Hope’s Highest Bidders

9. Cole

9

COLE

M y truck rocks across the gravel driveway. All the way home to Whiskey Run, I’ve held on to the steering wheel with a death grip. It was either that or reach for Sassy.

I’ve been hard and pissed off the whole time, and it’s not a good situation to be in. I’ve never been the type of person to be out of control or impulsive, but obviously if it involves Sassy, I’ll do just about anything. Even get married.

She’s been silent the whole way, but her soft voice fills the cab of the truck as we arrive at her house. “You’re mad at me.”

I ignore her. I don’t trust myself to say the right things, so maybe it’s better if I say nothing at all.

The lights are off at her barn and her house. I’m sure her father’s already in bed, so I turn off my lights as I park.

She starts to get out, and I tell her to stay.

Thinking she’ll listen, I get out of my side of the truck and walk around to find her shutting her door.

“I thought I told you to-“

“Stay? You did. But I’m not a dog. I don’t know why you’re mad at me. I didn’t ask you to come and bid on me.... to marry me.”

I take a step toward her. She still has my jacket on, but it does nothing to hide her heaving breasts from the little tirade she just had.

“Did you really think I’d just leave you there?”

She sort of deflates right in front of me. She puts her head in her hand, and I watch as she seems to gather her thoughts. She looks up at me. “Cole, listen, if I could go back, I would have just taken the money you offered me. Instead you’re out six million dollars, and you’re married to someone you don’t want to be married to. I know I messed up, but I’m going to pay you back. Somehow, some way, I’m going to pay you back every last penny. I just can’t stand you being mad at me.”

I pull her out from the front of the truck door and open it before setting her up in the seat. She’s turned to the side, her feet on the step and her knees out. I fit my body between her legs and lift her chin to look at me. “I don’t care about the money, Sassy. I care about you. I’d pay that over and over to make sure you’re okay.”

She leans forward. “Then why are you mad?”

I let out a deep breath and search her eyes in the moonlight. She has no clue. I lean forward and press my forehead to hers as I take big, deep, calming breaths. I have to keep reminding myself that she’s safe.

Finally when I feel I have some semblance of control, I lift my head. “I’m mad because anything could have happened tonight, Sassy. I know you wanted to save this ranch for your dad. I get that, I really do. But what about you?”

She shakes her head. “What do you mean?”

I blow out a breath. Does she really not know her worth? “I mean what about you? What if you were bought by someone that drank too much, that beat you, that hurt you? What if they wanted to take you away from here... away from me?”

She puts her stubborn nose in the air. “I didn’t have an option.”

I grunt. “As long as there is a breath in me, you have an option. I’m your option from now on, Sassy. Anytime you’re scared, worried, whatever. I’m your option.”

And because I can’t hold back anymore and she makes me want to lose control, I lean in to kiss her. She opens her mouth, and I slide my tongue along hers. I deepen the kiss, and it turns into a desperate mashing of our mouths together. All the emotions I’ve felt this evening I’m putting into the mating of our lips. I could have lost her tonight.

She whimpers, and I pull away, afraid I’m hurting her.

She reaches to hold me close. “No, please don’t stop.”

I put my hand on her chest and push her back on the seat. She lies down, propped up on her elbows, looking at me. My jacket that she’s wearing has fallen open, and her nipples are hard under the night’s cool air. Her white nightgown that barely covered her ass has risen up to her waist. Fuck, I know I shouldn’t, but I can’t stop. I slide my hand from her chest, down her stomach and to the apex of her thighs. I touch her through the silk material and find that she’s soaked.

I push the barely there material to the side and slide my finger through her wet slit. When I brush over her clit, she groans. My voice is gruff. “You don’t get it, Sassy. If I wasn’t there, someone else would be touching you like this right now.”

I circle her clit, and her hips start to lift up and down. “Some other man would be touching you, pleasing you, thinking that you were theirs.”

Already she’s so close. I apply more pressure. “Do you hear what I’m saying, Sassy? Another man... fuck, I don’t even want to think about it. That’s why I’m mad. I could have lost you tonight. You could have had another man’s last name, and I couldn’t let that happen. You’re mine now, honey. Mine.”

I bend over and press my tongue to her throbbing clit. Her taste hits my tongue, and I devour her. I’m relentless as I give her pleasure. Her hand goes to the back of my head, and she holds me there one second and then starts pulling my hair the next. She’s so close, and I won’t stop until she explodes on my tongue.

I slide a finger inside her just to my knuckle and push in and out. Her body tenses, and all at once, her hips lift, and she starts to writhe underneath me. She grunts and groans, and the whole time, I keep my mouth on her clit with my finger pumping inside her. Her body rolls with the orgasm, and I lap at her, savoring the taste.

When she falls limp against the seat of my truck, I kiss her mound one more time and then stand up. She’s primed, and it would take nothing for me to pull my hard cock out and take her. She wouldn’t stop me.

But this is not the way I want things to happen. She’s been through enough shit today, and I need her head right for when I do finally take her. I need it to be her choice... not because of some auction or a feeling that she owes me. I’ve taken enough from her tonight.

I help her out of the truck, and when she stands on her two feet, her legs about buckle.

I swing her up into my arms and carry her up onto the porch. I reach for the front door, and it’s unlocked. I don’t dare carry her across the threshold. No, I need to put some distance between us.

“Goodnight, Sassy. Lock this door.”

She shakes her head in confusion. “But...”

“I’ll see you soon,” I tell her before forcing myself to turn and walk away. With her taste still on my tongue, it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.