Chapter 33 Summer #2
It soothes the tension from my body. Takes away some of the pain.
He believes me. He’s never doubted me or tried to justify what happened.
He’s only ever doubted whether I could see my forever with someone with his reputation.
His past. I love him so much. I don’t need a ring on my finger to spend the rest of my life with him.
He kisses the top of my head. His breath warming my scalp. “You’re allowed to be mad. You should be mad. They should be forced to tell the truth.”
“Yes, but that’s never going to happen. I need to let it go somehow. Because I don’t want to avoid coming home to see my brothers anymore.”
We fall silent for a while. Telling him all the details has been cathartic.
It doesn’t change that I will always hate Devil’s Bend, or at least the people in it, but holding it all inside felt like a vice.
It’s like I’ve had this pressure building up inside me since we got on the plane to come here.
He might have stopped me from boiling over. “Duke sent me a card.”
“When?”
“I found it on the kitchen counter this afternoon.”
“What did it say?” He holds himself still, waiting.
I burrow in, hoping he’ll soften around me. “He was trying to scare me. It doesn’t matter. We’ll be home in a few short days, and he’ll go back to being a distant memory.”
“What did it say exactly?” He strokes my back.
“That I shouldn’t have come back. I’m not welcome.” That if I didn’t leave, he would make me. I leave that part out, sparing him the rage I know would come.
“Fuck him.”
Easier said than done. If it weren’t for my brothers, I would never come back here at all. But their lives are here. Our mom is buried here. My nephew is growing up on the ranch that I loved as a child. These threats are something I have to weather. “I know. I’m okay.”
“Of course you are, kitten.” His fingers trailing up and down my spine is relaxing at first, but they skim my hip and set off tingles between my thighs. I tip my head back to find his hooded gaze locked on me.
That look always gives me fireworks.
He lowers his mouth and catches my bottom lip. His tongue dips inside as his fingers trace my spine and down between my ass cheeks. He keeps going until he finds the hem of the body suit.
I smooth my hands over the ridges of his abs, his gray cotton T-shirt bunching up as I go.
In between kisses he strips out of his flannel before reaching behind his neck to drag the stretchy cotton over his head and toss it aside. I hook a leg over his hip and rub my pelvis against the hardness behind the denim.
“Fuck.” It’s punctuated by a dirty groan.
I love that sound. The way he responds to me is delicious. Gripping the tab on his zipper, I tug it down slow enough to tease before curling my hand around his cock and stroking it. “You want me?”
“There is never a time when I don’t.” He nibbles at my mouth hungrily. “I’ve been killing myself trying to give you space. Now that you’ve made it clear I don’t have to, I’m aching to make up for lost time.”
“Do it.”
“You need to come?”
I grab his hand and put it between my thighs, where there are studs holding this bodysuit in place. “I need you.”
He figures it out quickly. He punctuates the unsnapping of each one with a teasing stroke against my clit and slips his hand inside the material as soon as it is loosened. “Fucking hell, no panties.”
His fingertips brush across my pussy. “If I’d known earlier...”
“I was wearing panties earlier.” Until I committed to dressing like this thanks to a couple of jackasses telling me to put on more clothes. Taking off my panties was an act of rebellion no one was going to know about, but with the way Rebel’s touch is igniting heat in my core, totally worth it.
I shove at the waist of his jeans, pushing them off his ass as he rolls me under him. Lining himself up, he thrusts into me.
I buck my hips and he slides all the way in, filling me.
He trembles as he drags in a breath. His head bows to mine. “Fuck, kitten. Don’t move. Give me a second.”
The way he almost loses control for me after all this time is the best feeling in the world.
He starts to move.
No, this is the best feeling in the world. I curl my legs around his hips and cling to him. Palm his ass to hold him deeper as the intensity grows.
He rolls onto his back and takes me with him. His hands grasp my calves as he positions me on top of him. He peels down the top half of my bodysuit.
Staring up at me, he brushes my hair behind my ear.
“What?” I never want him to stop looking at me the way he is right this minute.
“Take your bra off.” He runs his fingertips down between my breasts. “And play with your tits while you ride me. Take what you need, kitten. Use me to get yourself off.”
I reach around and unlatch the hooks on my bra before letting the straps fall down my arms. Unrestrained, my breasts fall heavily.
Sensitive and swollen from all the extra hormones, they ache when I lift and squeeze them like he normally would.
My nipples turn into tight peaks that send sparks of pleasure shooting to my core with each graze of my fingertips.
I rock my hips, and he hits a sensitive spot that makes me whimper.
“Fuck.” He moans as he arches, grinding into me.
I ride him slowly, eating up every grunt and moan he makes. The way he loves me is powerful. With him, I’m moving on. The way he wants me makes me feel sexual and confident. All my insecurities fade away.
My inner walls flutter with the beginnings of an orgasm.
His breathing grows harsh, and his hands grasp my waist, itching, no doubt, to take over. But he doesn’t. He supports me as I drive us to the ledge. As I lean my hands on his chest for more friction on my clit, the orgasm overwhelms me.
My hips fumble and he finally takes over, driving into me hard and fast. He tips his head back, the sinew in his throat taut as his cock twitches and spills inside me.
The moment we’re done, he bands an arm around me and hugs me tight while he grabs one of the blankets and drapes it over my back.
I settle there on his chest. Spent.
He strokes my hair. “You said something earlier. And I don’t know what to do with it.”
My stomach fills with nerves. I recall what I said with a little too much clarity. “What was that?”
“You don’t want to marry me.”
It was the heat of the moment. And said mostly for my brother’s benefit.
“Ahem.” Owen appears out of the darkness. “Time to put your clothes on, Hollywood.”
“Seriously?” I lift my cheek from Rebel’s chest and my gaze meets Owen’s. Beside him is Jett. On the other side Storm smirks.
“Oh my God.” I snatch the blanket to my chest and make sure it covers everything. I hope they only caught us snuggling. Otherwise, that’s creepy and gross.
Owen’s arms are crossed over his barrel chest. His lip curves up into a sneer. “Come on, Hollywood. We haven’t got all night.”
Rebel squeezes me before he releases me entirely. “I’m ready. I just gotta get dressed.”
“Ready for what?” I slide to the side so he can sit up and secure the blanket with both hands when he scoops up his shirt.
“We’ll give you a minute.” Owen shows us his back. Jett does the same.
“Storm?” I deadeye my brother.
“Don’t worry, little. We won’t harm a hair on his head. There won’t be any mud involved either.”
“Storm,” I demand, but he’s already turned around.
Rebel snags his jeans. He shoves one powerful leg after the other into the pants and drags the material over his biteable ass. Bending down he claims a kiss that makes seductive promises.
I grab a fistful of his shirt when he starts to straighten. “Ready for what?”
“Hollywood,” Owen interrupts impatiently.
“Owen.” I glare at his back. “Ready for what?”
“A little bonding excursion,” he says.
“The last time you took my man on a bonding excursion he nearly drowned in the pit, so forgive me for not trusting you with him.”
“He’ll be fine,” Owen says.
“I’m going to need more than that,” I say. “Promise me you’ll bring him back to me safe and sound, no, in the same state that you took him in.”
“This is how your brothers finally accept me,” Rebel says. “Don’t worry. I’ll be safe.”
“Owen,” I insist.
“I promise, little. Nothing will happen to your man.”
“Go back to the house. Get some sleep.” Rebel lifts my chin and sneaks another kiss. “When I get back, I’m going to curl around you so tight.”
“You better.” I uncurl my fingers from his shirt before I address my brothers. “God help you all if you don’t bring him back in one piece.”
“We promise.” Owen shows me both his hands then glares at Storm. “She won’t believe you until you show her yours too.”
Storm lifts his hands and wiggles his fingers. “See? Nothing crossed this time.”
The four of them leave and I get up and get dressed. Something about the way my brothers are acting is rubbing me the wrong way.
I mull this over as I head back to the barn to check on the party and the bride-to-be.
I’m still on edge from running into Kurt and Travis earlier and that’s making me hypervigilant. There’s also the fact that it’s never nothing when it comes to my brothers. But they seem to have come to some kind of understanding with Rebel, so I’m staying out of it.
I have my own trouble to get into.
I hate that I let Kurt and Travis get to me earlier. I hate that I’ve always felt like there’s nothing I can do. But not anymore.
They’re the assholes. Someone needs to teach those boys a lesson.