9781631052323ForeverKindofCowboySullivan

by Sandy Sullivan

  “Jeremiah, I’ve been in love with you since ninth grade.” She smiled as his head snapped up and her gaze met his.

  “You have?”

  “Yes. I couldn’t figure out a way to get you to see me as a woman who might complete you instead of Callie, your friend at the garage.”

  “You’ve always been my friend.”

  “I know, but I wanted to be more.”

  “I guess I was too blind to see you in a different light than what I’d seen you in forever. After you started hanging out with other men in front of me, I didn’t like how it made me feel. I wanted to tear you from their side and drag you away like some caveman.”

  She laughed. “So that’s where the behavior came from.”

  He grinned. “You have to admit you kinda like that about me.”

  “Yeah, I guess I do.”

  The waiter arrived to take their order, but the moment he left, Jeremiah took her hand again. “We need to decide on where we go from here.”

  “I know I want to be with you and only you so I think we should date exclusively.”

  “I agree. I don’t want anyone else.” His gaze was intense as he said the words. He meant everything, including the I love you. “I love you, Callie.”

  “I love you too, Jeremiah.”

  “We should get married.” His eyes brightened as a smile spread across his lips.

  She pulled her hand out of his grasp and held it up. “Whoa! Take a step back. You’re going kind of fast for me.”

  “Fast? I thought when two people loved each other, they got married.”

  “Yeah, maybe eventually, but we just started this journey. Let’s date for a while before we jump on the marriage bandwagon.”

  He tilted his head to the side. “Why are you so gun-shy now?”

  “I’m not. I just think we should take this kind of slow.”

  “Okay. I’m with you then. We’ll date, go on picnics, go out for dinner, go to movies, you know, all those couple things.”

  “What changed your mind about me?”

  He grasped her hand again. “My mom’s accident. I talked to them before it happened about you and me.”

  “You did?”

  “Yeah. She told me to stay away from you.”

  Frustration and anger zipped through her. Told him to stay away from her, did she? “Wow. Really?”

  “Yep, but telling a Young to stay away from a woman is like throwing meat on the grill at a barbeque and then telling all the people there they can’t have it.”

  “Okay, blonde moment here, I don’t understand. Why did she tell you to stay away from me?”

  “Not because she didn’t want us together, Callie. My mom knew exactly how I would react to the statement. She knew I’d do the opposite so she was playing a little reverse psychology thing on me. She wants us together, trust me on this.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Positive.” He brought her fingers to his lips, kissing the backs before he continued. “She loves you and would welcome you into the family in a heartbeat, baby.”

  “Okay.”

  Their dinner arrived as two steamy plates. Hers was steak and lobster tail where his was a huge ribeye. As they ate in silence, Callie contemplated all Jeremiah had said before dinner. He loved her? Why was she not quite convinced he’d changed his mind too quickly. It seemed too easy to her. Jeremiah rubbed the fingers of his right hand, shaking them like they’d gone to sleep. “What’s wrong?”

  “My fingers have been going numb. I’m going to make a doctor appointment this week. I’ve had some other things I’d like to talk to him about to see what I should do.”

  “Like what?”

  “Blurry vision but the numbness mostly.” He smiled. “Nothing to worry about. It’s a pinched nerve probably. I got bucked off a horse about a month ago.”

  She frowned. “You could have been seriously hurt, Jeremiah. You should have gone to the doctor when it happened. Please call to make an appointment tomorrow. I’m worried now.”

  “That’s sweet. I like you worried about me.”

  “I’m serious.” She wanted to hit him with her plate. Stubborn man.

  “Me too. I’ll call in the morning. I’ll be fine.”

  She exhaled before picking up her wine glass with a shaky hand to drain the remainder. This scared her more than anything. The blurry vision and numbness could be anything, but since they admitted their love for each other, it meant a whole lot more.

  When dinner concluded, they walked out to the truck with their arms around each other as she soaked up being close to him like this.

  “Come back to my place. I want to love on you.”

  “Okay, but I can’t stay all night. I have to open the garage tomorrow for Dad. He has a doctor’s appointment in the morning.”

  The frown on his face made her smile. He looked like a lost little boy who’d just had someone take his favorite toy away.

  “You’ll be fine.”

  “I want you with me all the time.”

  “We need to take this relationship slowly. We haven’t been a couple until now. This is all new.”

  “I know, but I want to show you off, be with you, sleep with you, wake up next to you. You know, all the things lovers do.” He opened her door, lifted her by the waist, and deposited her on the seat, buckled her seatbelt for her and then leaned in to kiss her on the lips. He shut the door before going around to the driver’s side.

  As they drove back to Bandera, he held her hand over the center of the truck’s console the entire trip. She liked this new relationship they had. It was different and special. She’d always known they would be good for each other. It took him some time to figure it out, but now that he had, everything should be fantastic.

  “How is your mom doing?” She frowned. “What happened anyway?”

  “She’s doing better. A drunk driver hit her on the back road to our ranch the other night, head-on. She had some bleeding on the brain so they put a tube down her throat so they could keep her asleep and make sure she has enough oxygen to her brain. They needed the swelling to go down and the bleeding would hopefully stop on its own. It has and they are going to take out the tube tomorrow. I plan to go in to see her sometime in the afternoon. Do you want to come?”

  “I don’t think that would be a good idea, Jeremiah. I mean, I’m not family.”

  “You will be eventually.”

  “But I’m not right now and don’t put the cart before the horse. We might find we can’t stand each other once we get to know one another better.”

  He kissed her fingers. “Not going to happen, sweetheart. I love you.”

  “You have no idea how much I like hearing you say those words.”

  “You’ll hear them a lot more in the coming years.”

  “I hope so, but no, you go on and see her. I’ll wait until she comes home and gets some rest before I stop by.”

  “She’ll have to have rehab for a bit. She broke her leg too.”

  “Wow. It’s a wonder she wasn’t killed.”

  “The guy would have been a dead man if she had.”

  “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be morbid. I’m glad she wasn’t hurt worse.”

  He shuddered as he squeezed her fingers. “Me too.”

  Several minutes later, they pulled up the gate of Thunder Ridge and she waited while he punched in the code to open the gate.

  “I love this place.”

  “Me too.”

  “I hear there are ghosts on the property.”

  “Yep. A cowboy, a couple upstairs in the main lodge, and a group of children who play in the yard.”

  “Have you ever done any research on who they are to maybe find out why they’re trapped here?”

  “No, but I’ve thought about it. I hear the children the most since I’m out in the cabin area.”

  “Do you hear them a lot?”

  “Yeah. If it’s real quiet you can hear them almost every night, especially if I’m coming in l
ate or something.”

  “That would kind of freak me out, I think.” She shivered at the thought.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you. Besides, they’re children.”

  “I know, but ghosts are ghosts.”

  They pulled up in front of his cabin. When he shut the engine off, he waited for a minute before coming around to open hers. Gentleman to the core.

  “You’re safe. I don’t hear them right now.”

  “Good.”

  He swept her up into his arms, carrying her toward the door of his cabin after he pushed the truck door closed with his foot.

  “You shouldn’t be carrying me.”

  “Why not? I want to hold you.”

  “Yeah, but if your back is messed up or something is pinched, you could be hurting yourself more by carrying me.”

  “I’ll take my chances.” He reached over to kiss her on the lips before she could say another word. “Reach in my shirt pocket for my keys and open the door.”

  “Okay.”

  Once the door was opened, he carried her inside to deposit her on the bed. “Stay there.”

  She kicked off her heels and tucked her legs beneath her as she watched him shut the door and flip on the light.

  His space was so much like him, western décor, wrought iron headboard and footboard, wooden nightstands and a huge computer desk, never mind the big-ass television with a top of the line gaming system. He liked his toys apparently.

  “Why are you still dressed?”

  “Because I thought you might like the honors of peeling this dress off me.”

  “Oh, yeah. I could do that.”

  She stood at the side of the bed as he sauntered closer. “You look so awesome tonight in your dressy gear, but I like the rugged cowboy too.”

  “You do, huh?”

  “Yeah.” She watched as he peeled off his jacket and hung it on the back of a chair before he toed off his boots and walked over to stand in front of her in his white shirt, pressed jeans, and socks.

  He smoothed his hands over her bare shoulders. “You look hot in that dress, but I want you out of it more.”

  “Take it off then.”

  Chapter Twelve

  With one hand on the zipper at the back of her dress, he slowly peeled it down until the material stopped right at the curve of her butt. The bodice gapped open at her chest, the only thing holding it up were her arms at her sides. He hooked a finger at the bodice on each side and peeled it down her body until the whole thing fell into a pool at her feet. The strapless bra she wore left little to the imagination as he skimmed his fingertips over the swell of her breast.

  “I like these.”

  “My boobs or my bra?”

  “Boobs. They are so pretty.” He reached behind her to unhook her bra, letting it fall to the floor too. “I love how the little nipples are standing straight up for me.” He cupped her right breast in his palm. “They want me.”

  “Yes, they do.” Her voice came out in a breathless sigh. Wanting him this badly made her hot and cold at the same time. Shivers rolled through her whole body, leaving goose bumps on her skin in their wake.

  “Are you cold?”

  “No. Excited, yes.” She splayed her hands on his chest. “I want you out of these clothes.”

  “In a minute. I want to worship you.”

  “Such a sweet talker.”

  “You know it, darlin’.”

  “There is my favorite word coming from a cowboy.”

  “What?”

  “Darlin’ in that little southern drawl. Makes me so horny.”

  His hands did a slow crawl from her shoulders to her fingertips before each one cupped a breast again. “You weren’t horny already?”

  “Oh, hell yes I was, but it makes it worse.”

  “I’ll call you darlin’ anytime you want me to.”

  His lips skimmed over her jawline on their way to the shell of her ear. “I’ll remember that.” This man knew exactly what to do to ramp her up. He did it so well, she almost wondered where he learned all the little tricks he did with his hands and mouth. She might have to ask him one day so she could thank the woman who had taught him to make love. When he laid her back on the bed, she lifted her arms over her head. She remembered how he liked it when she didn’t move while he skimmed her body with his mouth or fingers. Pleasing Jeremiah was her utmost concern.

  He hooked two fingers in the waistband of her nylons and panties and shimmied them down her legs until he could peel them off her feet. “Open for me.” She spread her legs, giving him an unadulterated view of her pussy. “So wet.” He dipped one finger inside her, making her eyes roll back in her head. “Uh-uh. Eyes on me.”

  Their gazes held as he slowly slid between her thighs and then licked her pussy from slit to clit.

  “Ah, God!”

  “Mmm.”

  The vibration of his lips on her clit almost threw her into a climax, but she tamped the need down. She didn’t want to come yet. She wanted to hold out as long as possible for the ultimate release. He wasn’t having any of her holding back though. He went in for the kill, licking, sucking, and doing little figure eights on her clit in a rapid fashion.

  “Jeremiah!” She threw her head back on the comforter as her whole body vibrated and the force of her climax bowed her back.

  He seemed pleased with himself as he licked his way up her body until he reached her mouth. The smile on his lips was infectious.

  “Good.”

  “Better than good. Amazing.”

  “Oh, I like amazing. Shall we try for two?”

  “Mmm. Only if it’s from you inside me. I want to feel you deep.”

  “I can handle that.” He reached over into the nightstand drawer for a condom, tore it open with his teeth and rolled it on with one hand.

  “You are pretty good at that.”

  “I’ve had some practice.”

  “I bet.”

  A soft moan escaped her lips when his cock found the entrance to her pussy and slowly slid inside. “So good.”

  “You feel fantastic. I’ve been waiting weeks for this.”

  “Only weeks?”

  “Since the last time, so yeah, it’s been weeks.”

  She looked up into his soft, pewter-colored eyes. “You haven’t been with anyone since we were together?”

  “No. I couldn’t. I only wanted you.”

  “Me too.”

  “I love you, Callie.”

  “I love you too, Jeremiah. You are my life.”

  He slowly started to move as she wrapped her thighs around his hips. He softly kissed her nose and her cheeks, taking the wetness of the tears from her face.

  “Why are you crying?”

  “Because I never thought we’d be here like this. I never thought I’d hear you say those words to me. I’ve waited so long for you.”

  “I’m sorry it took me this long to see you for the woman of my dreams.”

  As he continued his slow assault on her senses, she lost the ability to think of anything beyond Jeremiah and what he was doing to her body. Her nipples pebbled into hard little nubs when he sucked first one before the other, between his lips. His tongue worshipped her body, moving from her lips to her breasts and back again as he slowly pumped his hips, driving his cock in and out of her body.

  “Uh, Jeremiah?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Can you speed it up a bit? You’re killing me.” He pushed up so he was standing between her thighs, shoved his hands under her hips and slammed his pelvis against hers. Heaven on a hill, he was fantastic when he made love.

  “This is fucking.” He slowed his pace to a crawl again. “This is making love.” He moved a little faster. “I like both. Which do you prefer?”

  “I want you to shut up and fuck me.”

  “Your wish is my command, darlin’.” He shoved against her so hard, he had to hold her in place with his hands. “I’m going to fuck you until you scream for me.”

  “I
already did once.”

  “Do it again.”

  “Oh, oh, oh.” Each thrust hit just the right spot inside her to drive her up the side of the cliff, leaving her hanging on by her fingernails. “A little bit…yes!” Her scream echoed off the walls of his cabin as she hit her climax a second time.

  A few uncoordinated thrusts later, Jeremiah groaned as he came apart as well, slumping against her chest in a heap of boneless mass meant to squash her into the bed. She grunted at the weight on her chest. He had to weigh two hundred pounds at least. “I can’t breathe.”

  “Sorry.” He slowly slid out of her with a groan before he walked toward the bathroom to dispose of the condom. When he returned, he had a warm wash cloth in his hands to clean her up with.

  “You don’t have to do that.”

  “I want to.” Before he wiped her off though, he took one finger, dipped it inside her pussy and then smeared the wetness around her back hole. “I want you here too.”

  “You do?”

  “I want you every way possible, darlin’. This is one more fantasy of mine.”

  “Okay.”

  “Do you like anal?”

  “I love it, actually. It’s one of my favorite positions.”

  He smiled as he wiped her pussy from top to bottom. “Good. Next time.”

  “And when will there be a next time?”

  “Soon. I need you with me always, so yeah, soon.”

  She pushed herself up on the pillow. “Come here. I want some cuddling.”

  The minute he sat back against the headboard, she laid her head on his chest and sighed in contentment. This is what she wanted. Just him. Forever. “I hope your mom will be okay.”

  “I’m sure she will. They said things were going better.”

  “It must have been terrible to see her in such a state.” She shuddered until his hand made some soothing circles, rubbing up and down her arm. “I would hate to see my dad like that.”

  “You know, I don’t think I ever heard what happened to your mom. I just knew she wasn’t around.”

  “She left us when I was three. I don’t remember her much. She’s only a few faded pictures and memories to me.”