Learning the Ropes

by T. J. Kline

  “I’ll take care of the horses if you want to go inside, too,” he offered. “I know it was a long drive.”

  “You always do that.” She edged closer, standing in the doorway of the stall that had been converted to a feed room. “Why?”

  He stood up and furrowed his brow. “Do what?” He covered the few steps separating them.

  “You take care of me.” She reached up and brushed alfalfa leaves from his shoulder. He noticed she kept her hand against his chest. “You took care of me the night I drank too much, too.”

  Her hand slid over the muscles of his chest and she curled her fingers into the belt loop at the side of his waist. Her thumbs grazed against his sides and he felt longing settle into his gut, preparing to travel downward if this continued.

  “You took care of me when Colt and Delilah insulted me.” She didn’t meet his gaze, staring instead at his throat, and he suddenly understood her hesitation.

  He lifted her chin with a finger, wanting her to look into his eyes as he spoke, to see the depths of his love for her. “I’ve already told you why, Ali.” His voice was thick. He was barely keeping himself from burying his hands into her hair and kissing her senseless. “I may not have always realized it, but I’ve loved you for a long time.”

  “Why didn’t you ever say anything?” she whispered. Her voice wavered with uncertainty.

  He set the can of grain aside. “I don’t know, stupidity?” he answered honestly. He cupped his hands around the sides of her neck, his thumb tracing her jaw. “But when I saw you with David, something snapped inside me.” She took a step back and he pulled her back to him. He could almost read her thoughts. “It wasn’t because I wanted what I couldn’t have. It took seeing you with someone to realize what I wanted. Until then, I didn’t know what I was missing. When I told you and you ran away—”

  “I didn’t believe you.” She bit her lip again.

  The sleepy yearning he’d been feeling for the past week came awake, demanding satisfaction. How could that one small gesture shred his self-control? He ran his thumb over her lip.

  “I get why you wouldn’t believe me but I meant it when I said I’ve never spoken those words to anyone else before.”

  She smiled up at him. “Yeah, you do sort of have this reputation for being quite the ladies’ man.” Her voice was teasing but he could hear the skepticism she was trying to hide.

  He pinched his lips together, hating that he’d let the stories about him get so out of hand. Chris sighed. “Ali, don’t believe everything you’ve heard about me. Most of it has been grossly exaggerated.”

  “Sydney told me.”

  He wasn’t sure whether he should be disappointed or grateful. He was glad she knew the truth about him but he’d wanted her to have faith in him. Being told wasn’t the same.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I tried to but you ran out, remember? I thought you’d eventually believe me. Believe in me.”

  Her smile spread over her lips, soft, tugging at his heart with tenderness. “I might not have believed here,” she said, pointing at her head. “But I believed here.” She pointed at her heart. “Or I never would have—”

  Chris didn’t give her a chance to finish her thought. His mouth crashed against hers, desperate for her to comprehend the depth of his feelings for her. It wasn’t just his physical need for her. She touched something inside him, made him want to become more, to prove himself, to be more than a man—to be a man she could be proud to love and be loved by. Chris pressed his body into hers, the wall braced against her back, and she circled her legs around his waist, her arms around him.

  His lips found her jaw as she tipped her head backward, clutching at his shoulders. “What is it with us and barns?” he teased.

  “Maybe I just love you in your natural element.” Her eyes were lit from within, bright with want and need, sparkling with sassy humor.

  “I love you au natural, but this time we aren’t staying in the barn.” Chris grasped her hand, leaving the grain behind, and hurried toward the house.

  “I thought you were staying in your trailer?”

  “Screw the trailer. I want to be able to see every inch of you stretched out on my bed, not cramped in that tiny space.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  * * *

  CHRIS PULLED HER through the doorway into the guest bedroom, locking the door behind him as he pressed her up against it. “Do you realize what kind of torture this past week has been? Wanting to touch you but trying to give you space.”

  Alicia tugged at his shirt, pulling it over his head, her fingers digging into the muscles along his spine as his lips trailed over her throat sending shivers of yearning to her core. “Almost as difficult as it was for me when you brought Melissa to the swimming hole.”

  He pulled back and held her chin between his fingers, looking down into her eyes. “You have no idea how sorry I am about that. It killed me to watch you and David together. You guys kept getting closer and I was hoping someone else could distract me.”

  “Did it work?” She didn’t mean to ask, wasn’t sure she wanted to hear his answer, but the words slipped out anyway.

  His voice was husky. “Not a bit.” Chris gave her a lopsided grin. “When I saw you in that bikini, and that horse tattoo on your hip . . .” His hand slid to the side of her waist, his fingers trailing over the spot. “I forgot she was even there.” His fingers slid along the bottom of her t-shirt, finding the smooth skin of her waist and belly. “It seems like I’ve spent years trying to get you out of my mind.”

  “You have no idea what you do to me.” He popped the hook on her buckle from her belt and reached for the button on her pants, his thumb circling her bellybutton.

  Icy fire raced up her spine and she slid her hands over his chest to his arms. “You know, you could’ve had me at any time. I’ve always been yours for the taking, but I thought you never saw me as anything more than Sydney’s friend. You’ve always had your pick of girls.”

  His hands stilled. “Ali, don’t sell yourself short. You are the pick of them.” He brushed the back of his fingers over her cheek. “I don’t deserve you.” He ran his fingertips down her arm, smiling at the goose bumps that rose on her flesh.

  She looked into his eyes, unable to understand why he would believe that. “I think you have all of this backward.” Chris shook his head in denial.

  Didn’t he realize she was the one who didn’t deserve him? He was the rodeo star and she was nothing more than the poor kid who’d followed him and his sister around the circuit, trying to be like them. Sure, she might be in the top standings now, but inside she was still afraid someone would call her out for being a fraud—the poor kid from the wrong side of the barn—and Chris would get away as fast and far as he could. He’d find someone who had more to offer him. Until that day, in spite of the heartbreak it would cause her if he rode off and left her behind, she was going to make the most of every second. She wasn’t going to let her own insecurities, or those planted there by people like Delilah and Colt Greenly, ruin what Chris offered.

  She’d lived her life for others for too long. She’d saved every dime she won in order to help her dad reach a dream he really didn’t have, to help her mother achieve more than it ever occurred to her to want, and to reach a status in the eyes of people like Delilah who didn’t matter. For once, she wanted to grasp what was offered to her, what she desperately wanted, with both hands. She loved Chris and he said he loved her. For the first time, she was going to accept this moment, and the future outcome and consequences be damned. She smiled up at him and arched against him.

  “Look, cowboy, I didn’t let you drag me in here to waste time fighting over who is less deserving of the other. I came in here to throw you on that bed.” She put her hands on his chest and walked him backward toward the bed until his knees hit the mattress before reaching for his belt buckle. “Then to take these off.”

  She slid the belt from his jeans and pressed h
er hand against his chest again, this time forcing him backward. Chris braced himself on his elbows and watched her as she pulled his boots off, barely catching herself as she stumbled backward. He had a grin on his face as he humored her and allowed her to slide his pants down his thighs, grunting with the effort.

  “I thought girls wore their pants tight,” she said, tugging at the denim material. She glanced up at him on the bed. “This isn’t turning out nearly as sexy as it did in my head.”

  Chris laughed and sat up, slipping the jeans down his thighs easily before reaching for her shoulders and rolling over her on the bed. “Honey, you are the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen, and watching you trying to get my pants off . . .” Chris gave her that wicked smile that melted her insides. “If you need any proof, just look down.”

  She didn’t need to look down. She could feel his arousal through his boxers against her thigh. Chris took her wrists in his hands and lifted them over her head but instead of releasing her, he held her hands together with one of his while his other hand slipped under her shirt. His touch was feather-light, sending jolts of electricity wherever his hand grazed over her heated flesh. She could feel the need coiling between her thighs as his hand would come close to her breast, barely brushing the curve before moving away quickly. She arched against him as his lips found hers, his tongue darting, flicking, and toying with her. When he tore his mouth from hers to find the sensitive hollow below her ear, he licked her skin and she cried out twisting against the exquisite torment.

  She was dying for him to touch her. Instead, his hands released her wrists only long enough to pull her shirt over her head, exposing her to an onslaught of his lips against her breasts. His breath heated her skin as his mouth trailed over her shoulders and down to her cotton bra, caressing every inch of her. She shifted, wanting to ask him to take her into his mouth but unable to find the words as her thoughts scattered as quickly as his lips changed course.

  “Chris, please,” she whimpered. She groaned in agony as he avoided her breast, chuckling quietly against her skin.

  “Please what, Ali?” His fingers reached back and twisted the clasp of the bra. He slid it up her arms to her wrists, freeing her to his reverent gaze. His fingers cupped her breast as he leaned closer, his breath caressing the taut point.

  Alicia struggled against the hand holding her wrists, wanting to bury her fingers into his hair, to touch him and return the caresses driving her over the edge of sanity. His fingers tugged at the button of her pants and she wiggled against him. He growled deep in his chest and she knew his restraint was held by a thread as thin as her own. She heard the zipper release and felt his fingers slip just along the inside of her underwear, hesitating as he stroked the skin above her pelvic bone sending sparks of want to her core, igniting her. She instinctively squeezed her thighs around his hips. His hand moved to cup her rear and he pulled her against him.

  She could see the adoration in his eyes and her heart lurched against her chest. She couldn’t hide the truth any longer, she didn’t want to keep it buried. She wanted to yell it from the rooftops, let everyone know that she loved Chris, that she had loved him for years. There was no turning back and it might leave her broken but not telling him would leave her just as fragmented. She tugged at her hands and this time he released them. She cupped his face and stared into his blue eyes, shimmering with longing and devotion. She was certain her eyes were already showing him the truth her heart was screaming.

  “I love you, Chris. I always have. It’s always been only you.”

  Chris closed his eyes, laying his cheek against her heated flesh, his sigh whispering over the skin, igniting the fire within her. She curled her fingers into his hair, touched by how it affected him to hear the words from her. His lips pressed against the soft curve of her stomach. Rising, he slid his boxers down his thighs before removing her jeans, his hands caressing her calves, behind her knees, the inside of her thigh, and the soft swell of her hips. He followed the path with his mouth and hesitated as his lips touched the tattoo on her hip, his fingers curling around the seam of material covering the heated core of her desire.

  “Sexy as hell,” he said, smiling against her skin.

  She tensed, her hands at his shoulders. “Wait, Chris—” A shiver of fear colored her words.

  “Let me love you, Ali.” His thumb traced the folds of her heat, over her panties. He slid the slip of material down her thighs and his mouth hovered over her.

  She clutched the comforter as his warm breath stoked the fire within, igniting a raging inferno. His finger traced the outline of her and her body shuddered, trembling with need barely held back. When his tongue darted out, gently at first, then more insistent, she quivered with ecstasy. He stroked her, touching, laving, and lashing her with expertise born of worship. Alicia quaked against him, unable to hold her release back. When his finger touched the center of her pleasure, she exploded in peaks of light, like fireworks on the Fourth of July.

  Lying on her back, near comatose, she felt Chris’s weight leave her for only a moment before he returned, sliding up the length of her, his mouth on her breast, his hand fondling the other as his arousal nudged her. She tipped her hips toward him, silently demanding all of him, and gasped as he entered her slowly, filling her.

  Chris drew back and hissed in self-restraint before his lips found her arched throat. She fought the need to cry out in delirium from the onslaught of pleasure. With each achingly slow thrust, Chris sent her farther over the edge until she lost control of her senses. Every part of her seemed to ignite at once, her entire body clutching at him, wanting all of him. Chris growled in answering passion and gave himself over to his release.

  Alicia caressed his spine with her nails, pressing a kiss to his collarbone as the tremors in her body subsided. Lifting his head from the curve of her neck, Chris sipped at her lips, nibbling on them in sated bliss, surrounding her with contentment and making her feel treasured as his hands lazily swept over her body as if trying to memorize ever curve and valley.

  He drew back, lifting his weight from her, and she held his shoulders, not letting him move too far. Alicia pressed a kiss to his chin and smiled up at him. “Well, I suppose the fact that we actually made it to the bed is progress.”

  She felt him stir, coming to life again within her, and he laughed quietly. “Maybe this time we can make it past the side of the bed.”

  “This time?” Her body clutched at him, greedy with desire, and she moaned softly as he inched forward.

  “Honey, you didn’t think you’d actually be sleeping tonight, did you?”

  CHRIS HEARD ALI’S cell phone ring and slipped out of the bed, retrieving it from her jeans on the floor and pulling his pants on. He recognized Tim’s number and stepped into the hallway to answer it without disturbing her.

  “Chris?” Tim sounded momentarily confused. “I just heard back from the lender. The offer was accepted. In the coming weeks, you and Ali are going to be the proud owners of a ranch.”

  “Already?” Chris thought they’d have more time for him to break the news to David. “I thought you said it would take them a while to get back to us.”

  “I guess the seller is highly motivated. He wants to close the deal as soon as possible. Even asked for a faster escrow but I wanted to check with you both before I said yes. I know Alicia wanted to move in quickly but—”

  “That’s fine,” Chris interrupted, hearing Ali stirring in the room. “Tell them we’ll move as quickly as they need. We’re heading to Reno today to a rodeo. I’ll have her call you on Monday when we get back.”

  He disconnected the call. Of course, Colt wanted a fast closing. He was notorious for his gambling habit, even though David and his brother thought they’d been able to hide it. He had to tell David this weekend and he had to explain the situation to Ali. She needed to understand what sort of predicament they were in before David blindsided her.

  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his niece watching him from her d
oorway, her head tipped to the side. He squatted down on his haunches and held open his arms. “Come tell me good morning.”

  She hurried into his arms, throwing her little arms around his neck and squeezing as tightly as she could. “Oh, that’s a big hug,” he teased, standing with her. “Do I get a big kiss?” She pressed her pursed lips against his cheek roughly in a loud smooch.

  Chris sensed Ali behind him without turning. Her warmth seemed to radiate from the doorway. “And what about the pretty lady behind me? Isn’t she going to give me a good morning kiss?” Chris asked, turning to find her eyes soft and liquid as she watched him with Kassie.

  Her dark eyes practically sparkled with delight as she mimicked Kassie and pressed her lips against his other cheek.

  “Mwah,” she voiced, giggling with the little girl. “Good morning.”

  Chris didn’t want to ruin the touching moment with the discussion he knew he was going to have to have with her so he slipped her phone into his pocket. He tipped his finger under her chin and kissed her gently. “Right back at you, beautiful.”

  It thrilled him to see her blush at his compliment. As much as she tried to put on a show of bravery, he loved her vulnerability. It made her trust that much more valuable.

  “Break it up,” Scott exited the room at the end of the hall, shutting the door quietly. He came and scooped Kassie from Chris’s arms. “You two are going to warp my child,” he teased as he headed down the hall with his daughter in his arms. “Come on, princess. Let’s go feed the horses and make your mother some toast.”

  Ali snuck her arms around Chris’s waist, looking up at him with a contented smile. She was so pretty with her hair mussed and smudges of eye makeup under her eyes from their love-making throughout the night. He felt his body harden and warm in response to the memory of her under his hands, his mouth tasting every inch of her. He bent his head, intent on tasting her again when she stopped him with a hand on his chest.