Page 83 of Bucked Hard

“Whatisgoing on?” Her face pinches tight, determined to stare me down, but there’s no time to stand here and explain.

“Come on.” I pull her in through the front door, footsteps clattering on the wooden floorboards of the hall, dragging her with me, and kick open the door to the cellar.

“Hey, I’m not going down there with you!” She pulls back, confusion in her eyes, but there’s no time to explain.

“Yes, you are.” I reach out and grab her around her waist. My hands go nearly fully around as I pick her up and half carry her down the steps.

She’s squirming and carrying on like a mad cat when I get us to the bottom of the steps. It’s a good twenty degrees cooler in this stone foundation basement, but I reach around to my back pocket and pull out my handkerchief and start wiping her face.

“Stop it!” She tries to bat my hand away, but it only makes me smile.

“You’re fucking cute, you know that?” My cock is throbbing now. Every breath she takes, every part of her my eyes get to feast on, only sends more blood pumping into my already rock-hard cock.

“Where is my dad?” She sets her fists into her hips. “And what is that noise?”

Her determination turns to confusion as the distant sound of a freight train rumbles from above.

I stuff the white handkerchief back down into my pocket and use my fingers to straighten her disheveled hair. Her eyes are on fire, but her lips are full, pink, and ready to be kissed.

“First, your dad brought that little city trailer. I loaded as much as I could, but he needed to make two trips. So I told him I’d come find you, take you out to the stables to show you my horses, and he could take one load back home then come back for another. Second, that sound—” I twist my head to look up at the ceiling, then back at her “—is a tornado. So all your fussing and cussing, wondering what I was doing? Saving your cute ass, sweetheart.”

“Cute ass?Sweetheart? I don’t even know your name. You know mine. Thanks to my dad, I’m sure, but that’s all you know about me.” She snaps but stands her ground, keeping her eyes attached to mine with those flames flickering there. “Wait, did you say tornado?” Suddenly, her eyes widen.

I take a good look at her, up and down. Then again.

Once more.

I know a lot about you. And I’m about to know a lot more. Like how your pussy tastes.

This silence between us only fuels my need.

“I’m Ranger Stoddard. And yes, Little Bit, tornado. But I’ll keep you safe. You can bank on that.”

She does this cute as hell head-toss-eye-roll combo, and my knees almost give out.

The hint of fear in her face drains away, making me smile. “That name sounds like a sheriff in an old spaghetti Western.”

“Well, my dad would thank you if he were still here with us. That’s exactly what he was going for. Had a penchant for the romance of the Old West and the solid character of an old-time sheriff.”

She rolls her eyes again. “You really are a cowboy.”

I nod and grin as she tries to fight a half smile pulling at her lips. My heart is thundering in my chest as loud as the thunder from the storm.

The churning outside grows louder, and her eyes go to moons again.

“Holy cow.” She leans closer, and I sweep an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into me. Even in the dim light of the cellar, she is the most stunning woman I’ve ever seen. She smells like honey and hope. And hope is something I didn’t even realize I’ve been missing.

Now, I’m full of it. Full of hope for the future. For something more. Something different. Something namedMaria.

The noise of the storm above tells me it’s close, but it’s not going right over us. Even though a tornado can turn on a dime, out here, I’ve become well-versed in the sounds of storms. It may not be passing right over us, but it still has the potential to do damage. Could touch down farther on than my place, and then again, it could be over in a blink. I’m calm enough, I’ve had my share of these out here, but I’m all too aware of the threat of something so powerful.

Every part of me wants to push her into the wall and take her right here. All the years of having no one in my life come crashing down around me. I’m starved. And she’s the sustenance I’ve been craving all this time.

I want to hear her call my name when she comes. I want her fingernails scoring my flesh as I push inside her. I want to feel the walls of her hot pussy pulse around me and drench my cock with her juices as her orgasm forces her eyes to roll back. I want her to forget everything about this world and know only pleasure. Pleasure that comes from me.

“Sounds like it’s passing.” I feel her body soften as she leans slightly into me. How she’s trusting me in this moment means more to me than anything I can think of. I let out a long, low breath. “Sure glad I put all the horses out in the big pasture.”

She looks up at me. “Wouldn’t they be safer in the barn?”

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