25. Ridge
Twenty Five
Ridge
“ D addy, we played grape fight with Emmy!” Lily’s declaration hits me like a bucket of ice water the moment I step into the reception area. Her grin is wide, her cheeks flushed with the kind of pure, unbridled joy that comes from embracing life’s simplest pleasures.
“You had fun, sweetie?” I ask, already knowing the answer. She nods vigorously, and I can’t help but return her smile.
Avery squirms in my arms, her little hands reaching out for Ethan. With a slight bounce to transfer her over, I pass my youngest to my trusted ranch hand. He takes her easily, her featherlight weight clearly no burden.
Off to the side, Cody is occupied—practicing some intricate movement with a cricket bat that has me both confused and oddly proud. He’s already developing discipline, mirroring the focused intensity I’ve seen in the pros on TV.
But then Lily’s words echo in my mind: “Grape fight with Emmy.” Instantly, my thoughts careen back to that evening weeks ago when Emma first introduced my daughters to the winery’s more… messy delights. I can still recall the vision of her, covered in a light sheen of purpled wine and grape juice, her sundress clinging in all the right places.
The memory sparks something deep within me, spreading warmth from my chest outward until I’m acutely aware of how confining my jeans suddenly feel. I shift, trying to subtly adjust myself, and catch Ethan’s gaze.
He regards me evenly, the hint of a smirk playing at the corner of his lips. “She’s cleaning up in there,” he says, answering the unspoken question. For a moment, I feel like a damn kid again, busted by his older brother for having impure thoughts about a girl.
Then Ethan’s expression softens, subtly conveying an understanding I haven’t allowed myself from anyone in longer than I can remember. “I’ll look after your kids,” he says with a nod.
The words, though simple, unlock something in my chest. It’s trust, I realize—not just in Ethan’s ability to watch over Lily and Cody, but in this broader situation I’ve somehow found myself in. This blending of my world with Emma’s, of responsibilities and affections and everything I once kept meticulously segregated.
With a murmured thanks, I pivot and make my way toward the storage room, each booted step amplifying the strange mixture of eagerness and trepidation building inside me. Because as much as I want to see Emma, to drink in whatever delicious state the grape fight has left her in, part of me still expects… what? A punchline? For reality’s curtain to be pulled back, revealing this whole scenario as some cosmic joke?
Then I open the door, and everything else falls away.
She’s there, my siren of the vines, standing amid the aftermath of her grape-soaked revelry. Emma has shed her jacket, leaving her in just a formfitting tank and…fuck, just her panties. Crimson and indigo splotches mottle her exposed skin like the most delectable of wine stains, turning her into a living canvas of our life’s work.
A growl rumbles up from my depths before I can stop it. “You often walk around half-naked where people can find you, Little Flower?”
Emma gasps at the sound, that full-body reaction that never fails to stoke my ego. But then she pivots, gifting me with that coy smile that’s fast becoming my undoing—a hint of secrets just waiting to be uncovered, of layers yet to be peeled back and savored.
“Maybe,” she purrs, and just like that, I’m utterly lost.
The worries, the doubts, the lingering sense that I’m somehow undeserving of this intoxicating woman…all of it fades into insignificance. Because in this moment, with her wine-stained skin and that come-hither gaze, Emma is the embodiment of everything I’ve ever wanted from this life without realizing it.
White-hot lust detonated in my veins as I drank in every lush, debauched inch of Emma’s juice-coated form. My jaw clenched, arousal spiking so violently it was nearly painful.
“You gonna stand there staring at me, cowboy?”My breath caught in my throat as Emma smirked at me, eyes glittering with challenge.
Fuck, she looked absolutely sinful drenched in that soaked cotton shirt that left nothing to the imagination. I could make out every lush curve, every dusky nipple pebbled to stiff peaks beneath the clinging fabric. A bead of deep garnet wine trailed between the valley of her breasts, and I burned to follow that path with my tongue.
“Fucking hell, Em,” I rasped hoarsely, rooted in place and utterly transfixed. “You look so goddamn edible, little flower.”
She worried that plump lower lip between her teeth - a blatant, wanton invitation. “Is that so?” Her voice was a breathy purr as she arched her back, putting those full tits on obscene display. “Maybe you should do something about it then, cowboy.”
I vaulted over the trough wall, not giving a damn about the sticky mess as I landed in the shallow pool of mash surrounding her lithe form.
Emma gasped in surprise as the dark juice sluiced up over her torso, but I was already on her. My hands seized her hips in a bruising grip, yanking her flush against me until the rigid line of my aching cock strained against the soaked denim separating us.
“Oh, I plan to do plenty about it, darlin’,” I promised in a low rasp against the swell of her breast.
I felt her full-body shudder, chest heaving with shallow pants as her nipples pebbled into tight points against the damp fabric. Nosing the flimsy neckline aside, I trailed a blazing path of openmouthed kisses down the center of her sternum, following that lewd rivulet of burgundy wine.
Emma whimpered when my tongue lapped up the sticky-sweet essence pooled between the valley of her tits. I latched my lips around one puckered peak, worrying it between my teeth until she cried out and arched wantonly into the harsh suction.
Growling with hungry need, I released her breast only to rake scorching kisses down her flat belly. Emma’s fingers threaded almost painfully through my hair, trying to urge me lower to where I could scent her warm, musky arousal.
“Not yet, Em,” I husked against her slick skin, grinning at the full-body quiver that licked through her. “I’m gonna lick and suck every last drop of that sweet wine off your skin until you’re a goddamn sobbing mess, begging me to let you cum.”
Her pupils blew wide at my filthy promise, eyelids fluttering closed in rapturous surrender as I blazed a path of stinging kisses along the jut of her hipbone.
“Ridge, please…” she keened, hips jerking feverishly in silent entreaty.
A deep rumble of laughter vibrated in my chest at Emma’s desperate plea, reveling in how completely she’d surrendered herself to me - body, mind and soul.
“Please what, sweetheart?” I prompted in a low rasp, purposely drawing out the exquisite torture.
Her pupils were blown wide with mindless desire, gaze dazed and unfocused as I nipped along the vee of her pelvis. Emma moaned, utterly uninhibited now, hips bucking with wanton need against my roaming mouth.
“I want…” She broke off on a gasping whine as I purposefully ghosted my lips a scant breath away from where she ached for me most. “God, Ridge, please…”
“Use that gorgeous dirty mouth, darlin’,” I coaxed darkly, drinking in every lewd reaction like a man dying of thirst. “Tell me exactly how you want me to put this greedy little cunt out of its misery.”
Emma keened, the desperate mewl shooting straight to my throbbing cock. Her head lolled back in abandon, exposing the elegant line of her throat that I fully intended to litter with bruising claims.
“Your mouth, baby…I need your mouth on me. Please suck me until I scream your name. I’m begging you…”
The guttural words had me growling with possessive hunger. “Look at me, Emma.”
Her lashes fluttered open, glazed eyes struggling to focus as I placed a scorching, openmouthed kiss to her jutting hipbone.
“Like this?” I asked roughly before diving lower without waiting for a response.
Her shocked cry morphed into a broken moan of pure rapture as I sealed my lips around her glistening pearl, lavishing the sensitive bud with firm, merciless lashes of my tongue. Emma’s thighs clamped convulsively around my ears, hips grinding shamelessly against my face as I worked her feverishly with lips, teeth and tongue.
“Fuck, Ridge!” she cried out, hands fisting in my hair.
I released her clit briefly with a dark chuckle, nuzzling deeper to trail hot, openmouthed kisses along her drenched slit. “Shh, little flower, you gotta be quiet,” I admonished gruffly against her slick flesh. “Can you do that for me, baby? Keep those gorgeous whimpers and moans all for me?”
Emma could only nod frantically, whimpering as I plunged my tongue into her fluttering channel for the first long, rapturous taste of her honeyed essence. This searing, all-consuming possession was everything I’d craved for so goddamn long…and she was utterly, devastatingly mine.
I let out a low rumble of approval as Emma bit back desperate whimpers, watching her lip tremble with the effort of containing those gorgeous needy sounds. Fuck, she looked absolutely sinful laid out before me - flushed, disheveled, and utterly at my mercy.
“Good girl,” I rasped in a rough whisper, leaning in to trail my tongue along the taut line of her stomach.
Emma’s muscles jumped beneath the scorching path, her back arching in a silent plea for more as I painted my way up to the swell of her bare breasts. Her nipples pebbled into tight, aching buds as soon as the night air kissed her damp skin and I wasted no time in latching onto one with a soft, teasing bite.
A trembling whimper slipped free at that, despite her valiant efforts. Emma’s fingers fisted in my hair, tugging with just the right side of desperation as I suckled and nipped at her with relentless focus.
“Please…Ridge…” she rasped out in a breathy plea, hips canting upwards in silent entreaty.
“Patience, little flower,” I growled against her glistening skin, dragging my tongue in an achingly slow loop around her neglected peak. “I told you…I’m gonna lick and suck every last drop of that sweet wine off your skin until you’re a goddamn sobbing mess, begging me to let you cum.”
She outright mewled at that filthy promise, gaze hazy and unfocused with lust as I reached for the near-empty bottle of merlot. With a roguish grin, I pushed Emma’s shoulders until she was splayed out on the cool ground, legs falling shamelessly open.
“You ready, baby?” I murmured, voice already roughened to grit.
Emma could only nod feverishly, chest heaving with shallow pants in anticipation. The sight of her looking so thoroughly ruined, so obscenely primed for my touch, had me cursing under my breath.
I upended the bottle without preamble, letting the deep crimson liquid cascade over her glistening folds in a lewd, sinful rivulet. Emma cried out, hips bucking wildly as her hands fisted in the soft loam, seeking purchase. But I was already there, tongue lapping up every drop with broad, filthy strokes.
“Fuck…you taste even sweeter than I imagined, darlin’,” I rasped against her honeyed flesh.
Her thighs clamped around my shoulders, trying to pull me impossibly closer as I feasted on her with searing, merciless focus. Sharp whines slipped free, punctuated by stuttering pleas for more as I pushed two fingers into her yielding heat.
Emma’s back bowed in rapture, walls fluttering wildly as I crooked my digits to stroke that bundle of nerves from within. So goddamn close…she was already right on the edge, entire body quaking with the strain of holding back her climax.
“Not yet, baby,” I growled in warning, abruptly withdrawing my fingers and mouth.
The depraved, punished keen that punched out of her at the denial almost shattered what was left of my control. Emma’s eyes were dark, wild pools of desperation, chest heaving with each shallow pant as her legs fell open in a pantomime of complete, primal surrender.
“Don’t worry, Em,” I soothed in a rough timbre, voice barely more than a gravelly purr as I blazed a path of openmouthed kisses up the soft plane of her belly. “This is only gonna make it so much fuckin’ better when I finally let you cum.”
I sealed my lips over her parted ones in a searing, plundering kiss, our tangled breaths mingling in a bruising clash of teeth and tongue. Emma whimpered into my mouth, hips rocking in a desperate, primal grind against my thigh as I slotted it between those slick folds.
“That’s it, baby…let me feel how fuckin’ soaked you are,” I coaxed, hands roaming hungrily over her arched back to pull her flush against me. “Rub off all over me, sweetheart. I wanna smell that greedy little cunt all over me for days after tonight…”
I watched Emma through hooded eyes, lips twisting into a satisfied smirk as she rutted shamelessly against my thigh, so goddamn close to shattering. Her pupils were blown wide, gaze hazy and unfocused with mindless desperation for release.
Just as her back arched in that telltale sign, hips jerking erratically against me, I pulled away with a dark chuckle.
Emma’s cry of denial punched out of her, eyes flying open to sear me with a molten glare. Chest heaving with each ragged pant, she looked utterly, gloriously undone, pushed to the very precipice only to have that shattering orgasm cruelly denied.
My husky laugh was swallowed by a guttural groan as her hands suddenly shoved at the waistband of my jeans, knuckles grazing my aching length in a way that had my hips stuttering reflexively. Within moments, Emma had freed me from the confines of denim and cotton with a few deft tugs.
“Feel better, cowboy?” she purred, voice already deliciously roughened as she raked indecent eyes over my flushed, weeping cock.
A rumbling growl vibrated deep in my chest at the teasing lilt in her tone, so at odds with the way her thighs instinctively parted in wanton invitation.
“I might not be doing my job right if you can still talk,” I rasped, tonguing the tendon in her throat as she hooked one leg high over my hip to drag me closer.
Emma arched up into me with a breathy whine, lips brushing the hinge of my jaw in a scorching caress. “That’s right, cowboy…you need to go a little harder.”
“Fuck…” The curse tore free on a gust of air as I sucked a biting mark into the soft hollow just below her ear, relishing the way her nails bit into my shoulders. “Harder, you say?”
Caging her soft curvy body beneath me, I rolled us with a disarming quickness until she was the one splayed out and pinned by my weight. Emma gazed up at me with heavy-lidded, smouldering eyes, every ounce of sweet, pliant surrender just begging to be utterly ruined.
With a low, filthy groan, I tore open a condom packet and swiftly sheathed myself. Emma watched my every move with a weighted stare, chest rising and falling in anticipation until I notched the blunt head of my cock against her dripping entrance.
Our gazes locked and held, the static in the air almost crackling with unbridled heat between us.
“Get ready to put that greedy little mouth to better use than running it, darlin’,” I drawled, voice already roughened to grit. “I’ll give it to you so goddamn hard you won’t be able to fuckin’ walk or talk for days after. You’re gonna feel me buried so deep for every single second…”
I didn’t give her a chance to respond before surging forward, sheathing myself to the hilt in one blistering stroke. Emma’s nails scored down my back as a hoarse keen punched out of her, eyes squeezing shut and head thrashing in delirious rapture.
My hands roamed Emma’s flushed, sweat-slicked body with unrestrained hunger, palming the lush swell of her breast as it spilled over my calloused fingers. So soft, so goddamn perfect in every way - from her generous curves to her honeyed gasps that painted the air.
I couldn’t resist dipping my head to capture one dusky peak between my lips, suckling with firm sweeps of my tongue. Emma rewarded me with a gorgeous, broken mewl, back arching in a silent plea for more as she writhed beneath me.
Her breasts were too full, too tempting to take fully into my greedy mouth. But I relished every inch I could lick, nip and tease with my teeth until she was panting, hips bucking in silent entreaty.
Releasing her with a rasping groan, I shifted until I cradled the generous weight of Emma in my lap, tilting her hips for the perfect angle. She whimpered as I lined up, legs falling open in wanton invitation before sinking down in one slick glide until I was sheathed to the hilt.
“Fuck…you feel so goddamn good, little flower,” I rasped against the slick curve of her neck, leaving a biting trail with each cant of my hips.
Emma could only whine in response, head lolling back as I set a punishing pace - thrusting up into her with sharp rolls of my hips as my fingers found her neglected pearl. She withered in my arms, breath catching on needy pants as I unapologetically worked her higher with broad strokes of my thumb.
“You’ve got to be quiet now, darlin’,” I husked in warning as her cries started to rise in pitch, no doubt carrying through the thin cabin walls. “Unless you want your folks or my kids to hear you taking this cock like a good girl…”
Emma bit back a whimper at that filthy reminder, stuffing her knuckles between her teeth to muffle the punched-out whines I ruthlessly dragged from her depths. She was so goddamn close, muscles taut and quivering as I relentlessly played her body like a finely tuned instrument.
“Ridge…” she gasped out, voice cracking. The tight, fluttering squeeze of her walls told me everything I needed to know. “I’m…I’m gonna…”
My lips brushed the sweat-damp curve of her shoulder as I rocked into her with short, sharp snaps of my hips. “I know, baby,” I groaned, swallowing her whimper in a searing kiss. “Cum for me, little flower. Fuckin’ drench my cock…”
Emma shattered apart on a broken cry, walls rippling and clenching in delirious pulses as she came undone. The scorching vice around me proved too much - I toppled right over that edge with her, pleasure crackling along my nerve endings.
We collapsed in a sweaty, sated heap on the rumpled sheets, chests heaving. Boneless and content, I trailed a path of openmouthed kisses along the elegant line of Emma’s throat, across her kiss-swollen lips until I could taste her soft whimpers.
“You’re so fuckin’ perfect, Emma,” I murmured in between scorching caresses, drinking in the way her cheeks flushed at the open admiration. “Absolutely gorgeous when you fall apart for me like that…Fuckin’ ethereal, baby. All mine.”
One calloused hand stroked the sweat-dampened riot of hair from her face as my gaze drank her in with open reverence. Something vital had slotted into place for me in these transcendent moments…and there was no going back.