That fucking laugh. It’s as soft and airy as the crisp morning air. It has wrapped itself tight around my heart. As tight as she has me wound around her pretty little finger. Blake pulls me intothe barn, slamming into me with a kiss before she lets out that beautiful sound again.
“What is going on in that pretty head, Dove?” I wonder as we make quick work of saddling Stormchaser, her favorite mare.
“In due time, stud,” she whispers back, giving a shake of her ass.
Glad to oblige, I give her a boost onto the horse, though she hardly needs it. She’s a natural—the horses gravitate toward her the same way my ranch hands do. They follow her lead and mind her every word. She’s got them all eating out of the palm of her pretty hand. I reckon I’m right there with them.
Climbing up behind her, I kiss the top of her head then give the horse a click. We set off at a slow trot, the rhythmicthud-thudof hooves against the damp earth a soft soundtrack. I guide Stormchaser up the ridgeline trail, the silhouette of the trees bleeding from ink-black to a deep purple. As we reach the crest of the overlook, I pull back on the reins.
“Look,” I whisper.
Right on cue, the horizon cracks open. A sliver of molten gold spills over the edge of the world. Below us the valley is still a blanket of white mist, making it seem as if we’re off in a world created for just us. Blake hums in appreciation, nestling back against my chest as we savor the sight.
Once the skies above burn warmer, I give Stormchaser a click so she continues on. We reach a perfect plateau, so I pull back on the reins. I slide off with a thud of earth, and she laughs when Stormchaser swats her tail at my manners. I start to pull my sweet bird down with me, but I hesitate.
Standing there, I just stare at her in the golden light. Jesus, I am in love with her. I don’t think I needed two weeks to know that. Hell, I don’t think I needed two days. But she’s given me a lot more than the one night she first promised. I want more—Iwant to take up all the space in her that he has taken up in me—but I am a patient man.
“Perfect place to watch the world wake up just for us, Dove,” I rasp.
Turning to me, she slides down with her own thud, wrapping herself around me the way that I love. Lowering my head, I knock my hat off her head as I kiss her until the sun is warming our skin. Snatching the blanket off the saddle, I back up beneath a sprawling oak.
“Hmm, does the boss think he might get lucky up here?”
“No, he got lucky last night,” I murmur against her lips before I break from her long enough to spread the blanket out. “Twice.”
We barely keep our hands to ourselves since I showed up in her bunkhouse. Only, we haven’t made love since the night we met. We have done everything else a man could dream of doing to the woman he is falling in love with. With a future I’m hanging my hat on and a past she won't leave behind wedged between us, we’ve not taken the space for it.
“I am a drunk,” her words startle me, sounding too loud and somehow so soft.
Whirling, I cock my head at her, horrified to see tears slipping down her cheeks, though she is beaming that beautiful smile. I start to go to her, but she holds a hand out to stop me. She needs this. To do this her way. I swore I would always give her whatever she needs, and she damn sure needs this.
“That night at The Barn, it was my first drink in almost a year. I went there to get drunk, Brooks. It was going to be my last big mistake, before I started here. Before I started over. I did not go looking there for anyone. Just a bottle to get lost in one last time,” her voice breaks but she laughs, her smile lighting up her beautiful face.
“I found you before you could,” I whisper, wondering if she is as thankful for that as I am.
“Yes, you did,” she closes the distance between us. Press close, she cradles my face in her little hands. “I was so lost, Brooks. When my uncle died...part of me did too. I went looking for other parts of me. My parents. Who they were. Which parts of them I had inside me. My mother’s wandering spirit. My father’s temper. It was all there. So was the addiction, the weaknesses, the faults,” her voice is whisper soft before she stops.
“Know what else is there? Your uncle’s love for the dirt, for those wide open spaces we joked about. That quiet thing you share with the horses. That smile that won my heart the moment it was aimed at me. Won the hearts of this entire ranch. That is all there too, Dove.”
Turning to me, she cocks her head with a sweet smile. There in the warm sunshine of the new day, she starts to unbutton her top. The way she is watching me watch her, I see she is taking off more than her clothes. I swallow hard as she lets the top fall off her shoulders. It bares her soft, teardrop tits to me before she palms them in her hands, teasing us both.
Draping her arm across her chest, she jerks her head at me. I just about tear my own shirt off, sending buttons flying. That fucking giggle sounds and I grunt, palming my cock as it punches greedily at my zipper. Blake makes quick work of her jeans but it’s when the tiny lace of her panties hits the dirt that I about to down on my knees.
“You’re beautiful,” as always, she says the words before I can, her jade eyes eating me up as we stand in the sunshine bare together. “I can’t get over how gorgeous you are, stud,” she hums before she moves, going down on her knees. It feels wrong for her to cater to me after all she just shared with me, but I know there is no stopping my woman once she makes up her mind.
“This is beautiful,” she says the same words she did that first night and I laugh because, fuck she makes me feel like an actual stud. Her mouth presses to the tip of my jutting cock and I hiss in pleasure, my fist gathering her dark hair at the nape of her neck. “Let me give you what you need, baby,” she purrs, those beautiful eyes hooded as they stare up at me.
“You have. Youdo, Dove,” I grunt when her tongue licks the length of me before she opens wide, taking me past her perfect, pink lips. “Ah, fuck.”
Blake hums with me deep in her throat, the vibration delicious as it ripples up my shaft. My head falls back as she swirls that tongue up, down, around, and down to my sac. Jesus, this woman. It’s not just about the sweet sucking pulse of her mouth, the warmth—it's how eager she is to please me, to make me grunt her name and plead for her to let me come in her mouth.
Anytime she touches me, she reduces me to this. I come apart for her in ways I never have anyone else. Not that there was someone else before her. Nothing else even comes close and I knew that the moment I saw her sitting at The Barn, even if I could not understand it. I had never taken a woman home for a night—she is my first and my last.
But from the first moment, I wanted more than just one night with her.
“So goddamn beautiful,” I husk as I brush my fingers through her hair, gathering it again at the back of her neck. Blake smiles up at me, preening as she pleasures me with that wicked mouth, taking me as deep as she can. I want to give her what she is working for. But I want more. This moment feels too important.
Up here on this hillside, with the world coming to life all around us. Moments after she shared a part of herself I know was hard to share. After I have accepted I am fully in love withher without a chance of shaking it off, I want more. I need more. And I sense so does she. I need to show her, even if the words would be too much just now, that it I mean what I say to her.
