Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
REECE
T oday should have been terrible. I was wearing someone else’s clothes because all of mine had been destroyed by some weirdo who went on a slashing spree in my home. The sheriff needed to talk to me, and I didn’t even get to have a slice of my pie.
Yet, here I was sitting on top of the sweetest horse, unable to contain my smile because the man in front truly couldn’t see exactly how incredible he was.
Booker sat on his horse, reins in one hand, looking like he was ready to conquer the West. The ends of his dirty-blond hair licked out from beneath his cowboy hat and cast a seductive shadow across his steely eyes. I was transfixed by his denim-clad thighs and the taut muscles on his forearms where he’d rolled up the sleeves of his red flannel shirt.
If Booker didn’t realize he was putting on a show for me right now, then I wouldn’t be the one to tell him. I could bask in this secret obsession every day for the rest of my life as my own private fantasy.
And that was when I realized it.
I was happy. Deliriously happy.
And the fact that I didn’t think I’d ever felt this way in my life didn’t make me sad, because it felt so right now. It felt like all these years I’d been waiting for Booker to find me on the side of the road.
I’d disappeared in my old life. Faded into the background and been hidden away like a possession that was coveted and hoarded. But Booker saw me. He let me stand in the light and shine any way I wanted. He didn’t try to steal that light just for himself. He stood in the glow and let me illuminate all the dark parts of him that he didn’t want anyone else to see. Even if it did seem like it was getting harder and harder for him to hide them away now.
I hadn’t even realized we’d come to a stop until Booker was standing at my side, taking the reins, and then reaching out to help me down. The way he let my body slide down his front set me on fire. My fingers trailed along his jawline, and he gave me that smile I could have basked in for days.
“Close your eyes,” he whispered, and I did without any hesitation. “It’s just a few steps this way.”
Booker gently tugged the brim of my hat down over my eyes, and his hands came to my shoulders as he steered me around the horses.
At least the hat and boots that Booker had bought me were saved from the stranger’s rampage because I’d had them on at the time. I’d have been devastated to have lost them. Part of me felt like I should have been more devastated about the loss of my other clothes, but there was a tiny voice in the back of my head telling me they were the last parts of my old life and maybe it felt right to finally let it go.
My wallet, on the other hand, wasn’t as optimistic. And now that I was in a relationship with Booker, I didn’t know how I felt about taking his money.
Booker drew me to a stop, and I felt his body press against my back as he turned me slightly to face whatever he wanted to show me. I leaned back into his comforting presence as he pulled the hat from my head.
I blinked. The bright light of the sun blurred my vision with tears. Then, as I focused on the scene before me, I gasped.
“Booker! This is beautiful!”
We’d somehow made our way up a hill that placed us above the ranch. The trail had ended at a small clearing on the crest of the hill, which the trees didn’t quite cover. Before us, you could see the ranch and the surrounding pastures, Booker’s house, and the little cottage that would forever hold a place in my heart. Beyond that, the town of Willowbrook covered the gentle dips and hills, surrounded by farmland and patches of trees.
“Which is Delaney’s farm?” I asked, tipping my head back to look at the man behind me.
Booker pointed out Delaney’s house, which you could just see peeking out from behind a hill. The ever-expanding rows of what I now knew were apple trees should have given it away. There was even a cute little pond sitting behind it that looked like heaven.
Then my gaze found the imposing modern mansion sitting on the other side of town, just beyond Delaney’s farm. It was obvious who it belonged to. It looked so cold and isolated, sitting there with its manicured gardens that didn’t match the rest of town.
Some people might dream of having a house like that but knowing what Booker had been through cast it in a whole different light for me. It was so impersonal and not a place I’d ever want my children to grow up in.
Booker moved back to the horses, and I watched as he opened up his saddlebags, pulling out a blanket and some containers of food. If there was anything sexier on this planet than a man pulling out a picnic, I challenged you to find it.
Because damn!
When he turned around, he must have seen the look on his face.
“What?” Booker asked cautiously as he shook out the blanket and laid it on the ground where we’d get the best view.
Booker reached for my hand and then pulled me down onto the blanket, opening a container and passing it to me.
“This is really impressive, Booker,” I said, staring down at the sandwich, chips, and a bottle of water that he’d tucked inside.
“It’s just lunch.” He shrugged.
I looked up in surprise. Did he really not know how special this was?
“That’s a shame,” I said, opening my chips and popping one in my mouth, crunching it slowly as he looked at me in confusion. “People usually get rewarded for doing something nice.”
As expected, that definitely had Booker’s attention.
His tongue darted out to swipe along his bottom lip as he carefully took off his hat and laid it on the blanket beside him. As he leaned back, stretching out that muscled frame before me, I swear I was ready to jump him.
Thankfully, there was absolutely no reason I shouldn’t.
The corner of Booker’s lips ticked up in a smile as I climbed into his lap, and his hands came to my waist as that smile turned into his sexy smirk.
“And just what kind of reward did you have in mind?” he asked.
“Well, there was a particular something I had in mind this morning before we were disturbed,” I whispered, leaning forward to kiss his lips. Pulling away a fraction, I added, “And just an FYI, Booker. When you send me into the shower, I expect you to follow me.”
Booker groaned and then his hands tangled in my hair as he pulled me back to his lips and deepened the kiss.
My hips rolled, and I felt Booker instantly grow hard beneath me.
There was something about Booker’s kiss that felt protective and possessive all in one. And I couldn’t get enough. It should scare me. Hell, it should probably terrify me. But I wanted him just as much as he wanted me, and when that need was mutual, there was nothing oppressive about it.
Booker suddenly wrapped his hands around my ass and raised up on his knees, taking me with him. I yipped in surprise before he smoothly laid me down on the blanket, holding himself above me as he brushed the hair away from my face.
“You’re so beautiful,” he murmured, his fingertips trailing across my jaw.
I felt the blush rise to my cheeks.
I knew I wasn’t unattractive, but I wasn’t used to hearing someone say it aloud. It made me immediately want to deny it, to tell him he was wrong. But the serious look on Booker’s face left no doubt in mind that he’d never agree with me.
“Will you come with me to the carnival?” he asked. “Like a date.”
He suddenly looked nervous. Did Booker not know how I felt about him? Or did he just not think that he deserved it?
“There’s nothing I’d like more,” I told him, hoping he could hear just how much I meant it. “I like you a whole hell of a lot, Booker. I hope you know that.”
Booker kissed me gently. His hand ran down my side as he seemed to map my curves, staring deep into my eyes as he did. I knew he was looking for something. Some kind of confirmation and it killed me he’d gotten this far in life without being able to take someone at their word for something so simple as how they felt about him.
It was one of the most vulnerable moments I’d ever seen him in, and I knew it wasn’t a side of him he’d show to many.
Whatever it was he was searching for, Booker must have found it, because he leaned down and devoured my lips with his kiss. His hand reached my knee, and he pulled my leg over his hip, grinding himself against my core and leaving me breathless and desperate for more.
“Just how private is this trail?” I asked when he pulled back for air.
“Do you really care?” The smirk was back on his lips, and I shrugged.
“I mean, I’d maybe have suggested you hang a sock on a tree branch or something. Give a hiker a warning about what they’re about to walk in on.”
Booker shook his head, and when he didn’t, in fact, get up to hang socks around the clearing, I had to admit I was slightly relieved.
Relieved enough that I wiggled free of Booker and quickly pulled off my top as proof.
He wasted no time in leaning forward and pressing kisses over the mounds of my breasts before slipping his fingers into the lace and tugging the cups down out of his way.
The way his teeth grazed teasingly over my nipple before he moved to the other side, repeating the action, had my head tipping back on a moan.
My fingers ran through Booker’s hair, and I pulled him closer, loving how his hands wrapped around my waist as if he wanted to hold me in place.
But then he was pulling away. I automatically reached out to try to pull him back until I realized Booker was heading south. I leaned up on my elbows and watched as he made his way down my body, that sexy smirk on his lips as he did.
Except he just kept going down…until he reached my feet and picked one up, pulling off my boot, then my sock, before he kissed the top of my foot and placed it back on the ground.
Then he picked up the other foot and repeated the process.
“Why is this so sexy?” I asked, watching in fascination as Booker stripped the boot from my foot.
“Maybe you’ve got an unexplored foot fetish?” He shrugged but grinned that sexy smirk at the same time.
Damn this man.
I tried to think of something smart to say, but I had nothing, and as soon as Booker’s gaze met mine we both laughed. It cemented those feelings that were creeping in firmly in the center of my mind.
Leaning forward, I gripped the hem of Booker’s shirt and pulled it over his head so I didn’t have to deal with the buttons. He tossed it to the ground beside him, and before he had time to do anything else, I struck.
And licked a long line up the center of his chest.
There was nothing sexy about it.
Booker looked wryly down at the damp trail on his skin and then at me, his eyebrow ticking up in question.
“Is this another weird fetish?”
“Nope, but it’s official now. I licked you, so you’re mine.”
He shook his head, unable to keep the smile from his lips. “You’re too damn cute.”
“It’s a burden, honestly, but someone has to carry it.” I shrugged nonchalantly, but it might have been ruined because I couldn’t take my eyes away from the man kneeling in front of me.
“The world doesn’t know how lucky it is to have you in it.”
Booker’s eyes almost twinkled as he spoke like he was laughing, but he looked so serious that it felt like this could be the beginning of a conversation I didn’t think either of us was ready for.
I shook the feeling off. It was probably in my head anyway, and I wanted nothing to ruin this perfect moment we were having. So rather than getting lost in a conversation, I kissed him instead.
And the moment my lips touched his, everything changed.
My hands moved to the waistband of his jeans as our lips moved together. I fumbled with the button, and Booker quickly helped me as we stripped the clothes from each other.
Then we paused. The chill of the air brushed across my skin, and I felt a rush of heat sweep over me.
It was different this time. The urgency we always had between us had bled away into something new. Something almost reverent as Booker cupped my face in his hands and lowered his lips to mine.
I could feel the heat coming off his skin as his body pressed against mine. It was impossible not to run my hands up his chest, letting my fingers trail across his skin as our lips moved together.
When I couldn’t take the fraction of distance between us any longer, I pressed Booker back onto the blanket, sliding one leg across his body as I straddled him. Our lips didn’t part for a second, and Booker’s hands tangled in my hair to keep me exactly where he needed me. In the one place I’d never be able to leave even if I wanted to.
His hard cock pressed against my already slick entrance, and I felt Booker lift his hips, pushing just the tip inside.
My mouth opened with a gasp, and his tongue slid into my mouth, twisting with my own. This kiss deepened to the point where I didn’t want it to end.
Booker’s hands trailed up my spine, and I felt his fingertips flex as he tried to hold himself back from pushing into my body like I knew he wanted.
I could feel the quiver of restraint in his muscles as I slowly pushed myself down, sheathing him inside me at a maddeningly slow pace.
Part of me wanted to rush. We both wanted it. We both needed that feeling of completeness that came from finally coming together in this way.
But there was something about the anticipation that made every fraction of an inch feel so much better than the last. That pinch of pain as my body stretched to accommodate his size and how Booker’s breathing picked up its pace as I slowly gave him the thing he craved most.
Me.
When my hips were finally pressed tight against his, Booker sat up, clasping my body in his arms as he pulled my knees around him. His hands trailed up my thighs, gently brushing up the sides of my body until I seemed to lean back without even meaning to, just to have the feel of his thumbs brush across my stiff nipples.
“Reece,” Booker whispered in awe, his gaze moving down the front of my body, which had been revealed to him.
There was an emotion hanging in the air between us that I was afraid to acknowledge. It was too soon. Saying those words now could burst this bubble we’d found ourselves in. I couldn’t ruin it. I wanted to stay in this one perfect moment forever.
I slowly rose on my knees, watching how it made Booker’s lips part as he hauled in a breath. His eyes roamed across my body before he slipped a hand between us, his thumb brushing against that bundle of nerves that made my body suddenly set on fire.
Even though a sense of urgency ran through my body, I set a slow pace. Luxuriating in the feel of Booker’s body beneath me. Watching the slow bunch and flow of his muscles as he worked my clit in time with my movements.
I leaned forward again, finding it impossible not to taste his lips once more.
“Booker?” I whimpered, as the feeling of pleasure started building higher inside my body.
It shouldn’t have been possible with the slow way we were moving. But as the muscles inside me clenched and fluttered, the orgasm that was building inside felt like it had the power to devastate me absolutely.
And I needed it more than anything else I’d ever needed before.
“I know, baby,” Booker murmured, his free hand coming to my hip as he helped to guide my movements. “I feel it too.”
I pressed my forehead to his, my motion slowly building as I breathed in every breath that flowed through his lips.
It was sensual, erotic, and my head felt light as the building pleasure clouded my mind.
Booker’s lips parted like he was about to say something, but the words never came. In its place was the crest of pleasure we were both chasing. I locked onto the look in his eyes as we both slipped into oblivion and came together.
He felt this unnamed emotion just as much as I did, and it wouldn’t be long before it changed everything.