Chapter 6
Zane
Rain hammered the old barn roof while the air inside grew thick with bad decisions.
But could I help it? Everything about Mallory was teasing me closer.
Her eyes held mine. “Zane,” she said, her voice so quiet I almost didn’t hear it over the rain. “It doesn’t have to be quick.”
That was it. The last thread of self-control I’d been clinging to just snapped.
My hands came up, not to push her away, but to hold hers.
My calloused fingers wrapped around her smaller, softer ones. My gaze dropped, drawn to the summery white eyelet blouse she wore. When she’d first arrived today, one button had been undone. Now three were open, and the fabric was clinging to her, wet from the rain.
Just like the other night at her parents’ place, I could see the outline of her bra, and beneath it the dark circles of her nipples, hard and pressing against the wet cotton.
“What was it with you and white shirts?” I growled.
I wanted to see her all in white, her dark mound visible for me so I could bury my mouth on it.
I wanted to drink this woman to her very core.
Make her come undone, then put her back together again.
Make her reconsider all her life choices.
But the most I could expect was this fleeting moment. I was a pit stop to her, a place to rest between the life she’d just left and whatever new one she planned to build for herself far away from here.
“One time,” I rumbled, the words rough. A warning for her, or maybe for me. I didn’t know anymore.
My hands left hers to slide up her arms, over her shoulders, then down to settle around her waist.
Mallory was built of curves. Soft, generous padding that felt like heaven under my hands.
She let me explore, her eyes fixed on mine as I traced the swell of her hips and the dip of her waist.
My cock hardened, aching and insistent, demanding to be let out of my jeans so it could explore too.
She leaned into me, her body pliant, unresisting, inviting.
“Damn it, Mallory. This is going to end bad,” I growled as I cupped her face, my thumb stroking her cheek.
Then I finally gave in, bending my head to cover her mouth with mine.
This was the kiss I’d thought of for so many years.
We fit each other perfectly.
Her lips were warm and yielding as we explored each other, giving in to so much need. It was when her hands came up to clutch at the front of my flannel shirt that the kiss exploded.
It turned hungry and desperate, a collision of twelve years of wanting. Her mouth opened under mine, and my tongue swept against hers.
The kiss was a wildfire, catching in my blood, burning through every sane thought I had left.
I broke away, breathing hard. “I can’t be gentle,” I warned, my voice a ragged scrape.
“I don’t want gentle,” she moaned, her eyes already glazed.
That was all I needed. I hooked my hands under her thighs and lifted her.
Mallory gasped, her legs wrapping around my waist instinctively, locking at the ankles. I carried her to a patch of hay-strewn ground near the open barn doors, then lowered us slowly.
I eased us both down until she was beneath me, the dry hay prickling through our clothes.
This was Mallory Carpenter.
The only woman who’d ever unlocked the key to my heart.
And I was about to have her.
A frantic heat tore through me as I pulsed my cock between her thighs, tearing at the buttons of her blouse, popping a few in my haste.
Then I studied her intently, drinking her in.
Her bra was made of simple white lace. I palmed her breast through it, and she arched off the ground with a hungry moan.
I dipped my head, taking her nipple into my mouth through the lace, sucking hard while Mallory writhed under me, her fingers tangling in my hair.
“Zane, please,” she begged.
She was desperate for me, and I thought about what she’d said. Four years without sex. I was about to remind her what sex was all about.
I fumbled with the button of my jeans, got them open, and shoved them and my boxers down just enough to free myself. I was already painfully hard. I’d been hard for her for years now.
I didn’t bother taking off her capris properly. I just yanked them and her panties down in one rough pull.
The cool, damp air hit her skin, and she shuddered beneath me, as lost in the moment as I was.
The storm outside the barn thrummed on as I slid my hand down her stomach, through her soft curls, until I reached her slit.
Mallory was already soaked for me, hot and ready. I pushed a finger inside her, and she clenched around me. Then I added a second, stretching her, preparing her for what was to come.
But we were both past preparation, so I nudged the head of my cock against her, demanding entrance.
This is a mistake.
I looked down at Mallory, her hair fanned out in the hay, her lips swollen from my kisses, her breasts heaving, and a final warning bell clanged in my mind.
You’ll break your own heart.
And then I silenced it.
With one long, steady push, I buried myself inside her.
She cried out, a sound of pure relief, as she fluttered around me, a hot vise surrounding my cock.
I held still for a second, my forehead dropping to hers, letting us both adjust to the shock of finally being connected.
Then I began to move.
It started slowly, a deep, rocking rhythm. Each withdrawal was agony, each thrust back into her brought relief. I braced myself on one arm, the other hand still gripping her hip as our sounds filled the barn. The slap of skin, our ragged breaths, the rain pouring down outside.
“Look at me,” I growled out.
Her eyes, hazy with pleasure, found mine. That connection, more than the physical joining, undid me.
My control shattered, and the pace changed. It wasn’t slow and deep anymore.
My love for her was frantic, driving, possessive.
I fucked her with everything I had, for every year of missed chances and silent longing.
I needed to make her stay.
Needed to make her love me the same way I loved her.
I shifted our position, pulling her legs up until they were over my shoulders, going deeper, driving into her with a hunger I’d never felt for anyone else before.
Then I hit a spot that made her cry out.
Her nails scraped down my back, even through my shirt.
“Zane, I’m gonna…” she choked out.
“Come for me, Mal,” I demanded, my voice thick as I took her with everything in me. “Let me feel it.”
Her body went rigid.
A tremor started deep inside her, and then it burst outward.
Her back arched off the ground, and a broken, beautiful cry tore from her throat as she came. Her sweet pussy clenched around me in rapid, pulsing waves, milking my cock, pulling the orgasm from me with a force that stole my breath.
My own release tore through me in a white-hot rush. I drove into her one last time, as deep as I could, holding myself there as I emptied into her, my hips jerking with the force of it.
Then a guttural groan ripped from my chest, a sound I didn’t even recognize as my own.
Holy fuck.
My arms gave out, and I collapsed on top of her, completely overcome.
That had been too fast. Too hard. Too much.
Or absolutely perfect. I wasn’t sure which yet.
Our hearts hammered against each other in a frantic, chaotic beat while the rain continued outside.
It was a soft, steady reminder that life existed outside our little hay-strewn world.
We didn’t move for a long time.
I just lay there, inside her, listening to her breathe as she held me so tight I thought she’d never let go again, as aftershocks trembled through her body.
“Mallory,” I finally spoke, her name full of all the unspoken things I felt for her. Love and anguish tangled in my chest.
I wanted to keep her here forever, even though I knew she’d fly away someday soon, her spirit bigger than this mountain.
Mallory Carpenter couldn’t be contained by a man like me. No man could contain her. She was a wild songbird, frantically beating her wings as she tried to experience everything she could in her short time on this planet.
But for right now, she was mine.
I rolled off her and lay there on my back.
She nestled her head into the crook of my shoulder, her fingers tracing idle circles on my chest.
Neither of us spoke for the longest time. The storm was passing, the rain softening to a drizzle.
Finally, I rolled to my side and tucked her against my chest, determined to never let her go.
I just had to find a way to convince her to stay.
To realize that her life was here on Red Oak Mountain.
With me.