15. Tasted
FIFTEEN
Tasted
WILLOW
Daisy was sweet to give me riding lessons on Marshmallow Saturday morning. Although Juniper complained so much from her stall that Knox let her out with us in the arena. She followed me and Marshmallow around in circles, whinnying like she was happy, never more than a few feet away.
“Feel like a cowgirl yet?” Ash showed up and called, watching at the fence. I brought the pony to a stop beside him, and put all my weight into the stirrups, leaning up.
“Sure. Although my ass is complaining in this saddle.”
“Interesting. I have no complaints at all watching your ass bounce in that thing.” He winked, with a devious smile. I loved how he’d warmed up to me at last, flirting with me. Soon he’d claim all of me. I believed it with my whole heart and soul.
Tempted to kiss him, I glanced away. Daisy and Knox were chatting with Dusty about ten feet from us. Ro and Eli were serious about catching bugs in jars up at the barn. I wanted to keep Ash to myself for a little longer. Besides, how would I explain us to Ro? Not yet.
“Would you be up to skipping church tomorrow night? There’s someplace I’d like to take you.
I could get Daisy and her sisters to watch Ro,” he said, appearing rather sexy and rugged today, albeit dusty from whatever work he’d been doing.
And where’d he get that black cowboy hat?
This version of hardworking mountain man and cowboy Ash, appealed to me immensely.
My heart had always pined for that bad boy in the principal’s office. This grown up manly Ash on the mountain stole my heart completely.
“Why, Ash, are you asking me on a date? One that Ivy didn’t have to talk you into?”
“She didn’t have to twist my arm to take you out last night to the Sapphire.”
I chuckled and teased. “I suppose I could miss church with you. I’ll just say an extra few prayers as penance. ”
“I didn’t say you wouldn’t be on your knees.” His eyes darkened with whatever that meant and flicked to my tongue wetting my lips. I was here for it, no matter the adventure he desired to take me on.
“Where are we going? How much longer?” I held onto Ash, with one hand on his thigh, the other holding on to the handlebar of the ATV for dear life. We’d been driving about an hour deeper into the ranch, and not a soul in sight, but there were amazing views as far as my eyes could see.
“Almost there, city girl,” he teased and chuckled.
Ro had gone to church with Daisy, and Dusty and Eli would be there with her, too. Ash had ridden to the cabin on his big black horse named Tank. How studly he’d looked when he first showed up to get me for our date. But I was saddle sore from my lessons and didn’t think I could handle a ride.
So here we were in an ATV. The way it bounced and jiggled across the prairie wasn’t much better on me. Even worse, now that we traversed a grade, heading to higher elevation.
I hated to complain, but wherever we ended up had better be worth it.
Finally, the trail opened into a meadow of wildflowers, scattered across the earth like a blanket of yellows and pinks.
The sun shone on it, as if it were a happy place you’d expect to find in heaven.
I reached out and touched the flowers as he skirted the field until he pulled to a stop under a cluster of towering pines.
“We’re here,” he announced, grabbing his pack from behind the seat. I followed his lead, hiking a little way through the pines, hearing water running nearby.
When the trees opened, we suddenly stood on an outcropping of boulders. He held a hand out for me to come with him to the edge of the largest.
“Wow,” I breathed. There were no other words for this view off the cliff overlooking a small valley with a river below it.
“Worth the ride?”
“Hell yes.” It took my breath away. He pointed out a herd of elk grazing on the prairie below us.
“I discovered this during one of my long rides last spring. I had vowed to scope out the entire ranch, to discover every nook and cranny. Chris liked the idea, wanting me to map out the whole thing. I’m not finished yet, but I’ve covered quite a bit of ground each weekend through summer, taking photos and notes in a journal.
I sketched the flowers and wildlife, hunted or fished for what I ate, and camped out under the stars. ”
“Ash. That’s incredible. I like this survivalist part of you.” I gaped at him, discovering a side of him I didn’t know existed. This mountain man part of him appealed in so many ways. Definite turn-on. I could be his mountain woman if he’d let me.
“Chris bought a few ranches, making the ODRR about two thousand acres total. I think this part has been practically untouched for years. Across the field of flowers are remnants of an old log cabin. If I had to guess, settlers from the early 1900s.”
“Breathtaking.” My soul stirred being here with him, like I belonged. “Those settlers knew what they were doing. This would be a beautiful place for a cabin.”
“Glad you think so. I’ve had the same thought nagging at me ever since I found it.”
My mind raced. A cozy cabin for—three or more here? More than a cabin, actually, more like a home for a family. Was that why he showed it to me? And here I thought he brought me here for sex, for our first time together. Or both…
I imposed a hold on those thoughts and took several photos with my phone. He brought out a flannel blanket from his pack for us to sit on. The boulder’s flat surface proved perfect for this.
“It’s so pristine up here. I feel like we’re all alone on an island. Such a peaceful place.” I closed my eyes and leaned back on my arms, tilting my face toward the big sky. The sun’s rays sent a burst of energy through me as if recharging my batteries.
“I’m so glad you feel that way.”
I heard the click of his phone and opened my eyes to find him snapping a photo of me.
“Take one of us together to show Ro. Of course, she’ll want to come up here, too, sometime.” I snuggled closer to him and smiled, and he took the photo. When he showed it to me, we looked like we belonged together. His smile dazzled me, the biggest I’d seen on him since I arrived.
Then my stomach growled. “Well, that disturbed the peace,” I giggled.
“I have a remedy for that.” He produced white bread, bologna, and peanut butter from the bag. With his pocketknife, he spread the PB on the slices, slapped the meat between them, and handed it over.
“Oh my God. You remembered my favorite?” My laughter echoed around us.
“How could I forget the day you dared me and Scott to eat them? Only he gagged at the taste, but surprisingly I liked the combination.” He brought out a bottle of lemonade to share between us.
“Ro definitely takes after Scott. She loves bologna but not the PB part. It’s been a long time since I made these.” I grinned and took a huge bite, moaning with delight. “Yes. Oh, God yes.”
He groaned, hardly eating, watching me enjoy myself. My eyes flicked down to his crotch, where a noticeable bulge formed. With each bite I took, I played up my moans more, elongating my throat working for his viewing pleasure.
After we ate and packed the food away, I tackled him on the blanket. We laughed and wrestled until I was on top of him, pinning him down. “Finally, you can’t run from me, Ash.”
“I wasn’t running from you. I was running from this. From what you make me feel.” The words slipped from his mouth raw and honest, like the faint breeze in the air.
I had trouble speaking past the tightness in my throat. I croaked. “What do I make you feel?”
“Like I want things I have no right to want. As if Scott would even think I’m good enough for his family.”
“Scott never said you weren’t good enough. I swear he worshipped you.” I sat up on top of him, confused .
“Right. Too bad I was the brother who couldn’t stay put, who chose the Army over home, who left him to deal with our asshole of a father, and who wasn’t there when he needed me.
” The words poured out of him like a dam breaking, all the guilt and self-recrimination he’d been carrying for years put before me.
“And now you’re here, and Ro’s calling me Uncle Ash like I deserve the title, and you’re looking at me like-like… ”
“Like what?”
“You see something worth holding onto.”
“But I do,” I whispered.
“You’re too good for me.” He reached up and brushed a bit of peanut butter from the corner of my mouth. Then his thumb lingered against the curve of my bottom lip. My tongue darted out and licked the butter off of it. His cock hardened beneath me.
“No, I’m not. I have crazy fantasies about you, Ash. I’m not that prim and proper schoolgirl anymore.”
“Oh, believe me. I see the woman you are now. Fuck, I’ve been wanting to kiss you all day,” he whispered.
“What’s stopping you? We’re alone up here, lost in the peacefulness of nature.” All that existed was us. No yesterday. No questions or hesitations. Just Ash and Willow, like Adam and Eve and a new beginning, the only two people who roamed on earth, or at least this part of the ranch.
He pivoted me over and trapped me beneath him, exactly where I wanted to be.
He pinned my wrists above my head and covered my lips with a searing kiss.
I wanted to scream, he’s claiming me at last, God Almighty, at last. I heated quickly and moaned into his mouth, urging him further, my pulse rocketing.
His mouth held a hunger that matched my own, greedy and rough. His cock ground against me. My heart drummed in my chest.
“Ash, please, I need you so bad. I’ll be so good for you,” I begged, binding my ankles together behind his back so he couldn’t escape.
“You undo me, woman. I want to take you so hard.”
“Do it. Bare, raw, wild, come inside of me. I’m on the pill, so take me once and for all.”
His growl unleashed, echoing around us. I should fear what this bad boy could do to me. After years of vanilla sex with his brother, he’d left me a wanton woman, yearning for Ash to rip my heart and body wide open.
I maneuvered my feet against the rock, kicking off my boots while he nipped my neck and sucked my pebbled nipples through my t-shirt. Releasing my wrists, he tackled my jeans, undoing them and stripping them off of me with a decisive groan.
“You always go out on a date without panties on?” He appreciated the wet apex of my core, practically drooling.
“I do for you.”
“That’s my good girl. No panties around me anymore. Ever.”
“Yes, boss.”
His eyes flashed darkly. “And no other men. We do this—you’re mine.”
“You know the only other man I’ve been with. Ash, I’m a Rhodes woman, loyal to the end. And it’s your turn to claim me.”
“Christ, Willow. Tell me to stop,” he urged, shaking his head, kissing the inside of my thigh. “Tell me this is moving way too fast.”
“Don’t stop. Not fast enough.” But the words turned into a gasp as his mouth latched onto me, tongue sliding into my wet seam. He wasted no time now, exploring and finding my clit.
I tangled my hands in his hair, something I’d longed to do forever, and pressed his face further into me. I arched my back, my breath coming in gasps as he did my bidding, licking and sucking on me .
Ash was really here between my legs, lavishing me with attention, praising me as his good girl. I almost lost hope this would ever happen, but my heart and soul wouldn’t give up. My needy pleasure built until it became too much. Using his mouth and hands, he brought me higher, breaking me.
I cried out his name and trapped him between my shaking thighs. My rumbling vibrations could send an earthquake through this little valley of ours.
Aftershocks continued as he lapped me, then kissed up my body. He reached my quivering lips and gave me a taste. Then he removed my t-shirt and bra, exposing my fully splayed out body on this rock. All for his eyes only.
“So beautiful. So mine. I know that now.” He sat back on his haunches and pulled his shirt over his head. Then my eyes fixated on his fingers, unbuttoning his jeans, pulling the metal tab of his zipper one tooth at a time. “You know the problem with having a taste of you? I want more.”
I gasped, my breath lodging in my throat as he stood and shoved off his jeans. He revealed his thick and veiny, velvety manhood, gripping it in his big hands, and still not covering it all. Clearly the more well-endowed Rhodes sibling stood before me.
The man might break me. I swallowed hard, more than ready for it, as he stood in the sunshine like a golden Adonis adorning this ridge. My eyes drifted freely over him, appreciating his hard muscles, losing count of his abs. I desired every inch of him to split me in two.
“Ash, you’re beautiful, too. You want more? You can have me any time you please.”
“Then be a good girl and get on your hands and knees.”
I sucked in a breath at his growly dominance and followed his order. The flannel blanket barely provided enough padding, and the boulder was too hard on my kneecaps. But no matter what came next, whatever sexy, wild thing we did next, I never wanted to go back to what my life was before.