Chapter Forty-Two
Royce
I rinse the last of the peach cobbler from Ryder’s mixing bowl and set it in the sink.
The kitchen looks like a damn war zone.
Flour dusts the counter. Peach juice is dried on the edge of the cutting board. Ryder was more interested in messing with me and eating up the ingredients than actually helping me make the thing.
Marina’s in the bathroom now, cleaning up the little man. He was wearing more of the dessert than he actually ate.
I’m wiping down the counter when Ginger speaks from behind me.
“Thank you.”
I glance over my shoulder.
She’s sitting at the island, watching me.
“I should be thanking you,” I tell her. “You’re the one who helped me out.”
Her brow lifts. “With what?”
“Everything.” I toss the rag over my shoulder. “You told me their favorite things.”
She shakes her head. “No, honey. That was all you.”
I start to argue, but she holds up a hand.
“You asked.”
Something about the way she says it makes me stop.
“It’s such a simple thing,” she continues, her voice softening. “But most men never get it. They think if they buy a woman something expensive or take her somewhere impressive, that’s enough.”
She gives me a small smile. “But you wanted to know what she actually liked.”
I look down at the counter, suddenly more interested in the damn peach juice. “I just wanted to make her happy.”
“I know.” Ginger folds her hands on the granite. “But I want to thank you for something else.”
I look at her.
“When I came here, it was because I was worried about them.”
She looks to the hallway.
“I know Marina is self-sufficient. She always has been. And she’s a damn good mother.” Ginger smiles faintly. “But I didn’t know how she was going to do out here.”
Her gaze drifts toward the window, toward the ranch beyond it.
“Wyoming. Cowboy country.” She lets out a quiet laugh. “Back on a barrel horse.”
I lean against the counter and listen.
“I thought her heart was going to break a little more every day, being so close to something she loves so much and still not being able to do it.”
I know exactly what she means.
Because barrel racing isn’t just something Marina does.
It’s something that lives in her. It’s what she was born to do.
Ginger exhales slowly. “That’s at the very top of her list of favorite things, you know.”
“I know.”
“And she doesn’t get to do it anymore.”
The words settle between us.
I picture Marina in the arena—how she sits on a horse, how she comes alive when riding, and how she and Rowdy are so in sync that they flow together like water.
Ginger looks back at me. “But I can see now that maybe this was exactly what they needed.” Her eyes shine a little. “Because it brought them here.” She pauses. “To you.”
Something squeezes hard around my ribs.
“And that great, big, wonderful family of yours,” she adds.
I swallow.
She reaches across the island and lays her hand over mine. “So, when I go back to Arizona, I can go, knowing they’re in good hands.”
I stare at her hand over mine.
Then I look toward the hallway, where Marina is probably wrangling a little cowboy into clean pajamas.
Good hands.
The words hit somewhere deep.
Because I don’t know if I’ve ever wanted anything more than to be worthy of them.
I turn my hand beneath hers and give her fingers a gentle squeeze.
“They are,” I say quietly. I meet her eyes, and she studies me. “They always will be.”
And I mean every damn word.
I look up to see Marina standing at the end of the hallway, leaning against the wall, watching me.
“Mom and Ryder have been tucked in,” she says. “I think I’m going to take a shower to wash the sticky off of me now.”
She spins toward her bedroom, peeling off her shirt, and then she glances at me over her shoulder. “I could use help reaching my back.”
I don’t have to be asked twice. I kick off my boots and click off the kitchen light before following.
I find her already in the shower, and I quickly undress and drop my clothes by hers on the tiled floor.
She doesn’t turn around as I open the glass door and watch as she lathers shampoo in her hair.
“Are you coming, cowboy?”
I slip in behind her and bring my lips to her ear. “I plan to.”
She leans back into my chest and blinks up at me as the suds from her hair slides down between our bodies. “Me first,” she requests.
“Yes, ma’am.”
She closes her eyes and steps forward into the hot spray, and I follow. I brush my fingers through her hair, letting the water rinse the strands clean, and bring my lips to her neck.
My hands rest on her hips, and I pull them back so she can feel what she does to me. Then they slide around to her stomach as I nibble at her ear.
A whimper escapes her as my hands continue to explore her bare skin.
I stroke the underside of her breasts before taking their weight into my palms. Her knees give as the pad of my thumbs brush her nipples.
“Royce,” she moans.
“You like that, baby?” I ask as I roll the tender peaks between my fingers and tug.
“Yes.”
I feed one knee between her legs to steady her, and her body trembles at the contact.
She reaches out and plants a hand on the shower wall for support and bears down on my knee.
“Ahhhh,” she cries.
“Mmm,” I hum. “Just as needy for my cock as you were this morning. Have you been suffering all day, baby?”
“Uh-huh.” She nods, and that’s all it takes.
I lift her off her feet and spin her around. Her back hits the tiles, and I cover her mouth with mine.
The kiss grows wild as I lose hold of the control I’ve barely clung to all damn day. I sink my teeth into her bottom lip, causing her to gasp. I suck her tongue into my mouth hungrily. She wraps her arms around my neck and tugs at my wet hair as our tongues wrestle.
I tear my mouth from hers, and the heat in her eyes sears me as they move down my body.
My hands begin kneading her swollen breasts again, and she leans her head back, giving my mouth access to her throat.
I kiss a trail down her collarbone, and she sighs when my teeth graze one of her nipples. I suck it into my mouth.
After a few moments, I release her breast and slide one hand up the inside of her thigh.
She bites her lip to keep from crying out when my fingertips find her swollen entrance.
I lay my forehead against hers as I sink a finger inside of her.
“Fuck, Rina, you’re so ready for me,” I groan.
She grabs my shoulders as I add a second finger.
“So hot and wet,” I murmur against her skin.
She buries her head in my neck, and her breathing becomes erratic.
“Please,” she begs as she digs her nails into my flesh.
“What do you want first? My cock or my mouth?”
“I don’t care. As long as it’s you.”
Fuck me.
I sink to my knees, kissing a path from her chest down to her belly button as I continue to pump my fingers in and out of her slowly.
When my mouth reaches my fingers, I spread her open, and my tongue darts out and licks. A shudder climbs up her body as I suck her clit deep.
I feed one of her legs over my shoulder to get better access, and I press a hand into her stomach to hold her steady before I bury my face in her heat and start to lap at her like a starving man.
Because that’s exactly what I am.
She pants and grabs my hair, holding me where she wants me.
My tongue finds her opening, and I thrust it in and out while my thumb runs circles over her clit. She lifts her hips to meet me as she rides my tongue.
I feel her walls tighten around my tongue, and I know she’s close. I roll her clit between my fingers, and that’s all she needs to fall over the edge.
Her hand comes up and clamps over her mouth as she comes. I have to keep my hand pressed into her to keep her upright as her body quakes violently.
Once she’s steady, I stand. The water is cooling, and I turn it off. I reach for a towel and take my time drying her off.
We step into the small bathroom. I dry my chest, face, and hair with a towel before following her into the bedroom. She takes my hand, tugs me to the edge of the bed, and pushes my chest as she kneels before me.
“Your turn,” she says as she takes my cock into her hand and wraps her lips around me.
I groan as her tongue rolls around the swollen head a few times before she opens and sucks me in deep. I fist her hair as she grips my thighs. I lean back on my elbows and watch as she bobs up and down, swallowing my cock. Her tongue swirls as she sucks me deeper and deeper.
“That’s it, baby. I love watching your hot little mouth devour my cock,” I say. “Such a good girl.”
She whimpers as I lift my hips and start driving in further until I feel myself hit the back of her throat.
“I’m going to come now.”
My body stiffens, and I groan her name as my seed releases down her throat.
She sits back on her heels. “I think we succeeded in being quiet. I think it made the whole thing even hotter, if that’s possible,” she whispers.
“Oh, yeah?”
She nods.
“Give me a minute to recover, and you can climb up here, and we’ll see how quiet you can be while you ride me.”
Her eyes spark with mischief, and she grins. “Challenge accepted.”