Page 81 of Lost and Lassoed

I couldn’t tell if it was the mountain air that was making me feel alive or the woman whose hand I was holding.

When we got to my truck, I pushed Teddy up against it. I covered her body with mine and pressed against her. I kissed her again. She clung to me. Her mouth moved under mine, and suddenly it didn’t feel so cool out here anymore.

My hips rolled of their own accord, and Teddy gasped. I swallowed her gasp with another kiss, and when I felt her tongue in my mouth, my knees buckled. I’d never been a kissing guy. I liked it, don’t get me wrong, but I didn’t get all the hype around it.

Until I kissed Teddy. After I kissed her all those years ago, I understood how it could be so fucking good. Back then, I thought I’d only get to kiss her that once, but I’d kissed her again, many times, and here I was kissing her again.

I could do this all night with her, but she had other plans. “Take me home, August Ryder,” she said against my mouth. Her hands had traveled from my shoulders to my chest and were now sliding down my torso.

I knew then that I’d never be able to tell this woman no ever again.

Chapter 35

Teddy

The drive back to Gus’s house was quiet and charged. His right hand was rubbing small circles on my upper thigh and his left was on the steering wheel. God, he was hot.

Tonight felt different. Tonight, we’d chosen each other in front of the whole town.

When Gus’s truck rolled to a stop in front of his house, we stayed in the cab. I let the silence fall over me like a warm blanket. I looked over at Gus, who already had his eyes on me.

“You look incredible,” he said.

I huffed a laugh. “Fan of the chaps?” I said.

“Fan of the ass in them,” Gus said with a grin that made my heart hiccup. “A fan of the woman the ass belongs to, too.”

“Are you going soft on me, August?” I scoffed.

Gus made a show of looking down at his groin and then back up at me. “Pretty much the opposite, baby.”Baby.The way he said it, on the end of a laugh that was attached to a smile, made my insides go molten.

We were quiet again.

After a moment, Gus opened his door and got out of the truck. I was about to follow, but he said, “Don’t you dare open that door on your own, Theodora.”

“Yes, Daddy,” I responded coyly. I saw Gus shake his head through the windshield as he crossed in front of the truck, but he was smiling. I knew he couldn’t hide those dimples from me forever.

When he opened my door, he held his hand out, and I took it. We walked up to his front door slowly, hand in hand. Once we reached the top step, Gus turned to me and said four words that I never thought I’d hear from him—“I like you, Teddy”—and then he brought his mouth down on mine. I kissed him back with urgency. I tangled my hands in his hair and pressed my body against his. He walked me back a few steps until my back hit the door.

He liked pressing me up against things.

His hands made their way to my ass, which he gripped and used to lift me up. I wrapped my legs around his waist and kept kissing him. When he moved his mouth away from mine to unlock the front door, I kissed down his neck and back up. I licked his ear and bit the lobe. I did everything that I could to feel him.

I could hear him struggling with the key in the lock. “Trouble finding the hole?” I asked.

“Fuck off, Teddy,” he said as the surface against my back finally gave way, but Gus had a hold on me and I had a hold on him. He walked us inside and tried to set me down, but I held on. I felt him kick off his shoes.

“Kitchen counter,” I said after I licked his neck again. He groaned but complied. He deposited me there, and I finallyunwound my arms from his neck. “Take your shirt off,” I commanded as I took him in. His hair was mussed and his lips were swollen. God, he was his own damn work of art.

“Someone’s demanding tonight,” he said, but he did what I asked.

“And your pants,” I added. He didn’t do that right away. He was looking at me like he wanted to fight it, so I said, “I can’t suck your dick in the kitchen if your pants are on, August.”

I’ll tell you what: I’d never seen a cowboy’s pants come off faster.

I put my hands behind me and leaned back on the counter, taking in the beautiful man before me. His shoulders were broad; his body was honed and fine-tuned from years of hard work. The veins in his forearms were popping because hekept balling his hands into fists—like he was trying to restrainhimself. The tattoos on his chest accentuated the muscles there. A smattering of dark hair there made a trail toward his dick.

Which is what my eyes were on now. Listen, I didn’t normally think that much about the appearance of those things, but I’d give it to Gus, he had a nice one. And he knew how to use it.

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