Chapter 19
The Sheriff drove away in a cloud of dust, lights flashing as he drove after Silas, just as Benji reached Sierra. ‘What the fuck did he do?’ he demanded. His eyes frantically searched her, stopping when he saw the red mark across her face.
Realization dawned in his eyes, turning them cold with hatred.
Slowly, carefully, he put Poppy down.
‘Benji—’
‘I’ll fucking kill him this time.’
When he would have spun around and gone after his father, Sierra gripped his wrist. ‘Stop.’
‘Sierra—’
‘Benji.’ She shamelessly tipped her head in Poppy’s direction, using her niece’s wide-eyed fear because she knew it would be the one thing that calmed him down.
The moment Benji saw Poppy’s terrified expression, he exhaled a deep, purposeful breath.
It took a few seconds, but he eradicated the hard glare in his eyes.
He crouched down and opened his arms, and Poppy flew into the embrace without hesitation.
‘Sorry, Pops. I didn’t mean to scare you, sweetheart. ’
‘Your daddy hurt Sisi.’
‘Yeah, he did. He’s not a good man.’
Sierra frowned, wondering how the news had travelled so fast.
Benji caught the look, and said, ‘Deb called the barn, and José told me in front of her.’
He set Poppy back. He took both of her little hands in his, and then he broke Sierra’s heart when he explained gently, ‘I get angry sometimes, bub. But I’m not like my dad.
I’ll never hurt you or Sisi. You’re my girls.
It’s my job to love you and keep you safe.
’ He looked at Sierra, his eyes hot with vindication. ‘I’ll protect you. Always.’
Perhaps it was just that Silas was so fresh in her mind and the contrast between father and son was so stark right then, but for the first time ever, Sierra truly marvelled at that.
She’d meant what she’d told Benji when she’d said that she’d never seen him as trashy or beneath her, but here, now, she realized how truly remarkable it – he – was.
He’d been raised by an abusive drunk and a woman who couldn’t defend herself let alone her son, but somehow, instead of following in his father’s deep footsteps, Benji had become this kind, patient, gentle man with the biggest goddamn heart.
He was a diamond when he could have so easily been coal.
Poppy frowned as if she was seriously confused. ‘I know,’ she said, so simply.
Benji laughed at her certainty. But his voice wasn’t quite even when he replied, ‘Family can be really complicated sometimes, huh?’ Poppy nodded. ‘But we’re also really lucky because we get to choose our family too.’
With all the accumulated wisdom of her five-almost-six years, she said, ‘Like, sometimes I don’t like my mom.
But I love Neens.’ She raised one chubby hand and tapped Benji’s cheek in an oddly maternal gesture.
‘I don’t like your dad. He’s scary. But I love you, Uncle Benji. You’re my bestest after Daddy.’
Sierra’s throat burned with emotion. Poppy’s mom, Shannon, hadn’t really been in the picture much until recently. And even though Shannon seemed to be making more of an effort since she and Nina had a heart-to-heart, Poppy was still wary of her.
‘Thanks, bub.’ Benji gave her one last hug, and then pushed to his feet, Poppy’s hand still closed in his.
When Deb came out, a fresh ice pack in her hands, Sierra took it. ‘Could you take Poppy to grab some lunch? I need to speak to Benji quickly.’
‘Of course.’ Deb held out one hand for Poppy. ‘How about some mac ’n’ cheese, kiddo?’
Poppy beamed. ‘Yeah.’ She took Deb’s hand without hesitation, walked off without so much as a backwards glance.
As soon as they disappeared inside, Sierra shucked her head in the direction of her office, ‘Come on.’
Benji jammed his hands in his pockets. ‘I won’t apologize for losing it, Sierra. I’m going after him this time. He crossed the line – an unforgivable one.’
Sierra didn’t say anything as she led him into her office and closed and locked the door behind them. She put the ice down on her desk. ‘It wasn’t deliberate,’ she said, and flicked the blinds closed. ‘He was angry, yes. He lashed out, yes. But he didn’t mean to make contact.’
‘I don’t give a fuck. He did make contact – that’s it.’
Sierra turned to him. He stood in the middle of her office, radiating anger and violence. For her. And it was so silly, that it had taken facing Silas Matthews again for her to remember what a miracle Benji was. He was a statistical anomaly. A marvel of both nature and nurture.
And he was hers.
She closed the distance between them and placed her hands on his chest. She slowly slid her palms under his jacket and lifted, removing it as much as she could before Benji had to help her by shrugging out of it.
He watched her face, almost warily, as if he was uncertain of what she was doing. Or, maybe, why she was doing it. ‘Si … What are you doing?’
‘I’m showing you how much I love you,’ she said.
‘Because I can feel you doubting yourself, and I won’t have it.
You are nothing like Silas, Benji. You are kind and loyal and strong.
You’re a man any woman would want. But, somehow, you’re mine.
’ She swallowed the emotion collecting in her throat, added, ‘Somehow, you stayed.’
Benji stilled when she grabbed his belt buckle and started undoing it. His hand closed over hers, stopping her movements. ‘You don’t have to prove anything to me.’
‘I’m not proving anything,’ she said. ‘I’m sharing my love with you. Just like you always do with me.’ When he only stared at her, she released his belt and ran her palm firmly over the hard ridge in his jeans. ‘Please, give me what I want.’
His eyes were so dark, so deep. ‘What do you want?’
‘Your dick in my mouth,’ Sierra said instantly, loving the way the crude reply had him closing his eyes with a groan.
‘Fuck.’
She nipped his neck. ‘Please, Benji.’
He reached for his waistband suddenly, undid the top button and zipper himself. ‘When you’re done with me, I get to reciprocate,’ he said, frantic now.
‘No dice.’ Sierra kicked off her heels and knelt on the floor before hurriedly yanking his jeans and briefs down to his ankles without bothering to remove his boots.
Benji was big and thick, and so hard. ‘Today, it’s my turn,’ she said. She took him in her hand, gave his hard length one quick pump even as she squeezed her thighs together to try and contain her own pulsing need.
‘Nothing pleasures me more than making you come,’ he replied gruffly, and reaching forward, he took her hair in his hands and swept it back from her face.
He didn’t let it go once it was out of the way.
He fisted his hand in the length of it and tipped her head back until she was forced to meet his gaze. ‘I might not last long,’ he warned her.
It cost him to admit it. But right then, with Sierra Hunt, the Princess of Hunt Ranch, on her fucking knees, her pretty lips hovering near his cock, her dark eyes black with lust and impatience, Benji felt he had to warn her.
He knew she was distracting him, keeping him away from his piece of shit father until he had calmed down.
But he couldn’t find it within himself to mind.
And when Sierra leaned forward and licked him from base to tip before taking him deep into her throat, he couldn’t think of anything except how fucking good her warm, wet mouth felt wrapped tightly around him.
His head fell back. A long, low curse left his mouth.
His heart beat furiously in his chest, his hand still in her hair.
And when he opened his eyes and looked down to see her own heavy-lidded but full of power, he gripped her hair harder, stopping her movements before he came.
‘Sorry, baby.’ He exhaled. ‘You’re coming in too fucking hot. I’m not going to last.’
Sierra sucked him even as she drew back, releasing him and pulling a wounded moan from his lips. ‘Benji,’ she blew a warm breath over his engorged flesh, ‘I want this.’
He momentarily wondered what his problem was. He enjoyed this. No – he fucking loved it. But … he felt as if he wasn’t giving her enough at the same time.
Sierra saw it. ‘You can’t always give me everything without expecting something in return, Benji.
Especially when I’m dying to do it. I’m asking you to be vulnerable with me, for just a moment.
So that I can make you feel good. It doesn’t mean you’re not pleasuring me in return,’ she said, touching the heart of the matter.
‘I … I don’t know why it feels off, to not make you come first …’
‘Because you’re always running to catch my love,’ she replied. ‘Even though you’re more likely to run straight past it.’
As if to prove her point, she inelegantly shimmied out of her jeans to reveal white panties that were visibly drenched.
‘I’m so turned on, Benji,’ and it was that promise that made him feel better.
As long as she was getting something – pleasure – out of it.
Because it didn’t matter what she said, he knew where he was from and what he brought to their relationship.
His dad showing up was the reminder he was always trying to forget.
He knew he had to work to be worthy of her, even if saying it aloud would piss her off.
‘Seeing you on your knees for me undoes me, Sierra,’ was all he could say. But he released her hair, giving her unspoken permission to continue.
And Sierra did not hesitate.
She took him deep, so deep that he hit the back of her throat. ‘Fuck. Look at you,’ he groaned. ‘So greedy.’
Sierra made a humming noise that sounded like a purr of approval, and Benji’s vision blurred as his sensitive dick throbbed in her mouth. Sweat broke out across his brow as he resisted, trying to hold on for her, to give her more time, more of him.
And Sierra, knowing him too well, raised one hand and gently squeezed him.
Benji stumbled and reached out to brace himself on the desk.
‘Christ, Si. I’m going to come,’ he panted. He thrust his hips, fucking her mouth when he couldn’t hold back any longer.
And Sierra, the little savage, closed her lips, squeezing him tighter as her head moved back and forth with his every thrust.
Benji came on a roar.
He spilled into her, unable to look away as she drank him down, and when he finally pulled back and out of her mouth, she licked her swollen, red lips like a goddamn cat that had just snacked on a cage full of canaries.
The wicked gleam in her eyes had him hard again almost instantly. Sierra only raised one eyebrow, said, ‘And you were worried about your stamina.’
‘I wasn’t worried about my stamina. There is no man on God’s green earth that wouldn’t come from watching you on your knees with your lips wrapped around his cock.’ He held out one hand, and when she took it, he hauled her to her feet and then straight up into his arms.
He hobbled to the desk and laid her on her back before kicking off his shoes and jeans. Then, because it felt weird to be in only a shirt, he stripped that too, and it was only once he was completely naked that he knelt on the floor, strung her legs over his shoulders, and said, ‘My turn.’