Gabe
Josh was supposed to text me when Sabrina got here, but I still hadn’t heard from him.
I’d been roped into doing an overnight boil for social media content, and I’d been in the sugar shack for hours.
People were losing their minds over our heritage batch of syrup. This first batch would be auctioned off online to support the Vermont Children’s Hospital, and people in the comment section were raving about it like we were bottling unicorn tears blessed by fairies.
Harper might actually be a genius. Maybe she’d be interested in dropping out of high school to take over as mayor. She’d be far better at it than I was. But it probably wasn’t worth the ask.
My mom and dad had gotten the boil started, but I’d come in for the long haul. I liked it out here; it was peaceful, and the quiet helped me manage my building anxiety about the woman I was falling for, the baby, the town, and the recall election.
But it meant I was stranded out in the woods while Sabrina met with Brooks Bramble-Rutledge.
It was best that I did not attend with her, but it was hard to believe she’d make headway regardless.
Brooks and Bitsy had the flexibility of a hall monitor on a power trip and they lacked creative vision for this town.
When she arrived, I’d go down in the ATV and get her. I was dying to find out how the meeting had gone. For hours, I’d been feeding logs into the evaporator and staring at my phone like a lovesick idiot.
The sugar shack was warm and steamy as the evaporator hissed and roared and the fire crackled beneath the stainless-steel, leaving me sweaty and sticky and probably smelling like sugar.
An engine hummed outside, and as it got louder, I threw the door open. A blast of cold air hit me as I squinted in the beam of a pair of headlights.
The truck turned slightly, and then Sabrina hopped out in her full business attire.
Fuck me. My body heated again, and not because of the fire.
She was decked out in a tight black pencil skirt, blazer, and heels, with her dark hair loose around her shoulders and blood red lips.
I swayed at just the sight of her. She was a sexy goddess, and she was here on my family farm.
My brain short-circuited as she approached and gave my cousin a wave.
“Josh gave me a ride,” she said as she approached. “Holy tank top.” Eyes dancing, she squeezed my bare arm. “Why are you barely dressed?”
“That bad, eh?” A low chuckle rumbled up my chest.
She rolled her eyes. “You look like a hot farmer calendar model. I wish I had a ring light. Harper would want this on Instagram.”
I stepped aside and dipped my chin toward the open door. “Come inside before you freeze to death.”
Expression softening, she stepped past me. Inside, the warmth was like a thick blanket, wrapping itself around us. The windows were steamy and the air was sweet.
“This is incredible.” She walked around the small space, inspecting the evaporator, the dense cloud of steam that billowed up through the vent in the roof, and the amber liquid bubbling. “It looks like lava.”
“Yes. Sweet, delicious lava.”
She turned over her shoulder and smiled.
I loved her smiles. They were like rare jewels. Sabrina had hundreds of facial expressions, but this one smile beat them all. Unguarded, genuine, and a little cheeky. I walked to the tripod we’d set up and stopped the camera.
“Are you going to tell me?” I asked as she peeled off her blazer and threw her bag onto the old couch.
“Approved.”
I stared at her for a second, unsure that I’d heard correctly.
But the relief on her face made it clear. She’d done it.
“Yes.” I scooped her up and spun her around. Then set her on her feet and kissed her.
“We’re on the ballot?”
“On the ballot,” she confirmed.
I kissed her again, long and hard, and in return, she draped her hands around my neck, urging me closer.
When I pulled back, we were both glassy-eyed and a little breathless.
“How did you do it?”
She flipped her hair and tilted her face up. “The way I always do. I appealed to his core values.”
I crossed my arms. “Which are?”
“Spite and the risk of public humiliation.”
A huff of a laugh escaped me. “How?”
“Told him that if he blocked it, it might get out that Bitsy was the reason Birch Hollow stole the festival. And reminded him of the potential for the Bramble name to become synonymous with killing local tourism and economic collapse.”
“You threatened them?”
She patted my chest. “No, sweetie. I educated them. About consequences.”
“That is so fucking hot.” I ghosted my hands over her curves, the urge to touch her too strong to ignore. Maybe it was the heat or the sugar, but I was quickly coming undone.
“You are amazing,” I murmured against her neck.
“Says the man working through the night to raise money for charity.”
“I’m a man of many talents.” I kissed the spot just below her ear and squeezed her ass hard.
She made a breathy sound. “You’re sweaty.”
“You seem into it.”
“It’s taking all my self-control not to climb you like a tree right now,” she whispered.
“Gorgeous, we’re all alone out here. You can do whatever you want to me. And”—I pulled her against me so she could feel how hard I was—“you can be as loud as you want.”
“You spoil me, Harding,” she said as she worked the button of my jeans free.
She palmed my cock, and I squeezed my eyes shut, hissing.
Just being close to her drove me wild. Her scent, the heat of her body, and that voice.
The way she slung insults at me, the way she cried out my name when I made her come.
Every little detail pushed me closer to the edge.
So close I had to concentrate on not coming before I’d even shucked my pants.
Lost in my thoughts, I failed to notice when she stepped back and sat primly on the old plaid couch. She clutched my hips, pulling me toward her, then looked up at me with mischief in her eyes and licked her lips.
I almost stumbled as she moved in close, my legs suddenly incapable of keeping me upright. She was teasing me, her breaths gusting over my crown, her fingertips lightly brushing my shaft.
Fuck. I was right back to being dangerously close to losing it. I squeezed my eyes closed, the sight of her like this too much for me to handle.
In true Sabrina fashion, she was totally in control. Unbothered and careful, she swirled her tongue around the tip, and I swore a stream of gibberish.
“Shh,” she said. “I need to concentrate.”
As she lowered her head again and took me to the back of her throat, I thanked the universe for this moment, which would be seared in my brain forever.
The air was hot and thick as she worked me over, her eyes darting up to meet mine.
The heat in her gaze spoke volumes. She wanted this as much as I did. And that realization alone almost did me in.
“Easy,” I commanded, stroking her face. “I want this to last.”
She released me with a dramatic pop. “You said we had all night.”
Her pout was so sexy I couldn’t stand it.
“Stand up,” I commanded, summoning all the authority I could, even while my knees wobbled.
She glared at me for a moment, but rather than argue, she slowly got to her feet.
“Shirt,” I said, crossing my arms. “Off.”
“But—”
“You got to play,” I said firmly. “Now it’s my turn.”
With a roll of her eyes, she undid the buttons on her fancy blouse slowly. Then she draped it gently over the back of the couch.
When she straightened, I took a moment to admire the glow of her skin under the light of the fire.
“Bra too,” I said with a smirk.
Again, her movements were slow, driving my need for her higher. My cock got even harder, if that was even possible.
I stepped out of my pants and tore off my tank top, unwilling to take my focus off her for more than a second.
Fuck, was she a vision. She stood proudly in nothing but her skirt and heels.
“Play with your tits,” I commanded.
Her teeth sank into her bottom lip as she drew her hands up her stomach, fingertips trailing over her skin.
I itched to touch her, but I kept my fists balled at my sides.
She cupped her swollen breasts, pinching her nipples, and my eyes glazed over.
Okay, I couldn’t wait any longer.
“You wet?” I asked.
“Soaked.”
“Good.” Growling, I grabbed her and spun her around to face the couch. I kicked her heeled feet wide and pushed her forward with a hand on her back. When she was bent over so that she was holding on to the back of the couch, I dropped to my knees and pushed that tight skirt up her thighs.
Just as I suspected. Garters. Fuck me.
Sitting back on my haunches, I brought my fist to my mouth and bit down.
This may have been the most erotic scene I’d ever witnessed. Sabrina, bent over the couch in the sugar shack, her skirt pushed up around her waist, garters, stockings and sky-high heels, was a fantasy I didn’t know I had until now.
“There’s one problem.” I dragged one finger along her black lace panties. The only barrier standing between me and what I needed.
“Take care of it,” she said, tossing her ponytail over her shoulder.
The tiny strip of fabric between her thighs was soaked, her heat radiating through it.
With a quick pull, I tore them off, the sound echoing through the sugar shack. Then I stood.
“Fuck,” she moaned, “that was hot,” she said, wiggling her ass in the air.
“I’m just getting started.” Stroking her ass cheeks, I lined myself up.
I surged into her, my hands finding her hips and my eyes rolled into the back of my head. With each snap of my hips, I sank deeper, working myself inside her, savoring every moan.
“Yes, yes, yes,” she cried, pushing back against me with each thrust. “Right there.”
I didn’t need encouragement to give my girl what she needed, though the desire dripping from her words turned me on. I kept it steady, reading her body’s cues, and was soon rewarded with the delicious clench of her pussy.
“That’s it,” I said, wrapping her ponytail around my fist. “Take what you need.”
She arched her back and shattered, gripping me so hard I saw stars. Despite how fervently I tried to hold on, tried to keep going, I quickly followed her over the cliff, letting loose and thrusting with abandon until I was completely spent.
We collapsed on the couch, and I pulled her to me.
“Fuck, I’m hot,” she said, swiping at the damp hair clinging to her sweaty face.
Heaving myself to one side, I dug into the cooler I’d stashed next to the couch, then handed her an ice-cold bottle of water.
“My hero,” she said, twisting the cap. She drank greedily, a droplet of cold water dripping down her chin and onto her naked chest.
I procured a second bottle, and we sat and drank, staring at the evaporator. Now that my head was clearing, all the thoughts that had been plaguing me earlier returned. Maple syrup, the town, the recall, the baby. And most of all, her.
Sabrina was something to me. Not just a colleague. Not just the mother of my child.
She was my person.
She put her head on my shoulder, and I exhaled, wishing I could bottle up this moment and keep it forever.
“Gabe?”
“Yeah,” I said, lazily sipping my water.
“Did you pack snacks?”
I smiled against her crown. “Of course I did.”
She tilted her head back and beamed at me. “Between the tank top and the snacks, I might just have to fuck you again.”
“We’ve got all night.”