Herd That ARC

by Vale, Lani Lynn

  I made a mental note to buy her a new pair that didn’t look like she allowed the dog to chew on them on a daily basis, then went for her pants.

  They were a pair of my sweats that she’d slipped on about halfway through our TV marathon when the sun had set and the coolness of the house had started to set in.

  With how old the place was, we still didn’t have adequate heating and cooling, meaning that when it got too hot or too cold, we had to either crank up the fireplace or start stripping off clothes.

  I cast a glance at the fireplace in the bedroom and contemplated starting a fire, then decided against it when I glanced at the clock.

  It wouldn’t have time to even burn all the wood down if I started it now, which would then mean I’d have to leave it unattended while I got to work.

  So that was no, but I would make sure to keep her warm… with my naked body pressed to hers.

  Once she was stripped down to a t-shirt and her panties, I covered her back up with the heating blanket and the comforter, then went to the bathroom to brush my teeth and toss my clothes into the hamper.

  The chill started to set into my bones, so I hurried through the rest of my nightly routine, forgoing the usual squirt of lotion onto my hands so I could rub it into the tattoos on my shoulder and back.

  That would’ve just been downright cold and rubbing cold lotion into already cold skin was just no fun.

  That, and I had a beautiful, warm woman in my bed. I didn’t want to get in there absolutely freezing seeing as the second I was underneath the covers she was being pulled into my arms.

  Turning the light off and yanking open the bathroom door, I stepped out into my bedroom and grinned at the woman who was now only being illuminated by the moonlight that was shining in through the drape-less window.

  She looked like a goddamn angel. No joke, the moonlight was pouring through the window so bright that it looked like a spotlight directed solely at her. It showed her crazy hair that’d escaped from the haphazard bun she’d had it in spread all over my white pillowcase. It showed the way her mouth fell partially open… and the way she snored.

  It was cute, honestly.

  I couldn’t wait to tell her about it.

  I had a feeling she had no idea that she did it.

  Walking quietly to the bed, I was very careful to tiptoe around the floorboard that always squeaked and sounded like I was about to fall through it at any second.

  Then again, there were quite a few places in this old house that sounded like that.

  When Darby came barreling down the hall in the morning, I swore that one day he would just fall straight through and disappear into the ground.

  “Why are you being so sneaky?” Codie’s husky voice came from the bed.

  I grinned and walked over to her less ‘sneaky’ than before, tossing the covers back and sliding inside before righting them over the top of me.

  Then I moved until my body was placed firmly against hers.

  “Shit!” she cried out with a shiver. “What the hell did you go do? Bathe in ice water?”

  I grinned against her neck, loving how warm she was.

  “I took off my clothes and went to get cleaned up for the night. I forgot how cold the bathroom was,” I explained.

  She shivered again. “Well, let’s not ever do that again. Jesus, my nipples are hard now.”

  I snorted out a laugh, then went to investigate said nipples.

  “They are pretty hard,” I said as I ran my face over the t-shirt that was doing a damn good job at keeping them covered despite me trying to make it different.

  She pushed my head away from her body and started to giggle.

  “Let me take it off already,” she teased, sounding less and less tired as the time passed.

  I moved away with the utmost reluctance and allowed her to have her space. But only for the length of time that it took her to strip the shirt off her small frame and toss it somewhere at the end of the bed.

  When she returned to my arms, her bare breasts were pressed up against me, and I had the sudden urge to roll her over and rip the panties straight from her body.

  “You’re looking at me like I’m breakfast,” she said quietly.

  I licked my lips, then sat up slightly until her mouth was inches from mine. “Just a midnight snack, maybe.”

  Then I kissed her.

  Long and hard, slow and sweet.

  Our tongues tangled, and I stroked hers like I was playing with her clit and not her tongue, teasing and coaxing.

  “You’re killing me,” she informed me. “I don’t know what it is about you, but every single time I think you can’t make me want you more, you go and do something like that.”

  I grinned at her words, then lifted up and rolled, causing her to squeak in surprise.

  “Remember that there is a houseful of men,” I told her as I slowly started to descend her body. “I don’t want them hearing all those nasty words coming out of your mouth.”

  She froze as I pressed a kiss against her bare stomach.

  “You’re pulling down the covers,” she teased as I bit her belly lightly just under her belly button.

  I took more care this time as I started to descend, pausing slightly half on, half off the bed when I got to the apex of her thighs.

  Allowing my mouth to drag over her panty-clad pussy, I inhaled deeply, practically orgasming at just the scent of her.

  She smelled sweet and hot, just like I liked it.

  I couldn’t help it.

  I bit her.

  She squealed and pushed my face away from her playfully, but before she could do much more than laugh, I was back, this time taking her panties off with my teeth.

  “These are really expensive underwear,” she said breathlessly. “I paid fourteen dollars for them at Walmart. They came with a set of socks and everything.”

  I barely contained the grin that threatened to burst over my face but managed to get my amusement back under control when I got her panties off of her hips and halfway down her thighs.

  By the time that I had them around her feet, she was squirming.

  “You’re killing me softly,” she said with laughter tinging her voice. “And now I can’t help but sing that song in my head.”

  “What song?” I asked as I pressed a kiss to the inside of her knee.

  “Killing me Softly,” she repeated. “I’ll play it for you after.”

  “After what?” I pressed a kiss to the inside of her thigh this time.

  “After you’re done with what you’re doing,” she answered. “If I can remember, that is. I have a feeling you’re about to render me unable to process anything.”

  I skimmed my nose up over her slit, loving that she was mostly bare down there.

  I had a feeling she was right.

  The next five minutes went exactly where I wanted them to go. I had her begging and pleading just by running my tongue along her slit.

  God, she was so hot and wet.

  And she tasted so fucking good I knew that this wouldn’t be the last time today that I’d taste her.

  I’d give her an hour or two at least.

  “Would you stop teasing me and do me already?” she whispered, her breath coming out in small pants. “I’m dying over here, and you’re enjoying every second.”

  I was.

  I bit down gently on her clit, causing her to jolt in the bed.

  “Jesus Christ,” she hissed, her hands coming to my hair and pulling. “I can’t tell if you’re killing me with your mouth, or your beard tickling the inside of my thighs. I want to laugh as well as scream out in defeat.”

  I allowed her to pull me upward, grinning at her when my face finally fell in line with hers.

  I could see enough through the moonlight that was shining through the windows that her face was a mask of frustration.

  “Poor baby,” I growled, dropping my lips to hers. “You just can’t ha
ndle it tonight, can you?”

  She yanked me down and met me halfway, her lips slamming down onto mine as if she wanted to punish me with her kiss.

  Too bad she could never do that even if she tried.

  “Temper, temper,” I teased. “Now.” I reached for my bedside table and tapped my phone to turn it on. Then I flipped the flashlight app open and illuminated the room around us with a tap of a button. “Since I can see you, I can finally do exactly what I want.”

  “Which is?” she asked breathlessly, swiveling her hips in invitation.

  “Watch your eyes while I sink inside of you,” I said as I pressed the head of my cock to her entrance.

  She bit her lip and looked up at me expectantly.

  I pushed forward, loving the way that she opened for me. A slow, gentle glide had me sinking inside of her to the hilt in one single thrust.

  She was so wet that I slid right inside with very little friction.

  “God,” she breathed. “That feels like…”

  “Like I was meant to be there?” I supplied.

  She snorted. “No. Like you’re ripping me in two.”

  “I would’ve preferred to hear ‘perfection,’” I teased.

  She rolled her eyes and ran her hands over my shoulders, her eyes going lazy as she took me in.

  “The muscles in your shoulders are really bulgy.”

  “Is bulgy a word?” I questioned, lowering myself down to suck one pert nipple into my mouth.

  She breathed out deeply and brought her hands up to my neck, pulling down as well as holding me still, as if I was about to move.

  She couldn’t be more wrong.

  I wanted to taste her—everywhere.

  And I was exactly where I wanted to be at that moment in time.

  “I think it is,” she whispered breathlessly. “Ahhh, yes. I…”

  I grinned around her nipple, loving the fact that I was making her lose concentration enough to forget her words.

  I loved it even more that she was arching up and practically force-feeding me said nipple.

  “You’re killing me,” she informed me, her hands yanking lightly on my head. “I need you.”

  I needed her just as much.

  But… I was enjoying myself immensely. So much so, in fact, that I switched to the other nipple and gave that one the same treatment.

  She cried out, her hands going painfully tight in my hair, and then fell limply on the bed.

  I pulled back from her nipple and looked at her incredulously.

  “Did you just…” I paused, unsure. “Did you just come?”

  She brought her hands up to her face and covered her eyes. “I’m such a loser!”

  I pried her hands away from her eyes and smiled into her face, mine only inches away from hers.

  “No, baby,” I said. “Do you realize how much fun I’m going to have with that?”

  She ran her hands up my shoulders and then pressed lightly against my neck, urging me to come down farther and press kisses to her lips.

  “If you say so,” she whispered between kisses.

  “Oh, I more than say so,” I said, swiveling my hips. “I’m hot as hell right now, and all that because you just fucking came with me still inside you and just sucking on your nipples.”

  She buried her face into my neck, but her hands went between us and clamped onto my dick with her pussy.

  I nearly came right then and there.

  Honestly, I hadn’t been able to come this easily—or fast—since I was a high schooler trying to drown my sorrows in sex and alcohol.

  But before I could get too deep in those thoughts, Codie’s breath hitched, and I knew that she was seconds away from coming all over again.

  In a move that surprised even me, I rolled and threw her over the top of me, notching my cock at her entrance with only seconds to spare.

  Before I’d even fully sank my cock inside of her, she was coming.

  I could feel the ripple of her walls all around me and began to curse.

  Then cursed even harder when I couldn’t bury myself inside of her fast enough.

  Coming hard and hot on the heels of her release, I found myself gasping for air and laughing all at the same time.

  Codie collapsed on top of me, my cock halfway inside of her, laughing hysterically.

  “One day,” she said softly. “I’m going to remember this and laugh.”

  “Why?” I teased, running my hand up and down her spine.

  “I’m gonna remember what it was like to come so fast and remember that it was because of you. But right now, I’m embarrassed as hell and I feel like I’m unable to control myself.”

  I clenched my hand on her ass and rolled us to our sides, sadly dislodging my cock from her still pulsating pussy as I did.

  She moaned.

  “I need to get out of this bed and clean up,” she said softly.

  I ignored that and pulled her in tight to my body.

  “We have two hours before I need to get up,” I explained. “You can clean up then.”

  She was pressing a kiss and agreeing with me seconds later as I pulled the covers up farther over our bodies.

  She snuggled in deep to my chest, and for the first time since I’d come home to Kilgore, my head didn’t remind me of why I’d never wanted to come back.

  Chapter 19

  Ew. People.

  -Codie’s Secret thoughts

  Codie

  For some stupid reason, two hours after our beautiful night together, I thought it would be a good idea to get up with Ace and see what his day consisted of.

  I shouldn’t have.

  Not only was he tireless, but so was his work.

  I sat on top of Brimstone, a beautiful paint that Ace told me was sweet as sugar and hard working to boot, and watched as Ace and his brother, Callum, pulled fence, followed shortly by chopping the tree down that had been responsible for the broken fence in the first place.

  I yawned, then slid off Brimstone’s back, took the extra pair of gloves that Ace had hanging out of his saddlebags, then went to work pulling tree limbs that I could manage into a pile to burn.

  On the third pass, Ace caught me around the belt loop, tugged me to him, and then pressed a hard and fast kiss to my lips before letting me go.

  Smiling now, I continued doing this until there was nothing left small enough for me to get on my own. Then, finding a rope tied to Ace’s saddle, I caught that up, tied it to a tree limb that I couldn’t move on my own, then brought Brimstone over to help me move the rest of the ones I thought he could safely move.

  It was only after the very last one, and the last whine of the chainsaw filled the air, that Darby came riding up with what looked like breakfast and a full saddle full of drinks.

  “Oh, thank God,” Callum muttered, dropping his gloves onto the back of his horse.

  I followed suit and grimaced at the blisters that I could see forming on my hands.

  Though I’d grown up on a farm, we’d always hired out the work when it was required to fix our fences. And, if they did break or something happened that would require immediate attention, we still didn’t have to worry because our goats were penned up nicely in a smaller pen.

  I’d had no idea how hard the work would be until today.

  And this was every day for Ace, according to Darby about ten minutes later.

  I was finishing my second biscuit and swallowing down a nice mouthful of hot coffee when Darby said, “You like my brother?”

  I grinned and pulled the cup away from my face as I said, “Yeah, I do.”

  He looked at me then looked at his brother.

  “This is every day for them,” he murmured. “Not for every woman out there.”

  I grinned.

  “As long as he doesn’t expect me to quit my job to help him,” I said softly. “I’m happy to offer my services when I can.”

  Darby snorted. “Heard
you got a job at the PD.”

  I was already nodding my head as I jellied up another biscuit. When I had it nice and coated in the delicious homemade jam that he said his sister had made, I walked over to Ace and offered it up to him.

  He paused in his chopping of wood and bent over to take a bite of the biscuit. “Thanks, baby. Almost done, then we’re going to go load up Scooby.”

  I eyed his mouth, which was now covered with the delicacy his sister called jelly, and bent forward and licked his bottom lip.

  His eyes flared, and he went to move forward to further the kiss, but instead was met with the rest of his biscuit.

  He took the rest of it in one bite, then offered me a wink.

  This time, instead of licking the jelly off for him, he took care of the chore himself.

  Then said, “Thanks, honey.”

  Honey. Baby.

  Oh, God.

  I didn’t realize how nice it was to hear those words from someone that I was beginning to really care about.

  I mean, there was a huge difference in hearing ‘baby’ from my dad and from hearing ‘baby’ from Ace.

  “You’re welcome,” I replied huskily.

  “If we don’t hurry, we’re going to miss Banks’ ride.”

  I turned to see Callum staring at us with disgust on his face.

  I felt my face flush and ducked it, turning tail and walking away without another word.

  I heard a hard thwack and turned just in time to see Ace’s hand drop back to the ax he was holding and Banks rubbing his shoulder with a grin on his face.

  “Never seen him act like this,” Darby said as I approached. “You’re an odd duck, you know that?”

  I raised my brows at him. “An odd duck?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “You make him smile, and I never see him smile. Never.”

  I felt something tighten in my belly at his words, then turned and watched my man wield an ax like he was born to have it in his hands.

  All the while, I wondered if maybe I hadn’t already fallen for the man.

  Lord knew he made me smile, and I never smiled either. At least not in Kilgore, Texas anyway.

  Chapter 20