Declan takes my hand. “Let’s go.”
“Where?”
“I’m not sure yet. But we’re standing on six hundred acres of land. There’s got to be somewhere private.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
We end up in the barn. Declan remembered when Luke recently pointed out the loft area above the stables. It’s got a mattress for a cowboy or ranch hand who needs some sleep. It’s also got pillows, a blanket, plus a large, open window and a skylight where the light from the moon shines in.
“This is nice.” I walk over to the window and look out at the shadowy dark pastures of Wild Ranch. “I had no idea this loft existed.”
Declan comes up behind me and puts his arms around me. “I’m happy it does.”
I turn around to face him, and his mouth covers mine.
His kiss is hard and urgent, and I more than meet him halfway. He tugs my coat off my shoulders, and I let it drop down to the floor.
Declan’s tongue is inside my mouth now, and I pull at the short hairs on his head to urge him ever closer. He slowly and confidently undoes every single one of the buttons on my flannel shirt, and when he’s finished, that goes onto the floor next to my coat.
My sheer white camisole is next, and he unclasps my bra with one swift flick of his wrist. Once he’s pulled the straps of my bra down my arms, his thumbs are on my taut nipples immediately.
I slam my eyes shut at the sensation. “Good God, Declan. You literally take me from …” Zero to a thousand so damn fast.
And I don’t want him to stop.
I grip onto his shirt, sure that if I let go, I’ll slide straight down to the floor. Or maybe out the window.
Speaking of the window…
It starts to rain, an intense, driving rain that apparently is angling into the barn.
“Mia.” Declan runs his palms over my wet back. “You’re getting soaked. Come here.”
He puts his arm around me and leads me over to the mattress where he covers me with the comforter. “Be right back.”
I watch him lean out through the open window so he can grab hold of the wooden shutter and pull it closed. He secures the shutter with the latch before coming over to the mattress.
He kicks off his shoes and removes everything but his boxer briefs before he joins me under the comforter.
Declan runs his lips along my neck until I moan. And then, his mouth covers mine.
“Are you freezing?” he murmurs into my lips as he wraps his arms around me.
“No. You got me so hot and bothered I hardly noticed the rain.”
“Let’s get you wet in other places, too,” he says as he kisses my jaw.
But I’m already soaked and not just from the rain.
Declan unzips my jeans and slides his finger inside my lace panties. When he reaches my core, he groans.
“I’ve missed you,” he says as he runs his finger through my seam.
“So don’t miss me anymore,” I say as I kiss him. “Remember me. All night long.”
His gray eyes sear into mine as he jerks my jeans off of my hips and down my legs.
When I’m only in my panties, Declan slides down my body until his mouth is between my legs.
I can feel his hot breath fanning the wet strip of fabric as he whispers my name before he pulls the lace to the side and licks me.
And again.
Hard, hard, and then soft. Soft, hard, and then soft again. He’s dragging me up to the heavens one fucking heartbeat at a time. And I’m nearly there already.
“Oh, God, Declan.” My head thrashes to the side, and I grab onto the comforter for dear life.
Declan’s licks have no steady rhythm to them. Sometimes, he goes in for the kill, and other times, it feels like he’s merely breathing on me. The buildup is so phenomenal that I’m coming before I can stop it. Declan holds my knees apart and keeps his mouth fused to my core until I come down from the high.
“Holy…” I throw an exhausted arm over my head.
“Holy…” Declan climbs up my body and settles next to me. “Are you going to finish that sentence?”
“Nope. It was holy what you just did with your tongue.” I slide my hand inside his briefs and grip his hard length. “This should be holy too.”
He puts his hand on my forearm. “I don’t have a condom. They’re in the cabin.”
Our eyes lock.
And I, who pride myself on never taking a big risk—well, fine, marrying a man I barely knew was a big freaking risk, but that was all to reach my very rational goal of running my family’s company—throw all my good sense out the window when I hear myself say, “Don’t need one…I’m on the pill. I’ve been tested, and I’m safe. You?”
Yes, having sex without a condom will make it harder to keep my emotions out of this. Yes, doing this at all is probably beyond stupid. But, right now, alone in a barn in the middle of a Montana rainstorm with my husband, who I’ve been crushing on since before we agreed to this fake marriage—right now, I don’t care about anything except having him inside me as fast and as deep as possible.
“I’ve been tested, and I’m safe,” Declan assures me. “It’s just…are you sure? I’ve never…”
I sit up so fast I get a head-rush. “You’ve never had sex without a condom?” I ask him.
Declan sits up, too. “It’s pretty well drilled into an athlete’s head early on not to trust anyone and to take care of protection yourself. ‘Wrap it,’ our coaches preached to us in college, and it stuck. But I never dated anyone long enough to be tempted, anyway.”
I smile, and so does he. Because the irony is funny.
Two weeks. That’s the extent of my “marriage” with Declan Wild.
Before that, I slept with him for one night.
“Long time isn’t a phrase anyone would use to describe us,” I say jokingly. “Maybe we should just forget I suggested it, okay?”
But Declan reaches down and tugs off his briefs. Putting his hands on my hips, he lowers me back until I’m lying on the mattress again, and then he settles himself over me.
“I can’t tell you how much I want this, Mia,” he says, his voice raw. “And I only want to feel what it’s like with you. Just you.”
And the part of me that swore this was just physical between us? That part concedes victory to the rest of me, which is falling for this man. Falling for him hard.
Because Declan’s not the only person in the barn who hasn’t had sex bare before.
I’m so wet that when he pushes inside me, he slides home with no resistance.
And oh God, does he hit home.
He fills me so fully that I freeze for a second.
His gray eyes, dark with lust, flash with awareness.
“You okay?” he murmurs.
“Yeah. I just forgot how tight of a fit this is.”
His lips and teeth graze my collarbone. “We’re the perfect fit,” he says against my blazing-hot skin.
He pulls about halfway out and then drives inside me again.
I let out a moan so loud I try to bite down on it.
Declan notices.
Because he notices everything.
“Don’t do that,” he says to me. “Don’t hold yourself back.”
He pulls partially out and then rocks forward, and I cry out.
“This feels different without anything between us,” I say. “I feel…” Exposed. Raw. Vulnerable. “It’s scary.”
“I know.” His voice is thick with emotion, and maybe I’m mistaken, but I swear I see the same fear I’m feeling reflected back in his eyes. But he kisses me tenderly on the mouth and then whispers, “I want you to give me everything tonight, Mia.”
Well, shit. It sounds like Declan’s asking me to open my heart.
That’s something I haven’t done since my mother died. From the moment the cop told me she was gone, I made sure to steel myself so I couldn’t be destroyed by grief again. So that if ever I lost someone again, it couldn’t possibly hurt as much as i
t did when I lost her.
But right here, right now, I can’t hold back. I don’t want to.
A tear slides down my cheek. “What about guilt?”
“Screw guilt.” He pauses inside me, fully seated. “Screw pain. And shame and grief. Tell them they can’t stay here. Not tonight.”
I reach for the back of his neck and pull him closer.
Our kiss is rough and dirty and perfect. Declan drives in and out of me with the same reckless abandon as his tongue thrusting in and out of my mouth.
His pace grows increasingly erratic, and I’m trembling so much I wrap my legs around his waist, locking my ankles over his back to steady myself.
Declan’s eyes lock with mine, and he rocks inside me so deeply that I scream into his mouth as I climax.
My orgasm isn’t just a physical release. It’s emotional. It’s spiritual.
I feel nothing but euphoric bliss as the waves pulse through my body, and when Declan calls out my name and releases inside me, I come again.
So hard that his face goes out of focus as I continue to orgasm.
“Mia. Fuck. Oh, fuck.” Declan’s teeth nip my bottom lip, and the sting of pain brings me close to the edge again.
When he shifts so he can slide his thumb across my clit, I come for a third time.
By the time he collapses next to me, pulling me into his chest, I’m so sated and exhausted I can barely move.
“No way sex without a condom is always like that,” Declan says.
I laugh into his solid, ridiculously-ripped chest. “People would never get out of bed.”
“That was fucking mind-blowing,” he says as he kisses my head. “And we’re not done.”
“We’re…not?” I can’t possibly imagine more sex. I already know I’m going to be walking funny tomorrow.
Declan takes my hand and moves it below his waist. He’s already getting hard again.
“This is what you do to me,” he says.
He shifts my hand until it’s over his racing heart. “And this.”
One thing’s for sure. Tonight is going to leave a mark. And not just on my heart. Declan has worked his way into my soul, and I don’t want him to leave.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
I’m not in my bed. And I’m so warm and cozy. I open my eyes. And stare into Declan’s.
Oh, shit.
Did I just say that out loud?
“That’s not the best greeting the morning after,” he says wryly.
I break into a peal of laughter. “I’m sorry! I was sleeping so deeply, and I seriously didn’t know where I was.” I look around. Through the skylight above us, the sun is just coming up. It’s still quite early. Maybe even the horses are still asleep. “The barn.”
And every single moment of last night comes back to me.
Declan kisses my bare shoulder. “Last night was…”
“Perfect,” I say quickly.
He looks like he’s going to say something more, but then he kisses me instead. And our kiss turns intense quick. Within seconds, we’re both moaning and Declan’s urging me on top of him.
“Ride me,” he says, his gray eyes darkening.
Bang!
I jump at the clear sound of a door banging open.
“Was that the barn door?” I whisper to Declan.
“Shit. I bet one of the guys is here to feed the horses and let them out.”
I scramble off of Declan’s naked lap and pull the comforter over me. “Oh my God. I hope they don’t come up here.”
“I’m sure they’ll have no reason to,” he says.
Within seconds, my eyes widen at the sound of footfalls on the stairs.
“What the hell—” Declan mutters as Luke and a guy I don’t know stroll into the loft.
They don’t see us yet because they’re around the corner and facing away from the little nook where the mattress is located, but if they turn around…
Declan puts his hand on my hip and mouths, “They don’t see us. Don’t worry.”
“This shutter is usually open. Chase or Coop must have closed it.” Luke fiddles with the latch, and the shuttered window swings open.
The guy with him whistles. “Quite a view, cousin.”
Cousin? This guy wasn’t at our wedding. Who is he? Then I remember what Luke said last night about some cousins from Texas coming to town. Maybe this guy’s one of them?
“We’ve got plenty of room,” Luke is saying, “But if you insist on not staying in the house, you can use this loft. You can close the window at night. It’s plenty warm enough this time of year, and let me show you where you can sleep…”
Oh, no.
Luke whips around. “We’ve got a place right here—fuck!” His blue eyes widen in shock as his gaze lights on Declan and me together on the mattress.
Everything but my head is fully covered by the comforter, but that doesn’t mean I’m feeling at ease. I smile awkwardly at Luke, whose gaze shifts between Declan and me. As awareness hits his expression, I brace myself for the call-out.
Luke knows Declan and I haven’t been sleeping together since we got married. He knows why we married, and he knows about our one-night stand. He knows the whole story.
So, I have to give him credit for the way he reins in his surprise.
“Declan. Mia.” His eyes dance with amusement, but he casually says, “Meet Blake Wild, your cousin.” He turns to his blond companion. “Blake, this is Declan and his wife, Mia. They live on the property in one of our cabins, but they must have tripped or gotten lost and wound up in the barn like one of our animals.”
Declan’s eyes shoot daggers at Luke, who simply crosses his arms over his flannel-covered chest and smirks.
Blake looks between Luke and Declan and then he smiles what can best be described as a Wild smile. The kind where, if you’re single, you melt. And if you’re not single, you’re still completely disarmed.
“Nice to meet you, Mia. And Declan. Hockey stud, right?” Blake nods at Declan. “Love to watch you play, man. Didn’t think this would be the way we’d finally get to meet—you naked in a barn and all.”
Blake grins. Declan doesn’t.
Declan is covered by the comforter from the waist down, but he’s not bothering to hide the fact that he’s not wearing any clothes. He nods at Blake and then turns all of his attention on Luke.
“Get the hell out of here, please, so we can have some privacy.”
With one last smirk, Luke beckons to Blake, and they head for the stairs.
“Blake just arrived from Texas,” Luke says over his shoulder. “Come up to the house so you can meet Logan and Macey too.”
We wait until their footsteps disappear before I throw the comforter over my head.
“Oh, my God, that was embarrassing,” I say, my voice coming out muffled from underneath the comforter.
Declan lifts the blanket and leans in to kiss my cheek. “I’m sorry about that. Normally, they would have no reason to enter the loft. I forgot my cousins were coming up from Texas today.”
“I’m still processing the fact that you have even more cousins than the ones who came to our wedding.”
Our wedding sounds intimate. Too intimate given that we’re naked in bed together, and I have no idea what to say about what we’re doing going forward.
Declan’s watching my face like he can see me blushing, but all he says is, “Blake lives on a ranch next to Logan’s family ranch in Texas.”
“And who’s Macey?”
He furrows his brow. “Honestly, I have no idea. Maybe Blake’s girlfriend? I guess we’ll find out. Blake and Logan’s dads are brothers. Their fathers’ father was my grandfather’s brother. All the cousins you’ve met up till now? We share the same grandfather.”
“Wow, that’s a big family. So the Wilds down in Texas are your second cousins?” I confirm.
“Right. But I’ve never met any of them before. They’re all cowboys, so Luke knows them pretty well. He and Logan have some history from b
ack when Luke traveled the rodeo circuit.”
“Well, I’m even more embarrassed now. We both met Blake for the first time while completely naked.”
Declan smiles at me with such fondness I relax. “Mia, we’re married. It wouldn’t matter anyway even if we weren’t. But we are, and they don’t know the story behind our marriage.”
“Right. You’re right.” I shake my head. “I’m not conservative, exactly, but I’ve honestly never had someone catch me in bed with a man. Which sounds ridiculous when I hear that sentence out loud, because like you said, technically you’re my husband.”
Declan kisses me soundly on the lips. “I am. And I think we should talk more about this.”
“We should. But not now.”
“Agreed. We’ll talk later.” He reaches across me and picks up my shirt and jeans. “Here are your clothes. Let’s head back to the cabin and change before meeting anyone else.”
“Good idea.” I dress quickly and follow Declan down the stairs and away from our private paradise.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Jamie Beth is still sleeping in my room when Declan and I get home. I slip by her and into the shower.
Twenty minutes later, I leave her a note in case she wakes up, and Declan and I make the walk up to the main house. No one’s on the porch, so we go inside through the front door and make our way to the kitchen where we find Cooper and Chase.
It’s early on a Saturday, but the delicious aromas of coffee and bacon already fill the room.
“Smells so good in here,” I say.
“Mia!” Chase shoots me a grin. “Care to help me cook the eggs?”
Declan starts to tell him off, but I put my hand on Declan’s arm. “It’s okay. I don’t mind.”
“You two made it,” Luke says teasingly as he comes inside through the back door. Before I can come up with some kind of a silly retort to get him from saying more about finding Declan and me in the barn, I realize he’s not alone.
A dark-haired guy with whiskey-colored eyes and wearing worn blue jeans and a dark blue sweatshirt that reads Texas is with him. He’s carrying a paper bag in one hand.
Declan (Wild Men Book 8) Page 15
