And as they took all that each of them had to give, a soft rain began to fall on his bare back and the clenching muscles of his buttocks and thighs. Slowly his trembling body grew still, and she relaxed against the blankets. Raindrops gently touched his skin.
He shifted back around so he could gaze into her shadowed face. “It’s raining.”
“I know.”
“Do you want to get into the cab?”
“No. Do you?”
“No. Still got a condom?”
“Yes, but you can’t be ready to—”
“Like I said, it’s been a long time.” He rolled the condom on his stiff cock. He hadn’t been this quick to recover since he’d been a teenager. He pushed effortlessly into her orgasm-slick channel and made long, slow love to her while the rain fell in a soothing, steady rhythm.
It ran in rivulets over his back and shoulders and onto her face and breasts. He paused to lick the drops from her nipples, from the hollow of her throat, from her smiling lips.
“I like this,” she murmured.
“Me, too.” The rain dribbled between his thighs and mingled with her juices until they were both slippery as otters. The squish and slide of their bodies moving together was the most erotic sound he’d ever heard.
He wanted it to go on forever, but his climax edged closer with each thrust. He traced her rain-wet mouth with his tongue. “Can you come?”
“Oh, yes. I’m trying to wait, but—”
“Don’t wait.” He pumped faster.
“Not waiting.” She dug her fingers into his back.
When her hot channel contracted, he drew back once more. Pushing in hard, he surrendered to his body’s fierce demands. His cock pulsed within her as she arched upward with a wild cry of release. Gasping, he shoved deeper, wanting...wanting...Lexi. Only Lexi.
As the aftershocks lessened, he rested his forehead against hers. “And I thought this morning was epic.”
She stroked his back, her palms slick against his skin. “We’ve never done it in the rain.”
“For good reason.” He lifted his head to gaze down at her. “You were still living at your folks’ house then. I couldn’t take you back there looking like a drowned rat.”
“Do I look like one now?”
“Can’t tell. Too dark.”
“Bet I do.” She laughed. “And I don’t care. This has been awesome.”
“Yeah.” He dropped a sweet kiss on her mouth. “It—” A rumble in the distance made whatever he’d been about to say unimportant. “Okay, time to pack up. Rain is one thing. Thunder and lightning is something else.”
“I agree.”
After rolling away from her, he removed the condom and left it in the truck bed. He’d deal with that later. “Forget your clothes for now.” He crawled to the tailgate and jumped down. “I’ll carry you back to the cab.”
“You don’t have to. I can—”
“Come here, Lexi.”
“Okay.” She crawled to the edge of the tailgate.
He scooped her into his arms and started toward the front of the truck. “You sure are slippery.”
“I said I’d walk.”
“I like you when you’re slippery.” Rocks and pine needles bit into the bottoms of his feet, but he ignored the pain as he hurried to the passenger door. “You’d better open it.” He angled her so she could reach.
She’d no sooner clutched the door handle than lightning cracked close by. She flung the door open and he dumped her onto the seat.
“You’re coming in, too!” She grabbed his arm, and because he was off balance, she managed to pull him partially through the opening.
Rather than stay like that, he crawled the rest of the way in and managed to close the door just before another bolt of lightning slammed down. For a split second everything was bright as day, but then blackness closed in again.
That was the thing about Wyoming. When you drove into the boonies to make out, you’d better have a flashlight because it would be pitch-dark. His was in the glove compartment and there was no way he could open that with both of them tangled up on the passenger side.
Maybe not being able to see had heightened his other senses. The fragrance of sex seemed to fill the cab, and each tentative movement on his part put him in contact with her soft, womanly body. Her skin was still wet, which reminded him of how good she’d felt as he’d eased in and out. In no time at all, he wanted her again.
“Um, Cade?”
“I’m squashing you, I know. I’d turn on the dome light, but the bulb’s out and I haven’t gotten around to replacing it. Give me a second to figure out the best way to maneuver across the console into the driver’s seat.”
“I don’t mind being squashed. You’re not hurting me or anything, but I’m worried that pretty soon you’ll put my eye out.”
“With what?”
Warm fingers wrapped around his cock. “This.”
He started laughing and couldn’t seem to stop.
“Now it’s jiggling but getting harder.”
“I don’t doubt it.” He gulped for air, but fresh bursts of laughter kept bubbling up. He wondered if a man could have a climax and laugh at the same time. Still chuckling, he reached down and put his hand over hers. “You can let go now. I’ll make sure I don’t do any damage with my mighty battering ram.”
“Or, since I’m holding the second condom in my other hand, I could—”
“You have it?”
“I’d put it down while we had rain sex, but when I started crawling toward you my knee bumped it, so I picked it up. No sense losing it.”
“Guess not.”
“We made love in this seat once before, remember?”
“I remember everything we ever did together, Lexi. It was snowing.”
“Yep. And now it’s thundering.” She stroked his cock. “Seems a shame to waste a perfectly good erection.”
He started laughing again, but the sound of foil tearing sobered him up fast. “You’re serious about this.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t know if I can reverse our positions without hurting you. The other time we had it all worked out in advance. I sat down first and then you climbed onto my lap. Now I’m sort of in your lap.”
“Trust me.”
As she smoothly rolled on the condom, he decided he had no choice. Sometimes a guy had to do what a guy had to do. They went through a few contortions before his bare butt settled into the imitation leather seat, and he hit his funny bone on the dash. But he managed to keep her bruise-free, and that was the main thing.
Well, no, it wasn’t. When she straddled his hips, placed her hands on his shoulders and lowered herself onto his waiting cock, that was the main thing. At first she went slow enough that he could cup her breasts and play with her nipples. But then she picked up speed.
As her backside slapped his thighs, their ragged breathing drowned out the thunder. Her cries of pleasure and his deep groans muffled the crash of lightning. As they held each other close while their bodies quivered, he was willing to believe it was snowing outside and their five years apart had been a bad dream.
“The storm’s over.” She cupped his face in both hands and feathered a kiss over his mouth. “We should head back.”
“I don’t want to leave. Let’s homestead this spot, build a cabin, live here forever.”
Her breath caught. “Cade, I—”
“Just kidding.” Whatever she’d been about to say, he didn’t want to give her a chance to say it. Not tonight. Not when they’d made love in the rain and overpowered the thunder with their cries.
“I knew that.” She climbed off his lap with great care and moved to the driver’s seat.
“I don’t know how to build a cabin,
anyway.” He opened the glove compartment and took out a trash bag for the condom. “I could get Damon to do it, but he’d probably make me get permits and inspections. I just want to cut down some trees, notch them like Lincoln Logs and put the thing together.”
“Yeah, Damon would be all about building to code.” She leaned her head back against the seat. “He knows about us, doesn’t he?”
No point in denying it. “Does that upset you?”
“Not really. If you move back like you’re hinting you might, then everybody will assume we’re together unless we tell them different.”
“I’m moving back.”
“I figured.” She sounded amused.
“And not only because of the great sex we just had, smarty-pants.”
“I know.” She turned her head to look at him, even though neither of them could see each other very well. “There’s Rosie and Herb, and whatever help you can be to them right now. And you love the mountains.”
And you, a feeling that goes way beyond sex. But he didn’t say that. “Then there’s this crazy thing with my relatives. If I’m going to get to know them, I want to do it from here, from my home base. I don’t know if that makes any sense now that I’ve said it out loud. But it’s what I want to do.”
“It makes a lot of sense,” she murmured. “Your roots are here, not with some newly discovered branch of your biological tree. You don’t want to get pulled off center.”
“Exactly!” He reached over and found her hand in the darkness. “Thank you for getting that.” He laced his fingers through hers and brought her hand to his mouth. “I really don’t want to leave this spot.” He kissed her fingers. “I like when it’s just you and me, and we can talk like this.”
“You’re sure it’s not because you’re dreading those clammy jeans and shirt? Not to mention the damp underwear?”
“Well, there’s that.” So she didn’t want to talk about serious stuff tonight. At least she hadn’t mentioned only seeing him when it was convenient. He was pretty sure she’d had as much fun tonight as he had, so chances were she’d find it convenient to see him often.
She squeezed his hand. “Come on, Gallagher. Let’s pull on those wet clothes and go back to the ranch.”
“And you’ll stay in one of the spare rooms, right?”
“I will if you promise to go down to the cabin. This has been perfect, but having sex in one of those spare rooms would feel weird.”
“Believe it or not, I agree with you.”
“Good.” She opened the driver’s-side door. “Then let’s go find our clothes and put on enough to keep from violating any public decency laws.”
“Nobody’s going to see us. We could—”
“Sorry, not doing that. We’ll inspire enough gossip without being caught driving a county road naked. Get dressed.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Pulling on his clothes wasn’t nearly as much fun as taking them off, and the drive home wasn’t remotely comfortable. But he couldn’t complain about the way things had turned out. He and Lexi were back together in every way that counted.
He parked the truck next to Lexi’s in the circular drive so she could pick up the overnight bag she’d brought to the ranch at the beginning of the crisis with Rosie and hadn’t taken home yet. Then he insisted on walking her to the door before taking the path to the cabins. The porch light revealed how bedraggled they both looked.
She grinned at him. “You’d better hope Damon and Finn are asleep, or there will be an interrogation.”
“See how easy you have it?”
“But I have to be careful to mop up after myself. I can’t leave a trail of water on the hardwood floor, but the cabin floor doesn’t matter so much.”
“Guess not.” He pulled her close, soggy clothes and all. “Before I forget, don’t worry about feeding the horses and turning them out in the morning. We’ll do it.”
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” He ran his fingers through the damp curls above her ear. “I didn’t think I ever wanted you to cut your hair, but I like it short.”
She met his gaze. “Good, because it’s much easier for me to deal with when I’m traveling, so I plan to keep it this way for a while.”
He caught the challenging light in her eyes. “Did I say something wrong?”
Sighing, she relaxed against him. “No. I’m glad you like my hair short, because even if you didn’t, I wouldn’t grow it long just to please you.”
That startled him. “Is that what you did before? Leave it long because I liked it that way?”
“I’m afraid so. Everything I did was based on how you’d react, what would make you happy.”
“Wow, Lexi. I had no idea.” Gradually he was beginning to understand the problem, and it might be more complex than he’d thought.
“You never asked that of me. I just automatically adjusted my behavior to accommodate you, and you seemed happy to be in charge.”
He was flabbergasted. “I thought you wanted me to be in charge!”
“Maybe I did, but I don’t anymore.” She touched his cheek. “When you ordered me to the end of the tailgate so you could carry me to the cab, I almost refused.”
He groaned. “I didn’t mean to order you, but I was scared about the lightning. If anything happened to you...” He hugged her close. “We’ll work on it, Lexi. This is important.”
“Uh-huh.” She sniffed.
He tipped her chin up. “Are you crying?”
“No. Yes. It’s been...a very long day.”
“It has.” He brushed his thumbs across her cheeks. “Go get some rest.”
Her laugh was watery. “Was that an order?”
He gazed at her and replayed what he’d just said. “I guess you could call it that. Bad habit.” He took a deep breath. “I don’t know how tomorrow will go, and I’m sure you’ll want to get back to your apartment tomorrow night.”
“Yes.”
“So, I was wondering... Would it be convenient if I came to see you there?”
She smiled. “It would.”
“Thank God.” He gave her a deep kiss with lots of tongue, and then he released her, turned away and walked to the cabin without looking back. At their make-out spot he’d imagined that they’d never been apart.
But that kind of thinking would get him in trouble. They had been apart, and they’d both changed from the people they’d been five years ago. Apparently he’d been a typical arrogant male expecting her to go along with whatever, and she hadn’t been strong enough yet to tell him to go to hell. But now she was.
That made it critical for him to figure out who she was now, and who he was. He had a hunch that of the two of them, she’d made the most progress. She might not wait for him to catch up.
Obviously the sex was still great, but he was beginning to understand that he had some things to learn and some attitudes to change. He wasn’t sure how good he was at that kind of thing. If he couldn’t master it, he was headed for heartbreak.
11
LEXI HAD LEFT the bedroom window open, so she was awakened by the sound of male laughter drifting in. The pale glow of early morning told her the sun was barely up, but the Brotherhood seemed to be awake and doing their cowboy thing.
A gate creaked and the slap of a hand against a horse’s rump was followed by the hoofbeats of several horses trotting into the pasture. Comments were tossed back and forth. She couldn’t make out the words, but more laughter followed.
After getting out of bed, she went to the window and pulled back the curtain. She had a clear view of the pasture from here, and the scene was pure female fantasy. As the horses cavorted in the grass, which sparkled with dew, three broad-shouldered cowboys leaned against the fence to watch them.
Cade was on the left. She’d know those
cute buns anywhere. Damon, who was more muscular than Finn, was in the middle. Finn might not have Damon’s bulk, but he possessed a lean appeal that women had always found sexy. Damon and Finn must have discovered the old straw cowboy hats Herb relegated to the barn after Rosie had pronounced them too disreputable to wear in public.
Lined up along the fence, hats tipped back and jeans stretched as they each propped a booted foot on the bottom rail, the Thunder Mountain Brotherhood provided a visual treat that any woman would have appreciated. Too bad she was the only one around to enjoy it.
Pushing away from the fence, they turned and started toward the house, still talking and joking. Finn said something that made the other two laugh. When Cade’s grin flashed, Lexi caught her breath. The boy who’d captured her heart at sixteen had become a man to be reckoned with. But then, she’d become a woman to be reckoned with. The future would be interesting, indeed.
She left the window and grabbed a change of clothes, ducking into the bathroom down the hall. By the time she’d showered and dressed, the smell of coffee brewing and the murmur of voices told her the guys were cooking breakfast. She recognized Cade’s soft chuckle.
Then she smelled biscuits baking and decided having three handsome cowboys cook her breakfast was a great way to begin the day. She’d started out of her bedroom when the house’s landline rang in the kitchen. She quickened her step. Maybe there was news about Rosie.
As she entered the kitchen, Finn was on the phone talking earnestly. Cade glanced her way immediately and smiled, but he didn’t say anything, as if he didn’t want to miss a single word of Finn’s conversation.
Damon stood by the stove. Bacon sizzled in one frying pan and eggs cooked in another, but Damon wasn’t paying attention to any of it. His spatula was motionless in his hand as he listened to Finn.
“Yeah, I’ll tell them. It’s very good news. Excellent news. We’ll see you soon. Bye, Dad.” He hung up the phone and turned, his blue eyes glowing with excitement. “They want to keep her longer for observation and do some more tests, but the preliminary evaluation is that it wasn’t a heart attack.”
Midnight Thunder(INCR) Page 11
