Chapter 39
“B etter not be seen in here with me.”
Sage doesn’t look my way as she stands in front of Teddy’s stall, scratching his nose. The fickle asshole has turned to putty in her hands. Standing there with heavy-lidded eyes, he gives me a sidelong glance as I approach under the glow of lights strung up overhead. A judgmental fucking look that tells me he knows all my sins. His nostrils flare, and the snort he lets out tells me that he doesn’t think I deserve her.
Even the horses know Sage is the brightest glimmer of starlight on this ranch.
“I don’t give a fuck.” My heart pumps harder at the sight of her up close finally, after having to keep my distance all night. Sage’s dress is a silky slip fluttering around her knees, raven, like the long mane of shiny curls hanging loose down her back. The most delicate straps cover her shoulders, contrasted with those black cowboy boots she could so easily crush my heart beneath if given half a chance.
Her attention remains on the horse, reaching up to the spot behind his ears. “Wouldn’t want anyone getting the wrong idea.”
“Sage.” Pulling my hat off, I shove the other hand in my hair and dare step a little closer. “What you just saw was a setup. I didn’t know she was going to pull that shit.”
“Yeah, sure.” Her tone is arctic, but then she croons something sweet at the horse who has bitten me more times than I care to admit. Yet here he is, mooning after my girl like a lovesick puppy, soaking up her touch just like he usually does with Briar. “Run on back to the party. Don’t bother risking it all to come after me.” A wry laugh comes out of her, and that knife still embedded deep in my stomach twists harder at the way her voice holds no emotion.
“Please, Sage. Just… let me explain.”
“Desperate enough to risk sneaking around in public? Don’t think that would fit the married man aesthetic very well.” She shakes her head, and that scent I’ll forever be chasing the hint of washes my way.
“I talked to Storm out there. Briar and the others, they know?” I venture.
That finally brings her eyes to mine with a flash. “I didn’t tell them if that’s what you’re worried about. They guessed of their own accord because you acted like an idiot and took my phone. As if you were my boyfriend or something.”
Sage says the words, and the air sizzles with unspoken emotion, with an energy that curls around me and is so wholly her . Filled with fire and determination, and the first hint that beneath that hardening of her exterior, is the Sage I’m beyond in love with.
“Am I not?” I narrow my focus on her.
“Jesus. Beau.” She drops her hands from where she’d been patting Teddy. “You’re not. We’re nothing. There’s nothing more gonna happen between us.”
As her eyes lock with mine, I see a glint hidden away. A spark of challenge glitters at me, and this time, it’s undeniably the dance we do. Sage isn’t the type of woman who wants empty apologies, and she’s got that feistiness to her that calls to the part of me only she has power over. She might very well be the only person who truly sees me.
“Try saying that again.” My voice drops low and gritty as I step right into her.
“We’re nothing to each other.” She juts her jaw out. Pure daring is written all over her expression as she stands her ground and looks up at me.
“In case you need it spelled out, you’re everything to me. Taking your phone in order to help out? Yeah, I’d do it all over again without question. I want to take care of you. And not only that, but I want to do little things for you, because that is my privilege to handle the simplest of actions if it will make your life easier. I want to help you, simple as that. While you’re immensely capable and don’t need anyone, you deserve to not always have to carry it around all the same.”
She scoffs. “You don’t mean any of that. Some pretty words you’ve rehearsed there, cowboy, but that’s all. They’re just words.”
It’s like she’s just tossed a match onto gasoline.
“Meaningless. Fucking. Words.” Sage glares up at me, and with each syllable she emphasizes, I feel my veins heat, blood pumping harder for the way she’s pushing at me verbally.
My girl knows exactly what she wants, and she’s not going to give me the easy option.
“Think I don’t know how to show you otherwise?” As I let the quiet warning hang between us, I step closer, and Sage backs up. Another stride forward only does the same thing as she inches away, keeping the space maintained between us.
She wants me to chase her around this entire fucking ranch tonight? I’ll hunt her until daybreak if I have to.
“You know I hate that I can’t be with you out there, like you deserve. All I want to do is walk in the middle of that crowd and ask the band to play something slow, so I can dance with you under those stars.”
“Good thing we’re not together then, remember?”
Her shoulder connects with the door to one of the empty stalls at the far end.
“Oh, yes, we are.” Keeping my eyes locked with hers, I pounce and wrap my palm around her waist.
“Nope.” Sage is still all fire and snarls, but doesn’t shove me off her. “Not while that ring is still on your finger. Or in that place where you so cleverly hide it.” She says the second part with enough venom that I can only assume she’s come across the spot where I keep it out of sight and out of mind until the painful moments when I have to put it on, like tonight.
“We. Are.” I let my hand slide down to squeeze the soft curve of her hip and damn near groan at the relief of being able to touch her after what feels like an achingly long time.
A shiver dances across her shoulders when I sink my fingertips into the delicate fabric. My palm feels like it could burn straight through and leave an imprint there. I’m so desperate to hold her tight, so goddamn filled with the need to demonstrate just how strung out I am without having her near.
“Gonna leave it on? Make a proper mistress out of me when you do this with your wedding ring securely in place?” A curl tugs at her lip, chest heaving ever so slightly.
“That smart mouth of yours is asking for hell, and you know it, trouble.” The fierceness of my grasp intensifies, and when I pinch down on the fleshy part of her hip, I see it. She needs this as much as I do. The honey in her eyes catches light, reflecting the festoon bulbs hanging high above our heads, and I walk us both into the empty stall.
As soon as we pass into the enclosed space, it’s like all the brakes come off. Anything that might have been holding us back fails. We’re careening straight for the edge, and neither of us has any interest in stopping this impending freefall.
“Planning to get your dick wet with your piece of ass on the side, then stroll back out there and play happy families with your wife?”
“No, baby.” Lifting my hat, I set it on her head, and brush strands of hair away from her face as she makes a soft little growling noise.
“I’m going to show you that nothing could keep me away from you. I’m going to prove to you that being without you is the thing that rips all the joy away. It’s fucking misery not having you in my arms, and I’d walk away from this entire ranch, burn every single thing down right now. All you have to do is ask.” As I stare, taking in the sight of Sage looking utterly breathtaking, I reluctantly let go of my grip on her body for a moment, but only to tug the ring off my finger before tossing it aside.
As the metal bounces and skids across the ground, until it collides with the wall, Sage’s chest rises and falls faster.
“What if I don’t want you?” Her voice grows raspy as my hands reach down and bunch up the soft fabric to gather just below her waist.
“Then maybe I gotta remind you just how good we are together, hmm ?” I study her eyes. With each passing breath, I continue to hitch the dress, sliding it higher. “Keep lashing me with that sharp tongue all you want. I deserve it all. And I’ll still have you moaning my name when you’re falling apart for me.”
My knee slides forward, parting her thighs and lifting so she’s pinned by my bulk, her spine shoved up against the wall. The silky soft material gathers above her hips, and I’m in desperate need of being inside her. There’s so much tension rippling between us; my pulse kicks relentlessly with impatience as I wrap her legs around my waist.
Sage darts her tongue out to wet her bottom lip. “Are you gonna make me?”
That drags a dark noise out of me, and I roughly shove one hand inside her panties. “You’re fucking soaked for this.” As my fingers rub through her slickness, my other hand comes up to wrap a heavy palm over the front of her neck.
Beneath the way I’m collaring her throat, Sage smirks at me. “Harder, baby.”
“Jesus Christ.” I plunge deeper, seeking out her drenched entrance. “Feels like you’re all talk, but this pussy is a needy thing.”
“Seems like you’re the one doing all the talking.” When I squeeze my palm a little tighter around the slender column of her neck, her subsequent breath hitches with pleasure, and I feel her squeeze around my fingers. “Here you are telling me you’re gonna show me something real, and that’s all you’ve got?”
With a ragged noise, I drag my hand out of her panties, fumbling to free myself from my jeans. My dick is about ready to burst, and there’s no way I can wait to have my girl.
“Hold your panties aside.” I keep my palm settled on the front of her neck and fist myself as soon as I’ve shoved my briefs out of the way.
Sage’s dark eyes shimmer, and her flushed lips hang parted, as she makes me wait with throbbing dick in hand. She knows just how much power she has right now. This girl could leave me standing right here, no better than a fool with my erection held in my fist, and walk out of my life.
She darts her tongue out to wet her bottom lip, then reaches down to hook the lacey fabric, dragging it to one side in order to give me access.
“I hate that I want you.” Her whisper dissolves into a soft, frustrated whine as I notch my pierced tip inside her channel. “This doesn’t mean that I don’t hate you right now.”
“You don’t hate me that much,” I grunt, as I nearly goddamn lose my head when her velvety, slick channel starts trying to suck me in immediately. “I think your sweet little cunt quite likes it when you’re fucking your boss.”
“Oh, god.” She tightens around me, hands flying up to cling around my neck, and it’s fucking heaven to be connected to her.
“You’re all I want, or need, baby.” I shove inside her, pinning her hard against the wall. “This isn’t like the times when those other assholes thought you needed to be given flowers or meaningless bullshit gifts. This is me giving you my entire fucking soul so you can do your worst—tear it to pieces if you decide that’s what you want.” My hips punch forward and in return, Sage sinks her nails into my scalp.
“What if I do? What if I shred you to pieces?” She lets out a gasp as my piercing hits the spot that makes her eyes roll back in her head.
“Fine by me. It’s no use to me anymore. It belongs to you, trouble.” I’m endlessly obsessed with how she looks, especially at this moment, with my hat on her glossy head of hair, and feeling her wrapped around me like the tightest goddamn little glove.
Sage is just about to say something when I feel her contract harder around me. Those lust-blown eyes widen, and I hear it too. Voices drawing nearer.
“… I thought I saw Beau came over here?” It’s Zeb’s voice, and I grit my teeth at the mere thought of being interrupted.
My girl swallows hard, her throat dipping below my palm. The fluttering of her pulse drums away on the side of her neck underneath my calloused fingers.
“ Shhh ,” I whisper and slow the movement of my thrusts right down to a lazy pace.
Her walls clamp down around me, and in an effort not to make a sound, her teeth sink into the plump swell of her bottom lip.
“Beau? Are you out here?” It’s Mandy’s voice now, calling out for me. Keeping my eyes drilled into Sage’s, I sink as deep as possible, then pulse my hips to tap that spot. My dick swells with how fucking incredible she feels, and I couldn’t care less if those two fuck faces walk the length of the stalls to discover us together.
The look on Sage’s face is one of pure pleasure. There’s no shame or confusion there; it’s just us and our deep as-the-goddamn-ocean connection. The tiniest hint of a smirk plays on her lips when their voices come a little closer still.
I draw right out to the tip, holding there, and dip my head forward to whisper in her ear. “Do you want them to see you, my pretty girl? Do you want to make all those dirty fucking noises that drive me insane, or are you gonna keep quiet?” My cock sinks back inside her on an agonizingly slow glide. It takes everything for me not to erupt right then and there with how her body reacts. “I can play whichever game you want, baby. Tell me what you need. Want them to know you’re in here strangling my cock with your tight little cunt?”
When I pull back to watch her face, there’s a battle going on within the rich brown of her irises and blown-out pupils. Sage clamps down and ripples around me with each steady, measured thrust I give her. Eventually, her head shakes ever so slightly, and that brings a ghost of a smile to the corners of my mouth that she just wants it to be the two of us. To keep this little secret to ourselves.
God, I love her so much.
We can’t drag our focus off each other as her teeth bruise her bottom lip, and I keep fucking Sage right through it all. As I keep sliding in and out, oh so slowly, I’m entirely lost in her. The night air hangs humid and filled with the scent of us. Sweat dampens our skin, and my body lights up with the effort to stay quiet.
I can hear footsteps and talking in low voices as they linger and look in on some of the horses. Really, the only thing I’m paying attention to and straining to hear is if they move deeper into the row of stalls, but they don’t. After a few minutes, they leave, and I release the groan building in the back of my throat as I sink all the way to bury my length inside my girl.
“Holy shit, that was so hot.” Sage gasps, clenching and squeezing my length as I still my hips.
The blazing heat and tension building at the base of my spine is ready to damn well explode. I feel my blood turning an entirely feral shade for the sweetest thing wrapped around me. “Baby, I’m beyond caring about the rules. I’ve played by them my entire goddamn life, and all it brought me was heartache.” I let go of her throat and brace my palm against the wall beside her head.
Sage pants and senses the urgency bubbling up, her thighs clinging tighter around my hips.
Dropping my mouth to her ear, my words are a prelude to the way I need this to go right fucking now. “This is the only good thing… you are the only good thing… so you’d better damn well wear my hat, shut up, and take my dick like my perfect little slut.”
I slam forward and let the savage need for her to take control. Wrapping my palm beneath her ass to squeeze and hold her tight, I brace my weight on a forearm against the wood and drive deep, over and over.
“God. You’re killing me… that mustache… and that filthy mouth…” Sage moans softly, air rushing from her lungs, and I feel those addictive tremors start to roll through.
“Yeah, well, you slaughter me whenever you give me those eyes, baby.” Pressing my mouth against her ear, I feed her desperate, gritty sounds to accompany each of my thrusts.
“Beau— Ffffuck .” Sage’s fingers curl into my hair, and her legs shake.
“That’s it. My pretty girl. Take everything. It’s all yours,” I murmur and readjust slightly to drop my hand between us, seeking out her clit.
As I roll over the swollen bud, I suck down on her earlobe before talking her through it. “Goddamn, I’m obsessed with having you and being yours, trouble. That’s it. You’re doing so well.” She starts to claw at my nape as the wave rushes up to claim her. And as she falls apart I tell her exactly what I need her to know for certain.
“You’re my future, Sage Maloney.”
As her walls pulse around me, the force of her climax tugs me under. My hips stutter, and I grab hold of her body like I’m clinging tight to keep us together through a storm. I unload with a ragged grunt tearing straight out of my throat.
“Jesus. Ffffuck . Milk my cock with that pretty pussy, baby, just like that.”
With each pulse of my dick, hot cum spurts forward, and I’m left more and more lightheaded by how perfect she fucking feels.
I wish there was a way I could erase time. Somehow go back and undo the day I ever crossed paths with the person I was never meant to be with.
All I want is for Sage to know that I might have complicated shit to figure out, but I’ve got no intention of letting her go. She’s too goddamn precious to me. Not because this girl is fragile, but because she’s the rarest kind of diamond there could be. Forged out of fire and unrelenting pressure and able to withstand anything that might come her way.
It’s all hers. All my mornings, evenings, and every thud of my heart in between. She wants me to walk away from this place? I’ll do it. Equally, she can have anything she wants here.
It doesn’t matter what the question might be.
I’ve already said yes.