by Delilah Hunt
Looking at him reminded her of a predator stalking an all-too-willing prey. Once he made it to the landing, she felt her lower belly coil with liquid heat. Moisture dampened her lace panties. She stole a glance at the doors on either side of the hall, unsure of which led to the bedroom then turned to face Brandon.
Big mistake. The incessant pounding in her heart escalated. Carnal need radiated from her pores. Everything about Brandon appeared bigger, stronger…powerful. His eyes held hers captive, refusing to relinquish their fierce hold. Sensing her confusion, he lifted a hand and pointed his forefinger toward the door on the left. His chest rose slowly as if it was hard for him to speak.
“Brandon?”
He pointed his finger toward the door again. “Get inside.”
Oh Lord. Danika sank her teeth into her lip to suppress the moan. She grasped the door handle, aware of his solid male presence behind her. His large hand brushed hers aside to push open the door.
Inside the bedroom, his long finger curled around a lock of hair above her nape. Brandon swept the hair up and pressed his lips to her bare skin. “From here on out no other man will ever touch you like this.” His hand glided beneath the v-shaped neckline, fondling her breast before giving it a firm squeeze. A gasp fell from her lips at the sensuous touch.
His eyes searched hers as his thumb caressed her nipple. The tiny bud beaded and stiffened with excitement.
“You sound so innocent,” he murmured. “How can that be? You’re so beautiful, Cailín, surely you’ve been touched like this before, haven’t you?”
Knees quivering, she managed to speak. “No. Never like this. A few kisses in college, yes but there was no one I was ever in a serious relationship with. There never seemed to be the right moment or the right guy I wanted to be intimate with.”
He expelled a loud breath at the precise moment his hand rose from her breast. “You know what I want from you tonight, don’t you? Are you willing…ready to share yourself with me?”
“I’m ready. I…I just don’t want to disappoint you.”
He swallowed hard and she could see his Adam’s apple bob up and down. “Turn around,” he instructed softly, undoing the clasp and zipper at the back of her dress. The dress cascaded in a pool of satin at her feet. Cool air whispered across her tingling skin. Instinctively, Danika crisscrossed her hands against her chest to cover her breasts.
“Don’t.”
Her eyes lifted as Brandon took a step backward and peeled her hands from her breasts. “I want to see you, Danika. All of you.”
Her hands slowly fell to the side. She wanted nothing more than to obey Brandon. Allow this man, her husband to guide her in the art of pleasure. His attention returned to her nearly naked frame. Danika watched his every move. The breath hitched in her throat as Brandon slid his forefinger along the valley of her breasts and down to her flat stomach. His finger dipped languidly into her navel.
She inhaled a gasping breath and squeezed her eyes shut. “Oh, Brandon. It feels wonderful.”
“I’d forgotten how soft a woman could feel.” His darkened eyes lowered to her waist. “I wonder how soft it is between your thighs, wife …how hot.”
His eyes held hers in a fierce unrelenting grip as a thick, callused finger delved between her slickened folds.
“Ohhhh.” Her head lolled to the side on the luxurious cry.
“Tell me. Are you that same lovely shade of brown all over, Danika? Inside that honeyed little spot I can feel melting for me?”
Liquid heat flooded onto his fingers at the provocative question. “You. You should look for yourself,” she panted.
A harsh groan tore from his chest. He added another finger, taking his time to pet her clitoris. “So many thoughts going through my mind right now,” he said. “Can’t imagine how much I want to slide into your wetness and stay there.”
“I always want to know what you’re thinking,” she said against his lips. “I love knowing how you feel because I want you as much as you want me.”
He clasped his arms around her hips and lifted her against him. Danika wrapped her legs around his waist and tugged at the buttons on his vest. Their lips locked in a kiss, Brandon carefully laid her on the bed then knelt on the hardwood floor before her.
“Will you let me see all of you tonight?”
She squirmed a little and grazed her fingertips along the flimsy band of her underwear. “Take it off, Brandon. Please.”
He slid the panties below her ankles then tossed them to the ground. His head lifted. Penetrating eyes sliced into hers as he held her thighs open. His smoldering gaze settled on her sex. Exquisite heat rushed into every nerve ending in her body. She was torn between closing her legs in fear of the unknown and splaying them wider for her husband. Desire won out. She flattened her palms to the mattress, undulated her hips and spread her thighs, wide and unashamed.
“Danika.” Brandon stared, his eyes gleaming with a heady mixture of fascination and surprise. “Stay like that for me.” Rising swiftly, he made quick work of the shirt he wore. His chest was wide and muscular with a golden tan, shades lighter than her dark complexion. Pride flourished inside her chest at the sight of her husband.
Holding in a breath, Danika watched as he removed the rest of his clothing. When Brandon tugged down his briefs, she sank her teeth into her lip, unable to take her eyes off him. His penis jutted forward, so thick and long it curved toward his stomach. The broad tip was reddish pink and slick with moisture.
“May I touch you?” Her fingers brushed along the base before giving him a chance to reply.
Standing between her legs, his body tautened. A low hiss sizzled from his lips as if her touch burned him. His hips jerked forward, pushing himself into her hand. Her fingers roamed over his flat abdomen, sinewy with muscle and not a trace of fat. Danika kept her gaze on his face. His eyes were slanted, with dark lashes fluttering open and closed as his head tilted to the side.
A rush of pleasure and confidence burst into her. She had brought him to such a state of heightened arousal. Emboldened by his reaction, Danika circled her fist around his swollen shaft and glided it upward. “Like this?”
“Yes,” he gasped. He clamped his hand above hers. “But no more. Unless you wish to see me spill before I get inside you.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh. I didn’t—”
Brandon mashed his lips against hers, cutting off her retort. “Lie back. I want to see how wet you are. Let me see how much you need your husband.”
Danika did as instructed. Her lips parted in breathless abandon and a hushed cry rippled from the back of her throat as Brandon climbed on top of her. His powerhouse frame prevented her from seeing anything but him. With both hands braced on the mattress, he looked down at her, while his fingers parted and explored her soft folds. “You’re ready for me,” he crooned into her ear. “You’ve been ready for me a long time, haven’t you, Cailín?”
Her back arched a little off the bed. “I have. Make love to me, Brandon. Make me yours.”
“You already belong to me.” In one long, hot thrust, his shaft plunged deep within her sex, tearing away the thin barrier. Brandon’s lips were warm on her cheeks, whispering tender words of endearment. As the pain steadily subsided, Danika rocked her hips, seeking more of the tiny shards of pleasure that rippled through her with every thrust that felt more splendid than the last.
“Never felt this good,” he groaned above her, withdrawing only to pump deeper, harder. Danika thrashed her head to the side and dug her hands into the soft cotton sheets.
“I’ve always wanted to be so deep inside you. Dreamed about it so many times. Tell me you like having your man inside you.”
Her fingertips raked across the corded muscles that roped his back. “I love it. Feels a thousand times better than I imagined.”
“Than you imagined,” Brandon repeated, as if he was still in disbelief of her desire for him. His movement became rough inside her soaked channel. Danika felt the bed dip beneath her with each franti
c thrust of his cock, driving her to depths of arousal she never knew existed. The pleasure intensified until she could no longer hold it in. Her muscles tightened and her legs trembled.
“It’s all right. I’m right here with you. Come with me, baby.” His hips drove into her with fervor, frenzied movements meant to push them both over the edge.
A low cry echoed from her heart and bounced across the bedroom walls. Warm wetness flooded into her as Brandon threw his head back and released a guttural cry. The sound rocked her to the core and left her clinging to him wanting more.
Worth the Price
“Never told me how it felt to be married, Bran.”
Brandon swiped the back of his hand across his forehead, damp with sweat from the blistering midday sun and scowled. Clint’s question was innocent enough. If he was to give an honest answer, his two weeks with Danika were nothing short of perfection. Each and every morning he’d awoken with her curled up in his arms, sometimes with her arm flung across his face. She talked a lot, always telling him what she was up to, with whom she had spoken. Her natural playful nature made it so she was always teasing and trying to get a smile out of him. The sound of Danika’s laughter was as common to him now as the sound of his own gruff voice. In essence, his marriage was going too well. Sooner or later Brandon feared something had to give. No one could remain that happy and content for too long, especially not him.
“Feels the same. It’s a piece of paper.”
Clint drove a nail into the rigging of the corral they were putting together. The crow’s feet beneath his eyes crinkled as he squinted against the glare of the sun. “Does that mean you’re ready to send her packing back to ole Frank?”
Brandon snorted. Just because he was waiting for the ball to drop on him and Danika didn’t mean he was ready to hand her over to her da.
“I never said I no longer wanted her, now did I?”
“You didn’t. But you sure ain’t acting like man happy to be hitched to that cute young gal. You look like a cowpoke saddling up his bronco and waiting for someone to kick him in the balls and ride off with his horse and woman.”
Brandon grew silent. “I’d be a fool not to think that. My luck is shitty at best. If it’s not getting the other half of my face sliced up or losing the ranch…hell, the rest of my cattle if those bastards are bent on returning for more, it’ll be something else to screw with my marriage. Danika is the first woman I’ve ever wanted. That she’s my wife is nothing short of unbelievable.” No matter the reason she married me.
“Self-fulfilling prophecy,” Clint said with an overblown air of confidence. “That kind of thinking’s bound to mess you up. I see the way she looks at you. Don’t get me wrong. I try to keep the old peepers to myself when your missus comes around, but it don’t take a genius to notice that pretty li’l gal cares about you.”
“She doesn’t love me,” he said in a matter of fact tone.
“Do you love her?”
His jaw tautened at the unexpected question. A minute passed before he, answered, “No. I don’t love her. Danika didn’t come into this expecting love.”
“What if she brings it up? Women do that sometimes.”
He wasn’t a fool. Brandon knew Clint had a valid point. He was banking on the hope that conversation would never come to light. At least not anytime soon. He turned to his friend. “You mention love, Clint, what I’ll say to my wife if the topic comes up. Well I have one for you. Answer me this—what is love?
Clint lifted his scrawny shoulder. “C’mon Bran, you’re joking right?”
Brandon gave him a blank stare, to which the foreman gaped and ran a hand through his thinning hair. “Hell. Everyone knows what that is. It’s when you care about someone. You don’t want anything bad to happen to them. You only want the best for them.”
Disappointment roiled inside his gut. Clint had simply spouted a classic textbook answer and yet he didn’t doubt for a minute the man actually did know how to love. Disappointment gave way to envy for the craggy-faced ranch hand.
Recalling Clint’s earlier question, Brandon opened his mouth to speak then closed it. A simpering grin broke out across his worker’s face. The old man suddenly began to wipe his dirt-smeared hands on the leg of his worn leather chaps.
Brandon knew automatically that someone was approaching. Danika. The scent of her jasmine perfume clung to the dusty air.
Turning, he watched her approach. There was a mesmerizing smile on her face. The single row of cornrow she had plaited this morning at the side of her hair, loosened from her bun and fell to the side of her face.
“Hey,” she greeted. Her soft lips brushed against his cheek. Her head shifted, this time to issue another smile at the older man. “Good evening.”
To his annoyance, Clint’s grin stretched so wide, Brandon expected his foreman’s face to crack at any moment. “Evening, Miss Danika. Looks like you came at the right time.” Clint slapped a hand to his back in exaggerated pain. “Thought I was gonna have to wait until ma back gave out for Bran to give an ol’ man a five-minute break.”
Brandon rolled his eyes at the show of theatrics. “Can we please have a minute here?”
After Clint took the hint and left, he returned his attention to Danika who looked as if she was fighting back a grin and also waiting on him. This morning he had promised to accompany her to the homeless shelter, Danika and her co-workers had spearheaded the construction of.
“Are you ready?”
“I am, but is there anything you need help with before we go?” Her gaze trekked the unfinished corral. “What about the calves? Did you finish inspecting them for today?”
“We still have a few that need to be tagged. The guys should have them done by tomorrow.”
She linked her arm through his as they headed to his pickup truck. “Why do I get the impression even if you did need the help you wouldn’t let me know?”
“I have enough workers, Danika. I didn’t marry you to gain another worker on the ranch. Plus, you have your hands full helping all those kids and families at the center.”
Halting in mid-stride, she cocked her head to the side and jabbed a small finger to his chest. “Of course we both have important jobs. However, you’re my husband. You come first, Brandon. Always. I love my work and helping every single family in need that comes through our door at the Family Services Center. I really do and I can’t see myself doing anything else. But you, me, the ranch and our life here—or I should say, the life I would like for us to build here—that’s where my heart is. So please don’t ever tell me that I have my hands full. Not when it boils down to us.”
Brandon gaped in astonishment. He wondered what his workers and the rest of the population of Hart’s Fall would think if they saw Danika scolding him without the faintest trace of fear. All because she was upset he hadn’t thought of himself as important enough in her daily schedule.
“I heard you,” he said, still in awe. “Loud and clear. You’ll kick my ass from here to Billings if I say something that stupid again.”
Her pretty face lit up. “Fast learner.”
It felt like tiny silken fingertips were stroking above his heart. Brandon couldn’t help but hold her to his chest. “I pay attention to everything you say and do. I’m sorry if I upset you.”
“You didn’t. Although, I will be five minutes from now, if we’re not sitting in your pickup on the way to the shelter.”
“You really care about those people don’t you?”
“Of course I do. It’s hard not to, especially when most times there are little children in need. That’s my favorite part about being a social worker. Kids are pretty amazing and it’s heartbreaking to see them suffer for whatever reason. When I was little I never had any brothers or sisters. I’m okay with being an only child now, but I used to be so jealous of the other children with siblings. I guess in a way this is a chance for me to have at least some interaction with the little ones.”
“Your par
ents only wanted one kid?”
“No. They wanted more. It wasn’t possible.” She let out a sheepish laugh. “I’m sure you’ve noticed my dad’s a bit up there in age. It took them a long time to have me. That’s why he was so overprotective.”
“Maybe.” The reminder of Prescott and her connection to him felt like a mid-winter ice storm slashing into his veins and dousing his joy.
She slapped his arm in a playful manner. “I swear Brandon, one of these days you’re going to blab all your secrets to me. Like how you manage to downplay that accent so well and only use it when it suits you. Oh and especially what you’re thinking right now, when all you say is ‘maybe’.” Her voice deepened into a masculine baritone to mimic his.
Laughing, Brandon entwined his arm around her waist and drew her to him once more. “I think maybe it was better when you were afraid of me, even if it was only a little. You showed more respect then.”
She giggled, which resulted in her plump lips widening. The very sight sent an ache to his groin that would see no relief until tonight.
“You could never scare me again.”
“Never?”
“Never, ever. No way.” Her features grew serious, the smile vanishing. “I wish everyone would know the real you.”
“And who is the real me?”
“The complete opposite of what most people think. Look at Clint, for instance. You were the only rancher around here who was willing to hire him. Not many people are so accepting or willing to trust, to take a chance on a homeless man who was drunk more often than not. Also, I know this is a busy time of the year for getting the cattle ready for the fall auctions, yet you’re taking the time to help out at the shelter.”
Brandon shrugged. He didn’t need praises sung to him. Clint was a hard worker who hadn’t touched a bottle of alcohol since the day he started working on the ranch. And who the hell was he to turn his nose up at someone who shared the same knowledge of survival outside in the frigid cold without a cent in the pockets.
“There’s nothing special about any of that.”
