by Vanessa Vale
“This is a long way from the fire station. What if there’s a fire?”
“The department’s a mix of paid and volunteer firefighters. As chief, I’m paid, so I work a consistent schedule. I fight fires, but I also deal with administration. The annoying paperwork. I’m on call sometimes and stay at the station then, but otherwise, like now, I’m off.”
SAWYER
I had no idea why Kelsey’s reaction to seeing the ranch was vital. I’d been eager to see her. So had my dick. Every time I thought of her, I got hard. Which meant I’d been able to pound nails with my dick since I left her the night before. I couldn’t get the way she’d gone all soft and… fuck, perfect in my arms. I had no idea why it was different with her. Fate. Kismet. Destiny. Any of those woowoo words. I didn’t give a shit what it was labeled, but I wanted Kelsey.
I didn’t bring women to the ranch. I’d learned my lesson with Tina. I didn’t want any woman to want the Manning property more than me. I wanted the woman I’d marry to fall in love with the land. That was important because I sure as shit wasn’t moving, and she would help shape the property’s future. Give me the kids that would take over from me and my brothers.
Yet I hadn’t been into any woman enough since Tina to even consider having her come to the ranch. I fucked. I wasn’t a monk but never here. I dated, but again, not here. That was why Alice had volunteered me for the bachelor auction. I hadn’t brought a woman around. Not one I was serious about.
Until now.
I hadn’t even thought about it the night before when I’d invited Kelsey. The words had been said before I even thought about it. I’d meant them. Hadn’t wanted to take them back.
Seeing Kelsey in front of the big house with Claire hugging her, it made me think of more than just making Kelsey mine. For the first time in my life, I thought of ditching the condoms and getting her pregnant, seeing her round with a child we made. I pictured a beautiful redheaded little girl running around although only after we made a few boys to watch out for her first.
Was I crazy? Fuck, yes, because I’d only thought of kids as something down the road. Even the night before in the preschool. No longer. I was ready now. Huck and Thatcher would think I was pussy whipped. I didn’t give a shit.
I steered her away from my house, not letting go of her hand, and toward the stable.
She looked over her shoulder. “Aren’t you going to give me a tour?”
“If we go inside, the only tour you’re going to get is of my bed, so I thought it safer to stay away.”
I was strong willed but not where she was concerned, especially if she took off her clothes.
She slowed, and I shortened my long gait to keep pace. She looked up at me through those red lashes, her cheeks pink. “Safer?”
I took in her jeans and sleeveless top. Sneakers. The hint of makeup on her face. That red tangle of hair pulled back into a ponytail. Her outfit wasn’t the least bit alluring. There wasn’t a hint of cleavage showing. Only her arms were bare. But since I knew what she looked like bare, she could wear a cloth sack, and I’d find her sexy as hell.
My dick was uncomfortably hard, and I had to adjust myself. Her gaze dropped to the action. “Yeah, safer,” I said, not needing to offer any other explanation. “Come on, I want to show you something in the stable.”
Something where I wouldn’t want to rip the clothes from her body and bend her over a bale of hay.
Fuck, now I was thinking about that. There was no place I didn’t want another round with her.
“Is it something I’m going to want to ride?”
I practically skidded to a stop, turned and glared at her. An impish smile turned her lips. “Sugar, I know I mentioned that last night, but I’m trying to be a gentleman. Be a good girl.”
She looked me over from head to toe, her perusal anything but ladylike.
I growled and tugged her further away from the house. My bed. Her soft laugh had me smiling.
The interior of the stable was cool, the tang of horses and manure was strong, but with the great weather, the doors were open.
“I’ve never ridden a horse,” she admitted, as I went up to a dappled mare who stuck her head out of her stall.
I rubbed her nose. “You can touch her,” I said.
When she didn’t reach out, I took her hand in mine and started to raise it. I felt her tense the closer we got. “Sugar, she’s not going to hurt you.”
Her eyes widened, and she actually looked afraid. “This is Sable. She’s gentle. Claire rides her.”
She laughed then. “Claire’s braver than me.”
“Nah, she’s just been around them. I’ll get you liking them in no time. For now, just give her a pat.”
I waited for her to take a deep breath then nod. I raised her hand and set it on Sable’s neck then let go. Just stood there and watched as she stroked her, her eyes wide, and the smile on her face genuine.
I went to grab some oats from a bucket and came back, held my palm out for Sable to eat. “Wanna try?”
She dropped her hand, wiped it on her jeans and eyed Sable as if she were an alligator instead of a docile mare. “No way. Those teeth are huge.”
I grinned. “Another time.”
“She’s what you want to show me?”
“Down here.” I set my hand on the small of her back and guided her down to the stall at the end. She looked inside and gasped.
“Puppies!”
I opened the stall door, and she went in and knelt down. “That’s Maple,” I said, introducing Kelsey to the yellow Lab. “She’s Thatcher’s.” The dog raised her head but didn’t move as seven squiggly Labrador puppies nursed from her. One got bumped out of the way, and Kelsey picked the guy up and hugged him to her for a moment before she set him back in place to keep eating.
“Aren’t you a pretty mommy?” Kelsey crooned as she pet Maple then looked up at me. “You’re good.”
I leaned against the stall, crossed my ankles. “Oh?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Puppies? Seriously?”
I tilted my hat. I couldn’t help but be amused at her look. “What?”
She cocked her head and rolled her eyes. “Don’t ‘what’ me. Are you trying to win me over with puppies?”
I looked down the length of the stable, ensured we were alone before I spoke. “I was thinking I’d won you over with my dick.”
She blushed and got to her feet. Came over to me. She was smiling. At me.
“Puppies and a magical dick. What more could a girl want?”
Going up on her toes, she hooked her hand behind my neck and pulled me down for a kiss.
I instantly took over, wrapping my hands around her, one hand cupping her perfect ass and lifting her. She wrapped her legs around me, and I turned, pressing her into the wall, just like the night before. She was so soft and curvy, my hands able to get a grip on her and hold on.
I hadn’t anticipated kissing her now, rolling my hips against her center and making her moan. But I wasn’t going to turn the opportunity down.
She lifted her head an inch or so to catch her breath. “You sure know how to make a girl hot.”
“Your panties get wet for puppies, sugar?”
She shook her head and grinned. “My panties get wet for the guy who has puppies.”
And that was it. Right there. Boom. My restraint was gone. My need for this woman pushed me past being a gentleman. Past waiting to get her in my bed to have her again.
I pushed up her shirt, baring her lace covered breasts, bent down and took one pink nipple into my mouth. Her back arched and her hands settled on my head. It wasn’t close enough, so I tugged down the cup to bare her to me. “Fucking gorgeous,” I breathed then took her back in my mouth.
“We’re in the stable,” she said.
“No one will come in,” I said although I couldn’t be completely sure of that.
“I thought you wanted to wait,” she breathed.
I kissed across the swell of her tits to
the other one. “Can’t wait. Need to get in what’s mine.”
Carefully, I lowered her legs back to the ground, so I could undo the button on her jeans and slide the zipper down.
“Sawyer, I can’t be—”
With room now, I slid my hand into the front of her panties, and she went up onto her toes when I slid one finger deep into her dripping pussy. Fuck, yes. So tight. So hot. Her walls were rippling around my finger, and if the night before was any indication, she was close to coming. “What, sugar?”
“Don’t stop.” Her hands went to my wrist, guiding me as she wanted, her hips rolling.
I grinned and watched her face as she fucked herself on my finger. When she went over the edge, crying out my name in the stable, I almost came in my jeans.
With a hand on her hip to steady her, I pulled the other from her panties, licked my finger clean. I’d never get enough of the sweet taste of her pussy.
Her lips were parted, and she slowly opened her eyes. Then she went at me, frantic. Her hands were suddenly on my jeans and getting them open. Fuck, yes.
Somehow, I had enough blood left in my brain to realize something.
I stilled her hand. “Sugar, I don’t have a condom.”
She tipped her head up and blinked.
“We have to go to my house.”
She shook her head, breathing hard. “Too far away.”
Fuck. Fuck.
It was my turn to grab her wrist. To keep her from pulling my dick out. Of course, if she got her hand on it right now, it’d be all over. No condom needed. I let out a deep breath. “I’m game for knocking you up but not yet. Maybe get a ring on your finger first.”
She blinked up at me.
“Your pussy greedy and needing more? I’ll eat you out, sugar.”
I moved away from her, grabbed a horse blanket from a hook on the wall and dropped it onto the straw away from the dogs. I sat down, knees bent and curled my finger.
She came over and knelt beside me. “Your turn.” Her hands went back to my jeans, got them open, and I lifted my hips to push them down below my ass along with my boxers. My dick sprang free, and I sighed in relief then hissed when she gripped me firmly at the base and stroked up the entire length.
I fell back on my elbows and watched as she lowered her head, opened those plump lips and took me deep.
“Holy fuck.” My eyes fell closed as I set my hand on the back of her head, careful not to push down and make her take too much. She was doing a killer job without any guidance from me.
Her hair was a fiery tangle around her, strands of it tickling my bare lower belly. Her jeans were open, and I could now see her panties were pale blue, the same color as her bra.
My balls were tight, and the suction of her mouth was making me lose my mind.
I dropped onto my back. “Climb on my face, sugar. I want that pussy while you suck me dry.”
She lifted her head, licked her swollen lips as she looked at me. The cool air on my wet dick wasn’t easing my need at all.
I crooked my finger again, and then she smiled, pushing her jeans and panties down, then swung her leg over my chest. I grasped her hip and pulled her back toward my face and—
Fuck me.
Pink pussy. Hard little clit. Red curls. Right there.
I licked my lips and pulled her down, so I got my mouth on her.
She cried out. “Sawyer. I… slow down.”
I liked a woman who gave her man directions. I did as told and was rewarded when she shifted and licked up the length of me from root to tip. When she gripped me again—her other hand propping her up over me—and took me deep, I almost couldn’t focus. Almost. My goal now was to get her off before I came down her throat. I licked, sucked, even got my fingers into it, finding her G-spot and making her ride my face. She may never have been on a horse, but she sure as shit knew how to ride.
She came again, her knees squeezing my shoulders. Her sweet honey dripped onto my fingers, my tongue. I lasted all of five seconds after she buried her pussy on my face, my cum pumping down her throat. She swallowed me down. Every bit.
I tipped her to the side, and she slumped onto the blanket beside me, her head resting on my stomach. A smile curled her lips, and she looked up at me in a way I wanted to see on her face every fucking day.
“I want to see Sandy!”
Claire’s voice had me closing my eyes and groaning and Kelsey popping up faster than a piece of bread from a toaster. “No one will come in?” she hissed.
Thankfully, we only had to get our jeans fixed. Kelsey spun around in a circle, then dropped to her knees beside Maple before Claire tore into the stall. “Did you see my new puppy?”
The smile on Kelsey’s face was for Claire, but I knew the flush to her cheeks was my doing. And those swollen lips… fuck, I was getting hard again.
Thatcher stopped just inside the stall. He glanced from Kelsey to me where I still sat on the blanket. He arched a brow and grinned. Yeah, he knew what we’d been up to, at least the general idea. Fortunately, Claire didn’t see anything but wriggling puppies.
“You’re keeping one?”
“Yes, and I’ve named her Sandy.”
“Which one?” Kelsey asked, wiping her lips with her fingers.
Claire tipped her head just like Huck did and studied the line of little sand colored bodies, too small to be told apart, then turned to look up at Thatcher. “Which one’s Sandy?”
“Claire Bear, think you want to be a little lady and introduce me to your friend?” Thatcher asked.
Claire giggled. “Uncle Thatch, this is Miss Kelsey, my teacher.”
Thatcher took off his Stetson and leaned toward Kelsey and shook her hand. “Your teacher or Seesaw’s friend?”
Claire looked to me with the same pale blue eyes as her daddy. And me and Thatcher. She was definitely a Manning. “She bought Seesaw, so she’s going to keep him.”
Kelsey turned as red as her hair. “Which one’s Sandy?” she asked, clearly redirecting Claire, which worked because she spun about and stared with a scrunched-up face trying to tell the difference between the furry balls.
Thatcher squatted down behind Claire and set his hand on her little shoulder, her focus completely on the dogs. “Nice to meet you, Kelsey. I’ll let you get back to testing out your purchase.”
Kelsey’s mouth dropped open, and he winked at her. I stood, went over to him and whacked him on the back of the head.
He raised his shoulders and scrunched down in defense, but his grin showed he was completely unrepentant.
“Time to go, sugar.”
I held out my hand and helped Kelsey to her feet. “It’s time for the house tour.”
“Have fun you two,” Thatcher called.
We sure as shit would.
7
KELSEY
I was in big trouble here. Hot guy. Nice guy. Great family. Puppies. Magical dick. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with Sawyer Manning besides the fact that I wanted him too much. This couldn’t be right. It was lust. It was infatuation. It was fleeting.
But it felt so good. Giddy. Light. Flirty. Sexy.
Sawyer wasn’t hiding anything. Not like Tom who’d kept all his secrets in a different state. He was showing me everything, every facet of him as if the truth was important.
He… and the puppies were impossible to resist. Especially when he kissed me like he needed it to survive. Talked dirty to me as if he was far from a gentleman. As he walked me through his house, I realized I was out of my league. The place wasn’t fancy, but it was obvious he had money. He drove an eighties pickup truck around. He didn’t flash his cash. But the granite countertops, the high-end appliances, floor to ceiling windows, the supersized shower with more jets than an airplane all showed that he hadn’t skimped. The walls were a soft tan, area rugs covered the hardwood floors. Decorations were kept to a minimum and were neutral and masculine. I loved it. It felt like… home. When he showed me the three bedrooms, two of them empty, I remem
bered what he’d said in the heat of the moment.
I’m game for knocking you up but not yet. Maybe get a ring on your finger first.
My heart flipped over, and I had a little flash of panic. He wanted kids. With me. He wanted to put a ring on it. On me.
Everything I owned fit in the tiny storage unit and my car. I was sleeping in the back room of my work. I had no savings. Nothing.
And yet when he leaned down and kissed my shoulder as he stood behind me and I stared at his huge bed in the master bedroom, I couldn’t help but tilt my head to the side.
“What’s the matter?” he asked, his warm breath fanning my neck.
“There aren’t any curtains,” I said, staring at the huge windows, which were open to let in the summer air.
I felt his lips turn up in a smile. “The lack of curtains bothers you?”
I gave a slight shrug and bumped his mouth. “Don’t you like it dark to sleep?”
“I’m an early riser.”
“What about people seeing you… I mean, in your underwear or something.”
“There’s no one around to see.”
“You have brothers,” I countered.
“Trust me, they don’t want to see me in my underwear. You’re not checking out the big bed?”
“It’s a beautiful quilt,” I commented.
Sawyer was neat. His bed was made. No clothes were strewn across the floor. Only his firefighter uniform shirt was out, but it was folded and laying over an armchair in the corner, positioned directly next to a now-cold fireplace. I could only imagine how cozy that spot would be to read in the dead of winter.
“My mother made it. It was on my parents’ bed.”
I turned just enough to look up at him. “What happened to them?”
“Small plane crash. My father was a pilot, and his little Cessna hit a wind shear.”
I couldn’t imagine losing both parents at the same time. Not a mom and dad like what I thought his would be like. Loving. Open. Devoted, not only to each other but their kids.
“How old were you?”
