Forever Wild: A Camden Ranch Novel

by Jillian Neal

  A half-second into his considerations, Indie located one of his Cornhuskers baseball caps in the backseat and used it to contain her long hair. The longing that had already set up residence in his balls increased tenfold in that moment. Damn, he was never going to return them to any color other than blue.

  Chapter Eleven

  Luke guided Indie into Runza as soon as he’d located a parking place.

  “I swear it has been way too long since I’ve been here,” Indie sighed contentedly when the scent of fresh baked bread and sautéing onions filled their lungs. In the mental tally his mind had created on its own, Luke put a mark in the staying column. Runzas were definitely a benefit of staying in Nebraska. You couldn’t get one anywhere else.

  “Wait. What the hell is a Philly Style Runza? Who came up with that?” she huffed as they studied the menu boards over the registers.

  Luke put his arm around her and chuckled. “They fancied shit up a while back. Based on your reaction, I’m guessing my girl still wants her cheese Runza with extra onions and an order of Frings.”

  “The only way one should ever order here.” She beamed at him.

  “You still gonna steal all of the onion rings out of my order of Frings?”

  “Hey, you’re the one that’s so convinced you want me back for good. You knew the risks going into this.”

  Laughing, Luke jerked the bill of the baseball hat she’d borrowed down over her face as he stepped up to order. Yeah, he sure as hell knew the risks, and he was still playing to win. She could have every one of his onion rings. He was after a much, much bigger prize—her.

  When she righted the cap and her hair, she sidled up beside him and discreetly pinched his ass rather hard while he was trying to order. Luke clenched both his jaw and his ass while trying to appear unaffected to everyone around them.

  “Pop with that, sir?” the cashier asked.

  Luke narrowed his eyes in on Indie. God, she was adorable. That naughty smirk on her face, the seductive heat warming her cheeks, it was all he could do not to lay her out across the counter and give the patrons a show to go with their supper. “Yeah, two large, please.” He turned to Indie while he reached for his wallet.

  “Turnabout’s fair play, sugar. You looking to get your ass marked tonight?” he spoke through his teeth.

  “Mmm, maybe.”

  “Okay, you two get a room.” Tuck rolled his eyes as he placed he and Melony’s orders.

  They settled into a booth in the back corner of the restaurant. Indie’s contented moan and the way she closed her eyes in ecstasy when she bit into her Runza made Luke certain his cock was being choked to death by his own Wranglers. He studied his watch, mentally calculating how long it would take them to eat and get back to his house.

  Tuck glanced from Luke to Indie and back again. He laughed out loud. “You know you’re killin’ him, right?”

  Melony blushed violently before she started giggling.

  “Oh, don’t worry. I’ll take care of him later.” Indie waggled her eyebrows keeping her gaze locked on Luke.

  An involuntary grunt vaulted from Luke’s mouth. Still laughing, Tucker slapped Luke on the back. “Hang in there, buddy.”

  “Fuck off,” Luke huffed, bringing on more laughter.

  Indie had stolen half of the onion rings from Luke’s Fring box when Melony sat down her Runza and fidgeted with her napkin. “I wish you’d just tell me what she said.”

  “Babe, let it go, okay? It’s no big deal. Mama’s fine. I talked to her. Let it go. Indie hasn’t been back in town in forever, and trust me, Luke ain’t gonna let you see her much over the next two weeks. Relax and enjoy your sister being here. How’s Oklahoma, Indie?” Tucker dodged like a pro.

  “Oklahoma’s not too bad. My job sucks, but it pays the bills. Now, tell us what Carolyn did.”

  That was the first Luke had heard of her not liking her job. Last he knew, she was wrenching for a big shop in the city that got tons of business.

  “Why does your job suck, Indie?” Melony sounded almost as concerned as Luke.

  “I thought you wanted him to tell you what our mother did.”

  “I do, but now I want to know about your work.”

  “How the hell did you know all of that was about Carolyn?” Tucker asked.

  “Mel asked you to tell her what she said. Whatever happened sounds like it must’ve hurt your mama’s feelings, which is the only thing talking could soothe. And Mel gets that pained look whenever Mama’s being herself. She used to pretend it away, but something’s eatin’ at her. I can always tell.”

  “Yeah, so can I,” Tucker assured her, “but this is no big thing.”

  “You tell us why your job sucks, sugar, and I’ll get Tuck to tell you what Carolyn did,” Luke negotiated.

  Tucker glared at him, but he didn’t particularly care.

  Indie rolled her eyes. “Fine. Same old shit as always. I’m the only female mechanic. All the assholes with inverted half inch dicks crawling up their ass are out to prove they’re better than me. They’ve gone as far as to break something I fixed to make me look bad. Manager knows they do that, but he still gives me all the shit hours because I’m not a member of the shop penis brigade. No girls allowed kind of crap. No biggie. It’s not like this is the only job I’ve had where this happens.”

  “You know Daddy would love for you to come back and work with him,” Melony spoke the words before Luke could.

  “And you know there ain’t enough work in the Glen for two mechanics. We turn around more than eighty cars on any given day. There aren’t even that many cars in town. Hell, you could throw in all of the tractors and there still wouldn’t be enough work for both of us.”

  “Yeah, but you aren’t turning out eighty a day by yourself, and maybe your dad would like a break,” Tuck pointed out. Luke noted Melony’s eyes widen and her very slight headshake. Indie did not.

  “Moving on. What did our mother do?” Indie demanded.

  Tuck sighed and tossed his napkin on the table. “Thanks for throwing me under the bus in your gambling, fucker.” He huffed to Luke half-jokingly.

  “You said you wanted to help me,” Luke reminded under his breath. “And remember the time I pretended to be your old man when the school called because you kept skippin’ Geometry? You still owe me for that.”

  “Yeah, okay, fine.” Tucker returned to his normal volume and tenor. “Your mom keeps calling with some ideas about the rehearsal dinner thing. Mom’s been really excited about it. She wanted it to be like the barbecues we used to throw for the football team back in the day, and she’s so excited Mel agreed to marry me in the first place she can’t see straight.”

  Melony’s entire being beamed with excitement. Luke and Indie couldn’t help but grin.

  “Well, I’m so excited you asked I can’t see straight either, but I want the barbecue thing, too. I told Mama that.”

  “I know, darlin’. I told Mama we wanted the barbecue just like we’d planned. Your mom didn’t care for that idea, but I took care of everything. The barbecue is on. Dad’s grilling. Footballs will be flyin’. Everything just like we wanted. Don’t worry about it.”

  “And Carolyn strikes again.” Indie rolled her eyes.

  “She really has been such a bitch about the whole thing. Keeps going on and on about Ernie walking me down the aisle which is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. Part of me wishes the wedding part was over so we could get on with the marriage part. That’s all I really want anyway,” Melony admitted.

  Pain and disappointment tensed Tucker’s face. “I am definitely looking forward to the honeymoon and the marriage portion, but I want to do the whole watch you walkin’ down the aisle thing, too. We can elope if you really want to, though.”

  “Are you kidding me? After both our mamas have spent all this money and invited people we don’t even know from five counties over, we are not eloping. Don’t even tempt me with that. Mama would never speak to me again.”

  “If th
at’s the prize, you should elope now,” Indie huffed.

  Luke shook his head. He felt terrible for both Tuck and Melony, but he had no idea how to help.

  “I’ll talk to Carolyn tomorrow when I’m there. Tell her to back the hell off,” Indie tried to assure everyone.

  “No, Indie. Don’t. I can’t deal with you two tryin’ to maim each other all week before the wedding,” Melony pled. “Just let her do her thing. It’ll be fine.”

  Luke knew Indie wouldn’t let it go. Melony’s bridal shower was likely to be the scene of yet another vicious argument between Carolyn and her oldest daughter. He immediately made plans to deal with the aftermath. What was coming was inevitable, but he’d always been the only man capable of calming Indie. No doubt his skills would be needed the next day. Tonight, however, there were so many other skills he longed to put to work.

  Unable to keep his eyes off of her, he involuntarily licked his lips while she slipped the straw from her pop into her mouth.

  Finally, mercifully, Melony, who Luke was certain had to be the slowest damn eater on the planet, consumed the last of her Runza and they could leave.

  “Let’s just go get a few beers at The Underpass. Come on, it’s still early,” Tuck urged.

  Luke wrapped his arm over Indie’s shoulders and pulled her closer. “No.”

  A seductive smirk formed on those beautiful lips, and he almost groaned aloud. “Anxious?” she purred in his ear.

  Turning his head as they treaded carefully back to his truck under the cover of moonlight, he brushed a kiss on the sensitive skin in front of her ear. “Aching, honey. So much more than anxious. Damn near dyin’ to be inside of you.”

  “Me too.” Her words whispered away on the wind. He tried with all of his might to swallow down the desperation yet again. For the hundredth time that night alone, it just wasn’t working. His hands itched to feel her satin skin fevered with desire. His tongue thirsted for her juices. He longed to gorge himself on her sweet cream. His cock burned for her, ached with a pain only she could soothe.

  The fuse of patience that was lit and gone when he’d awoken from a nap to find her absent from his bed ignited his entire body. They pulled out onto the two-lane that led from Ogallala back to the Glen, and his patience hit a brick wall. “Pull them jeans down for me. Leave your panties where they are. I want my hand down them.”

  “What?” She stared at him in shock. The few street lights along the road glowed in her darkened eyes reflecting the storm of need emanating from their depths. “I thought you didn’t want .…”

  “Dammit, right now, Indie.”

  “Oh God, yes!” She shimmied her jeans down to her ankles.

  Luke’s raspy growl echoed off of the windshield. “Spread your legs for me, baby. Right fucking now.”

  She trembled in the seat as he rubbed the soft satin of her panties against her mound. The scent of her heat-ripened sex spiked his blood. Tensing her glutes, she rocked against his hand as he slipped it inside her panties. “My God you’re already soaked. So damn tempting.”

  “All I can think about is being with you. I need you. I need more. Please Luke.”

  His mind spun rapidly. She needed him. That admittance was one he could never deny. “I’m gonna give you more, honey. I’m gonna make it feel better.” He traced her swollen slit, loving the soaking wet curls he encountered. She shivered. Her body rolled against the seat.

  Gently he stroked his middle finger to the apex of her slit and circled that sweet, tiny bundle of nerve endings that would have her flying in moments.

  “Yes, yes,” she whimpered. “Please.”

  “When I get you home, sugar, I’m gonna fuck you all night long. Hard. Just like you like. I know exactly what my girl needs. Always.” He increased the friction. A strangled moan overtook him as another round of slippery wet heat coated his fingertips.

  “Yes,” she gasped as she dug her fingernails into his forearm. He reveled in the sensation of her coming in fast pulses against his fingers. His heart flew with the perfection of her and the fiery passion between them. It sizzled through his veins. This was precisely how he wanted her: scratching, and hissing, and begging for more, writhing for him with that wild look in her eyes that dared him to keep going.

  Finally, mercifully, they made it back to the ranch. When he was somewhere in the general vicinity of his house, he stomped the emergency brake and they flew out of the truck. He kicked his front door open, slammed it shut, and jerked her into his arms. Frantic, his hands raced over her body, desperate to locate her silky skin, fevered with a hunger he was going to fulfill. He inhaled her lips, burning her chin with the stubble of his slight beard.

  Her fingers nimbly worked through the buttons on his shirt while he pulled her t-shirt over her head. Moving in a straight line downward, she went from the buttons to his belt buckle. When her hands landed on his briefs, his cock jerked eagerly to meet her caress. He growled our his pleasure. His head fell back and he tried desperately to summon some semblance of patience. Failing miserably, he half shoved her down on his couch so he could rid her of her boots and jeans.

  Repeating the phrase foreplay in his head constantly, he couldn’t seem to get the message to take. His body required hers. All sense of control vanished staring at her naked, gorgeous curves wiggling against his leather sofa in anticipation.

  Clenching his jaw, he rid himself of the rest of his clothes, fell to his knees, and pinned her back against the cushions. He took her lips like a man possessed. Hard and hungry. Ferocious in his intent. His entire life depended on the flavors of her mouth. Their teeth collided, and he turned his head, trying desperately to push away the desire to turn her around and shove his cock balls-deep inside of her, not caring if she was ready or not.

  Her hands tunneled in his hair. She sure as hell wasn’t gentle. No, she fisted two handfuls and shoved his mouth to her tits.

  He lapped at her nipple, sucking, marking, nipping until he’d thoroughly branded her. Sucking harder, he groaned from the delectable flavors of her.

  “Dammit, Luke, now!” she demanded.

  “Jesus Christ,” he moaned. “No. Foreplay first.” His body shuddered from being made to wait, even if it was his own doing.

  “We’ve had two entire days of foreplay. Hell, we’ve had years of it. Now, fuck me like you mean it, Luke Camden. Show me what you’re really made of. Let’s see this dark side you’re only gonna show to me. Right. Fucking. Now.” Her hand snaked around his cock. She squeezed and tugged. Hot breath hissed between his teeth from the pleasure. “Come on, cowboy,” she cooed. “Show me.”

  He roared like a beast released from a cage as he leapt to his feet. The wild fire in his own eyes reflected in hers. She slowly ran her tongue over her lips, daring him.

  “I ain’t in the mood to be gentle or very nice, Indie. I’m too far gone. I’ve needed this for so damn long. If you didn’t mean what you just said, you need to cool it so I can clear my head.”

  “I don’t want gentle, and I don’t want nice. I meant every single word.”

  Something inside of him snapped. The chains that bound him shattered with her words. Every single thing ever heaped upon him, every responsibility, every assumption made about him, every expectation, they all dissolved. Oldest Camden child, ever-reliable, honorable, good, caring, moral, never complaining, hard-working. The things he was. The things he would always be. The outer reflection that occasionally didn’t match the man inside. Not when he was with her. She made him more himself and accepted his flaws with love, whether she wanted to admit that or not.

  “You’re sure? Dammit, Indie, tell me now. Once I get started, I ain’t gonna stop. I’ll have you over and over again, rough, however the hell I want, until I’ve had my fill of your gorgeous body, until you’re raw. Do you understand what I’m saying to you?”

  “I’m sure.” Intrigue and unadulterated lust stormed in her eyes. Her quick breaths swayed her breasts. Craving need was penned in every curve of her beautif
ul body from her kiss-swollen lips, to her gorgeous tits, down the inward slope of her abdomen, to the rise of her mound, clinging to the ample curves of her hips and over the swells of her ass.

  “In my bed right fucking now. Ass up. Pussy open and ready for me with your head down. If you ain’t already hot and wet get that way. Only thing I want to hear from you are your screams of pleasure and my name. Don’t make me tell you again. Understood?”

  “Oh, hell yeah,” she panted. She was on her feet and in his room before he allowed himself to realize just what she was giving him. Racing after her, he groaned at the beautiful image of her gorgeous ass, plump and perfect, rolling with desperation as she swayed her hips.

  “So damn beautiful and all fucking mine.” Shedding every single thing that would ever have stopped him, he climbed behind her. His thighs slapped the back of hers as he jerked her over his cock, burying himself deep inside with one hard thrust.

  “Yes,” she groaned. “Harder.”

  “Remember you said that in the morning.” He jerked her hips back faster and pistoned his cock inside of her over and over, furiously. She loved it. Her juices dripped down his groin every time he pulled away. Ripened heat flooded his lungs. Gasping moans filled his ears. Her nails dug into his sheets, clawing out her pleasure. Her swollen pussy muscles milked at his bare cock constantly. “So damn tight, honey. So damn perfect. You like it rough don’t you?” he managed to grunt. Nothing had ever felt so good. Nothing ever would.

  “Oh fuck, yes,” Indie gasped. My God, where had this been for the last decade? Nothing had ever felt so insanely good. Luke Camden was fucking her senseless, and according to his warning this was only one of many times he planned to have her that night. Maybe at some point she’d died and gone to heaven and hadn’t even realized it.

  Feeling her body shudder from his force and his friction, the familiar tight knot of pure bliss throbbed behind her mound. On his next ravenous thrust, it began to loosen its constraint, unleashing her thoroughly. Pleasure erupted from her core, rocketing upward along her spine. His heated musk was potent with reckless carnality. He took her with raw abandon, and the knowledge that she was the only woman that had the power to make him lose control like this spiked her blood.