Chapter Fourteen
T he mouthwatering scent of fried ham had Colt’s stomach knotting with hunger, but Aspen’s sweet, plump pout made a body part much lower clench with a different hunger.
He stared down into her green eyes, dark, vivid pools that he could get lost in far too easily. Like now.
A soft smile tilted her lips, and her eyes softened even more.
“I can see I’m just in time.”
“For breakfast? Yes.”
“No.” His smile stretched. “To save you from my sister.”
“Jerk.” Willow delivered a punch to his shoulder as she flounced over to the table and took her usual seat. But he caught her sly smile before he turned his attention back to Aspen.
“What were you two ladies talking about?” With a hand on Aspen’s elbow, he guided her to the table.
“Feelings.” Willow speared a pancake and dropped it onto her plate.
“Ew. Sounds like it was about to get messy in here.”
Aspen’s smile lit up her eyes. So did another glint that he hadn’t seen in them before.
They all tucked into their breakfasts, and a minute later, Carson entered with Layne.
“Hey, save some for us.” He’d grabbed a quick shower and had a towel slung around his neck. Layne was as beautiful as always in her fresh, sophisticated way. Her blonde hair was sleek and shiny, hanging down her back in smooth waves.
Colt couldn’t help but note that while both Layne and Aspen carried themselves with a queenly grace, Aspen was the opposite of Layne in appearance. Dark curls tousled around her beautiful face, and Aspen was more petite in height.
Both women had built good careers for themselves with thriving businesses. They’d have a lot in common. Willow and Aspen didn’t have those same links but even so, they looked to have hit it off.
“Where’s Gray? He doing okay?” Colt asked the group.
“He’s grumpy, so that means he’s doing just fine.” Willow raised her coffee mug to her lips.
“But he’s feelin’ all right?” Colt asked.
“Yes, he’s okay. Just needs some rest.”
“He’s beating himself up over what happened in the cabin.” Colt and Carson exchanged a look at Willow’s words.
“Sounds like someone else we know.” Carson dug into his ham, his appetite fueled by their workout.
Colt had to admit that he felt very different than he had when he first returned to the Black Heart. He wasn’t the same man. Whether time was a balm to his harried soul or just being surrounded by nature and around people who cared about him were behind the change, he didn’t know. But he was grateful, nonetheless.
After Aspen worked her way through a slice of ham and two eggs, she set her fork down.
“If you’re finished, I’d like to show you around.” He reached for her dish and stacked it with his own to take to the dishwasher.
“Sounds nice.”
On their way out of the kitchen, he saw his family exchange looks and had no doubt that after he and Aspen left, they’d become the topic of conversation. For once, Colt didn’t mind. This time, they wouldn’t be exchanging concerns about his mental wellbeing between them.
Outside, he swung his head left and right, checking on their surroundings. The ranch was probably the safest place in the state. Between the siblings who were all trained bodyguards as well as trained by the US military, there was little chance of a threat getting past. Add in the veterans on the premises who were still willing and able to fight for what they believed in, and the Black Heart Ranch was a stronghold.
He still wasn’t taking any chances with Aspen. As he took her hand and led her down the wide porch steps, he tuned in to the world using his other senses. In the distance, horses nickered in the paddock. The breeze freshened, carrying the scent of mountain snow and the hay that the workers had put out for the horses.
“This way.” He led Aspen across the yard to the big barn.
“I love that the barn’s painted black. Goes with the name of the ranch.”
He cast her a smile as they reached the door and he pushed it open.
The space was like a homecoming. No wonder too—it was where he slept.
Dust swirled in the air. The place was pristinely clean according to Willow’s standards, and they all did their best to uphold that.
At the rear of the barn was a staircase leading to the loft. When Aspen tipped her head to look up at the steps, she gave a soft shake of her head. “Is that your room up there?”
“Yeah. I want you to see it.”
“I expected one of those ladders going vertically up the wall.”
“There was one, but I built the stairs. Easier to navigate, especially in the dark.” He waved a hand toward the wood steps, and she began to climb them, giving him an amazing view of her round backside and toned thighs.
His cock twitched, eager to be buried between those thighs all day and all night long.
When they reached the top, she turned in a slow circle. He tried to see the place through her eyes. What must she be learning about his personal sleeping quarters? About his life?
A humble wooden twin bedframe took up one wall. A thick navy-blue quilt and simple sheets neatly covered the mattress that Willow wanted to replace but wasn’t too uncomfortable in his opinion. Of course, he’d slept rough in dangerous enemy territory. Compared to that, the loft looked like a king’s lodgings.
Beside the bed was an old wooden crate packed with books. On top was a lamp with a naked lightbulb.
Aspen migrated to the crate and crouched to read the titles. She ran her fingertip along the spines of classics and espionage thrillers.
“Do you read a lot?”
“Every night. Except the week I’ve been with you.”
She twisted to pierce him in her gaze.
Not knowing what to do with himself, he stuffed his hands in the pockets of his shorts. “What do you think?”
She gained her feet and turned to him. “It looks…lonely.”
He filled his lungs with a big breath of hay-scented air. “I don’t know if it fits me anymore.”
She stepped up to him, looping her arms around his neck. The feel of her body brushing against his made him feel like he finally could catch a breath. With a shudder, he pulled her into his arms and buried his face against her neck.
“I thought I lost you.”
She stilled in his hold, probably shocked by his confession that was more of an admission of those feelings he’d joked about being icky back at breakfast.
“I was scared too.” Aspen tilted her beautiful face up to his.
He swooped in and captured her mouth. The soft, seeking kiss they shared felt like turning a corner, flipping a page in his life and coming up for air all at the same time.
Slanting his mouth over hers, he drank in her sweet sounds and delicious flavor he might be addicted to.
As one, they spun toward the bed. “You deserve more luxury than a twin bed.”
“I only want you, Colt.” Her eyes glowed with desire and…something else. Something he didn’t dare to contemplate in connection with him.
He skittered a hand down her side and clamped onto her hip. “Christ, you’re so sexy. I can’t get enough of you.”
She hooked her calf behind his back and dragged him closer so he settled his weight on top of her. Passion licked at his insides. Need throbbed in his core.
When she rocked her hips into his, he let out a growl.
“Let’s hope no one comes into the barn.”
She issued a soft giggle, but a pink flush flooded her cheeks. “We’ll have to be quiet.”
He cocked a brow at her. “Is that even possible?”
“Let’s try it and see.” She drew him in and kissed him, taking control with long, deliberate passes of her tongue.
Sliding his hand under her top, he glided his fingertips over her silky skin up her ribs. When he cupped one breast, he leaned back to look at her in concern.
“It’s fine. They haven’t felt like a part of me before. You make me feel beautiful and sexy.” She pushed her breast into his hand, and he moaned as he claimed her mouth again.
In a flurry, they stripped off their clothes. Settling her astride him, he dragged the quilt over her bare body to both keep her warm in the cool barn and offer her privacy.
Wrapped in the warm cocoon with her, he slipped his hand between her thighs and found her soaking wet for him.
She moaned out as he ruffled his fingers through her slick folds. Watching her face, he thrust his fingers inside her. Stretching her. Tunneling deep.
Her lips opened on a silent moan, and her eyelids slammed down over her blazing green eyes as he teased her pussy. Her inner walls clenched and released on his fingers, and he set his thumb over her hard clit, applying pressure that made her cry out.
“Colt!”
With his stare locked on her face, he explored her body with his hands, lips and tongue. Her muscles quivered as he drew her closer and closer to the edge.
He hadn’t been with a woman like her in his whole life, and he couldn’t imagine being with another. There was no one like Aspen.
“Come for me, princess. Come on my fingers.” At his quiet urging, she issued a low cry.
He stoppered it with his kiss, thrusting his tongue into her mouth again and again as he fucked her with his fingers and strummed her clit.
Her release struck with a force that bowed her body. She shook apart in his arms…and he lost himself in her bliss.
When she collapsed on top of him, he cradled her against his chest, breathing hard with the effort not to blow.
“I need you inside me!” She sucked on his neck, drawing on his skin with a little stinging bite. Marking him as her own.
A growl rumbled through him. His movements were jerky as he reached under his bed and located a box of condoms he’d never used but had on hand just in case.
“I’ve never brought anyone up here, I swear.”
“Just get it on your big, hard cock. Now!”
With a strangled laugh at her exuberance, he shoved off his shorts and fisted his cock, sliding the rubber down to the base in a swift jack of his fist.
Holding her gaze, he brought the thick head toward her soaking pussy.
They both held their breath as he slid deep in one glide.
His head swam with the mind-bending feel of being inside her. Their mouths crashed together in a blinding kiss that spiraled out of control. Each wild thrust of their hips created music like waves crashing on a shore.
He hadn’t planned on looking for love. He never thought he’d consider living in the big house again, but here he was thinking of how to make that room suit her tastes too. Could Aspen fit into the new future he was starting to envision?
His answer was a swift hell yes.
But she was in business. She loved travel.
Could he fit into her plans?
She was already in Oaks’s wedding photos.
A grin stretched over his face.
“Having fun, you gorgeous man?” Aspen cupped his jaw, bringing his mouth back to hers in hungry kisses.
“Damn right I am, beautiful woman.” He took her mouth in a long kiss as his release hovered at the edge of his senses. Pressure built at the base of his spine. His cock surged inside her.
“Oh god! Colt!” Her insides gripped at his cock, and suddenly she was coming, her pussy clenching around him, milking him from base to tip.
In a hard pulse, he came. Jets spurted from him as he continued to thrust inside her.
Their kiss slowed. When he drew back and stared into her eyes, he knew what he wanted.
Aspen.
* * * * *
Standing at the back door of the Malones’ home, staring out at the striking land of the Black Heart Ranch, Aspen let out a soft sigh.
The wind was picking up. Occasionally, it would howl across the fields. The screen door behind her rattled in its frame, just like her heart rattled in her chest.
Nothing lasted forever. She’d come to this wild land to deliver a honeymoon portfolio to a couple of newlyweds…and then fell in love herself.
She was in touch enough with her emotions to know that the feelings she had for Colt were real. Very real.
The ache settling in her chest felt like it would never go away.
This was the thing she’d been worried about. Nothing was permanent, which was why she took every new opportunity when it cropped up, and chased all her dreams, old and new. Well, she’d chased them right to Colt’s door and let him into her heart.
A soft creaking sound from the screen door opening made her throw a look over her shoulder. Though she wasn’t surprised to see Colt emerging from the house in search of her, it sent a new pang of pain to her chest.
Without a word, he stepped forward and draped his heavy canvas coat over her shoulders.
“Thank you,” she said softly, her words almost snatched by the wind.
He didn’t slide his arms around her, just stood at her back, a presence as solid as those mountains in the distance. She only wished it was enough.
“I can’t stay here forever, Colt.”
Her statement hung between them. She couldn’t see his face.
She needed to see his face.
Slowly, she pivoted. His coat slipped on her shoulders, and just as he had with the quilt the previous night, he drew the garment closer around her.
She snuggled into the quilted lining. The collar smelled like spice and man. Like him.
A smell she’d never, ever forget, just like the way the house smelled after her mother baked cookies, or Vivian’s expensive French perfume lingering around the woman like a warm cuddle.
Three people she’d loved. Two she’d already lost.
She couldn’t lose Colt…but she didn’t know how to keep him either.
He didn’t respond right away, but his stare roamed over her face, snagging on her eyes for a beat too long. On her lips for longer.
“We can figure this out, Aspen.”
“I still need to do business. My client can’t come to that cabin in Wyoming now.”
“I know. Tahoe’s on the table for your client, though.”
“At least you don’t have to shop for a replacement gift basket.”
She loved his attempt to lighten the mood but nothing seemed good about this situation. “I appreciate that. I only have my good name left.”
He gave a rough shake of his head. “That’s not true. You have—”
He broke off, but she feared what he almost said as much as she feared not hearing it.
Lifting his hand, he tugged at the brim of his tan Stetson. Everything about the hat suited him, including the way he used it to hide from people. Like now.
“I can’t protect you if you leave. I’m not going to let you leave.”
Their gazes locked. The ache in her chest swelled like a rising tide. Tears prickled at the back of her eyes.
“What are you saying?”
He touched her. The rough calluses of his fingers sliding along her cheek shifted a loose curl at her temple and brought a shiver to her, but not from the cold Wyoming wind.
Taking a step closer, he searched her eyes as though he needed to find something—anything—to grasp on to. “If you’re mine, princess…I’ll make damn sure nobody ever hurts you again.”
She sucked in an inaudible gasp.
“We have to get the nephew. We need to make sure he can never touch you again.”
Colt was giving her a future—with him. If she wanted to grab it, and she did, she needed to figure out a way to make sure Gideon was captured quickly.
“Stay here with me—with my family. My brothers and I will come up with a plan to stop Gideon from coming after you. Then…”
She studied his face. “Then?” Her voice was a soft lilt of hope.
He slid his hand from her cheek around to her nape, curling his fingertips into her sensitive flesh. “Then we’ll let what’s between us take its course.”
Tipping her face up to his, she waited for the tender brush of Colt’s lips over hers. She wasn’t disappointed.
Sliding her arms around his neck, she clung to him, arching her body into his tight hold and knowing that for once, this wasn’t a goodbye.
It was the beginning.