Chapter 15 - Emmett #2
A flurry of commotion broke out through the bunkhouse.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Rhett yelled across the room.
The fucking nerve of this guy. My vision tunneled. My mind was nothing but static and the pounding of my pulse. Rage sent me across the bunkhouse. I grabbed him by the shirt and threw him up against the wall. “I just saw you!” I screamed in his face.
He went limp like a rag doll. Eyes wide. Jaw bobbing. “I…I can explain.”
I shoved him against the wall again. “I don’t want to hear a single fucking thing you have to say. Do you know the kind of damage you’ve caused? What you’ve done to Delilah?”
Hands wrapped around my arms, hauling me away. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, what’s goin’ on here?” Beau demanded, scowling between Rhett and me.
I ripped my arm out of Beau’s grasp, breathing hard. “Go on. Tell him,” I spat at Rhett, my hands trembling with adrenaline.
Rhett looked like he was about to piss himself. “I was…they…Preston—”
I turned to Beau. “I just caught him outside the Bull Pen taking money from Preston Hollis.”
Beau’s nostrils flared, the muscles in his jaw tensing. “Is that true?” His voice was that eerie kind of calm. The one that came before the storm.
Rhett nodded. “Yes.”
Beau’s hands curled at his sides, knuckles white. “And what exactly was he paying you for?” he asked through gritted teeth.
“In-Intel mainly.” Rhett glanced between us. His voice trembled. “Fuck with the ranch. With Delilah. I let the therapy horses loose. And for the tack room.”
“That was you?” Beau growled. “Do you know how much it cost to replace all the shit you ruined?” His voice was so loud that it felt like the building's foundation rattled.
I instantly pulled my phone out and dialed Colt. I didn’t even give him the chance to speak before I said, “You gotta come arrest someone. I’ll explain when you get here.” And hung up.
“I’m sorry! I needed the money. I was desperate. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone.”
“But you did.” And that’s the worst part of it all.
Because of this piece of shit, Delilah suffered.
She doubted herself now, and he played a role in that.
And if my urge to wring his neck until he’d be eating out of a tube for the rest of his life for being part of her pain wasn’t proof enough that I was completely in love with her, I didn’t know what was.
The realization hit like cold water, leaving me breathless.
I staggered back, my chest tightening around this feeling, warm and overwhelming.
All-consuming. It wasn’t a thought so much as a weight that settled in my ribs: Delilah was mine.
Mine to protect. To take care of. Not the ranch.
Not the program. Not anyone else. Her. She was all that mattered. Everything else came second now.
And it was the most terrifying realization I’d ever had.
Because loving someone meant giving them the power to wreck you—and I’d already handed her the pieces.
Hell, even thinking it made my lungs constrict.
I’d spent years building walls no one could climb, and now she’d gone and kicked a hole clean through the middle of them.
I didn’t know whether to thank her or run away screaming.
Naturally, she walked through the door that second. She was breathless, as if she had run here, her hair tangled from the wind. “What the hell is going on in here? I heard yelling.”
“Rhett has been working for the Hollises,” Beau explained through barely constrained anger, while I just stood here like an idiot, tongue-tied over the sight of her. “He trashed the tack room, let the horses out, giving—”
“What?” She spun on her heel, her glare murderous. “You let the horses out?”
In a flash, Rhett’s head smacked back against the wall. Blood gushed from his nose. He slid to the ground, clutching his face, cursing. “That’s the last time you fuck with my horses, you piece of shit,” she spat, shaking her hand out.
Yeah. She was my heart outside of my body.
Colt showed up moments later. Once Beau explained everything to him, and Rhett confessed, everything was pretty straightforward from there.
This whole day has felt like a blur. So much happened in such a short amount of time; I hadn’t even gotten the chance to tell anyone about Ethan’s sponsorship.
It wasn’t until I had Delilah on my kitchen counter with an ice pack on her hand that I got the words out. “I went to Dallas this morning.”
“Oh? For what?”
“I confronted Ethan.”
Her eyes nearly popped out of her head. She hopped off the counter. “What? Why would you do that? What did you say?”
“I got the sponsorship back. A million per year for the next decade.”
She just stared at me, blinking. The ice pack hit the ground with a smack, and she flew into my arms, squealing and peppering kisses all over my face. She squeezed my cheeks, grinning wider than I’d ever seen. “Are you serious?”
“Yesh,” I mumbled between my squished lips.
Delilah squealed again, and it might have been the best sound I’d ever heard.
The kind of sound I’d do anything to hear again.
She slammed her mouth to mine, kissing me so hard I staggered back slightly from the force of it.
Warmth flooded my body as our mouths moved together in perfect sync.
But it was more than lust. It was more, period. Everything with her had been.
Her hand slid into my hair, and she groaned into the kiss, turning me into putty in her hands. I pressed her up to the closest flat surface I could find, my body buzzing with need for her, to soak up every bit of her I could.
I reached between us, tearing at her clothes. Her movements were just as frantic. We moved as if the world was ending, wanting to spend these last moments tangled up in each other. “Fuck me,” she panted, sending my jeans down to my knees. “Now. I need you now.”
My dick throbbed at her words, needing her just as much. Her leggings hung off one leg, and I pulled her panties to the side. “Always so wet for me,” I groaned, lining myself up.
She rolled her hips against me, impatient, and took the first inch.
A moan tore its way from my chest, raw and guttural.
My eyes rolled shut at the feel of her. Hot and wet and mine.
My grip on her tightened, fingers digging into the plush curve of her ass.
I surged forward, filling her to the hilt.
“Fuck, yes, baby,” she whimpered as I sent her rocking against the wall.
She wrapped a hand around the nape of my neck and hauled my mouth to hers. Her kiss was wild, claiming, devouring. I kissed her just as hard, hoping she could feel how much I loved her in each stroke of my tongue. In each roll of my hips.
“You were made for this,” I whispered against her lips, driving deeper. “Made to take my cock.” Her pussy clamped around me in silent agreement. The way her body answered mine undid me completely. Every wall I’d built, gone.
“Feels so good,” she panted, her eyes boring into mine. Hazy and lust-filled.
Her little moans and whimpers were music to my ears, and I was utterly addicted to every single one of them. “I’m the only one who can give it to you like this.”
The corner of a picture frame swung loose before falling to the ground, the sound of glass shattering swallowed by Delilah moaning her agreement. Her head fell back against the wall, banging up against it with each thrust.
My skin prickled with sweat. My muscles strained with exertion to hold her up, but I’d rather die than have this end.
Her thighs tightened around my hips, making it harder to move.
I pulled her off the wall and swung an arm out across the dining table, sending everything crashing to the floor.
I laid her out on the mahogany. Heart seizing at the way the light from outside glowed on her skin.
I wrapped my hands around her waist, using her as leverage to drive into her harder.
“Look at you, sugar. Prettiest thing on Earth.” I pulled my shirt over my head, letting it drop to the floor. I leaned over her, running my tongue along the curve of her jaw up to her ear. “And you’re all fucking mine,” I whispered.
“Yours,” she whimpered. I nearly came right then and there.
Delilah’s back bowed when my thumb landed on her clit. She really was gorgeous like this. Eyes blissfully shut, cheeks flushed with heat, legs trembling, lips kiss-swollen and pink. I moved my thumb faster, adding more pressure. She gasped, eyes flying open.
“I’m gonna come,” she gasped. She reached out blindly, nails raking along the table. The thought of her leaving claw marks where I sat and had breakfast every morning made me fuck her harder until the table started dragging along the floor.
My head fell back toward the ceiling, completely and utterly lost in her and how good she made me feel. “Come all over my cock, sugar,” I demanded between ragged breaths. Pressure built low, getting ready to explode and take me with it. “Show me just how much you love it.”
“I do. I fucking love it.”
I came to the thought of her saying she loved me instead, unable to hold it anymore. I collapsed on top of her, pumping into her to get as deep as I could, moaning her name. Her pussy fluttered and pulsed around me, her grip on my arms iron-clad, ankles locked to keep me close.
“Oh my God,” she sighed blissfully, breathing hard.
I leaned back, looking down at her. My heart ached with a kind of longing I hadn’t felt before. This must be what it felt like to love someone. To want them more than you wanted your next breath. To need them like you needed food and water to survive.
She held my heart in the palm of her hand; it was hers to do with however she pleased.
“Lilah,” I panted, my gaze darting all over her perfect face. The words were on the tip of my tongue. But saying them out loud felt like stepping off a cliff, so I just kissed her instead, not ready to risk ruining this slice of perfection we had.