by M. Allen
“I hear you.” He spoke through gritted teeth. “But I don’t want to let you go.”
Magnolia rolled her eyes. “A contested divorce will take several years to resolve. I’ll keep on livin’ apart from you that whole time. Because this is done.”
He held up his hand. “Stop, okay? Just stop. I’ll call a lawyer in the morning.”
Her heart did a flip-flop. “Are you plannin’ on battlin’ this out?”
“Not if we don’t have to, Mag.” He sighed and reached out his hand to her.
Hesitating only a fraction of a second before taking it, she let him pull her into his arms. Again, she was struck with how they didn’t fit together anymore. He pressed a kiss to her cheek. “For what it’s worth, I am sorry.”
“I know you are.” She wanted to rail at him, tell him what a prick he was. But how would that help her cause? She could’ve gone Carrie Underwood on his ass, but after spending days at her home, she realized one very important thing. Magnolia wouldn’t have to be Eric’s karma. Losing her and Hayden would be punishment enough, and anything else he would encounter down the road would never be as good as what they had. As if in a dream, she could see his life laid out before him. From now on, his life would lack the excitement he craved from being with her. The cheating bastard would end up exactly where he belonged— with a high paying job and success, but at the crucial sacrifice of a blooming personal life. And Magnolia? She’d stay where she knew she needed to be… with Dax.
Chapter 20
Magnolia slugged her way up the stairs to Dax’s house. At this time of night, her boots sounded as though they pounded across the wooden front porch. The cool night air seeped through her jacket chilling her skin, giving her goosebumps. She pulled up the collar against he cool breeze. The Indian summer they had only a few days ago was now gone, and fall was in full force. Magnolia glanced around to see if the lights were on in the main house. Nothing but darkness. Pulling back her sleeve from her wrist, she checked her watch. 9pm? And the ranch was dead to the world. What could she expect when they had to be up so early?
Dax’s house was a beautiful addition to the buildings on Triple R Ranch. From the outside, it looked like a mini version of her father’s house—large wrap-around front porch, broken up by wooden posts. The only difference was Dax’s house looked like it was all one level, whereas her father’s home was two. A single light lit the porch and the glow of a fire came from behind the curtains in the windows. Magnolia raised her hand to knock. Before her knuckles hit the wooden trim, Dax opened the door. Though he stood behind the screen door, she could see his bare chest perfectly. Her mouth went dry. “Hi.”
Hi? Really? That’s all you got? How could she think when he stood in front of her in those low slung jeans? That happy trail was a light dusting from his navel, disappearing below the waistband of his pants. His corded stomach muscles tapered down into a delicious looking V-shape. His lips tilted up in a half-smile. “Hey. How’d it go?”
Magnolia rolled her eyes. “Nothin’ broken. I know you were so worried.”
“Psh, I could’ve told you that. I pulled those punches.” He crossed his arms over his chest, forcing his biceps to bulge. He’d caused that much damage and pulled punches? The man was like chocolate to a chocoholic, delicious with his sun-kissed skin and utterly lickable.
Magnolia looked down at the screen door handle. “Are you going to let me in?”
“That all depends.” He shrugged as though he was relaxed. But the hard set to his lips and tension around his eyes told her he wasn’t calm at all.
“On?”
“On whether or not you came to an agreement between you and that husband of yours.” He leaned up against the door jamb.
“You mean my future ex-husband? Yes, I do believe he got the message of me wanting a divorce.” She couldn’t contain the smile playing on her lips.
Dax pushed open the screen door, and his eyes bore into hers. “Then come on in.”
Magnolia wrapped her hand around the edge of the door and pulled it open. When Dax turned to walk farther into the house, she couldn’t help but stare at the muscles in his back and those delicious jeans hanging perfectly from his hips. When he stopped and turned to face her, he smiled. “Caught you lookin’.”
Heat flooded her cheeks, and for a moment she was speechless. What could she say? “I can’t help it if you wear those jeans better than a Calvin Klein model.”
As he chuckled, he took her coat from her shoulders and tossed it over the back of his couch. “Make yourself comfortable.”
The ranch style house was beautiful with plush furnishings that would allow a person to lounge all day long. A thick rug lay in front of a burning fire with two couches on the perimeter facing each other. The living room was connected to a small dining room where an oversized farm house wooden table sat. A small L-shaped wall separated the living room, dining room and kitchen. To her left was a hallway leading to the other half of the house where Magnolia assumed the bedrooms would be. “This is a beautiful house.”
“I’m glad your father let me build it here. Makes life easy.”
She sucked in a breath. “So long as everythin’ stays the same, then I think life will just keep on getting better.”
“You still worried about Starling?” He reached out and stroked a finger down her cheek.
Magnolia leaned into his touch. “Yes… no… I’m just not sure what to think. I wish he wasn’t so tight-lipped about it all.”
“If anything was happenin’, I’d know about it. I’ll always make sure you’re okay, Maggie.” He dropped his hand and let it rest on his hip. “Are you okay?”
She ran her fingers through her hair. “It’s just been a long day.”
“Well, then, let’s relax a bit.” He turned from her and walked into the kitchen. “Something to drink?”
Magnolia followed closely behind him. “Water would be great.”
When he opened the fridge door, she wrapped her arm around his stomach and pressed her body up against his back, tilting her head to rest between his shoulder blades. They stood in silence. At that moment, Magnolia felt as though the heartbeat she felt in her cheek matched her own. Dax wrapped his hand around hers. “Are you okay?”
“It’s been a long day with a lot of ups and downs.” She pressed a kiss to his skin and stepped back. Her backside bumped the island in the middle of the kitchen.
With water bottle in hand, Dax closed the fridge door and turned to face her. He placed his hands on the island behind her, surrounding her with his long muscular arms. Bending lower, he met her eye, his maple gaze melting her from the inside out. His lips curved up in a half-smile. “What do you want to do?”
She swallowed around the nervous ball in her throat. “Talk?”
“We can talk.” He leaned in, pressing a light kiss on her neck just below her ear. “Talk about what?”
“U-us?” She couldn’t think with his lips on her skin.
He pulled back slightly, tilted his head, and pressed a kiss to the other side of her neck and whispered, “What about us?”
Magnolia lifted up her chin, giving him room to continue. “We, ah… Oh, do that again.” When he opened his mouth and nipped at her skin, she jumped and shook her head. “I thought we might, just, get things, you know, settled between us.”
“Mmmm-hmmmm,” he purred against her skin. “You’re mine?” Again, he flicked his tongue, trailing even lower to where her collarbone met her neck.
Delicious man. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head. “Yeah, I’m yours.”
He wrapped his hands around her waist, his fingers brushing her bare skin, and she could feel him toying with the hem of her shirt. “And who do I belong to?”
He lifted the shirt just an inch, baring her stomach. Magnolia lifted her arms, waiting for him to pull off her top the rest of the way. When he didn’t, she looked up at him. “Off.”
“Answer me first. Who do I belong to?”
Magnolia
met his gaze and smirked. “You belong to me.” She wiggled her eyebrow. “Off?”
Dax chuckled low in his throat and pulled her shirt up and over her head. Tossing it away, he looked down at the white lace bra covering her breasts. “Oh, how I’ve missed these.” He cupped her through the material, running his thumbs over the taut peaks.
“You only just saw them the other day.”
Snaking his hand around her back, she felt the give of her bra the moment he unsnapped it. “But I love your body, Maggie.” The thin straps slid down her arms and disappeared. As his hands moved down her, she arched to his touch. When he cupped her curves and lifted her on to the island, she gasped. Wrapping her legs around his hips, she leaned back on her arms. He dusted kisses all over her chest and stomach.
When they’d been together in the barn, Magnolia hadn’t had time to think about what her body might look like to him. But now, sitting in front of him, exposed from the waist up, she couldn’t help but hesitate for a moment. She’d had Hayden and her body wasn’t was it used to be. As if sensing her shift in mood, Dax leaned in and kissed her temple. “What’s going on in that head of yours?”
She wrapped her hand over her stomach. “My body isn’t what it was when we were younger.”
Dax pulled her arm away from her stomach. “Oh, I know. I love…” He bent low and kissed her collarbone. “Every.” Nipped her breast. “Single.” Ran his tongue over her rib cage. “Piece.” Pressed a sensual open mouth kiss right below her navel. “Of you.”
Magnolia playfully pushed him away. “Come on, in the barn before. We barely had a chance to look at each other. I mean, I kept my dress on. But now you’re going to see everything. And you’re so perfect, and I’m so not.”
“Woman, I love your body just the way it is.” He ran his hand over her stomach and down her side. “You’re all soft curves, and I love every inch of you.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Really?”
When he brushed his fingers through her hair and smiled, it warmed her from head to toe. Magnolia dropped her arm again, letting him look his fill. He groaned, “Oh, Maggie, you are beautiful.”
He took her hand and gently pulled her down from the counter. Where he would go, Magnolia would follow, and right now, she was following him down the hall. As he wrapped his hand around the door knob, he peeked over his shoulder. “Sure you want to do this? Before, in the barn, it just kind of, you know, happened. But now you’ve had time to think.”
With utter confidence, Magnolia nodded. “I want this.” She squeezed his hand to reassure him.
He twisted the door knob and opened the door to a large bedroom. The rich walls were wooden, and at the center of the room sat a king sized bed adorned with big fluffy pillows and a thick, plain navy blue comforter. Magnolia chuckled. “Definitely no women livin’ here.”
Dax drifted over to the bedside, then pulled Magnolia down next to him. As she lay back on the cool comforter, Dax lay at her side facing her while resting his head in his hand. With his other hand, he ran his fingers over her body. “Do you remember the first time we were ever together?”
“How could I forget? I was as nervous as I am now.”
“Why? We did this only a day ago?” Dax circled his finger over her breast.
Maggie didn’t move. She lay there, enjoying his light caresses. “Because in the barn we just went at each other—years of pent up tension and desire, I think. But this, tonight, will be different. You get to see all of me, and well, what if we just aren’t good like this anymore? I want you to be as pleased as I am.”
“That first time we were together, I was nervous as hell. Do you remember what you told me?”
Magnolia shook her head. “No, tell me.”
“You said, ‘Even if it’s bad the first time, we love each other, so we just try again. Nothing is perfect.’ The words stuck with me—nothing is perfect, but if you love someone, you keep on trying.” He met Magnolia’s eye. “And, Maggie, I have loved you for a decade. It’s not going to change whether or not tonight goes well.”
She took a slow, deep breath. The coiled tension in her stomach loosened. She reached up and wound her arm around his neck. “I love you, too.” She pulled him to her, meeting his lips with her own. He tasted like cool mint. His woodsy scent drifted around her as his chest pressed into hers.
When his fingers tickled her belly button, she giggled and felt the give of the button on her jeans. Magnolia kicked her boots to the floor, each of them hitting the ground with a plop. Then she heard the sound of her zipper coming down and felt Dax’s fingers snake below the waistline of her pants. Eager to be rid of them, Magnolia kicked them off the rest of the way. The material dropped to the floor, she didn’t care where. She was slowly losing control over her own body. It didn’t belong to her anymore; it belonged to him. She pulled at his shoulders as he pressed against her, taking her lips in a savage, desperate kiss. Their tongues wound together, and she moaned in the back of her throat. All the while, his fingers were like magic on her.
With her heart racing in her chest, she reached for the button on his jeans. When he increased the pace of his skillful touch, she fumbled to get his pants undone. Dax chuckled but didn’t pull away from her and didn’t stop. Determined, Magnolia tried to focus and finally freed him from his jeans. As she wrapped her hand around him, he groaned into her mouth. “And you were worried?”
“I know, right?” She rolled to face him. She couldn’t hide smiling from ear to ear.
“What? Why are you smiling like that?” An equally breathtaking grin covered his face.
“I’m really happy right now.” She leaned in and kissed his chest.
“Because my hand is where it is?” He wagged his eyebrows and quickened his pace.
Magnolia arched her back and forgot every word she was about to say. She rolled her hips and felt her body start to quicken under his touch. She dug her fingers into his shoulder, building closer, when suddenly Dax pulled his fingers free of her. “What? No, don’t stop,” she protested breathlessly.
“Not yet, love.” He rolled on top of her. “I want to feel you.”
He reached down between them and began to guide himself forward, inching and retreating each time. Giving her just enough, then taking it away. Each of his moves was slow and tender, not the hurried, frantic meeting they’d had in the barn. No, this was different. This was love.
When he was finally seated within her, he gazed down, meeting her eyes. His rich maple gaze bore into her. “I’ll never want anyone else than you, my Magnolia.”
Tears stung the back of her eyes, and in that moment all she could do was nod at him and wrap her arms around him and clutch him closer than she’d ever clutched anyone else. Dax was so deep in her soul, she felt him touch places of her no other ever would. When he rocked into her, it was so tender, she wanted to celebrate what it was to be loved by this man. His body rolled against hers over and over again. Goose bumps broke out over her skin, yet a sheen of sweat gathered over the two of them.
Their mingled breath mixed as one as he met each roll of her hips. All the while, he pressed kisses to her lips, neck and cheeks. It was soft in a way Magnolia had never known Dax capable of. This big, strong rancher touched her as if she were as delicate as the petals of a flower. He rocked forward, and her body responded, quickening under his leisurely pace. He never sped up, never changed his pace. Just a slow, delicious, unrelenting glide of his body against hers. The feel of his skin on her, his breath on her neck, him writhing between her legs was too much but just enough. Like the pace he set, her pleasure grew near, steadily building until she couldn’t stop it. Throwing back her head, she cried out his name as explosive ecstasy wracked every inch of her body.
Within his arms, she felt herself flying higher than she ever had before. He whispered in her ear, “I feel you, so good. That’s it, baby.” He kissed her neck. “Can’t hold out much longer.”
She’d lost control of her body. Her hips rippled be
neath him, pushing up into him as waves of passion rolled through her. In her ear, he moaned following her into his own pleasure. Breathlessly, he thrust forward once more then stilled. Their chests slid over each other as they slowly came down from their shared high. Dax leaned down and rested on his elbows. They were nearly nose to nose. “And just like our first time… perfection.”
Magnolia giggled and playfully smacked his back. “So fresh.”
He pressed a kiss to her nose. “You love it.”
“I love you,” she blurted without even thinking.
Dax rolled to her side and tucked her in closely to him, pressing her back to his chest. “Not as much as I love you, my Maggie.”
And in the surround of his arms, with his breath in her ear and the steady beat of his heart at her back, Magnolia felt the last piece of herself slip perfectly into place.
Chapter 21
Lying on the bed with Magnolia was about as close to heaven as Dax would ever be. With her breaths deep and even, he knew she’d fallen asleep. Curled on her side with her back pressed to his chest, she relaxed into him. Her hair was spread over his arm, tickling his skin, and he’d caught a lock of it between his fingers. The soft, silky waves ran easily between his grasp. Her heady vanilla scent surrounded him. Even now, he knew his bed sheets would smell like her. If that were the case, he was never washing the damn things again. Something had shifted between them tonight. After years of struggling to live without her, he doubted he’d ever make it this far; but now, with her here, it seemed to be worth it.
There were so many things he needed to tell her, so many things they were going to have to work through. And God help him if her temper ever exploded in his direction. It was one of the things he loved most about her—the fiery, untamable part she’d never let go. For a split second, he could see a little girl in her image standing in the middle of a field, arms crossed and completely unmoving. Dax smiled to himself. Life could be very sweet between them if they could work past both of their demons. The warmth spreading throughout his body was nothing like he’d ever felt.