Chapter 27
“M mm . You like that spot right there, do you?”
I receive a forceful nudge from a whiskery nose, followed by a demanding snort for my fingers to continue scratching beneath Mist’s jaw.
“I’m supposed to be mucking out your stall, you handsome prick,” I mutter, and he really doesn’t give a single fuck. His eyelids go droopy as he looks damn near ready to put every single one of his twelve-hundred pounds to use by falling asleep on my shoulder.
I’ve tried to spend as much time as possible out here with him lately so we can get familiar with each other. Not that Mist is my only reason for being so preoccupied with the horses and the barn and all kinds of other crap that I’ve been giving my attention to around this part of the ranch.
There’s a girl with silky hair, glittering dark eyes, and a sultry little smile powerful enough to leave me forgetting my own name. A particular brand of temptation, who I very much need to remain apart from, for as much time as humanly possible.
I mean, we’re not avoiding each other’s company entirely. Something of a silent compromise extends between us in the hazy morning light when she appears from her cabin to steal my pot of coffee and settle down at her computer. Followed by a weary sort of convergence across the kitchen island at the end of the day after we’ve both worked our asses off. For me, it’s out with the cattle, seeing to mundane tasks like mending fences, and working with the horses. For Sage, it’s her continued work on the ranch PR and the upcoming event she’s up to her eyeballs in organizing.
We’ll share dinner together in the evening—I don’t trust Sage not to simply forgo eating a proper meal in lieu of how hard she’s working to get everything ready for The Loaded Hog’s big relaunch—but afterward, I don’t linger at the house.
I cook. She talks to me about all the little details, the myriad of aspects she’s effortlessly coordinating; listening to her run over her day is like a cool breeze to soothe my frayed nerves where our current circumstances are concerned. Then, I spend most of my night back out here, sitting with the horses, and staying as far away as possible from the girl I’ve fallen for, yet cannot risk being near.
After the kind of night we spent entangled together, I knew I was undeniably fucked. It hit me like a ton of bricks the moment we saw each other again for the first time—as soon as she returned to the ranch following her meeting with Hayes. Sage came into view, and the squeezing sensation in my chest collided internally with immediate recognition. With a stifled groan, right alongside a rush of blood to my groin, reality slammed into me at that very second… I needed to become extremely fucking busy on this ranch for the foreseeable future.
Absolutely no good can possibly come of lingering in that house after dark, when all I want to do is drag Sage against me and have her in my bed all over again.
The need to reach out for her is damn near overwhelming.
So, here I am. Indulging Mist’s demands. Staying far away.
Fuck this. It’s hell.
At least all this time I’ve spent with the horses has been as good for them as it has been for me. Briar and Storm certainly had the right idea about establishing an equine therapy program. I’m their first unplanned beneficiary of the immensely calming effect grooming and fussing after all of them brings. Gives me a perfect solution to keep my hands from wandering places they shouldn’t.
Turns out, I can walk in here with a mind spinning so relentlessly, it feels like smoke and burning rubber have replaced my lump of brain matter, only to see Willow’s muzzle poke out and snort at me… and somehow all that chaos ebbs away.
Of course, the tiniest little terror to make this ranch home, has an attitude the size of the entire state and a personality to match. Storm calls her Duchess . He’s not wrong there. She might be all of knee height compared to the others in this stable, but trots around as if she’s twenty hands high.
As I’m checking on their feed and water for the night, my phone vibrates in my back pocket with an incoming notification. Never in my life have I enjoyed carrying a phone. I gladly handed the responsibility for responding to calls, messages, and anything remotely related to social media to Tessa for years while I was on the pro circuit.
That was until Sage came along with her smart-ass quips and the occasional teasing message she sends me during the day. It’s nothing particularly damning. She’s intelligent enough to know having written evidence on my phone—to leave even a hint that there’s something more between us than a purely professional working situation—would be a terrible idea.
So, instead, she settles for roasting me about my mustache, or asking me questions regarding the ranch. I guess it helps with what she needs and is currently working on. Since I’m nothing but a hindrance where technology is concerned, if I can help out in some little way, I suppose that’s something.
Only, it isn’t her words gracing my world in the middle of the afternoon. The sight on my phone screen is an email subject line that turns my stomach sour.
My thumb immediately stabs at the contact number I detest having to call, but seeing the latest bullshit from her lawyers is more than enough of a reason to forget about civility and forced politeness via email exchange. As to be expected, the voice who picks up the phone is not my wife.
“Hello, Mr. Heartford.”
“Zeb. I know she’s right there. Put her on the call.” My fist clenches tight, along with my jaw.
“Oh, just give me one second. I’ll see if Mandy is available to talk.” Her assistant makes a show of covering the speaker, and there’s a series of muffled whispers before the phone gets passed over.
“Beau, so good of you to get in touch, honey.” Her cloying voice drifts down the line, all sing-song and pretending to be anything but a cold-hearted, calculating fame-seeker. “You must have a great intuition for phoning me right when I’m right in the middle of something…”
No way is she going to wriggle out of this conversation. “Cut the shit. Why is your lawyer emailing me complete garbage?”
“Oh, didn’t I text you about that? Must’ve slipped my mind.” She breezes. “Look, I know we said three more months?—”
“Two.” My grunt cuts her off. “We agreed to two more months, and you know it. Those were the terms.” The final severing of the head from this miserable, toxic situation. The finish line to my years upon years of being trapped in this. Finally, now that my pro career is over, I was able to get her to agree to mutually beneficial terms. And now we’ve seen out the obligatory window, things are scheduled to be announced publicly via a carefully curated press release.
Always with the goddamn calculated steps, where this woman is concerned. But at least that’s the final one of them that I have to take. I’m so close to freedom. I can taste it like a fresh hit of ocean salt hanging in the air when your toes sink into the sand.
Mandy sucks in a breath through her teeth. “See, the problem is, it’s gonna have to be longer. That’s why my lawyer thought we should send over an email outlining everything, to let you know the specifics.”
My neck prickles. What the fuck did she just say?
“Not interested, Mandy. What the hell? Why are you coming at me with that kind of bullshit?”
“You know how tirelessly I work, and well, to be honest, this is what my career needs before we go upsetting so many fans. I’ve got some important tour dates coming up this year for my next album, and then we both walk away, easy.” She says it all so lightly, as if it’s the simplest fucking thing in the world, and that it shouldn’t even cross my mind to think otherwise.
I couldn’t give a flying fuck about her fans, or her album sales. “How much longer?” My ears are ringing like I’ve just taken a boxer’s fist to the temple.
“Not much, just a little extension, honey. Hardly anything, really. Think of it as just a tiny little extra piece woven into our story.”
That almost makes me choke. There is no us, and there certainly is no story I wish to hang onto memories of. In fact, I want to purge my life of this woman’s presence as quickly and as efficiently as possible.
“How. Much. Longer?”
“Just until next summer.”
I think I black out for a second before rounding on her with a violent hiss.
“A year? What the shit, Mandy?” She’s got to be fucking joking.
“What’s another twelve months when it means you get to keep your little ranch to play around on, and we part ways without a messy legal battle through courts and lawyers and public disagreements over assets? Neither of us wants that, Beau.”
“You agreed this would be settled sooner.” I seethe, teeth gritted and every muscle drawn tight. I feel it rising, the helplessness and frantic pounding beneath my skin. Not only does she want to stretch this out, but now she’s threatening my ranch, too? Yet again, she’s going for the jugular, because she knows legally she’s damn well entitled to half of everything.
She is well aware of exactly how much of an idiot I was when I signed away my life. When I didn’t stop for one second to think about things like joint assets or division of property. Fuck, I was such a naive piece of shit back then.
“Well… things change. You know what this industry is like. I’ve got the opportunity to tour with my new album, and you know I could really use?—”
“Don’t start. I’m not interested in hearing it. What I do know is that you’re a leech and an attention seeker.”
“Beau.” She scoffs over my name. “Don’t be like that. You’re telling me you’d rather we do this the hard way?” Her nails rap against something solid in the background. “Contested divorces can really drag out, you know. Not to mention how going that route will tie up all our joint assets… which includes property.”
Tilting my head back, I mouth fuck and scrunch my eyes.
“Are you still there, Beau?”
I drag a heavy palm over the back of my neck.
“Fine. But we’re putting this in writing, we’re signing a contract spelling out precise dates, and there won’t be any other crap like this you pull. You understand me?” It’s always been this way. Mandy knows exactly how to ensure I say yes, how to exploit my biggest weakness, and how to make everything bend to her will.
“Got it. Crystal clear. Thank you for always being such a wonderful husband. I’ll get my lawyer to send over documents and we’ll square away that date for you, so there’s no need to fret. I know how you worry.”
“I expect to have paperwork with your signature already on it before the end of the day.” I damn near crush my phone when I bark down the line before hanging up.
As I stand there, it feels like I’m being swallowed alive.
Torn apart piece by fleshy piece.
Every cell of my skin itches and feels like I need to scratch at myself to escape this suit I’ve been forced to inhabit. It clings to me in a way that feels somehow boiling hot and freezing cold at the same time—both extremes are burning me, and I can’t get away from the searing pain.
I’m panting. Almost light-headed. Fumbling with my phone, I dial Tessa. I just need to hear her voice. Just need to have that point of contact with someone who understands. She’s so good at being there for me, so good at being the voice of reason. A place of calm I can shelter while my brain and body slowly return to a place where I don’t feel like my throat is going to close over.
As the phone rings and rings, my chest grows tighter and tighter. Followed by the dreaded moment it goes to voicemail.
“Tessa, fuck, call me, please. I need to talk.”
I hang up and immediately try again. Same result.
As the beep of her voicemail sounds, I squeeze my eyes shut and yank on my hair.
“I could really use you right now. Be smug forever. Whatever. I don’t care, but I need… I need your help, ok.” Everything feels like it’s spinning, spiraling out of control. The words taste like ash on my tongue. I fucking hate feeling this way. It feels like the goddamn weakest thing in the world to have a brain that can’t just relax .
A small cough comes from behind me. Whirling around, I come face to face with Sage standing in the middle of the barn, cradling her tablet and camera. Her eyebrows are up in her hairline somewhere, and I don’t know how much of any of that she fucking heard.
“Hey… so… sorry to kinda intrude…” She shifts her weight, then gestures at the stalls. “I’d been planning to do a photoshoot with the horses, but I can come back another time.” Her brown eyes bounce over me, but I can’t meet her gaze because I don’t want a fucking pitying look. It’s my mess to deal with, and I can’t handle the idea of this girl seeing me collapse under the weight of my own bullshit.
“How much of that did you hear?” I swallow thickly.
“Just the bit about your sister having something to be smug about.” She gives a slightly forced smile. “Can I help? You know I’ll never turn down an opportunity to be smug.”
“It’s fine. Normally, I’d talk to Tessa.”
Sage rolls her lips together, then casts her eyes around the barn. “Hey, so you remember how you helped me when I nearly flambéed my entire arm? Maybe that’s our thing. Having each other’s backs when we’d rather eat dirt than ask for help.”
“I’m not on fire.” Air doesn’t even feel like it’s reaching my lungs. They’re so tightly squeezed by the invisible band cinched around my chest.
“Yeah, but your brain is.” She narrows her eyes, looking me up and down, then strolls over to the workbench lining the wall. “What about a little bit of mutual appreciation?” Sage pushes some tools aside, sets her things down, then hops up to sit her ass on the benchtop.
I stay stock still, watching the cotton of her sundress gather around her thighs before my focus bounces up to find the plush curve to her mouth as she smirks at me.
“Statistically speaking, people who have an orgasm every day live longer, calmer, more peaceful lives.”
All I seem to be able to do is give her a stern look in return. Why is she prepared to put up with my dark cloud? How much more perfect can this girl be to walk in and find me tangled up inside my own ball of misery and yet look past all that?
Sage treats me like there’s nothing to make a fuss about.
“Look, all I’m saying is that if you’ve got your dick in your hand, I bet your brain would shut up real fast.”
Her eyes sparkle. A challenge laid down right here in the middle of this barn.
I swallow heavily, searching around for words on a long pause. “I can’t just whip it out right here.”
“Why not? It’s your property, your business.” Sage tilts her head to one side, swinging her legs.
“Pretty sure that violates every code that exists for bosses and employees.”
“Ok, but say we’re not at work right now... it’s tequila o’clock somewhere. Which makes it dick-out-o’clock somewhere, too.”
“Are you trying to kill me?” She’s got me damn near choking as mischief continues to roam freely all over her expression.
“No, but I am trying to blow your mind... or at least let you blow off some of that steam.”
She settles herself on the workbench, leaning back on both hands, and spreads her knees, parts them ever so gently, but only just wide enough that my brain can’t do anything except fixate on the shadowy spot where her thighs meet beneath the fabric.
“ Mmmm . Come on. Indulge my curiosity. You’ve had the chance to watch me touch myself, let me see you. Why don’t you fuck your fist for me, cowboy?”
The only sound I register is the thudding of my pulse. My dick has already started thickening, hearing her raspy purr and being surrounded by the scent that will forever stick with me long after this girl ups and leaves this ranch.
It’s that thought. Knowing that I’m going to have to let her leave once this summer is over, that has my hands moving. Fuck it. We hardly had a chance to start with, and now this bomb Mandy has dropped? With swift fingers, I work to unbuckle my belt, and as the metal clanks, I see her body respond—an immediate shudder taking hold. Sage bites down on her bottom lip, eyes going glassy as she watches me from that perch.
It makes me feel a surge of something purely primal. A flare of anticipation burns white-hot through every inch of my bloodstream as those honeyed dark eyes descend on me. Is this what Sage felt when I watched her that night? When not even the wildest bull could have dragged my eyes away from devouring the sight of her. Was this the sensation coursing through her veins?
Sage smiles, teeth still digging into the plump swell of her lower lip as I wrap my hand around my length. I can’t fucking believe that she wants this, wants to sit there and soak in the sight of me. To enjoy watching as I play with my cock and my piercing, all while continuing to lengthen, thickening inside my fist.
“When did you get that?” Her gaze eats up the way I thumb over the head, pushing the metal back and forth, and goddamn, this is so unbelievably hot. So reckless. I have absolutely no interest in stopping where this is heading.
“Storm and I had a stupid bet years ago.” I stroke myself from root to tip, heart hammering a furious beat. “Whoever lost the buckle that year had to get their dick pierced. Whoever won had to get a piercing, but could choose where.”
Her grin takes center stage. “He suits a nose ring.”
“You’d better not be complimenting another man while drooling over my cock… not while imagining me tapping the back of your throat.”
“Are you gonna do something about it, Heartford? Make me?”
This fucking girl. I grunt and tug harder, wishing like hell I could take her up on her taunting.
“What would you do… if I was thinking about someone else while sucking you… taking you as far back as possible?”
“Jesus Christ. You don’t wanna know.”
“World champion, hmm ? There’s a competitive animal inside you, isn’t there? And you’re keeping him locked away so no one will see that side of you.”
My fist shuttles faster, and tension pools low in my spine. “I’ll fucking show you just how competitive I can be if you dare think about anyone else while you’re stuffing your fingers in that tight cunt for me.”
Sage’s eyes flash with a challenge.
“You wanna watch?”
“Hurry the fuck up.” A groan of desperation escapes because her pussy has been all I can think about.
She looks mighty fucking pleased with herself. “God, I love that sexy noise you make when you’re getting close.” Her palms skate along those lush thighs, dragging the hem of her dress higher, bunching a pool of soft fabric at her waist.
“What do you think my tongue would feel like around the tip, sliding over that bar?” Her eyes grow more hooded the moment she dips a finger beneath the seam of her panties, then swirls over her clit. “I can’t believe I didn’t get to blow you at least one time the other night.” Her breath hitches in time with that torturously slow way she fondles herself, and I’m captivated by how filthy this moment is.
We’re separated by ten feet, and countless layers of longing, yet it’s like I can taste her sweetness on my tongue.
She isn’t wrong. I’m regretting not finding time for that particular game myself, but it was only due to the fact I was far too obsessed with being sheathed inside her, or getting my mouth on her.
“Do you like that feeling? What’s it like for you when it gets sucked and pushed back and forth? Does that make your toes curl, cowboy?”
“ Ffuuuuck.” My jaw tightens, and heat flashes down to my balls. “I’ve never had that.”
Sage’s fingers stop moving briefly. Her lips part on a choked noise. “You’re kidding?”
“Wish I was,” I grunt.
Her gasp fills the air, and she’s so goddamn pretty, resuming the attention on her clit, getting closer and closer to the edge, just as I am. “No one has had that piercing in their mouth? That’s gotta be a felony in at least fifty states.”
“You offering?” Each glide of my palm works me harder and harder, and every time my hand strokes over the metal at my tip, I’m fighting for my life because I just want her mouth. I want her wrapped around me. I just want to pump into her and feel her walls flutter as she writhes and bucks against the sheets.
As she begs and taunts, it sends me into a place where all I want to do is pin her to the mattress and fuck as deep as possible.
She takes it all. She urges me to go harder. Please, Beau. I can take it.
“Holy fuck. Don’t tempt me with a good time, cowboy. I’m trying to be good over here, and you’re giving me that look.”
“I think you’re trying to be anything but.”
“Yet, you’ve got your dick leaking all over your hand, baby.”
“And your pussy is weeping for me.”
“She absolutely is.” Sage whimpers. “She’s crying at the sight of a piercing that hasn’t been shown the kind of lovin’ it deserves.”
“Sage… goddamn.” My balls tighten, and I have to talk through clenched teeth.
“That’s it. Keep going just like that. You look so hot I could die.”
“Fuck.” This time, my groan is purely feral for her. “This is torture. You’re over there looking like a dream. I can see how wet you are, and all I wanna do is fuck you raw. You have no idea how bad I want to slip inside your pussy again.”
Her tiny little moans are breathy and desperate and the sweetest sound. “You are. I can feel you pushing in, but I’m tight, which means you gotta work hard for it.” She absolutely kills me, starting to play the game ruthlessly now. “Beg a little. I bet you can feel me, even all the way over there.”
Heat surges through my groin.
“ Mmmfuck . Yeah, you can feel me squeezing your dick, can’t you? Feel how close I am when I make that noise you like the most. That point when I’m moaning louder because your fat cock is all I can think about, and you’re filling me perfectly.”
A pent-up, gritty noise finally bursts out of me. “You’d better be nearly fucking there.”
“God, you get so deep. You keep tapping that spot.” Sage’s eyelashes flutter, her fingers circle frantically, and I know we’re both seconds from losing it.
Blood pumps like gasoline through my veins, my cock swells with each shuttle of my fist growing more forceful, more urgent.
“You’re gonna milk me dry, aren’t you? A slut who wants to be dicked down and filled with my cum so badly you’re out here being a fucking cock tease.”
“Holy shit.” She gives me the hottest goddamn sound of pleasure in return for the utter filth coming out of my mouth. “I am—god, I am—” Her glittering eyes stay locked on mine as I watch the flood of pleasure claim her. It’s so damn intoxicating. She’s an addiction I can’t shake, and I devour the way her body convulses as she moans through her orgasm, continuing to massage her clit.
“Jesus. Sage. Fuck . Fffuuuck .”
I groan as all that intense build-up of tension bursts at the base of my spine. My cock pulses and erupts all over my fist, leaving my skin coated and hand making slick noises as I stroke myself through it.
I don’t know what just took over. Why I said that to her. Where those words came from is beyond me, but Sage looks so beautiful and dreamy, and she clearly doesn’t mind.
“Goddamn, hearing you talk me to filth and put on a show is a lethal combination. Maybe I need to get you to record yourself so I can play that back sometime.” Her hum is soft as she floats along on the lingering wave of her climax.
Struggling to collect myself, to find any sense of sanity or words, I settle for pulling my t-shirt off in order to clean up the mess I just made.
“These horses just got a lot more than they bargained for by moving here.” Sage grimaces. “Should I go and apologize? How do I say, ‘Sorry for flashing you my kitty, but it was totally worth it?’”
While Sage looks like a queen, I’m still trying to regather my soul. How can this girl find it so easy to be playful and joke around while I just want to tackle her into the nearest pile of hay and taste her? I want to swipe up her fingers in order to lick them clean. I want her cum on my tongue when I cover her soaked cunt with my mouth. I want to tear that dress off completely and part her soft thighs. I want to hook her legs over my shoulders as I drive my hips forward until my cum coats every inch deep inside her.
“Do you think they’ll judge me for enjoying being a bit slutty? Do horses kink shame?”
That makes me chuckle as I bunch up the now cum-covered material into a ball.
“They’re gonna have to get used to being around Storm and Briar.” I shake my head.
“Ohhh… I forgot those two go at it like rabbits. Honestly, good for them. Well, at least I don’t feel so bad now.” Sage slides off the workbench, tucks her dress back around her thighs, and then walks up to Dusty. When she gets there, she raises up onto tip-toes to lean over the door to her stall. “Sorry, bud, I think you’re gonna have to invest in a pair of earmuffs when St?rmand Lane is around.”
Tossing the t-shirt aside, I set about doing my jeans and belt back up. My mind might have gone as placid as a lake, but I still don’t know what to say to Sage right now.
“What do you need help with out here?” She beats me to it, hitting me with a look over one shoulder.
I swallow thickly. “Nothing. It’s all taken care of. You… you can just head back to whatever else you were doing…”
“C’mon, now. We just worked off a bit of tension, might as well make myself more useful than to just give you some bonus memories for your spank bank.”
I scrub a hand over my jaw. This fucking girl. “You did not just say those words in the middle of my ranch.”
She grins broadly at me, shrugging that bronzed shoulder. “So, what’s the lowdown, boss? Time for horse shit scoopin’?”
Christ. I can’t think straight anymore. Apparently, my brain just took up residence in my dick.
But as much as I’m offering for her to leave, I don’t actually want her to go. Memories of being in here with her that night, of my arms being wrapped around her and drawing down deep lungfuls of her scent and warmth occupy my mind’s eye. Well shit, if I can’t reach out to hold Sage or touch her the way my hands demand to, then perhaps we can still spend time together in another way.
“The girls need to stretch their legs, and I was going to check on the cattle before sundown. Are you feeling up for a ride?”
Sage’s lips twist. “Careful. That sounds borderline flirtatious, Mr. Heartford.”
I drag my cap off and ruffle my hair. “I’m sorry?—”
“Please. I’m just teasing you. I’d love to get out on one of these pretty ponies. If you can hold my hand on what to do, since I’m a tad dusty on all the bits and pieces and straps and thingies.”
My lips tug at the corners. “Ok, well, three things. For one, you can’t work on a ranch and go around butchering the language like that all summer. You’ll give us a bad name among cowboys for miles around. Second, you and I both need to get changed.”
Sage rolls her lips together to disguise a laugh while looking at my bare chest. “I don’t think I’m the problem here.”
“You’re not going horse riding in something that flimsy, unless you want to be chafed to bits.” I gesture at her sundress and bare legs. “Thirdly, come with me. You can learn how to saddle Goldie over here.”
It might be far less than perfect, certainly not how I want to spend tonight with her, but it’ll have to do.
And something eases further inside my chest, knowing that I can steal her attention and smiles and sharp wit for an evening. Even if it ultimately isn’t the way I’m craving to be connected to my girl, at least I can have her all to myself.