Page 67 of Ride Me Cowboy

I see glimmers of her confidence all the time. More and more so, in fact. But then, she slips back into her shell, like she’s worried I’m going to come down on her if she says the wrong thing.

“Beth, honey, you can buy and live anywhere you want. Ain’t no one’s job to tell you what to do with your life.”

She blinks at me in surprise. She does that a lot, too. As though she doesn’t realize I understand her as well as I do.

“Yeah,” she agrees, slowly. “I guess I just don’t want to let anyone down.”

“Let who down? That bastard’s family?”

She flinches, then. “Sorry,” she murmurs.

“What for?”

“Reacting like that. It’s just, I’ve spent a long time protecting him, covering for him, lying about him. It’s really strange to talk to someone who gets what it was like.”

“I don’t get what it was like,” I correct, softly though, putting a hand on her cheek and stroking her soft skin. “No one ever really can, unless they’ve lived it. But I know your marriage is still haunting you, and I’m sorry for that.”

“You don’t have anything to be sorry about.”

“I’m sorry it happened to you. I’m sorry it happens to anyone. Anyone who can be violent to a person they love doesn’t deserve the oxygen they breathe.”

She sucks in a breath and shakes her head slightly. “Do you…mind if we don’t talk about it?”

I feel like talking about it is the only way she’s going to get through it, but I’m not going to push her. She has to make her peace with what happened and that’s going to take time.

“Good thing I didn’t bring you out here to talk,” I say with a wink, intentionally lowering my voice to a suggestive husk and then grinning at her, so she knows I’m kidding, even when I’m kind of not.

The way Beth and I have been sparking off each other, all I can think about, most of the time, is losing myself in her. Not to mention, the physical element of this feels a lot safer than when we talk. When we really crack each other open and peer beyond the sides of us we’re usually happy to show the world. At least, that’s how it feels for me. I’ve got the Cole Donovan I’m happy for people to know, the Cole Donovan who’s all bluster, who can walk away from people just like that. Beth digs deeper though, and for some reason, I don’t seem able to stop that. And sometimes, I don’t even think to mind.

“Are you saying you want to ride me, cowboy?” she purrs right back, her own smile equally teasing.

“Fuck, Beth. Don’t tempt me.”

“Tempting you is kinda the point.”

My cock is so hard against my jeans that it’s actually painful. “Let’s get out of the truck,” I mutter, jumping down and slamming the door, in my haste to get to her side and drag her into my arms.

She doesn’t need to be dragged, though. Beth’s practically jumping from her seat and wrapping her legs around my waist as I lift her up, cupping her ass and holding her against me, then pressing her back against the car door, kissing her hardand rough, just like I’ve been wanting to all day. As though I can make a point with this kiss that she’s mine, right now. Nothing in her past matters, compared to this. Nothing in her future ever will. This is its own thing, for both of us, and it’s best to just accept that.

I carry her around to the bed of the truck and sit her on the tailgate, my hands pushing at her shirt like they’re trying to win some kind of gold medal for speed. I swear I hear a button tear as I push the damn thing up and over her head. Confirmed by a soft laugh of hers, as she says, “You all right there?”

I cup her face with both hands and say, “No, Beth. I can’t say I’ve been right since you stepped out of your car. You’re all I can think about.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” she says, softly, and then she’s kissing me, wrapping her arms around my back, pushing under my shirt, her fingers running up and down my spine, then coming round the front and working the buttons, one by painstaking one, kissing me all the while she strips me down.

When the shirt falls to the ground, she lets out a triumphant sound, before moving to kneel, so she can drag her teeth over my collar bone and lower, to my pec, flicking my nipple, teasing it with her teeth, before running her tongue back up to my throat and finally to my mouth. I grip her haunches, wishing she wasn’t wearing jeans, because I need more access. I need to feel all of her.

“Mind if I do something about this?” I ask, pushing at the buttons.

“I thought you’d never ask,” she grins against my mouth. “Of course, it would need to be mutual.”

“Naturally, City Girl. This is most definitely an equal opportunity situation.” I push at her jeans until she can wriggle out of them, so close to getting her naked my gut rolls, because here, beneath the moon and the stars, with the trees whispering softly above us, is where I want to take her for the first time. If this lands a part of me, then the elemental nature of what we’re doing feels like it belongs out here, too.

“Cole,” she says, pushing at my jeans. “I want you.”

Her urgency is like a fire getting lit, right in my balls. I don’t think I’ve ever undressed so damn fast. My jeans drop and I push up onto the flat bed of the truck, drawing her back with me, until she’s lying against the mattress and pillows, and then, I set about doing what I’ve been fantasizing about for so damn long.

I make her mine.

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