‘Come for me, love,’ he demanded.
And she did. She gripped the back of his neck and arched her back on a long moan. The orgasm rocked her. Benji felt every tremor of it as it rippled through her and into him. He slowed his strokes and helped her ride out the wave, and when she slumped against him, he repositioned her so that her back was against the tiled wall.
He knelt in front of her and lifted her leg so that it was draped over his shoulder, used his thumbs to spread her for him, and then he satisfied his own greed by licking through her.
Her hot, salty taste filled him, driving him wild.
Sierra’s head fell back against the wall. Her hand found his hair and gripped.
‘What do you want, Sierra?’ he asked.
Her eyes popped open. She looked down at him, on his knees in the spray, and she grinned. She turned, placed her hands on the wall, and sent him another provocative look over her shoulder. She didn’t even say anything, only bent over, giving him a full view of her.
Benji’s blood blazed. And, still, he didn’t immediately hop to his feet and pump into her. He gripped her ass with both hands and angled his head so that he could taste her salty heat again, and it was only when she was moaning with the threat of the second orgasm that he pushed to his feet and, with one powerful stroke, buried himself in her.
The intensity of her closing around him stole his breath.
Sierra braced her forearms on the wall, supporting her weight, and Benji splayed his hands on either side of them. He scooped her wet hair off her back so that he could kiss the side of her neck, and when the urge to brand her filled him, he didn’t fight it. He sucked her soft skin into his mouth until he left a red hickey in his wake.
Sierra only looked back at him, her eyebrows raised mockingly.
‘You’re mine,’ he told her. ‘And it’s about fucking time everyone remembered it.’
Sierra grinned. She pressed her hips back, taking him impossibly deep.
Benji’s vision wavered. He linked their fingers, pressed them against the warm tile wall, said, ‘Hold on.’ He slowly withdrew until he was at her entrance and then pushed back into her in one powerful stroke.
Sierra cried out, ‘Yes!’
Benji couldn’t help it – he grinned. Because she might not have known it, but she was coming back to him. Slowly, but surely. Sparks of her were starting to burst through again, and they were bright and hot and dazzling.
Chapter 18
Because he had promised Poppy that he would take her for a ride, Benji headed back to the barn from the wrangler’s bunkhouse after he had changed his clothes, even though he had taken the day off.
He saddled Diablo and Zeph as Skye groomed and tacked up Smokey and four other horses for a trail ride at the hitching post next to him. Benji made conversation as they worked. ‘How did the barrel lesson go?’
‘It was good. Sierra gave me some really helpful tips and some drills to tighten the pocket around each barrel. I’m hoping I can practise a bit and then get her to come watch again.’
‘She’s the best we’ve got.’
‘Why doesn’t she ride anymore?’ Skye’s tone was cautious. She stopped brushing Smokey to give him her full attention. ‘I keep meaning to ask, but she’s a little scary. She’s not someone you can make personal conversation with right away …’
Benji’s grin was quick. ‘She is a little scary when you don’t know her,’ he affirmed. ‘But only because she’s had to learn how to be strong. On the inside – all marshmallow.’
‘Nah.’ Skye shook her head. ‘I don’t see it.’ She went back to brushing her horse’s legs, added, ‘You didn’t answer my question.’
‘If she wants to tell you, she will,’ Benji replied. Mostly because once people found out about the baby, they started looking at you differently, and Sierra hated the pity just as much as he did. But also, because he couldn’t quite say the words ‘Our baby died’. They were still too heavy. Too raw.
At some point, they would both have to start working through all that grief, but Benji didn’t want to push Sierra too hard, too fast. He was afraid that if he did, she would snap and push him away again. So, instead, he tiptoed around it, tiptoed aroundher.
For now.
But itwascoming.
Even though things between them had finally shifted, Benji could feel the water rising and pressing against that dam wall Sierra had built around herself. He could feel the weight of it – ofthem– in all the things that had gone unsaid.
But even knowing it didn’t stop that punch of love when Sierra and Poppy pulled up in the golf cart. Poppy was in jeans, a huge fleece jacket, and her Western riding boots. Sierra wore flared blue jeans, a white blouse, and a blue sport coat even though it was cold. Despite the relative casualness of the outfit, a pair of heels, these ones blue and white striped stilettos, still adorned her feet. Although she had always liked her fancy shoes, Benji couldn’t help but see these ones as a calculated defensive measure. They practically screamed ‘I won’t be riding’.
