SAGE
23
I jolt to wakefulness in the dark, a garbled cry falling from my lips as my heart hammers without mercy in my chest. Sweat coats my skin. There’s a heavy hand on my hip, and I immediately seek an escape, shrugging away with a sob as my legs tangle in the sheets. “N-nooo.”
“Whoa, there.” The tone of the voice is meant to soothe, like it would a frightened filly. It’s also familiar and has all the air gusting from my lungs. “Easy there. You’re with me, Wildflower, at Black River Ranch. You’re okay. Breathe.” The mattress shifts as my cowboy readjusts, sitting up and eyeing me carefully.
I nod, pushing myself up as I draw in another deep, cleansing breath, then let it all go. Rubbing my hands over my face I peer carefully over them. In the dark, I can just make out Kade’s eyes staring back at me. Leaning into the man who’d come when I was at my lowest, I rest my forehead against his shoulder and let him pull me close. “Try to sleep, darlin’.”
“No. I can’t.” I ease back, and before I lose my nerve, I murmur, “And I don’t need sleep. Not when horrific dreams are where the monster still lives.” My voice catches in my throat. “There’s only one thing that’ll help me right now. Trust that I know what I need.” I exhale. “Your hands on me.” My eyes slam shut as his head tips to the side.
“You sure?” Kade lets out a sigh full of concern. “I will always want you. But I don’t wanna do anything to hurt you. Not right now. Not so soon after.”
Determination rises within me, and I swallow hard before responding to his worry—worry that is merited but won’t help me. “You couldn’t. There isn’t any worse damage I could sustain than what I’ve already endured.” I wet my lips. “I need you to erase it. Take me away from everything.” I flatten my hands on his torso, then run them over his warm skin, feeling the texture of his chest hair under my fingers as I slide them upward toward his shoulders. I draw in a breath as I press my lips over his heart and inhale the clean scent of him. Letting all things Kade filter into my senses, they take over that part of my brain that needs to stay here with him and not back in my bedroom.
“Fuck, Sage …”
I give a sharp shake of my head, clasping my hands behind his neck and dragging his lips to mine. The second they meet, sparks ignite inside me, and I lose myself to the firm coaxing of his mouth.
Kade groans, a long, low sound that rumbles in his chest before breaking the kiss. “Fuck, Wildflower. I could never say no to you.” His tongue darts out, licking over my skin and sending fire through my veins. “You’re so fuckin’ sweet.” His hand threads through my hair, tugging my head back. He takes full advantage of the new angle, his lips trailing downward, nipping at my neck.
Knowing full well what I need, I peel my shirt over my head. The cool air from the ceiling fan teases my skin, and I grasp his hand, bringing it where I want it. Relief surges through me at his touch. Arching my back, I fill his hand with my breast.
“Yesss,” I moan on an exaggerated exhale. My breath comes fast and furious as he flicks his thumb over the taut peak of my nipple. His head lowers, and his hand is replaced by his mouth. My body shudders reflexively with longing, and I squirm to get closer to him.
His rough chuckle joins the sounds of my pleasure as he urges me back on the mattress and skims work-roughened hands over my body. When he encounters the pair of his boxers I’d worn to bed, he hooks his fingers into the waistband before pausing.
My stomach plummets at the feral look in his eyes. There’s no way we’re stopping here. Not when he’s the only one who can possibly drag me out of the nightmare I’ve been caught in for years. “Do it.”
“Oh, I’m gonna,” he rasps. “As long as you’re sure, I fully intend to discover where else you’re sweet.”
My eyes connect with his, and I lift my hips, giving my consent. He slowly pulls the garment from me, and when I’m bare as the day I was born, he gives a growl of approval. Dipping down, he presses his lips to my knee, sliding his hands up my calves, and I drop my legs open for him.
“Such a pretty pussy.” He lowers to the bed between my thighs, but it’s too dark in the room for me to make out his features. I know it’s him. “Wait,” I whisper.
Kade immediately stops the torturous slide of his lips over my skin. “Sage?”
“I just need you to turn on the light.” Working hard to stop the tremble of my lips, I gesture to the lamp on the nightstand.
“Should have thought of that,” he grunts out as he lunges, quickly switching it on. He stops for a moment, kneeling beside me. “You good?”
My eyes travel his face, taking in the careful concern there. “I am. Just needed to be able to see you.”
For as big as he is, every move Kade makes is done with strength and grace. In a matter of moments, he’s resettled on the mattress, his lips teasing, the stubble on his jaw tickling the tender skin of my inner thigh. He’s awakening something within me that has tension knotting deep in my abdomen. I give an involuntary shudder, watching as he drags a finger through my arousal.
“That’s it. Eyes on me, Wildflower.” And then, those lips coast closer and closer to where I need them. He holds my legs open, groaning as he inhales, and as if he can’t stop himself, his mouth is on me a split second later.
The sinful way he licks over my flesh has me grabbing at his hair and hanging on tight. My heart misses one beat, then another as I gasp aloud.
He peers up at me, one brow cocked and a wicked look in his eye. “I was right. So fucking sweet.”
A smile curves my lips as he gives my pussy another lick, then he’s sucking at my clit, and I can’t help myself. I throw my head back at the sensations beginning to roll through me.
“That’s it, Wildflower. Let go. I’ve got you.”
This man. He makes me feel so fucking safe. And he actually cares about my well-being. I’ve never had anyone like him in my life before. The coil at my core tightens and pleasure surges. I cry out as I tumble over the edge, my head in a haze, but I find him watching me and can’t look away. Don’t want to. My heart trips and falls for everything this rough cowboy is showing me he’s capable of—tenderness, loyalty, passion. He holds me like I’m a polished diamond. I normally like his roughened edges, but… he reads me. So well. And I appreciate that he’s holding back his unruly side because he knows that’s not what I need tonight .
“That’s my good fucking girl,” he murmurs against my pussy as it continues to pulse intermittently, muscles contracting in the most delicious way. “Give me every bit of that sweetness, darlin’.”
As I come down, a devious look materializes in his eyes as he crawls toward me. Planting a kiss on my mouth, he doesn’t stop there. He licks along the seam of my lips at first, then demands more. Our tongues tangle together. I taste myself on him, and somehow that makes the kiss even hotter.
I moan as his body blankets me, the heavy weight of him giving a sense of security. He braces himself, and while I’m still acclimating to lying with him like this, he reaches down, tugging his boxer briefs over his hips, and kicks them free. “Christ, Sage. I love that your sweet cunt is so wet for me. So ready to take my cock.”
I’m on fire for him.
My cheeks heat as the dirty words wash over me, making me throb. “No one has ever said anything like that to me before.”
“No?” He stares intently into my eyes. “I’ll give you as many dirty descriptions of everything I’d like to do to you as you can handle.” He smirks in the most devastatingly naughty way. “You ain’t seen nothing yet, Wildflower.”
I should probably have seen it coming, but a moment later, he rolls with me in his arms, and I find myself straddling his hips with the cock he was just referring to nudging hot and hard between my legs.
Reaching toward the bedpost, his fingers tease the hat he hung there earlier. A devilish gleam lights his eye as he pulls it off and places it on my head. “Ride me, cowgirl.” He thrusts his hips upward. “We’re doing this your way tonight. Show me how you like it.”
I kneel upright, glancing down at where his dick juts upward from his groin. It’s not like we haven’t done this before… but in the river, I couldn’t see his size. I’d sure felt it, but that’s different. And I had definitely gotten a glimpse as we ran to rescue the horses, but that was nothing like seeing how massive he is up close and very personal.
If this is anything like that first time, I’ll feel him for hours after, like he’s claimed me as his. And the craziest part is I want that with the man I’ve been told my whole life to stay away from.
I take his cock in my hand, my fingers and thumb not coming even close to meeting because of his girth. Just thinking about taking him inside my body has me trembling. Slowly stroking my hand up and down over his velvety soft skin, I slide my thumb across the head of his cock, smearing pre-cum over the tip while my heart stutters. I rise from my kneeling position and guide him toward my entrance, notching him there, only hesitating for a moment while I look up and find his gaze steady on me.
“That’s my girl. You can take me.” An all-over flush pinkens my skin at his praise, and I sink onto his cock. He stretches me, and my eyes roll back in my head as I slip farther and farther down his shaft.
I catch the corner of my lip in between my teeth. “You feel so good inside me.”
“Fuck yes, I do, baby. Because I belong there.” He grips my hip, subtly urging me on. “Take all of me, Sage.”
Nodding, my eyes widen as I slip down the last remaining inches and sheath him fully with my body. My chest jerks, and I hold still for a moment, simply trying to breathe. But then I lean forward, my palms falling flat on his abdomen, and angle myself so that my clit rubs against his pelvic bone with every movement I make. His grip tightens on me. I rock over him, causing his lips to part as he watches me ride him. Breath heaving from me faster and faster, hips pistoning, we crash together. We’re engulfed in a wildfire capable of burning down the room with the friction and heat we’re creating.
“Fuck, Sage. I have to touch you.” His eyes blaze, hands moving over every inch of my skin he can reach until I ease back and give him room to find my clit. He rubs swift circles over me before slipping his fingers farther to touch where we’re joined, then brings the wetness back to continue his delicious brand of torture. I’m a shuddering mess. The jolts of pleasure he’s causing within me are insane. I’m on the brink of an orgasm but don’t miss how his stomach jerks under my hands, his body beginning to quake. “That’s it,” he growls out. “You’re gonna make me come. You’re in control, cowgirl.”
I tremble, his words hitting me like a sledgehammer. When I break, I’m swamped in sensation so intense I lose track of where I am and what time it is… but never who I’m with. Never. Kade comes with a shout, his hips snapping sharply upward as his cock pounds into my pussy as hard as he can.
At that point, all I can do is hold onto the stallion beneath me as he groans his pleasure in a rough, gritty, raw voice. “Sage!”
I collapse against his chest, my heart thundering in time with his. Strong arms band around me, holding me tightly to him. At my temple, he whispers gruffly, “Are you okay?”
I take a few moments to breathe, finally looking up with a nod, only to feel wetness slip from the corner of my eye.
“Baby?” He freezes in place. “Talk to me, Sage.” He pauses, a horrified look in his eyes. “I ca—” A harsh exhale takes the place of whatever he was about to say as he shifts, moving his hands back to my hips and beginning to lift me from his still-hard erection.
“No. Wait.” I shake my head, wiping the moisture from my cheek. “I’m just emotional. I’m okay. I don’t want this to be over yet.” I wet my lips as he narrows his eyes.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.” With a shuddery intake of breath, I make myself at home again on his chest. “Hold me, Kade?”
“You got it. You never have to ask. And, Sage, even if your tears fall as often as rain, I will be here. For you. You’re my girl now. You hear me? Mine. ”
A wet chuckle leaves my lips, and I press a kiss to his chest. “I like the sound of that.”
“Get used to it.” The words rumbles up his throat. “I know you like to handle shit on your own. But make me a promise—tell me if there’s ever another problem.” I nod as he continues, “You can’t have gone through what you did and come out the other side without being plenty strong. But at the same time, I need you to know you have me, and while you can take care of things on your own, you don’t fucking have to. Not with me around.”