“An Arabian from the Middle East, flown into the US for a showcase and breeding with another Arabian. Lord, she was gorgeous, fifteen hands tall, bright white with black skin underneath, but her coat was so lush, she damn near shone in the sun. Her tail was so high-set it reminded me of a cheerleader’s ponytail, and she had the temperament too, always bouncing around and ready for action. Smart as a whip, too,” I finish, remembering Badra, the sweet girl.
“Did it work?” Shayanne asks. “She have a foal?”
I nod, pleased with the question. “She did. Went home and delivered the next spring. Her colt’s looking good, too, and will likely be a good racer.”
The questions go on and on, each of them so innocent but eager. Furthest away from home? Longest time away from the ranch? Best meal on the road? Prettiest ranch? Where I’d go if I could go anywhere?
I answer them, each and every one without hesitation, giving her bits of myself with every detail. More importantly, I’m giving her pieces of the world she’s never known beyond her television or maybe a schoolbook. It makes me want to package up the entire globe with a big bow and give it to her, a gift she deserves more than anything.
An idea blooms in my head, a way to give her a taste of what’s beyond her fence line. But it’ll take some research and work, something I’m completely willing to give. I keep my mouth shut for now, though, hoping to surprise her. Something tells me Shayanne likes surprises.
“Prettiest girl at all the ranches you’ve been to?” she asks playfully.
This answer I can give her gladly. But first, I pull her on top of me, her knees going astride my hips as our bodies align.
“You fishing for compliments, honey?” I tease, kissing and licking along the column of her neck. She purrs deep in her throat, urging me on as she tilts her head to give me room to work. “And with a trick question too?” I scold, biting the rope of muscle connecting her neck and shoulder as she stills on top of me with a needy gasp. “The prettiest woman I’ve ever seen was right next door the whole damn time. I was just too stupid to see it.”
Her hands splay on my chest, and I arch into her touch. “Not. Stupid.” Her words are stilted, punctuated by the kisses she’s pressing to my skin now. Along my scruffy jaw, down my neck, on my chest. “I was just hiding away while you were running away.”
The truth of that, both of us escaping into what we know best, becomes secondary as all I want to do is escape into her, into us. Into this. Ignore the future where she’ll want me to stay, ignore that I’ll always have to go, and pretend that she can come with me.
I roll us, flipping our positions and settling between her spread thighs. I prop myself on one elbow, my other hand delving into her honey waves as our eyes lock together, telling her seriously, “No more hiding. No more running, okay? I know we can’t tell your brothers yet and I’ll have to travel for work. That’s our lives right now, but I don’t want any escape routes between us. You and me, Shayanne. Promise.”
She bites her lip, her eyes wide and filled with innocent hope. I kiss her, pulling her lip free with my teeth and soothing the bite. She moans into our shared air, her voice soft and intense. “Promise.”
My heart flies up in my chest like the roller coaster ride she takes me on just dropped out beneath me in favor of a damn airplane takeoff. I’m flying, something I’ve done so many times before, but never like this. Never with her.
The kiss catches fire, the heat turning to molten lava in my gut as my cock thickens against her. She squirms beneath me, rubbing herself along the ridge inside my jeans. I meet her thrust for thrust, but after only a few moments of grinding, I can’t take it. I need more.
I sit up on my knees, running my hands up her long legs to her waistband where I don’t bother teasing. This might not be silk sheets and fine wine, but it’s us. Pure. Simple. Honest.
I need her too much. Want more with her.
I pull the sweatpants down her legs, revealing cotton panties, white with pink hearts on them. On anyone else, they might be juvenile, but on Shayanne, they’re so sexy they send a jolt straight through my body with the way they ride high over the curve of her hip and dip low over her mound. But I don’t take long to appreciate them either, pulling them down and off her as well.
Thankful to the moon for shining so brightly tonight, I stare at her soft, sweetly formed pussy. She scrambles for the blanket as a shiver shakes her body, but I push the cover off her legs, promising, “I’ll keep your lower half warm.”
She makes a squeaky noise, realizing exactly what I mean, but there’s no fear in her eyes, only heated want for me to show her everything she’s been missing, everything I want her to experience, but only with me. She will only ever need to be with me.
I drop down in the V of her legs, her thighs draped over my shoulders. I lay my cheek along her thigh, nuzzling her and listening to the scraping sound of my rough beard along her soft skin that’s even more delicious than I dreamed it’d be. Her hips lift, bucking toward my mouth, hungry for me to get on with it.
I chuckle darkly. “You want me to lick you, honey? Run my tongue all over your clit and dip inside your pussy to lap at your sweetness?” I spread her lips with my thumbs, letting my breath blow over her, the heat of my exhales mixing with the cool air of the night.
“Yes,” she moans. “Do it.” A thread of bossiness enters her tone, and I love that she’s with me, not just taking what I want to give her but demanding what she needs.
So I oblige. I lick along the wet folds of her lips with feather-light strokes, finally getting the full-strength taste of her. She’s delicious, a sweet and earthy natural sugar that makes me high. I slip deeper, wanting more, but she grips my hair, guiding me higher.
I take her cue, happy to worship her every nook and cranny just as she wants. There’ll be time for ‘exploration’ later. My tongue swirls over her clit and her back arches like she’s been shot through with lightning. “Holy fuck! That’s . . . that’s . . . oh, my God, I didn’t know—”
“Fuck, Shay,” I think I say, but it comes out just a moan because I can’t stop licking at her. My tongue circles her clit as her cries get higher and louder. They’re music to my ears, but I know they’ll carry out here and I can’t chance someone finding us, not when she’s about to come in my mouth for the first time.
I move to sit on my knees, looking her in the eyes. “Gotta be quiet, honey. I’m still your dirty little secret, but you’re about to tell everyone in three counties that I’ve got your pussy about to come all over me.”
A full-body shudder racks through her, shoulders to toes as her eyes roll. Fuck, this woman likes it when I talk dirty to her, but I need my mouth for other things right now.
Gently, I lay a hand over her mouth, and she nods that she’s fine. I’m not one for restraints and gags, but sometimes, necessity is the devil. I tease along her opening with my other hand and she whimpers into my palm.
Her wetness coats my fingers, letting me slip one into her easily. A few strokes, and she can take a second. But three is tight, so I go slower, letting her get used to the stretch. “That’s it, Shay. Take me.” I lean forward, our eyes locked on one another, and her brows pull together, silently begging.
I don’t lick her this time. Instead, I suck her clit into my mouth, fluttering my tongue across it as fast as I can. I match the pace with my fingers, thrusting them into her harder and rougher now, brushing over the front wall of her pussy with every stroke. She cries into my hand, her hips spasming, and then she freezes.
That perfect moment on the edge of possibilities, when everything somehow seems both limitlessly large and impossibly small, stretches out for an eternity for both of us. And then, with the softest stroke of my tongue on the tip of her clit, she explodes, calling out my name against my hand. Waves of pleasure visibly rush through her as she contorts and thrashes, more of her sweetness leaking onto my hand.
As she falls back to the blanket, lax in pleasure, I take my hand from her mouth
to fumble with my jeans. Button undone and zipper mostly shoved down, I pull myself from my underwear.
“Let me suck you too,” she says, trying to get up again, but she’s weak with how hard she just came.
I shake my head, placing my hand over her racing heart. “No, I want that pussy, Shayanne. I need you.” She opens her legs wider in invitation, not a single doubt on her face. When I look down, her pussy lips are shiny with slickness, gleaming in the moonlight. Stroking my cock up and down through her lips, I spread her honey all over me, bumping at her clit with my crown.
She moans, oversensitive at my rough handling of her most tender parts. That sound lets me know it’s not going to be tonight, not here in the moonlight in the dirt. She deserves better and I know it, but I’m so far gone, I need something. I can’t just go home to spank into the haymow.
Instead, I thrust against her, not entering her but letting her lips kiss along my shaft and the ridge of my cockhead slip over her clit. Again and again, I fuck her without fucking her and she bucks back against me.
Both of us look at the point where we’re connecting, not completely, but as close as we can tonight. “Not like this, Shay. But soon. Soon, I’m not going to hump you like a damn teenager. I’m going to fill you with my cock, my cum. Claim you in the damn town square, if that’s what it takes. Because you’re mine, and I’m yours.”
My balls pull up tight at the idea of walking hand-in-hand with Shayanne, not giving a single solitary shit about who sees us and knowing that she’s proud to be with me too. That idea is the sexiest damn fantasy I can imagine. We wrap our fingers together, tightly holding hands against her thighs as we almost-fuck.
“Come, Luke. Come in me, on me, I don’t care. Just do it, please.” Her voice is breathy, but the thread of something stronger is woven into her tone. She’s on edge again too.
I unlock my right hand from hers and guide her fingers to her clit. “Rub yourself for me, honey. Make yourself come again because I’m gonna come all over you.”
Her fingers obey even before her lust-clouded eyes clear, and I follow suit, jacking myself roughly. My cockhead bumps into her hand every few strokes, adding another element of pleasure.
We both watch, mesmerized by each other in more ways than just this moment in the moonlight.
“Fuck, Shay. I’m coming,” I manage to grit out. My eyes clench shut as my cum jets from my crown, but when she cries out too, I force my eyes to open, needing to see her.
My hot cum is covering her hand, her clit, her pussy where she’s holding herself open for me like the sexiest damn target I’ve ever seen. She pauses for a split second, artfully painted in the evidence of my desire, before she begins stroking herself again.
She spreads my cum into her skin, mixing it with her own juices, and then she bucks again, her hips rising as she moans long and deep, her thighs quivering with the effort. I let her lips sweetly kiss along the length of my cock, feeling the pulses as she comes. When her fingers still, I take their place, lazily swiping across her clit a few more times to draw it out longer.
She pulls away, a smile lifting the corners of her mouth. “Mmm, too much. I can’t.”
I can’t help the cocky grin, and I lean down, kissing the tip of her nose. “Wore you out already?”
“Not even close,” she argues back, though she’s laid out on the blanket like she could fall asleep at any moment.
I want that. To fuck her to utter exhaustion and then cuddle her all night as she sleeps in my arms, to wake up in the morning and have her be the first thing I see as I greet the day. And I remember my idea of a surprise. I’m going to knock Shayanne’s socks off, but I’m going to need some help.
Chapter 14
Shayanne
The truck roars its way down the driveway, a tan cloud of dust swirling behind it like the hounds of hells are nipping on its heels.
I’m already opening the door, running for the front drive to meet it. Well, drive is a bit of misnomer since it’s really just the patch of grass we all park on, but it’s where I head.
Unable to contain my excitement by jumping up and down, I don’t even flinch when the horn blares a little tune as the tires stop with the smallest slide on the flattened grass. I run for the driver’s side, opening the door.
“Sophie! Get out here and hug me!” I tell her, fighting back the urge to pull her from the truck while she’s still got a seatbelt wrapped around her belly. Finally, she gets free and steps out.
“Shayanne, I’ve missed you!”
It’s been all of three weeks, plus a few days, since we’ve seen each other at Hank’s, but it feels like forever because so much has changed. Not that she knows that. Luke’s top secret and all, definitely not something to share in a text or a phone call where I might be overheard.
We hug like it’s been ages, squealing and carrying on, as Daddy calls it. She asks to see the goats, and we wander into the pen so she can pet them. Usually, she’ll plop right down in the dirt and let them crawl all over her, calling it her favorite form of goat yoga, though there’s very little down dog happening. Usually, it’s more of us telling the ornery goats to ‘get down’. She’s more careful today, though, feet spread wide and stable and bending forward to scratch at their wiry hair. Her round belly lays on her thighs, and I swear she’s glowing as she grins at me, a woman totally happy and fulfilled with life.
“Damn, you have popped. You sure you ain’t got twins in there?” I tease her, knowing that even as big as she is, she’s not that big for being six months along with a Bennett. Early on, she told me through hormonal tears that Mama Louise warned her that all her boys were around nine pounds.
She stands back upright, one hand going to rub her belly and the other to her back. “Don’t I know it, but definitely not twins. Sonogram and the doctor both say so.”
I give her an analyzing look, holding up my hands like I’m a cameraman finding the best frame. “Maybe pick a couple of names, just in case,” I say seriously. She smacks at my hands, cursing a blue streak, and then we both dissolve into giggles. “Just kidding, Soph. You look great.”
“I will, after this weekend. You ready?” she asks, looking toward the house.
“Yeah, let me grab my bag and fend off the boys so we can get outta here.” I stomp up the front steps, and the screen slams behind us both as we enter the house. Ever the animal lover, Sophie pets Murphy too, promising him extra biscuits next time he comes to see Doc Jones for his shots.
“Guys!” I shout out. “I’m leaving!” Two words sure to get them to drop whatever they’re doing and make an appearance.
Like magic, doors open upstairs and a herd of elephants tromps down the stairs. Or the boys. Could go either way until their dark heads pop into the kitchen, throwing the odds.
“Hey, Sophie,” Brody greets her. It’s not much, but it’s a hell of a lot better than his snarled acknowledgements used to be. Once, I’d even heard him call her a Bennett Bitch, but one very intense, pissed off conversation between us put a stop to that real quick. She’s my only and best friend, and I’m not going to have him mucking it up, thank you very much.
She smiles back, recognizing the progress. “Hey, Brody! Brutal, Bobby,” she says, just as kindly as she always is. “Thanks for letting me steal Shayanne this weekend. I need a good girls’ getaway before this alien forces its way out of me.” She mindlessly rests her hands on her belly, her smile belying the silly insult against her unborn baby.
“Sure. Of course,” Brody says, but then he turns to me. “Everything taken care of?”
I resist the urge to tell him, ‘yes, Dad,’ because around here, that’d be an insult, and besides, Daddy hasn’t cared enough to keep track of us in a while. That’s been Brody’s gig for a long time now, I realize. He’s done so much for us, being more of a father figure than I ever gave him credit for. I step up on my tiptoes, kissing his cheek in appreciation, and he starts. “What’s that for? You buttering me up for something?”
; His slight flush tells me that he appreciates the affection despite his incredulous words, and I chuckle, patting him on an unshaven cheek.
“Nah, just gonna miss your ugly mug,” I reply. I do the same cheek kiss to Bruce and Bobby, not wanting them to feel left out. “And yours, and yours too . . . maybe, just a little.”
I hold up my finger and thumb an inch apart.
“Food’s all in the fridge, labeled by meal with instructions to heat stuff up,” I reply, but I really hope they take a night to go into town and unwind a little. “I bought an extra twelve-pack of beer and hid it in the barn fridge so y’all could have a little fun too. But don’t get into any trouble. I’ll be too busy to bail you out until Monday.”
I say that last bit fake-harshly, holding out an accusing finger and daring them to get up to too much.
“Yes, Mom,” Bobby teases. That doesn’t hold any of the bad juju my dad thought did and instead feels like a nice compliment. “For real, since Dad’s gone, we’ll probably just hang out, or if we get ambitious, maybe go to Hank’s for open mic night. We can handle ourselves, dear sis. No need to worry about us.”
The words are all right, but the looks they’re giving each other tell me they’ve got bigger plans than Bobby is letting on. At this point, I don’t want to know. As long as Sheriff Downs doesn’t call me, I’m gonna say it’s a winner, winner, chicken dinner weekend for the Tannens.
“And what, exactly, do you ladies have planned?” Bruce queries, giving me a raised eyebrow that says he thinks something’s up with my impromptu trip to Great Falls.
Sophie answers for me, giving my brothers all the sass they deserve. “Triple-S. Shopping, sausage pizza, and the spa. A girl’s best friends. By the time I bring Shayanne back, you won’t recognize her. Mani-pedi, massage, haircut, facial, and an actual dress.”
Bobby’s nose screws up, like Sophie just passed gas. “Whatcha need a dress for? Not like you’re gonna feed the goats in that.”
Racing Hearts: Bennett Boys Ranch Page 15
