Chapter 30
Beckett
The morning sun from the window shades wakes my groggy eyes slowly. The smell of strawberries hits my nose, and a warm embrace around my waist.
Last night, the taste of her, it all comes flooding back to me.
Her breathing is soft and deep.
Her long lashes flutter while she sleeps, and I think I could sit and watch it all day.
Bending to kiss her forehead, she stirs with a whisper. “Good morning.”
I smirk. “Good morning, Lace.”
“Oh god, I didn’t mean to sleep over. Oh shit.” She startles with a jump. I grab her around the waist, pinning her on the mattress and kiss her deeply to stop the panic in her eyes. Thankfully, she kisses back, wrapping her naked legs around my waist.
“Hey now. Don’t start something you can’t finish.” I lean down kissing her neck and she giggles.
“I slept in Beckett King’s bed last night. How many girls’ hearts are breaking right now?” she jokes. She giggles when I flip her over and spank her on the ass and press my dick toward her. “You better get up before we are stuck here all day.”
She groans. “I have chores to go do.”
“I’ll come help.” I jump off the bed, pulling her with me. “Come on, we can tackle it together.”
She smiles, stepping up on her tiptoes, kissing me softly. “Thank you.”
Fifteen minutes later, after a bowl of cereal for both of us and changing into some work clothes, we are in the barn feeding the horses.
“How often do you get left alone here like this?” I ask her curiously.
She found a note in the farmhouse this morning from Briggs stating everyone was going out to gather the cattle over on the Alabama line part of the property this morning.
Although she doesn’t seem to mind doing the chores without all the men, it is dangerous doing it alone.
She purses her lips, thinking hard. “Honestly? I don’t think I have ever been left alone like this before now.”
“Really?” I ask.
“Yeah, Carson always made Briggs, or someone else, stay behind with me when Mama got sick.” She shrugs.
And I noticed this was the first time she mentioned her mama without a tear in her eye or hoarse voice.
“I remember Holden taking us with him on the long pack outs like that when Carson and I got of age. It was so much fun sitting around the campfire listening to the men talk. We thought we were grown.”
She sighs. “Deddy never let me go. Said it was too dangerous. I think his focus for me was running the business side of the ranch, and he wanted you two to run the heavy side of things.”
I raise my eyebrow at her, unsure if she meant to include me in that statement.
“Oh Beckett, you are a fool if you couldn’t see what he was doing. Training the both of you the way he did? You two were being shown the ropes of this place, training to take it over from him one day.”
“I guess I never took it that way. I always thought he just felt bad for me.”
Lacey shakes her head. “No. You were his. He wanted you and Carson to do this together.”
The world starts spinning around me. Dark shadows start to interrupt my vision, my heart wanting to escape the rib cage it's trapped in.
“Hey.” Lacey grabs my arm. “Beckett, what’s wrong?”
But it's too late. I can feel my knees wobbling under me.
“Beckett?” Lacey’s voice comes from somewhere, but I can’t see her.
Next thing I know, a water hose is spraying me in the face, the ice-cold feeling snapping me out of panic that was about to take me out.
My heart settles, my vision comes back, and Lacey stands in front of me, water hose in her hand, smirking at my soaking attire.
“Oh, you’ve done it now.” I make it to her in two steps while she squeals, aiming the hose at me and letting it hit me full blast.
I grab her around the waist, pulling her towards me, her knees go to her chest while she falls into laughter, and the water hose soaks us both.
Dropping her on the hay bales stacked behind us, her tank top is now see-through, hair soaking wet, and the prettiest blue eyes twinkling back at me.
She turns the hose off, dropping it to the barn floor. “You okay?”
I nod. “I am now.” Our lips crash together while I unbutton her jeans, pulling them down with one hand, and find her underwear. Moving my hand inside, I find her sweet hole that stroked me to heaven and back last night and slide two fingers in.
Lacey’s mouth falls open, a moan escaping. “Be-Beckett. Keep doing that.”
I smirk. ‘What? This?” and I add another finger.
Her moans echo throughout the barn, the horses getting a full-on show right now.
“Y-yes. That.”
I pump my fingers in and out of her, her juices making the most delicious sound. “I need to taste you.” Bending down, I keep my fingers inside her but add my tongue, swiping through her flesh, her sweet moans captivating my ears and rushing my blood south.
Standing, she sighs when I remove my tongue and fingers while I unbutton my jeans, pulling them and my boxers down enough to spring my shaft free.
In one swift move, I am inside her, stretching her walls fully while I thrust in and out. Her back arches, pulling me down to her and kissing me passionately.
“Don’t stop,” she moans, and I don’t; instead, I grab her hips, pulling her even closer to the edge so I can make sure to hit that spot deep inside her.
“Beckett!” she screams out, milking me while her own orgasm takes over her body wave by wave.
* * *
Chores took a little longer to get through after our little show in the barn, and I loved every last minute of it.
Lacey ran to the house and changed clothes, while I went back to the cottage and did the same. We met back up in the barn and saddled up to do pasture checks since the cattlemen were all gone for the next day or two.
“Doesn’t seem like you forgot how to ride a horse,” Lacey says, looking over at me on the gelding I rode out the other day.
“Some things just come naturally. Horseback riding was one of those things my muscles never wanted to lose memory of,” I tell her honestly.
We start up the side of a mountain, the sound of the saddle leather moving brings back a memory to my mind.
“You think you can try to rope her yourself?” Holden asks me.
While Carson and a few of the ranch hands took the herd we were searching for back to the ranch, Holden wanted me to stay behind with him to bring a baby and mama back.
The baby was stuck in some tough thicket, stuck and unable to get out by itself. Unfortunately, mama is too protective to let us off our horses to get to it.
I nod, not wanting to disappoint Holden but wanting to prove that practicing throwing ropes at the calf dummies in the arena has paid off. “Yes sir.”
He smiles with pride. “Go on boy. Let’s see what you got.”
I kick my gelding in the sides, asking him to walk toward the thicket, my rope in my shaky, gloved hand.
Taking a deep breath, I exhale slowly and start swinging the loop over my head.
The calf turns its head perfectly for the shot and I release the loop towards its nose, the loop wrapping around its neck.
“Thatta boy!” Holden yells.
My heart swells with thankfulness as I tighten the end of my rope around my horn, pulling back on my reins to back my horse and pull the calf out of the thicket.
“Easy, mama.” I tell the calf’s mom once the calf is out of the thicket. She meets her baby, licking it on the head. It makes me wonder how animals have better mother instincts than some human mothers.
Holden jumps down off his horse and walks towards the calf calmly. “Easy, mama.” He tells the mama cow, “I am just going to take this rope off your baby.
The mama cow makes a grunt but doesn’t act defensively, allowing Holden to get close enough to release the rope so I can pull it back up on my saddle.
“They should follow us the rest of the way back,” he tells me.
I nod. “I did it.”
“I told you that you would.” He grins at me. “Proud of you, son.”
I don’t think my parents have ever told me how proud they were of me.