Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
The road unspooled ahead of me, a dark ribbon stretched between the mountains. My headlights cut across the gravel shoulders, bouncing off the reflective posts. The heater hummed low, but my hands were cold on the wheel.
I should’ve turned left at the junction, headed back toward the ranch. Back to sanity. Back to sense.
Instead, my truck was pointed in the opposite direction.
I had a whole laundry list of reasons not to be doing this. Christ, I’d recited them enough times in my head since walking out of Riva that I could have given a speech.
Reason one: she was a Bellrose. That name was plastered across construction signs I’d been cursing for months.
It didn’t matter that it was a resort instead of one of those soulless developments springing up like weeds in every valley from here to Jackson Hole.
The principle was the same—growth that chipped away at the bones of a community until it was unrecognizable.
Reason two: she’d lied. Or maybe omission was the better word, but hell, if it didn’t sting the same. She’d let me take her home, let me strip her bare and bury myself inside her, all without telling me she was part of the very thing I was actively fighting against.
Reason three: the valley couldn’t take much more of this.
Resorts brought strain on land and water, carved up habitat corridors, and brought outsiders who didn’t give a damn about the place beyond what they could charge per night.
Jobs were good if they hired locals. But if they shipped in staff and ate up what little housing stock we had left?
Families who’d lived here for generations would have nowhere to go.
Those were the facts. Plain, cold logic.
But none of it mattered, because my body had already made the decision my brain was too stubborn to admit.
The second she’d whispered, “Please, fuck me, Gage,” in that dimly lit hallway, logic hadn’t stood a chance.
I could still feel the tremor in her hands, the way her body had arched into mine like she needed me as much as I needed her. No woman had ever undone me like that—like I was a live wire sparking out of control just from the sound of her voice.
And then there was the way she’d looked me dead in the eye and called me out.
If I’d walked into that bar as Siena Bellrose, would you have approached me?
Damn her, she was right. I would’ve written her off without a second thought, same as I had every developer who’d come swaggering into town thinking money gave them claim to it.
But she wasn’t swagger. She wasn’t slick charm and empty promises.
She was sharp edges and challenge, yes, but under all that polish, I’d seen something raw.
The pulse at her throat. The way her voice caught when she talked about things she didn’t want her father to know.
The way she’d clung to me like it cost her something to let go.
And yet, I should’ve been smart enough to walk away anyhow. To protect my peace. To keep myself from diving headfirst into something that couldn’t end well.
But I wasn’t smart where this woman was concerned.
My truck ate up the miles, and before I knew it, her driveway came into view. The lights inside glowed softly against the night sky, warm and golden through the windows.
I killed the ignition, and sat for a long beat staring at her front door, finally admitting the truth I’d been trying to outrun all night. “Too late to turn back now.”
The taste of her kiss still lingered on my tongue as I shoved my truck’s door open and stalked up the path.
I didn’t bother knocking—just walked right in.
The moment I stepped through the door, a rush of memories from our first night together crashed over me, that jasmine and vanilla scent of hers hitting me like a freight train.
My body reacted before my mind could catch up, my dick hardening instantly against my zipper as I recalled kissing her everywhere, pulling that scent deep into my lungs, her nails digging into my back, her lips parted in ecstasy beneath mine.
Goddamnit.
I blinked hard, forcing the memories of that night aside, unwilling to let nostalgia cloud my mind.
I couldn’t dwell on how right it had felt being with Siena, how she seemed to unlock something inside me I’d kept shackled for years.
How I’d traced the constellation of freckles across her shoulders and stupidly thought I might be the first man to traverse this woman’s body properly.
Or how, in the morning light, I’d left thinking I’d finally found someone worth settling down for.
What a fucking joke.
My jaw clenched so tight I could hear my molars grinding.
I pictured Siena laughing into her phone as she told her girlfriends about the clueless hick she’d picked up at the bar.
The thought twisted my gut. Did she tell them how I’d walked out of her bedroom with a wink, whistling a jaunty tune like I didn’t have a care in the world?
Well, to hell with that. I knew who she was now.
Unfortunately, it didn’t mean I wanted her any less.
I might not trust this woman, and I certainly wasn’t going to leave here with stars in my eyes like I had six weeks ago, but I could still enjoy her body. Despite what I’d learned about her duplicitousness back at Riva, the fact remained that Siena was still the best damn sex I’d ever had.
If she wanted me to fuck her again, I’d be more than happy to oblige.
But that’s all this would be.
No feelings. Just two bodies doing what they did best.
I tossed my jacket on the hook by the door and headed straight for her bedroom. My boots thundered over the floorboards, each step announcing my intentions. My fists clenched and unclenched at my sides, my cock straining against my slacks.
But before I made it to the hallway, a soft “ahem” froze me mid-stride.
I pivoted to find Siena standing in the archway to the dining room, her fingers twisting around each other.
She bit her lower lip, those green eyes wider than I’d ever seen them, revealing a vulnerability that was a stark contrast to the confident woman who had played me for a fool.
The moment our gazes locked, the air thickened with unspoken tension. There was no need for words; we both knew what was coming.
I closed the distance between us in three unrelenting strides, every muscle in my body coiled and ready, propelled forward by weeks of wanting this woman, of not knowing if I’d ever get to have her again.
Siena didn’t step back. Instead, she straightened her spine and held her ground, and I found myself captivated all over again by her unerring strength. A lesser person would have flinched at the approaching storm, but not this woman. No.
My hands found her face, fingers threading into the soft strands at the nape of her neck, and I kissed her hard, a bruising, reckless kiss that left no room for uncertainty or apology.
My mouth was rough and hungry, determined to erase the sting of her betrayal and replace it with something I could control—a blind, furious need that bordered on obsession.
Breaking the kiss, I met her glassy, lust-dazed eyes. I leaned closer and whispered in her ear, my voice low and gravelly. “I’m gonna fuck you now, honey.”
Siena’s breath hitched, her fingers fisting my shirt as she whispered, “Yes.”
I turned her around, gently guiding her down onto the dining room table and pushing her dress up over her hips.
She spread her hands wide, her fingers splayed against the polished wood.
I admired the view for just a moment before I yanked her panties to the side, hearing the fabric tear, and exposing her glistening cunt to my hungry eyes.
“God, you’re so fucking beautiful,” I murmured, my voice a low growl, as I undid my belt.
The leather slid through the loops with a soft hiss before I lowered my zipper.
I took myself in hand, stiff and throbbing, and with a need that burned through my veins like wildfire, plunged into Siena’s slick, velvet heat without hesitation.
A high-pitched “Oh, god!” escaped her lips as I filled her completely.
Her spine arched like a bow as she pushed back against me, her fingernails scraping against the mahogany. Her inner walls fluttered around me as she adjusted to my size, her luscious body going pliant.
“You like that, don’t you?” I growled into her ear, my breath hot against her neck. “You like feeling me deep inside you.”
She whimpered a breathy little “yes,” and Christ, the sound nearly undid me. For half a second, panic flickered sharply in my mind.
Don’t let this mean something. Don’t let her be more than a body, I told myself as I fought for control.
But then her cunt squeezed around me, and I lost the thought in the blaze of wanting more.
And yet, even as I drove into her again, harder, a voice inside my head I didn’t want to acknowledge whispered that this wasn’t smart. That every thrust was tangling me tighter in a web I couldn’t afford to get caught up in.
I ignored it. Buried myself deeper until all I could hear was Siena’s breathless little cries.
“Again,” she whispered.
I pulled nearly all the way out, watching where our bodies joined, then slammed forward with enough force to make the table legs scrape against the floor.
Her pussy clenched around me like a vice, and for one blinding second, my body screamed that this was everything I’d ever wanted.
My brain, though? My brain knew this was a bad idea. We were a bad idea.
I ground my hips harder, as if I could fuck the thought right out of my head.
“Oh, fuck,” she shuddered.
“That’s it,” I encouraged, gripping her hips tighter. “Let me hear how good I make you feel.”
The tension in my shoulders dissolved as I lost myself in the sound of skin slapping against skin, filling the room.
“Tell me how good it feels,” I demanded as I quickened my pace, my hands gripping her hips hard enough to leave marks.
“So good,” she whimpered, her thighs trembling beneath me. “You’re so deep. I can feel you everywhere.”
I could begin to feel the world beyond this room slipping away.
I let go of the crushing weight of my family name and hers, becoming nothing more than a man seeking pleasure in a woman who fit me like she was made for me.
Siena met me stroke for stroke, her honeyed moans filling the space between us with soft, pleading words that fell from her lips like a prayer.
“Oh god,” she breathed out. “Oh god, oh god, oh god.”
All my anger and frustration melted away, replaced by an undeniable hunger that consumed me.
No matter how complicated things were between us, and no matter how tangled our story became, our bodies spoke a language that needed no translation.
It was raw, honest, and unlike anything I’d ever felt before.
My release was building at the base of my spine, a freight train of pleasure threatening to barrel through me.
But I couldn’t let go—not yet. Not until she fell first. I gritted my teeth against the mounting pressure, determined to wring every last drop of pleasure from her body before I allowed myself the same.
“I need you to come now, honey.” I reached around to find her swollen clit, circling it with my thumb.
Siena went rigid beneath me, a strangled cry tearing from her throat as she shattered. She reached back blindly, her fingers digging into my wrist in an attempt to anchor herself.
I pulled out with a groan, my release painting hot streaks at the base of her spine as my vision blurred at the edges.
For a second, I simply stood there, my chest heaving, staring at the sight of her bent over her dining room table, her dress bunched at her waist, her panties around her knees, and her body still visibly trembling from the orgasm I’d wrung out of her.
I swiped my thumb through the mess as it slid down between her cheeks, and I couldn’t stop myself from pressing against her hole.
She gasped, her whole body shuddering as the tight ring loosened and the tip of my finger slid inside.
“Next time,” I rasped, my voice hoarse from holding back my earlier shouts. “This is mine.”
Siena’s head dropped forward, a broken sound spilling from her lips, and she nodded. “God, yes.”
The way she said it—like she’d give me anything I asked for—lit something primal in me—something I couldn’t afford to let loose.
Because the second this stopped being only about sex, the second I admitted how much I already wanted her outside this room, I was done for.
And a man who spent his life railing against what she stood for couldn’t afford to fall in love with Siena Bellrose.
Gently, I slid my thumb out and gave one last slow circle over her hole, savoring the way she trembled beneath me, before tearing myself away.
I wiped my hand on the hem of her dress and tucked myself away before yanking my zipper back up with hands that shook harder than I wanted to admit, my pulse thundering in my ears.
Every instinct screamed at me to haul Siena against my chest, carry her upstairs, and lose myself in her until the sun came up. But if I did that, if I let myself cross from sex into … something else, there’d be no going back.
I had to believe this was just about pleasure and bodies—hers and mine. Just release. Just need. Because if it wasn’t—if this was already something deeper—then I was the worst kind of hypocrite.
I bent forward at the waist, my mouth brushing the curve of her shoulder, breathing her in one last time. “Call me the next time you need my cock,” I said hoarsely, the words coming out like a plea I couldn’t disguise.
“I don’t have your number,” she croaked, pushing herself up, her dress falling down over the mess I’d made of her.
I stopped at stared at her for a beat, feeling my lips tip to the side in a smirk. “You’re a smart, resourceful woman, Siena Bellrose. If you want this badly enough—” I cupped myself over my jeans. Crude, yes, but so was everything about what we’d done here tonight. “You’ll find a way.”
And then I forced myself to walk out before I did the thing I wanted most—to stay.