Chapter 18 Jackson
JACKSON
The universe isn’t kind the next day. There must be a heat wave coming through, and the mid-day sun is brutal.
There are no clouds to offer temporary cover.
No breeze to take the edge off. I’ve already sweat through my shirt, and while the weather sucks, I don’t find myself counting the minutes to quittin’ time.
It’s this damn audiobook. The story is so addictive and these narrators have me questioning every time I judged a book for being boring. Maybe all this time I just needed someone to read to me. Maybe I just needed some heat. These aliens really know how to fuck.
I’m at an especially spicy chapter when I arrive back at the barn alongside the rest of the crew.
I dismount my horse and lead him to where Ryan is going over our next task.
There’s a beep in one of my ears. I frown, confused at the sound, when all of a sudden, the audio leaves my ears and blasts at full volume from where my phone is tucked into the front of my shirt pocket.
“Yeah baby, that’s it. Right there. Fuck me like the dirty little slut we both know you are,” the male narrator proclaims.
Ryan’s gaze whips to mine. “What the fuck are you listening to?”
I scramble for my phone as the scene gets even more explicit.
Thrusting my hips forward, I feed her every inch of my dick. Her pussy squeezes my cock, milking me until I can’t take it anymore. “Where do you want me to come? These perfect tits? Or inside you?”
“Jackson Wilder!” Ryan scolds.
“Oh, God!” One of the ranch hands laughs, holding his hands to cup his ears. “Turn it off!”
“I’m trying!!” Even after I tear off my work gloves, I can’t get the fucking screen to unlock. It’s this damn sun!
The audiobook narrator switches to a female voice, “I want you inside me. Give it to me. Come, baby. Give me every last drop. Give me—”
“Thank fuck,” I swear as I finally close the app. An awkward beat of silence stretches as I lift my gaze and make eye contact with my brother and the rest of the crew. Which is unfortunate enough, but of course today my nephew Zach and his buddy Nolan are helping out.
“Jackson?” The deep scowl in my brother’s frown is full of disappointment and maybe even concern. “A word.”
“Yep.” I hand off the reins to my horse and put my head down.
I don’t embarrass easily. It takes a lot to make me self-conscious.
But this does the trick. I’m not really sure there’s a way to explain my reason for listening to a smutty audiobook.
If I say I’m doing it for a woman, they won’t believe me.
If I claim it’s because I’ve become an avid romance reader—they’ll tease me until the day I die.
Either way, I’m fucked.
I brace myself for the relentless teasing and nicknames that are sure to follow.
Inside the barn, I pause a few feet from where my brother stops and paste on a look of casual indifference as he turns to meet my stare.
“What’s up?”
“I can’t even imagine.” Ryan blinks slowly, his eyes wide as they meet mine. “Why don’t you tell me?”
“Tell you what?”
“Let’s start with what the fuck are you doing?” He takes his hat off and runs a hand through his hair. “You’ve been acting different all week. You haven’t joined the guys in the bunkhouse for dinner once. Not to mention, Richie saw you drive off with a truck bed full of hay bales yesterday.”
Shit. “I brought them back.”
“You borrowed them? For what?” He stares with disbelief as he throws up his hands. “And I can’t fathom how watching porn on a cattle drive fits in!”
“It’s not porn.”
“It sounded like porn!” My brother raises his voice.
“Well, it’s not.” I shrug as if I don’t notice his patience is running thin. “It’s actually a book.”
“You’re listening to a book? That kind of book.” He squints. “Jesus. Are you okay?”
I’m insulted he’s so shocked at the idea of me reading. “What? I can’t enjoy a book on the job?”
“Jackson.” He heaves out a sigh and rubs his temple. “Stop answering me with questions.”
Because he asked me not to, I do just that. “Can I have tomorrow off?”
“Seriously! You’re asking for the day off?”
“No.” His irritation only softens for a moment. “I’m not so much asking. I’m telling you. I won’t be here tomorrow. Saturday too.”
“Damn it, Jackson!”
“At least I told you.”
“Yeah, well, next you’re gonna tell me you’re quitting.” He scowls. “Fuck, you aren’t quitting, are you?”
“Whoa.” I hold up my hands. “Where did that come from? Are you okay?”
“Am I okay?” His shoulders drop with defeat. “You’re not starting a competing ranch, are you? Or going to work for someone else? Because I’ve got enough problems with those Jones traitors across the river. I can’t take much more.”
“I’m not working against you.” I don’t know who gave him that idea. Sure, I’ve been a little distracted since Saturday. But Rosalie’s presence in my life hasn’t changed me that much, has it?
Ryan walks over to a hay bale and takes a seat. “So, what gives?”
I can’t tell him. Though I wish I could. If I explained the situation, we’d share a laugh and move on. But I promised Rosalie.
“I don’t think you want to know.”
“I probably don’t,” Ryan grumbles under his breath as I take a seat beside him. “And I’m probably gonna regret asking, but you didn’t join some sex cult, did you?”
“A sex cult!” My entire chest shakes as I laugh. What the fuck?
“That was Hank’s guess.”
I can’t help but grin. “Y’all are taking bets?”
“We each have our theories.”
“What’s the consensus?”
“Ellis suspects you have a gambling debt.”
I snort. “I’m not our father.”
“Dallas thinks you’re earning money for drugs.”
“Now I’m an addict?”
Ryan shakes his head. “Most everyone thinks you’re going behind my back. That you’re either robbing me blind or working for a competitor because Pops left the ranch to me and not you.”
“Jesus, Ryan. You really think that?”
“Nah.” My brother meets my gaze. “At least, I didn’t until everyone got in my head.”
“So, what’s your theory, then?” His is the only opinion I really care about.
His lips turn up at the corners. “A woman. Of course.”
I lift my brows. “You think I’ve gone and settled down?”
“You’ve done some crazy shit over the years, but nothing like this. I figured you went and fell in love.”
Love? Impossible.
“Yeah, well, I hate to break it to you, but I’m single as ever.”
It’s the truth, technically, but the proclamation doesn’t fill me with the same sense of pride as it used to. Sure, I’m still the same person. This thing with Rosalie hasn’t changed me. I’m not in love. I can’t be.
Then, how come the allure of sleeping with multiple partners doesn’t hold the appeal it did before she moved into my cabin?
Hell, sex that doesn’t include Rosalie isn’t even on my radar.
Which is weird because there’s never been a time I’ve considered exclusivity.
Or been content with the company of one person.
Fuck. Maybe Ryan is right? Did I go and fall for Rosalie?
“You’re awfully quiet.”
“I’m not in love,” I state a little too forcefully.
Ryan laughs.
“I’m not!”
He lifts his brows and gives me a smile that calls my bluff.
“Okay, then, what’s got those gears in that head of yours turning?”
“Just thinking about what I can steal next to fund my sex cult,” I retort.
“Okay.” He pats my shoulder. “Fine. If you don’t want to tell me, then back to work.”
“Yes, sir.” I roll my eyes right back at him.
“And Jackson?” He waits until I meet his gaze before continuing. “Without the porn this time.”
“It’s not porn!” I proclaim, pushing to my feet. “It’s cliterature. And it’s actually very informative.”
He slaps my back and laughs, walking alongside me. “Yeah, yeah. Okay, Einstein.”
At the end of the day, I practically race back to Rosalie.
When I find her ready and waiting in my home—this time dressed in nothing but a pair of lace panties—my brain short-circuits.
One second I’m stripping off all my clothes, the next I’m showered and chasing Rosalie upstairs to my bedroom.
It’s like those times when you’re driving home, and you don’t remember anything about the route, you just find yourself sitting at your destination.
She lies back on my sheets, a vibrator in her hands—not Mr. Darcy.
She slides the toy between her spread legs—a fucking goddess—and I can’t look away.
She moves the thin lace of her panties to the side, and her folds are slick with wetness as she pushes the tip of the vibe inside.
“You gonna stay there and watch . . . or join us?” Her teasing wakes me from my lust stupor. It’s the only invitation I need.
Sitting on the edge of my bed, I slide a hand up her leg and spread it wider. “Fuck, baby. You look so good fucking yourself.”
She moans, pushing the toy deeper, using it to plunge inside then running it over her clit.
“Show me,” I practically groan my demand.
In one hand, I stroke myself, while the other holds her leg wide, giving me the perfect view.
There’s a part of the book, toward the beginning, where the alien hero asks the heroine to teach him about human sex.
It’s erotic and sexy as hell, and I’m the lucky asshole who gets to reenact it.
A shiver runs up my spine, as I lean down for a better view.
“Show me what you like. Show me how you want me to fuck you.”
Rosalie’s gaze snaps to mine. She remembers the scene, too. She must. Because the wild look of arousal in her eyes mirrors exactly how I feel inside.
“Show me,” I instruct her, giving the skin on her upper inner thigh a sharp smack. “Or I’ll have to punish you.”
“Maybe I want you to,” Rosalie quips, and I can’t tell if that’s how she feels, or if she’s quoting the book. I guess I finally discovered a downside to role play. Is she into something rougher?
I picture her bent over my lap, her ass bright pink from my hand. Her body squirming, aching and aroused, ready for my fingers and cock to plunge inside her wet cunt.