Pain is born of many pieces, some of which she still doesn’t know about.
Chapter 52
Ruby
When I wake up, Rebel is slumped over my bed, snoring. I must have dozed off midconversation because I still don’t know the whole story. Part of me is afraid to know all of it and anxious of what might happen to my family members now that things are out in the open.
“Hey,” Rebel says, rubbing his half-closed eyes, his voice hoarse with exhaustion.
“Hey.”
“You fell asleep so long I worried you slipped back into a coma. Scared the shit out of me. Knock it off.” He yawns and stretches across my body. “When they let you out of this place, you’re coming home with me.
“So we’re done courting?”
“Nope. I’m planning on courting you for the rest of your life. You can laze around like a queen and I’ll be your manservant.”
“I don’t want a manservant unless he’s donning a skimpy loincloth that includes a string up his sexy ass so I can ogle his gorgeous man buns.”
“Man buns?” Rebel bursts out laughing. “Not gonna happen.”
“Then I don’t want it.” I chuckle.
Rebel frowns and straightens, his hand still on my body like he’ll never let me go. “What do you want, baby?” He swings a tray on my bedside table over my chest then adjusts my bed so I’m sitting more upright. After eyeing up the food, he points to the pudding.
I nod, and he feeds me. I think about his question as I roll the sweet faux-banana pudding over my tongue. It’s simple, really. I know exactly what I want.
“A husband.”
Rebel smirks and bites his plump bottom lip. Even though the man looks like he’s been dragged behind a truck, he’s still the sexiest guy I’ve ever laid eyes on. Some guys are born to wear old ripped T-shirts, unshaven faces, and bedhead like they’re on a magazine shoot. Rebel the cover man.
“What kind of husband you looking for?”
“The naughty kind.” I open my mouth for another spoonful. “I want a dirty fucker.”
“I know just the man.” He sneaks a bite of pudding then grins. “He won’t do that loincloth thing you’re jonesing for, but he will get naked and toss you on your back, legs spread. He’ll keep you damn busy, girl. Dirty, filthy busy.”
“I figured as much. I want a busy husband like that.”
Rebel locks the door and climbs onto my bed. He places his hand over my heart then walks his fingertips down to my breast. As much as I want to be groped by my man, there’s still unfinished business. Maybe he’s protecting me from pain, but it’s high time I know what happened to the Kline boys.
“I need more. And don’t play Clue with me. Who did it?”
Rebel exhales a long sigh and my stomach knots. “Lenny.”
“Dad?” I swallow hard then sigh. Holy shit.
“The Kline boys had stolen a baseball from Echo, and Lenny went to their house to get it. Sounds like he walked into a fight the boys were having over you and Opal, lots of trash talk about what they’d done to you girls. Not sure how it all transpired, but Etta came upon a nightmare. A fucking fluke nightmare. Twice in one week. You and Opal, then the redemption.”
“Jesus.” My stomach sours as I think about what Dad must have felt like after that. Bittersweet. “His heart attack, oh my God.”
“I’m sorry, baby. I wish I had known. Wish I had been there to protect you.”
“I’m sorry I was so freaked out that I couldn’t tell you. I was terrified of everything that week. I've never had fear take me over like that. Not until I came home to you.”
Rebel props onto his elbow, his head tilted to the side, his free hand threading through my hair. “That gave you fear?”
“Okay, I was sort of exaggerating, but yeah. It hasn’t exactly been a smooth transition.”
“It has kind of been a shitstorm.” He kisses me on the nose, and I honk his to receive a wonky noise in return. “I’m gonna make it better. Gonna make everything better.”
“So you’re not going to sell your farm or the hardware store? That was one of my biggest fears.”
“I’d like to talk to you about what we’re gonna do. Because that money, it should’ve been yours, not mine.”
Chapter 53
Rebel
“Oh my God, it’s huge.” Ruby blushes, places one hand over her lips, and then strokes away.
I grin. God, she’s beautiful. And healthy and out of the woods. Three weeks ago, her doctors told her she could go home, and I loaded her into my truck and took her there. To my place. And, today, on Ruby’s birthday, I’m taking her on another ride into our future.
“Isn’t this what you begged for in high school? The biggest, darkest ride you could score?”
“Yeah, but—”
“No yeah buts. Now, get on and ride the sunovabitch like he’s yours, ’cause he is.”
Ruby grabs hold of leather reins in one hand and, with a small boost from me, rises onto her Percheron stallion’s back like a rocket headed to outer space.
“Happy birthday, baby.”
“Rebel,” she whispers as her horse dances beneath her. “How could you have possibly remembered?”
She has no idea the things I remember. Sure, her fantasies about horses and a farm spread over rolling hills and family are written on all the places in my heart, which she owns. But they aren’t the things that fused us together. So many things did, though. The way we swam naked in the river, a couple of country kids exploring each other with kisses, lust and eager anticipation. Hours of fishing on the lake, which always ended with me sneaking into her bedroom when everyone was long asleep. Ruby sauntering down the school halls, her head high, pirating looks from everyone, her eyes glued to mine, only mine. The list is endless.
Women get butterflies. But men? Hornets is what I always said. She gave me hornets by the dozens. That girl made my insides buzz, and I wanted to sting her hard from day one.
“He’s so smooth, nothing like Rambler was.”
“Rambler had the choppiest gallop ever.” I laugh, remembering her old gelding. “I’m amazed you could ride that mess of a horse.”
“I loved Rambler.”
“I know you did. But you wanted something more like this guy. A Lamborghini.”
“So you bought two?” I rise onto my horse as Ruby turns her stallion in a circle.
“You needed a riding partner. I’m your man.”
Ruby clucks and takes off in a gallop, the thunder of her horse’s hooves mirroring my heart. I chase, then gallop past her, heading down the path flanking the cornfield.
She races next to me. “You certainly are fun to ride with…ahem and on.” She winks. “Race you to the cherry farm?”
“You’re on, sweet thing.” And playing right into my plan.
Philomena Clancy called me the day Ruby was released from the hospital. Her ninety-nine-acre cherry farm is the one I wanted to buy back when those trusts were awarded to me. I was sure, if Ruby got wind I’d bought it, she’d come home. It was the one farm she’d set her sights on when she talked of someday getting married. Someday living here in our small town.
Philomena, though, wasn’t going to budge back then. Not ever, as far as I was concerned. But, when she called recently, her voice rising high as she asked if I was still interested, I knew that it was a done deal before she’d gotten all of her words out. Some things and timing are simply meant to be. Hopefully this’ll convince Ruby to stay here in Snowvale like we’ve been discussing. She doesn’t want me to leave my life, but she’s not one hundred percent sure she’s ready to give up everything in hers. So, I decided to go balls out. I have nothing to lose but her. And that’s not an option.
“Looks better than ever.” Ruby grins when we trot down the cherry orchard’s long, winding gravel driveway. “Want to go pick a few buckets? I could make you a pie later…or just some cherry sauce we could drizzle over something else sweet.” She licks her lips and waggles her brow
.
“Cherry sauce? That sounds dirty. I’m in.”
“You’re easy, Rebel.” She laughs, and all I hear is my next sixty years. And they’re as gorgeous as she is.
“Truth is, I’m pretty hard right now with all this talk of cherry sauce drizzled on you, sweet thing.”
My heart beat picks up pace the closer we get to the farmhouse. I tried to plan everything out so she wouldn’t catch on. A few times, though, I was sure Monday was en route to spoil the surprise.
“She painted it red with white trim just like I always said I would if it were mine.”
Oh, fuck, her smile. It’s kind of happy soaked in sad. Sort of like her dream idea was stolen.
“And that old blue truck… Shit. Remember?” Her eyes water, and my pulse zips. “It’s like Philomena read my mind.”
When we turn the corner, heading toward the orchards, Ruby bursts out crying, sharp gasps punctuating her sobs of joy. The swooping hand-painted banners welcoming her to our new farm ripple in the soft breeze, our family members beneath them, clapping their hands and hollering out congratulatory shouts of joy.
“Rebel…oh God.”
“Welcome home, baby.”
Chapter 54
Ruby
“You’re driving a hard bargain, mister,” I say as Rebel and I wander through each room of the farmhouse now that everyone has gone home. I’m still pinching myself that he bought this place, the one farm I dreamed about since I was a little girl.
“I’ll show you some hard driving, baby, come here for a little more birthday love.”
Rebel pulls me into his arms and slow dances us down the hall, across the wide planked creaky floor into the master bedroom. The only room in the house all set up like we already live here. I don’t how he pulled off everything he did, but his wooing me to stay in Snowvale has paid off.
“Sit on the edge.” He backs me onto the bed. I sit, then flop onto my back. Twisting my head around, I admire the old barn wood planks and how he artfully pieced them together into a headboard.
“How long did it take you to build this bed?”
“I’ve been working on it since you got to town.” He pulls me upright, winks, and threads his fingers through my hair, sending goosebumps scattering.
Wind whistles through fluttering white linen curtains, dust whirling in the last remnants of the now setting sun. Rebel looks down at me, his hands cupping my face as he bends and places a soft kiss on my lips. Gentle and comforting, his tongue parts my mouth open with ease. He deepens the kiss, a groan vibrating from his mouth to mine as his tongue plays across mine. “Ruby,” he says quietly. Kneeling in front of me, he fingers the edge of my T-shirt then lifts it up my stomach and over my head.
“Why do I still feel like a teenager around you sometimes?” I ask.
“Same,” he answers while unfastening my bra and removing it. “That is until I see these gorgeous tits that are all woman. Then I feel all man and wolf.” His smile devours me, so handsome and pure that I blush. He pushes my breasts together and licks from nipple to nipple, flicking my wet peaks with his thumb all the while.
“Rebel.” I arch into him, and he sucks my tips taut, then nibbles on them. “Oh God.”
“Need you naked,” he says. “Take your jeans off, leave your underwear on.”
“A man with a plan?” I smile.
“Always. I’ve had years to fantasize about you in every damn position, I intend to follow through on every last one of them.”
“I’d like that.” I excitedly work my jeans down my legs with Rebel’s help.
“Would you now?” He lifts my now bare ankles to his lips and kisses them then moves to the arches of my feet where he licks and tickles me.
“Very much.” I giggle when he splits my legs, gently pushes me onto my back and places my ankles on his broad shoulders then proceeds to nibble my calf muscles.
“It’s gonna take lots of time.”
“I have lots of time.”
“Years and years on this bed.” His wet kisses travel up the insides of my thighs. “And on the kitchen table I’m going to build for us out in that old barn.”
“What about that claw foot bathtub in our bathroom?”
“That too. Lots of things we can do in that big tub. I like you wet.” He plays his fingers across my belly, as he licks along the edge of my underwear, making me insane for his tongue to travel where I need it most. With his teeth at one side of my lacy underwear, he pulls them down an inch.
This is it. Now is the time to tell him. My heart races as I suck in a breath then let it rip. “Okay. I’m in.”
He stops what he’s doing, much to my dismay. Leaning over my body, he places his hands beside me, his eyes wide and filled with emotion and something I’d call hope. “What’s that mean? Tell me it means what I think it does.” His voice cracks, melting and filling my heart in one quick whirl. “Spell it out before I have a heart attack waiting.”
“I’ll stay. I’ll live here on this farm with you. I’ll love you for the rest of my life and forevermore. I’ve put a lot of thought into it. I can still travel for the big jobs. The rest of it, I can let go. I’m ready for something else. A different life.”
Rebel’s eyes water, sending my pulse flying. I did it, I made the right choice. “A life with me?”
“You’re the only man I want Rebel.” His tears drip onto my face and I lose it right along with him. “That’s never changed.”
“Jesus, I love you, Ruby.” He kisses me hard, then does it again, a grin forming against my mouth. “You’re staying?”
“That’s what I said. I’m staying. And I’m really happy about it.”
“You’re happy?” Rebel lifts me off the bed, wraps my legs around his waist and spins us, all the while laughing his deep guttural happy laugh. It’s so beautiful I cry harder. “I’m out of my fucking mind! All my life…all my damned life this is what I’ve wanted…to be with you like this,” he says, peppering my face with kisses.
“I thought you had other plans?” I smirk, horny as hell after all the teasing. “Something about positions you wanted to try? No time like the present to start exploring.”
“I love you, sweet thing.”
“I love you more, Wishbone.”
Rebel gently tosses me onto the bed. “Get on your knees.” I eagerly scramble into position. “Come here, you gorgeous thing you.” With his hands gripping my thighs, he pulls me to the edge of the bed and eases my underwear down to the top of my thighs. “Head down, baby.” He rubs one hand up my spine, pressing my face into the soft downy bedding.
I’m so turned on I might burst into flames when he spreads my thighs, then opens me wide and blows across my skin. “Well, I guess you like that,” he says when I moan.
And while I like the way his hot breath blows across me in a sexy intimate way, I might like the way I’m picturing him exploring me with his eyes—while in this position—even more.
His wet tongue touches lightly on my inner thighs, his hands there too now, causing me to squirm. Then he spreads me open again. And God, what he does with his tongue and where he puts it nearly sends me to the center of the bed. “Rebel.”
“Yeah, baby?” His fingers join his tongue, which is tracing and entering me everywhere. He licks, sucks, and blows on me so tenderly, so exquisitely, I’m seconds away from coming. And when he presses the wet pad of his thumb to my ass, then presses in the tiniest bit while treating my clit like the queen she deserves to be, I shatter.
“Oh God, Rebel! Oh God, yes!”
He doesn’t for one second stop what he’s doing and it turns that one orgasm into another one seconds later. I didn’t realize I could have back- to-back orgasms but, holy hell, it’s happening. And when I come down from the second one, drool on the spot under my mouth, thighs aching, body sated, Rebel works his jeans off and positions his thick length right there ready to enter me.
“Something about this,” he says, voice deep and gruff. “You on your kne
es, head down, underwear still sorta on. It’s really fucking sexy, baby.”
“I kind of like it too.”
“I noticed.” He chuckles.
After dragging the head of his cock up and down my core, from my clit to my ass, he presses himself into me, inch by inch. And God, he fills me. Deep and full, until his balls slap me with every movement. “So wet and tight.” He groans. “Made for me.”
Gripping my hips, he pulls me onto him, my body accommodating his girth with each thrust. He slides his hands up my sides then onto my breasts. I nearly come when he squeezes my nipples so hard I squeal.
“You okay? he asks. Too much?”
“No, I like it. I just didn’t know…”
“Didn’t know how good we could be playing around like this?”
“Yeah.” I can only imagine what he has in store for us. I know it’s going to be crazy good.
Rebel pulls out and I whine. In seconds, he has me on my back. Then he’s yanking my underwear off and tossing them aside. “Open your pussy, Ruby.”
Rebel’s eyes are dark and sexy as hell, his muscles bulging as he presses my thighs apart, waiting for me to do what he’s asked.
“Show me how you touch yourself.”
He licks my fingertips and places my uncast hand between my legs. “And don’t tell me you don’t do it.”
“Of course I do it,” I say softly, the smallest smile on my lips. He catches my almost grin and bites his bottom lip.
“To me?”
“All my life. Only to you.”
“Fuck, Ruby.” He grips his bobbing cock and places it at my opening while I play with my clit as he watches. “You like this, baby? Me watching you?”
“Yeah.” I close my eyes as he presses his head to my wet core and nudges against me without ever entering. Wishbone.
“You okay if I’m inside you while you do that sexy shit you’re doing?” I open my eyes, our gazes locking and filled with need. Rebel grabs his T-shirt at the back of his neck and jerks it off in one movement. And there it is. The sexiest chest ever. Sweaty and muscular, nipples tight and dark.
Sunshine Bleeds A Black Edge (The Wild Things (standalone) Book 3) Page 20
