CHAPTER 31
COLT
B y the time we pulled into the drive, Ruby was already fast asleep in the back seat, her breathing slow and even, her paper crown slipping over one eye.
She’d given up fighting sleep miles ago, the aftermath of too much sugar and an evening spent shrieking with laughter on rickety carnival rides.
Her arms were still clamped around the neck of that ludicrously large stuffed bear, and I smiled as I watched her in the rearview mirror.
I shut the engine off and sat for a minute, listening to the hush of the night as it unfolded around us. I glanced over at Blaire, and she was staring straight ahead. She didn’t look over at me, but I could see her jaw working and the way she picked at her nails.
I pushed open my door and circled around the truck, careful not to slam it shut and wake Ruby. I opened Blaire’s door, and I stepped back as she finally looked up at me. She studied me, as if searching for proof this wasn’t the kind of night that would fade by morning.
I waited. I could wait all night if she needed me to. The years had taught me patience in work, in loss, in knowing that nothing worth having came easy or fast, and tonight was not a night to hurry anything.
I reached my hand out, and she took it before bracing her other hand on the seat and swinging her legs out.
I fought the urge to wrap my arms around her and pull her close, even though the distance between us felt unbearable.
But I stepped back, giving her space, and she climbed out of my truck before her hand slid out of mine.
I opened Ruby’s door and unlatched her seat belt and pried the bear from her arms, scooping her out in one practiced motion.
She barely stirred. She melted against me, her hair tickling my jawline, and the full length of her small body pressed to mine.
I could feel her heartbeat, slow and steady, against my chest, and I tried to calm my own to match it as I breathed her in.
I felt Blaire at my back as I carried Ruby up the steps and through the front door.
Normally I would have expected her to hang back, invent an excuse to disappear before things got too soft or too real, but she stayed close.
She walked through the door right behind me and let it shut gently at her back before she locked it.
In Ruby’s room, the day’s chaos lay scattered over every surface, proof of a life lived with joyful abandon, and I nearly tripped over a half-finished drawing and crayons on the floor.
It was a picture of me, Ruby, and Blaire, all three of us holding hands, and I couldn’t stop the ache in my chest as I stepped over it.
I shifted Ruby in my arms, careful not to jostle her, and laid her on her bed. She sighed and snuggled into her pillow. Blaire bent over, quickly untying Ruby’s shoes and pulling them from her feet.
“Good night, Ruby,” Blaire whispered before tucking that giant stuffed bear Ruby loved beside her and her blanket over her. She smoothed the tangle of Ruby’s hair from her forehead, pausing to stroke her cheek, and I saw something in Blaire’s face that twisted my insides.
She loved my girl.
“She had fun tonight,” she whispered.
I nodded, swallowing past the knot in my throat. “She did. Too much fun. I’m going to have to hose off her sheets tomorrow.”
“You’re the one who let her have the cotton candy in the truck.
” Blaire jabbed her finger into my chest. I caught her wrist in my hand, holding it captive against my chest. Her skin was warm, and I could feel her pulse racing under my thumb.
She tried to pull back, but I didn’t let her.
We stood there, bodies close, and the thin space between us became charged as her breath hitched.
“Come to my room tonight.” My voice was ragged, stripped bare by the need I couldn’t hide anymore. “No more sneaking. No more pretending.”
Blaire’s lips parted, a soft gasp escaping her, and when her tongue swept across her bottom lip, I had to clench my fist to keep from claiming her mouth right there. She nodded once, the movement barely perceptible, but the electricity that shot through me nearly brought me to my knees.
I let my fingertips graze hers, the lightest touch sending shock waves up my arm. When I tugged her toward me, the small sound that escaped her throat made my blood surge hot beneath my skin.
Each step down that hallway was torture.
My heart slammed against my ribs, and her fingers tightened around mine with each step.
The floorboards creaked beneath us, counting down the years of waiting and wanting.
For almost a week, Blaire and I stole moments, but always ended with one foot back in reality.
Tonight, I wouldn’t hold back. I wanted to consume her whole, to surrender everything I was to her until I couldn’t remember where I ended and she began—until there was nothing left of me but the parts she’d marked as hers.
I pushed my bedroom door open, then forced myself to hold it for her like some goddamn charade of civility while every bit of my body screamed to claim her.
She brushed past me, the curve of her hip grazing mine, and the scent of her skin made me groan.
I let the door close behind us, my breath coming in ragged bursts as the lock clicked into place.
We didn’t bother with the lamp. Moonlight carved Blaire’s silhouette against the window, and my body ached with a hunger that had been building for years.
I crossed the room in two strides, my cock already straining against my jeans.
My fingers dug into the soft flesh at the nape of her neck and pulled her to me, a groan escaping me at the first contact of her body against mine.
Our mouths collided with such violent need that nothing existed beyond the heat of her lips and the way she clawed at my shoulders, her hips already seeking mine.
We hit the mattress like a breaking wave, tangled in the undertow of each other.
Blaire’s fingers twisted in my hair, yanking my head back, her lips hungry and bruising against my mouth.
There was the sharpness of her touch, the taste of her tongue, the desperate way we clawed at each other’s clothes.
Years of restraint had snapped like a dam giving way, and now we were drowning in each other, desperate not to come up for air.
I grabbed the hem of her shirt, ripped it over her head, and brushed my open mouth over her bare skin until I lost myself in the taste of her.
She dragged her teeth down my neck, her breath shaking against my skin.
I could feel her heartbeat against my chest, frantic and wild, and it made my heart pound so hard I could feel it through every inch of me.
There was no more hesitation, no carefulness left between us. It was just the fevered devotion of people who’d run out of reasons not to love each other.
And fuck, I did love her.
I’d loved her for as long as I could remember, and I’d never stopped. It was as deeply rooted in me as the old oak trees on this ranch. It weathered storms and droughts, but it still held strong.
She pushed on my shoulders, flipping me onto my back and straddling my hips as her hands braced on my chest. Her hair fell around her face, a wild curtain of auburn curls, and in the moonlight’s haze, I saw her eyes. They were dark, determined, and so full of longing it split me wide open.
I fumbled with the hook of her bra, and she laughed before she reached behind her back and undid it herself.
“Fuck, you’re everything.” My voice broke as I seized her neck, fingers digging into her pulse before dragging down her chest, claiming every inch of her bare skin that burned beneath my palm.
She whimpered as she ground against me, and I surged forward, teeth sinking into the curve where her neck met her shoulder.
Her cry echoed through the darkness as I moved lower, my mouth closing around her nipple.
She arched into me as she moaned, fingernails clawing at my scalp, pulling me harder against her as if she’d die without the pressure of my mouth.
I hooked my thumb into the waistband of her shorts and popped the button.
My hand plunged beneath, finding only the thin barrier of cotton, already drenched.
The heat of her pussy was intoxicating, and I couldn’t stop myself as I dragged my fingers roughly along her slit through the fabric, savoring her desperate whimpers that vibrated against my mouth.
“You’re still so needy for me,” I growled, yanking her panties to the side. Her hips bucked against me when my fingers finally met her bare flesh. “Fuck, you’re dripping for me, baby.”
I parted her with my fingers, finding her clit and making her gasp against my mouth. I circled it slowly at first, teasing, and watched her eyes flutter closed as her hips strained toward me. Then I pressed harder and moved faster until she bucked against my hand.
Her body burned in my memory, but time changed her. There was so much new ground that I was desperate to claim.
“Colt,” she whimpered my name, and her nails dug into my shoulders as she writhed harder against me.
I crushed my mouth to hers, savoring the taste of her, then flipped her roughly onto her back, pinning her beneath me.
I raked my hands down her flushed skin, feeling the heat rise beneath my palms before I pulled her boots off one by one and dropped them to the ground.
Then I hooked my fingers into the sides of her shorts and panties, tearing them down her legs.
I pulled my shirt over my head in one rough motion, tossing it blindly into the dark. Blaire’s gaze turned hungry as she watched me undress, her breath coming in shallow gasps, and her thighs already parting wider for me.
I moved between those thighs, gripping them in my hands, and dragged her to the edge of the bed. Her gasp cut through the darkness as I traced my hand up her leg, skimming my fingers over her clit.