“Touch me, Tobes. Please,” she begs so damn sweetly. I have to kiss her just to stop myself from losing control like my body and soul wants me to.
“I can’t stop,” I groan, dragging my lips along her jaw. Sucking her lobe between my teeth, I find myself loving the sounds that escape her mouth. It’s making my body burn all the more for her… for us. For everything completing the Call now means.
My heart punches my chest as I make my way down her body, kissing, licking, and tasting. Her silky skin, every line of muscle, every soft curve. She holds on to me, gripping me tight, rubbing, stroking, mewling, moaning. It’s everything I’ve fantasized about and more.
“So good, Tobes. Need you so much. I can barely breathe without it,” she says on a whimper.
Bracing my arms on either side of her, I look down at her. “Whatever you wanna do, however far you want this to go, I’m right there with you, love. Havin’ you here with me, kissin’, touchin’, that’s enough for me.”
Dee presses her palm to my face, the other one sliding down my back to grip my behind. I bite back a grin because the determined light in her gaze is telling me she means business.
“I want it all, Toby. I’ve been fightin’ not to jump you since the kissin’ booth last night. I want every damn thing with you, and I hope you don’t think of me as bein’ demandin', but—" she lifts her head so she's all I can see, "—I ain’t leavin’ this bed until I’m yours in every way I can be and you’re—”
"I'm yours, Skippy. Don't ever doubt it," I reply, staring deep into those brown orbs of hers that have had me bewitched from the day we met.
“Make love to me,” she murmurs against my lips like a whispered oath. “Show me you love me the way I love you.”
I don't hesitate, why would I when everything I've ever wanted and been dreaming of is finally going to be mine. "I love you, Dee. Always will."
“Oh, thank goodness, because I love you enough for the both of us and then some.”
Then there’s no more talking. She pulls me down and crushes her lips to mine, our tongues waging a war that we’ll both win regardless.
Something changes and it’s like I’m crawling out of my skin, needing to have her and needing it more than my next breath.It’s time to give everything I have to her and take everything she’s offering me in return.
Not willing or wanting to waste any more time, I drag my way down her body and push her legs wide with my shoulders. She hooks her ankles behind my back just as I dive between her thighs, tasting her for the first time and groaning as everything that's Dee overwhelms my senses.
Her strained whimpers fill the air as her fingers flex against my scalp, and I have to roll my hips against the mattress to get some much-needed friction and keep my body under control. It doesn't work though, and neither do her pleas for more. All they do is make me throw caution to the wind.
The sensation heightens my sense of urgency, and her moans drive me wild with want. My own arousal is fierce and demanding, my body clamoring for release as I devour her, stroking her slick heat, wanting to take her over the edge to ecstasy.
I’m not sure whether I rise over or she jerks me up, but soon enough I'm pushing my tongue back into her mouth and lining myself up at the apex of her thighs.
With our eyes locked and our promised words of love binding us together, I slowly drive deep inside her, burying myself to the hilt and finally claiming her as my One just as she claimed me the moment she walked into my life.
It's then, under the dancing lights shining down on us from the sky above, that we complete the Call, and link our lives together once and for all.
21
DEE
Tobes and I wake up three times during the night as if we need each other more than sleep. It's thrilling, fulfilling, and oh-so-satisfying.
There are no more butterflies, no more buzzing under my skin, it's like my body, mind, and soul all know that I'm right where I belong and with the person I was always meant to be with. My destined partner, myeverything.
What’s even more amazing is that I know I’ve found my home in Toby Graham, and I can’t wait to start our lives together in a much more permanent way back at Bull Mountain.
We’re like giddy teenagers the whole drive back to the ranch and when I tell him that I’d love to stay in Alaska, he pulls the truck into the nearest rest stop so we can make out like randy teenagers.Not complaining about that either!
Now it’s two days after Christmas and we’re back in Spring Haven to attend a town party on Main Street to celebrate the Holly Jolly Christmas Cup win.
Everyone’s there–the Sallys, Mags, Landry and Star, Lee and Colt, Rhett and Cora, Red, Wyatt, and the townsfolk that all helped the town be named the most Christmasy place in the mountain range.
After a few hours outside with speeches and a ceremonial presentation of the trophy, where the town mayor jokes about creating a Toby and Star Day to commemorate their victory, all of us Bull Mountain Ranch folk move to the diner for a small, more private dinner Mags had organized.
The funniest and most heartwarming part is when Toby and I walk in and they all erupt into a round of applause and cheers, making Toby chuckle and me bury my face in his chest to hide my burning cheeks.
Once dinner is served–many plates piled high of corned beef hash, Red's Moose Stew, Mags's Blueberry Pie, and even a duck-shaped cake in homage to the menace of the ranch himself–Red taps a fork against his beer bottle to quiet everyone before standing up at the head of the table.
