by Amelia Rose
“Look better to you now?”
“You’ve always looked good enough to me,” she said honestly.
“I always thought you were sexy as hell,” he admitted. “First time I came over here to help you out, all I could think about was how good you looked in those jeans.”
“Want me to put them back on or take yours off?” she asked, looking up at him with a wicked gleam in her pretty blue eyes.
“I’m no fool,” Cole assured her. “And neither are you. I think you know which one gets my vote, sweetheart.”
Emma began unbuttoning his shirt. She’d seen him shirtless before, in the field and in her dream. However, that was nothing compared to having him there in the flesh. She couldn’t resist pressing her lips to his chest as each button came undone. His skin was tanned golden brown and he was deliciously warm under her fingers and lips.
When she got to it, Emma traced her fingers over his tattoo. It was simple, but oddly elegant, the brand of Silver River Ranch. She’d seen it on Marshall and Darrell too, the black ink letters SF with a black river dividing the letters up but she hadn’t wanted to press her lips to it on either of them. Now, she couldn’t resist it.
Emma swirled her tongue over the tattoo slowly and thoroughly, enjoying his taste and the wicked sensuality of the act itself. His hand moved up to cup the back of her neck and she felt his fingers tighten in her hair. She moved down slowly, trailing kisses over his chest and down his tight stomach. She couldn’t help but trail her nails over the rigid muscles in his abdomen, which only made them flex tighter as he caught his breath.
She fumbled a little with his belt buckle, but Cole was happy to help by that point. She could see a very promising bulge pressing against his jeans and when his pants slid past his hips, her dreams came true.
Cole couldn’t hold back a purely male grin of pride when Emma looked into his eyes and said, “Well, well, Mr. McKenna.”
“Impressed?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” she asked honestly as she traced his manhood with the tip of her index finger.
He shivered at the light touch and she traced her way back up. She bit her lip in pure anticipation. He was all hers...at least for the moment. She glanced up at him and raised an eyebrow.
“I believe I’m overdressed,” she pointed out.
“I’m afraid I have to agree,” Cole said as he tugged the towel down. He wanted to say something about how beautiful she was but all that came to mind was, “Damn, Emma.”
She was perfect. He cupped her face in his hands as he swept her body with one heated gaze. She caught her breath as his rough hands moved down, making her skin come alive under his touch. He was devastatingly thorough.
He cupped her breasts, rubbing his thumbs over her perky nipples until they stood stiff. Then, when she thought he might move down, he dipped his head and gently closed his teeth over one of them.
“Cole!” she gasped out, clenching her fingers in his hair.
“Like it?” he asked.
“Oh, God, yes,” she moaned.
“Good,” he said in a low voice. “Because you taste as good as you look.”
His tongue swirled around the rigid peak as he pinched her other nipple between his thumb and forefinger. Emma squealed as he pressed her back to the glass shower wall and Cole laughed against her skin.
“It might be warmer inside,” she said between gasps of pleasure.
Her knees were going weaker with each flick of his talented tongue and she wasn’t sure how much longer she could go without knocking him down and riding him until they were both too tired to move. Cole shoved the shower door open and they stumbled under the heated spray together. Emma had thought she couldn’t possibly find him any more attractive than she already did, but that simply wasn’t true. With the water sluicing down the hard muscle of his upper body and forming droplets on his broad shoulders, he looked even better.
Emma couldn’t hold back anymore. She dropped to her knees and took him into her mouth, sucking eagerly.
Cole went totally still with surprise, which prompted Emma to pull back and ask, “Is this okay with you?”
“Huh?” he asked dazedly. A slight smile on her lips made him understand what she was asking and he answered as quickly as he could, “Yes! Hell, yeah, Emma.”
She smiled and wrapped her hand around the base of his thick cock as she parted her lips and took him in again. The hot water pouring over them made it easy for her fingers to slide up and down the areas she couldn't quite reach with her lips and tongue. She felt him move and was pleased when she saw he needed to lean against the shower wall. His jaw was clenched tight and his eyes were closed as he rested his head against the stone back wall of the shower.
Emma watched him as she worked his member with her mouth and hand. His ab muscles flexed and she trailed the fingers of her free hand over them. The simple movement made him jerk against her, involuntarily moving deeper into her mouth. He looked down at her, meaning to apologize, but one look into those big blue eyes told him he didn’t need to. How he’d ever thought her eyes were innocent was beyond him now.
She took him deeper and deeper and he couldn’t take his eyes off of his member moving down her throat. He tangled his fingers in her hair, not to bring her closer, but to brace himself as her tongue swirled around the head of his manhood as her hand pumped smoothly up and down his aching shaft. He felt himself jerk against her tongue as she leaned forward even more.
“Emma,” he said, forcing his voice out, even though he knew it would be ragged.
She didn’t stop long enough to answer him verbally, but she looked up at him. It nearly sent him to his knees.
“I need you.”
She pulled back, making him miss the warmth of her mouth in spite of the heat of the shower.
“You have me,” she said, still stroking him. “And I love doing this with you.”
She couldn’t help it. He was the biggest she’d ever had and she wanted to touch him, tease him, and taste him forever. She closed her hand around the head of his swollen cock and he groaned and let his head fall back. If she wanted to tease him or whatever it was she was doing to him, he wasn’t going to ask her to stop.
“Okay, sweetheart,” he managed to say. “You just go right ahead and do whatever you want.”
Emma smiled and ran the tip of her tongue over the head of his manhood. She liked the salty, sweet taste of his arousal. His fingers clenched tighter in her hair.
Cole didn’t know how long the exquisite agony lasted. She had sure as hell been honest when she’d said she loved doing this. Emma concentrated her tongue on the head of his cock until he thought he couldn’t last another minute. When he went tense though, she pulled back and stroked him gently. Too gently to take him over the edge. He knew he should be glad about that but at the moment, all he wanted was the relief of release.
It wasn’t that she wasn’t turned on. She was nearly desperate, but Emma couldn’t get over the feel of him in her hands and in her mouth. She wondered, as she worked him down her throat as far as she could take him, how he’d feel inside her. She didn’t have to wonder long. When she’d taken him deeper than she ever had, Cole growled in frustration and yanked her to her feet.
“I can’t wait anymore,” he informed her as he swept her up and pressed her back against the wall where he’d been leaning seconds before. “Emma, I’ve got to have you.”
“Then take me,” she answered as she wrapped her legs around his slender hips. “Cole, I’ve never wanted anything more than I want you right now.”
His first thrust had her crying out in shock.
“Am I hurting you?” he asked in concern. “Emma...”
“No!” she gasped. “No!” She wriggled her hips, delighting in feeling herself so full. “Oh, God, it’s so perfect, Cole.”
He felt her nails digging into his shoulders as she worked her hips on him. He stayed still for a second because he’d never had a woman this desperate for him and it fel
t damn good. And maybe it was a small amount of payback for her teasing him for so long with her sweet mouth.
She whimpered in frustration and he kissed her. His tongue teased hers gently as he began to thrust slowly. She switched her grip to his hair and slanted her mouth across his desperately.
“I’m sorry I teased you, okay?” she finally said breathlessly. “Just please!”
“Please, what?” he asked.
“Take me harder.”
The little bit of shyness that crept through the words made the request impossible to resist.
“Hold on tight, honey,” Cole said as he lowered his mouth to hers once more.
This time, his kiss burned through Emma like wildfire but that was nothing compared to what his body was doing to hers. She tightened her arms around him as he hit places inside her she hadn’t even known she had. She wasn’t even aware she was screaming his name until the first wave of her orgasm ended. She began working her way up to the next one almost instantly, and Cole didn’t show signs of being done with her anytime soon.
He understood how she’d felt about the blow job earlier. He wanted his own release but she felt so good, he didn’t want to stop. It was only when he felt her body trembling under his hands that he allowed himself what he’d been desperate for. Cole gripped her gently rounded ass and drove deeper and faster to take her over the edge with him this time.
Emma felt him go still for a split second and then he thrust deep one last time.
“Emma,” he groaned as his body emptied into hers as she clenched tight around him in one final orgasm.
She reached out a shaky hand and turned the water off. All she heard was the drip of water from their bodies and Cole’s ragged breathing.
“Wow,” she whispered. “Don’t put me down yet. I don’t think I can walk.”
“I’ve got you,” Cole reassured her.
Even though his voice wasn’t steady, his arms around her were and Emma relaxed against him to catch her breath. After a few moments, he stepped back and grabbed two towels. She wrapped the towel around herself when Cole set her back on her feet and watched him towel off quickly as well. However, when she moved to leave the room, he scooped her up again.
“What are you doing?” she asked in surprise.
“Taking you to bed,” he answered as if it should have been obvious. “Now that we’ve had the fun, we’re gonna have the talk.”
“What talk?” Emma asked as he dropped her gently onto her bed and then stretched out beside her.
“The talk about all the things you were yelling at me a while ago. Why don’t you start with what you said about giving up everything to come here.”
“You don’t want to hear about that,” Emma said automatically. She could feel her defenses going back up, even as she lay in the strong circle of his arms. “I’m sure you have work to do back at Silver River.”
“Are you trying to get rid of me?”
Cole drew back and looked at her in genuine surprise. He was also more than a little hurt. What he’d done with her had felt different than it ever had with any woman before and not just because she’d been so eager to please him. She pleased him just by being herself and he wanted to get closer, not further away.
“Well...” Emma drew the word out as she looked closely at him, trying to read and understand his expression. Was he actually interested? In the story or, by some miracle, in her?
“Come on, sweetheart,” he said tenderly. “I want to hear about it. I want to hear about you.”
“It’s a long story,” she warned.
“You’ve got a comfortable bed,” Cole said with a grin. “You’ve got me all to yourself. Talk to me.”
His fingers sifted through her long blonde hair until she sighed in pleasure. This was so nice. She sighed and snuggled closer to Cole, getting ready to open up more than she ever had with anyone in her life.
She trailed her finger down his chest as she tried to gather her thoughts. She liked the way he felt. She especially loved the way he was holding her now. She felt safe and secure for the first time since Grandpa Hank had died. Emma pressed her lips to the tattoo on his chest once more. It might be her second favorite part of Cole.
“Stop trying to distract me,” he said, but she heard an affectionate smile in his voice.
Affection. That was nice too. It had been so lacking in Emma’s home life, she just wanted to bask in it. But he deserved to know the truth. He should know why she’d been as uptight as she’d been about everything.
“I have to start at the beginning to really explain all of it,” she said. He only nodded without the least hint of impatience, so she took a deep breath and began. “I don’t really know why all the kids left Grandpa Hank’s ranch,” she said. “But, they all left as soon as they could.”
Cole nodded and when Emma looked at him in surprise, he said, “I wasn’t around, but my dad talked about it sometimes. That’s why he had us help out when we could. It saved Carson some money on labor and such.”
“I guess it was the talk of the town for a while, too,” Emma realized. “This place is so small!”
“And boring,” he agreed with a half laugh. “Anyway, you were saying...”
“My family isn’t close. Not like yours. It wasn’t just that they wouldn’t have been able to live in the same house. They couldn’t even live in the same town.” Emma’s voice was sad and reflective as she went on, “It was like they wanted away from everything that reminded them of home. And that included each other apparently. Grandpa Hank would call at every major holiday and invite us out here to spend some time at the ranch, but Dad never let us go.”
“What about your mother?” Cole asked curiously. “Wasn’t she curious about her husband’s father?”
“Just knowing he was a rancher was enough,” she said matter-of-factly. “She’s not really the outdoors type. They were both so short with him year after year, I started answering the phone when I was about 11. We sort of built a relationship. He started sending me cards on my birthday and he would tell me all about my grandma.”
“Betty,” Cole said along with Emma. “He talked about her like she was waiting at home for him, didn’t he?”
Emma had to clear her throat before she could go on and in the end, she had to settle for a nod. He squeezed her closer and kissed the top of her head. She took a few deep breaths and wrapped the story up. There was no need to spill all her secrets in one day.
“Well, you know that Grandpa Hank’s kids didn’t want the ranch,” she said as she looked up at him. When he nodded, she went on, “Well, they really did. Or to be more accurate, they wanted the money they could get from selling the place to the highest bidder. They didn’t talk to Grandpa much but every time they did, they made sure he hadn’t changed anything. His will had said he was going to leave all of it to them in equal shares unless one of them wanted to come out here and take care of it. Then that person got the lot.”
“But none of them wanted to take the ranch.” Cole didn’t make it a question.
“No. They all told him they didn’t want the place,” Emma said as she turned away from Cole. “They weren’t interested in ranching. Except for me. This was a few years ago. When I was about seventeen, during our Easter conversation, I told him I would love to have a ranch of my own one day, just like this one. I had no idea that he’d changed his will. Neither did anybody else.”
“How did they find out? Did Hank tell them?”
“We had to go to a lawyer’s office for the reading of the will,” Emma informed him. “I think my dad actually already had some buyers interested in the ranch--”
“I know he did,” Cole said grimly. “I saw a few different people over here looking at it.”
He heard Emma sigh and felt her slender shoulders get tense in the circle of his arms.
“Hey,” he said, tilting her chin and giving her a quick kiss. “It’s yours now. Tell me the rest.”
“Well, everyone in the room was pretty
shocked,” Emma said, giving Cole the understatement of the year. She’d sworn she’d felt the temperature drop ten degrees from the frozen shock in that poor lawyer’s office that day.
“Who was there?” he asked.
“My dad and my mom. my uncle, Charlie, and his wife. And, Aunt Dorothy and her two kids. It was the first time we’d all been in a room together in five years so it was a little tense and awkward anyway. But then, when the lawyer said Grandpa Hank had left me the ranch...oh, everyone was furious. I felt terrible for that lawyer. They kept making him repeat himself, like it was his fault or something. Then, once they realized he wasn’t making a mistake. they all turned on me.”