316 Rose Rd. (A Cherry Falls Romance Book 11)

by Frankie Love

  "So, why the adventure?” I ask him.

  "Because you told me that you came here to do one thing, and I figured you might have time in your schedule for something else," he replies. He reaches for my hand, wraps his fingers around mine. It’s almost as though we have done this a million times before, as though he is used to being with me like this. I wonder if anyone is looking at us right now – I kind of hope they are. I want people to see us together. To see that this gorgeous man wants to be seen with me.

  "Where are we going?" I ask him. Honestly, as long as he’s holding my hand, I am willing to follow him pretty much anywhere that he wants to take me – I'm sure not complaining about a single step.

  "There’s this path, Rose Road, filled with wild roses," he explains, squeezing my hand a little tighter, bringing it to his lips so he can plant a kiss on the back of it. "It leads down to the falls near the lake, and it’s gorgeous. I thought you might like to see it while you’re here."

  "That sounds so perfect," I murmur, and I am practically skipping as I keep up with him. How is one man just as perfect as all of this? He grins at me, and I notice that his smile is slightly crooked. It suits him. Gives his face a little more character.

  We hit Rose Road, and he tells me about moving out here in the first place, how long he has been here – he talks about it as though this has been his home for as long as he can remember, as though this is the only place he has ever been and the only place he wants to be. I like hearing him talk. He has this deep voice that lights up when he is telling me about something he loves. I could listen to him talk about anything and everything all day long if it meant that I could be right here with him.

  The path down to the falls is gorgeous – wild roses climbing over the greenery, wrapping themselves up the trunks of trees. Cliff plucks one and tucks the rose in my hair, making me feel like a fairy princess, in the woods with my huntsman.

  It’s a gorgeous place, carved out by the people who have come here before us. I can hardly believe that it’s real. Sure, I hardly live in a full-blown metropolis, but I’m not used to nature being this accessible.

  "If I lived here, I’d be down here every single day," I sigh, as we round a corner and come opposite the river that runs down to the lake that he told me about.

  "I try and make it here as often as I can," he agrees. He hasn’t let go of my hand once as we walked, confident, as though he knows that I want him to be holding it.

  "I bet you could have made this path all by yourself," I tease him. "Real mountain man, aren’t you?”

  "Is that what they’re calling it these days?” he remarks, shaking his head and playing like he doesn’t love that I just gave him a new nickname. We turn another corner, and he helps me over a small log that has fallen in the way of the path, and then, finally, the two of us are at the falls.

  And they really are as beautiful as he promised that they would be. Cascading from jagged rock that sticks out from a ledge in the mountain, the water crashes into a heavy, vibrantly blue pool beneath us, covered by a canopy of trees. For a moment, I just stand there, unable to do anything but admire how downright gorgeous it looks, how striking and stunning it seems.

  "You like it?" Cliff calls to me over the sound of the water. I nod, hardly able to keep the smile off my face.

  "It’s beautiful!” I exclaim, and he tugs me down towards the rocks at the edge of the pool.

  "I know a spot," he explains as I follow him – careful not to slip – and he places a hand on my back to steady me, to hold me close.

  And sure enough, it doesn’t take long till the two of us have made it. There is a small alcove that dips into the rock, providing some cover from the path above, and he ducks down to lead me inside a small cave. The second I step in behind him, it is as though I have followed him into another world entirely. The soft sound of the water echoes around us, and Cliff pulls off his backpack and pulls out a thick blanket for us.

  "Here," he murmurs, and he tosses it down so that I have somewhere to sit. I rest on the ground, the soft blanket under my hands, and marvel at the sight of the waterfall just beyond me. How can something that big, that huge, that powerful, be so beautiful at the same time? It seems as though it should be scary, but with him right here beside me, it is anything but.

  "Thank you," I reply, and I tuck a strand of hair, flecked from the water beyond us, back from my cheek. He plants himself right down beside me, his arm behind my back. I love the way he touches me, as though he knows that he already owns me – as though he doesn’t even have to think twice about it.

  "This place is gorgeous," I tell him. "Thank you for bringing me here."

  "Not many people from the campsite make it down here," he remarks. "It’s a shame. It’s one of the prettiest places in the whole state."

  I smile. He brought me down here because he wanted to share it with me – because he wanted to make sure that I didn’t leave without getting to experience it. I can’t think of much in the world sweeter than that. I rest my head on his shoulder, feeling the soles of my feet tingling, wondering if this is real, if this can really be happening. There is no way that I just happened to stumble across the man of my dreams. Did I?

  "Do you want something to eat?" he asks, reaching for the backpack. "I got us some food..."

  He turns to face me, and, before I can answer, he pinches my chin between his thumb and forefinger and leans forward to kiss me. I close my eyes, surprised, but more than happy to go along with it. When he pulls back, he is smiling, and I can taste his sweetness on my lips.

  "What was that for?” I ask him.

  "You look as beautiful as the wild roses on the path, delicate but tough enough for this wilderness," he replies, running his hand down my neck, to my shoulder.

  His touch turns me on, and by the way he speaks to me, I know that he is having a hard time containing himself, too. We both want this. We both need this. And, when he kisses me again, lays me back on the blanket behind me and moves on top of me, I know that this is right. It is time.

  I wrap my arms around him as he moves to pull my legs up to meet him, grinding against me. I can already feel his hardness against my hip, the same hardness that I had in my mouth just a few hours ago. But now, I am craving him somewhere else entirely. I am craving a different part of him, a different edge to him, something fresh and new and something that I have never even thought about sharing with anyone before.

  But, thanks to him, I know that I am ready. I kiss him hard, letting our tongues meet slowly, feeling that heat beginning to build between my thighs as I give in to the sweet helplessness of the want that he has for me. Outside, I can hear the waterfall thundering, but it seems a million miles away – as far removed from the two of us as it’s possible to be right now.

  Nothing else in the world matters, nothing at all, but the pressure of his body against mine, the way his lips meet my own as though he has been starving for me all this time.

  "Fuck," he growls against my mouth, and he moves his hand down, pushes it beneath the pants that I threw on this morning – I know that I am already soaking wet for him, and, when he moves his fingers under my panties, he feels it, too. I groan as soon as he traces my clit, my whole body tensing as the relief courses through me. I need him. I need all of him. Every part of him that I can get.

  He seems to sense what is in my mind – before I know it, the two of us are stripping, tossing our clothes aside until we are both bare-ass naked, here in this little cave, in the middle of nowhere, but together, with each other. As long as I have him here with me, I know that I have nothing to be afraid of. Nothing to fear.

  He moves his body against mine, the two of us naked, our bodies matching one another as though they have been made for this. I want to feel every part of him; the craving that bursts to life inside of me almost makes me dizzy, and I sink my fingers into his back and pull him close to me. This is what I need. This is what I have always needed, even if I haven’t known it until this moment.

/>   He pushes his hand between my thighs and spreads my legs, guides his fingers inside of me, makes me moan. I tip my head back against the blanket and he moves his mouth to my neck, brushing his lips over my throat as he fingers me.

  "I want to be inside you," he murmurs into my ear. The words kindle a fire in my belly that I can’t deny any longer, and I spread my legs a little further, giving him all the permission he needs to push inside me, to make me his any way he wants to. I need to feel him. I need to feel him move within me. I need to know what it feels like to be with him properly – I need it, more than I have ever needed anything in my life.

  A moment later, I gasp as I sense his cock entering me. The feeling is new, for sure, but not painful – no, if anything, it feels... good. As though this is what I have always been meant for.

  "Tell me how you want it," he tells me, wrapping his arms around me as he slowly flexes his hips and pushes himself deeper and deeper inside of me. I am staring at the rock formation above us, the one just past his shoulder, lost to the sheer sensation of this moment. The shock of feeling him inside of me. How my body stretches to take him. He pulls back for a moment, looks into my eyes, scanning my face to make sure that he is not hurting me.

  "More," I breathe to him, and he doesn’t wait for another instruction. He pushes the rest of himself inside of me, filling me up to the brim, and I cry out, the sound whipped away by the rush of the water outside.

  I grasp his shoulders tightly as he holds himself inside of me, letting me get used to the feeling of his cock buried all the way into me.

  And then, finally, slowly, he starts to move.

  I am surprised at how easy it seems for my body to take this man. I am surprised by how good it feels to have him thrust into me – he goes slow, as though he is savoring every second that he has with me. His mouth finds my shoulder, my neck, and then my mouth again, the two of us kissing deeply as he moves inside of me. My hips lift, grinding back against him, loving every moment of his body against mine. My ankles tighten behind his back, pulling him in deep, needing more, needing anything and everything that he can give me.

  "You feel perfect," he breathes in my ear, and I can only moan in response. I wish I could tell him that he feels incredible, too – that he is everything that I have always wanted, all the things that I have dreamed of ever since I imagined losing my virginity to someone. But all I can do is hold onto him tight and move back against him, greet him with the same want that he greets me with and hope that I am telling him everything that he needs to know.

  With every thrust inside of me, it’s like he is stirring something, something that lives deep within me, something that I didn’t even know existed until the moment that I laid eyes on him. It is not as though I have much practice with orgasming, but I don’t need much, not when I am with him. My body aches for him, aching as it tenses, as it draws closer and closer to what I need – to that release that feels as though it’s driving me full-blown crazy. I gasp and hang onto him tight as I feel it hit me, the flood of the orgasm, the release that I need so badly.

  When it bursts, I freeze, feeling him as he continues to move inside of me, moving against my clenching pussy, hanging onto him like he is the only thing in the world that actually exists. My skin explodes with sensation, each nerve-ending lighting up at once to light his way to me – a few moments later, I feel him still, and then his cock twitches inside of me and he floods me with the warmth of his seed.

  And I hold him close, not wanting to lose a moment of this. I need to remember every second of this, the first time that I have ever been with him, with anyone. I swore that I was going to save myself for someone special – and, now that I have met him, I am sure that he is just that. The person I have been waiting for.

  Chapter Nine

  Cliff

  We walk, hand-in-hand, back to the cabin, and I wonder if she’s feeling half of what I am right now.

  I can’t stop thinking about what we shared back down at the cave. It has been a long time since I have been with someone like that, and it has never felt as good as it did with Harper.

  "Are you okay?" I ask her, and she smiles at me, a little shyly, clearly not wanting to give away too much. She nods.

  "It was a beautiful walk," she replies coyly, and I grin. There’s so much I want to ask her, but I don’t even know where to start. As long as she is here with me, that’s the best I can hope for. And I am going to enjoy every second of it.

  She doesn’t even mention going back to her cabin; I take her back to my place, put some water in the kettle on the stove so we can have some tea to warm up. Harper watches as I move around my kitchen.

  "You’ve been alone here for a long time, haven’t you?" she asks me suddenly. I glance over my shoulder.

  "How did you know?”

  "Just the way you carry yourself," she replies with a shrug. "You look like someone who hasn’t had to worry about someone else watching them for a long time."

  "Is that your way of saying that I look dumb?" I ask her, and she laughs and shakes her head.

  "No, not at all," she replies. "I like it. You don’t let anyone else bother you. I think that’s wonderful."

  I return to sit beside her on my small couch, hand her a cup of the tea that I have just made – I usually spike mine with whiskey, but I am playing at being good, at least for now. Not that she seems to be too worried about seeming like the perfect little preacher’s girl.

  "Do you like it?" she asks me.

  "Like what?"

  "Being alone here," she replies. "Do you like the quiet?"

  "Mostly," I reply. "But sometimes I could use some company."

  "You came all the way out here to avoid being stuck with people and ended up saddled with me," she remarks, lightly. "That doesn’t seem fair..."

  "Hey, I think you’re the one who got stuck with me," I point out, sliding an arm over the back of the couch to brush a hand over her shoulders. She shivers when I touch her – I like that I have this effect on her. The way she reacts to me, it’s hot as hell – and endearing to boot. I never want her to get tired of my touch.

  "I feel like I found you," she murmurs back, her eyes softening as she looks up at me.

  Fuck, when she looks at me like that, it’s hard to focus on anything else – hard to think straight. It’s not just lust, though that’s a part of it. There is something else here, too. Something more solid underneath the desire.

  "What we did back in that cave," she tells me, quietly. "I’ve never done that with anyone before. And I..."

  She trails off, looks up at me, her eyes flicking back and forth between mine. I know that there is so much she wants to say right now, but she’s not quite sure how to say it. So I decide to take the words out of her mouth, and I lean down to plant a kiss on her lips, brushing my mouth against hers softly.

  And as soon as our lips meet, I feel the urgent desire getting the better of me once more. I wrap my arms around her, pull her onto my lap, kiss her hard, the need rising up in me again. I don’t want to hold back. I don’t want to hide it. I just... want her.

  I lift her from the couch, her legs wrapped around my waist, and the two of us head through to my bedroom, our lips not leaving each other’s for a second. I lay her down on the bed and she pulls me on top of her like she is starving for me. Our tongues crash together and before I know it the two of us are undressing all over again.

  Our legs tangle as soon as we are naked. I am already hard – already craving being inside of her. She reaches down between my legs, pulls me towards her, so that my head is planted right at her entrance.

  "Please," she mewls, the need in her voice so hot to me that I can barely take it. But I have other ideas – other plans. And I intend to make the very most of them that I can.

  I flip her over, so that she is on all fours, and line myself back up against her. She barely has time to arrange herself again before I plunge back into her, thrusting deep inside of her, grabbing her hips to pull her back
against me like it is the only thing on earth that I need right now. She groans, tips her head back, lets out a cry of pleasure.

  I run my hand up her back and wind my fingers around her hair so that I can pull her back onto me, hard and fast.

  This isn’t like it was back in the cave, when we had been slow and tender and careful. No, the sounds she is making now tell me without a shadow of a doubt that she wants this rough and hard and constant, that she needs to feel me move inside of her as hard as I can. Her pink pussy is tight around my cock, spreading to take as much of me as she can at once.

  The way she arches her back, the way she pushes against me, it’s as though she’s starving for me. I don’t blame her. From the first moment I pushed inside of her, back at that cave, I’ve been able to see that we were meant for this – that our bodies have been made to go together in this way, and that nothing is going to change that. She moans softly and I tug on her hair, moving my other hand between her legs so that I can play with her clit as I fuck her.

  She feels so good, I know that I am not going to be able to hold out much longer. My whole body is tensing up, and so is hers, as though we are passing this pleasure back and forth between us. Her pussy is starting to clench around me, and I can tell that she is arching towards the edge. Her lips part, her eyes glazed, her head tipped back as her body moves against mine, and then, finally...

  "Oh!" she cries out, and I feel her body give in around me. As soon as she comes, I can feel the same pleasure pulsing up through me, too. Knowing that she is getting off, knowing that she wants this as much as I do – it’s everything that I need to get where I need to go.

  I push myself up to the hilt inside of her and hold myself there for a long moment, and let the pulsations of her snatch around my length take me where I need to go. A few moments after she has come, I feel my balls tingling as I unleash a wave of sperm into her pussy, binding us together, pulling us into each other.