32
“I ’m going to yell,” I warn Ruby when my brothers clear out of the barn.
She gasps playfully and backs up. “You promised.” Her eyes are glittery, like she knows what’s coming. Adorable, but I’m not swayed.
My gaze darkens. “Cashing in on that promise right now won’t help you, darlin’.”
“I won’t apologize for helping you,” she says, stubbornly jutting her chin.
I advance, pushing her into one of the stalls. “You never should have tried to talk to him by yourself. You should have fucking waited for me.” I cage her against the wall, pin her in, when all I want to do is get her body in my arms and protect her with everything I have.
Keep her safe from the entire world.
She pokes me in the chest. “You don’t scare me, Cowboy.”
“You do.” I take her hand and kiss the pulse in her palm. Its rapid beat has me on my knees. “ You scared me, Ruby. What if you were hurt? What if—”
I can’t even get my sentence out.
Goddamn this woman.
Beautiful, tiny chaos. That’s what she’s been ever since she set foot on the ranch. I’ve faced down bulls, broken bones, roped wild horses, and the only thing that terrifies the fuck out of me is this this five-foot-three fairy-tale slip of a girl.
I grip her waist. “No more detective, Ruby.”
“I just wanted to help.”
“Help? You almost helped me have a goddamn heart attack.”
She pales.
“You end me, you know that?” I whisper, my hands sliding up to cradle her face.
Her stunning blue eyes flutter shut. “Forgive me, Cowboy.”
“Baby, you could be a serial killer and I’d forgive you.” I pull back and give her the fiercest glare I can manage. “Never do that again.”
“I’m sorry, Charlie. I’m sorry.” Lifting on tiptoes, she kisses the corner of my jaw. Small soft warm kisses that have my cock begging to be inside her. “I’m so sorry.”
Fearless, that’s what this girl is.
My chest tightens.A ragged breath shakes out of me. Stepping closer, I flatten her against the wall. Electricity crackles in the air between us. “You have no idea what you do to me.”
Lust darkens her expression. “Show me, Charlie.”
Her words are like the stinging slap of a rein, making me move.
I haul her to my chest and kiss her until we’re both without breath.
Ruby moans and threadsher hands through my hair.
The delicate whimper she lets out turns my cock to a rod of steel.
Starving for more, I kiss the pulse in her throat and drag my tongue down the column of her neck.
Every ounce of control deserts me. I’m obsessed with this woman. She’s ruined me today. Single-handedly taken years off my life.
Adrenaline, worry, fear, has me tearing at her skirt. She gasps when I shove it roughly above the V of her thighs. I whirl her around and flip the hem of her sundress up around her waist, exposing her bare ass. The ripest peach I want to sink my teeth into.
I drop to my knees and gently bite the smooth flesh of her ass, branding her.
Mine.
She squeaks and then mewls breathlessly, “Oh, I like that. I like that, Charlie.” Ruby glances over her shoulder at me, eyes heavy-lidded.
“On my knees for you, baby,” I drawl. “You like that ? ‘Cause that’s how you’re always gonna have me.”
She nods, her face glowing.
I slap her ass, not hard enough to hurt, but hard enough to make that gorgeous fucking mouth moan my name. And then I surge to my feet, yanking her back against my chest.
My mouth nips at her shoulder blade as I reach around and drop my hand, groaning when I find her swollen and soaked. My fingers slip inside her. She shudders. Tightening my grip, I pull her close, working her into a fever.
“You’re so beautiful,” I say with reverence, watching her face as I stroke my fingers over her clit. “So fucking perfect.”
She whimpers and rests her cheek against the wall. Her red mouth pops in a pretty pout, her eyes rolling back in her head when I rotate my thumb.
“You keep this sweet pussy on lockdown, you hear me?” I rasp in her ear. “Me, and only me, baby. I’m the one who tastes it. Eats it. Fucks it.”
“Yes, Charlie,” she says on a broken sob. Her hips buckle as she comes, slapping the thighs of my jeans. “Yes. Yes .”
I want all of her. I can’t get enough of her. I have to be inside of her.
It’s cruel taking my hand away from all that sweetness, but I do. I’m already unbuckling my jeans.
Fabric falls, bunches around my hips, and cold metal presses against warm flesh as sweat drips down my chest. My hands travel up her thighs, leaving trails of wetness.
Every inch of her velvet skin, I drink in.
I smooth a palm over her spine and she arcs into my touch.
With a growl, I pull her back flush to my front.
And then Ruby’s opening her damp thighs for me, and I slip my throbbing cock inside of her.
We’re in sync so goddamn good as her tight walls clench around me and I give a hard thrust.
A little mewl spills from her lips.
Her back arches, a slow, delicate movement that has me groaning at the ceiling. Ruby’s head falls back on my chest, giving me a million-dollar view of her gorgeous tits. Eyes closed, her slender arms reach for me, twining around my neck.
“Slow, baby,” I grind out against her ear. My heart feels like it’s going to split open. “Slow and steady for you.”
Her breasts rise and fall. The neckline of her dress has slipped down, and two pink nipples peek out, nearly destroying me.
“Charlie,” she begs, her voice sweet, tremulous. “ Ahhh, Charlie !”
“Quiet, baby,” I say, remembering we’re in a barn where anyone could walk in on us. I glance around, hating the thought of someone barging in and seeing Ruby naked. Gently, I grip her neck and run my hand up her throat. Her pulse hammers in my fingertips. “Quiet, Sunflower.”
She pants. Her breath warm against my palm, her body undulates with mine, her perfect ass making rhythmic circles against my groin as I drive into her over and over again.
Slow. Steady.
She’s so wet. So tight.
I slide my thumb into her mouth and nearly come when she bites me sharp and hard with her teeth. She smiles, savoring the contact.
Fuck.
Heart pounding wildly, I pull her tighter against me, crushing her in my arms, and thrust.
“Look me in the eye when you come, baby. You hear me? I want your eyes on me. I want you to see how fucking bad you own me.”
“Yes,” she gasps, her slender body twisting against me, sweat pebbling in the channel between her breasts. Her eyes are locked on mine, that wild halo of hair swirling around us. “Yes, Cowboy.”
This isn’t sex. Not anymore.
My world is all Ruby.
Her sunshine smile, her sweet heat coming from her core, her gorgeous face.
With a ragged growl, I grip her hips and thrust.
Hard.
Deep.
The deepest I’ve ever been.
This time I can’t stop Ruby’s scream. Her high-pitched cry echoes in the barn and I lose it.
A shiver rolls down my spine at the same time a growl wrenches from my lips, and I spill into her.
Her orgasm follows, her pussy squeezing around me as I still pump away.
The frantic urge to never stop with this woman, to never let go, is all-consuming.
“You listen to me, you hear? You fuckin’ behave yourself. I can’t have you hurt. I need you here.” I rasp the words into the curve of her dewy throat, kissing her and pleading with her all at once.
Ruby shudders against me, still trembling from the force of her orgasm. I anchor her small body to mine, keeping us joined. Her arms slide down, her hands running through my beard, before she goes limp against me and I sweep her up in my arms.
Heaven.
If I never come back down, I’ll be a happy man.
End of fucking story.
Ruby sighs as I gather her against my chest. We lie in the fresh bed of hay, a blanket spread beneath us so she doesn’t get scratched up.
I rake my gaze over her body. Gorgeous. Glowing.
Her halo of rose-gold hair fanned around us.
The inside of her thighs wet and sticky.
The impression of my belt buckle’s branded on the outside of her hip.
Branded .
A proud growl rumbles in my chest and rips out of me. Mine.
She’s mine.
“So, how many girls have you had in the stables?” she asks with a melodic teasing lilt to her voice.
“None,” I tell her roughly.
Back in the day, it had been a teenage Charlie’s wet dream, but the only woman I’ve ever had in the stables is Ruby.
And I don’t want anyone else.
She smiles and snuggles deeper into my chest like she can’t bear to have any space between us. Hell, the feeling’s mutual. As I glance down at her pretty profile, worry wraps around my throat like a noose.
I’m very fucking aware that the stubborn girl in my arms put herself in danger today. All to help us out. To protect the ranch. Hell, half of Resurrection will know who to look out for now, thanks to her.
I’m still pissed off about it. That kid was right under my nose the entire time. I never thought to dig into the woman who posted the video, just figured she was an angry, vengeful Karen. But Ruby, my girl, knew better.
Now, a fuse is lit. It’s not war anymore, it’s Armageddon. This ranch business is getting dangerous, and Ruby’s mixed up in the middle of it. It fills me with a helplessness that makes me feel like I’m drowning.
Nothing will happen to her. I’ll walk through the fires of hell before I let anyone hurt her.
“What scares you, Charlie?” Ruby’s soft voice sweeps me from my dark thoughts.
I hug her hard. “Why do you ask?”
She curls her fingers in my chest hair, and clear blue eyes slide my way. “Because you’re so strong and grumpy and serious, sometimes I can’t tell.”
Today. Today and every day you’ve been at this ranch they scare me.
“Losing people I love.” I stroke a hand over her silky rose-gold tresses. “You?”
“Mine is not living.” She yawns, her voice sleepy. “But I feel like I’ve lived a thousand lifetimes here at this ranch.” Pushing up on her elbow, she stares at me with dazed bedroom eyes. “That’s why I went to Colton today. For you. I promised you I’d help you.”
“It was too much of a risk,” I say gruffly.
If Colton had hurt her, there’s not enough bail money in the world that would get me out of jail.
“I don’t mind taking risks.” She smiles brightly and another jagged piece of my heart resets. “The most risk I’ve ever taken is this summer here with you.”
Her sweet innocence unravels me. I sit up beside her and press my hand to her breast, her heartbeat imprinting on my palm. “I’ve never met anyone like you,” I tell her. “So full of life and light. You carry an entire heart in your soul, Ruby.”
At my words, her eyes widen.
“You like my heartbeat?” she asks, a hopeful note in her tone.
Slipping her hand into mine, I bring her wrist to my mouth and kiss the pulse that beats there. It’s fast. Almost shaky. “I love this beautiful beat of yours. It’s the best damn thing I’ve ever heard.”
It’s like I’ve given her the moon.
Tears flood her beautiful baby blues. “Oh, Charlie,” she says breathlessly, her swollen red mouth tilting to accept mine.
I feel it then. The end of me. And I don’t fucking care.
I lose myself in her sweet sunshine kiss.
Then her arms loop around my neck, and I’m pulling her back down beside me, covering her with the blanket.
Minutes pass, and we lie here, our heartbeats coming back down to normal.
“I could die,” Ruby whispers fiercely, sounding strangely content. “I could die just like this.”
“Hey.” Frowning, I lean up to look at her. “Don’t say that.”
I feel like I’m about to be gutted.
The way she talks ...
I can’t stand it.
Before I can say anything, she stretches her arms up and out, exposing her bare breasts. I glance at the door, not wanting my brothers to come in and get an eyeful of the best view in the state of Montana.
“Why not? It’s true.” She nuzzles against me, kissing my throat and distracting me from my grim thoughts. “You’re wonderful, Charlie.”
Her sweetness, her vulnerability, has my jaw clenching. I tighten my arms around her, tucking her head under my chin.
The ache in my chest intensifies.
And I give in. Give into everything I’ve been denying this entire summer and face the fucking facts.
Ruby’s it.
Inevitable.
My everything.