by TC Matson
I lower my mouth onto his dick. He jerks, sucking in a breath, and immediately grips a handful of my hair. “Jesus fuck, Kota.” I’ve always relished the noises he makes.
Wrapping my hand around his dick, I lick and suck. I circle my tongue around the head before flattening it out and taking him deep. He groans, his fingers tightening in my hair. Up and down, I swallow him while using my hand to help stroke. Suddenly there’s a twitch and I know if I keep going like this, he’ll be over.
Seductively, I smile up to him when I pop his dick out of my mouth and crawl up his body, placing my legs on each side of him. I lift, placing him at my entrance, and sink down. I’m still sore from last night as I stretch around him, but it’s not painful. He hisses, grips my gyrating hips, and closes his eyes.
“Fucking hell,” he groans snapping his eyes back to mine.
He pinches my nipple and then cups my breast, kneading it. I love being on top. I feel empowered and the way he looks at me squashes any self-consciousness. He’s always made me feel worshipped. Except right now, there’s something unexpected. The way he’s looking at me with so much love and desire feels like he’s untying every knot, knocking down every brick I placed around my heart after him. I can feel my heart cracking back open.
Sitting up, he presses his palm to the center of my chest, forcing me to lean back and hold myself steady with my hands on his thighs. With his thumb, he circles my clit and heat begins to lick through every limb.
“So fucking sexy…” he growls. “Come for me, Kota.”
I ride him, up and down, grinding and gyrating as he pumps into me with powerful juts. Time slows as my body pulses and then… Explosions rattle me, splintering me apart from the inside out. It hits me out of nowhere and disintegrates me. He grabs my back and pulls me to sit up, slamming into me with deliciously hungry thrusts. I fall to pieces, coming undone, and unfurling just as he does…my name on his lips between his grunts.
Collapsing against him, I wrap my arms around his neck and rest my head on his shoulder. Our breaths are fast and hard, and they are the only sounds. I love you is on the tip of my tongue, but I swallow it down. I know if I say those words again, there’s no coming back from them. He’ll know he disassembled the wall I built, and honestly, I’m not ready for it. I can’t open myself back up to him like that. I’m leaving soon… We knew the stakes.
Blake is in the kitchen cooking breakfast half-naked and entirely sexy. I’m enthralled by his muscles and more importantly, the tattoo that runs the length of his arm, from his shoulder to his wrist. I haven’t really examined it up close, but I want to know more about it. When did he get it? Does it have any meaning?
My phone rings, interrupting my gawking. It’s Izzy.
“Hey,” I answer, tucking my feet underneath me on his sofa.
“Hey, girl. Calling to check in. How’s the family?”
“We’re all doing well. Granny’s house is close to being sorted through. I’m trying to talk Momma into turning it into a bed and breakfast instead of selling it.”
“That’s good. Sooo…” she draws out melodically, “you got laid.”
“What?” I squeak, coughing out a laugh.
“We’ve known each other for how long? Exactly,” she answers without giving me time to. “Either you got laid or you just go the best massage of your life. Which one is it?”
I eye Blake. “Not right now,” I whisper.
She sucks in a breath. “Are you still with the man who massaged your insides?”
“I am.” Heat blisters my cheeks.
“Are we talking about a new guy or the one you ran away from?”
“The latter,” I sigh.
“Oooh!” she shrieks. “I knew you’d ride him again. What did I tell you about hate sex? It’s the fucking best. Isn’t it?”
My blush spreads over me from head to toe.
“Well, I hate to be the Debbie Downer after a good pounding, but I called for a reason. There’s a problem with your baby.”
My heart sinks at her words and I jerk straight up, yanking my feet out from under me. “What’s wrong with it?”
“City inspector came by and yanked one of the permits. Said the first inspector didn’t account for the future road widening project on Music Street. Sounded like they were having a pissing match and we got caught in the mess.”
My heart feels like it’s going to beat out of my chest. If Greg decides to change everything, I could lose a lot of time and money right now.
“We know how the city can be. Greg decided instead of fighting tooth and nail and spending money on lawsuits, he’d just get new drawings from the architect.”
I drop my head into my hands. “Please tell me he’s going to keep us.”
“He is,” she chirps. “He said he wants to go back over the original plans he rejected at first. But here’s the major problem. I can’t find them anywhere in your office and your damn laptop is password protected.”
“Jesus, Izzy,” I groan, throwing myself backward on the couch. “You can’t fucking scare me like that.”
“Sure I can,” she says with a laugh. “I don’t know your password and I’m trying to handle all this while you’re getting hot sex by your hot ex. I’m over here in perpetual abstinence and not by choice. Call me a jealous bitch if you want.”
Cracking up, I slap my forehead. “I’m going to put a block on your tea orders. I swear to you, Isabella Polk.”
She giggles. “Full name. I must be in deep trouble, huh?”
“Oh six twelve nine.”
There’s a quick pause in Blake’s movements, but he never stops, nor does he look over at me. Izzy and I go over a few details on my original drawings before she has to hop off for a meeting. Just in time too. Blake sets a plate with a ham and cheese omelet and a few slices of bacon down on the coffee table in front of me before he joins me.
“Our anniversary, huh?” Like a smug asshole, he grins with an arched brow, his eyes eating me alive.
“Was it?” I play dumb. “I guess I forgot.”
“Right,” he gives a sharp nod and then chuckles, digging into his food.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Blake
“Uncle Blake!” Hadley squeals and then leaps off the top step and into my arms. She trusts me and knows I’ll always catch her. We’ve had a few stumbles, but she’s never hit the ground first. Only me. She wraps her little arms around me and slaps a sloppy kiss to my cheek. “You’ve been gone forever. Where have you been?”
Chuckling, I rustle her hair just because I love annoying her. “You saw me a few days ago, Pipsqueak,” I say as she shoves my hand off her head.
“Daddy said you took off work. Okay, he didn’t tell me, but I heard him tell Presley and when I asked questions, he told me to mind my business,” she mocks Rhett with her own version of a deep voice. It’s adorable. “You never take off work. Did you go somewhere? Where did you go and why didn’t you take me?”
“I did take off work. I’m really sorry I didn’t run it by you,” I say, nuzzling against her neck. “But I didn’t go anywhere. I stayed at home.”
Her face scrunches up. “That doesn’t sound like any fun. Why didn’t you call me? I would’ve made it fun. We could’ve done so much.”
Ah, the things she’ll never know. “I needed to do a few things around the house and you being there would’ve distracted me.” Rhett comes out of the house holding two beers. I stretch her out toward him. “This thing that belongs to you is super bossy.”
Hadley laughs and kicks her feet until I put her down.
“You’ve got twenty minutes before it’s bedtime,” Rhett says and hands her a mason jar.
She grabs it and rushes out into the yard, immediately squeaking her excitement about catching her first lightning bug.
I twist off the top of my beer and take a seat on the bench.
“How’d things go?” He sits on the swing to my right.
A grin takes over my face as memories of a
ll the sex we had come flashing in. “Good.”
“Don’t smile like that if Ma asks you. It’s a dead giveaway of what your time consisted of,” he chuckles.
“I took her to the arbor.”
“I bet she loved it.”
“Then I threw her into the pond,” I laugh.
“I’m surprised you’re alive to speak about it.”
“There was a shift. I can’t really explain it. But things feel good between us.”
“Have you two talked?”
“Yeah, but I didn’t bring up my intentions because I want to start fresh. New. And I didn’t bring up the future because…” I shrug.
“You’re scared to.”
“I guess,” I reply honestly.
“How will you know if you’re wasting your time if you don’t talk to her?”
I shake my head. “I’m hoping to remind her how good we are together and show her what the future could hold. Hopefully, that keeps her here.”
“That’s a hell of a gamble, Blake. Have you told her how you feel?”
“In not so many words, yes. I guess.”
He shakes his head and then takes a swallow of his beer. “You need to talk to her and tell her how you feel and what you’re hoping for. You need to fill her in. You, of all people, should know that assuming can turn sour quickly. You never thought she’d leave. She left. Now you’re wishing on the stars that what you’re offering her is enough to make her stay. She’s got a life in another state.”
That irks me.
“There’s a lot of time and distance between the two of you. A lot of pain, a lot of love, and a lot of history, but you two are different now. What if you offer her the world and it’s not enough to keep her here? You’re setting yourself up if you don’t talk to her.”
Hadley comes bounding up the stairs, holding her jar filled with lightning bugs. “Look at tonight’s catch!” She shoves the jar in my face and points to one. “This little guy’s new name is Runt. Look how much smaller he is than the rest.”
“He’d still be good for fishing. Let me have that jar,” I tease her, reaching for it.
She snatches it away, tucking it close to her body and holding it like a protective mother. “No way!”
“Come on, Pipsqueak. I’ll fry us up a good dinner. I’ll even throw in those nasty beets you like so much.”
“You go to your house and get your own bugs.” She hands Rhett the jar and then curls up on my lap to give me a good-night hug. “I love you, Uncle Blake. Even if you’re mean to my bugs.”
Squeezing her, I kiss the side of her head. “Love you too, Pipsqueak, even if you’re going to let me starve.” I chuckle when she jerks up. “Good night.”
She takes her bugs and rushes into the house. Rhett stands to follow her but pauses. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
Three days have passed since Dakota spent the night with me. I haven’t seen her much since, but I have talked to her on the phone a few times. She’s been busy helping her ma get Granny’s house organized and then helping her dad fix part of the deck. I know she’s missed working with him. She’s told me so.
But today I need her help again. She meets me at the stables, dressed in a black tank top, shorts, and her boots, looking downright edible.
“What are you making me do this time?” she titters stepping in.
“We got some fixin’ to do.” I pat the back of my quad. “Hope on.”
She eyes the trailer full of supplies but doesn’t say anything as she climbs on. Immediately, her arms go around my waist and I love the feeling of her against me. Before I called her, I made sure Hunter knew to stay out of the area. I directed him to the east and south fields. There’s no need for anyone to come this way. I want my time with her alone. Been thinking about what all Rhett said and I guess I need to do some talking to her.
We pull up to the broken arbor and when she hops off the back, she’s grinning.
“You helped me build it. You’ll help me fix it,” I tell her.
And we do, getting straight to work putting back together something that brought us close years ago. It should have taken us forty-five minutes tops, but with all the flirting we’ve done, it’s taken over an hour. Not that I’m complaining. To see the gleam in her eyes, the sexy way she bites her lip, and the blushes… It’s causing some wild shit to blossom in my chest.
She puts her tools back in the box on the trailer and grabs two bottles of water, handing me one. I grab her wrist instead, pulling her against my body, and brush away a strand of hair that’s escaped from her ponytail.
Her gaze flips up to mine and her teeth sink into her bottom lip. I use my thumb and slowly pull it free. “You’ve only gotten more beautiful as time goes by,” I whisper.
A red tint paints her cheeks.
Bending my head to hers, I capture her mouth, slowly at first. With our lips fused, I take the bottles from her hands and drop them to the ground. My intentions are clear. She reaches up, trailing her fingers down between my pecs, over my stomach, and dips her hand under the hem of my shirt. Her touch leaves a trail of fire. Ignites a burning need deep in my gut as her fingers flex against my ribs, squeezing and pulling my body even closer against hers.
Reaching behind me, I yank my shirt over my head and love how she eyes me. Excitement. Desire. Want. I pop open the button on her shorts, dipping my fingers under the waistband of her blue lacy panties, and hit home when I find she’s wet… needy.
“You want me, Kota?” I breathe low and gravelly against her ear and then suck her earlobe.
A shudder runs through her. A soft moan that turns into a gasp as I press my fingers into her.
“So wet,” I hum. “So greedy,” I add when she rocks against my hand.
As my fingers work in and out of her, my thumb works her clit. She fumbles at my pants, snapping open the button, ripping down the zipper, and shoving her hand into my boxers. Gripping my dick, she begins to stroke with perfect pressure.
I love her touch. It drives me fucking wild. And the need to be in her ravages through me.
Quickly, I move us under the oak tree, the same one we’ve fucked under so many times before, and twist her around, placing her hands to the bark. I pull down her shorts, and place my dick at her entrance, dragging the head through her wetness and teasing her. She arches her back, gyrating her hips.
“What do you need, Kota?”
“You,” she breathes, pushing back. “Please.”
Smirking, I give her what she needs, shoving into her with one thrust. She gasps, her head falling forward, lips parted, eyes closed. Pushing in. Dragging out. I drive into her, giving her both long powerful strokes and short ones.
With one hand on her hip pulling her against my cock, I grab the back of her neck with the other one and give it a squeeze. Her moans are all around us—needy, breathy, hungry moans. I watch as the skin on her ass ripples every time I thrust in. The arch in her back deepens as her fingers dig into the tree.
“Fuck, Kota. You feel so good,” my voice is strained between each thrust.
When her pussy tightens around my cock, I pick up my pace until she shatters. Unravels. Explodes. My hand on her neck hauls her down, and I root deeply to the hilt, jutting into her as she falls apart. As she slows, I pull out of her, and lay her in the tall grass. Lifting her legs to my shoulders, I sink into her again, watching as her pussy swallows my dick.
“Fuck,” I groan, flicking my eyes to her face.
I’m greedy and savage, chasing my own orgasm as slam into her. I can’t get deep enough. I can’t get enough of her. Reaching between us, I massage her clit. Her body snaps and jerks, her eyes rolling closed, and then she dissolves again.
Her legs quake as she writhes against me. My pace turns frenzied, bucking and pumping. A fire erupts inside of me. Flashes in a shower of white-hot sparks sizzle around me, and as I barrel into my orgasm, I burrow deeply, groaning between a clenched jaw.
Releasing her legs, I drop on top of her, k
eeping most my weight on my elbows, and lower my head to her shoulder. My breath is ragged, just like hers. I love you is right there on my tongue again. Don’t leave me again is swirling around, but I can’t bring myself to say any of them. I’m scared I’ll ruin the moment.
So instead, we lie sweaty and sated underneath the oak tree she and I shared our first kiss under, where I took her virginity, where we shared our first I love yous.
“You good?” I grunt, unable to pick my head up yet.
“Fantastic,” she hums, drawing circles across my back. “So damn fantastic.”
I chuckle and place a kiss to her shoulder, then to her neck, and up her jaw. When I lift up to my elbow, I place more on the corner of her lips. “I love this damn tree,” I say and she giggles.
“Me too,” she adds.
After I pull out of her and clean us up, we get dressed and head back to the ranch with her arms around me on the ride, her hand in mine as we stroll into the barn… Just like old times.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Dakota
My heart shattered into a million tiny pieces with a single phone call I wasn’t expecting, nor was I ready for this morning. I have to go back home for a meeting on Wednesday. That only leaves me with three days here. I’m faced with leaving again, but this time, I don’t want to.
Not when I’ve spent so much time with my parents and Delaney, bonding and catching up.
Not when everything feels right between Blake and me. Not when I’ve screwed up and allowed myself to fall back in love with him. Madly. Wildly. Stupidly. I knew better—I frickin knew better—but I couldn’t stop my heart.
This time, I don’t know how I’m going to have the strength to leave.