CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Jack
She was pulling away from me.
I could feel it and it didn’t feel good. Ever since our night together I had been craving her company more and more. I wanted to watch how her smart brain worked through challenges, how she came alive with the hard work she put in at the ranch. Even how she was around her sisters and the bond they shared.
And yet she felt further away than ever. Any time I tried to get close to her she pushed me away, brushed me off and dammit she was hurting my feelings. I felt like a lovesick puppy trailing after her but she wanted nothing to do with me.
I’d thought there was something between us but I guess I was wrong. She wanted it strictly business. But sometimes when she looked at me, I could feel something . Like I hadn’t made it all up in my head. I played our night together over and over in my mind, wondering what I did wrong, but I couldn’t figure it out. Maybe I was too attached, maybe she wanted no strings and here I was trying to tie her to me.
There was a knock at the cabin door and my heart pounded in my chest, hoping it was her. I swung the door open and was immediately disappointed.
“Happy to see you too, bud.” Leo frowned at me. “Come on, we’re going for a drink.” He jerked his head towards his truck and then walked off.
“I don’t drink,” I called after him.
“No shit,” he shouted back. “Bars sell root beer too, ya know.”
I kinda wanted to stay in tonight and sulk, like a grown ass man, but getting out of the cabin and socializing might be kinda nice. Just the sheer fact that someone in this town wanted to spend time with me was a great feeling and hell, I needed friends.
I grabbed my phone and followed him, running to catch up. “You know I can’t drive us home if you get shitfaced?” I said, tugging open the door to Leo’s truck.
Leo sighed like he was running out of patience. “Yeah, I know. That’s why I’m having a root beer too.” He put the truck in gear and reversed out, rolling the windows down and the cool summer breeze drifted in, bringing the smell of the ranch, the sweet soft scent from wildflowers, and birds singing their final song of the day.
We rode in silence and I closed my eyes, tilting my head back against the headrest, enjoying the drive. God, I’d loved driving. I missed it so much and this way I still got to experience it, just not to the fullest.
Leo pulled up at The Lonely Bison and we got out, heading inside. “I take it you’re okay coming here on your night off?” Leo called over his shoulder.
“Yeah, I like it here.” It was true, there was such a great feel to it, small town comfort.
Leo went to order the drinks and I grabbed a high-top in the corner, away from the band. I looked around, conscious of being here for the first time as a customer. I took in the people dancing to the band’s bluegrass music, heard the excited chatter coming from other tables and laughter from where friends egged each other on at the mechanical bull.
Leo slid the bottle of root beer across the table to me and sat down on his chair. We clinked the necks together and I took a deep swig, the bubbles fizzing my nose.
“Look at us, two young, hot single men out for the night and sitting here all alone with root beers,” Leo joked, and I chuckled.
“So what’s your deal?” I asked. I liked Leo but I didn’t know a lot about him.
He shrugged. “What do you wanna know?”
“Firstly, why you’ve dragged me out for a drink?”
Leo’s bottle stalled halfway to his mouth. “I felt bad for you.”
I winced. “Thanks.”
Leo grinned. “Nah man, I don’t mean like that. I could tell that you were enjoying the free life and then, all of a sudden, the last week or so you’ve been down. And I thought it might have something to do with our Katarina sneaking out of your cabin the other morning.”
Busted. I rubbed the back of my neck. “I just can’t figure out what she wants.”
Leo snorted. “Can any man figure out what a woman wants? Take Maddy for instance, she keeps going on all these dates but…you know what,” he held up his hands, stopping the rant before he truly got started, “this is about you, not me.”
“No, no, share with the class.”
Leo paused, picking at the label on his bottle. “Well, she’s always known she never wanted to settle down and have a husband and kids. I don’t know why, she’s never really elaborated on that. But all of a sudden she’s going on all the dates like she’s trying to find Mr. Right and I don’t really get why.”
I eyed him up, the way he was pouting. “And you don’t like that someone else is playing with your favorite toy?”
“Don’t talk about her like that.” His tone held a hard warning.
“Calm down Buckle Boy, it’s an expression. Why are you bothered? Aren’t you just friends?”
He shrugged. “Well yeah, best friends, have been for over twenty years.”
“So what’s your issue?”
He fixed me with a glare. “Starting to regret feeling sorry for you and bringing you out here for some fresh air.”
“I ask the hard questions,” I joked.
“Then let me ask you one.” He took a swig from his bottle. “What’s happening with Kat?”
I pushed out a big breath and started picking the label of my bottle. “Fuck knows.” Leo laughed, a hearty deep laugh and I started laughing too. “She’s pushing me away and I don’t know why.”
“You really don’t know why?” His laughter subsided. “I don’t think it would go down well with people in town, given your history.”
“I know that. Of course I know that. I just thought…hell I don’t know what I thought. It felt di fferent, like things were changing between us and maybe she didn’t hate me anymore. Surely she couldn’t hate me if we slept together?”
Leo shrugged. “I dunno, hate sex is some of the best kind.”
“I guess I’ll never know.”
“Just, maybe give her time. It’s a lot to process and she’s had her fair share of shit lately. If it makes a difference, you’re the first guy I’ve seen her with in a real long time, which has to mean something. I’ll be back, gotta take a leak.”
Leo went off to the restrooms and I played his words over. Kat had come to me, she had wanted me and if she hadn’t been with anyone for a while then Leo was right, surely it had to mean something? I felt strangely uplifted by his words, like I had some hope now.
When Leo came back, we played pool and chatted some more. He told me about his career and how Charlie helped him get started in rodeo.
“There’s a big competition coming up,” Leo said.
“And?” I asked when he didn’t elaborate.
“I dunno, man.” He ran a hand over his jaw. “It means leaving for a while and I don’t know if I could.”
I smiled. “Leave Maddy you mean?”
Leo just nodded.
“I can’t speak for whatever is going on between you, because clearly there’s something,” I added when he opened his mouth to deny it. “But you need to think about your future too. She’ll be here when you get back.”
He just nodded again and then changed the subject.
When he dropped me off at the cabin later, I thanked him for taking me out. “Felt good to talk to someone.”
“Same,” Leo said. “Does this make us besties now?” I flipped him off and he laughed. “See ya later, bestie,” he added and drove off.
Teddy was thrilled to see me. I took him outside and played fetch in the dark, the lights from the cabin illuminating the ground enough so that I could just about see. I’d been neglecting him recently in my pity party so I spent extra time playing with him. When he brought me back a massive stick, I told him I wasn’t throwing that and he took himself inside, sulking.
Grabbing a glass of water from the faucet, I contemplated going to bed but my eyes flicked out the window towards the study. I could see Kat inside working away, doing whatever she was doing. God, I wish she’d just let me in to help her but she was stubborn as an ox.
I took a shower and came back out, topping up Teddy’s food before bed, knowing he loved a midnight snack. When I stood up and looked out into the night, the office window was dark. I turned away but stopped in my tracks when I felt the telltale prickle on the back of my neck.
Goosebumps raced up my arms as I slowly turned back. I’d been dying to feel those eyes on me all week and now finally they were. I couldn’t see any movement, nothing but a dark window but I knew she was there.
I grabbed the phone I’d left on the kitchen counter and pulled up her number and hit call. I couldn’t hear anything but I saw the light flash in the window of the office. I could see it flashing before it moved and a moment later her voice came down the line.
“Yes?”
I smiled. “You’re watching me sweetheart.”
“What makes you so sure?” She didn’t deny it.
“Are you gonna pretend you don’t watch me in the dark?”
She didn’t speak, but I knew she was still there. “Why do you watch me Katarina? What are you looking at? And yes I know you do, other than the fact that I can see the light from your phone? I can feel your stare on me, your eyes sliding over my skin eagerly. It gets me so hot, knowing you’re sitting in the dark watching me, wanting me.”
Her breath hitched and I could hear as she slowly exhaled. My dick hardened, I’d heard that sound before, when she was laying underneath me as I pounded into her.
“You gonna come down here, sweetheart or just keep looking?”
She sighed, the noise speaking volumes. Reluctantly she replied. “We both know the answer to that.”
There was silence as she ended the call and triumph glided through my veins. I stood by the door to the cabin waiting. She made me wait. Made me worry. And finally she walked in, pausing in the doorway and giving me a meaningful look.
“You can stop playing hard to get,” I said, running my eyes over her. She was in satin pajamas, little cartoon frogs on them and the slogan, It’s hard work finding a prince. I smirked at them, so at odds with Kat’s stubborn, controlled demeanor.
“I am hard to get,” she replied, closing the door and strutting over to me.
“No, sweetheart. You’re hard to keep .”
She stopped when we were chest to chest. I glanced down at the hard glint in her sky-blue eyes. She wasn’t willing to give in to me yet, she wanted me to fight for it. To earn it.
I dipped down, our mouths a breath apart and I watched her eyes flutter closed, her chest lift slightly in anticipation.
“You’ve been avoiding me,” I whispered, and her eyes flew open. She opened her mouth to argue but I didn’t let her, I covered her lips with mine.
We fought for dominance. She was mad, so was I. I’m not sure what she was mad at and in that moment I didn’t care. I just wanted her. Wanted what was mine .
Her arms looped around my neck and she went up on tiptoes, pushing back against my mouth and trying to take charge. I cradled the back of her head, fingers twining with her hair so I could change the angle, finding a perfect fit. I pulled back, dropping a few chaste kisses against her mouth that she tried to deepen.
“Don’t stop,” she whined, and I loved hearing that tone, seeing how I affected her. She tried to put her walls up but I would decimate them. I liked that I could put cracks in her foundation and have her crumbling; because that’s how she made me feel too.
“Tell me you want me,” I demanded. I didn’t know when I’d become so needy and insecure with her but I wanted reassurance. She was the first woman I’d ever truly cared about and the idea that she might not feel the same ruined me.
She met my stare, her eyes clouded with lust, her lips red as rubies and so inviting. “I want you.”
It was enough, almost. “Tell me you need me.”
Her eyes heated, I think she liked the way I spoke to her.
“I need you,” she whined. I loved that whiney, pouty voice she put on.
I walked backwards into the bedroom, pulling her with me and Teddy let out a sharp bark at seeing Kat. She stroked him for a moment before settling him in the living room and closing the bedroom door .
When she faced me again, she was almost shy. Like the intensity from before had faded and now she didn’t know what to do. I stalked towards her, cupped her cheeks, brushing her silky hair back from her face, and kissed her again. She melted into me, just as I hoped she would. I kissed down her jaw and neck, gently nipped the sensitive spot between her neck and shoulder and she melted further.
Her hands slipped under the hem of my shirt and up my back, stroking the muscles and I shivered when her nails raked over my skin.
God, I loved her touch.
I cupped her tits through the flimsy satin pajamas, feeling her nipples pebble instantly and my thumbs played with them, driving her need higher.
“All I’ve thought about all week is what you would look like riding me,” I said against her ear and she trembled, her nails digging into my skin harder. I lifted her off her feet, wrapping my arms around her waist, my lips glued to her neck as I laid her down on the bed. She rubbed herself against me, writhed under me.
I pulled her top off and couldn’t stop staring. She was the most stunning woman I’d seen and I’d never get over the sight of her laying there, naked and needy. I pulled her shorts and panties off and then spread her legs wide, baring her to me. The thin trail of dark blonde hair that led me straight to her wet center. She was ready and eager and I was dying for a taste.
Dipping my head, I kissed a trail up her thigh, kneading the flesh before pulling my hands up and cupping her ass. I hovered over her pussy and glanced up at her, her eyes were wide as she watched me, pulling herself into a seated position.
I slid my tongue through her lips, slowly and tapped that little bundle of nerves with my tongue once, then again, harder and her eyelids fluttered shut. I smiled, clearly on the right track and fit my lips around her clit and sucked hard. Her back bowed with her cry, her fingers snagging in my hair as she arched and ground herself against my face desperately.
She took what she wanted, not worrying at all if she was being too aggressive with her moves. I reveled in it, wanted her to let go. This stubborn woman who needed a release. Her head came forward as she made eye contact with me, her fist still tangled in my hair as she rode my face. She flooded my mouth, like just watching me eat her out was all it took to get her off. I slipped two fingers into her, the pressure of the position made it a tight squeeze and it was enough to tip her over the edge.
She cried out, stilling as she clamped down around my fingers and I felt her pulsing against my tongue. In the midst of her orgasm I flipped us, none too gracefully but it got the job done. She was sitting on my face and I had more movement in my hand so I thrust my fingers, tickling that rough spot inside her that made her whimper and ride my face harder.
For a moment I couldn’t breathe and it would honestly be a great way to go. Then her orgasm settled down and she quivered on top of me.
“Oh my God,” she sighed, tangling a hand in her hair and giving me a lazy, hot as fuck, post orgasm smile. I lay there catching my breath and trying not to come at the same time. I really wasn’t sure how long I was going to last once I got inside her.
“That was…” she trailed off, shaking her head. Her eyes found mine and she stared at me for a moment before something switched in her and she started tugging at my shirt and sweatpants .
When I was naked, she wrapped her hand around my dick and pumped once, twice and it was my turn to say, “Oh my God.” She grasped me tight and twisted her grip as she worked up to the head, then with a naughty smile, she dipped down and licked me from base to tip.
I couldn’t speak, just watched as she worked me in her mouth, her tongue flat against the thick vein that ran the length of me. She played with my balls and squeezed them, robbing my lungs of air. And just when I thought I couldn’t take anymore, she pulled her mouth off me with a wet pop .
“Inside me, now,” she demanded.
I scrambled to get to my bedside drawer for a condom but she stopped me.
“I’m good, I’m on the pill and you’re the first person I’ve slept with in a long time. I trust you,” she said.
“Well you’re the only person I’ve ever slept with so you know I’m good,” I replied.
Sexy I know.
She rose up on her knees and shuffled forward, placing her hot flesh above me, rubbing herself over me, leaning forward and crashing our lips together. As she plunged her tongue into my mouth, she sank down on my dick and I didn’t just see stars, I saw the whole damn universe.
She was so hot, so wet and the feeling of her tight around me was unlike anything I could have imagined. All the sensations. I could feel every movement. She lifted up and slammed herself down again and I groaned, my head falling back and I gripped her hips, grinding her against me.
I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her as she rode me, her head fell back, her hair tickling my thighs and her breasts bouncing as she worked herself over me. I was wrong before, this was the sight that would stay with me until I died, watching this glorious woman lose herself in my body, in what I could give her. I needed her mouth.
Pushing myself up, I wrapped my arms around her, bringing our chests together. Her nipples rubbing against me as I cupped the back of her neck, our mouths colliding. Each time she brought her hips down, I lifted mine up, both of us working in tandem to get to that magical place.
I was so close but I needed her there with me. I worked a hand between us, finding the place where our bodies joined and moving up until I brushed over her clit, then I rubbed and rubbed, feeling her tighten on me. She gasped, her little breaths coming faster and shorter and I knew she was close.
I bit the side of her neck again as my release barreled into me, shooting inside her and my toes curled, cracking from the intensity of my orgasm. She cursed, loudly and then she was flying over the edge too. I lay back, pulling her with me and she collapsed on my chest, both of us panting and sticky from sweat.
“Holy shit,” she sighed a moment later.
I laughed. “Holy shit indeed.”
We lay there for a while in silence, just reveling in what we’d experienced, before I moved her onto her side and pulled out of her. I went to the bathroom to get a cloth to clean us both. When I came back she was up and putting her pajamas back on and my stomach dropped.
“You’re leaving?” I tried to keep the needy out of my tone.
She faced me, her cheeks still flushed and her hair looking like she had been rolling in hay, I loved it. “Did you want me to stay?” she asked warily.
I didn’t hesitate. “Yes. ”
She shrugged. “Then I’ll stay.” She started to get back into bed but I stopped her.
“This is a naked bedroom, no pajamas allowed.”
She arched a brow at me and then shrugged out of her shorts and top. “That’s fine, if you think you can keep your hands to yourself.”
I prowled across the bed and pulled her into me. “Sweetheart, I have zero intention of keeping my hands to myself.”
The woman honest to God giggled and I decided it was a sound I would move heaven and earth to hear again.