The pad of his middle finger slid through my folds and I cried out. His touch was expertly soft and yet confident. He reached my opening and swirled around it. I felt myself rising on the edge of a climax just at his touch, but it was nothing compared to when his finger slid inside me and his thumb pressed into my clit.
An explosion of sensation caused me to open my mouth and his cock slid inside. His strong, sure hands held me by my core, a second finger going deep to join the other while his thumb circled on my clit. I was on sensory overload and a powerful orgasm shook me hard. I cried out with a mouth stuffed with his staff and closed my legs hard around his hand. But he was insistent, and my toes curled and my legs shook as I came.
When I felt like I was at the peak of the climax, my brain blanking out everything else in existence, he spun me on the bed. I opened my eyes in time to watch as he pulled my legs up to his chest, my feet dangling over his shoulders by his ears as he positioned himself. I took in a deep breath in anticipation as the head rested against my opening. He was so big I worried I wouldn’t be able to take him, and I tried to relax my hips in preparation.
Slowly, he slid himself inside inch by inch, allowing me to feel the full measure of him and adjust to accept him. I screamed out in a mixture of pleasure and pain and he drove deep into me. When his cock was fully in me, he waited a moment, letting me catch my breath. The stars faded from my vision. I looked deeply into his eyes as he rocked back and slid in again, deeper but gentler. He repeated the movement until I felt like I could take more, even though each thrust elicited a yelp.
I tried to open my mouth to tell him—to beg him—for more. I could feel the tension building inside me again, threatening to overtake me, and I wanted to let it release. But I wanted to release with him, to feel his powerful cock explode, to know that I had brought him to that climax. I could see in his eyes he wanted that too but didn’t want to hurt me. He was being gentle with me, and a flicker of worry crossed my mind that it was because he still thought of me as his little brother’s friend.
“Fuck me,” I moaned, our eye contact never breaking. “Please, fuck me.”
The intensity changed in his eyes. Whatever hesitation had been there was gone. Garrett pulled my legs down and flipped me over. When he pulled me back, I got up on my knees again, now facing away from him. His hand filled with my hair again, and he pulled back so my face was beside his, and he slammed into me. The pain of his cock filling me, stretching me in a way it had never been before, was overridden by the ecstasy of letting him take the control.
He slammed into me again and began a rhythm, his tongue sliding around my earlobe and then taking my neck, then shoulder as he rammed into me with increasing passion. I pressed my hands into the bed as he let go of my hair and grasped my hips, standing up straight as he pulled me in with each thrust. I was crying out every time he went deeply in me, and yet I cried for more. He obliged.
Suddenly, the thrusts became intense and ferocious. The world was dizzy around me as another orgasm was rushing over my body, sending my legs into vibrating fits. A growl rose from behind me, and suddenly, he went still as he emptied deep in me, my pussy pulsing with him, milking him and sending me into the most earth-shattering climax of my life. As we crumbled down into the bed together, I rolled over to settle into his chest and drifted off to sleep, the smell of his skin the only thing on my mind.
“I have to get back, you know?” I said, tracing my finger along his chest.
He sighed heavily and brushed a string of hair from my face. “Not if you don’t want to,” he said. “You could just stay here with me, naked in my bed, until the stars blinked out of the sky.”
I smiled and kissed the center of his chest. “While that sounds amazing, truly, I need to get back. I have to spend the day with the girls tomorrow, and then we catch the early flight home on Monday. I have to be a good bridesmaid.”
“That’s better than being naughty with me?”
“No,” I said, smiling but meaning it. “No, it isn’t. But I need to go.” I pressed another kiss to his chiseled abdomen and sighed, sitting up on my knees. He sat up too, and our lips met again for a long, slow, deep kiss.
“Okay,” he said. “I’ll help you find your clothes.”
A few moments later, I was dressed in my bra and panties and he pulled me in for another deep kiss. I nearly pushed him into the bed to start another round and had to steel my thoughts against it. His hands clenched deep into my ass cheeks as he kissed me, and I tried to hide my sadness behind a smile when he released me.
“It was so good to see you,” I whispered in his ear as we embraced once more when I was fully dressed. “Come find me in Green Valley if you ever decide to come back to Montana.”
He pulled back to look me in the eye.
“I’ll make time for you,” I said, grinning. “I promise.”
With that, I turned and walked out of the door, forcing myself to walk to the elevator without looking back. If I did, I knew I would never leave.
Chapter 13
Garrett
One week later
Luck was finally on my side the last morning I was going to be in Las Vegas. I had already come to the conclusion that I was done there. It had been weighing on me for a little while, but I didn’t want to be honest with myself about it. It took seeing Annabelle and hearing her talk about Green Valley and everything going on back in my old life to force me to recognize where I had actually gotten myself.
I couldn’t keep going like this. It just wasn’t an option anymore. So the day after Annabelle left, I started really thinking about what it would be like to head back. Or at least to leave Las Vegas.
Monday morning, I finished packing the last of my belongings and went downstairs for one more breakfast at the hotel.
It was my farewell to this part of my life. I had been there and doing this for so long, I knew it was over. So like I had every morning since that hotel became my home, I went downstairs and walked through the bank of slot machines to go to the breakfast buffet.
It seemed early in the morning to me, but they were already transitioning from the all-breakfast foods over to a lunch spread. After eating, I made my way back through the tiny casino and paused. This was going to be the last chance I was going to get, so I might as well say goodbye to the slot machines as well.
I put in my dollar, hit the button, and was shocked when the jackpot sign lit up and the siren went off. It was the first time I’d seen that happen. My winnings tumbled down and I felt like maybe it was a sign. Or maybe I was just being too sentimental and trying to convince myself this was actually a good idea.
Either way, I took the money voucher, converted it into bills, and brought it back upstairs to the room with me. I separated off a good chunk of it and left it on the dresser to thank the housekeeping staff for dealing with me. And for the incredible disaster they were going to have to deal with now that I was gone.
After Annabelle left, I tried to keep up with the room a little bit better. But I was already pretty far down in the hole when she got to me, so I could only improve but so much. Stuffing the rest of the money into my pocket, I picked up my luggage and headed outside to meet my car. It drove away from the hotel, and I didn’t look back.
Airports had never been my favorite places. I had bounced around and traveled a good bit, but I was never one to make flying my first choice. A lot of that was just because of the airport itself.
Impatient, frustrated people rushing all over the place, trying to blame everybody else for being late for their flights. Going through security and feeling like I might as well just strip right down to my underwear and turn over a dream journal of the night before so they could really see everything I was bringing with me. Then waiting. All the damn waiting. The airlines recommended getting to the airport hours ahead of time, yet you ended up sitting around in those uncomfortable chairs right outside the gate waiting.
That afternoon, I thought I wasn’t feeling the waiting.
I trimmed my buffer down and thought I was squeezing through security with barely enough time. My plan was to have to pull an eighties movie and run to the gate with my boarding pass waving above my head and have them shoo me onto the ramp with seconds to spare before the door closed.
At least that would give me an adrenaline buzz and stop me from having to think about this whole situation. What actually ended up happening was a text message arriving just as I shoved all my thoroughly picked-over belongings back into my carry-on.
My flight was late.
I headed to the counter at the gate and waited for a few seconds while the sour-looking woman behind it finished whatever she was doing on the computer. Finally, she looked up at me.
“Yes, sir, can I help you?” she asked. She definitely sounded like the last thing she wanted to do was help me.
“I just got a text saying the flight was late,” I said.
“Yes,” she said, unfazed. No explanation, no apology.
“We’re supposed to be taking off in less than an hour,” I said. “How am I just finding out about the delay now? Did the plane get stuck in traffic?”
“We understand the delay is an inconvenience to everyone on the flight, and we will be leaving as soon as possible,” she said.
The tone in her voice made it sound like it was entirely possible she had a string in her back somewhere and would just repeat the same message the exact same way if somebody tugged on it.
We were finally in the air almost three hours later, and I was hoping the delay hadn’t counteracted my luck from that morning. A little while after the seatbelt sign went off, the flight attendants started coming by offering drinks and snacks. One stopped beside me, and I was tempted by the tiny bottles of liquor jingling around in the cart, but I resisted.
“Orange juice please,” I said.
“Can I get you a snack?” she asked.
She had that look in her eye. It was a look I knew well. And one I would usually have jumped on the second I saw it. But this time, there was somebody else on my mind. All I was thinking about was Annabelle, and I met that leading look with a request for a bag of those odd blue potato chips I had never seen before I left Green Valley.
After drinking down my orange juice and crunching my way through the chips, I leaned my head back and closed my eyes. By the time I opened them again, I could look out the window and see rolling fields. They were the rich, coppery color of autumn and I knew I had left the stark desert and endless brown of Vegas far behind me.
I was getting close to home, and I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe I was actually coming back to this place, and my stomach fluttered a little bit thinking about it.
The crackling voice of the pilot came over the intercom to announce we would soon be landing. Everybody around me started going through the traditional dance of airline passengers. Sometimes, it seemed like anybody using public forms of long-distance travel forgot they hadn’t settled in to live in the plane or train.
As soon as they started approaching their final destination, they suddenly snapped into action, gathering up all their belongings, throwing away the trash that had inevitably spread out around them, and going into panic mode about whether they were actually ready to arrive.
I had nothing to do to prepare for landing except fold up my tray, secure my seat back in place, and take a breath. The landing was a touch harder than I would have hoped for. It felt like the ground came as a surprise to the pilot and rose up out of nowhere.
A few of my fellow passengers gasped and let out cries of shock and maybe even fear. I was struck by the thought that this would be my luck. I would finally decide it was time to go back and the universe would respond to my decision by having my plane smash into the tarmac.
At least it would end the need for me to wonder how they were going to react to me getting back.
As it turned out, the captain got a hold of the plane and we skidded to a stop on the runway. Everybody let out a collective sigh of relief and rushed to squeeze into the aisle. They wanted to get the hell off that plane as fast as they could.
I let the initial crush get by, then grabbed my bag and walked out into the aisle. As I got off the plane, I looked around at the passengers running to reunite with family and friends. They cheered and squealed as they jumped into each other’s arms. Everywhere around me, there were happy reunions.
I walked alone to the baggage claim. Nobody even knew I was there. I hadn’t told my brothers I was coming home. Part of me would like to say it was because I wanted it to be a surprise. But the reality was, I wanted to reserve the ability to change my mind if I wanted to.
And maybe a part of me didn’t want to give them the chance to react badly before I was actually standing in front of them.
After I had my luggage, I thought about what I should do next. Maybe I should get a room in the hotel on Main Street. There were always at least a couple of vacancies, and that would put me close without having me right there with my brothers. Truth be told, I was still worried to see them.
Were they going to be happy to see me? Somehow, I felt like that was unlikely.
I was just about to give them a call when I stopped myself. That wouldn’t be right. It might be easier, but it was also a copout. If I was going to go home, there was only one way to do it right. I had to go back to the ranch.
I walked out of the airport and over to the row of cabs sitting along the edge of the curb. The driver of one got out and opened the trunk for me to load up my bags. I climbed into the back and gave him directions to the ranch.
His eyes rose up to the rearview mirror when I said it was the Montgomery Ranch. I looked at those eyes, trying to figure out if I had seen them before. There was something about the hesitation that told me I had, but I wasn’t placing them. After a few seconds of hesitation, he pulled away from the curb and headed to the ranch.
My mind wandered back to Annabelle as we made the drive away from the airport. I wondered what she was doing right then. Maybe she was making dinner. She mentioned she had been taking care of her father and doing her best to get him to eat a healthier diet.
Or maybe she was taking it easy for the evening and was curled up in a chair in the living room, a fire roaring in the fireplace while she read a book.
Or maybe she was throwing caution to the wind and had gone out to The Junction for the night to dance with friends.
I stopped myself there. This was getting crazy. I had never spent so much time thinking about a woman. Never in my life. I’d spent less than two days with Annabelle and yet now I couldn’t get her out of my mind.
I never would have believed I could fall this hard for my brother’s best friend.
Chapter 14
Annabelle
A week after getting back from the bachelorette party trip to Las Vegas, I still felt like I was catching up a bit. I had only been away from the ranch for a few days, but that still meant there was a lot to be done when I got back.
My daddy had tried his best to do everything on his own, but there was no way just one man could run a ranch. Even with the help coming by, there were things I needed to do and that simply went undone while I wasn’t there.
At least I got the pleasant surprise of getting back to almost all the meals I prepared for him being gone. It did immediately cross my mind that maybe they ended up out with the livestock, but my father was able to describe them to me and had some strong opinions about a couple of them, so I decided to settle for the reality that he actually had eaten them.
A quick check of the garbage let me know he had also gone a bit rogue with a delivery pizza. He quickly explained that away as he had overheated the lentil soup and needed a replacement. The fact that there were several extra meals stashed in the freezer didn’t fit into his plan, but I figured he had done well, so I didn’t give him a hard time for it.
After a week of scrambling, I hadn’t been able to take a break on Sunday. So when I got the call from Bridget wanting to get togeth
er, I asked her if she could join me the next day to run some errands. It might not be the most exciting thing in the world, but at least it would give us a chance to spend some time together. I hadn’t seen her since she dropped me off after the trip, and she was dying to talk about our weekend adventure.
Fortunately, she was up for some browsing and met me in town Monday morning.
“So what are we after this morning?” she asked.
“Nothing too exciting,” I said. “Just need some things for the week.”
“One of these days, those grocery delivery services are going to come out here to Green Valley,” Bridget said.
I scoffed and shook my head. “Somehow, I doubt that. We’re too far out for anything. Besides, the general store delivers most things if you ask. And who really wants all their food picked out for them anyway? There are some things I know I just need to choose on my own. Like green peppers.”
“Green peppers?” Bridget asked.
“Yes,” I said. “What if my garden doesn’t produce enough and I suddenly decide I need to make stuffed peppers? You think I trust somebody else to pick my peppers for me?”
“I think we’re sliding dangerously close to nursery rhyme territory here,” Bridget said.
“All right, peppers aside, there’s nothing better than freshly baked bread. Going up to the bakery and getting fresh bread is one of my favorite things in the world. Thanksgiving is coming up soon, and I have to start stocking up the freezer. All the good bread will sell out too fast and I won’t have anything to make stuffing with.”
“You really amaze me sometimes,” Bridget said.
I didn’t bother to ask her how she stocked her kitchen. I knew for a fact the town where she worked, about half an hour away from Green Valley, had a huge modern grocery store. She loaded up there before coming home.
It was another one of the reasons I sometimes asked myself why this woman stayed in Green Valley. It wasn’t exactly her scene. But she loved it despite all the ways she didn’t fit in. Maybe one day she would find reason to leave and put down roots somewhere else. Until then, she would just find ways to adapt so she could keep on enjoying our beautiful little town.
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