“So good.”
“I know and I'm going to ruin you for every man who comes after me,” he paused, his breath hot against my ear, his voice a low rasp that sent shivers down my spine. His eyes turned steely and intense, dark as storm clouds. “Fuck it, there won't be anyone else after me.”
The rough timbre of his voice, the way his fingers tightened possessively against my skin, the heat radiating from his body—it all made my heart race,and my breath catch in my throat. He was everything I wanted. Everything I needed. He gave me confidence. He gave me power.
Linking his fingers with mine Wilder began to move, slow at first, savoring every inch like he couldn’t get enough. And then faster, harder, deeper, every thrust pounding into the space between my legs and making me cry out his name.
“You feel that?” he growled into my ear, his hand sliding around to toy with my clit. “Say it, Brownie. Say every inch of you belongs to me.”
“Yes,” I said as the pressure continued to build until I was nothing but sensation. “Every bit of me is yours.” The wet slide of him, the rough heat of his hand on my clit, his voice growling filthy praise in my ear was too much, yet I wanted and took it all. My nails bit into the mattress, my cry muffled by the sheet and still he continued. Driving into me like he needed to feel every tremor, every aftershock that my body had to give. He held me up, his rhythm stuttering as my release milked him, roaring as he spilled deep inside me, his grip tightening like he’d never let me go.
For a moment, all we could do was breathe.
He didn’t let me go. Instead, he kissed my shoulder, then the back of my neck, then the place just behind my ear that always made me melt.
“Welcome home,” he whispered, pulling me against his chest and pulling us back onto the bed. “And just so you know, we both have the morning off.”
I curled into him, still trembling, and for a while, we didn’t speak. We didn’t need to.
But I knew that soon I’d have to tell him everything.
The fire had started to die down when I finally found the courage to speak. Wilder’s arm was heavy across my waist, his breath soft against the back of my neck. I should’ve waited, should’ve given us more time in that warm cocoon. But the truth itched inside my chest, burning more with every heartbeat.
“Wilder?”
He hummed, half-asleep. “Mmm?”
“I need to tell you something.” I swallowed, my voice quieter than I expected. “And I don’t want to, but I have to.”
Hestirred, his body tensing slightly behind mine. He didn’t speak, just waited, alert now.
I sat up, pulling the blanket over my chest. He followed, eyes on me, all the lazy post-orgasm haze gone.
“I’ve been meaning to tell you since before I left for Thanksgiving. I didn’t know how to bring it up.” I looked down at my hands, twisting the edge of the blanket. “But the longer I kept it in, the more it felt like a lie.”
“Tally…” he said softly. “Whatever it is, just say it.”
I lifted my eyes to his knowing this was the moment. I had to tell him now before I lost the nerve “I knew Nate. Before he started the development.”
His jaw clenched, but he didn’t speak. I kept going.
“I know how it sounds but I swear I have never done anything to betray any of you.” I paused, trying to gauge how he was feeling. What he was thinking. But all he gave me was a tight jaw and silence, so I carried on. “We’ve grown up together. He’s my brother’s best friend. Liam’s best friend.” My throat tightened. “We were neighbors and I’m like a little sister to him. He spent Thanksgiving with us.”
I watched his face, every twitch of his brow, every flicker in his eyes.
“When I brought Dreamy here I didn’t realize the development was Nate. Well, I knew he had a big new development in the pipeline, but I had no idea it was the one next to the ranch. I’d been in Kentucky, and I don’t really talk business with him. Then he turned up here to talk to you all after he’d been in Europe, and I panicked.”
He was quiet, too quiet. But his eyes never left mine.
“Then we started, and I still kept quiet because I didn’t know how to tell you. Plus, I was scared it would change something between us. Scared it would feel like I’d kept it from you on purpose. But I’m telling you now because I can’t stand the idea of there being anything between us that isn’t honest. I also swear that I didn’t tell him anything about the ranch or all of you. In fact, he was the one who said we shouldn’t discuss all of you. Any of it.”
Silence sat heavy between us, thick and uneasy. I could hear the fire pop and crackle, the wind tapping at the windows. My heart was hammering.
Finally, he spoke.
“Soyou knew him. He’s like a brother to you?”
“Yes.”
