by Katy Kaylee
“Here?”
“Warmer.” I could barely form the single word, my throat filled with the need to urge him faster, to beg him to hurry up but I knew he wouldn’t. With that same slow, deliberate intent, Jake trailed kisses down to the tops of my thighs.
“What about here?”
“Jake!”
He must have heard the urgency in my voice because then he was parting my thighs as he wedges his broad shoulders between them, widening me even more until I was bared and totally exposed to him. I should have felt vulnerable. Instead, all I felt was a rush of pure lust and power at the desperate, starving look in his wolf-like eyes before he leaned close, swiping at my clit with his tongue.
He swirled it in circles, drawing me higher and higher. My hips wanted to shift but he held them in place with his large hands so all I could do was lay there and take everything he had to give.
I panted and moaned out his name, my head whipping back as forth as the pleasure because overwhelming.
Slowly, one finger joined his tongue, thrusting inside me in time to the licks and wet caresses and it only took another moment before my orgasm struck me like a lightning bolt, flashing through me so fast and hard that it took me by surprise.
He didn’t stop, drawing me higher and higher all over again until finally I couldn’t take it anymore. I didn’t want to come again without feeling him deep inside me, as close as two people could me.
“Jake. Jake, I need you.” I gasped the words, still mindless with pleasure. “Please, Jake. Please.”
I was begging. I didn’t care. I would have said anything to get him inside me but he was right there beside me, just as wild, just as out of control.
He swept up my body, licking my honey from his lips before kissing me, deep and heady.
“God damn, you’re so beautiful. You’re so amazing. You know that right?”
“The only thing I know is that I need you. Now. Don’t make me wait any more.”
He growled at the desperate desire in my voice, finally settling his body over mine and I reveled in the feel of him, his body pressed so intimately against me. How safe I felt, how incredibly perfect I felt in his arms. How full of love I was for him and only him. Everything else was a match beside a bonfire.
I could feel the head of his thick, heavy cock against my entrance and I couldn’t wait anymore. I hitched my hips, wrapping my thighs around his body as I pulled him all the way inside me.
He thrust deep, trying to maintain the slow, deliberate rhythm but he let out a growl like that of a feral wolf as both of us spiraled out of control.
I could feel every inch of him as he filled me, taking me with wild abandon as his hips started to move faster and faster, driving inside me over and over as I cried out his name. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, holding on as tight as I could as the pleasure crested inside me once again, sending me shooting into the outer stratosphere as I climaxed with Jake still buried deep inside my body.
I swore I saw stars exploding, could feel the fire of it explode with me as Jake shuddered and groaned out my name as he came and all I could do was hold on to him as I slowly floated back down to earth and into my body.
It was a long moment before I could speak again, and when I was able to my words still came out breathless, “I love you, Jake. Don’t ever tell me to leave you again because I won’t.”
He pushed himself up on his elbows just enough so that he could look down at me, meet my serious gaze. His was just as intent.
“I won’t ever do that again. I swear. I want you exactly where I have you. I want you to stay like this forever.”
“Well, forever is a long time to lay in bed, but…”
“I’m serious, Zoe. I want you. I want us. I…will you marry me.”
“What?! Jake, I…” I paused, staring up at him, at the man who had totally flipped my world upside down. The man that had changed me so much, the man who had taught me what love really was. The only person in the entire world that made me feel safe, that made me feel loved. “Yes.”
“Yes?”
“Yes,” I said, laughing and crying, “I’ll marry you.”
“Are you sure? I want you to be sure.”
“I have never been more sure about anything in my entire life.”
I laughed again, Jake drinking in my joy with another kiss.
“I know we still have a long way to go, and a lot to learn, but I want to do it together, Zoe. I swear I will take care of you and our child. I will love you more than anyone else in the world. I love you.”
“I love you too.” I kissed him again, amazed, and full of so much love for this man and the family we were starting together that I couldn’t get any more words out. All I could do was kiss him, and hold on. We would make it work. Together.
31
Zoe
Music filled my dream. It seemed to come from everywhere at once, and from somewhere deep inside me. For the first time in as long as I could remember, I wasn’t chasing after it. I wasn’t running down endless dark hallways to try and grasp it. It was a part of me, just as much as my arms or legs, my lungs breathing in deeply or my heart pounding out a slow, steady rhythm. The music was in me, and it always had been.
No one would ever take it from me. I knew that now. Even in my dreams, I knew that. The melodies and harmonies drew me up and away on clouds of sound, soft and sweet. It filled up me with joy and the same feeling of lightness that it always did, setting me free.
A sudden, sharp noise interrupted my sweet song. A harsh beep that repeated over and over, shaking me out of sleep.
I reached out groggily with one hand until I finally found Jake’s ringing cell phone. It had fallen to the floor sometime last night. A number came up as unknown on the caller ID but I answered it anyway. Anything to stop that awful noise.
“Hello?” I said into the phone, my voice still rough from sleep. There was a crackling silence from the other end. “Hello? Who is it?”
Another moment of silence. Not the empty silence of a robo-call or a dead line. There was something very much alive on the other end. There was more crackling and sense of someone listening.
I hung up the phone and threw it back on the floor, more rattled than I wanted to admit.
“Who was that?”
“N…No one. Must have been a wrong number or something.”
“You sure? You sound–.”
“I’m sure. It was no one.” I know I still sounded breathless, but I waved Jake’s concerns away, wishing I could wave my own away just as easily.
Jake’s arms wrapped around me from behind and startled a laugh out of me as he pulled me back into bed. I knew I should get up. I knew I should face the day. But instead, I settled against him once more, reveling in the furnace heat of his body.
He kissed me, soft and dreamy, still groggy from sleep as he pulled me on top of him.
“I love you, Zoe.” He whispered the words, his eyes closing in bliss as I moved on top him, drawing him into my body. They sent a thrill shooting through me, joy and light filling me up inside.
I wanted to hear the words again, over and over but I was losing myself in the pleasure that rocked through me. I opened my mouth to tell him to say it again, but all that came out was a cry of ecstasy as he hitched his hips beneath me, rolling deeper with every thrust.
It felt just like my dream, the music soaring inside me, Jake filling me, as close to me as any human could be. I felt like I was flying. I was finally free.
I let out a laugh of pure joy as my climax hit me, every muscle inside me tensing and squeezing, bearing down and bring Jake tumbling over the edge with me.
That joy was still bubbling inside me like champagne as I collapsed against him with a breathless moan. A part of me still couldn’t believe that I had found this man, the one that made me feel so whole. The man that made me feel safe and protected, like nothing could ever touch me.
I knew we still had a long way to go. Both of us were damaged from
our past, and we would both need to work on healing those old scars. But I knew that we could do anything at all, as long as we did it together.
“I am so lucky that I found you, Jake.” I whispered blissfully against his chest. His fingers were tangled in my hair, brushing the long, unruly longs away from my face.
“That’s funny, I was just thinking the exact same thing. You are lucky to have found me.”
I looked up at him and saw the laughter gleaming in his gray eyes.
“I know that I’m the luckiest man in the world,” Jake said, suddenly growing serious. His thumb brushed against my flushed cheeks, “I never thought in a million years that I would ever fall in love with someone again. I never thought I’d be able to trust anyone again like that. But you dropped into my life and flipped everything upside down.”
I grinned up at him. He sounded both perturbed and happy.
“Everything changed with you, Zoe. You changed me.” He smiled down at me and I could see the love and emotion swirling in his gaze, “I wouldn’t have it any other way. I know we have a lot to figure out, with us, with the baby…”
He trailed off, his hands sliding down over my still flat stomach as if he could feel the life growing within.
“A baby.” His voice was filled with awe and wonder, “I still can’t believe it.”
“Me either,” I laid my hand over his, our fingers intertwining, “Do you…do you think I’ll be a good mother?”
He stared at me in shock.
“Good? Zoe, I think you’ll be a great mother. You are the strongest, kindest, most fearless woman I know.”
“I am not fearless,” I said on a soft laugh, but there wasn’t much humor in it, “I get so scared sometimes that I can hardly breathe. That I can’t think. When all I can think about is running as fast and as far away as I can.”
“But you didn’t,” He whispered softly, “You’re right here. With me.”
“I am. And I’m not going anywhere. I promise you that. No more running.”
“No more running. And no more secrets. From now on, we tell each other the truth always. And we trust each other, always.”
“Always.” I kissed him, sealing our promises to each other.
“Now, as much as I’m coming to love this shitty motel room, will you come back to the ranch with me?”
I looked up at Jake, surprised to see the uncertain expression on his face.
“Yes. I would love to move in with you. I think we can turn my old room into the perfect nursery.”
“I’ll have to baby proof the house, and the ranch,” He had a sudden look of horror, “How the hell am I going to baby proof the ranch?”
“Hey, it’s okay. We still have a few months before this baby is ready to come into the world. We’ll have time to figure it out, together.”
“Together. I like the sound of that.”
“Together, always.”
“Always.”
I kissed him again, lost in Jake, and lost in love.
32
Jake
I knew I should be focusing on the work on my desk in front of me, but all I could see was Zoe. We had moved another desk in to the office so we could both work at the same time, though if I was being honest with myself I got a hell of a lot less done when she was there.
She was like a magnet, always working on me, always drawing me back to her. I stared at her from the corner of my eye hoping she wouldn’t catch me.
It had been four months since our fight, since that night we had made up at the motel room, several times. Four months since I found out I was going to be a father and that Zoe was pregnant with my child. Four months since I’d asked her to marry me.
It had taken me four months to find just the right ring to give her, and I could feel the box burning a hole in my pocket.
Finally, she got up, stretching, and my mouth went dry as it always did at the sight of her. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my life. And the kindest. The smartest. The most generous.
“I’m going in for Owen’s piano lesson.” She said with a smile as she walked over, “Do you want me to bring you something to eat?”
I just stared at her as she neared, wrapping my arms around her as I drew her in close. She was five months pregnant and I could feel the swell of her belly beneath the sweater she wore.
“I’ll be in in a little bit. I need to get some more work done first,” Or any work done for that matter. “Save something for me?”
“I’m not making any promises.” Zoe said with a smile, rubbing her pregnant belly, “this little tyke is ravenous.”
“Well, that makes two of us.” I growled the words playfully, getting a laugh out of her that made me grin ear to ear. God, I loved the sound of her laughter. I loved to see the joy light up in her forest green eyes.
I felt a pang of instant regret as she slipped away and out of the office, my eyes trailing her as she made her way up the path to the farmhouse where Owen was already waiting.
Over the past couple of months, she’d worked miracles with the kid. He’d started to talk more, laugh more. Hell, I only saw the teenager scowl once or twice a day now instead of constantly.
She didn’t even see the affect she had on people, but she worked on them like magic. With her warmth, her compassion.
Owen wasn’t the only one that had bloomed over the last few months, either. I’d seen a difference in Zoe as well. The fear was gone. She hadn’t had one of her nightmares in months. After she’d told me why she had them and what they were about I would lay up late into the night, watching her sleep, watching for any sign of the terrors that plagued her and I would kiss them away, drawing her into my warmth and love instead. Chasing away the bad dreams.
And then, suddenly, they’d just stopped altogether.
It made me smile to myself, just thinking about her. Thinking about how much she’d grown there at the ranch. How much I had grown.
I knew I wasn’t the same person as I had been before she came here. She had changed me, transformed me in some indelible way. Had made me a better man. More patient. More open. More compassionate.
I glanced down at the books in front of me and my smile tightened. We were slowly climbing our way out of the mountain of debt that I’d inherited but there was still a long way to go before we could make the ranch a profitable business.
The phone on the desk rang suddenly, jolting me from my thoughts and I picked up the receiver.
“Hello?”
I waited for a moment. There was nothing on the other line. This wasn’t the first call I’d gotten like this. Not even the tenth. Zoe insisted they were just spam calls but they always made me uneasy. Sometimes I swore I could hear breathing on the other end. A few times I’d even heard what I thought was a cry, almost like an animal. But no one ever spoke.
With a curse, I hung up the phone. My stomach grumbled, reminding me that I hadn’t had anything to eat since early that morning. I pushed myself up to my feet just as the phone rang again but I ignored it. The calls were getting more frequent and a part of me wondered if the Calhoun’s were behind it.
They were a little old for prank calls, but they were a little old for a lot of the shit they tried to pull.
I shook my head. No, Wil had been as good as his word the past months. I hadn’t seen them on or near the property and no more threats, no more broken fences. Beth said that Wil would keep his promise, and even though I still had my doubts, he seemed to have held it so far.
But I knew Lucas wouldn’t always listen to his younger brother and that man had a chip on his shoulder the size of Utah. He was mean, and unpredictable.
Still, I couldn’t see him making fake phone calls. That wasn’t really his style. He was the get in your face and fists swinging type. It was the only explanation that made sense to me though. Maybe I could talk to the phone company and see if they could block the Calhoun’s number. I added it to my long list of things to take care of and headed towards the farmhouse.<
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I could hear the music long before I got inside. I knew it was Owen playing because of the wrong notes that jarred me every couple of minutes. There was a brief pause, and then Zoe took over just as I walked inside, as quietly as I could so I wouldn’t disturb her.
It didn’t really matter. When she was lost to the music, and whole heard of cattle could stomp through the living room and I didn’t think she would notice.
Zoe’s eyes were closed, her head tilted back, and her expression was pure joy as her fingers flew across the keys of the piano.
I loved watching her play. The first time I’d seen her I had been transfixed by the sight, and it was just the same now. It was like she was lit up from the inside and it shone through her, through the music that she made as if by magic.
I still couldn’t believe that she was mine. I loved her more than I’d ever loved anyone in my whole life. And she was going to have my baby. Watching her play, it. filled me with an emotion that I’d never felt before, not even with my ex. That hadn’t even been close to this. This was overwhelming. It was all consuming. And I was just as caught up in her as Zoe was in the music.
* * *
Zoe
The music set me free as it always did. It set me on fire, Beethoven’s moonlight sonata carrying me far, far away to a magical place.
I wasn’t afraid of it anymore. I didn’t even feel a shadow of the panic that had once completely frozen me at just the thought of sitting down in front of a piano.
The rest of the world dropped away and all that was left was the music. The music, and the tiny beat of the heart inside me. My baby’s. It was almost like I could feel the unborn baby responding to the melody. It brought me more joy than I even thought humanly possible.
My fingers moved, playing the music from memory, and my thoughts went from the baby growing inside me, to the baby’s father.