by Em Petrova
She tangled her fingers in the hair on his nape. “You did. We’re both okay because of you.”
“My poor old paint mare.” His voice was ragged from too much dust but more from emotion.
“I know, I know. I’m sorry. You were so strong, Kade. I would have put her down for you.”
“No, it was my duty.” He picked her up and turned for the bunks. Hers beckoned to him. It was nearest the window with a shaft of light falling over the quilt. Her western shirt was thrown across it and a pair of boots he’d never seen her wear sat at the foot.
She wrapped her legs around his waist and when he pressed her into the thin mattress, she met his gaze. Electricity sparked between them and he couldn’t hold back the words. “I love you, Ryan.”
“You too,” she whispered thickly. She leaned up and kissed him.
Tenderness rocked his being as he eased his tongue between her honeyed lips. Dust clung to her lashes and coated the freckles on the bridge of her nose, but she was the most gorgeous woman in the universe.
Tearing from the kiss, he looked into her eyes. They were an odd mixture of green and brown, gold and amber. “Tell me again,” he grated out.
“I’m in love with you, Dalton.” Her eyes didn’t change, but the feelings in his chest swelled a hundred-fold.
With a growl, he swooped in and captured her mouth. Between tongue-thrusting kisses, he told her what he was going to do to her. “I’ll take you hard and fast. Right here and now. Then once you’ve screamed my name—any names you’d like because I don’t mind you using both as long as you love me—I’ll cram myself into that itty bitty shower stall with you and make you forget all the fights we had.”
Giggling, she stroked his length through his jeans, sending white-hot need through his groin. “That shower won’t hold us both. My elbows touch each wall when I wash my hair.”
“We’ll fit fine.”
“I don’t want to forget all the fights we had.”
He stopped plucking at her buttons to search her gaze. “I was an ass to you.”
“I wasn’t the nicest all the time either.”
“You don’t want to forget me yelling at you to do things my way?”
“Well, maybe not remember the words so much as the meaning behind them.”
He arched a brow at her. “Yeah?”
“Your momma said she knew you loved me those first days by the look on your face.”
His heart turned over. He’d heard Momma and Pa’s story and recalled how they’d also fought a lot in the beginning. At the time Ryan had been driving Kade nuts, he hadn’t considered the parallels, but now they were as clear as the sky after that dust storm.
“I want you, sweetheart. Can I kiss these purdy pink lips?”
Under his stare, her mouth turned up into a beautiful smile. “You’re askin’ now? Never have before.”
Damn, he loved the way she talked. With a grunt, he lowered his mouth to hers. Covering it completely as she put her arms around his neck and hooked her ankles behind his back.
* * * * *
“Kade, I’m going to explode if you don’t do something quick. Fingers, tongue, cock—I don’t care. Just touch me.”
He lifted his lips from her after what felt like an hour of kissing. During the marathon lip action, they’d managed to strip each other, which only tormented her more. Bare flesh touching and no other action. She was soaking wet and her pussy throbbed in time to her heart.
He took one more pass with his tongue around her mouth before lifting his head and looking into her eyes. No, her soul. He was sinking into her with that stare. She gulped back emotion.
Then a rough thumb settled over her clit. She nearly came off the bed as pleasure shook her to the core. The waiting and wanting had made her ultra-sensitive. And damn if he didn’t know exactly what he was doing.
“You’re more…”pant, pant, “experienced than you let on.”
He understood. Shaking his head, he crooned, “I know what will drive you crazy.”
“Besides your smart mouth?”
He circled her straining nubbin until she quaked and juices wet her inner thighs. “Thass right,” he drawled, lips moving down to close around one hard nipple at the moment he pressed on her clit.
So close. Yep, she was going to explode like a firework on the Fourth of July. Two could play this game. She reached between his legs and gripped his cock. The velvety hardness shocked her. He’d been holding back despite his need? Damn, he was good.
She watched his eyes roll back in his head as she tormented him with long strokes. After a few heartbeats he seemed to come back to himself and took over where he’d left off between her legs.
With a cry, she arched into his hand, pulsating, on the verge. She burrowed her nose against his neck and clung to the edge of a precipice that was far bigger than simple release. When she went over this time, it was with love in her heart.
“You like that, don’t ya, sweetheart? When I touch you here.” He trailed his fingertip lightly over her clit.
“Oh God, Kade. Just…please...” Her body reached for that ultimate goal. As if to prove he wasn’t just teasing with no mind to finishing the job, he held her gaze and speared her with a finger. Then two. And his thumb was on her clit, toggling it back and forth until—
She burst in a bright wave of light, rocking against his hand, finding his cock again and leading it to her center while still contracting with bliss.
When his thick head was nestled between her wet folds, he stopped dead. Neck cords stuck out with his effort. “Condom,” he croaked.
Her eyes widened. “You don’t have one.”
“I haven’t been to town and I don’t have more.”
They continued to stare at each other. Several seconds passed as her mind worked over scenarios. She wasn’t remotely worried about sexual diseases with Kade. That only left pregnancy, and well…
“I can pull out,” he whispered, voice guttural.
Her body clenched with absolute need for this man. Walking away at this point wasn’t going to happen. She brushed the rough hair on his jaw, loving the feel under her fingers. “It might not be so bad if…”
His eyes were hot and bright. “If we made a little Dalton?”
“If we make this commitment with our bodies,” she said.
“Hell, sweetheart. You have my heart in your hands but my chest is still so full. How do you do that?” He slid his hands beneath her spine and ass, cradling her against his hard, hot body. In one swift shove, he joined them.
Need rocketed as he stretched her inner walls. They shared a primal noise. If someone came along they’d think wild animals inhabited the bunkhouse. She couldn’t care less.
“I’ve never had a woman pure like this before. No barriers.” His face contorted as he began to move. Pressing deep, fucking her shallow. Dragging her legs higher on his hips to reach a new point inside her.
“Me either,” she breathed. “I don’t want to go back now.”
“Never. No hope for us, love.” His grin would be forever etched in her memory. He palmed her breast, flicking his finger over the tip. She was helpless against the sensations rocketing through her body. His cock seemed to stretch a millimeter deeper. She leaned up and stole his kiss.
With a harsh jerk of his hips, she crested. Fire seared her as contractions stole her mind. Soft cries mixed with his growl. Then she felt the first splash of his release.
Epilogue
“Oh no, she’s going again.” Charlotte grabbed Ryan’s loose hair into a bundle behind her neck as Maya fielded the wildflower bouquet and Shelby held a metal milk pail.
Ryan heaved the contents of her stomach—or rather the non-contents. She could usually keep down saltine crackers in the mornings but it was afternoon, and not a chance today. Not when all the Daltons, their friends and family as well as hers waited on the lawn for her to walk down the petal-strewn aisle.
Once Ryan straightened, her other sister-in-law-to-be, Sa
brina, held out a glass of lemon water to rinse her mouth. “Thank you,” she gasped, swished and spat into the pail. She looked from face to face. “You girls are the best.”
“We’ve all been through morning sickness, honey,” Charlotte said with a soft pat on Ryan’s shoulder.
“This is morning sickness? I thought it was Dalton sickness.” Ryan’s muttered joke made all of them laugh. The sound echoed in her own being and she smiled.
Charlotte arranged Ryan’s red waves on her shoulders just so, then stepped back to see to her handiwork. “You’re beautiful. And ready. Take a deep breath and think of the man who put this baby in your belly. You’re going to walk down the aisle and place your hands in his.”
Excitement skipped around her insides at the thought of becoming Kade’s wife. And belonging to his family was nothing to scoff at either. Everyone had accepted her without hesitation, and Mrs. Dalton—Maggie, Ryan called her to her face now—was the sweetest of all. She’d done so much with their wedding preparations. From coughing up all her Mason jars for candle holders to trudging through pastures of cow patties to pick flowers.
Maggie’s kindly smile loomed before Ryan as she pressed something into her palm. Ryan opened her hand to see a tiny curl of candied ginger. “Hold this in your mouth. It might keep the sickness at bay during the ceremony.”
“Thank you.” She popped it into her mouth and let the sweetened spice work its magic.
“You can thank Aunt Diane for that. She heard how fast the wedding was taking place and figured out you’re expecting.”
“Oh Lordy,” Ryan groaned. “Do they all think I’m getting married because I’m knocked up?”
Her sisters-in-law dissolved in laughter. Shelby said, “No, they’ll know Kade’s a Dalton and Daltons don’t wait to claim what they want. Now get out there, Ryan.” With a tiny shove against the small of her back, she sent Ryan onto the grassy aisle. Then her cowgirl boots hit the flower petals all the Dalton nieces had scattered.
She looked up to see her own mother waiting to walk her down the aisle. Heart full, she took her mom’s hand. Drifting toward the most gorgeous man in the universe, Ryan was hardly aware of her simple white dress swishing around her legs or the smiles from her brothers and their families. She did see a big feathery hat and the woman beneath it grinning and patting her stomach.
Aunt Diane. The Daltons all had tales to tell about their crazy aunt, but Ryan was grateful for the ginger that kept her from running for the pail again.
All she wanted was to reach Kade.
Scarcely hearing the preacher’s words or her mother’s as she gave her away, Ryan locked her gaze on her cowboy.
He captured her hands in his warm grasp. Leaning close, he whispered, “Your eyes are every color today, Greenhorn.”
She knew that to mean she was looking at him with all the love she felt. With a squeeze of his hands, she blinked back tears of happiness and listened to Kade Dalton speak his vows to her.
THE END
If you’ve enjoyed this box set, please leave a review! Also, check out the new additions to the Dalton Boys series…
COWBOY MISTLETOE a Christmas novella
COWBOY FLIRTATION Ford’s Story
COWBOY TEMPTATION Easton’s Story
COWBOY SURPRISE Justus’s Story
Em Petrova
Em Petrova was raised by hippies in the wilds of Pennsylvania but told her parents at the age of four she wanted to be a gypsy when she grew up. She has a soft spot for babies, puppies and 90s Grunge music and believes in Bigfoot and aliens. She started writing at the age of twelve and prides herself on making her characters larger than life and her sex scenes hotter than hot.
She burst into the world of publishing in 2010 after having five beautiful bambinos and figuring they were old enough to get their own snacks while she pounds away at the keys. In her not-so-spare time, she is fur-mommy to a Labradoodle named Daisy Hasselhoff.
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Other Titles by Em Petrova
Ranger Ops
AT CLOSE RANGE
WITHIN RANGE
POINT BLANK RANGE
Knight Ops Series
ALL KNIGHTER
HEAT OF THE KNIGHT
HOT LOUISIANA KNIGHT
AFTER MIDKNIGHT
KNIGHT SHIFT
O’ CHRISTMAS KNIGHT
ANGEL OF THE KNIGHT
6-Pack Cowboys Series
6-PACK RANCHER
6-PACK WRANGLER
Wild West Series
SOMETHING ABOUT A LAWMAN
SOMETHING ABOUT A SHERIFF
SOMETHING ABOUT A BOUNTY HUNTER
SOMETHING ABOUT A MOUNTAIN MAN
Operation Cowboy Series
KICKIN’ UP DUST
SPURS & SURRENDER
The Boot Knockers Ranch Series
PUSHIN’ BUTTONS
BODY LANGUAGE
REINING MEN
ROPIN’ HEARTS
ROPE BURN
COWBOY NOT INCLUDED
CUPID COWBOYS
The Boot Knockers Ranch Montana
COWBOY BY CANDLELIGHT
THE BOOT KNOCKER’S BABY
ROPIN’ A ROMEO
Country Fever Series
HARD RIDIN’
LIP LOCK
UNBROKEN
SOMETHIN’ DIRTY
Rope ‘n Ride Series
BUCK
RYDER
RIDGE
WEST
LANE
WYNONNA
Rope ‘n Ride On Series
JINGLE BOOTS
DOUBLE DIPPIN’
LICKS AND PROMISES
A COWBOY FOR CHRISTMAS
LIPSTICK ‘N LEAD
The Dalton Boys
COWBOY CRAZY Hank’s story
COWBOY BARGAIN Cash’s story
COWBOY CRUSHIN’ Witt’s story
COWBOY SECRET Beck’s story
COWBOY RUSH Kade’s Story
COWBOY MISTLETOE a Christmas novella
COWBOY FLIRTATION Ford’s Story
COWBOY TEMPTATION Easton’s Story
COWBOY SURPRISE Justus’s Story
Single Titles and Boxes
STRANDED AND STRADDLED
LASSO MY HEART
SINFUL HEARTS
BLOWN DOWN
FALLEN
FEVERED HEARTS
WRONG SIDE OF LOVE
Firehouse 5 Series
ONE FIERY NIGHT
CONTROLLED BURN
SMOLDERING HEARTS
Club Ties Series
LOVE TIES
HEART TIES
MARKED AS HIS
SOUL TIES
ACE’S WILD
