16. Stroked
SIXTEEN
Stroked
SAGE
I pulled the small, worn note from my coat pocket for what must have been the hundredth time since Wednesday, when Carter left it for me at the Copper Cup.
My thumb traced the word Vera in his handwriting, and a smile tugged at my lips despite the ache in my chest. He had no idea how perfectly he’d chosen this word for me, the Latin word for lavender.
Why did he have to know exactly how to slip past my defenses with the smallest things, whether it be a plant reference or a note that made me feel seen?
I tucked the paper safely back into my pocket and joined my sisters in the kitchen, the familiar scents of cinnamon, apples, and butter wrapping around me like a hug, and also permeating the house.
The sun was finally out today, after two days of the first big snowstorm of the season. All of us Wylde sisters gathered at our family orchard farmhouse for our annual pre-Thanksgiving pie-baking day. Colt was supposed to be here soon with Jake and Carter, too. I couldn’t wait.
“How many pies are we making this year?” Poppy asked, flour dusting her cheek as she rolled out another crust. She’d driven back with friends from college before the storm hit and had the whole Thanksgiving week off from classes.
Daisy counted on her fingers. “The ranch hands alone will eat at least two slices each. And then there’s everyone else. Let’s say ten pies to be safe.”
Ivy grinned, wiping her hands on her apron. “Ten pies it is. Thanks to the harvest size this year, we’ve got enough apples for those and then some.”
We worked side by side with the peaceful rhythm we’d perfected over the years, the one Mom showed us long ago.
Daisy pressed the bottom crusts into the pans.
Ivy added the apples with spices and sugar.
I carefully placed the top crusts, crimping the edges with my fingers.
Poppy decorated each top with intricate lattice patterns or cut-out leaves, making them uniquely beautiful.
We laughed and caught up with each other along the way. Daisy and Knox had been staying at the orchard house while he recovered from surgery. It was good to see them happy together. Knox was in the living room waiting for the guys, his arm still in a shoulder immobilizer, but his spirits were high.
“Colt and I are spicier than ever,” Ivy announced with a gleam in her eye, whatever that meant.
Then they all ganged up on me.
“You look different,” Ivy studied me with a big-sister gaze. “Glowing even.”
Daisy joined in. “It’s all because of Carter, isn’t it?”
My cheeks warmed, hardly containing a smile. “Yeah. It’s Carter.”
They exchanged a look.
“We were skeptical at first. Worried he’d be another cowboy passing through, breaking your heart,” Daisy explained.
“Let’s face it. They can’t all be like Colt and stay.” Poppy rolled her eyes at Ivy.
“But you seem really happy,” Ivy added. “Just be careful with your heart, okay? We don’t want to see you hurt if he leaves.”
I nodded, swallowing the lump in my throat. “You all are looking out for me, but don’t worry. I’m protecting it. I am being careful.”
Daisy pulled us into a quick sisterly group hug, floury hands and all.
“We’re happy for you,” she whispered. “We hope it works out the way you want it to.”
I hoped so too. Of course, I wanted him to stay. To find it in his heart never to want to leave me or Forest Grove. But I was trying so hard not to let hope run away with me.
Later, when the guys arrived, my heart performed a little flip. I met Carter at the door and hugged him tight, breathing in the scent of him. Dad’s coat used to smell like Old Spice. Now it carried both of them, and I couldn’t get enough.
All the guys took off their boots and headed in to see Knox, but I tugged Carter into the small pantry off the kitchen.
The door barely clicked shut before his mouth was on mine, full of everything we hadn’t been able to say in days.
His icy hands slid under my sweater at first, making me flinch, until they warmed against my skin. I melted fully into him.
“I liked the note,” I whispered against his lips. “Vera. Clever cowboy.”
“Figured you’d get it.” When he grinned, there was something behind it I couldn’t quite name. Sadness? Exhaustion? Probably just tired after the long week.
We lingered and kissed a little longer, stopping only when we heard voices getting closer. We slipped back out, trying to look innocent and probably failing miserably.
Then two more people showed up to visit Knox—Maddox and Beatrix, his brother and sister. Daisy made introductions all around. Maddox was a star player for the Montana Frostbite hockey team, and Beatrix was a nursing student from Billings.
While the guys congregated in the living room with Knox, the four of us sisters plus Beatrix took over the kitchen again.
“I’m trying to keep track of the couples,” Beatrix tapped her chin with a finger. “Daisy and Knox are obvious. Ivy, you’re with Colt. But who is with the handsome cowboy?”
“If you mean Carter—he’s mine.” I claimed him without hesitation, but peeked across the hallway to check if he was listening.
Beatrix elbowed me lightly. “Good for you. That leaves you and Jake, Poppy?”
“No.” Poppy denied any interest in Jake. “He’s nice, but not my type.”
Daisy cocked a brow. “Then who is your type?”
Maddox walked in. “Ladies. The men have sent me to ask for another round of beers.”
“I’ll get them,” Poppy jumped on it before anyone else could. She pulled five beers from the fridge and turned, but bumped right into him. “Oh!”
Maybe on purpose? I wouldn’t put it past her.
“Well, hey there.” Maddox’s mouth curved into a pleasing smolder. “You’ve got a smudge of flour… here, let me.” He reached up and brushed it away with two gentle fingers.
The dreamy look in her eyes as he left the room was impossible to miss. I kept it to myself… for now.
Later, when we had assembled the pies and they were ready to freeze, I pulled Carter outside to my tiny greenhouse—the makeshift one I’d fashioned myself with PVC pipe and plastic sheeting.
“I know it doesn’t look like much. The plastic has come down with the weight of the snow. It has to be rebuilt every summer, but it works,” I explained.
He glanced around, genuinely impressed. “A beautiful glass greenhouse would be nice here. Year-round climate control. Something you could tend to all winter for Wylde Blooms.”
I laughed softly. “Learn about greenhouses from your mother, too? Everything about plants you seem to bring her into it.”
“Yeah… something like that.” He sauntered to the fence and gazed out at the orchard. This time of year it was pretty with the way the snow dusted the branches. “Nice place here.”
“We grow three kinds of apples.” I joined him there, our shoulders brushing, sparks still setting off between us every time we touched.
“You could probably double the size of your orchard with the right planning,” he added thoughtfully.
“That would take money. It would also take more time to harvest because right now we can barely handle this many trees.”
“Let’s play a game,” he said, turning to me. “Pretend you have all the money in the world. What would you do with it?”
Without hesitation, I said, “Cure world hunger.”
“No. I meant, what would you do with it?”
I thought for a moment. “Fix my car. There’s been a weird sound it’s making lately.”
He chuckled. “Dream bigger, Sage.”
“Hm. Pay off Poppy’s student loans. Fix things up here for Daisy — she sacrificed so much for us after our parents died.”
“Dammit, Sage,” he murmured, grabbing me and pulling me into his arms, his chin resting on my head. “Can’t you be selfish just this once? Use the money on yourself. Like finally taking that trip to the lavender fields you’ve been saving for.”
I leaned back and met his gaze, heart full. “Fine. Then I’d pay you to stay here with me. Because selfishly, you are all I want.”
“What am I going to do with you?” He laughed humorlessly, pressing a hand to my cheek.
“I don’t know? Keep me?” The moment stretched between us, tender and heavy with everything we weren’t saying. Then he kissed my frozen lips, icy noses and all, snowflakes catching in our hair.
“You really don’t want to leave this place?” He asked quietly, parting from me.
“Where would I go? With you back East?”
“Sure. Why not?”
“I never thought about leaving my sisters behind.” My last word cracked at the mere mention of it.
“You’re lucky to have them.” That made twice someone told me I was lucky. Didn’t feel that way at all, knowing I might have to let him go.
“Carter, haven’t you once, the entire time you’ve been here, considered staying?”
He didn’t answer, as if a battle raged in his head, and everything between us suddenly became too complicated, too fragile.
Ivy called from the house. “Everyone’s getting ready to leave. Come, say goodbye!”
“Let’s go,” he turned, killing me ever so softly that we hadn’t come to a resolution about us.
Maddox and Beatrix were first to leave, and clearly fit in well with our growing group. Jake and Colt loaded up the pies to take to the ranch. Eldon would bake them in his commercial ovens in time for the holiday meal.
I pulled Carter aside. “Come back to my place tonight?”
“I couldn’t resist you if I tried.” He didn’t even hesitate.
We had barely got the door closed behind us before we were undressing each other, charged with days of pent-up longing.
His hands slid under my sweater, palms rough.
I shivered as they skimmed up my sides, thumbs brushing the undersides of my breasts.
I tugged his shirt open, fingers tracing the firm lines of his chest and the new definition in his arms from weeks of hard labor.
“God, I missed you,” he murmured against my throat as he backed me toward the wall just inside the entrance to the apartment.
His mouth followed the path of his hands, kissing down my neck, across my collarbone, then lower.
When he took one nipple into his mouth, sucking gently at first and then harder, I arched into him with a needy moan.
“I’m here. You can have me. Carter…” His name came out breathless as his hand slipped between my thighs, fingers stroking through the slick heat already waiting for him.
He knew exactly how to touch me now, circling my clit with just the right pressure, teasing me until my hips rocked against his hand, chasing more.
He pulled back long enough to shove my leggings and panties down my legs, then dropped to his knees in front of me. The sight of him there, worshipping me—looking up at me with dark, hungry eyes—sent a fresh wave of heat rolling through me.
He hooked one of my legs over his shoulder and leaned in, his tongue replacing his fingers with devastating skill. Slow, broad licks, then focused flicks against my clit had me gripping his hair and biting my lip to keep from crying out too loudly.
“Fuck, you taste so good,” he groaned against me, the vibration making me tremble.
His beard scraped deliciously against my inner thighs as he devoured me, one hand holding my hip steady while the other slid two fingers inside me, curling just right.
The combination of his mouth, his fingers, the sounds he made, like he couldn’t get enough, all became too much.
I came on a sharp cry, thighs shaking around his head, pleasure coursing through me. And I knew with all certainty—I’d do anything to have him worship me again and again. If only he wanted things to stay like this between us, too. I needed him to stay.
He rose to his feet, kissing me deeply so I could taste myself on his tongue.
I fumbled with his belt, desperate to feel him.
When I finally freed his thick, hard cock, it was already leaking at the tip.
I wrapped my hand around him and stroked slowly, savoring the way he groaned into my mouth and thrust into my fist.
“Mm. Your hand… incredible,” he rasped, hips jerking.
He covered my hand with his own, guiding me.
“Like this, tighter. Mm. Yeah.” His voice rough, almost desperate, he showed me exactly how he liked it, in long, firm strokes from base to tip, thumb brushing over the sensitive head on every upstroke.
“Don’t stop, baby. You’re gonna make me come so hard. ”
I loved the way he took control, his large hand wrapped around mine, teaching me his rhythm. His other hand pressed to the wall by my head, breaths coming ragged, feathering across my forehead, as I worked him faster, twisting my wrist the way he showed me.
“Feel how hard you make me? God, I’m close,” he groaned, hips pulsing.
“Do you like what I’m doing to you?”
“Hell, yes. Keep stroking, just like that. Fuck yeah, you’re such a very good girl for me. ”
I took him firmly, marveling at the pleasure twisting across his face with every pump. He came on a growl that echoed around the apartment, spilling hot and thick ropes over our joined hands. His whole body shuddered against me as I milked every drop from him.
We stayed like that for a long moment, breathing hard. He finally kissed me, arms wrapped around me like he never wanted to let go. I prayed he wouldn’t.
He carried me to the shower, where we cleaned up together. We ended up curled around each other on the couch, under blankets, our breaths slowly evening out. I traced lazy patterns on his chest with my fingertips, listening to his heartbeat under my ear.
“I’m falling for you, Carter,” I whispered into the quiet, too full to hold it in any longer. “I know I wasn’t supposed to… but I am.”
Steady breathing was all that met me in response. He must have fallen asleep and hadn’t heard me. I lay there in the dark, happy to have fallen… but sad too. Because I still didn’t know where we stood after today and our talk at the orchard fence. The uncertainty hurt more than I wanted to admit.