang and Nick’s house. There was a Native American shop a few miles away where she often bought items for her store. She’d seen some rugs that would look perfect in the living room and the family room behind the kitchen.
Cassie wandered through the big store. She found several smaller items for her shop and two colorful rugs for the house. She also bought twin large vases to sit on either side of the front door of Lang and Nick’s house. Two of the men loaded the rugs and other items into the SUV.
It was time to get her mother. She got into the driver’s seat and started the car. A chill went down her spine. Glancing back as she pulled out of the parking space, she saw a blond-haired man gazing after her. Peter? She gunned the motor and turned right at the corner. Quickly, she wove around several streets until satisfied he didn’t follow. Her fear squeezed her chest tight.
Was it him standing there, or was her anxiety causing her to see him in every blond-haired man his height? And did he get the tag number? If he came nosing around her mother’s house, might he hurt her? She wasn’t sure what to do. She hadn’t planned to tell anyone about Peter, her obsessive, abusive former boyfriend. She’d still wait before speaking with her stepfather, Ralph. They were close, and she didn’t want to admit what a fool she’d been while she was gone. It was probably an overreaction on her part.
Cameron, Paige - Commando Cowboys Reclaim Their Love [Wyoming Warriors 4] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Polyromance) Page 3