Page 20 of The Rancher's Wedding Betrayal
After all, Braxton might have only eyes for the other girl, but what about Evelline? It was possible that Evelline's innocence simply made her unable to resist Hunter's touch...while still carrying a torch for the other man?
“Hunter?” Evelline was looking at him curiously. “Is everything okay?”
Something snapped inside him. In three long strides, he closed the distance between them, backing her into an empty stall.
“Hun—”
He took her mouth in a deep, hard kiss, and her body melted instantly against his, her arms winding around his neck. He pressed her against the wall, his hands gripping her hips with bruising intensity.
“What’s gotten into you?” she gasped when they broke for air.
Instead of answering, he spun her around to face the wall, his body caging hers from behind. His lips found her neck, teeth grazing the sensitive spot below her ear that he knew drove her wild.
“Hunter,” she moaned, arching back against him. “Someone might see—”
“Let them.” His voice was a rough growl as his hands slid beneath her shirt, finding bare skin. “I want everyone to know who you belong to.”
In some distant part of his mind, Hunter knew he was being driven by his demons, not desire. But the way his Evelline was also responding to his touch made it impossible to stop. She was grinding herself against his hardness, her breath coming in short gasps, and she didn't resist at all as Hunter yanked her jeans down, just enough for his fingers to find her core.
She was already wet and ready, a whimper slipping past her lips as his fingers brushed against her folds while his other hand palmed her breast beneath her shirt.
“Please,” she whispered, turning her head to capture his mouth in a desperate kiss.
It was all the encouragement he needed. He freed himself from his jeans, pressing against her entrance without pushing inside. Even now, consumed by jealousy and need, he wouldn’t cross that final line without her explicit permission.
“Is this what you want?” he growled against her ear, teasing her with just the tip.
“H-Hunter, p-please..."
He groaned as he slid between her thighs, not inside her but gliding against her slick heat. It wasn’t the same as being truly inside her, but the friction was exquisite, maddening, and his Evelline seemed to understand instinctively what he was doing, with how she was also adjusting her stance to tighten her thighs around him.
“So good,” she whimpered, one hand reaching back to tangle in his hair. “Don’t stop.”
Hunter set a punishing rhythm, one hand circling her most sensitive spot while the other kept her pressed firmly against him. The stable filled with the sounds of their ragged breathing,skin against skin, occasional soft moans that neither tried to stifle.
He was too far gone to realize that Matt hadn’t actually left the stables—that the younger man could hear everything from where he worked in the nearby tack room. All Hunter cared about was Evelline, the way she trembled in his arms, the soft cries she couldn’t contain as he drove them both toward release.
“Mine,” he growled against her neck, biting down gently as he felt her begin to tighten around him. “Say it, Evelline. Say you’re mine.”
“I’m yours,” she gasped, her body beginning to shake. “Only yours, Hunter. Always—”
Her words dissolved into a cry as she came, her release triggering his own. He buried his face in her hair, holding her tightly as pleasure crashed through him in waves.
For several long moments, they remained locked together, catching their breath. Time seemed to move slowly, their senses settling back in reality in trickles as they gradually took in the scent of hay and horses, the distant sound of ranch hands calling to each other, and the hard wood wall Evelline was still pressed against.
Hunter carefully helped her adjust her clothing before fixing him own, but when she turned back to him, and he saw her flushed cheeks and lips made swollen by his kisses—
Fuck.
Hunter was already moving forward, his fingers grasping a fistful of her hair as he pulled her close for another kiss. When he lifted his head, her eyes were dazed with pleasure.
"Um...wow? I was just gone a few hours," Evelline said teasingly. "Did you miss me that much?"
“Always,” he answered, his voice rough with emotion that wasn’t entirely spent desire.
She rose on tiptoes to press a soft kiss to his lips. “I need to go clean up. See you at dinner?”
He watched her walk away with a slightly unsteady gait that sent a surge of male pride through him.
