Rodeo Christmas at Evergreen Ranch (Gold Valley #13)(74)

“It’s what you wanted,” he growled against her slick flesh, lapping at her with the flat of his tongue. “You wanted to play games with this dress. With this fantasy. So let’s play games. But we’ll play by my rules.”

“Don’t torture me,” she sobbed. “I need you.”

“You have me.” He looked up from his position between her legs and she was certain that she couldn’t take anymore. Certain that she was going to expire on the spot. Then he pinched her. Right there. And set her flying one more time.

She was limp and boneless when she realized that he had moved up her body, that he was sitting her up and unzipping her dress, stripping her naked. He took her bra off, his eyes glittering as he looked down at her breasts.

“You’re beautiful.”

“Tell me again.”

“You,” he said, leaning in and taking one nipple between his lips, sucking hard, then blowing on her wet skin. “Are beautiful.”

He created a symphony of desire in her that she hadn’t known was possible. Made her feel things, want things, she hadn’t been aware existed until recently.

“The most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. The strongest. You’re incredible.”

And she felt it. Right then. All the way to her soul.

But there was something bleak in his expression that made her wonder if he knew how amazing he was. Because he had poured it all out onto her. All of his praise, all of his admiration, and what had she given in return?

Orgasms.

He knew that she wanted him, because she could hardly hide it. But it wasn’t everything that she felt. How could she begin to put that into words. So she sat up, launching herself onto his lap, straddling him, completely naked as she did so, the rough denim scraping against her thighs and that soft, melting place between them.

The buttons of his shirt rubbing against her breasts. “You’re beautiful,” she said, kissing his chin, then opening her mouth and biting it. “You make me want to do... Crazy things. Dirty things. I don’t even know if they’re real things. I just know you make me want them. I want to climb your body. Like a tree.”

“Damn,” he said, his voice like gravel.

“You know how wet you make me.”

“Cal...”

She started to unbutton his shirt. “Your chest is amazing.” And more words tumbled out of her mouth. Without thought. Without planning. She didn’t know if they were elegant or sexy or anything other than ridiculous.

But she talked about all the things that she wanted to do to him. The way that she wanted to taste him. How badly she wanted him inside of her.

And by the time he was naked, his hands were shaking as he flipped her onto her back on the couch and settled between her legs.

He had paused only to put on a condom, and she had to stop herself from begging him to do it without one. A moment of insanity that she could hardly believe had risen up inside of her. Because condoms were important. She didn’t want any consequences from their time together. For a host of reasons. But there was something primal about her desire to be with him. Skin to skin, nothing between them. To experience being filled by him.

He made her something entirely new. Or maybe it was just something whole. Complicated and difficult to reconcile, and there was a host of realizations that went with that but she wasn’t entirely certain she was ready to deal with that. He pressed the head of his hardness to her slick entrance, and pushed into her slowly. She groaned as he filled her. As stars burst behind her eyes. And when he was fully seated inside of her, his eyes met hers, and she was overwhelmed yet again by the sensation of Jake.

He was...

He was in her. And it was perfect. He was her best friend. And he was her husband. He was her teacher, her lover. And she felt overwhelmed by the need to be just as many things to him as he was to her. To find a way to fill the need that she sensed inside of him. The endless well of darkness that she could see behind those eyes in his unguarded moments.

She wanted to make promises to him. Wanted to tell him things. Things she hadn’t even let go fully formed in her own mind.

But she was afraid. So she kissed him. So she kissed him and rocked her hips, and took his every thrust. His every growl of pleasure. Swallowed every groan of desire that escaped him. He pounded into her until the couch proved too narrow for the intensity of their need, and he braced himself against it, lowering them both to the floor, without breaking off where they joined. The floor was hard against her tailbone, and he was merciless with it. But she didn’t care. Because it was perfect. It was everything. And they were on fire.

Words rained down in her mind like a thunderstorm. Promises. Declarations of need. And when he shattered, so did she. His pleasure like a thunderclap that radiated through her body and pushed her over the edge.

They lay there, tangled in each other, breathing impossibly hard. It was the only sound in the room.

“If that’s what dressing like a lady gets me,” she said. “I’m going to do it more often.”

She was exhausted, too exhausted to move. But he chuckled, and lifted her up off the ground, pulling her against his body. She kissed him. Willing him not to leave her. And he didn’t. He gathered her up against him, and carried her down the hall. Carried her into her bedroom, where he set her on the bed, and put the blankets over her.

“Jake...”