Gruff Ass in Love

by Sasha Burke

  “I’ll come in my damn jeans if you so much as breathe on me right now,” he mutters raggedly.

  I have to be honest, if that gritty confession didn’t just knock out all the air in my lungs, the evil hussy in me would absolutely be trying to make that happen.

  He knows it, too. Chuckling darkly, he raises himself up over me, caging me against the mattress with his corded, flexing forearms as he nuzzles the side of my neck. “Behave, woman.”

  For heaven’s sake, every single thing this man says and does is such a turn-on. He sets a high bar for me to reach, but I’m up for the challenge. Pushing his shirt up his sides, I revel in the feel of his bare skin against mine for a beat before I arch up and whisper in his ear, “Make me.”

  With a low, savage growl, he sweeps me up in his arms and crashes his lips into mine, palming my bottom with a wild almost rough reverence, squeezing, clenching while he raids my mouth, lifting my hips until my clit is riding the ridges of his ripped eight-pack and I’m more than halfway to my next orgasm. Keeping my legs spread wider than I could possibly manage on my own, he grinds his hard length against my core, keeping me pinned to him with one brawny forearm wrapped tight around my waist, while he reaches around with his free hand to slip his fingers inside me from behind.

  “Wet, perfect pussy,” he rasps, his teeth scoring that spot between my neck and shoulder he discovered could make me very nearly come on command last time.

  Immediately, I start pulsing around the thick triangle of his calloused fingers stretching me.

  That just provokes him even more. He’s holding nothing back now as he plunges into me deeper, the angle just as intense as if he were taking me from behind. With the sound of his palm heating my backside with every thrust, he groans and clamps his mouth down on my nipple.

  And, I’m done. Wordlessly, he orders me to shatter for him then.

  I do.

  Somehow, it’s even more cataclysmic this second time because for once, he isn’t treating me like I’m made out of glass. Even better, he almost, almost loses control completely in the process, and that knowledge alone is a rush I can’t describe.

  Minutes, maybe hours later, when the storm finally passes, I’m still quivering and just doing what I can to remember how to get my limbs to function.

  That’s definitely a gleam of satisfaction in his eyes when he draws back and asks gruffly, “Want to dare me again, sugar?”

  Dear lord, I really do.

  Shaking his head with a hungry rumble, he collects a kiss from me to stop me from quite possibly killing us both. “No more, sweetheart. I can only take so much temptation.”

  He’s back in control again, I can hear it in his voice. And from the solemn look on his face, I know what he’s about to say next. The guys have told me all about Cade’s rules with women. Not to warn me off, but because of their crazy notion that I’d be the exception to the rule.

  I don’t need to be anyone’s only exception. If the universe has taught me anything, it’s to make the best of every situation rather than try to change it. Heartbreak is a part of life. It just is. We can’t control that. But what we can control is whether we have moments of happiness—however brief—along the way. Because without those moments, all we’d have is heartbreak. That’s how it was between me and my father. Heartbreak without any happiness whatsoever. And life’s too short for me to repeat that experience.

  This is exactly why I play with rocks as much as I do, why I started my trespassing sprees here on the ranch to begin with…and why I really want to have this casual, temporary fling with Cade no matter how hard he tries to dissuade me.

  “You don’t have to do the spiel,” I tell him gently. “I know you only do one-nighters.”

  I know what he thinks. That I’m not ‘that kind of girl.’ And he’s right, I’m really not. But the thing is, I have my whole life to be good.

  One night being anything but sounds pretty great, if you ask me.

  He gives me a hooded look. “Meaning that’s okay with you? Just one night?”

  “Yes.” But since I’m nothing if not candid, I add, “I’d be lying if I said I’m used to this sort of arrangement. The whole friends with benefits thing, I mean. One night or otherwise. That’s not really my thing. What I do know for sure though is that I don’t want to ruin our friendship.”

  “So, you’re not okay with a one-nighter?”

  I’m clearly not explaining this well. “What I’m not okay with is the idea of our not staying on friendly terms for any reason. I like you. A lot. I can’t explain how or why it makes any sense at all, but when we hang out, everything just works, you know? It’s fun and just…simple. And call me nuts, but if you cuffing me to a bedframe didn’t make me want to end our friendship, I don’t know what will. So, I truly don’t see myself wanting to stop being your friend for any reason. Let alone a reason like—what I’m foreseeing to be—one night of mind-blowing sex.”

  His mouth kicks up at the corner. “Seeing as how I’ve been putting up with your criminal behavior for months now, I’d have to say we’re on the same page on the staying-friends thing.”

  I grin right back. “Then I guess what I’m saying is that sex or no sex, our friendship seems solid, pretty tough to mess up if you ask me. I may not have the experience you do with this casual just-for-tonight business, but I do know that much. So again, no spiel needed. It’s all good, really.”

  “I see.”

  We have one of our moments then, where it’s just silence stretching between us that’s neither awkward or uncomfortable. Just one of the mysteries of our budding friendship.

  Eventually, he reaches over to cup my cheek. “Fine. No spiel. Still, don’t decide just yet. Give it a couple of days. If you change your mind, it’ll never come up again. But, if you decide you still want to, well, let’s just say I’ll have you naked in under a minute. Probably less.”

  Good lord, that mouth of his is just lethal.

  And given how serious he sounds about that prediction, I’m shocked he doesn’t want to go any further tonight, and I pointedly drop my eyes below his belt to the very large reason why.

  He glances down and shrugs like it’s no big deal. “I’ve been like that practically since the very first day I saw you trespassing.”

  Okay, what’s stronger than shock? Because that’s where I’m at now. “That long?”

  Eyes dancing, he replies, “Not sure, I haven’t been keeping measurements.”

  Oy, him and his dirty, dirty mind.

  I really kind of love it.

  He lets out a quiet curse. “Hell, you and those sweet blushes, baby. Makes a guy want to do some truly sinful things to keep earning more of them.”

  Instantly, my mind kicks into high gear imagining all the things Cade would consider sinful. Goodness gracious. I reach critical meltdown mode in a few seconds flat.

  Okay, one more time, why aren’t we going any further tonight?

  Smiling like he can hear my thoughts, he draws me in for a slow, deep kiss. A soft, toe-curling, brain-fogging one this time that may very well be my favorite of his kisses yet.

  Lowering me onto the pillow, he repeats, “Sleep on it, honey. Take all the time you need.”

  Before I can un-scatter my senses enough to open my eyes and tell him that I really don’t need time to think, he’s gone.

  14

  | Cade |

  It’s been a long ass day and there isn’t a soul in sight back at the house.

  Last I heard, my saint of a houseguest was still over at Winston’s babysitting his grandkids while their parents tried to salvage the repairs they’d started on the barn before the rain started. I’d sent the guys I could spare over to help and at last report, they were able to tarp up the roof and were just finishing up patching some other areas.

  With the freak rainstorm we’ve had for the past twenty-four hours, and my being outside for the last twelve of it, I’m covered in mud from head to toe. And since I know Katelyn will insist on im
mediately mopping up any mud I track into the house, I grab a towel and some spare clothes from the mudroom and head over to the foaling barn to shower. We all know the water in the barn shower will stay hot for maybe thirty seconds if we’re lucky, so I’m just going to rinse off what I can before I start freezing my ass off, then finish up at home.

  Get in and get out, that’s the plan.

  …Until, that is, I step inside the barn and see Katelyn standing not twenty feet away from me, glistening wet and naked as a jaybird, staring down at her towel and change of clothes, all of which are currently on the ground soaking up muddy water.

  Must’ve fallen off the bench while she was showering—with her luck, that doesn’t surprise me.

  The woman’s going to give me a stroke one of these days.

  I swear, I’m not one of those guys that thinks with my dick twenty-four seven. But after watching her come the other night and now this? A man can only take so much.

  With her wet, smoking hot body on full display, and her wide eyes now locked on mine, my feet start moving before my brain can even process my intent.

  “You are so damn gorgeous.”

  I barely recognize my own voice as I close the distance between us in a few quick strides. And the instant my lips seal over hers, I’m fucking lost.

  Just like that, the dull whisper of every rational thought I have when it comes to Katelyn grinds to a halt. It’s like someone flips a switch in my brain and now all I can focus on, all I can wrap my head around, is how perfect she feels in my arms.

  What I’ve noticed with Katelyn is that she treats my body the same way she does her rock walls. She smooths her hands over me in long, slow sweeps and traces every muscle with her fingers. Like she just enjoys touching me and doesn’t want to stop.

  It makes me nuts.

  With her entire body now flush with mine, and my wet clothes plastered to me like a second skin, I can feel how hard her nipples are as they rub against my chest, how those sexy ass curves of hers are fitting against me like every feminine inch of her soft, lush body was made just for me.

  Dropping my forehead down against hers, I thread my fingers through her hair and just grip the silken mass like a lifeline when I feel her bold little fingers start to undo my jeans.

  Jesus Christ.

  I force myself to take a step back. But I don’t look down. Hell, I’ll have my cock inside her within seconds if I even catch a glimpse of anything south of her collar bone.

  “Here, take my towel,” I rasp out roughly, handing it to her and making sure she has a good hold on it before letting go. “Cover yourself up, honey. Before I lose control.”

  Thank hell, she doesn’t argue.

  Slowly, I feel the red haze over my vision start to dissipate as she winds the towel around her body.

  “I wouldn’t mind if you did you know,” she says softly when she finishes tucking the loose end in her cleavage. “Lose control, I mean.”

  Damn it, the woman just has no idea what she does to me. “Katelyn, if you keep tempting me, I’m not going to be able to stop myself from fucking you right here in the barn. Hard and fast.” And forever.

  I’ve got no idea where that wayward thought came from but it’s echoing in my brain and somehow making me even harder.

  “Just wait here while I shower, sweetheart. I’ll be done in a minute and then I’ll walk you back to the house. Then we can…talk. About us.”

  I can honestly say I’ve never said those words to a woman before. Sounded weird, but felt right, if that makes any sense at all.

  But of course, Katelyn, being Katelyn, turns and heads right for the entrance. “You don’t have to walk me back. I’ll go grab you a fresh towel and an umbrella. I’ll be back before you’re done sh—”

  “You are not going outside in nothing but a towel,” I growl.

  I hand her the shirt I’d brought with my spare jeans. “In fact, put that on over the towel. Just in case one of the guys comes by, I don’t want him seeing you like this.” I nod over to one of the empty stalls on the other side of the showers. “Go warm up on the hay and wait for me. I’ll be quick.”

  I don’t even wait for her to do what I asked before I head into the shower to start stripping and rinsing off.

  To hell with hot water. I’m so friggin’ hard right now, I’m going to need a douse of ice cold water just to be able to get my brain to start functioning right.

  But as it turns out, even the cold water can’t erase the image of Katelyn’s wet, naked body, now permanently burned into my brain.

  I close my eyes and try to get a handle on my runaway thoughts, but the only thing I end up getting a handle on is my rock hard cock.

  Jaw clenched, I try not to do it, try not to pump my cock in my fist while the icy spray of water from the shower head just turns to steam against my skin.

  It’s no use though. The water isn’t helping. And frankly, if I don’t find some relief soon, I know I won’t be able to keep my hands off of her when I’m done in here.

  I soap up my cock and pump the thick shaft a few times just to release some of the pressure. But once I start, I can’t stop. I grip my shaft tighter and begin to stroke my fist up and down from root to tip, all the while trying not to focus on the fact that she’s right on the other side of this wooden stall.

  Hell. That last thought was a mistake.

  Because now I can’t stop picturing her. Groaning when I see her perfect pink nipples and neatly shaved pussy in my mind’s eye, I start pumping my dick harder.

  “Cade?” I hear her call out, but I don’t stop or even slow down.

  I’m close. So damn close. But it’s like my body isn’t willing to settle for just a quick come. All it’s willing to give it up for is her.

  “Are you okay?” she asks. “You sound like you’re in pain. Are you injured?”

  “I’m fine. Just…give me a sec—” Fuck. I see her shadow get closer from the space under the stall. She’s right there. If this wall weren’t between us, I’d be blasting my cum all over her belly right now, she’s that close.

  I groan again, and this time, I do feel pain. Because the worst friggin’ case of blue balls is hitting me, and no amount of jacking off is giving me any reprieve.

  “You are in pain.”

  I hear panic in her voice and see her shadow coming around toward the shower opening.

  “Shit. Don’t come in here, baby.” I get dangerously close to the edge at the thought of her walking in here.

  Her footsteps hesitate, and then come to a halt. “But I heard you groan. Do you need help?”

  Christ, I don’t know which is making me crazier, her sweetness, or the dirty answers I have to her innocent question. “That wasn’t a bad groan, honey. Just…give me a few minutes to…take care of something.”

  Her breathing breaks. “Oh. You’re…”

  “Jacking off in here? Yeah. After seeing you naked out here, I don’t really have a choice in the matter. Not if I want to stay sane.”

  Silence.

  Then: “Can I…join you?”

  Fucking hell.

  “You want to watch me?” I demand gruffly, my cock somehow getting even harder replaying her saying it.

  “That too,” she says softly. “But I actually meant…”

  I try to stop the roaring of blood in my ears long enough so I can hear what she has to say. “What, baby? What did you mean?”

  “I meant join you in doing…that.”

  I’m practically strangling my cock now to calm the hell down.

  It doesn’t help one bit when she appears in the doorway a second later with only my open button-down shirt on.

  And her fingers between her legs.

  My last ounce of restraint vanishes when I see how wet her fingers are already.

  “You were touching yourself,” I growl. Damn it all to hell. “Hang up my shirt on that hook,” I order, voice nearly feral with need now. “But don’t come any closer.”

  After she does just
that, she stays where she is, hands fisted at her sides, thighs clenched together, her entire body trembling. But not because she’s cold.

  “If I’m going to put on a show for you. You need to do the same for me, sweetheart.” I take my cock back in hand and start leaking precum like crazy when she slides one hand down to rub her clit while the other slides up to pinch her nipple.

  It’ll be a miracle if I last a few seconds of this torture.

  “You know how badly I want to suck on your clit right now, baby? How badly I want to taste your sweet cum again?” I groan at my own words, but keep talking, knowing how turned on she gets when I tell her all my dirtiest thoughts. “Jesus, I can’t wait to feel that tight, slick pussy on my cock, baby. I’ll probably come the second I slide in.”

  “Oh God,” she whispers, breathing choppy. “Wh-why can’t we? I-I’m on the pill. We don’t need a condom.”

  Jesus Christ. I immediately let go of my dick and slam my hands against the stall wall behind me. I’m this close to grabbing her and slamming my cock inside her. Hell, coming inside her.

  She takes a step toward me and I practically bellow for her to stop.

  “Just come for me, Katelyn. Right there. Show me what you look like when you’re playing with yourself and thinking about me.”

  She whimpers as she starts rubbing her clit again for me.

  I watch, but I don’t dare touch my dick—I’ll fucking explode if I do.

  Hands still gripping the stall wall behind me, I murmur every last dirty thought running through my head. Tell her every last thing I want to do her to make her come.

  She starts rambling then, telling me her own blissed out thoughts without any semblance of a filter. “I don’t need any more time to think, Cade. I want you. Even if it’s just for one night. I’m okay with that. I swear.”