Chapter Twenty-Five
GRAY
THE CELL line trills in my ear as I look out over the paddock outside the stables. The sun came out full-force this morning, and even though the temperature is still in the twenties, I can see a few patches of dirt from where the slush from yesterday is melting off.
“Feed store.” The deep voice on the other line practically barks. That would be Chuck, he owns the feed store closest to us, but he regards the phone as a necessary evil that’s always interrupting him.
“Hey Chuck, it’s Gray.”
“Oh, hey Gray, what can I do for you?”
“I was actually seeing if you would answer, and since you did, that means the roads were decent enough you made it into the store.”
“Oh yeah, man, the back roads are still shit, but the highway and most of the roads around town are clear.” A grunt and then what sounded like a sack of feed landing in the back of a truck comes over the line. “I can’t imagine any of the roads into your place are going to be driveable yet.”
“Do you know if they are sanding or plowing any of the back roads?” Cupping the back of my neck, part of me hopes they haven’t started yet. I know it’s only a matter of a day or more before the ice melts enough on the back roads to be driveable, but damn, I don’t want her to go.
He chuckles and I hear another grunt and a bag drop. “It’s the craziest thing, man, I’ve heard the news is talking about routes they’re sanding on TV, even though most people still don’t have electric to watch. They don’t make no sense.”
Chuck crossed into the twenty-first century kicking and screaming.
His favorite memories are locked into a time when people sat on their front porch with no distractions to watch the evening melt away as the sun goes down while listening to the cicadas and the crickets fight to see who could sing the loudest.
“Well, it’s something anyway. I’ll see what I can find on my phone.” Since Chuck hates phones, that includes cell phones and the ease of having the internet at one’s fingertips. He refuses to get one, he says if he wants to use the computer, he’ll use the one in his office.
“Well, hey, good luck, man. How are you doing on feed?”
“We prepared for a week or two of being stranded, so we’re good right now.”
“Alright, well, I guess I’ll see you in about a week, then.”
“Yep, thanks Chuck.”
“Yep.” The line goes dead, and I slide my phone back in my pocket.
After I left Elly last night, I tossed and turned for hours, thinking about the feelings I have for her. Every time I tell myself I haven’t known her long enough to have feelings for her, my chest squeezes when I think about her leaving.
The last time I felt this way about a woman was when I was dating my wife. Sure, I’ve had lady friends since then, but none I felt a connection like this with.
In hindsight, a few of them were just looking for companionship. There were a couple I thought might go somewhere, but they ended feeling like I was trying to force something that wasn’t there. I try not to compare women to my wife, but what I had with her was real, I don’t want less than real.
Elly was the first thing on my mind when I woke up this morning, and I ended up quietly tapping on her door before everyone else woke up. She opened the door and pulled me in so fast I almost lost my balance when she threw herself on me. I can still smell her on me, and it’s making me crazy.
That delicate smell of peaches mixed with her sex has been tickling my nose all day, and all I can think about is going back to the house and sinking into her. I curse myself for feeling like I’m in high school again with nothing but fucking on my mind.
“What’d Chuck say?” I’m so distracted I didn’t hear dad walk up behind me, I usually can hear him from a mile away.
I glance over my shoulder, but look back out to the paddock. “Said the highways and main roads are clear, but power is still down in town.”
“Hmm.” I don’t hear him moving away, so I turn around. He’s leaning against one of the stalls watching me.
“Looks like you might be driving her back to her hotel tomorrow or the day after.” He slides his hands in his coat pockets.
“Yep.” I walk back into the stall and lean over to pick up the hose that’s unraveled on the floor and start winding it back over its holder on the wall.
“That’ll be good, some of the tension in the house’ll be gone.” He’s testing me, I know it and he knows it, so I keep my back to him and grab the broom to push some hay across the floor to the side.
“Yep.” I turn and look at him. “Has anyone heard from Mason today?”
He pulls in a deep sigh, knowing he’s not going to bait me. “Sloane heard from him this morning, should be here any time.”
“That’s good.” I hate small talk, he knows I hate small talk. I turn away from him again to pick up a brush Lainey Rai left off its hook.
“Son.” His voice is firm, he wants me to stop what I’m doing and look at him.
Trying to be casual, I put the brush on its hook before I turn to him. “Yeah.”
“I don’t think she’s a bad person, but I do think she’s been put in a bad position.”
Not knowing what he wants me to say to that, I just stare at him. How am I supposed to respond? Good, because I can’t get her out of my fucking mind, and after last night and this morning, all I can think about is laying her down and fucking her until she can’t walk.
Or should I say, I don’t want her to go all the way to another state, so I want to mark her in every way possible so no one else will look at her.
Or even better, I want to make her come so many times that when she leaves, she can’t stop thinking about me.
Instead, I look at him until he takes a deep breath and nods. “Okay. I’m going to go check on Lainey Rai, I showed her how to clean out the fireplaces.”
My shoulders square and I raise my voice. “For fuck’s sake, dad, the fireplaces all have fires in them.”
He cocks his brow at me. “And? They still have to be cleaned. I showed you boys how to do it before you were ten.” He turns and walks out of the stable.
I close my eyes and pinch the bridge of my nose, trying to push away the headache that’s tapping on my temples.
Not long after dad walks back up to the house, I hear helicopter blades and figure Mason is home.
A glance out the double doors tells me I’m right, but I see Jax jumping to the ground, too, and wonder why he came back.
My mind goes back to the other morning when I saw him with Marley in the family room.
I’m starting to think it’s not a coincidence he’s here.
It’s rubbing me the wrong way because I think he’s making a play for my sister.
The sister who’s been hurt so bad she won’t even consider a life away from the ranch or her family.
The sister who spends hours after going into town recovering from the anxiety she tries to hide from everyone.
I know Mason trusts him with his life, but I also know they used to fuck their way through a weekend before Mason met Sloane. Just the hint of a thought he might think of my sisters that way makes the bear in me want to put him down.
But Marley hasn’t hinted that she’s uncomfortable.
On the contrary, when I saw her let him touch her, I was shocked.
Marley doesn’t care about niceties when her gut tells her to be careful, she unashamedly admits it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Something about him must feel safe to her.
The battle in my head is if I should say anything or let Marley come to me.
Giving Mason some time to get settled, I walk to the house to find Elly.
While walking across the yard, I hear water dripping off leaves in the trees, it won’t be long, things are melting.
The small retaining wall of rocks my grandmother had built for her flowerbeds are wet from the melting ice and my gut twists as I think about driving Elly back to her hotel.
Walking through the house, I check each room downstairs, but no Elly, so I go upstairs and knock on Breanna’s door. When I don’t get an answer, I peek into an empty room but hear movement in the bathroom. The door is open so I walk over, not expecting to see a dripping wet Elly wrapped in a towel.
“Hell’s bells, Gray!” She slaps her hand over her chest in surprise.
There is a faraway voice in my head telling me I should apologize and walk right out of the room, but I’m anchored to the floor by the sight in front of me.
Her golden skin is glowing under the water droplets rolling down her shoulders and chest, and even though she is short, she somehow manages to look like she has legs for days under the towel that just covers her ass.
My eyes travel over every inch of her body before I meet her eyes again. My dick is going to have a permanent indention of my zipper if I stand here any longer. But I can’t get my feet to move away, instead, I take a step toward her like I’m caught in a riptide.
A mischievous look crosses her face and her lips tip up on one side. “Don’t people knock in Oklahoma?”
Taking another step into the bathroom, I push the door closed behind me. She turns to face me and leans against the sink behind her. Lifting a brow, I give her a heated smile. “Oh, I knocked.”
She has one hand on the sink edge behind her, and one holding the towel that is tucked together over her breast. Her usually wavy hair is hanging in wet strands to her shoulders and dripping onto her skin.
As I step toward her, her head tips back, those beautiful amber eyes full of desire, and her pink tongue slides across her bottom lip.
Her other hand grips the sink behind her when I’m just a step away from her, her beautiful slim neck bared to me as she looks up at me. Hooking my finger in her towel, I pull the edge and it falls away from her body. Her perfect, petite, curvy body.
Swiping my finger over her hard nipple, I meet her eyes again when her lips part to suck in a small breath of air. “Beautiful.”
Dropping to my knees, I suck her nipple between my lips, and another gasp escapes her throat. “Gray.”
My hands tighten around her ribs and goosebumps erupt all over her skin when I drag my chin across her chest to capture her other nipple. When I nip the little bud between my teeth, her fingers go to my hair and she squeezes just enough to make me even harder.
Trailing kisses down her belly, I lift my gaze to meet her hooded eyes as she watches me. Nipping the skin across her belly and then kissing the sting away, I slide my hand down the outside of her thigh and kiss the inside from her knee as I pick up to rest her leg on my shoulder.
With each kiss, her body twitches and her hand covers her mouth. Smiling, I look up at her. “Ticklish?”
Nodding, her fingers are still covering her lips. “Mmm-Hmm.”
Feeling ornery, I suck in a bite of skin at the top of her thigh, pulling the blood to the top, marking her. Everything in me is pushing me to mark her. As mine.
A small moan leaves her lips and her head falls back. Needing her eyes back on me, I lick her slit from the bottom to the top, letting my tongue slowly drag across her clit getting the result I wanted, her head drops to look at me as she fists my hair tighter.
“Eyes on me,” I growl.
Through pants, she nods, and her heel presses into my back making me smile. “What do you need?”
Those beautiful brown eyes are locked on mine and without missing a beat she says, “I need your mouth on me, I want your tongue to make me come.”
Fucking hell.
I didn’t think my cock could get any harder, but I am now painfully hard. With a smile, I suck her clit between my lips.
“Oh, god, Gray.” Her body folds and I slide my hand up her front to wrap around her neck, pushing her up so I can get to her perfect pussy.
“So fucking wet and ready for me.” I whisper against her folds and slide my fingers into her.
The feel of her chest rising against my arm with each pant is making my cock feel like it’s about to break through my jeans.
Curling my fingers inside of her, I suck her clit into my mouth again, hard.
Her cunt starts to spasm around my fingers, she rolls her lips between her teeth and a small moan vibrates in her throat.
I wait until the last pulse squeezes my fingers before I grab my wallet out of my pocket and pull out the condom. Her chest is heaving as she watches me rip the package open with my teeth and her fingers go to my belt, nimbly pulling it open before she opens my jeans and pushes them down my hips.
When her fingers wrap around my hard shaft, I swear I nearly come, so I take a few deep breaths while I’m rolling the condom on. Thinking of how many bags of feed I have in the stable so I can tally how many I need to buy next week.
Grabbing her hips, I lift her to the edge of the sink, my tip right at her edge.
I meet her eyes as her legs circle me and I slowly slide into her, the heat kissing each inch as I sink in.
Planting her palms on each side of my head, she says, “You feel so good,” right before she pulls my lips to hers.
We get a rhythm, she rolls her hips each time I sink into her, her clit rubbing, her hot wetness coating me. Her tongue is fighting for dominance and I can feel her walls starting to squeeze my cock. Breaking the kiss, I lean away from her, my hands grasping her hips as I thrust into her harder.
As I’m about to press my thumb on her clit, she surprises me as she leans back and her fingers slide down her belly to rub little circles over the hood and the little bud peeking out from under it.
Grinding my teeth together to keep from coming right then, I wait until I feel the squeeze practically strangling my cock.
The pulsing pushes me over the edge and I fill the condom.