Chapter 22
M y crying eventually subsided from violent sobs to soft sniffles, my body stiff and exhausted. I moved away, wincing at the wet patch of tears on Branch’s shirt. “Sorry.”
Branch cupped my cheek and kissed me softly. “Never be sorry for using my strength when you need it.” He gave me one more tight hug. “One day I’ll need yours and I know in my soul, you’ll be there to hold me together too.”
God. I loved him. I swallowed hard and shifted onto creaky knees before standing. I put a hand out for Branch. He took it, although he didn’t really need me to pull him to his feet, but he didn’t let me go either.
I moved out of my father’s room, and I noticed Branch putting the picture frame on the dresser on the way out. I shut the door softly behind us, like I could close all those feelings behind the polished wood doors.
The next room was mine, and it was a little barren.
And messy. It looked like it had been tossed by home invaders.
“Your aunt came through and gathered some of your stuff. She wouldn’t let Mom help, even though Mom knew what you’d want.
I’ve never seen Mom so close to punching a person.
My dad had to drag her out of the house.
But me and Beau stayed and watched. Worst day of my life, watching her steal you from me. ”
His voice sounded thick, and I stepped into the room of Tessa May from Before. She was a more innocent person. She believed the world was good and hers to conquer. She was only partially right.
My bedspread was some weird concoction of tulle and satin, the only girly thing in the whole room.
I laughed as I ran my hand over it. I’d gotten it from Judy for my thirteenth birthday, because she said I was a woman now and I had to learn that women were superior.
We didn’t have to give up our femininity to be one of the boys. We could be both; we could be anything.
Branch whistled between his teeth. “You know, when I was eighteen, I had a recurring fantasy of laying you down on that bedspread and making you mine. Making love to you until all you could do was whisper my name in that smokey voice that had no right belonging to a seventeen year old girl.”
“What are you waiting for?” I looked from Branch to the bed, my emotions raw but the rightness of the statement echoing in my heart.
Branch groaned. “Tessa May…” He shifted on his feet. “You… I… you were crying a moment ago. You are emotional. I won’t take advantage of you.”
I laughed, and it was real mirth. “Damn, Branch. Shut up and kiss me right now.”
He growled but launched himself at me, dragging me to his chest and kissing me with possessive heat.
I untucked his shirt, sliding my hands beneath the button down to trace the hard lines of his torso.
I just needed to touch his skin. We must have had the same idea, because his fingers quickly tugged at the sides of my shirt and tore it open.
I sent up a silent hallelujah for snap buttons at that moment.
I tried to get my fingers to work on Branch’s normal buttons, growling against his lips as I kept fumbling.
I stomped my foot and tore my lips away from his.
“Naked. Now.”
His grin was wide and his dimples, those damn dimples, flashed. “Yes Ma’am.”
I watched like he was opening the big present under the tree on Christmas morning.
When he lost his shirt and pulled off his undershirt, revealing beautiful, tanned abs, my mouth actually watered.
I cleared my throat, dragging my eyes back up to his smug face.
I lifted my chin haughtily. “Now your pants.”
“Nuh uh, Nugget. Your turn. Take it off.”
I raised both my eyebrows. “Oh is that how it's going to be?”
He nodded and grinned, but his expression changed into something so hot it branded me as I slipped my bra off my shoulders, the cooling evening air making my nipples pebble. He reached out to touch, but I smacked his fingers.
“Nuh uh, Branch,” I mimicked. “Your turn.”
I’ve never seen a man remove the rest of his clothes so fast. One moment he was standing there in jeans and boots. Next minute, he was naked and glorious and I was about to swallow my tongue as I gasped.
I was done playing. I had my boots gone and I was tugging at my jeans even as I went to him.
His mouth caught mine again, his fingers nudging mine out of the way as he stripped me from my jeans and I kicked them off.
His arms were under my ass and he was lifting me so I could wrap my thighs around his hips, pressing my aching core to his abdomen, his cock nudging at my ass.
He spun us to the bed, both of us falling onto its silken top.
He tore his mouth away from mine, kissing down my throat and then capturing one of my nipples between his lips and sucking hard.
“Fuck, Branch!” I breathed. My nipple popped from his mouth and he sat back up onto his knees. He took me in, his eyes eating up my body and the moment. “This is even better than I could have imagined.”
My laugh morphed into a moan as his teeth and tongue traveled across my overheated flesh.
He moved off the bed and onto the floor, dragging my body to the edge, until my legs hung off the side.
He lifted my knees and put them over his shoulders, and I lost the ability to think.
The first biting kiss on my thigh and I swear I was going to combust. When he lapped at my core in one long stroke, my toes curled against his back.
When he swirled his tongue around my clit, I gave myself over to the sensations as he ate my body like a starving man.
He swirled, sucked, and nibbled my body like it was his favorite meal.
My legs shook as the pleasure built to unbearable levels.
“Branch,” I gasped as I came, grinding my body against his face, my thighs tight to his head. He groaned against my pussy and the vibration set me off again. Holy shit. My body arched and I wrapped my fingers in his hair, holding him where he was and wanting to drag him where I wanted him too.
My legs went lax and he looked up at me from between my thighs and the smug grin on his face had me grinning back. “Well, if you ever give up bull riding, you have a promising career as a porn star.”
He laughed and crawled up my body, and I scooted back toward the pillows. His naked body ran over mine, and he kissed me, his tongue dipping into my mouth. His steel hard cock nestled against my entrance like a heat seeking missile.
He swore softly under his breath. “I didn’t bring any condoms. I didn’t plan this.”
I wrapped an ankle around his ass, pressing him closer until we were both moaning at the slow stretch of the head of his dick. “I’m on the pill. And clean,” I moaned, my body curling, chasing the feeling that was only inches away.
“I am too. Fuck, Tessa May. I… this…” He seemed to lose the words, instead sliding into me one slow inch at a time.
And there seemed to be never ending inches.
How that didn’t hurt while riding bulls was beyond me.
My whole body wrapped around his, we were still and one for a moment.
Our breathing mingled, his face so close to mine.
I could see those three words that wanted to pass his lips, he was all but yelling them from his eyes.
Then he rolled his hips, hitting a sweet spot and I moaned.
It was like a starter gun, and he began sliding back out and slamming in again until I was a moaning, clawing animal, and sweat dampened our skin.
He made love to me in a slow, languid yet purposeful way that was so Branch. He wasn’t going to be hurried, but he was going to wring out every last ounce of pleasure from my body before he was done.
He lifted one of my thighs, putting it over his shoulder until he was hitting so deep, scraping against my g-spot and making my moans bounce around the room until they echoed back at me.
“Branch, oh god. I’m going to come, please,” I whined but I wasn’t sure what I was begging him for.
Whatever it was, Branch knew and delivered, his body rolling, grinding deep, until he was hitting my clit and my g-spot in one stroke and I was coming in a screaming mess.
He came with me, his body filling me, and the moment was something else. Something more. It was like an ode to what could have been, or the promise of what could still be. He buried his face in my neck as his body bucked against mine. Then he collapsed onto my chest, us both heaving for air.
“That was…” I started but lost the words.
“I love you, Tessa May. Loved you every damn day of my life, even when I didn’t want to. Even when it hurt. I loved you.”
I swallowed hard, my hands stroking through his damp hair. “I didn’t know.”
He laughed, a little puff of air cooling the sweat on my collarbone. “You had no idea just how perfect you were. You still are.”
“I love you too, Branch. You were my first crush and I never shook you. Even when I hated you, I loved you.”
He huffed. “I might have been a bit of an asshole when I was a teenager.”
I pulled back his head so I could give him an incredulous look. “You think?”
He leaned forward on his arms and kissed me. “I’ll make up for it, I promise. Beau always said that you were more likely to castrate me than love me back then.”
I stiffened at the mention of Beau. But this wasn’t the time to talk about it.
This moment was just for me and Branch, the rest could come later.
So I just held Branch close and prayed that it would all work itself out.
“He wasn’t wrong. You were a jerk in Junior year and then a man whore in Senior. ”
He winced but shrugged.
“I was young and stupid.”
“It was like five years ago, Old Man. You are still young and stupid.”
He squeezed me tight and shifted a little, reaching down to scoop his undershirt off the ground. He pulled out and cleaned up our combined fluids. “Come on. We’ll go have a cold shower and clean up. Then we better head back to Colorado Springs.”
I nodded and did the post hardcore sex waddle to the bathroom while Branch had first shower.
Twenty minutes later, blood significantly cooled and looking somewhat presentable, we rode back across the fields toward the other farmhouse, me on the back of the ATV, my arms wrapped around the guy of my literal teenage wet dreams and wondering how the fuck my life got so wonderfully complicated.