19. Molly
Chapter 19
Molly
“I was terrified at first, being away from home for the first time in my life and on my own.” I shook my head as I sat cross-legged at the kitchen table, eating the spaghetti dinner we hadn’t gotten around to eating earlier. “It was like a whole new world, and I had to learn how to live in it.”
Colton smiled sweetly, a hint of affection in his eyes as he listened carefully. “But you did it. You didn’t give up and go back home.”
“No,” I sighed and smiled even wider as I thought back to that time. “It wasn’t even an option as far as I was concerned.”
“Determination.” He said that one word as if he was impressed, which was more than a little flattering from a man like him who not only had taken over his family business, but improved upon it.
“More like desperation,” I laughed. “I wanted to succeed on my own terms, to prove that I could. To myself.”
His gaze was searing, which was intoxicating. Had anyone ever paid such close attention to me before? Had anyone ever cared about the words that spilled from my mouth more? The quick answer was no, which caused a host of other questions to bubble up inside of me. “And have you?”
“Yes and no.” That was the god’s honest truth. “I feel as though I’ve done what I set out to do professionally, but I want to make more of an impact, you know?”
“I do,” he said around a big bite of spaghetti. “I want to know that I didn’t just use the land and the animals for profit, that I made a meaningful impact.”
“The sustainable techniques you use are a testament to the fact that you have done that, Colton.” My heart stuttered at the look on his face, pride and uncertainty, and I knew without a doubt that my heart, my body, my everything belonged to him.
“Thank you for saying that.” His gruff words put another smile on my face.
“You should really learn how to take a compliment, Colton.”
His lips tugged into a smile. “Now you sound like Sara.” He froze and sat up taller; my gaze zeroed in on his bare chest, his hard muscles, and the dusting of dark hair on his chest that led lower and lower before disappearing behind the waistband of his flannel pants. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be,” I insisted. Loving a widower meant getting comfortable with hearing about the person he loved first, possibly still did. “Tell me about her.” Part of it was curiosity, and another part was my desire to make sure Hunter knew about his mother.
His eyes took on a faraway look, and a wistful smile curled up the corners of his lips. I couldn’t deny the way my heart squeezed at the emotion welling up within him as he thought about his wife. “She was strong as hell and just as feisty. Sara never really belonged here on the ranch, though. I’m not sure if we would’ve made it if she’d survived.”
His words surprised me, but I kept my expression carefully neutral. “You don’t mean that.”
“I do. This place is my life; it’s where I belong.” Colton held my gaze as if he wanted me to know just how important McCall Ranch was to him, but it was unnecessary.
“This place is wonderful, Colton. Truly. But I can tell how much it is a part of you; it practically pulses through your veins.” The truth was that I couldn’t picture him anywhere else or doing anything else. Unlike boyfriends past, where I could see them living their full potential, becoming more than what they were at the moment. But with Colton, he was already where he was meant to be, doing exactly what he was meant to be doing.
“You really like it here?”
I nodded eagerly. “I do. I wasn’t sure about it at first; it was just a way to get away from the city and have a full-time nanny job. But this place is magical. The scenery and the peace, not to mention the goats. Life should always feature goats.” I couldn’t help but smile because every word I spoke was the truth. There was something slightly magical about being here, something that just allowed me to shrug off all the crap in life that weighed me down and prevented me from being happy, and forced me to find ways to be happy.
A gorgeous smile lit his face, and if there was ever any doubt about how I felt about this man, it vanished in that moment. I knew I loved him, that I wanted to make this ranch my home with him. That I wanted him and his little boy and all the ranch hands to become family to me.
It was an impossible dream, of course. Someday soon, Hunter would start school, and shortly after that, I wouldn’t be needed anymore. I would outlive my usefulness, and once again, I’d be on my way. I wanted to believe that wasn’t entirely true, but Colton had given no indication that this was anything more than a relationship of convenience, so I couldn’t let my heart and my mind run away with fairytales and fantasies.
“Hey,” he called with a frown. “Where did you go?”
I smiled far too brightly and shook my head. “I was just thinking about dessert,” I lied easily because the alternative was to spill out the contents of my heart to him and risk rejection.
“Dessert?” His brows lifted in question, and a heartbeat later, his gaze darkened. “What’s for dessert, Molly?”
“Either homemade chocolate sauce or you.” My heart galloped in my chest, and I leaned forward, letting him see the naked lust, the white-hot longing, the love I felt for him in my eyes, and then I smiled. “Or both.”
“I choose both,” he growled as he stood up, knocking his chair back as he reached across the table and hauled me over his shoulder like a caveman. I didn’t mind at all; I just held on tight as he carried us up the stairs and back to his bedroom, where he absolutely and completely ravished me.
Twice.
I fell asleep with my head resting on his chest, the steady beat of his heart sang me into a deep sleep where my dreams were filled with the life we could have together.
If only everything was completely different.
* * *
“You want me to do what ?” I sat up in bed and stared at Colton with my mouth hanging open.
He licked his lips and removed his shirt, tossing it over his shoulder as his mouth stretched into a smile. “Based on your reaction, you heard me clearly.”
Good God, why was his voice an octave deeper and infused with honey right now? My nipples beaded tight, and my breath caught in my throat. “Yeah, but I’m gonna need you to say it again. Slowly.”
“Okay.” He reached forward and circled his thumb and forefinger around my ankle before giving it a sharp tug. His smile returned when I gasped in shock at the commanding—and hot—move. “What I want, Molly.” His hands slid up from my ankles to my thighs and then my waist, gripping the hem of my shorts and tugging them down until I had no choice but to lift my hips. “Is for you to spread those lovely legs and let me see how you please yourself.”
Yeah, that’s what I thought he’d said. I blinked, and my brows dipped into a frown. “But you’re right here,” I pouted and reached out to rub my foot over his obvious erection. “Hard and ready.”
“I’ll still be hard and ready after I watch you sink those fingers knuckle-deep into that sweet pussy of yours. She’s already wet for me, isn’t she?”
I nodded, suddenly breathless and even more turned on by his dirty words. My legs fell open, revealing myself to him. “This is what you want?”
“It is,” he answered and watched the slow trek of my hand between my breasts and down my belly.
I stopped just at the mound and smiled. “Will this make you happy?”
“It will make me fucking ecstatic.” The truth of his words was written all over his gorgeous face. Those hazel eyes blazed gold with desire.
I swallowed down my nerves and let my fingers move a little further south until I felt the moisture seeping through my folds. He was right; I was completely soaked just by his words and his touch. Two fingers slipped down, and I opened myself to his gaze, the sounds of our breathless pants mixed with the sound of my wetness. “Oh, God.”
Colton grunted, and when my eyes fluttered shut, his nostrils flared and his jaw clenched tight. “More.”
I smiled, teasing my clit for a few minutes, utterly mesmerized by the way he watched me as if he was transfixed by me. That was a heady feeling, almost as hot as sucking him off, and I couldn’t get enough. My clit throbbed, and moisture flooded and wet the bedding. “Colton,” I moaned and slipped one finger inside of me. “Fuck.”
He licked his lips, so beautiful it took a Herculean effort to keep my eyes open because I didn’t want to miss one moment of him watching me.
A second finger joined the first, and his breathing grew harder, but he stayed where he was and simply watched me. I added a third finger and pressed my hand to my clit, which was the perfect combination to trigger the first strains of my orgasm. “Colt, please.”
“What do you need, Molly?”
“You,” I moaned as one hand slid up to my breast, cupping it roughly. Teasing him.
“Pinch your nipple.”
I did it without hesitation, and my hips bucked of their own free will. “Colton, yes. Please.”
The bed dipped under his weight, and the cool, gentle feel of his tongue on my other hole and then inside me sent me soaring to erotic heights I previously thought were just fantasy.
“Colton!” My hips bucked, but he held me still while my fingers pumped into my pussy and his tongue pleasured my ass. It was the longest, most intense orgasm I’d ever felt. I was full and sensitive everywhere as pleasure shot through me.
“Fuck, Molly.” The sound of his belt buckle hitting the floor came next, and then he was there hovering over me, staring into my eyes as he slowly sank into me. “I love the way your eyes flare and then roll back when I sink into you.”
“You feel so good.” I don’t know how I managed to speak as another wave of orgasm tumbled over me the minute he filled me up. “Colt.”
“The way you grip me is fucking perfect. Like this pussy was made just for me.”
His words caused more pulsing and clenching, and that seemed to snap his control. Colton pumped into me hard and fast, like a man possessed, and it felt so good, so raw. It felt as if he was claiming me as his own, and I reveled in that sensation because I wanted to. Because it felt so good and kept me on a razor wire of orgasmic bliss. “Colton, yes. Oh yes. Fuck!”
He growled again and gripped me tighter, pounding harder and so deep that I felt as if our souls were mingling together. Every stroke hit that spot that made rainbows appear behind my gaze. Every scrape of his pelvis against my clit sent me up higher and higher into one never-ending orgasm that tore me into a billion pieces, made me one with the universe before pushing me up even higher.
“Molly, baby.” He pressed his weight into me, kissing my neck and nibbling my shoulder. He sank his teeth into my flesh as if he just couldn’t help himself, and it was so hot that the final burst of orgasm tore through me and sent a rush of moisture between us that ripped through the last of his control. “Oh fuck. So damn good,” he growled as he pumped so hard the sound of damp skin smacking together filled the room. And then he erupted within me, filling me with the hot stream of his seed until he was totally spent.
“Wow,” I moaned as he gave me all of his weight. It was heavy, but his skin was hot and soft, his muscles hard, and his heartbeat against my chest in a hypnotic rhythm I found mesmerizing. “That was incredible.”
Colt pulled back and flashed a satisfied smile at me. “You’re incredible, Molly. And you put on one hell of a show.”
His words made me laugh, and I felt my cheeks flush hot. “I wasn’t sure I would like it, but watching you as you watched me was hotter than I ever could’ve imagined.”
“So you liked it?”
I nodded and cupped his face, kissing him softly and slowly. He wasn’t mine; I knew that, but right now in this moment, he felt like mine. Only mine. “A lot.”
“Me too.”
“Next time, I want to watch you fuck me. I think it might be hot to watch you sink into me, to see the way you stretch me out.”
With a grunt, Colton rolled over and pulled me close. “What you’re saying is that you want to kill me.”
I laughed. “No, but I think I’d like you to return the favor. Soon.” I curled into his side, pressed a kiss just above his nipple, and relaxed until sleep claimed me.