by Elle Thorpe
I shook my head. “I’ve no plans to leave anytime soon. I’m happy here. There’s a lot to like about living on your property.” I didn’t mention that my biological brother being only a few hours away was one. And that their eldest daughter was very much the other.
I eyed the stairs again, impatient to see her walk down them.
A timer went off in the kitchen, and Addie excused herself to go check on the oven. Frost had flicked on the TV to a baseball game, so I sat on the other couch and got out my phone.
With a smirk, I sent Summer another text. Get down here before I come up there after you.
Immediately the little text bubbles appeared, and a second later, her message. I bought you something while I was out.
Yeah? What?
I’m putting it on. But you can’t see it until later.
Holy shit.
Did that mean what I think it did? My head snapped up as she walked down the stairs in a blue cotton summer dress, our gazes clashing. It was pretty and free flowing with tiny little flowers, but I could see that…her message had said I couldn’t see it until later. So she must have been talking about what was under it. I took a long swallow of my drink and a few deep breaths in order to keep my dick under control.
The doorbell rang, and Frost looked toward it with a puzzled expression. “Who the hell uses the bell around here?”
Summer shrugged and took a step toward the entranceway, but Lennon and Callie came thundering down the stairs, pushing and shoving each other out of the way, both of them scrambling to get it. Summer had to take a giant step back and plastered herself against the wall so she wasn’t mowed down by her sisters.
Callie got to the door first and yanked it open. “Hey! You made it.”
She stood back, and Preston walked in, taking off his baseball cap and smoothing his hair out. “Yeah, thanks for the invite.”
Summer raised an eyebrow in my direction, and I just shrugged. I’d had no idea Preston was coming either. Or what was going on with him and Callie. Or Lennon? I had no idea.
“Food’s ready!” Addie called from the kitchen.
Preston was the first to head in that direction, traipsing out of the living room with Callie and Lennon following him. Frost shot Summer a confused look, but she just shrugged at him. He sighed and trailed after, seemingly resigned to the fact that his younger daughters might be harboring a crush on one of his cowboys.
Summer and I took up the rear, moving slowly to give us a few seconds alone.
“What did you buy?” I whispered.
She bit her lip. “I told you, I’ll show you later.”
Damn if that didn’t make me want to pull her straight out of this house and back to my cabin. I groaned beneath my breath and linked my pinky finger through hers. I just wanted to touch her. Even if only for a second.
She glanced down at our joined fingers with a soft smile, but then it fell an inch. “I don’t want to make this a big deal in front of everyone just yet. I’m so sick of being the center of attention. And you know the town will explode once news of this gets out.”
“This?” I questioned with a grin.
She swatted my arm. “Yeah, this. Whatever this is. You and me. We’re a this, aren’t we?”
“Dominic! Summer! Hurry up, we want to eat!”
I dropped her fingers and entered the kitchen a step or two ahead, without answering her. The Hunts’ dining room was around a corner from their kitchen. The big, solid wooden table was the centerpiece of the room, the top covered by a sunny yellow cloth, only the thick wooden legs poking out from beneath the hem. Food filled multiple platters, roast meats and vegetables emitting a taste bud tantalizing smell that had me drooling.
My stomach rumbled. I was suddenly starving for more than just Summer.
Frost sat at the head of the table, already helping himself to a platter of roast beef, while Addie sat at the other end, sipping her glass of wine. She smiled as Summer and I took the only two remaining seats, sitting side by side. The twins had situated themselves next to Preston, squishing together a little because the table really wasn’t made for seven. Callie dominated the conversation, asking Preston all about his training, while the rest of us got started on the food.
I was more than happy about the seating arrangement. Summer moved her chair an inch closer, her bare leg brushing mine beneath the table. I glanced at her, but she was steadfastly concentrating on putting mashed potato on her plate.
“Dominic, Kai said the two of you have been hatching plans to move into getting our bulls on the rodeo circuit?” Addie passed me a bowl of green beans, distracting me from the warmth of Summer’s leg.
“Yes, ma’am. Grave Digger made a bit of a name for himself last month. Got people buzzing about y’all.”
She beamed at that. “Fantastic news.”
Kai cleared his throat. “I actually had a call this afternoon. A stud service offered to buy him.”
Summer paused. “How much?”
“A lot more than I would have thought he was worth.”
I shook my head. “He’s good. He’s got raw potential. Don’t sell. You could make more money from his offspring. Get him with a cow whose sire was a good kicker and you could have yourself a nice little money-making pot.”
Callie spoke up, steering the conversation to one of the times she’d seen Preston ride Grave Digger, and Kai and Addie both turned their attention back to their younger daughters.
Summer’s leg brushed against mine again, and the tiny grin on her face told me she was doing it deliberately to tease me.
Two could play at that game.
Switching my fork to my right hand, I stabbed at a bean innocently, while my other hand drifted beneath the table and clamped over Summer’s knee.
She froze beside me, her breath hitching.
Good. I pulled her knee toward me ever so slightly, while still eating my dinner. But she’d faltered in her chewing. I kept moving her leg closer and closer to me until I knew that they were spread wide beneath the table. If anyone had stuck their head beneath the tablecloth right now, they’d have been flashed with Summer’s panties and my hand on her thigh.
I relaxed my hold for a moment, giving her the chance to move away. But I roared inside when she didn’t. Preston droned on and on about his last competition, and I trailed my fingers over the silky softness of Summer’s thigh, slowly inching higher and higher, pushing the hem of her dress up.
Her skin was so smooth. And warm. Her uneven breathing beside me only increased while I walked my fingers farther up her leg, until they brushed over the fabric of her panties.
Summer shot to her feet. “Wine. We need more of it.”
I stifled a grin, watching her run out of the dining room and disappear around the corner.
There was an almost full bottle of wine on the table.
Nobody else seemed to notice. Preston was too busy entertaining them with the story about how a bull had ripped the back of his jeans and left his ass on display for an entire rodeo audience. He was a good storyteller, and his personality was larger than life, commanding attention.
Nobody even looked my way as I stood and mumbled something about helping Summer in the kitchen.
She was fumbling with the cork on a wine bottle when I walked in. Her head snapped up, and our gazes clashed.
Fuck, she was beautiful. A fire burned behind her eyes, and with her breaths still slightly erratic, her chest heaving, I’d never wanted her more.
“Dom,” she warned feebly.
I wasn’t listening. I closed the gap between us, put my hand to the back of her neck, and hauled her in, devouring her mouth with my own. She melted into me, a tiny whimpering noise of need escaping her chest, our tongues moving in unison.
She wanted more. I could tell by the way she pressed herself to me, desperate and needy, and I dipped to grab her thigh again, slipping my hand beneath her dress. But this time, there was no slow wandering of fingers. I dragged my hand up her leg and c
upped her mound.
She moved away an inch, tearing her lips away from mine. She darted wild, unfocussed eyes toward the dining room. “Not here.”
I backed off straightaway, more than willing to save it for when we were alone, but then she bit her lip and let out a groan of frustration. “Fuck. Okay, yes. Just a little bit here.”
A grin spread across my face. I backed her up against the kitchen cupboard and snuck a look at the doorway. But the sounds of laughter still rang out from dining room. And there was no way I was turning her down now.
I kissed her hard, her head hitting the cupboard behind her, and slid my hand up her dress once more, but this time I went beneath her panties to cup her pussy. Her fingers clenched into my biceps, and I stifled her moan, finding her clit with one finger.
“Hurry,” she murmured over my lips.
I dipped my finger lower and let it slide through her folds.
There was no managing my erection. She was so soaking wet, all I wanted to do was rip her panties off and slide my dick right inside the pool of arousal between her thighs. “You’re so wet,” I whispered in her ear. I pushed one finger up inside her tight slit and was rewarded with the rocking of her hips and her teeth biting down on my shoulder.
God, I would do her right here, right now, if I thought that was what she wanted.
But I knew it wasn’t. The first time I slept with her wasn’t going to be a three-pump quickie in the middle of her kitchen.
No, I was going to take my time with her. I’d waited all these years. I could wait a little longer.
I pulled my finger from inside her and stepped back. Her gaze lifted to mine, her breath coming in pants.
I put my finger to my mouth and licked her off it.
“Fuck, that’s hot,” she whispered.
I leaned in, moving her hair aside, so I could whisper in her ear. “Go finish dinner. Do whatever you need to do. Then meet me at my place.”
She brushed her lips over mine. “I think I like it when you’re bossy.”
I swatted her on the ass. “Get out of here.”
“Aren’t you coming? Your dinner will be getting cold.”
I shook my head and looked down at the erection straining behind my fly. “I can’t come out until you leave and that goes away.”
She sniggered. “What am I going to tell my family?”
“That I need a cold shower because all I can think about is bending you over this countertop?”
We both eyed it, like I might actually do it.
I groaned. “Seriously, Summer. Go.”
With a final, longing glance at me, she left the room. I slumped back on the cupboards and took a deep breath.
My cabin had a countertop, too. I could wait.
20
SUMMER
Dom excused himself not long after the meal came to an end, and with a final secret glance in my direction, disappeared into the night. I clenched my legs together and tried to patiently wait an appropriate amount of time to go after him.
On the couch, Callie and Preston chatted animatedly, both their outgoing personalities competing for the limelight, while Lennon sat quietly, watching them.
When she got up and left the room without a sound, my big sister senses went off, and I followed after her. I knocked on her door, but when she didn’t answer, I let myself in.
She glanced up from where she was flopped across her bed, but she didn’t say anything.
“You like Preston?” I asked.
She shrugged. “It’s not that, exactly. I just wish I were more like Callie.”
I tilted my head. “Why, though? You’re pretty great as you are. If Preston doesn’t see that, it’s his loss.”
She sighed. “You’re my sister. You have to say things like that.”
“Not true. I could have just ignored the fact you slunk away up here.”
She eyed me. “Why aren’t you off with Dom?”
I tried to shrug casually. “Why would I be?”
Lennon rolled her eyes. “Because you want to get all up on him, as much as Callie wants to get all up on Preston.”
I cringed. “That obvious?”
“To me it is. But I pay more attention than most people.”
She did. She was the most introverted of the three of us. Callie was the complete opposite and forever the life of the party.
“You think Mom and Dad noticed?”
She shook her head. “Nah. They’ve got their own things going on. They’re just happy you’re not moving to the city anymore.” She smiled softly. “So am I.”
That actually took me by surprise. “But you liked Austin.”
“I like Dom more. And I like having you here.”
A warmth radiated through me. The twins had always been close, and they had a bond I’d always felt like I couldn’t worm my way into, no matter how hard I tried. For the most part, it hadn’t seemed to matter. I had a bond with my dad that neither of them had. Things all seemed to work themselves out in the wash. But it was nice to hear she was glad I was staying.
“Just one thing, though. If you’re going to have sex with Dom in the kitchen, sanitize afterward, okay?”
My eyes went wide. “I didn’t have sex with him!”
She shrugged. “What the hell were you doing in there then? Wasted opportunity if you ask me.”
I was suddenly not sure I knew my quiet youngest sister at all.
Claiming the need to walk off a food coma, I left my parents, Callie, and Preston playing a game of charades. The night air was muggy, but it was soft after the noise of the house. Each step I took toward Dom’s cabin had me moving a little bit faster, a little more eager to see him with every passing minute.
My core still throbbed with the beginnings of an orgasm that had never been achieved. My panties didn’t help, slick and rubbing over my mound with every step, a constant reminder of how damn horny I was.
I’d completely lost my head back there in the kitchen. Dom had his fingers inside me, working me toward a climax with a roomful of people just feet away. Thank God he’d stopped because I didn’t think I would have. I would have just let him keep doing what he was doing, his fingers deep inside me, hitting the spot that sent trembles through my entire body.
I’d wanted him to fuck me. I’d wanted him to push me up against the cupboard and take me right then and there.
Something deep inside me clenched, and by the time I got to his cabin door, I was breathless, but it wasn’t because I’d broken into a run.
It was purely because I needed him so badly.
The door opened as my foot hit the top step, and then he was there, door open before I could even knock, like he’d been waiting for me. Dark eyes shining in the moonlight, drinking me in, turning me to liquid with the fire in his gaze.
I stopped dead, suddenly unsure of what to do. Did we just go straight back to where we’d been in the kitchen? Or did we need to sit and talk first?
Dom didn’t have any of the same hesitations as I did.
“What took you so long?” he growled, striding out into the night and hauling me to his chest.
His lips came down on mine, hungry and demanding, and everything that had been tense and hesitant unfurled for him. “I don’t know,” I mumbled between fast, hard kisses. “I’m an idiot.”
His fingers gripped my hips, and he picked me straight up off the ground, sitting me on the porch railing. My knees opened on instinct, welcoming him between my legs like he’d always belonged there.
“Not an idiot,” he murmured, lips trailing off my mouth and across my jaw to my neck. “But that was the longest thirty minutes of my life.”
I dropped my head back on my shoulders, giving him better access to bite and suck and lick my neck. I clutched him tighter, digging my fingers into his shoulders, while wrapping my legs around his waist.
His erection pressed against my panties. “You’re hard again.”
“Been hard the whole time, just remembering what you
taste like.”
Heat flooded my cheeks. His fingers slipped beneath the hem of my dress again, this time running up the outer sides of my thighs, until he got to two ribbon ties at my hips.
His head jerked back in surprise. “What the hell kind of panties are these?” he groaned. “If I pull these ribbons…”
I grinned at him in the darkness and leaned closer. “You should probably pull them once we’re inside…”
He glanced around, but the night was thick, and there were no lights on in the nearby cabins. I knew the guys were probably all at the Black Bull Bar, like half the town was on weekends. Slowly, defiantly, Dom pulled the ribbons, and the fabric fell away.
I raised an eyebrow, my system flooding with adrenaline at the idea of getting caught out here. “Dom…”
My dress still covered me, offering some sense of security. Dom’s fingers found my clit, and I gasped at the contact. He rubbed it, slowly working the tiny ball of pleasure and spreading a tingling warmth through my entire body.
He kissed me again, his tongue plunging inside my mouth, taking control, and showing me that while I might be the boss at work, I wasn’t here.
I kept my eyes open, glancing around for movement, but my body grew more and more relaxed the more Dom touched me, and by the time he plunged two fingers up inside me, I’d all but forgotten my name. I was so wet, so ready, and the orgasm that threatened had been building inside me for hours.
In a sudden jerk of movement, Dom swept me from the railing and carried me through the open door. I wrapped my arms around his neck, yanking him in for another kiss as he kicked the door shut behind us.
“I wanna make you scream, Summer. I can’t have you screaming out in public where people might come running.” He tossed me onto his bed, the mattress dipping beneath my weight, then followed me with his big body looming over me.
I had no idea where my panties had gone. They’ fallen off somewhere between the porch and the bed, and I didn’t even care. I just wanted him to go back to what he was doing.
He didn’t disappoint. He kissed me long and hard while he hauled the skirt of my dress up, putting me on display for him.
