Page 91 of A Rancher's Bride
“Me either. I liked him at the gala, although I guess this explains why he was staring at me so much.” She breathed deep, curling against Luke harder. “I don’t want to think right now,” she complained.
A soft chuckle escaped him. “Really? Did you have something else to do that’s higher on your list?”
Kelli slid her fingers along the placard of his shirt, circling each button one by one. “Possibly. If you’ve got some time to kill.”
Luke hummed as she popped the top button loose, and then the next. “Time? I have a few minutes.”
“That all? Too bad…” She let her fingers drift downward until her fingertips trailed over the button of his jeans. She would have rubbed his cock, but she was sitting against it. Which was obvious, because with each passing moment it grew thicker and harder beneath her hip.
“Maybe a bit more than minutes,” Luke growled, tucking his arms under her legs and picking her up. She draped her arms around his neck and nuzzled in tight, kissing him and teasing with her tongue as he carried her to his bedroom.
Luke stripped away her blouse, pushing the fabric from her shoulders and stopping to kiss the skin he’d bared. “I need to see you naked,” he told her. “Need you under me, need to feel you surround me.”
“Need you too,” she whispered back.
She closed her eyes and felt.
With every inch he exposed, Luke took the time to explore with his lips. With his tongue. He kissed and licked and teased and nibbled until every inch of her felt alive and so sensitive she was near to spontaneous combustion.
Something was different. Something trembled at the edge of cracking. Like a too-warm spring day when the sunshine on the ice by the falls would make it creak and moan in the seconds before a fissure would open, and the whole thing would come tumbling down. Shards flying, breaking apart—coming undone. A complete reversal of only moments before.
Only, was it breaking, or renewing? Springtime always meant growth, and as Luke touched her, Kelli felt the change coming in every bit of her.
He’d laid her out, bare to his gaze as he stripped the last of his own clothes away then joined her. Stretching at her side and holding her close as he stroked. A gentle touch that was possessive and perfect.
Fingers dipping between her legs, mouth on her breasts, easing away so he could cover her with his weight and kiss her senseless.
She’d already flown once, Luke sending her soaring into an orgasm before he wrapped himself around her and slid inside. His thick length opened her as she let her legs fall apart to welcome him in. Bodies rubbing, lips kissing.
Luke murmured gentle words against her mouth as he rocked, slow and deep. Each motion deliberate and needy as if he was—
As if he was coming home.
Kelli fought to keep the tears from rising, but it was too perfect, too beautiful.
He slowed. Paused, deep inside her, his fingers brushing moisture from her cheek.
“Kelli? You okay?”
She nodded, catching his fingers in hers and pressing them to her lips. “I’m perfect. Don’t stop. Please don’t stop.”
He adjusted their grip, placing their joined hands on the mattress at head level then returning to the slow, gentle strokes that made her feel as if he was loving every inch of her, connected beyond the physical.
Tears still fell, but Kelli was willing to admit they were good tears. They were about family and having a home, and while she couldn’t say the words yet, they were about being in love.
Because she loved Luke. She probably always had, and it had taken finding a surprise grandfather to know that no matter what happened at Silver Stone,Lukewas home.
She was going to have to find a way to tell him that.
“Kelli,” Luke whispered. “You feel so right. You’re just—”
She opened her eyes and stared into his face.
“Love me,” she ordered, pretending it wasn’t demand and wish and a dream and a promise all at that same time.
His fingers tightened on hers, and he stroked harder, a little quicker. Then he slid a hand between their bodies and touched her just right, and she broke. Like the frozen waterfall, she came apart, falling into pieces, held in his arms.
Ready for the spring to make her world new. No matter what that looked like, she could make it through this. She knew she could.
