26. Sally
CHAPTER 26
Sally
COME TO JESUS
Mollie picks up my call on the first ring. “So…how was it?”
Closing the bathroom door behind me, I drop the lid onto the toilet and sit. “The date was in sane ?—”
“Of course the date was insane. I helped Wyatt set it up. I’m talking about the sex.”
I laugh, my heart skipping several beats. “That was insane too.”
“Bet he did you so right, didn’t he?” Mollie sighs. “I’m telling you, Sally, these cowboys are in a league of their own. I’ve never experienced anything like it.”
I’m downright giddy when I reply, “Neither have I. I’m not sure I’ll ever recover.”
“Oh, you will. And then you’ll want more.”
“I already do.”
“The addiction is real. Can I design the boots you’ll wear for your wedding? Oh my God, I can already see them. White—no, pale blue because they’ll be your something blue, with a cute little rising sun on them because Wyatt calls you Sunshine?— ”
“I think you’re getting a little ahead of yourself.” I’m laughing, but my pulse still skips several beats.
“I don’t. I think part of the reason Cash has been so pissy about y’all hooking up is that he knows how obsessed his brother is with you, and he’s worried Wyatt is going to royally fuck everything up because you make him that stupid.”
“Ha. I wish I had that power.”
“You do though. Aw, Sally, I can hear in your voice how happy you are. I’m thrilled for you, truly. Thrilled for me too. One of my best friends is also going to be my sister-in-law.”
“You’re ridiculous.”
“I know. But that doesn’t mean I’m not right.”
Am I ever going to stop smiling? I feel like my smile hasn’t quit since Wyatt handed me a cup of coffee this morning and then made me come on his mouth. It’s almost dark now, so that was hours ago.
My face hurts. I’m exhausted.
And yet I wonder how the hell I’m going to sleep because I really am so happy. So excited, too, and so horny.
“I love what an optimist you are,” I say. “Thank you, sincerely, for helping set everything up. It really was perfection. The wine, the food, the china—I felt so special.”
“Mission accomplished then. I wish you could’ve seen how adorable Wyatt was when he asked your mom and me to help. He was so nervous. You could tell how much he wanted to get it right. Between you and me, Cash said he doesn’t remember Wyatt going on a date with a serious girlfriend before. Like, ever.”
My stomach dips. I put a hand there in the futile hope I can catch it. “Wow. I…don’t know what to say to that. I know he’s never really had a serious girlfriend, but I had no idea he hasn’t dated .”
“Not until you. He wants to be with you, Sally. For the long haul. I know it. You know it. We all know it. ”
I want to tell her she’s being ridiculous again. Want to protest, say I don’t believe my relationship with Wyatt could become so shockingly, suddenly serious.
But it has. And I do believe Wyatt is in it for the long haul.
As if I need further evidence, my phone chimes. Pulling it away from my ear, I see that it’s a text from Wyatt, asking if I remembered to take another dose of Advil to help with my soreness.
Now the question isn’t does he want me , but how do we make this work?
“I want that too.” I keep my voice low. Mom and Dad have the TV on downstairs, but I can’t risk them hearing me. I want to figure this out on my own without their meddling. Dropping my head into my hand, I whisper, “What do I do, Mollie?”
Mollie thinks on this for a beat. “You follow your heart.”
“My heart wants Wyatt. That’s easy. It’s the whole I’m-moving-a-thousand-miles-away thing that’s hard.”
“It was hard before things started up with Wyatt though, wasn’t it?”
Swallowing, I nod. “I love Hartsville. I love the family and friends I have here. I’d love nothing more than to stay.”
“Then why don’t you?” Mollie asks softly.
I scoff. “If only it were that easy.”
“What if it was? Cash and I figured it out. You and Wyatt can too. We’re in the middle of cattle country, for crying out loud. There’re more horses per square mile than there are people. And isn’t your job, well, taking care of horses?”
“It is, yeah. But I like a challenge. Something I haven’t seen or done before.”
I can picture Mollie nodding.
“I get that. You want a job that’s going to challenge you, but that also feeds your soul. The position at Ithaca University definitely challenges you?— ”
“But it doesn’t feed my soul one bit. In fact, it makes me feel kinda dead inside.”
This is the first time I’m walking through this out loud. God bless Mollie. She’s super smart, and if anyone understands the ambitions I have, it’s her. She operates a gigantic cattle ranch and owns a cowboy boot company. She also understands that work has to have meaning in order for it to be enjoyable. Or at the very least, worth the sacrifice.
“Right. So let’s take Ithaca University off the table. Are you comfortable with that?”
I glance at the door. “My parents are going to flip their shit.”
“They’ll get over it when they see how happy you are in your new job. How do you feel?”
Honestly? “I’d feel, God, so relieved if I didn’t have to go back to New York.”
“There’s your answer.”
She’s right.
Mollie is absolutely right .
I’m terrified to turn down the job. I’m also already mentally drafting my resignation letter, which makes me feel—again— relieved . Facing Dad won’t be easy. Disappointing my mentors and professors will suck. You know what will suck more, though? Living a life that’s not mine.
Deep down, I know a life in Ithaca isn’t right for me, even if Wyatt weren’t in the picture. He’s just making that decision easier, clearer.
“Maybe that’s the right move.” I hardly believe what I’m saying. “What do I do about a job, though?”
“We brainstorm. Talk to everyone and anyone in a hundred-mile radius. We’ll come up with something. We always do, don’t we?”
She’s talking about the little found family we’ve made on the ranch—how, come hell or high water, the Lucks and the Rivers and the Powells work together to find a solution and make things work.
I feel all mushy inside, knowing they have my back.
Dad and my professors will forgive me. But I’ll never be able to forgive myself if I don’t go after what I want.
I want to stay in Texas and be with Wyatt and rock some sort of veterinary surgeon position that doesn’t require me to sacrifice my happiness.
“We do figure it out, yeah,” I say.
I hear the smile in Mollie’s voice when she replies, “Keep the faith.”
I climb into bed at seven thirty. Not super early by ranch standards, but compared to last night’s late bedtime, it makes me feel like I’m in third grade again, when Mom and Dad would put me to bed while it was still light outside.
I’m beat. I can barely keep my eyes open as I read a book on my Kindle. But when I shut off the light at quarter past eight, I can’t fall asleep. Mostly because I’m thinking about what I’d be doing right now if I were in Wyatt’s bed instead of my own.
I get why he wanted me to be at home tonight. I still kinda hate him for it, though. Because I’m pretty sure we’d be fucking right now, the fire crackling in the fireplace as Wyatt and I sampled every position under the sun.
An ache blossoms to life between my legs. The soreness is gone now, thank goodness. And Wyatt and I took a long, hot shower before he drove me home this morning. But I swear I can still feel him inside me.
Or maybe that’s just wishful thinking.
I toss and turn. My knees and back throb, which is what happens when I’m this tired. I need to sleep. If I could just?—
Tap, tap, tap .
I bolt upright, my stomach pitching, and I smile when I see a familiar shadow darkening the window across from my bed.
He didn’t .
Oh, but Wyatt Rivers definitely did. He’s definitely here, and I am definitely going to make him fuck me in my bed like he said he would.
A shiver of anticipation darts up my spine as I tiptoe across the room and open the window.
“Hi,” he whispers, holding up a hand.
In reply, I grab the front of his shirt and pull him inside.
“Careful!” he hisses, and I can tell he’s fighting laughter when he lands on his feet.
I go up on my toes and kiss his mouth. “Did you come to rescue me?”
“That’s not what I came to do, no.” His hands find my ass, and he presses me against his erection.
“You missed me.”
“Obviously.” He leans down to suck on my neck. “You miss me, Sunshine?”
I grab the hem of my T-shirt and pull it over my head. I’m not wearing a bra, and the moonlight streaming through the window catches on my bare breasts. “So much, Wy. I can’t sleep.”
Even in the dark, I can see Wyatt’s jaw tic. “I can’t stay away.”
We attack each other. He fists his hand in my hair, and I push off his jacket. He pulls me in for a hard, hot kiss, and I shuck off my shorts. No underwear.
He backs me toward the bed, and I climb onto the mattress, careful not to make a sound. I watch Wyatt toe off his boots and take off his jeans and briefs. His dick stands upright, as huge and swollen as I remember it.
My clit pulses. Mouth salivates .
I bite back a cry when he slips a hand between my legs and parts me with his fingers.
He quietly curses at the slickness he finds there. “You been thinkin’ about me, huh?”
“Obviously,” I pant.
“Good.”
The idea that we could be caught—that my parents are sleeping just down the hall—is terrifying and also arousing in the extreme.
I feel naughty. Dirty even. And I like it.
I like it even more when Wyatt climbs on top of me, using his knee to part my legs.
There is no preamble. No foreplay. He hikes my knee up to his side and lines up his bare tip to my entrance. I feel the hot drip of his pre-cum as his whole body tenses and he pushes all the way inside me on a hard, punishing thrust.
The fullness is almost too much to bear. But Wyatt doesn’t give me time to catch my breath. Instead, he holds on to the headboard with one hand and holds the other over my mouth. He pumps into me with a slow, silent savageness that has me curling my toes.
“Make one fucking sound,” he whispers. “I dare you, Sunshine. I dare you to get us caught. What do you think your daddy would do if he saw us like this? His sweet little girl being fucked hard by her real daddy and liking it.”
I bite his palm. He lets out a small scoff, settling his body on top of mine. The enormous weight of him pins me to the mattress. I can hardly breathe.
I love it.
I love the feeling of being surrounded. I’m at Wyatt’s mercy, yes. But he’d never hurt me.
He’ll always keep me—us—safe. And, God, I love him for it.
I love you, I love you, I’ll stay for you , I silently chant in time to his thrusts .
At the crest of a stroke, he swivels his hips, his pubic bone pressing against my clit, and my own hips punch forward, seeking. Hungry.
This hunger is killing me.
Wyatt leans down to suck my nipple into his mouth. A bolt of hot, almost-painful lust cracks through my center when he bites it, then soothes it with slow, lazy strokes of his tongue. I moan. He goes still.
“You gonna make me put my dick in your mouth to keep you quiet? Aw, yeah, Sunshine. Yes, you are. You can’t do as I say and keep quiet, then I’mma make you stay quiet.”
I don’t have time to think. Next thing I know, Wyatt is pulling out of me and kneeling between my legs, his cock in his hand.
“Get up,” he whispers.
I hesitate.
“Get up, Sally. Face me and get on all fours. I ain’t playin’.”
I really like it when he bosses me around. I do as he said, rolling over and pushing up so that I’m on my hands and knees, facing him. Leaning my weight on my left hand, I reach for him with my right.
“Yes, Daddy,” I whisper.
My eyes have adjusted to the darkness, so I can see his nostrils flare as I wrap my hand around his dick and give it a slow, firm tug. Just how he taught me.
“Say it again. Call me that again.” He pumps his hips into my grip.
“Yes, Daddy.”
“Fuck,” he pants. “That’s a good girl. Now put me in your mouth. You know how to do it, Sunshine. Show me what you learned.”
Sucking in a sharp breath, he runs his hand down the length of my spine. His fingers slip between my ass cheeks and find my pussy .
He shoves his dick inside my mouth at the same moment he shoves his fingers inside me. I gag, my body jerking, but he doesn’t let up. Now he’s circling those fingers over my clit. He’s pumping into my mouth.
“You look so beautiful with my dick shoved down your throat,” he whispers. “So fucking beautiful.”
Oh God, I’m in agony.
I want to come so badly—I am so, so aroused—it literally hurts.
He grabs my hair and pulls it. Grabs my breast and plucks at my nipple.
I come . His cock is still in my mouth, muffling the sound of my cry as the shock wave hits.
“Never again,” he grunts as he comes in my mouth a second later. “I’m never letting you sleep in any bed but mine again.”