Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Peering down into the valley below, Laurel blinked a few times to make sure she was actually seeing what she thought she was, and even then, it was hard to believe.
“Are those…?”
“Wild horses,” Jake confirmed.
“Are you serious?”
“Like I said before, Princess. I don’t lie.”
She looked up at him, searching for any signs he was joking, but he looked completely sincere. Turning back toward the horses, she cupped a hand over her eyes and squinted, trying to see them better. They were pretty far away, but she counted at least twelve, plus a few foals. Too bad they weren’t closer, so she could get a better look, but even seeing them from this distance was magical.
Like a genie granting wishes, Jake held out a pair of binoculars.
She offered a grateful smile before taking them and focusing on the herd. The horses were a kaleidoscope of colors from nearly black, to various shades of brown, to chestnut. There was even a speckled white one and a large, golden tan one with black legs. And the foals? They were all legs and energy, and so darn cute, she almost couldn’t stand it.
“This is amazing,” she breathed.
“See the big one on the right?” Jake asked. He stepped close, pointing to where she should look. “The buckskin?”
Laurel closed her eyes on a stuttered exhale. As breathtaking as the horses were, feeling the heat from Jake’s body pressing against her back as he wrapped an arm around her waist made her knees weak.
“You see him?”
She bit her lip and nodded, even though her eyes were still shut. It was taking all her focus to steel herself against the low tenor of his voice and the whisper of warm breath across her skin. When Jake was this close, somehow everything else ceased to exist.
“Laurel?”
Hearing her name broke the trance, and her eyes flew open.
Oh, for goodness’ sake. Get a grip!
Lifting the binoculars she’d unconsciously lowered, she fought to concentrate on the sight before her and not on the man behind. It shouldn’t have been so hard. She was looking at wild horses. Wild horses! How often does someone get a chance like that?
“You mean the tan one with the black mane and tail?” she asked, hoping her voice didn’t sound as flustered as she felt.
“Yep. And the black legs. That’s the stallion.”
“He’s gorgeous.” She shook her head in awe, still not quite believing they were real. “So, the others are his harem?”
He chuckled. “Yeah, he’s living the dream.”
“Living the dream.”
Is that how Jake felt? Was dating a ton of women instead of settling down with only one his dream? If so, his dream was diametrically opposed to hers.
Stop it. He’s not dating me, and he’s not planning a future together. He’s helping me with the list. Nothing more.
“How did you know about them?” Laurel asked, mentally chastising herself. “I had no clue there were wild horses around here.”
Jake wrapped his other arm around her waist and pulled her in tighter. She couldn’t stop herself from melting against him.
“A buddy of mine rides dirt bikes out here. He happened to come across them the summer before last. Sheer dumb luck. I’m glad they’re still around. Sometimes they’ve moved up into the high country by now, but I figured it couldn't hurt to check.”
“I’m glad we checked. I’ve never seen anything more beautiful.” She looked up over her shoulder at him. “Thank you for bringing me.”
He gave a small shake of his head.
“What?”
“I’m just…” He kissed her temple. “I’m not used to girls like you, Princess.”
What was that supposed to mean? “Like me?”
“Someone who appreciates this.” He lifted his chin toward the herd.
Is he kidding?
“How could you not appreciate this? We’re looking at wild horses! ”
“You’d be surprised,” he said. “And only one of us is looking.” He kissed her neck on the pulse point, then sucked softly.
Laurel hummed her approval.
“I know you’re a good girl,” he said in a hoarse whisper, lips against her skin, “but all I can think about is doing very bad things to you.”
Moving her T-shirt aside, he nipped the spot where her neck met her shoulder, eliciting a sharp gasp from her lips. When he soothed it with his tongue, she struggled to hold back a moan. The man could win awards with that mouth.
He leaned against the side of the large tree next to them, facing away from the highway, and pulled Laurel into him, her back against his front.
“Very bad things.” He slid one hand underneath her shirt to cup her breast and thumb the sensitive bud to attention. Simultaneously, his other hand glided down her stomach to the apex of her thighs.
“Jake…”
Was it a plea to stop or keep going? She honestly wasn’t sure. He’d caught her off guard, but when he started rubbing her intimately through the thin fabric of her leggings, she couldn’t bring herself to protest.
Fudge, that feels amazing.
She arched her back, pressing her breast into his palm. The move shifted her hips back in the process, eliciting a groan from Jake. He cupped her crotch and forcefully pulled her against his hardened length.
What are you doing? You should stop him.
Instead, she let her head drop back against his chest, as his fingers massaged and rubbed her heat. The friction and continued movement had her writhing against him before she realized what she was doing.
I shouldn’t be letting him do this. We’re outside, for goodness’ sake!
“Even through your pants, I can tell you’re wet.” Jake whispered hotly in her ear. “You’re wet for me, aren’t you, Princess?” He pressed a finger against her heat, slightly penetrating her through her leggings.
“Fudge.” She mouthed the word, more than spoke it.
“You have no idea how badly I want to fuck you right now,” he growled. “I want to push you against this tree and take you from behind.”
She let out a strangled sound, both thrilled and scandalized by the thought.
“But I won’t. I want to see your face when I thrust my cock inside you for the first time.”
His words were shocking, filthy. She should pull away and slap him. Demand he take her home and never see him again. But she was willing putty in his hands. She’d never been more turned on. It was frightening to realize everything he was saying made her hot. No, that was a gross understatement. His words incinerated her. Decimated her resistance.
She’d never been promiscuous—hadn’t even lost her virginity until college. She was the furthest thing from sexually adventurous, yet somehow this man made her drop her inhibitions. The bad boy was corrupting her… and she couldn’t make herself care.
“But I still need to be inside you,” Jake rasped. He banded his left arm around her waist and shoved his right hand into her leggings underneath her panties, kicking her feet apart at the same time. He thrust a finger inside her so quickly, she gasped.
“Picture my cock inside you, Laurel,” he ordered gruffly, pushing his finger in and out as he pressed the heel of his hand against her clit. “Imagine me fucking you so hard, you won’t remember your name. Just mine.”
Oh, fudge! He should come with an X-rated warning!
“Say my name, Laurel.” He punctuated his words by inserting a second finger.
She hissed in a breath. Not from pain, but rather an overwhelming rush of need. She was embarrassingly wet, and his fingers sliding inside her only made it worse.
“Say it.”
Lost in sensations so powerful, she couldn’t help but comply. “Jake.”
Her world was tilting, tension coiling low in her belly, fire igniting the blood in her veins. This was the most erotic thing she’d ever experienced.
Her hips started moving against his hand. She’d never gotten so close, so quickly, but his fingers were magic, eliciting a physical response almost too intense to endure. She was a trembling, panting mess, the heat inside her spiraling to epic proportions.
“Louder,” he growled.
“Ja—” His name died on her lips when he added a third digit.
“Laurel...” His voice was stern, commanding. “Scream my name.”
With a powerful thrust of his hand, he curled his fingers against her most sensitive spot, pressed on her clit, and bit down on the crook of her neck all at once. Laurel shattered, shouting Jake’s name as the most mind-bending orgasm she’d ever experienced crashed through her like an avalanche.
When her quaking stopped, and she emerged from the rubble that had annihilated her, Jake slowly removed his hand from between her legs. He lifted it to his mouth and sucked her juices from his fingers.
“You even taste sweet,” he murmured.
She felt dizzy.
“I could make a meal out of you.”
Vivid images of Jake devouring her flooded her brain, making her hot and needy all over again.
“And I will.” He put that wicked mouth of his against her ear. “That’s a promise.”
She was shamelessly ready to beg him to make good, until the realization of what had just happened sank in. She’d let him make her come out where anyone could see.
She covered her mouth, trying to smother the small whimper that escaped.
“Hey,” he whispered.
Jake turned her around to face him, but she couldn’t meet his eyes. She didn’t know what to say. What did you say to a guy who’d just blown your mind— outside —overlooking wild horses? That didn’t happen in real life, and definitely not to her.
“You okay?”
Eyes fixed on his T-shirt, she shrugged.
“Laurel…” Jake shimmied down the tree until he was at her level, back against the trunk, legs bent on either side of her. He moved her hand and lifted her chin, forcing her to look at him. “I’m sorry if I overstepped.”
Oh, great. Now he regrets what we did.
She squeezed her eyes shut.
“Hey, look at me,” he instructed.
She obeyed. What was it about this man that made her give up control and bend to his every will?
“I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable,” he clarified, “but I’m not sorry you came in my arms.” She blushed furiously, but that didn’t stop him from adding, “It was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.”
She highly doubted that. For someone with as much experience as he obviously had, her orgasm had to be low on his excitement meter. Whereas, this encounter—not to mention this man—was the top of hers.
“ You —” he kissed her lips “—are the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“Not,” she scoffed under her breath.
“Yes,” he said with certainty.
Oh, cranberries! He heard that?
“Princess, you have no idea what you do to me.”
“What?” The question popped out before her brain had the chance to stop it. She held her breath, not sure she wanted to hear his answer.
He pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and kissed the crease that appeared between her eyebrows. “Make me want to be a better man,” he confessed.
Her eyes widened. Of all the things she’d thought he’d say, that answer wasn’t remotely close to any of them. It wasn’t even in the same universe.
“I know,” Jake conceded. “That’s so cliché, it’s pathetic, but it’s the?—”
Laurel kissed him so fiercely, his head banged against the rough tree bark. He winced, making her immediately pull back. “Oh, I’m sorry!”
“Make it up to me,” he ordered, slamming his mouth back onto hers. He wrapped his arms around her, crushing her against his chest… kissing her like he was searching for salvation.
“Fuck, I want you,” he breathed against her lips before claiming her mouth again in a searing kiss.
Her head was spinning, blood singing in her veins. She’d never felt so desired. So all-consumingly wanted.
Ethan had never made her feel this way, not in all the years they’d been together. Looking back, he’d treated her more like a convenience than a partner. Someone to have sex with and do his laundry, not a woman he wanted to strive to be better for. He thought he was superior. She hadn’t seen it before, but she saw it now. Ethan cared more for himself than he ever did for her.
But Jake… Jake had barely known her a month, yet he wanted to become a better man. For her.
Tears suddenly burned behind her eyelids. She was drowning in emotions, floundering in feelings he’d conjured. It was both exhilarating and frightening—the way he made her feel. The things she started to want. The painfully obvious fact she was falling for him.
Touching Jake’s face with trembling fingers, Laurel was the one who deepened their kiss. She pressed her body closer, but it still wasn’t close enough. Not nearly close enough.
“Let’s get out of here,” he said against her lips, but it came out as a question.
She knew what he was asking. Knew what it would mean if she said yes. She wasn’t surprised by the heat and passion she saw when she searched his eyes because she was certain they were mirrored in her own. But it was the other emotion barely flickering, practically hidden in those clear blue depths that sealed her decision... vulnerability. Hers to crush or embrace.
With a single nod, she offered up her own.