I take a step closer, and the moment I lean in, her lips lift into a smile. Our mouths touch and it’s gentle at first, like a first kiss despite the fact that we’ve done this countless times now. She moans as my tongue slips into her mouth before gripping me tighter until the kiss turns ravenous.
“Need you,” she mutters.
“Not nearly as much as I need you.” I lean down and scoop her up, carrying her back down the steps.
“Where are we going?” she asks on a laugh.
“The cottage. I don’t want to risk anyone interrupting us. Tonight is all about you.”
“It’s about us,” she says, and then she’s kissing my jaw, my neck. By the time I kick open the door to the cottage, we’re both impatient. I stalk toward the bedroom but slow the moment we get to the bed. Gently, I place her feet on the ground. Then I kneel in front of her, easing her pink boots off her feet. I press my lips to the inside of her ankle before staring up at her.
“In case you didn’t know, I’m crazy about you, Tally.”
Tally’s eyes are warm as she reaches down to stroke my face. “Oh, Cowboy. I’m a bit obsessed with you, too.”
I suck in a surprised breath. “Thought we weren’t supposed to share our feelings.”
She rolls her thumb across my lip. “Nah, we weren’t supposed to catch feelings. Though I thought you’d noticed I don’t always play by the rules.” She pauses before pushing on. “I don’t know what this is, or what we’re doing, but I don’t want to stop.”
I nip at the side of her thumb. “Good, because I don’t plan on letting you go.”
I undress quickly, but I take my time with her. I start with the bottom buttons on her dress. I swear she buys dresses with buttons just to fuck with me. Though I can’t deny I love taking my time with her. Love the way her breath hitches as my hands get close to her pussy. And the way she trembles as I make my way to her breasts until her dress finally falls open and I’m the one with my heart in my throat.
“You’re so fucking beautiful, Tal. I could stare at you for the rest of my life and still not get enough.”
“Walker.” Her voice is a soft rasp.
I start at her thighs, taking my time to pepper every part of her body with kisses until I’m straddling her, my cock heavy and aching to be inside her.
I hold myself above her, not sure if there are words to express the way I feel as I hover right between this moment and the next. Knowing that I’ll be chasing this feeling for the rest of my life.
I almost tell her. Almost whisper the words that don’t even begin to describe what I’m feeling.Love. The word is trivial in comparison to this, to the way this woman has healed me, the way my heart settles when she’s near. How all the darkness makes sense to me now that she’s shown me the light.
“Walker.” My siren calls to me, and since I don’t have the words, I dip my mouth to hers and slide inside her. We rock back and forth slowly as I make love to this woman, pushing her hands up above her head, linking our fingers, and staring into the eyes that have become my home. I kiss down her neck as I roll my hips, never once pulling out fully, keeping our bodies as connected as our souls.
She shatters around me without warning, and as she comes apart in my arms, crying out my name, I revel in the feel of her and hold myself back. I make love to her for hours, keeping myself right at the edge. I fuck her from every angle, softly, gently, then roughly as I tug on her hair from behind and bite down on her neck. Devouring every ounce of her pleasure, I don’t stop until she’s crying out and begging for me to empty inside her. Only then do I give her the last of me.
CHAPTER 40
Tally
Iwake up deliciously sore, wishing I could relive last night a hundred times over. From the moment Walker kissed me on my daddy’s porch, I knew things had changed. Then he had to go and carry me to this cottage—a place I’ve come to lovingly think of as ours—and settled me on the bed, slowly undressing me until I knew in my soul that this man is it for me.
The banter during the last few weeks has been addictive, but last night was real, and so much more than a first date. I’ve only been here a little more than a month, and in that time Walker and I have been slowly getting to know each other, but now we’ve peeled back another layer. We’ve taken off the proverbial armor, and we’re letting each other in.
So when he crawled on top of me, I didn’t tease him about needing his cock in my mouth, or ask how many times he thought he could make me come. And when he finally sunk into me, he took my mouth in the sweetest of kisses, and I swear something inside me flipped.
Waking without him here now has my mind racing. I rush to get dressed and run through the fields in search of him. And when I find my mother instead, and she tells me she saw him fixing the banister up at the house, I run until I can stand and watch as he tightens each of the porch railings under the early morning sun.
What have you done to me, Jesse Walker?
—
The next two weeks continue in much the same way. There’s so much work to be done, but Walker makes sure I know how important I am to him every chance he gets. We missed Tally Tuesday this week because the mattresses were delivered and we spent the day finalizing the last details on the cottages. The Hall ceremony is this weekend, and guests are arriving tomorrow for the welcome dinner, which will be held at the brewery.
It’s also officially May, which means I leave in three weeks. I couldn’t be less ready.
I promised him another day like we had last week, when we hid out here in the cottage and he read me the book club pick. I never knew how I felt about a woman being taken by two men, but after hearing Walker read it aloud, fuck, I was sweating. Walker assured me we would never be acting out any of those scenes with anyone else, but I didn’t mind. Walker’s dirty mouth and smiles are enough for me.
