Page 48 of Long Hard Fall

Happiness shined brighter in him than the sun outside. “Good. I’d also like to see where we go right after we eat.” He winked and dug out a bowl to start cracking eggs.

“I dunno,” she said with a sly, sexy tone that went straight to his cock. “You have a lot of land. We could go a lot of places.”

He cooked in record time and they wolfed down their food. She left the table, put her plate on the counter, and sauntered backward out of the kitchen.

“I’ll do the dishes if you can catch me in ten seconds. One—” She darted out the front door.

Oh, he’d catch her no matter what, and the dishes wouldn’t matter when he did.

He tore out of the house and raced in the direction of her laughter. She jogged around the house into the backyard. When she saw him give chase, she squealed and tried to speed up.

But it was too late. He tackled her, more an impromptu dance than anything violent. He wrapped his arms around her and lowered them both to the cold ground, twisting to keep her on top of him. Even his ball cap stayed on.

“That was a smooth move,” she said breathlessly. Her hair hung between them, her arms coming around his neck. “Do it often?”

“To unruly calves that don’t want me to take a look at them.” His grin was lopsided because damn, this was fun. He hadn’t realized how boring his days could be. Her bottom ground down over his hardening length and he rolled up into her. “I don’t know what you’re planning, honey, but I don’t have any protection on me, and if you keep doing that…”

She wiggled delightfully as she reached into her jeans’ pocket. “Just so happens, I snuck one from your stash.”

He snaked a hand around her neck. “The rest is up to you. It won’t be my ass hanging out in the wind.”

“I trust you’ll keep me warm.” She pushed off him, then rose to her knees and straddled him while undoing her pants. Once she’d wrestled one leg out of her pants and underwear, her sex was bared to him. All blood rushed to his groin. He couldn’t free himself quickly enough. He tried to cup her mound, but her need must have been raging as hard as his. She batted his hand out of the way and rolled the condom over his length, her cool hands an erotic contrast to the heat running rampant between them.

With no preamble, no more foreplay than a quick chase, she rose and settled herself over him. He gripped her waist but didn’t move her until she was ready. She bit her lip and moaned. His gaze shot back down to where they were connected. In the bright light of day, she was even more sexy and gorgeous and brilliantly unhinged, and there were no shadows to hide it.

The grass crunched under him, not completely brown yet for the autumn season. He would worry about her catching a chill, or getting grass strains on her knees, but the whimpers coming from her sounded like nothing but pleasure. She rode him, her enjoyment of his body obvious, and he was soon swept up in sensation, raising his knees to tip her forward and thrust deeper. She arched into him and he gathered her to him, stealing her lips for a greedy kiss. They hadn’t even done that before he’d entered her.

This girl was phenomenal. Her rhythm increased. He tried to match, tried to distance his mind so he didn’t explode before her. Sweeping his tongue into her mouth, he savored the extra contact. It made him even more possessive. He hugged her tighter and thrust harder. They groaned and panted into each other until she briefly tensed, then bucked her hips. She tried to cry out, but Cash swallowed the sound. His peak slammed into him; his embrace tightened and he spilled his release.

They finally broke apart, gazing into each other’s eyes. Could she feel it, too? This time was different. It wasn’t mad hookup sex. It wasn’t recreating an event to make sure she’d never forget their night together. This time had been about them. A promise that they had a future.

She stroked his face. He could get addicted to the tender light in her eye.

A truck engine made both their heads spin toward the road.

“Perfect fucking timing, Dillon,” Cash growled. He eased Abbi off him and helped her back into her bottoms. They were in the middle of his yard; the trees should block the worst of what they’d been doing.

“Do you think he saw?” she hissed, pink staining her cheeks. From the orgasm or because she was ready to die of embarrassment? “I’m sorry.”

“I’m not sorry about anything we did.” He helped her up and brushed dried grass off her clothes. He rubbed her back and led her around to the front door. He didn’t want this experience to make her skittish about hooking up anytime, anywhere. He wanted to make sure she was comfortable having sex in the backyard, the barn, the pastures, his truck—wherever the hell she wanted it. He was onboard.

“I just shouldn’t have—”

He bent down and nipped her neck. She squeaked, giving him a playful swat. He chuckled. “You should’ve, and I can’t wait until you do it again. Like you said, I’ve got a lot of land.”

Finding her hand, he wrapped it in his. She gave him a grateful look. Was it the talk with her parents that had her second-guessing her actions? Or was she that flustered that Dillon might’ve seen them together? She could’ve walked buck naked down the road and Dillon wouldn’t care. He was dopey over Elle. Cash, on the other hand, might get a lecture about getting close to Daniels’s sister when she’d come looking for closure.

Well, he might not be able to give her closure, but he could love her.

Cash swallowed. Where the hell had that thought come from? He was just thinking of having his first adult relationship. But, no, it made sense. He wasn’t about to get serious with someone he couldn’t love.

Abbi squeezed his hand. They rounded the house just as Dillon was getting out of his pickup.

Dillon’s brows rose when he spotted Abbi and his smile faltered. “Hey. I was just checking to see if you wanted help fixing fence since we’re moving cattle next week.”

Cash bristled at Dillon’s tone. Only last spring, they’d mended their own figurative fences after Dillon had spent a couple years resenting Cash for being an unreliable prick. And while Cash might’ve fooled around with women, he’d never brushed off work.

“Yeah, I was just heading out there.” He might’ve detoured into the bedroom to feast on Abbi for another hour, but hopefully she’d still be here when he was done. He tugged Abbi under his arm. “Dillon, I told you about Daniels’s sister, Abbi.”

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