Page 3 of Rancher's Pride

There she was, Fallon Miller, standing on the sidewalk across from me. Her long molasses colored hair was piled high on her head in a messy bun. The jeans she wore hugged her perfectly and the oversized sweatshirt she wore hung slightly off of one shoulder. An oversized sweatshirt that belonged to me. Like sheonce had and should still. God, it made me hard instantly seeing her wearing it, the fact that she reached for something of mine over anything else in her closet, even after these last two years. She looked as gorgeous as the last time I’d seen her.

Getting out of my truck, she ran to me and jumped into my open arms. “I can’t. Believe. You’re here,” she said through her sobs as she clung to me tighter. With her arms around my neck, and her legs around my waist, life finally felt right again.

Fallon relaxed her arms from around me, lowering them to her side. As I settled her feet back on solid ground, gazing deep into her icy blue eyes that I still get lost in, she reached up and cupped my face in her hands. “It’s really you?” She shook her head, a small smile playing at the corner of her luscious lips, as I brushed an escaped tear from her cheek with my thumb. “I’ve dreamt of this day so much, but I always wake up before I get to you.”

Then why did you run? I wanted to ask her, but I just wanted to soak her in right now.

“It’s really me.” Her hazel eyes were locked on mine. “Wanna stand out here or go get some shoes and come with me?” Taking her for the weekend would require more than her shoes, but not a lot more.

“Shoes.” She nodded, grinning.

Carrying her back to the building, I was glad to see her apartment looked better inside than outside. It had been updated and looked modern and bright.

“Okay, where are we going?” She asked as she slipped her sandals on her feet.

“Well, what do you say about a quiet weekend getaway?” I was pushing my luck, and I was sure Drake hadn’t offered his cabin as my love shack, but I didn’t want to share her if I only got her for a few days.

“Take me away, cowboy.” She winked. She was the same outgoing woman I remembered. “Do I need to pack clothes?” She didn’t even take a second to think before she told me what she wanted. She was impulsive, and didn’t care about consequences most of the time. And for once, I wasn’t going to step on the brakes. I wanted this, I wanted her and blunt was the only way to show her what I wanted.

“No, they won’t be needed.” Without warning, I grabbed her belt buckle and pulled her to me. I wanted my mouth on hers, so I kissed her. Her mouth opened, and I pushed my tongue against hers. As fast as the world was spinning around us, this was right. It’s what I’d been missing for the last two years. We fit together. “Get your ass out too the truck.” My voice was low. If she didn’t get moving, we’d be in her room. She grabbed her purse and we ran out of her apartment.

Flipping up the console between the seats, Fallon slid over and sat beside me. Her phone rang, and she looked at it and frowned. “You need to get that?” I asked, as she quickly ended the call and shoved the phone back in her purse.

“No, it’s nothing important.” She shook her headbut wouldn’t lift her eyes to meet mine. Whoever called seemed important to her and part of me wanted to send her right back into her apartment and drive away, but my brain wasn’t what I was thinking with and I didn’t care who the hell was on the phone.

Reaching around her, I pulled her to my side and drove away from the shitty building. There was only one woman I’d ever let ride beside me, and I couldn’t be happier she was back where she belonged. Many dates had tried, but it was reserved for Fallon.

CHAPTER THREE

FALLON

Ilooked over at the rugged man with a few day’s old scruff, the chiseled jaw, and piercing dark eyes and my heart felt like it had stopped in my chest. If I was going to die with this man’s arm around me, I'd be happy to meet my maker. He’d kissed me like he’d seen me yesterday. He felt the same, and it stirred the craving I had for him. That craving hadn’t ever gone away, but I’d managed to move past it. He was out of my reach, too old for me, my brother’s best friend, he was forbidden fruit and I had to push it away. But on the nights I was lonely and feeling the pull for home, I dreamed about him.

Nash let his hand rest on my thigh for the entire drive. He’d moved it up slightly, and slid it between my legs. Heat crept up through my body and I could tell my face was turning a lovely shade of crimson. His touch made me shiver, and I let out an involuntarysigh. The husky, low laugh from beside me told me all I needed to know. This was his plan all along. My pulse raced and breathing became somewhat difficult as I tried to take a deep ragged breath, but it barely filled my lungs.

He pulled up to a large gate, and pushed some numbers on the keypad. Driving further up the road, we stopped outside a mansion that looked nothing like the cabin I’d expected. I sat a little straighter, and I craned my neck to see the magnificent home more clearly. Nash’s low laugh made me suspect he hadn’t known this was the cabin either. “Trust Drake Gatlin to have a mansion in the woods.”

“Drake Gatlin, as in the Gatlin Bourbon family?” I turned toward him and narrowed my gaze. He wasn’t someone who Nash usually hung out with, but this had The Five businesses written all over it.

“Yep, that’s the one. He’s a friend, and he’s the one who helped me find you.” He opened his door and climbed out, reaching in to take my hand. Sliding past the steering wheel and out of the truck, I was intimately pressed between him and the seat.

“Of course, this had to do with The Five.” I rolled my eyes and tore my gaze from him. Part of me wished he’d found me on his own, not rolled me into a business trip. But pouting about it would only ruin our time together, so I pushed it away.

“Are you mad I found you?” His pouty lips were likea magnet and I needed them on mine, on me, all over my body.

“No, not in the slightest.” I smiled as I shifted onto my tiptoes and kissed him. He needed to know this was the best thing that has happened to me in two years, since the day I snuck off the ranch, because I’d fallen too hard for the man I could never have. There was no way I could’ve stayed there pining after him while he moved on with his life. Watching him marry and start a family with someone else would have killed me, so I did the only thing I could do to keep my heart intact. I ran.

Our tongues slid across one another, and the franticness of our earlier kiss was gone, replaced with a drawn out indulgent intensity that made me ache for more. I wanted it all with Nash, even though I knew I shouldn’t. He moved his mouth and pressed kisses along the column of my throat and over my exposed shoulder. “I wondered where this shirt went.” He mumbled as his hand slid under the hem, skimming over my belly to meet and cup my bare breast. Instantly, he froze. “Where’s your bra?”

Shrugging, I smiled. “I’m shocked it took you this long to notice.” I pressed my hips against him.

He groaned, “get in the house.”

The air was thick with mint and oregano, which meant the bee balm was in bloom. The slight breeze made the leaves on the trees dance and brush against one another.There was a heaviness in the air that wasn’t normal. Almost like an electric charge ready to ignite and I was the charge, and Nash was the match. Thankfully, the door was unlocked, and we walked right in. “Where the hell do you think the bedrooms are?” He asked as we walked into the enormous foyer, a staircase in the center of the room.

“Upstairs?” I guessed. He grabbed my hand and pulled me along behind him. I hurried up the stairs as he took them two at a time. Reaching a door, he swung it open and a four post bed sat in the center of the room. “Told ya,” I whispered.

Pulling me into the room, he moved his free hand up into my hair and gripped my head. Our mouths crushed together again. I couldn’t stop the moan that escaped. The scruff of his beard scraped along my face and the possessive grasp on my hair made me forget everything except this moment. Not letting my hand go, he wrapped his arm around me, trapping my arm behind my back. Pushing me backward, I felt the bed behind my legs.

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