Page 61 of Second Chance with the Rancher

They stayed like that for some time. Enjoying the aftershocks that rippled through her. Every time she’d shudder, he’d twitch his cock inside her and they’d both laugh. But eventually, he softened and they knew he needed to pull out while he was still hard enough to keep the condom in place.

Slowly, he stepped away, holding onto the base of the condom. The moment he was free of her body, an overwhelming sense of longing eclipsed her. She missed him.

She’d felt nothing like that before.

He disappeared to the bathroom, bringing with him a gently folded up wad of damp toilet paper. “It was all I could find,” he said, wiping between her legs. “Sorry.” He didn’t have much of a mess to clean up, since they’d used a condom, but she no less appreciated the gesture.

Once he tossed the paper into the garbage, he helped her down off the counter. He’d already pulled up his jeans again and refastened them. Her eyes fell to the front of his pants.

“What’s up, Minx?” he asked, picking up her shirt from the floor as she refastened her bra.

“I still haven’t seen it.”

“Seen? Oh! Ha! Oh, Minx. You’ll see it, trust me. Just give it a bit of time to regain some of its strength, then I’ll give you an up close and personal private viewing. How does that sound?”

Heat infused her cheeks, but he didn’t give her time to feel embarrassed before he grabbed her around the waist, tugged her against his rock-solid body and took her mouth.

When he released her lips, she was breathless and ready for round two. Or was it round three?

“How’s that sound?” he asked again, grinning at her like a smug jerk she couldn’t wait to climb like a tree again.

Her gaze dropped to the front of his jeans, and she licked her lips. “That sounds good.”

Chapter Fourteen

Nate could have easily kept Mieka busy until the next morning. Spreading her out on the new bed up in the loft, atop an unzipped sleeping bag while he made her scream loud and long enough to wake the coyotes and concern the prairie dogs. But they had things to do. He also wasn’t a spring chicken anymore and needed a longer refractory period than he used to in his twenties and thirties. He was forty-one years old and although he could still get it up a few times a day, long marathon sessions or a baker’s dozen of erections in a day were no longer possible.

Mieka didn’t seem to mind that he didn’t throw her over his shoulder, haul her up to the loft and keep her there until morning. She finished her leftovers from Gus’s while he ate some potato, corned beef and corn stew that was still warm on the stove.

“So um …” she murmured as they sat on the floor in the living room, quietly eating their dinner and drinking wine.

“So, um?” he probed, pulling a grin from her face.

“That was fun.”

“Sure was. And, we’ll remember it. And, we remembered protection.” He held his hand up for a high five that never came. She just rolled her eyes. So he high fived himself, then went back to eating.

“I know you said that I’m not leading you on, but I just need to be sure that once we get back to the ranch, and I’ve officially been told that I’ve overstayed my welcome that things aren’t going to be weird between us. Not only when I leave, but when I come back to visit. Triss is my sister, and she’s pregnant, so I’m going to want to come back and visit her and the baby.”

“Not weird at all,” he said, pushing some stew into his cheek. “And nobody is going to tell you that you’ve overstayed your welcome. I told you, Minx, I’m working to change your mind on this place.” Cocking his head to the side, he asked, “By the way, how am I doing so far?” Then he waggled his eyebrows and stuck out his tongue in a dirty way. “Am I convincing you yet? Or do I need to spend the next several hours coaxing your stubborn cat into submission?”

“It’s not my cat that needs convincing,” she said while making a noise of derision in the back of her throat. “That bitch has already packed up everything she owns and sent out change of address cards.”

That made him laugh and he tossed his head back. “I like your cat. She and I get along beautifully. She particularly likes it when I pet her with my tongue.”

“She’s a traitorous bitch,” Mieka retorted. Her dismissal didn’t deter him at all, though. It only convinced him he needed to work harder. Plus, he’d already convinced her cat, now he just needed to convince her heart. “And if you don’t change my mind and I leave, things aren’t going to be weird?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Only if you make them.”

Her look was poignant, but then she picked up one of her onion rings and took a bite. “So we’re going to keep doing what we just did until …?”

“Until you say stop. Or until you leave. Or until you say you’re going to stay forever. I mean, your cat already wants to stay and make a home on my face, I’d say we’re halfway there already.” He gave her a cheeky smile that had her rolling her eyes again.

“My cat is a pathetic, desperate slut who hasn’t gotten—”

“Cream?”

Her glare just made him smile even more.

---