Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
AUGUST
By the time River walked back into the ranch house, Tyler had devoured breakfast, lunch, and had just woken up from his afternoon nap. As soon as he spotted his dad, his tiny face lit up, eyes flying wide as he clapped his hands together and then reached for River, demanding to be picked up.
“How was he?”
I smiled. “Good as gold.” It was true, we’d played with Muffin for a little while, read two stories, and then he’d been out like a light by the time Haven and Ryder joined me and Cade in the lounge. “You know he’s never any trouble.”
River didn’t reply, too busy cooing at his son as Tyler pulled on the ends of River’s hair.
I strolled into the kitchen, busying myself by making coffee and sliding the mug across the island counter when it was ready. “So how was Calgary?” I asked as River placed Tyler on his lap and accepted the hot drink gratefully.
“Good. Productive. I spoke to a couple different teams about their open coaching positions, but I actually heard about something else while I was there that I think you might be interested in.”
I raised an eyebrow, nodding as he told me about the job. “It does sound kind of perfect.”
“And you’re sure about this? Staying here?” For once the question didn’t feel snarky, just genuine concern shining through my brother’s eyes.
“She’s what I want. This is where I need to be.”
“And if she doesn’t want that?”
I shrugged. “I’ll cross that bridge if I get there.”
“Preferably before you sign a contract anywhere,” River muttered but when he smiled I was surprised by the pride in it. “You look happy. And I’m happy for you.”
“You know, there’s plenty of room here,” I said casually. “If you wanted to be closer to family while you take a break from agenting.”
Tyler started to fuss and River distracted him with a crinkly toy I’d seen Muffin batting around earlier. “What about Mom and Dad? Plus you should probably work out if you can even stay here, let alone moving the rest of the family in.”
I chuckled. “There are places in Lavender Creek outside of this ranch, Riv. And it’s not only about Sienna, either.
It’s nice here. People are friendly, there’s a community.
I don’t know.” I looked at my nephew and felt my heart squeeze in my chest. “I think it could be a good place for Tyler to grow up.”
River softened. “I’ll think about it. But do me a favour? Talk to your girl before we leave tomorrow. Make sure she actually wants the same thing as you.”
I mock-saluted as I drained the last of the coffee from my mug. “Already on it.”
Sienna
I’d spent the remainder of Thursday hanging out with Louise and Cade, playing with Tyler, and winding up River, trying to enjoy the time we had left before they left on Friday morning.
I was more reluctant than I’d thought I’d be to actually let them leave.
With the unresolved way August and I had left things, I’d thought I’d be chomping at the bit for our visitors to depart but, instead, the house felt too quiet without them.
I knew I couldn’t expect them to move out into the middle of nowhere just to be with me, but I was sorry to see them go regardless.
Louise hugged me tightly, squeezing the breath out of me before she turned and leveled August with a look most people would have withered under.
“Take care of her,” she said, and it sounded like a threat.
“Always,” August said and Louise mouthed the word to me when August wasn’t looking. I rolled my eyes at her antics over Cade’s shoulder as I hugged him goodbye.
River was speaking quietly to August and Tyler kicked his feet from his spot in the car seat before River scooped him up and clapped August on the back.
“Safe journey,” I called as they piled into the rental car Cade had idling. “Text me when you land.”
Louise blew me a kiss and River and Cade waved as their car pulled away, leaving me feeling hollow, like everything was too quiet and something was missing.
August sighed and my eyes flicked to his before I turned and walked back into the house. On top of my sadness from Louise and the boys leaving sat nervousness. I hadn’t had the chance to talk to August about everything that had happened between us and even now I wasn’t sure what I wanted to say.
I don’t want you to leave me sounded a little too intense.
I’m not sure what we are but I don’t want it to end sounded too vague.
Or maybe I was just overthinking things, I couldn’t tell any more.
August followed me inside and the quiet sound of the door closing raised goosebumps along my skin.
“Sienna—” he began and my heart rate spiked so suddenly that my hands tingled.
“We should go for a hike,” I exclaimed, pulse hammering and breaths ratcheting up.
“Get some fresh air, stretch our muscles.” I was rambling, and yet I couldn’t stop.
I reached for the fleece I’d left hanging by the door the other night and shrugged it on before striding out of the door with August hot on my heels.
“Sienna, wait!”
I was already moving for the tree line, steps sure and quick even as my mind whirled in circles. What the hell was I doing?
August’s long legs ate up the distance with ease and I’d barely made it under the cover of the trees before his arms wrapped around my waist and he pulled me around to face him.
My breaths were ragged despite the short distance and I drank the sight of him in like I was starved. The pink of his cheeks, the curve of his bottom lip, I’d been fooling myself if I’d thought the way I felt was anything less than an all-consuming, burning love for this man.
And it terrified me.
“I want you to stay,” I blurted and then clapped a hand over my mouth like I could force the words back inside.
His eyes were wide, the soft brown irises swallowing me up as he moved closer. “I don’t want to leave.”
I don’t want to leave. How was it possible that five words could make and break me at the same time?
“I don’t–I’ve never—” I swallowed and tried again to get the words out.
“I’ve never felt like this about anyone before.
I want you, even when I know I shouldn’t, that I’ll only end up with my heart broken because the people I love have a habit of letting me down and I don’t know if I can take that happening with you too and—”
His mouth covered mine, cutting off the flow of words that were being ripped from me in ragged bursts that contained fragments of my soul.
I breathed him in, his arms wrapping around my body and pulling me against him as I grasped desperately at his hair, his face, needing more, needing him to never let go.
We broke apart to breathe and it felt like the world around us was holding its breath as we watched each other.
“Sienna,” he murmured and my heart lurched. “I think I’ve been in love with you ever since you changed a tire on a dirt road, probably earlier if I’m being honest with myself. You are incredible. Stubborn and kind and so fucking beautiful it hurts.”
His face consumed my entire vision, his words echoing through me, healing the parts that still felt bruised from a lifetime of never being put first.
“I don’t ever want to leave you.” He nodded, like he’d come to some kind of decision and was prepared to fight for it. “You’re it for me, Sienna Slade.”
I wanted so badly to believe him. To believe this, us, could work. “But your job, your family, they’re—”
“I’m right where I want to be,” he said, cutting off the panic in my voice before it could fully form. “Why do you think River went to Calgary for me? My life will be wherever you are.”
“You can’t give up football for me—”
“I’m not.” He smiled. “I’m giving it up for me. There’s a commentator role going in the city and it’s mine if I want it.” August reached for my hand, raising it to his lips as he watched me over the back of my hand. “Do I want it, Sienna?”
I swallowed hard. I knew what he was asking, and it was more than just a job. Did I want him and whatever future we could make together? “Yes,” I whispered and the smile that broke across his face made me reach for him automatically.
The next kiss we shared was claiming, his mouth branding mine as my tongue traced his, swallowing down his moan and taking it as my own.
“We can take this as slow as you want,” he said, voice hoarse and breaths coming hard as I peppered kisses along his jaw, the hollow of his throat until he shuddered under my mouth.
“I don’t need to take it slow.” I kissed him again, parting his lips with my mouth and biting his lip softly, revelling in the sound he made as I pressed closer, our bodies perfectly lined up like he’d been made for me.
“I just need you to show me that these thoughts are wrong, that you’re here and you’re mine and you’re not leaving. ”
One hand slid into my hair, tugging with a roughness that made me moan as August looked deeply into my eyes. “I can do that.”
His knees hit the floor and my zipper was tugged down while I watched him, blood heating as he moved with sure, steady movements.
His confidence was unfaltering as he pulled my jeans down to my calves and pressed his mouth to my clit above my underwear, making me sway as need bolted to the bundle of nerves he pressed against.
Impatience was in every line of his body as August reached for the thin straps that held up my underwear and looked up at me with apology in his eyes as he ripped the lace away in one abrupt move that made me pant as the cold air hit me.
One finger stroked between my folds and he licked his lips before pressing his tongue to me in a long lick that had me reaching for his shoulders to steady myself. “Sienna,” he growled and I moaned when the words rumbled against the sensitive skin. “What am I?”
I hesitated and then jolted when he lightly spanked my pussy, sending my clit throbbing.
“What am I?” he growled.
“Mine,” I moaned and he rewarded me with long licks of his tongue, swirling around the pulsing head of my clit before he pressed one finger inside of me, the heat from his skin startling against the coldness of the air outside.
“What are you?”
This time my answer was immediate. “Yours.”
His grunt of satisfaction made me clench around his fingers as he added another and pulsed them against my walls. “Good. You’re soaking my hand, sweetheart. Ride my fingers, Sienna.”
My hips rocked and when he reached up and tweaked my nipple under my clothes I whimpered. My eyes fluttered open and found him watching me, bottom lip between his teeth as he watched me writhe.
“How do you feel now, baby?”
I licked my lips but couldn’t get any words out as he curled his fingers inside me.
“Feeling a bit better? A bit more mine? Or do I need to fuck all those doubts out of your beautiful head?” My legs parted for him, begging him for more without saying a word and he chuckled. “I need to hear the words, sweetheart.”
His mouth covered me, sucking and tasting me deeply before I had the chance to say anything beyond yes, and more.
“That’s my girl,” he murmured and I felt my blush staining my cheeks, hot against the breeze that kicked up. “You take my tongue so well, Sienna.”
August stood and for a second I was disappointed until he scooped me up and carried me back to the house. We barely managed to close the door before he was laying me down and stripping my jeans the rest of the way off, sliding his fingers into me with a new urgency that I matched from the floor.
“I need you to come for me, sweetheart. Okay? I need to make sure you’re good and drenched for me before I fuck you.”
I moaned his name, enjoying the burn when he pressed my thighs open wider, exposing me to him as he talked me through my first orgasm, his fingers curling until he stroked against the spot that made me shatter.
He smiled as he watched me shake, mouth still wet from pleasuring me, and I realized I’d do just about anything this man asked.
“Now you’re ready,” he said, standing and unsnapping the belt on his jeans, the sound of his zipper sending curling anticipation through my body as he sprung free from the confines of his pants.
I lifted my hips, eager to meet him, and his palms slid under me, lifting my waist as he pressed his head through the evidence of my orgasm and groaned. My legs locked around his waist and we moaned in tandem when he pushed into me in a long stroke that made my eyes roll back.
“You feel so good, so wet,” he panted and I knew he felt it when my muscles contracted, squeezing him inside me. “I have to—” he shuddered, “if I don’t move right now I think I might lose my mind.”
I circled my hips, my laugh low and throaty when it was his turn to curse and touch the floor for support. “You won’t break me, August. Fuck me. Now.”
He obeyed, withdrawing to slam back into me with enough power that I saw stars.
His hand flexed on my hip as he buried himself over and over and tightness spiraled down my spine and shifted lower.
“Sienna,” he begged and I moved against him, taking what he gave as he slowed his pace. “You”—thrust—“are”—thrust—“mine.”
I held on, clamping down as the pleasure rose up and crashed over me until my whole body shook and August called my name.
My eyes fluttered open and I pressed a kiss to August’s shoulder as he held himself up over me. A small noise to my left made me flinch and I laughed quietly as a pair of big eyes stared at us. “We have an audience.”
“What?” August lifted his head, still looking a little dizzy, and was momentarily distracted as he glanced down to the space between us and cursed. “Fuck, that’s hot.”
I followed his gaze and shuddered when he pressed a finger to my opening, the skin overly sensitive as he pressed his cum back inside me.
He cleared his throat, eyes still foggy with desire. “Sorry, what did you say?”
I nodded to the side. “We have someone watching us.”
For a second he looked alarmed before he spotted what I meant and laughed. “Sorry, Muffin.”
“Next time we’ll close the door,” I promised the cat and August laughed as he dropped a kiss to my mouth and helped me stand. “Shower?”
“Only if I can join you.”