“That sounds great. But if I don’t go home now, I won’t see Daddy or the animals until I finish in the spring,” I explain.

“What if we spend a few days in Sunny Springs and then head to Cherry Hills? Besides, I think you owe me a horseback ride on the farm,” he says. The fact he remembers that small detail I suggested back at Christmas shows me just how much he cares.

“Do we get to have relationship sex now?” he asks.

“How is relationship sex different from what we’ve been doing?” I ask back.

Cade doesn’t give me an answer, at least not a verbal one. He flips me on my back from my straddle position on him in one slick move. I let out a loud squeal. He pins my arms above my head, holding them firmly in place with one of his hands, and he dips his head and begins kissing my neck. Soft small kisses that slowly move down my body. I react to him the way I always do, with burning need. A fire he’s lit inside me and only he can put out. He releases my arms to remove my tank top and tweaks my nipples through my bra before unclasping it and discarding it to the floor. He pays special attention to each breast, kneading one breast while his tongue licks and sucks on my other nipple, driving me crazy.

“You are so beautiful, baby. Every inch of you. I didn’t know I could feel this way until you came along,” he says, but it is the way he shows me by cherishing my body that has me undone. This is what he meant would be different. We don’t have to hide our feelings. This isn’t sex, we are making love.

He slowly moves down my body until he gets to the crevice of my thighs. “This is my favorite pussy,” he says before going to town and eating me like I’m his dessert.

He doesn’t hold back, pushing his tongue into my seam, flicking my clit, and sucking it. Driving me wild with need until I fall over the edge, pulled under a tidal wave of an orgasm that takes me into oblivion.

“I’m not done with you yet,” Cade warns just as my orgasm subsides.

“I’m grateful for that,” I joke.

“Not funny.” He frowns.

“I’ve been on the pill the whole month. I started it before we started having sex because I thought we might go there and, well, it’s been a month. I don’t miss a pill. I haven’t been with anyone in years…except you.”

“What is it that you want, baby?” His voice is smooth whiskey, just like the fire in his eyes.

“Do you want to go bareback?” I ask, feeling vulnerable. I have never done it before and I want this night to be special. Something we remember. “I mean, I’m sure you and Scarlett did.”

I don’t have time to finish the sentence when Cade says, “Baby, I never went bare with Scarlett. I wore a condom every single time, but they aren’t foolproof, and maybe one of them had a hole or something,” he explains. “I’d love to take you bare.”

My skin pricks with goosebumps as Cade lines himself up against my slit. “Gah, you feel so warm and wet already.”

He slides inside me easily, despite his girth and length. He fills me to the hilt and it is exquisite and intense. We make love with our eyes open. Cade slams inside me, pauses, and pulls back. His tempo is slow and punishing as I slowly unravel.

His amber eyes are beaming with emotion. Our thrusts grow hungrier and I meet him each time, moving my hips in rhythm with his. I’m building and I feel him hardening and hitting deeper inside me. We fall off the edge together. It is exactly where I want us to be.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Cade

We are almost at the farm. Annie is bobbing her head to music in my car. In a way it feels like déjà vu. Only we have come a long way since our last visit here. We pull up to the front of the house. I unload our stuff by the front door and go to park my car in the garage. Annie waits for me at the door. I take a deep breath of the fresh air.

“Do you think Sally missed me?” I joke.

“Yes,” Annie replies, being serious. “I spoke to her about you.”

“Oh, yeah? Did she have any good insights?” I ask.

“She said you were a good guy,” she replies, using her key to open the door. Rocky is the first to greet us. He starts barking and Annie’s dad comes to the door next, followed by her mom.

“You’re home?” Annie asks in shock.

“Daddy mentioned you guys were visiting for a couple of days. I wanted to be here.” She shrugs as if it is no big deal when it is.

Annie looks like she doesn’t know what to make of the change in her mother’s behavior, and I don’t either.

“You kids must be hungry. I made some pulled beef tacos,” her dad says. “Come on in.”

We take off our jackets and boots and go to sit at the kitchen table, where her dad has prepared a mini feast.