Forever Wild: A Camden Ranch Novel

by Jillian Neal

  “Yeah, well I got detention the first day of school, but thank you for unlocking it for me.”

  “You’re welcome, and I know you got detention. I was late to football practice that day because I waited on you to get out. I was pissed your dad was there to pick you up. I was planning to ask if I could walk you home.”

  “I never knew that.” She brushed a tender kiss on his lips, stoking the fire ever burning for her. “Bet Coach Chalmers was pissed you were late.”

  “Had to run the bleachers for an hour after practice, but it was worth it to see your ass in them Wranglers when you walked out to his car.”

  “Most guys back then wanted to see my boobs shake when I walked.”

  “That wasn’t at all a bad view either, honey. You’re gorgeous, head to toe and back again.”

  Laughing and rolling her eyes, she shook her head at him. “I never knew what to do with them. Kind of felt like two alien spaceships had landed on my chest. I was pissed ‘cause it was hard to work under the cars at Dad’s shop.”

  Arching his left eyebrow, Luke traced his fingertips over her breasts, loving the way her breath caught and her eyes darkened at his touch. “Oh, I had several creative ideas of what to do with them, but that had nothing to do with me asking you out. I wanted you to be mine, always. I never gave a damn what size bra you wore. Nothing’s changed in that department. But I will say back then I didn’t know how much you resented them. I always hoped I could teach you to love them as much as I did.”

  “Yeah, well your back didn’t hurt all the time and you didn’t get catcalled constantly.”

  “I do remember letting my fists fly more than once for what some of those fuckers said to you.”

  “Not quite as often as I let mine fly.”

  “Well, you always managed to get to them before I could.”

  “You were the best boyfriend any girl could ever want … and I left.” Regret tensed in the choked vibration of her words.

  “That ain’t the way I remember it at all.” Luke cradled her face in his right hand and lifted until her gaze was fixed on his own.

  “How do you remember it?” Her brow creased as she set to argue.

  “Indie, honey, if I’d put you in my old truck and had driven you to Oklahoma myself, I couldn’t have done a better job of pushing you away. You were hurting and you never wanted to be at the university. I dragged you up there. I got scared when you kept wanting to go home. You seemed so sad you couldn’t think straight, and I panicked trying to fix it. I should have listened to you, given you some space. Let you know I’d be anywhere you needed me to be. Instead, I all but soldered a ring to your finger trying to cage you in. I did everything wrong. And I’ll never forgive myself for that. I should have fought smarter for you, not harder. I was too much of a dumbass back then to understand that.”

  “Luke, no. Nothing you did was wrong. I was just … lost.”

  “And I should have slowed down and taken my time to find you, to help you find yourself again.”

  Focusing her eyes on the soothing water, she swallowed harshly. “You … uh … still have that ring?”

  Having no idea what the right answer might be, he erred on the side of the truth, just as he’d always promised. “Yeah. It’s in my bedside table.”

  “You remember the first time we did it?” Relief eased her eyes, as she changed track abruptly.

  He tried to keep up with her. If she didn’t want to think about the ring, he wouldn’t say another word about it. “I’ll never forget that, darlin’. I’ve never been more afraid of anything I wanted so badly.”

  Her giggle joined the singing birds overhead. “Still can’t believe I let you pop my cherry in the back of a Dodge.”

  “I tried to borrow my dad’s Ford that night, but it was full of manure and that didn’t seem too romantic to me.”

  Their joined laughter washed over Luke, the sweetest sound in the entire world, save maybe the breathy gasps and moans she made when he buried himself so deep inside of her neither of them had any hope of knowing where he stopped and she began.

  As good as it had felt to ease his cock inside of her, that wasn’t what he most remembered about that warm summer night. The infinite trust in her eyes, the coy little grin she gave him when his inexperienced hands fumbled with the snap on her jeans, the way her body trembled when he gently pressed his fingers between her virgin lips and felt her timid heat, the taste of her mouth somehow different than all the times he’d kissed her before. That night her saliva was laced with abandon.

  “Does that feel good?” He’d been terrified to move. “Tell me if I’m doing it wrong. I don’t want to hurt you, Indie.”

  “It feels really good. Don’t stop. Please. I need more. I need you, Luke.”

  His mind easily recounted her begging that night so long ago, and suddenly, he couldn’t help himself. His desire and his confusion over everything vanquished his endless patience. The long fuse of need tangled between them burned away like steam leaving a forest fire in its wake.

  Layering his body to hers, he inhaled her mouth. Grasping her ample ass caught up in those blue jeans, he rocked his strain against her mound, yearning to bury himself inside the velvet heat of her pussy. His hands raced to her shirt, working through the buttons furiously, desperately seeking her silky skin.

  Breaking away from the kiss, she gasped for breath. “We just gonna do this in the middle of the afternoon out here in front of God and everybody?” The rasping tonality of her question said that’s precisely what she longed for, and since they were miles from another human being, he wasn’t too concerned.

  “God doesn’t mind, sugar. He already knows how gorgeous you are. He made you, and He knows a man can only stand so much temptation. He knows how weak I am for you. We talk. He’s good with it.”

  Finally loosening her shirt, he rolled it down her arms, stopping at her elbows effectively pinning them by her side.

  “Hey,” she laughed.

  “Perfect.” He smirked as he tore the bra from her and forced himself to slow. “I want to worship every square inch of you, honey. Lay back and let me enjoy you.”

  “I’d let you do that without the make-shift restraints.”

  “I know, but you look like a walking wet dream in the bed of my truck with your hands behind your back. I’m indulging myself.”

  Luke’s hot breath caressed Indie’s left nipple. Her body shivered its appreciation. Why did he slow down? His tongue made a long languid pass around her areola. Faster. More. Suck me. Her mind pleaded. Her nipples throbbed out a protest, but there was no use in verbalizing her requests. He wasn’t going to be persuaded. She saw the fervent intensity locked in his icy blue eyes. He was going to torture her in the most delectable ways. Her body rolled in anticipation. The sun-drenched metal of the truck bed heated the quilts under her fevered skin as she melted into his hardened body.

  He continued his ministrations, spinning his tongue and placing open-mouthed suckling kisses over every centimeter of her breasts. Gently, he lifted them and kissed the scars along the underswells as if the heat of his breath and tender brushes of his tongue could erase anything that had ever caused her pain.

  Kissing it and making it better. She understood as she slipped into a younger version of herself, and the restoration of her soul began. Cautiously, her mind settled in on him. Belief and hope threatened to pervade her heart. With the next kiss along the thick white markings under her breasts, she could no longer keep it at bay. She allowed his love to soothe her, to ease her morning. She allowed herself to believe, if only for a moment, that the one place on earth she belonged was in his arms.

  The sun set low over the water, existing in two worlds for a moment, hovering somewhere between the light of day and the indigo dark of night. Indie understood its confusion. Not wanting to give up the fight, but fading fast under the persuasion of the moon.

  They’d partially redressed. Indie’s shirt still hung open, but she had no desire to clasp t
he buttons, not when Luke’s hands gently caressed over her breasts and belly as they snuggled under the quilts he’d packed. His t-shirt was laying in the grass near the truck somewhere. The tan on his shoulders had deepened into a heated bronze from the hours he’d spent shirtless and over her. Neither of them had any real desire to locate it. Both of their jeans were on but unsnapped.

  They’d spent the entire afternoon making love, cuddling, talking, making-out, laughing, and talking some more. Too bad they couldn’t build themselves a little cabin there on the side of King’s Creek and stay forever. That was an idea she could get on board with.

  “You tired, sugar?” his graveled voice whispered through the cool evening air. His hands tended her constantly. His fingers eased through her hair and ran a soft path down her back before returning to her head. Everything was easier in that moment. Her lungs filled with his scent, sating her and relaxing her entire body.

  “A little. But I don’t want to leave.”

  His soft chuckle vibrated against her chest as he brushed his lips on her temple. “Never said we had to go. I just thought I might see if you’d like for me to take you back to my house, put you to bed, hold you all night long. I’ll even talk my brothers into running my cattle in the morning so I can stay with you.”

  “You still trying to take me hostage?”

  “No. I’m trying to take care of you.” Apparently he didn’t find her teasing humorous.

  “I know, Luke. I just wish we never had to leave here. This was the perfect afternoon. Thank you for bringing me up here.”

  “Look at me, baby.” He shifted slightly so he could stare into her eyes. “I will always do whatever it is you need at any given moment. Do you understand that? There is nothing I would ever deny you, nothing I would keep from you. I swear I’d move heaven and earth to take care of you. I need to know that you believe me when I say that.”

  “I do, Luke. I swear. Real life just isn’t as easy as it is up here, okay? It’s just not.”

  “I know that, but it ain’t as complicated as you’ve got yourself convinced it is, either.”

  “I wish I didn’t have to go get my car,” she sighed.

  “We could pick it up in the mornin’. Or I’ll get Grant or Holly to go with me to get it. That way you don’t have to show up over there.”

  “Grant and Holly are not allowed to drive my car.”

  That brought another one of those sexy-as-sin chuckles to his lips. “I know that, darlin’. I’d drive your car. They can drive my truck.”

  She watched his chiseled jaw tense with each word, the way his soft lips formed each syllable. “Kiss me,” she urged, unable to keep herself from begging.

  “Gladly.” Caressing her cheek, he angled her face upward and brushed his lips over hers in three quick kisses before he turned his head and mated their mouths. His tongue explored her as she memorized his taste and his heat. Deepening the connection, his arms cradled her closer, holding her in the safety of his embrace.

  He nipped her bottom lip and then dove back in for more. Thrilled, Indie tried to give him as good as she got. His tongue coaxed hers. There was more to this kiss than the sexual power it held. His tender love was there as well. She couldn’t halt the smile that ultimately broke the kiss.

  “Just what are you grinning about, Indie Jane?”

  “You, and how I still wish I never had to stop kissin’ you. I used to count down the minutes in all of those stupid classes we had to endure in school until I could get back to your locker so we could kiss some more.”

  “Kissing you constantly might make eating or breathing difficult, but if a guy’s gotta go, I wouldn’t mind dying if I was kissing you.”

  “I don’t want you to die. We’ll take snack breaks.”

  “Good plan, but I think we should head on back before the wind finds its way into these quilts. I don’t want you to get cold.”

  Nightfall had already robbed the air of its warmth. The constant Nebraskan breeze coming off the creek whipped through her hair and threatened their sanctuary.

  “Fine,” she pouted.

  “Just taking you home to my bed, sugar. Just us. No one else. I promise.”

  “No, you have to take me to get my car, and I have to go back to Daddy’s. I know he’s worried. Mel surely told him I ran out. He’s probably been calling to check up on me.”

  She could almost hear Luke’s wheels spinning. He was trying to formulate an argument. Based on the frustrated furrow of his brow, he was coming up short.

  “Call him when we get back into town.”

  “Luke. Please.”

  “Fine.” He couldn’t quite hide the roll of his eyes. When they’d redressed, he slowly guided the truck back down the narrow dirt road towards Pleasant Glen.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Out of breath and red-faced Thursday night, Indie rolled her eyes as she continued to blow up the dozen Pinky the Inflatable Party Peckers she and Miranda had located at a novelty shop in Lincoln that morning.

  Miranda was standing on a chair in the back room of Saddlebacks securing a hot pink banner that declared He Put a Ring On It in rhinestones to some old nails in the wall with fuzzy handcuffs.

  “Don’t let Luke catch you doing that. He might get jealous that you’re slobbering all over another pecker,” Miranda giggled.

  Indie leveled an irritated glare at her little sister. “If Luke Camden ever finds out about any of this, I’m holding you personally responsible. Too bad our mother refused to attend this little shindig. God knows she’s full of hot air we coulda put to use.”

  “True, but Mama’s busy blowing her hot air into a paper sack because we’re throwing this party for Mel.”

  “Yeah, well our baby sister better appreciate this. I would not wear a Party Girl tiara for anyone but her.”

  “She’s so excited she can’t see straight,” Miranda assured. “She’d thanked us about four dozen times before she and Tuck got into it, remember?”

  “Yeah, yeah I know. I just don’t get all of this.” Indie gestured to the tables full of dozens of plastic penises, metallic beads, feather boas, sashes, and one hot pink tambourine with a cartoon cock on it for people to bang.

  A clipboard with Miranda’s lists caught her eye. In an effort to be good sisters and good bridesmaids, they’d gone as far as to make lists of everything Melony wanted for her bachelorette party. When Indie finished the last Pinky, she flipped through the lists to see what needed to be done next.

  Her brow furrowed as her eyes landed on a list Miranda had added to the clipboard that she hadn’t seen before. Bile began doing the back stroke through her stomach. “Please tell me Megan Morgan is not the Megan Morgan that I graduated with.”

  Miranda’s sheepish expression said there was only one Megan Morgan in their world. “Indie, I swear she’s not like that anymore. We all grew up. She and Mel are good friends. She’s really nice now.”

  “Miranda! People do not change. I thought I taught you this. She once told Luke to give her a call when he got tired of losing his dick in my fat rolls … right in front of me.”

  Miranda’s mouth hung open in horror. She struggled for a full minute to regain her composure. “Okay … well … I didn’t know that … but I swear she isn’t like that anymore.”

  “If she says one word to me ….”

  Miranda held up her right hand. “If she’s a bitch in any way at all, I will personally help you put an entire pack of Ex-lax in her Kahlua martini. Then we’ll jump her outside the Lady’s room. You have my word.”

  Rolling her eyes, Indie continued to study the guest list, trying to decide if the half-dozen sets of fuzzy handcuffs were going to be necessary for restraining the bitches that had been invited without her knowledge.

  “Man, I still remember coming to see Luke in college and you wearin’ a t-shirt that you’d written You’re in luck you can fuck the Tuck on in permanent marker.” Grant guffawed. “You sure you’re ready to settle down?”

  T
ucker doubled over along with everyone else in the laughter at his own expense. “God, I was such a rat bastard.” He shook his head. “I swear I’m ready. I only wear that shirt for Mel now.”

  Luke shook his head. Tucker, Austin, Grant, all of the Kilroy brothers, a few members of the old Pleasant Glen football team that had stayed in town, Ev, and Tuck’s daddy were all on Luke’s back deck drinking beer, eating burgers, and reminiscing. Luke had considered inviting Indie’s father as well, seeing as Tucker was about to become his son-in-law, but after a few tales of Tucker’s most asinine stunts, he was glad he’d decided against that.

  When Tucker checked his phone yet again, Luke wondered what was going on. He followed him back in the kitchen for more food and another beer. “Mel sending you pics from their party or something?”

  “I wish,” Tuck huffed under his breath. “Carolyn pitched another fit this afternoon, all but insisting that Ernie walk Melony down the aisle. When we refused, she called Melony an ungrateful brat. I spoke my mind out loud this time and upset Mel. She stormed out before I got a chance to apologize. Now, she’s at this party furious at me. I’ve texted her a dozen times. She won’t answer. You think Indie and Miranda got strippers for this thing?”

  “Tuck, come on, this is the Glen. The roof would fall off of Saddlebacks before Ed Olsen would let strippers in there. And even if he did, Mel ain’t gonna cheat on you. You just gotta keep your mouth shut about her mama.”

  “Yeah, well that’s easier said than done, and I met Mel at a bachelorette party; those girls get crazy. You think guys have filthy minds? You don’t know the half of it. You wanna go with me to check on ‘em?”

  A note of concern twisted up Luke’s spine. He didn’t want to verbalize what he was thinking, but better now than never he supposed. “If you really think you need to check up on her, I’ll go with you, but that doesn’t sound like a good footing for a marriage.”