Still Yours

by Cara Roman

  Arms on the counter, chin in her hand, Leigha watched Ridge turning sizzling bacon in a frying pan, before pouring the pancake batter onto a griddle. The muscles in his bare back rippled with his movement, and she sighed in pure female appreciation. If men knew how sexy women found it to watch them cook, they would all do it a hell of a lot more often, that's for sure. Leigha was thinking that maybe after breakfast, scratch that, brunch considering the time, she could talk him into fucking her brains out on the counter. Boomer barked at the back door to be let in, interrupting her torrid fantasy. Scooting off the stool she walked over to let the dog in so Ridge could keep cooking their meal. Boomer walked in and right over to his water dish, lapping it up thirstily before wandering out to the living room.

  "Do you need to get home to feed Finn?" Ridge asked as he set strips of crispy bacon on a plate lined with paper towel to absorb excess grease.

  "He should be alright for the day. I made sure he has enough before heading over." Leigha said thinking it was nice of him to think about her cat. "Cats do much better hanging out on their own than dogs do I think." She said sitting back on the stool.

  Ridge nodded his head, and turned back to flip a pancake. "Do you want some coffee?"

  "No, I don't usually drink it when I sleep in so late." Leigha answered laughing, don't tell anyone that though. It might be bad for my business."

  "Me either, and don't worry your secrets are always safe with me." He smiled.

  Ridge set two plates loaded with delicious smelling food on the bar, one in front of her and the other next to her. Turning away he reached into the refrigerator and pulled out a carton of orange juice, and poured them each a glass. Walking back over to the counter next to the stove he grabbed the two bottles of syrup, one traditional maple, and the other the promised blueberry flavor. She knew he didn't like it, so he had bought it to keep here just for her. Leigha waited until he was seated next to her, and had a chance to take a few bites of his food before she asked, "how long have you had Boomer?"

  Ridge glanced over at her, but finished chewing the food in his mouth before answering. "I've had him for three years, but the shelter said he was around a year old when I got him."

  "He's a rescue?" Leigha said surprised, and admittedly impressed. Ridge could definitely afford to pick out the fanciest puppy from the any of the most prestigious breeders in the country if he wanted to.

  "Yeah, it gets hard being on tour all alone. I mean, you're not exactly alone, but it feels that way. I figured a dog might chase some of that loneliness away, especially one that needed me as much as I needed him." He said in between bites.

  "But you were married." Leigha said completely confused.

  "Yeah, Suzy had her own career though. She was on the road just as often as I was. We only did one short tour together, just after we got married. We didn't spend as much time together and you're probably thinking, and honestly some of the loneliest times of my life were laying in bed at night with her sleeping next to me. That is a horrible thing to admit, but I told you before that we never should've gotten married. I use to lay there staring up at the dark ceiling wondering what you were doing, then hating myself for it." Ridge said. "I guess I wasn't a very good husband, thinking about another woman while I was in bed with the one I'd said vows to."

  His candor surprised her. Focusing on eating for a few minutes, she let her mind run ahead. Most of the divorced people she knew tended to blame each other, instead of seeing their own mistakes. "That must have been hard on the both of you." Leigha finally said quietly.

  "It had its moments, that's for damn sure. In the end it seemed like our split broke everyone's heart but mine. That was the most fucked up part. My publicist damn near had a coronary when she found out. She actually suggested we stay married for our careers, and just see other people secretly." The harsh edge to his voice told Leigha exactly what he thought of that.

  "I can't even imagine having that many other people feel like they get a say in my life." Leigha admitted. "Sure, I've got my parents and Dani, but they love me, ya know. If something didn't make me happy, they wouldn't want me to continue it for their own selfish reasons."

  "Yeah, that definitely makes a difference. Ma wasn't very happy I married Suzy in the first place though. Liked her plenty, she's a hard woman not to like, but said she wasn't meant for me. Of course I didn't listen to her, but she didn't harp on it. Told me once, then let me make my own mistakes."

  "I always did like her, how is Diana doing these days?" Leigha said, not wanting to hear more about the intricacies in Ridge's relationship with his ex-wife right now.

  "She's great. I fly her out to shows every so often, and she proudly wears one of the official tour t-shirts telling any and everyone who will listen that she's my Ma." Ridge laughed.

  "I can see her doing that. She must be so damn proud of you she's nearly bursting." Leigha said laying her hand on top of his. "I know you always wanted to take care of her."

  "It's rough being a single Mom. She never complained about having to raise me on her own though. I'm proud to be able to pay her back for everything she did for me." Ridge said giving her hand a squeeze before getting off the stool and taking his plate to the sink. "So, I was thinking we could go for a drive today. How's that sound Sugar?" Ridge asked with a devastatingly handsome smile on his face.

  "Where to?" Leigha asked carrying her plate over to the sink and leaning against his warmth.

  "Somewhere we can get some mud on my tires." Ridge said wrapping his arms around her.

  "The trails." Leigha said thinking back to all the times she sat next to him as they bounced and rumbled along the little two tracks through the woods. Reaching up she twined her arms around his neck and smiled. "Perfect." Then she reached up on her tippy toes to kiss his lips. He tasted like the food they shared, but like always he just tasted like Ridge, and she was coming to understand that meant home to her.

  Ridge leaned into her body, pressing it against the cabinets behind her. The edge of the hard granite counter top biting into the top of her ass. Moaning into his mouth Leigha pulled him even closer. With a teasing nibble he pulled back from her lips. Staring down into her eyes he undid the buttons of his flannel shirt that she had on. Parting the material he sucked in a hissing breath, and Leigha felt the sound like a kick to her blood stream. Reaching her hand down into his boxers she found him already rock hard. Wrapping her fingers around his dick she stroked it, "all I could think about while you were cooking was how badly I wanted you to fuck me here in your fancy kitchen." She said, her voice husky with need.

  "Oh yeah? Well, I aim to please." Ridge said grabbing her hips and boosting her up onto the counter.

  Leigha still had her hand in his boxers, but Ridge was holding her wrist keeping it still. His head dipped down and he licked a trail from the base of her neck across the top of her full breast, to her pink nipple. He circled his tongue softly around the peak, and she closed her eyes on a moan. Everything he did to her always felt so good. Leigha cried out when his teeth tugged on it. Reaching up she grabbed his head, weaving her fingers through his hair, needing to hold onto him. He looked up, and his eyes met hers as he licked across the valley between her breasts over to the other nipple that was feeling lonely and waiting for his mouth. He swirled his tongue almost lazily around this one too, but Leigha knew better this time, and she watched as he bit down on the tender peak. She felt the jolt straight down into her pussy, and she shuddered with need.

  He stood up and shoved the boxer shorts down. His dick popped out, looking deliciously exciting. Leigha wanted her mouth on him bad, but not nearly as bad as she wanted him buried inside of her. Licking her lips thinking that later she was going to take her time with him, getting him off slowly, and swallowing everything he had to give.

  Ridge watched her, "A man could get used to his woman looking at his dick like that."

  "So, I'm your woman now?" Leigha said. Partly to tease him, but also hearing him say that had felt good, m
aking her feel the tell tale flutter of little butterfly wings inside of her stomach.

  Ridge pulled her to the edge of the counter, and she felt the tip of his dick against her entrance. Rocking her hips forward greedily she tried to take him all the way inside. But Ridge moved back denying her what she wanted. "You've always been my woman." He said before sliding slowly into her pussy. Leigha gasped. Ridge didn't move, locked inside of her, while she drenched his fullness. "Say it."

  Leigha looked up into his eyes, trying to remember what he wanted her to say. Her mind was a lust filled haze, and she asked "what?"

  "That you're my woman." Ridge said. The words fighting their way out between his clenched teeth as he held the reins on his own need to move.

  Leigha tried to move her hips, looking for the friction she needed. Ridge held her still though, with a shake of his head, and she couldn't chase her pleasure. He arched an impatient eyebrow at her. She finally understood that if she wanted him to move, to ease that gnawing ache he needed to hear those words first. "I'm yours Ridge, still yours." Leigha whispered.

  Ridge growled and finally started moving. They didn't do slow and easy very well, and this time was no different. He was slamming into her so hard that if he weren't holding her hips she wouldn't be able to stay on the edge of the counter. She loved how dominant and commanding he was sexually now. She could let go and trust that he would take care of her body exactly like she needed. There were no boundaries, they went where the need took them. He reached a hand down and pressed his thumb against her clit, and she let out a whimper of encouragement. Her body was flying towards the cliff at breakneck speed. Within seconds her back arched and she let out a long drawn out moan as she came.

  Ridge groaned, burying his face in the side of her neck. He didn't stop though, his hips kept pumping, relentlessly against hers dragging her from one orgasm straight into another. Her pussy clenching his dick in near violent pulses as the second orgasm ripped through her. Ridge sped up even faster, and Leigha could barely drag air into her lungs. It felt like too much, and not nearly enough at the same time. He wasn't giving her time to come down from one peak before shoving her relentlessly up another one. She felt him growing impossibly bigger inside of her, and knew he was getting close to the edge now too. He swirled the thumb still pressing against her clit, and she screamed breaking apart a third time. This time as she shuddered he stilled inside of her, coming with a hoarse shout.

  Leigha held Ridge as their breathing slowed down. She felt every single nerve ending from the tips of her toes to the roots of her hair singing. This man could do things to her body that even she didn't know were possible, and she loved every single glorious second of it. When Ridge slid out of her and stepped back he stared into her eyes, and pressed a sweet kiss to her forehead. He stepped away and opened the drawer next to the sink. She watched him pull out a wash cloth, turn the water on, and wet it. Walking back over to her he leaned down and cleaned their mingled fluids from her thighs before pulling her gently off the counter and setting her on her feet. Leigha was staring up at him, lost in his eyes, a jumble of feelings clogging up her throat. She opened her mouth to say something she knew she shouldn't, and the shrill sound of a phone ringing broke the silence. And the moment.

  "I'm going to grab a quick shower while you answer that." Leigha said gripping the shirt closed as she darted out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

  "Damn it." Ridge said with frustration as he watched Leigha escape.

  Chapter 16

  Ridge was sitting perched on the end of his bed when Leigha walked out of the bathroom after her shower wearing a gray long sleeve cotton shirt, and a pair of dark skinny jeans. When she was packing the bag at home yesterday it seemed like a fail safe choice. Comfortable no matter what they ended up doing, and she knew for a fact that her boobs looked good in the top. The softness she had enjoyed seeing on his face first thing this morning was long gone now though. Replacing it was a hard mask of annoyance that had Leigha realizing that phone call must not have been a very good one.

  "What?" She asked, bracing herself for the answer she feared was coming.

  "I've got to go back to Nashville today. That was my manager on the phone, and there are some issues with the fucking record label that I'm told can only be handled in person." Ridge said standing up. "I'll only be gone for a few days." She could hear he didn't want to go, but that didn't much matter, he still had to leave. He would always have to leave.

  "Oh, okay. Well, that's where the epicenter of your career is, so really it makes complete sense. Do you need a ride to the airport, no, I'm sure you don't." Shaking her head as she answered her own question. "I'll, ah, get out of your hair so you can take a shower and pack too, you probably need to pack, right. And get Boomer ready to go, he probably has a bunch of stuff you have to get around." Leigha said shoving her things messily into her bag as she rambled. "Have a good flight though." She said heading as quickly as she could towards the bedroom door.

  "Sugar." Ridge said reaching his hand out and catching her arm as she passed by. "I'm coming back to you, this is just a quick trip. Downstairs you said you're my woman, and I'm gonna hold you to that." He was staring down into her eyes, the green blazing like summer leaves dappled with sunshine.

  Leigha nodded her head slowly, soaking in every single detail of his face. He might be saying he was coming back, but she couldn't afford to believe in that. Leigha reached up cupping his face in her hand, feeling the stubble that he hadn't gotten a chance to shave yet this morning. She knew her heart was swimming in the chocolate depths of her eyes, and she couldn't do a damn thing to hide it. Her eyes always betrayed her. He turned his head, laying a sweet kiss the center of her palm. Her hand was still zinging from the contact when she pulled it away, and walked out of his bedroom.

  She didn't take a breath until she was pulling the drivers side door open. Tossing her bag over into the passenger seat, she quickly hopped in. Her hands were shaking as she put the key in the ignition and started the engine. As it roared to life she glanced up and saw Ridge staring down at her from the window. His face full of angles and hard lines. She pulled out of his driveway and felt every inch of the distance growing between them. Leaving Ridge felt so wrong, but she wasn't really the one leaving, she was just going home before he left. He was the one flying out today. Back to the life that had already stolen him from her once before.

  Locking everything inside down, the drive home passed by in a blur. Leigha drove the familiar roads on auto pilot, her knuckles white from holding onto the steering wheel so hard. She hit the button hanging from her visor for her garage before she was even pulling into the driveway. As soon as she shut the car off she was closing the door behind her. Sitting in her car inside the dimly lit garage Leigha couldn't hold the tears back anymore. They were cruising down her cheeks in a hot rush, and she dropped her head to the wheel in front of her and felt like such a fool. She had always known that he wasn't made for this town. A quick trip back was going to stretch on and on, and he would get too busy to remember to come back. She had lost Ridge once already to the magical draw of Nashville, why should this time be an different.

  Leigha knew she shouldn't trust the butterflies dancing in her stomach this morning. They never led anywhere good. Hope was a four letter word, and she had allowed herself to indulge in it. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Shaking her head she grabbed her bag off the seat next to her and got out of the car. Her phone buzzed, and she ignored it. There was no point in chasing after something that was already gone. Opening the door she walked through the house, and straight into her bedroom not bothering to turn any lights on. Flopping down on her bed she stared up at the ceiling wondering how she had let this happen to her again. Finn jumped up on the bed and laid down on her stomach. Reaching her hands up she scratched and petted him. The rumbling sound of his purring filled the room, comforting her.

  Disappointed in herself she admitted, "well I've made a real mess of things now Finn. That man is serio
usly fucking poisonous to me. No matter how hard I tried to keep him out he managed to sneak in anyway. And I let him. All because I thought it would be okay to have some fun in bed with him for awhile. Oh, it was fun to be sure, and toe-curling, god he is the best, nobody does the things to my body he can. But look at me now, huh, crying on my bed. Again, just like twelve years ago. I'm such a damn fool." Leigha whispered to Finn. He didn't answer her, of course, because he was a cat, but he also didn't judge, and talking to him helped.

  She lay there on the bed, staring numbly out the window, and doing her best to pretend the outside world didn't exist, as the day slid past. Leigha never got up to check her phone, even though she could hear it buzzing sporadically. Tomorrow was soon enough to face everything. She dozed off shortly after the sun went down, emotionally exhausted from the thoughts whipping through her brain all day.

  Chapter 17

  In an unsurprising turn of events, Monday morning dawned as usual without any consideration for Leigha's heartbreak. Dragging herself out of bed when her alarm started buzzing Leigha headed into the shower stripping out of the clothes she put on at Ridge's house as she walked. As she stood under the hot spray washing her hair she wished for the very first time since opening Caffeinated Sprinkles that she could just call in sick. Doing that wouldn't be her though, so she rinsed her hair off and stepped out of the shower determined to face the day. She knew this day was coming eventually, had talked a big game to her Mom and Dani how she could handle it. That while her eyes were wide open, her heart was remaining firmly closed. As she brushed her teeth she wondered if she had been less than honest with them, or just lying to herself the whole time like her Mom thought. Looking in the mirror as she ran the wide tooth comb through her long hair untangling it, she thanked her lucky stars that her eyes weren't all red and puffy after the crying jag last night. If only she had been able to juggle having him while keeping him at a distance.