River from the City: A Small Town Contemporary Romance (Rydell River Ranch Series Book 6)

by Leanne Davis

  She tapped a little beat on his chest, right over his heart with her fingertips, while watching them closely. “All good things?”

  “No, great things. The best things. I still don’t understand how I could have ever settled for anyone less than who you are.”

  She flipped her head up with a huge grin and said, “Simple. There is literally only one of me.”

  His hands shifted to her waist as he gave her a tender, long, indulgent smile. “And luckily, you’re mine.”

  Her stupid, un-feminist heart lurched with pleasure at being called “his” even if she was not a girl who sought or wanted to be owned. “You’re as much mine as I am yours.”

  “Exactly.”

  He tugged her up higher so their lips could touch without him straining. On and on he kissed her. Lying there, stomach-to-stomach, their legs intertwined. Lazy and long. Hot and demanding. Soft and languid. He had themes for all the kisses. Every kind. She grew ardent and finally too hot and flustered to keep up without something more happening. She ached everywhere. All the girlie places burned with a sharp, needy, greedy urge to sate her feelings.

  She moaned into his mouth when he lazily withdrew his tongue and was idly nibbling on her lips. He moved his mouth to touch the corner of hers, and slid down to kiss her throat. She tilted her neck back, enjoying it… but oh! The torture and burning. She felt it everywhere. She groaned again. “Hunter…” Her voice was strangled as if she were in agony.

  He kissed her some more, licking her neck as she dropped her head down and their mouths met again. “Kyomi,” he responded. His tone did not sound frustrated but soft and calm, as if it were easy for him to speak. Meanwhile, she was straining and hurting.

  Fully pulling her head back, she evil-eyed him. “Are you not burning up?”

  “No. Is it too hot in here? Shall I open a window?” His eyes gleamed with amusement. Oh, of course he knew what she meant. He knew very well what he was doing to her.

  “No. You’re such an asshole.”

  He laughed as he flipped her over and pushed her shirt up in the same action. Grabbing his shoulders with surprise, she prepared to be stripped of her shirt. His gaze roamed over her face, neck, collarbone and the nude bra that covered her. “Nice and big. Just the way I like them.”

  She evil-eyed him again. His hands undid the clasp, releasing the ample orbs. He bent down and trailed his lips down her neck to her collarbone and she quit talking and laughing. Suddenly, she had no words to say, just sighs and moans came from her mouth. His mouth slid to her nipple and he cupped and lifted her round, fleshy breasts while he sucked and licked on the pebbly, hard tip.

  He lifted his mouth long enough to utter, “Your sighs are hot as fuck.”

  She moaned at his words as he ducked back down to feast on her. Completely and utterly. Then he lifted himself off her and stripped off his own clothes. Her gaze lapped up his long torso, lanky build and trim muscles. Ginger hair covered his powerful legs as his naked body strained towards her. She sat up and he came back to the bed, taking her in his arms. She straddled her legs over his. Gripping her hips, he moved her tightly against him. His penis was wedged hard, long and hot between them, pressing right against her. It made her moan with uninhibited need.

  She reached down to caress the tip between them and rubbed him. His mouth devoured hers and his tongue went deeper, nearly choking her but it was wonderful.

  She released him and pulled away, finding a condom, ripping it open, and sliding it over the length of him. His gaze was heavy and hot on her as she accomplished her task. Glancing up, their eyes locked and they both shuddered. Thoughts of want, power, need and emotion swept over her and almost drowned her. Never before did she feel anything so strong.

  She rose up and put her hands on his shoulders, first one and then the other. Their gazes were locked as tightly as a deadbolt. He was straining between them. Her body was weeping in anticipation of him. But she stayed on her knees, holding onto him to stay upright, their faces inches apart, staring without words. Both were entranced. Totally hypnotized. She blinked and leaned forward slowly. Her mouth kissed his with a gentle ease.

  Releasing his lips, she looked down at him and his face tilted up. He was watching her with captivated, unblinking interest. Power and surrender filled her mind. She was all his. He conquered her completely. She might be his forever. She felt that strange feeling shudder through her again. She hated to be so needy of him. But she was also in full control. She didn’t miss the lust for her in his eyes. It made her feel like the most beautiful creature she could imagine. She felt that positive and confident in that moment.

  Holding his gaze, she moved her hands to his neck and lowered herself over his straining hot penis, like a sword slicing deep inside her. She started off slow and then, locking her eyes on his, she impaled herself as she let out a squeal. He was so deep inside her. He felt so thick and strong and powerful. It almost overwhelmed her. Not painful, but an achy, hot tenderness and sensitivity.

  He stayed still. And then… her heart melted when he leaned forward, his forehead bumping hers before going motionless. His body was buried deep inside her, his face right there, and their eyes nearly crossing when they looked at each other. It was hot and achy, deep and tender. How could it be all those things at once?

  Finally, she rocked her hips and his entire body shuddered in response. There it was: power and surrender. All at once. Yin and yang. Hot and tender. Crazy and life-changing. Like an epiphany that her whole body could experience.

  Then he moved, thrusting up higher. She held her breath in an audible gasp, “Oh, Hunter.” Her tone was soft, like a sensual caress, so rare and special.

  She closed her eyes and let her head fall on his shoulder as she kissed the skin there. She squeezed him inside her and begged him to steal her heart.

  He moved upwards as she pressed down. They held tightly onto each other as they moved together. It was deep and slow and personal and intimate. His breath was on her neck, and hers on his. She kissed his shoulder and neck randomly as waves of feeling swamped her.

  He rubbed her hip, back and breasts. When he raised his hips upwards, and planted her entire body over him so he was deep inside her, she kept straining for even more of him. Her breasts shook and quivered with each powerful stroke from him. She had to cover her mouth when the sounds matched the pace that fully overtook her body. After a long, straining effort, he finally came inside her.

  Only then did she relax into his arms. He caught her as if she were a deflating balloon.

  “Oh, my God,” she whispered when most of her words were unavailable. She gasped as he held her tightly against his torso.

  Releasing her, his mouth found hers in a long kiss, and his eyes slammed shut as if he were still hypnotized by her.

  By her.

  The thrill and intimacy of his release and his admitted interest in her overwhelmed and exhilarated her.

  “That was awesome,” she muttered without thinking.

  She let him lift her torso back up and found him grinning down at her with an amused glint in his eyes. “Awesome?”

  His hand drifted to her cheek as he slid a finger down the side of it.

  She shifted around but he held her in place and kept her gaze on his. Crap, that wasn’t exactly the way she felt. It was so much more. It sounded like a roller coaster ride or something as non-intimate. “No. Amazing. Wonderful. All the girlie things. I just said awesome because it’s…”

  “The way you talk.” His smile was fondly sweet. Maybe she tilted her head just a tad because he found her cute?

  Then his fisted hand came towards her.

  Her heart twisted and swelled and dropped into her guts. His gesture, and the twinkle in his eyes, said it all. Yeah, he knew her. She bumped her fist with his and he opened his hand, palm up as she opened hers. She was fascinated when his fingers curled around hers. “You are awesome. That was awesome. We are awesome. You got that right.”

  She sagged into
him with a self-conscious laugh, but her heart was flying. Fist bump. Yeah, he got her, all right.

  Then he leaned back and brought her with him before slipping out of her body. Rising up, he removed the condom and looked around until he found the tissue box. He wrapped the latex up and set it in the trash basket near her desk. She marveled at his ease in moving around naked, dealing with the afterglow of sex and his thoughtfulness in the condom removal. Her heart might have fully fallen for him in that moment.

  She allowed herself a long, languid look of his substantial stature. He was like a tall glass of water filled with champagne.

  “You are beautiful.”

  Eyes widening, she realized she said it out loud, and judging by the way his gaze popped up to her, he was surprised too. His mouth slid into a small, sweet smile. He edged closer to her until he was above her. He stared down into her face and replied, “Thank you.”

  She had audible regret in her voice. “No one’s ever said that to you before? Do you think it’s weird for me to think so?”

  He touched her face. “No, no one has. No, I don’t think it’s weird. I actually like that you think so because I like you.” His gaze stayed on her eyes before traveling over her face, her neck, and her torso. “I like all of you.”

  Oh, damn. Her heart thumped too hard. “I like all of you too,” she whispered.

  He leaned down to kiss her and lowered his body closer to her height. “Good. Because that was just the start.”

  And holy shit, was that just the start…

  It was the day of the funeral for Kate Reed. Hunter left the tragic, exquisite, haunting funeral unable to speak. No one knew what to say. What words could possibly capture the sadness and pain everyone felt? Everything that could be said had been. But it wasn’t like a movie that faded to the next scene after all the tributes and accolades were over. Now? Everyone just went on with their lives. They went home. Or got gas or went grocery shopping. Maybe they paid some bills or fell asleep in the afternoon. Everything just went on without Kate.

  Hunter gave Asher a hug. He had no words of consolation. “I’m here. Call me.”

  Asher nodded. That was enough for now. They got each other. Hunter stopped off at his parents’ house and they had a long, quiet sit-down together. No one really talked much, but they all appreciated the chance to be together again. And to be alive.

  After that, he went to Kyomi’s house. Her dad’s house, rather. He bunked down there often now. Kyomi stressed and complained about the smallness of it. How cramped, shabby, and old it was. The very opposite of classy and expensive.

  He shushed her when she fretted over him being there. “I want to be here with you. Anywhere with you. Stop it. Stop relegating me to a penthouse and a lifestyle I no longer seek. I don’t care where we are as long as you are wherever I am.”

  It took more cajoling to convince Kyomi Wade to fully stop and just be with him. He made her believe he wasn’t going anywhere even now that he was fully involved and emotionally invested in her. She stopped cleaning the counter, walked over to the center of the room and looked up at him. “I don’t think… yes, I’m sure I’ve never been enough for anyone before. Not my parents after my brother died. No, not at all for them. Not for Asher either, since he needed Daisy. I was never enough just as… me.”

  “I know. I know that.” He stared down at her. “But you are to me. You are completely enough. Every single, frizzy curl you forget to style, every wayward freckle that is kissed by the sun, and every smudge of dirt you swipe onto your face without realizing it. Every job you do so efficiently. Every honest word you speak. Every kiss you give me. Every time you smile. Every time you look at me as if I might disappear. I like it. All of it. And you are more than enough, as you are. Full stop.”

  “I guess the family fratricide that made my parents fall apart and stop parenting me had more lasting effects than I realized or like to admit.”

  He smiled as he drew her into his arms. “Apparently. But even that is enough. It’s okay. All I wanted today was you. Death hurts. Watching others grieve tears one apart. The only thing that makes it tolerable is one person who makes it all right just… to be.”

  Her smile was full. “I’m very good at that. Letting things be.”

  He tucked her wild hair back. “You sure are.”

  She nodded, her eyes large and watchful. “You’re serious about this. Us?”

  “Serious as a heart attack.”

  “That’s a stupid saying.”

  He laughed. “It is. But I am that serious. Yes.”

  “I bought ice cream. Want some? We could go out and watch the sunset or just eat ice cream.”

  He closed his eyes, then opened them, blinking back tears. She reached up and touched them as she added softly, “If you want to, you can tell me about these. But only if you want to.”

  “Yes. I want to do exactly that. All of it.”

  He did. They sat on the porch steps, sharing a carton of ice cream and passing it back and forth. He told her about his aunt. About AJ and Asher, Cami and Kate and his experiences growing up around them. He told her what it felt like to see all of them hurting so badly and feeling so broken at the sight of Kate’s corpse.

  “I brought home all the feelings with me. All the reality as brutal as it sounds. We all die. We all lose people. It made me grateful that my parents and brother aren’t—”

  “Dead?” she supplied when he abruptly realized what he meant to say.

  He shuddered and grabbed her hand. “I’m sorry, that was careless.”

  She leaned against him and rested her head on his shoulder. “No. It’s nice to say out loud. To talk about and fully acknowledge.”

  “You can tell me about your brothers. Just the stuff from before it went so wrong. All of it. Any of it. None of it. Whatever helps.”

  She tilted her head up. “That isn’t something anyone else ever welcomed.”

  “Asher would have,” he grudgingly admitted about his cousin.

  “But I couldn’t tell him. For some reason, I could only tell you. I have no reason for it.”

  He sighed and leaned his head on hers. “It’s just how we feel. I know, no explanation or solid understanding is required, because it just is.”

  “He was funny. Kyle was very funny. Rough and hard too, but he had these bright, surprising insights with people that were amazingly right on and profound. It didn’t happen very often but when he popped out with something, it was so true. Even his observations of me or Kodi or my parents. Then he’d go back to his usual self, ignoring all things deep. But those few moments with him made me feel so…”

  Her voice drifted off, along with her gaze.

  He nudged her with his knee. “So… what?”

  “So special to him. I was the only one he told those things to. He wasn’t demonstrative, none of my family were. But he told me things he didn’t tell others. I liked being his go-to person. He was older too so he became kind of a hero to me.” She snorted. “What a good judge of character I was, huh?”

  “He was your brother. You were allowed to care about him.”

  “I loved him. Intensely. He always noticed me when no one else did. So why did he hurt Kodi? I can’t… I still can’t grasp it. I think it’s as much of a mystery as why the Francine you knew and loved could do what she did. I know people are only human, but some people make mistakes while others choose to commit sins that are so much worse than others, how could we forgive them? How?”

  “I agree. We don’t. We accept whatever they did. We don’t have to forgive, just accept so we can eventually move on. At least, that’s my strategy.” He gripped her hand and squeezed it. “But adultery isn’t fratricide. You didn’t deserve so much hurt, agony, and hatred. He murdered your brother. You never saw it coming.”

  They were silent again until Hunter asked, “What about Kodi?”

  “He was quiet and hard to read. I didn’t really know him. Or bond with him. He was depressed a lot of the time. I rem
ember that. Looking back, I’m sure he was clinically depressed. I obviously didn’t know the condition then, but he was a textbook case of it. No one in my family would talk about it or find out what to do to relieve it. He wasn’t as kind or loving as Kyle, but obviously, I was wrong about Kyle. It made me doubt my judgment when it comes to meeting new people. Hence, the honesty thing.”

  “And keeping everyone at arm’s length.”

  “Yes, all that.”

  He pulled her against him and she let him, leaning into his arms. Speaking quietly, he said, “Whatever happens, I think we should admit we are in this for real. This is the kind of relationship that doesn’t fade away. It’s not all sex. It just…”

  “Is?” she supplied. “Yes. I agree.”

  He smiled down at her. “So we just are?”

  She wasn’t fully ready for him to keep repeating he loved her. Not prepared to hear it. Not yet. Not so soon. After witnessing his response to Francine’s betrayal, cheating and subsequent divorce, it was still too soon. She met him while she was still with Asher. Too soon for her and Hunter to be dating and having sex and passionate feelings. But the potential? Huge. Right. There.

  She held out a fist.

  He glanced down at it, then up and started to laugh after the hardest day he could remember. He bumped his fist on hers and they shared a long look, with happy smiles that were reflections of their hearts.

  Candy and roses, romantic dates and pretty words were great, fun, an awesome way to start any relationship, but now he knew the real stuff. The stuff that supported long-term happily-ever-afters. One slow, tender fist bump symbolized all the understanding they saw in each other’s eyes, and the significance of the simple touch meant everything.

  Five months passed. Five months of blissful sex, deep friendship, ranch work, grieving for Kate, and helping Asher. They had to watch him get hurt all over again after insisting that Daisy leave for no good reason, except he was scared.