by C. A. Harms
I think I could have stayed there in bed with her all day, just watching her sleep. The moment she began to move around more, I froze, doing everything I could to keep her asleep just a little longer. I just wasn’t ready to let her go yet. I felt a tinge of disappointment when her eyes fluttered open. But the sweet smile that spread out over her lips washed it all away.
“Good morning, handsome,” she cooed. Placing a kiss on my chest, she then slowly shifted her body. She slid one leg over my waist to straddle me, and my excitement grew with the idea of her making love to me in this position. She seemed to have read my thoughts, because she reached between us and began rubbing my hardness against her.
“It’s a very good morning,” I said just before I felt myself slip inside her warmth, and her hips shifted forward, taking me all the way inside her.
“Oh yes, and it just got a whole lot better.” Her voice was laced with sexual need. Before I could respond, she began to swivel her hips, and all thoughts I may have had of any type of comeback immediately disappeared.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Amber
I stretched my arms above my head, a satisfied smile spreading out over my face as I thought about last night. I was sore, but the ache felt delicious.
My smile only grew wider as I turned my head to the side. Ryan was asleep next to me on his stomach. His arms were folded and tucked beneath his head. He had let his stubble grow out—on purpose or not, I didn’t know—but I needed to remind him to shave. I loved the stubble, but not the beard he had let it grow into. His face was entirely too handsome to be hidden.
I knew if he opened his eyes right at that moment, I would look like a creeper. I was scanning his features, appreciating every single inch, smiling so hard my cheeks hurt. I couldn’t for the life of me ever remember being as cheerful as I was right then.
I slowly and very carefully slipped from the bed and pulled his T-shirt on over my head.
As I made my way to the kitchen, I looked around for something to throw together for breakfast. The idea of cooking for him was the first thought that came to me after I got over my need to fully enjoy waking up next to him. I decided on whipping up toast and a couple veggie omelets. The fridge was almost empty though, so I worked with what I had.
I was in the middle of mixing the eggs when I found one of Olivia’s fashion magazines on the counter and became engrossed in an article about how to make your legs appear longer—the dos and don’ts, so to speak. I had set the egg mixture aside and was slightly hunched over the counter, so I was oblivious to Ryan approaching. When I felt a hand touch the back of my thigh, I yelped in surprise and spun around quickly. Of course my hand flew out, catching his lip, and he jumped back to shield himself from any further attack.
He groaned as he brought his hand up to his mouth and lightly touched his lip. A small drop of blood had formed on the lower one. He sucked it into his mouth, and I instantly felt guilty.
“I am so sorry.” I stepped forward and ran my thumb across his lip. “I wasn’t expecting you. I feel awful.”
“You could make it feel better.” His voice was laced with sexual innuendo.
Smiling up at him, I took the bait. “Oh, what can I offer you?”
He tilted his head close and smirked. “You could kiss me, for starters. I’m more than willing to see where that leads us.” He wiggled his brows, and I couldn’t help the laughter that slipped from my lips.
“But I was making you breakfast.” I pointed over my shoulder toward the items I had spread across the countertop.
“Well, that looks real good, baby, but I’m not all that hungry for omelets right now. I’m craving something a little sweeter.” He bent his head and skimmed his lips over mine. “I didn’t like waking up alone. Why don’t you come back to bed with me?”
Ryan was the perfect mixture of sweet and sexy, and he’d been able to flip my insides around from the moment I first met him. With him, everything made sense. Yes, he was older than me, and his experiences made him more grounded than Kevin or any other man I had dated, but it was so much more than that. I felt treasured and needed, like for once in my life that what I needed mattered.
He led me toward the bedroom, and for the next hour he made me feel beautiful. Who knew omelets were great for lunch too?
***
“He invited us both.” I tugged on Bailey’s arm. She had anchored herself to the couch and refused to impose on my day with Ryan at the ranch.
“I won’t be a third wheel, Am, just go. I’ll be fine,” she insisted.
“Stop being so darn pigheaded. I said they invited both of us.” She arched an eyebrow. “Yes, I said ‘they.’ Apparently Noah is bringing a date, and Jackson is looking forward to you being there.”
We were going to the Sawyer family cookout. Only it was so much more than the Sawyers. Apparently, half the town was coming, and it led up to a pretty kickass bonfire afterward.
“What if I don’t want to be Jackson’s date?” she threw back and me, struggling not to smile.
“Whatever. I hear you moaning out his name at night. Now you can have the real thing instead of fantasizing about it.” I yanked hard one last time, and she came up off the couch, laughing.
“You better keep your mouth shut around Jackson,” she said. “My fantasies are meant to be private.”
When we pulled up at the ranch, my mouth feel open in shock. They weren’t joking when they said the town was invited. The Sawyer ranch looked like downtown Chicago during lunchtime rush.
“Holy hell,” Bailey gasped as I placed my car in park.
“Tell me about it,” I whispered. Suddenly I felt out of place.
We both sat in the car, trying to gain the confidence to get out. A light tap on the window had us both squealing in surprise.
Just outside, Jackson laughed, holding his stomach. He knelt a little lower to get a better look at Bailey, and a gleam filled his eyes. When I turned to look at her, her eyes had the same sinful gleam. It was time to get out of the lust beaming between the two of them, because I was starting to feel the heat of their stares.
Jackson opened my door before jogging around to the other side to offer Bailey the same gesture. Only he held his hand out to her and helped her out when she took it.
They were so close, almost chest to chest, when he smirked and bent his head to kiss her gently on the cheek. I didn’t miss the movement of his lips as he whispered something in Bailey’s ear. Whatever it was must have been dirty, because Bailey blushed, which rarely happens.
“Let me walk you two beautiful ladies up to the house,” Jackson offered, leading Bailey away from the car with his hand still firmly wrapped around hers. “Ryan got volunteered to grill with Pop, so I’ll keep you girls company.” He turned slightly and winked at me, and Bailey rolled her eyes, trying to appear unaffected. But when she looked at me, I saw the truth. She bit her lower lip to hide her smile, but she couldn’t hide it from me. She was definitely crushing on the youngest Sawyer brother.
I immediately spotted Ryan across the yard, standing next to the grill, and his bright smile captured me from across the pool of people. The only problem with that smile was that it wasn’t directed toward me but at the petite woman with auburn hair who stood next to him, hanging on his every word.
Jackson led us to a small seating area just at the edge of the porch and in perfect view of the show that was beginning to make my stomach turn. I spent the next hour watching the woman paw at Ryan. Every time she placed her hand on his arm or leaned into him while laughing at something he said, I felt more and more nauseous.
Bailey and Jackson were still playing a game of cat and mouse at my side, and even her constant resistance to his advances didn’t break me out of my trance. I was jealous and slightly irritated at the woman’s forwardness toward the man I’d confessed my love to only a little over forty-eight hours ago.
“That’s Zoey.” I looked up as Noah sat down in the chair next to me. “She was one of Claire�
�s best friends and just moved back to town a few months ago. I’m thinking she may have even had a crush on Ryan when they were younger.”
I narrowed my eyes at him in irritation. He honestly was not making me feel better. “Where’s your date?” I shot back at him in a clipped tone.
He chuckled and leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees. “You’ve been looking at her for the last hour.” My eyes grew wide, and he only smiled wider. “I’m thinking I missed some sort of sign. I asked her out when she was already hitting on Ryan last week. When she said yes, I thought for sure I was wrong about her flirting with him.”
He turned back to Ryan and Zoey. “Wanna take a walk with me, Amber?” he asked without looking at me.
“Sure,” I replied. “I could use something else to watch for a while.”
We stood up, and I told Bailey I was going for a walk. She was so engrossed in Jackson she just nodded and kept flirting. I had a feeling I may be going home without her tonight.
Noah walked me out around the barn that held Ruby and her foal Rogue, who was born just this morning. I hadn’t been much farther than that before. Yes, Ryan and I went riding that first day, but we had gone in the opposite direction. Once we rounded the barn, the ground declined down a small hill. At the bottom was a long and narrow lake that widened as it led out to a larger body of water.
“Wow, how many lakes are on this land?” I asked. Ryan had shown me one, and I knew his property that adjoined the ranch had one too.
“There are four,” he answered. “This one, the one Ryan showed you the first time he brought you here, and the third lake sits behind Ryan and Olivia’s house.”
He paused, and I turned from the lake to look at him. “And the fourth?”
He lifted his hand and pointed. I squinted, following the direction of his finger.
“Do you see those lights?” he asked.
A good distance away I saw two distinct lights. They were dim, but I could see them.
“Those houses belong to me and Jackson. Cabins, actually,” he said, and I brought my attention back to him. “The fourth lake separates our houses.”
“I thought Jackson lived in town?”
He chuckled. “Nah, that’s just his crash pad. When he’s in town and too drunk to drive, he’ll stay there. I wouldn’t even call it an apartment, really. The place is really just one big room with a small bathroom.”
“Okay, so Jackson is the hooker out of the three of you.” He laughed at that description. “What’s your story, Noah?”
“Well, there isn’t really much of one. I always thought I would be the one that would follow in my dad’s footsteps. Breeding, training, boarding, everything horses. But when Ryan joined the police force, I followed behind him. We’ve always been so close—same friends, same interests.” He shrugged. “The guy never knew it but he was always my idol.”
My eyes teared up at Noah’s confession. Ryan had an amazing family. I only wished mine were half as supportive, but most of the time I think they forgot they even had a daughter.
“I was engaged once,” he said.
I tried to appear like that bit of information didn’t catch me off guard, but when he raised his eyebrows and smiled, I knew he’d caught my surprised look. “Yeah, but things didn’t work out. She wanted to leave Livingston. I wanted to stay. In the end love wasn’t enough, and she ended up leaving anyway.”
“I’m sorry.” I had no idea what else to say.
“I’m not.” He shrugged. “It wasn’t meant to be.” He shifted his gaze back toward the lake, and an uncomfortable silence settled between us.
“I was engaged once too,” I blurted out. Once I said it, I just felt like an idiot.
“Yeah, Ryan told me.” I turned toward him, quickly forgetting my embarrassment. “He told me about it during the time you two weren’t together. He isn’t too fond of your ex.” He paused. “Or should I say he wanted to kick his ass for what he put you through?”
The thought of Ryan wanting to defend me made my stomach flutter. What is it about your man being all domineering that tends to make your heart race with excitement?
“Amber, are you out here?” Ryan’s voice rang out from behind us.
I turned to see him approaching, his face bearing an unreadable expression.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Ryan
“Hey, what are you doing all the way out here?” I asked as I stepped behind Amber and Noah.
I found Bailey and Jackson digging through the cooler for two beers. I asked where Amber was, and they both looked at me like I was crazy. When they said she walked off with Noah, my heart sped up. Finding them deep in conversation only made me feel like putting my brother in a headlock and warning him to stay away from my girl.
“We just took a walk,” Amber said as I stepped in front of her.
I placed my hand on her hip and pulled her closer. “Why didn’t you come find me?”
“I did find you. It just looked like you were busy.” I didn’t like how timid she was acting.
“Yeah, brother, you were busy, so I offered to keep her company.” I looked up at Noah and narrowed my stare. “Since you were keeping my date entertained and all.”
I released Amber’s hip and stood taller, glaring at him. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
Noah shook his head. “Damn, Ryan, Amber has been here for over an hour already. You were so preoccupied with Zoey you didn’t even see her sitting less than thirty feet away from you.”
My stomach dropped, and I shifted back to face Amber. When she looked away nervously, fidgeting, I placed my palm against her cheek and forced her to look at me. “Zoey is just an old friend.”
“I know. Noah told me.” She forced a smile, and I felt like a complete ass.
Yes, Zoey had been flirting, but I told her about Amber. At first she seemed shocked, then she congratulated me on finding love once again. We then got to talking about Claire and some of the crazy things we all did as kids.
I guess if the roles were reversed, I would have been uncomfortable too.
“Can I get a few minutes alone with my girl, Noah?” I asked as the nervous feeling settled in my stomach. He’d called me out on my shit, I got it, but I didn’t want to fight about what I did wrong. I only wanted to remind Amber of the place she held securely in my heart.
Noah stared at me for a few silent moments before stepping backward and pivoting on his foot, then heading back toward the party.
I watched until I was sure he was out of hearing range, and my heart raced when I turned back to face Amber. I embraced her and pulled her close. “Sorry if I made you feel out of place.”
She shook her head against my chest. “No, it’s fine. It’s fine, really.”
“Let me make this right, okay? Don’t act like it’s nothing.” I swallowed hard and widened my stance, lowering myself to get closer to her. Looking her directly in the eyes, I secured her face in my palms. “Baby, one thing I’ve learned is that you never pretend something doesn’t matter. Never brush shit under the rug. You talk it out, and we’re gonna talk it out.”
“I’m not mad,” she assured me, shrugging before a small smile spread across her lips. “I may have been just a little jealous of her touching you. But I’ll get over it.”
I chuckled and pulled her face to mine before kissing her softly and leaning back to rest my forehead against hers. “Jealous, huh?”
She held up her hand, indicating a small space between her fingers. “Maybe just this much.”
Tracing her lower lip with my thumb, I stared at her. Her beauty made my chest feel like it was tightening, restricting the amount of air I could get inside my lungs. She came into my life when I needed her most and revived my heart, and I had such a need for her now. I wanted Amber more than my next breath.
“I love you, darlin’. You know that, right?” My hands ached to touch her, and my body ached for her closeness.
“Yes,” she replied in a breathy w
hisper.
“Believe me when I tell you that you have nothing to be jealous of.” I leaned closer and just barely skimmed my lips over hers. “I am completely yours, sweetheart. I have no room left for any other woman. You’re all I want.”
“I love you,” she whispered just before my lips covered hers. Her body relaxed against mine, in turn making me feel relaxed.
If I didn’t have a party to get back to, I would have carried her to my truck and taken her home with me right then. The desire to make her feel my love was overwhelming, yet I fought the urge.
I pulled back to look at her just as her eyes began to flutter open. “Come on back to the party,” I said. “I have some people I need to introduce my girlfriend too.” I winked, and she smirked at me as I dragged her off toward the house.
As we rounded the barn, we both stopped dead in our tracks, stunned at the scene before us.
Jackson had Bailey pinned against the side of the barn, her skirt bunched up around her upper thighs. One of her legs was wrapped around his waist as he palmed her breast through her shirt. For a moment I was a little envious and wanted to drag Amber off for a little foreplay of our own, but then reality hit.
“Jackson,” I growled.
He and Bailey jumped apart like two teenagers whose parents had caught them necking.
“What the hell are you thinking?” I asked. “What if Ma had found you? She would kick your ass if she caught you mauling Bailey against the barn.”
Amber placed her hands on her hips, glaring at the two of them. “After the things I heard about you in the last thirty minutes, the last thing I’m gonna do is allow you to make my best friend another notch on your bedpost.”
Of course Jackson looked at me in alarm. “Don’t look at me,” I declared. “You need to find Noah. I didn’t say shit.”
