Chapter 30 #2
When everyone had filled their plates, I picked up my glass of tea and stood.
“I’m not one for speeches, but I’m grateful for all of you being here through Granddad’s passing.
For keeping the estate running through all the changes.
” I looked down at Catherine. “But I’m most thankful for you.
And I’m so proud of everything that you’ve accomplished, for yourself and for the community. ”
Catherine reached up and squeezed my hand, then raised her glass. “Cheers.”
Since Lewis was in attendance, the conversation was slightly more mellow, but still lively. Zach even piped up and gave his two cents once in a while.
Everyone pitched in to clean up. Well, everyone except Lewis. When the dishes had been washed to Hallie’s exacting standards, everyone dispersed.
Zach disappeared into his room. Levi and Savannah headed into town for drinks at Pony Up. Hallie and Mason seemingly disappeared into thin air. Before Catherine could slip away, I grabbed her hand and pulled her out the kitchen door.
She laughed as we ran around the house, toward the stables. “What are you doing?”
Thunder cracked overhead as billowing clouds rolled over the mountain ridge, cloaking the valley in darkness.
“One more surprise,” I panted as heavy raindrops the size of pebbles began to pelt us.
Catherine laughed as we bolted through the downpour.
Humidity soaked the straw-laden air as we made it into the stables, sharing sheepish smiles as we wiped the rain from our faces.
I wrapped my hand around Catherine’s. She didn’t hesitate to slide her fingers between mine as I led her up the stairs to the loft.
The lights I had strung across the pitched roof glowed as the evening turned to starry twilight.
Catherine paused and looked around, taking it all in. I had hefted armfuls of clean blankets and pillows up to the loft, then rearranged the hay bales to make a nest of sorts.
“Are we camping?” she asked.
“Nah. Not all night. I just wanted to get out of the house with you.”
“You have a whole valley, and yet you chose the loft?”
I took her hand and led her over to the hay bale bed that had been lined with layers of blankets and surrounded by pillows. “I like being up here with you.”
Catherine paused and caught my eye. “I like everywhere with you.”
I toed off my boots while she did the same before climbing onto the blankets. “Hayes,” she said as she stretched out on her back and stared up at the glowing lights.
I lay beside her. “Yeah, sweetheart?”
“When is this going to stop feeling real?” There was a heaviness in her tone as she opened up to me. “It shouldn’t feel like this.”
I rolled to my side, then braced my body above hers. “I don’t think it’ll ever stop feeling real. Not for me anyway.”
Catherine tilted her chin up and brushed her lips against mine. “Can we pretend it’s real tonight?” There was hesitance to the request. Like she was scared I’d say no.
But I’d never say no to Catherine.
I never had been able to.
I wanted nothing more than to stop pretending, not because I didn’t want her, but because I did.
I stroked her cheek with the back of my knuckles as she eased closer.
The delicate way her eyelids fluttered closed took my breath away.
There was an immeasurable level of trust between us.
It was inherent and undeniable. I kissed Catherine, sliding my tongue along hers as our bodies pressed together, chest to chest. She reached between us, unfastening the buttons of my dress shirt before untucking it from my jeans.
Lithe fingers slid beneath my belt and boxers, wrapping around my cock.
“Cath—” I could barely get her name off my tongue. I had missed her touch. I had missed the inseparable connection of being entwined with her.
“You’re falling behind, cowboy,” she whispered before latching onto my throat.
Thunder rattled the stables, making the lights flicker, but Catherine’s hands never stopped moving.
I pulled her shirt over her head. Her bra was quick to follow.
Catherine pushed my shirt off my shoulders and down my arms, then tugged my undershirt over my head.
I kicked off my jeans then took care of her shorts and underwear, tossing them aside.
A torrent of rain let loose over the valley, rattling the roof like a drumroll.
“Open your legs for me, beautiful,” I whispered as lightning cracked outside like a lasso. “Let me show you how proud I am of you.”
Catherine’s eyes closed, hiding those soft blues as I gently pushed her thighs apart.
She was indescribably beautiful. Nothing compared to her. Not the mountains. Not the skies. Not the valley and every flower in it.
“Hayes,” she whimpered as I smoothed my hands up and down the insides of her thighs.
“Not yet,” I rasped as I brushed the pad of my thumb over each delicate crease and fold of her sex.
I didn’t know how much longer we would need to pretend.
The estate was mine, but I wasn’t champing at the bit to put an end to this.
I didn’t want to think about what it would be like to sign those papers and watch her walk away.
Catherine gasped and arched her back as I bowed between her legs and pleasured her glistening pussy with sloppy, open-mouthed kisses.
Pretty toes painted sky blue curled in the blankets as she panted.
I replaced my mouth with my fingers, tracing and teasing her cunt as I kissed up her stomach, then across her breasts, and buried my face in the crook of her neck, raining kisses along her throat.
Her pulse raced against my tongue as I traced each line and tendon.
I kissed her ear, then behind it. I kissed along her jaw, listening to her sweet whimpers as I bathed her in adoration and slowly teased and stretched her pussy with two fingers.
I nipped at her earlobe, then whispered, “I’m making love to you tonight. You need to know that.”
Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes as she nodded. “Please.”
I rested my forehead on hers as I massaged her clit. Her legs snaked around my hips, dragging me closer. I ached for her. I craved her. She was every spring breeze that brought new life. Every summer sun that warmed and sustained. She was the reprieve of fall and the magic of winter.
Catherine Wilder was everything.
I reached between us, teasing her clit as I slid inside her and rested there. “You alright?”
“I want it, Hayes,” she choked out as she nodded.
“Want what, darling?”
Catherine wrapped herself around me and tucked her head in the crook of my neck. “You. Us.”
We moved as one. Pushing. Pulling. Giving and taking. Each roll of her hips was for my pleasure, and each carefully timed thrust was for hers. Heavy breaths and pants of ecstasy were kept sacred by the rain.
I had once told Catherine that I found her in the rain. That she took something painful and made it cleansing. I was more sure of it today than I had been when I first said it.
I wanted to drown in her.
“Hayes,” she whimpered. “I—”
“You can fall apart,” I promised. “I’ve got you.”
Her breath caught and her grip tightened as she held on to my arm and shoulder for dear life.
The cry that escaped her lips as she unraveled tore at my insides. I groaned as her pussy contracted, squeezing my cock as she stole every bit of pleasure there was to have. I came with one more thrust, emptying into her as she breathed through each wave of her own orgasm.
I rolled to my back, staying buried inside her as I pulled her onto my chest. Catherine clung to me. Delicate breaths danced across my chest. I memorized the rhythm of her heartbeat. The way she lay on top of me. The way it felt to fall.