She fought through the cramps gripping her belly as she heard Josh call her name from the porch. Thankful she was barefoot, she dug her toes in the grass and bolted toward the woods. Twenty-five feet. If she could just get there, she could have some time to herself. Get away from Josh and every deep-seated emotion his handsome face and endearing ways caused to churn within her.
Sabrina’s heart broke at the realization of just how much she cared for Josh and just how wrong they were for each other. Warm tears streamed down her face only to be washed away by the unrelenting cool rain.
Her breathing turned choppy and her lungs felt like they were on fire as she pushed herself to the limit to get to her destination as fast as she possibly could. Josh’s heavy footfalls sounded not far behind her. The noise both comforted and scared her.
When she was within ten feet of the entrance to the woods, she felt a hand around her ankle and she went down, hard on her stomach.
Sobbing, she clawed at the grass, trying to free her ankle from Josh’s grasp, but he was too fast and before she could move another inch, he’d rolled her over on her back and had pinned her to the ground with his body.
“No,” she wailed as she swung her arm, doing her best to free herself from his touch, his attentiveness, his damned sexy heat. Her arm accidentally hit his jaw, causing his head to snap sideways.
“Sonofabitch, Brina,” he hissed out as he grabbed her arms and slammed them to the ground above her head, his teal gaze narrowing on her. “Why are you running and why the fuck are you trying to break my jaw?”
“I’m sorry, Josh. I didn’t mean to hit you,” she replied, feeling suddenly hemmed in and vulnerable, her heart out there flailing in the wind. The knowledge had self-preservation kicking in full-force.
“Let me up,” she panted, resuming her struggles as she bucked to get him off of her. God, she needed to get away from this man before she had a complete breakdown.
“You’re not going anywhere until you tell me what’s wrong,” Josh insisted as he pressed his hips to hers, holding her firmly to the ground. Her heart raced at his deep concern for her while at the same time she couldn’t mistake the hard flesh that nudged against her mound.
She jerked her surprised gaze his way and he ground out, “Hell yeah, I still want you even when we’re fighting…over God knows what!
“What’s wrong?” he asked again, a look of utter confusion and frustration crossing his face.
“I guess I need some space,” she mumbled as she looked away from him, her chest constricting.
Josh cupped the back of her head, turning her to face him once more. Water ran in rivulets down his ticcing jaw as his piercing teal gaze met hers, willing her to listen. “Why? So you can run from us? Run from what you know is right?”
She blinked away the pouring rain, thankful the pounding water made it harder for her to meet his intense gaze.
His grip on her head tightened as he rasped out, “I love you, Sabrina. I won’t let you shut me out.”
Surprise jolted through her at his words. Sabrina raised her hand to hold onto his wrist. Her heart hammered out of control, in complete disregard for her earlier worries over her feelings for Josh. “Wha-what did you just say?”
His expression softened and he let go of her arm and then rubbed his thumbs along her jawline, saying in a husky voice, “I said I’m hopelessly, madly, deeply in love with you.”
Emotions swirled within her…emotions she hadn’t acknowledged and refused to identify. She didn’t know how to respond to his declaration—to tell him his mere touch made her melt like no other man’s did, but she couldn’t handle being with a fireman.
“Josh, I—”
Josh didn’t give her a chance to reply. He pulled her close and covered her mouth with his lips, his kiss tender yet dominant.
As his tongue brushed against hers, Sabrina wondered why all rational thoughts fled her brain every time the man’s lips met hers. She kissed him back with all the passion she felt but couldn’t express in words.
Thunder rumbled overhead, then lightning slashed, splintering the dark sky above her half-closed eyes.
Josh broke their kiss, glancing up at the sky. He quickly pulled her to her feet, saying as he put his arm around her shoulders, “That lightning was a little too close for comfort with us near these trees. Come on, we’re closer to the stables. We’ll wait out the storm there.”
Sabrina followed him inside the structure, the smell of rain, hay, horseflesh, and faint smell of manure assailing her nostrils.
Ace neighed as Josh shut the stable doors against the driving rain. Sabrina smiled and walked over to calm the horse, noting all the empty stalls. Rubbing her hand down the animal’s neck, she spoke to him in a soothing tone, “It’s okay, boy. We’re here to wait out the storm with you.”
The horse snorted and pawed the ground as if in agreement. She smiled as she patted his jaw.
“You’re got the touch with horses,” Josh commented right behind her as he pressed his chest against her back.
“So do you,” she commented as his heat radiated, seeping into her pores and warming her, despite the wet clothes on his body. She inwardly acknowledged her desire to push thoughts of walking away from Josh out of her mind for the time being. Why did he have to feel so right standing behind her, protecting her, loving her and damn it, seeming to understand her better than she understood herself?
“As much as you love horses, I’m surprised you don’t have more on your own land. You’ve certainly got the room for them,” she said, trying to get her tumultuous emotions under control.
“Right now I work too many hours to give them the attention they would need.”
Josh pushed her wet hair out of the way, then trailed his lips down her throat. “Hmmm, the way you smell makes me so horny, I can’t think straight,” he ground out as he nipped at her neck.
Heated and hungry were the only two words she could think of to describe the intensity in his voice. And the sound caused her body to react in swift unadulterated arousal. Her nipples hardened, her stomach tensed and her sex pulsed while she turned to face him with bated breath. Josh had taken off his shirt and now stood there in front of her in his wet jeans. His biceps flexed while he kept his hands down by his side—as if it took supreme effort to do so. Man, did he know how to make her feel like the most desirable woman in the world.
His jaw ticced as he reached out and ran his finger across a nipple through her thin dress. Soaking wet, the material clung to her skin and without a bra, the combination did nothing to hide her pink nipples underneath.
“I’ve never seen a more beautiful sight in my life, Brina,” he whispered as he clasped her around her upper back and pulled her to him to clamp his mouth over the hardened bud he’d just touched.
Sabrina arched her back and dug her fingers into his shoulders as he bit down on the cloth-covered dark pink bud and sucked it into his mouth.
After he’d managed to arouse her even further by sliding his thigh between hers and moving his lips to her jaw, she relished the feel of his hands unzipping the zipper on the back of her dress. The distinctive sound only seemed to accentuate the heated silence in the stables.
As Josh’s lips found hers once more, he pushed the straps of her sundress down her arms, then to her waist.
While she shrugged out of her dress, Josh rubbed his thumbs across the taut peaks. The hard-working, rough surface of his fingers grazing across her sensitive nipples distracted her, setting her on a ragged edge.
Sabrina moved close to his chest and wrapped her arms around his neck, purposefully rubbing her breasts against the hard surface. The warm, taut skin, stretched over well-defined muscles and covered with fine hair only made her want more. Clasping his neck tight, she lifted herself and wrapped her legs around his waist.
Josh grabbed her ass through her underwear and squeezed while his teal green gaze seemed to penetrate straight to her soul. “I want to be inside you so bad, baby.”
> In answer to his comment, she threaded her fingers through his thick, wet, blond hair and kissed him.
Josh returned her kiss, then breathing heavily, he set her down beside Ace and ordered, his tone tight, “Turn around.”
Excited by the barely controlled tone his voice had taken on, Sabrina turned around.
When Josh lifted her hands and clasped them around the horse’s saddle horn, she wondered what he was doing as she elevated her heels off the ground a bit to get a full grip. Expecting Josh to slide her underwear down, she was surprised to see him slowly unwind Ace’s reins from the post. As he began to wind the leather straps around her hands on the saddle, her heart rate kicked up to a thunderous rhythm.
“What are you doing?” she asked, looking over her shoulder as he leaned over her to complete his task. She’d tried to keep her tone calm, even though she felt far from it.
After he’d cinched the reins into a knot around her hands, Josh gave her a devilish smile as he patted Ace on the neck and said, “Hold boy,” in a commanding tone.
“Josh!” she said, getting a bit miffed. “I’m not—”
He pressed his back to hers once more and reached around, cupping her breasts in his hands while he kissed her neck saying, “Shhh, baby.” His tone was dark, aroused and determined as he slid a hand down her hip and gave a hard tug on her underwear, ripping the wispy material right off her body.
Goose bumps formed on her arms and her nipples tightened as hard as diamonds at the evidence the man had very little hold on his desire. She couldn’t help but squirm when he skimmed his fingers up her spine and said in a knowing tone, “You like it when you don’t have all the control, don’t you.” It wasn’t a question. It was an assured statement.
She felt the brush of his knuckles against her ass as he unbuttoned his pants and bit back a moan as blood rushed straight to her sex.
“I’ve seen the way you react when I’ve held your arms while I thrust inside you. It turns you on.”
In the dimness, Sabrina stared at the stable’s far wall, not wanting to admit he was right. Hell, for that matter, she didn’t even know if he was right. “No, I—”
Josh clasped her hips and rasped against her ear as he easily nudged her stance further apart with his booted foot. “I want to feel every part of you, Brina. Do I need a condom?” he finished as he pressed his erection against her wet entrance.
She shook her head. “No, I’m on the pill. Trust goes both ways—”
He entered her as she spoke, a swift, hard, deep thrust. The decadent sensation of being taken from behind caused her to scream out in pure pleasure. The fact she didn’t have a sure-footed hold while Josh had to bend his knees slightly to accommodate the differences in their heights made her feel protected and cherished. Her suspended-in-the-air position, where their bodies were joined, felt seductively erotic and so very intimate.
Josh stayed buried deep within her as he moved his hands up to cup her breasts then roll her nipples between his fingers, applying pressure.
“I can touch you anywhere I want,” he murmured as he slid his palm slowly down her stomach. Once he’d reached her curls, he rubbed a finger against her labia until he found her clit. Circling the hard bit of skin, he finished with a satisfied tone, “And all you can do is come.”
As much as she loved what he was doing to her body, Sabrina couldn’t help but give him some of his own medicine. “If my hands weren’t tied, I’d grab that nice ass of yours and pull you deeper, darlin’,” she mocked.
Josh groaned at her words and in response tilted her pelvis as he ground his hips against hers, thrusting upward even deeper. “Like this?”
Sabrina could’ve sworn she saw stars with his last aggressive move, but she was determined to let him know how much control she still did have. “No, like this,” she said in a smug, seductive voice as she clenched her inner muscles, contracting her walls around his cock.
He tensed behind her, then lowered his head to her shoulder. He didn’t move or say a word. All she could hear was his shallow breathing and the rain hammering the roof above their heads. Seconds ticked by as she waited for him to move.
Then his fingers flexed on her hips, letting her know…she’d gotten to him.
Her last action made him shudder and his body break out in a heated sweat despite his wet skin. Josh had a hard time keeping his cool. He’d never felt these bone-deep, body-jarring sensations with anyone like he did with Sabrina. Loving someone as fiercely as he loved her must somehow intensify the pleasure. He wanted to take his time with her, bring her to peak with his hands first, but seeing her gorgeous naked body, discovering more about her responsive nature and feeling her wet, warm sheath wrapped around his cock holding him tight…damn, it was taking all his willpower not to just fuck her senseless like he wanted to.
Finally he gritted out, “I wanted this to last, to draw it out…” He stopped speaking and took a calming breath before he continued, “I’ve never wanted to just take someone so bad in my life.”
She sucked in her breath at his comment, then arched her spine, pushing herself back against him. “Go for it, lover. I’m more than ready to take all you’re willing to give.”
Josh clenched his jaw as her warm body pressed further into his as if she somehow hoped to physically fuse her body with his. He’d never felt more connected to another. The softness of her skin, her sweet ass rubbing against him, the smell of sex all around them…she was so wet and ready. He held her hips while he withdrew and slammed back inside.
As pleasurable sensations ricocheted throughout his body, he pulled out and thrust in once more, clenching his jaw at the coiled sexual buildup slamming into his groin and balls.
He dropped one hand from her hip to rub her clit while he slid inside her body again and held himself deep inside her. When she screamed out and he felt her warm core contracting around his cock with her orgasm, fisting him in a tight glove of renewed wetness, he groaned in pent-up relief.
“Damn, Brina,” he breathed out as he came, rocking his hips as his entire frame shook with a fire that burned straight down to his toes. Never had a sexual partner’s orgasm caused such a heightened, satisfying response within him, a response that went way beyond a physical level.
After they both stopped moving, their breathing still ragged, he cupped her breasts and leaned his chest flush against her back as he kissed her shoulder.
“I’m never letting you go.”
“Well, eventually you’ll have to,” she chuckled as she tugged on the reins around her hands.
He moved his hands to cup her butt checks and squeezed. “Or I could just put you up on the saddle just as you are, tied and naked and give you a ride to the house.”
She heard, rather than saw, the devilish grin on his face. “You wouldn’t dare!” came her fast reply as she tugged hard on her bonds.
“Why bother putting your clothes back on, darlin’? They’re soaking wet. Plus, you’ll just end up without them again once I get you inside,” he finished as he reached over her and untied the reins.
“And here I thought taking off my clothes and ripping my underwear from my body was half the fun,” she teased as she cast him a saucy grin over her shoulder.
“Never doubt it,” came his fast reply as he turned her in his arms and pulled her close. He kissed her neck and said, “The storm’s fury seems to be letting up. We’d better get you into some warm, dry clothes.”
Chapter Ten
Sabrina lay in Josh’s bed with his arms wrapped around her as they listened to the rain outside. They’d had a sexually charged dinner, amid many interruptions as Josh dabbed beef gravy on her nose just so he could kiss if off, which led to a heated kiss and finally they’d ended up in his bedroom.
The room was completely dark except for the occasional flash of lightning that lit up the entire room. Josh created a soothing rhythm as he ran his fingers through her hair from her scalp to the ends and then back again.
She moaned and sa
id without conscious thought, “I could get used to this.”
Josh never stopped stroking her hair as he replied, his voice quiet yet strong, “Then why not make this a permanent deal? Stay in Texas with me, Sabrina.”
Sabrina jerked her gaze to his in the dark, thankful for the brief flash of lightning that lit up his face so she knew for sure he wasn’t joking. A sincere expression greeted her questioning look before the room doused in darkness once more. She’d assumed he’d told her he loved her in the heat of the moment. Even though it had made her heart jerk to hear the words, she wasn’t sure he’d meant it in a committed way.
“We—we barely know each other,” she argued, trying to keep a calm on her rioting senses and thudding heart. He wanted her to stay permanently?
Josh shifted, pulling her underneath him, his response calm, assured as he spoke. “I’ve waited a lifetime to feel the way I do when I’m with you, Brina. God knows I’ve had some inner demons to face along the way, but since you’ve come into my life, I’ve been able to find a sense of balance I’d never be able to before. I’m not just going to let you go.”
Surprised by his cryptic comment about his past and thrilled—more than she cared to admit—by the possessive nature of his words, she realized with a heavy heart that she needed to set him straight. She should’ve done so when he first told her he loved her. Putting her hands on his chest, she started to reply, “Josh, I’m here for now but—”
The phone rang, interrupting her. “Who the hell could be calling at this hour?” Josh cursed at the interruption as he picked up the cordless phone from its receiver on his nightstand.
“Hello?”
Sabrina waited as her entire body tensed and a lump formed in her throat at the possibility the phone call meant Josh would have to go fight yet another fire.
“Yeah, see you then. Thanks.”
Josh hung up the phone and turned back to her, answering her unspoken question. “That was Dirk calling to tell me when he planned to pick me up.”
Hearts Are Wild Page 11
