Forever Wild: A Camden Ranch Novel

by Jillian Neal

  “How much have you had to drink?” She finally landed on a plausible reason for why calm, steady, steadfast Luke was suddenly acting like a berserk caveman.

  He spun when they reached a brand new F-450 Lariat Diesel Dually. Damn, that’s a nice ass truck was her only coherent thought as he caged her between his hardened body and the doors. “Not enough for all of that to have only been the whiskey talking, but enough to sure as hell want to do it again.”

  She tried to work her way through that explanation. “Wait, so you’re saying … what are you saying?”

  He continued to chase his breath as he stared up at the star-strewn night like the answer to her question might be written in the darkened sky. “I’m saying .…” He edged closer. Intensity rolled off every chiseled plane of his body. “I don’t know what I’m saying.” His fire lost just a little of its white hot heat.

  Something inside of her snapped, freeing her of the lies she’d been living for too damn long. “I don’t think that’s true. I think we both know what we’d like to say to the other, and we’re too damn chicken to say it.”

  “Fine, you want to know what I’m thinking, I’ll tell you.” Apparently he’d seen her proclamation as a challenge. A quick swallow tensed his neck. Her eyes watched his Adam’s apple contract. Her nipples gave another tightening pulse. “I miss you every fucking day, Indie. Every woman I’ve been with since you left me all those years ago only makes it worse. I compare them all to you, and dammit, none of them will ever measure up. I have no fucking clue where this will end us, but for some idiotic reason I want to find out. You and I … I mean … you haven’t been home one single time that we haven’t ended up in my bed, darlin’. Don’t you think that means something? Because I think it does, and I’m more afraid of not taking the chance than I am of ordering you to my bed for the next few weeks and figuring out if I can’t convince you to stay there permanently. I’m a moron. There, I said what I’ve been thinkin’. Now, you go.”

  Wow. Well, okay then. Being ordered to spend two weeks in his bed sounded very, very appealing, but what exactly was he wanting to chance? “Uh,” brilliant Indie. Uh is utter brilliance. They should give you some kind of medal for speaking. She rolled her eyes at her own lack of ability to verbalize what she wanted to say.

  “Uh, what?” he demanded. Damn, the boy had lost all of that endless patience that used to get on her nerves. So far she’d have to say she liked Luke the man even more than she’d liked Luke as a boy.

  “I miss you like that, too. I kept talking myself out of calling you or coming back and seeing you more often, staying longer. I was scared. There, I said it, too.” She stared down at the compacted, light-brown Nebraskan dirt that was making a valiant effort to keep her upright, even if she was fairly certain she was going to keel over at any moment. “I just hate this town, and I hate my mother, and I hate … everything except Daddy … and … and there’s something wrong with Juliet. And what exactly are you wanting to take a chance on?” She clamped her mouth shut before anymore stupidity could pour out of her lips.

  “Look at me, Indieanna.”

  She lifted her eyes to his.

  “Don’t sound to me like too much has changed, ‘cept there being something wrong with your horse. How long you staying in town this time?”

  “For the wedding, so at least a week. I might survive another week and go to that stupid reunion. God only knows why I’d do that. Apparently, I’ve become a sadist in my thirties.”

  A sexy smirk formed on those lips of his. “Yeah, I thought the same thing when the invite came. If I haven’t talked to you in the last fifteen years, there’s probably a real good reason, so why the hell would I want to see you now?”

  Laughter escaped the tight lock she’d put on her lips as she nodded her agreement.

  “Give me a shot.” His right hand reached and cradled her face. His thumb gently stroked her cheekbone. Her eyes closed and a soft sigh escaped her. Where the hell had that come from?

  “Give you a shot to do what?” She tried for her normal irritated tenor, but sounded a great deal more like a purring kitten.

  “Give me a shot to show you that I should never have let you walk out all those years ago. To show you that I’m not a douchebag that just kept trying to pressure you into a marriage you weren’t ready for. Be my date to your sister’s wedding and the reunion. And every night between now and that reunion you’re mine. Make this whole fucking town so happy they might shut the hell up and leave me alone, which would be a merciful blessing if ever there was one. Every night for the next two weeks, let me prove to you that I can be just as wild in bed as you wanted me to be back then, that I can be the man you need, that you don’t have to give up anything to stay here with me.”

  “Luke … I,” she shook her head. Again he captured her protest with another whiskey-laced, heat-emboldened kiss. Just outside the neon glow of Saddleback’s, he pinned her in the space between the cab of his truck and the bed. His tongue explored her mouth and his hands traced slowly up her waistline.

  A breathy gasp accompanied the shudder of her body as his thumbs gently circled around her nipples, cupping the heavy weight of her breasts, giving her sweet relief. “Mmm, Indie, honey, you’re making me think all kinda things. How you always come so sweet for me, trembling against me, with your juices dripping down the back of my throat, them fingernails clawing at my back. Damn, I need some more of that. There’s so much I want to do with you that you’ve never given me the chance to do.”

  “Oh God,” she groaned. His hands tracked under her t-shirt, caressing her waistline.

  “Still so creamy and soft. They sensitive tonight, baby? Need me to be careful?” His right hand folded the large cup of her bra back, and heaven help her, his callused fingertips traced over her breasts, teasing her and setting her on fire. She trembled in his arms. “I can be gentle if that’s what you want, but I know how badly you need to be taken. I can tell, sugar. I always know. So many things I need to prove to you. I’ll show you who you belong to. Make your sweet little pussy ache with every step you take. Fuck you so hard you can’t ride a horse for a week. Open you up wide, remind you how good my cock feels deep inside of you. Make you want it every single night.”

  Several rather disjointed thoughts whirled through Indie’s head as she worked her hand to his jeans and palmed the fierce bulge he was now sporting. Damn, but he was hung like a horse.

  First of all, he remembered how sensitive her breasts were after her surgery, and seemed to remember that the scar tissue was still occasionally tender. Secondly, when the hell had Luke Camden learned to dirty talk like that? She tried to remember if that had been a part of their trysts before, but couldn’t recall him ever igniting her the way he continually did that night.

  Okay, get it together Indie. She jerked her head back and tried to breathe in more than the musk of Luke aroused. The scent of aftershave, hay, leather, and sex filled her lungs. It was an intoxicating combination. She yearned to lean over the bed of his truck and order him to show off every skill he’d acquired.

  Pushing him back so she could think, she licked her lips. Her tongue indulged in the delectable taste of cinnamon, bourbon, and the hungry masculinity of Luke. She forced herself to go on with the only inevitable conclusion that would come of spending the next two weeks curled up in his bed. “And what happens when I fall right back in love with you, but I still can’t stand this fucking town? I ain’t lookin’ to break my own heart again, Luke.”

  Fury stormed in his pale blue eyes. “Dammit, Indie, why is it every time we’re together all you can think about is getting away? I said two weeks. We’ll deal with after that later.”

  Her stubborn resolve made a rapid reappearance. “What makes you so sure I want to get back in your bed when you’re bossing me around, dragging me out here, manhandling me, and feeling me up whenever the hell you want to?”

  He cocked his left eyebrow and that damned stubborn smirk appeared on his face. “Oh, sugar
, you never was any good at lying, either to me or to yourself. You loved every moment of this just as much as I did. You know what you want, and so do I.”

  Where had all of this confidence come from and why was it so fucking appealing? Letting her heart and her pussy overrun her mind was going to bring back all the pain she’d already endured, but at that moment, with Luke Camden offering her two weeks of nothing but panty-melting sex, hanging out with him, having a date both to her sister’s wedding and her reunion, and maybe … just maybe not having to run away this time soothed her wild soul. Maybe she could deal with afterwards later. Maybe she should. Maybe it was time to throw all sense of caution to the wind and really live again.

  “What’s it gonna be, Indie Jane? Come be my girl again. If you still want to run back to Oklahoma City in two weeks, maybe this time I’ll go with you. All I know is this walking around on eggshells shit until we just can’t stand it anymore and then fucking you like a man just released from prison whenever we’re in the same town is over. If you don’t want to stay, there’s gotta be some way to see each other still, and if there’s not, you can be damned sure I’ll make the next two weeks tide me over for the next decade.”

  “You mean like some kind of long distance thing that we both know will never work? You’d actually leave the ranch occasionally? And where would that get us? Nowhere.”

  “You ain’t agreed to this yet, darlin’. I’m still waiting to hear if you’re too scared to see just what we might discover.”

  Oh, he was good. She had to give him that. Banking it all on the fact that she’d never turn down a direct challenge. “I don’t know where this cocky bastard routine came from, Luke Camden, but you’re damned good at it.”

  A half-grunt of amusement sounded from him. “I ain’t the boy you left, sugar. I’m a grown man. I know what I want, and she’s standing right in front of me. If I only get you for two weeks that’s better than nothing.”

  “I never really thought you weren’t wild enough. I just said that,” she defied.

  With one long stride, he’d erased the slight distance she’d put between them. He narrowed his eyes in on her. “Getting real, real tired of you lying to me. That wasn’t the only reason you left, but it sure as hell was one of ‘um. That, and you were afraid to tell me and show me what you desperately needed from me, which was for me to back the fuck up and let you breathe. I was too young and too stupid to figure it out then. That ain’t the case anymore. I’m gonna learn you all over again, beautiful. Learn you inside and out. There won’t be one thing you desire that I don’t see to. This time, I’ll be the one showing you what you need and what I crave from you.”

  “I ain’t staying in the godforsaken town, Luke. Long as we’re both fully aware of that, then fine, let’s do this. You and me back together again, setting our sheets and the whole damn town on fire, gettin’ every tongue in the Glen wagging about how loud I make you howl, and how thoroughly fucked I look when we show up at church together Sunday morning and sit beside my mama and the mayor.”

  Carnal hunger radiated from the fire in his eyes. It sizzled in the humid air between them. His muscles flexed. Her breaths quickened as he edged closer still. He leaned in and brushed a suckled kiss over the tender patch of skin just under her earlobe. “You want the whole town to know you’re shaking that sexy ass in my bed again, darlin’? We’ll take care of that right now.”

  Threading his fingers through her hair, he tugged gently, pulling her head to the side and exposing the tender skin of her neck. Realization of what she’d just agreed to and of what he was about to do spiked her blood. Luke Camden was hers again. Wild rebellion fed her soul. “Yes,” she urged him on.

  He flicked her earlobe with his tongue then ran his teeth over the sensitive skin, making her quake. His lips blazed a soft, seductive trail laced with heated breath and pure intention straight to her neck. Releasing her hair, his fingertips traced from her throat to the hollow of her collarbone as he began to suck.

  A low groan hummed from her. His teeth and his tongue worked in accord, nipping and then sucking away the delectable pain he left behind. His right hand cupped her breasts again. She swayed against him until he pulled away, leaving her with a visible claim of ownership.

  “All mine.” His thumb tended the skin he’d marked. By tomorrow morning, everyone would know they were back together. A deep purple brand was now burned on her neck, and it might as well have spelled out Camden.

  “Get in the truck,” he ordered.

  “Where are we going? I’m not leaving my car here.”

  “Get in the damn truck, Indie, we’re going to see about Juliet. I’ll bring you back to your car on our way to my bed. I intend to own every single scream I make you give up for me tonight, but I ain’t fucking you hard and dirty, slapping your ass, and making you beg with your daddy in the room next door.”

  Indie’s mouth hung open. Holy fucking hell, Luke Camden had somehow morphed into the man straight out of her every fantasy. Extremely aware that she’d just effectively launched herself right out of the hot skillet and into the fire, she saw no other choice than to let herself be consumed by the raging heat that had always existed between them.

  Two weeks from then, she was going to be more miserable than she’d ever been before. He was insane if he thought he’d be able to convince her to stay in this stupid town, but the idea of being his again, even for a little while, just wasn’t one she had any hopes of denying herself.

  Chapter Five

  All right, Camden, you have two weeks, better make the most of every moment. Luke opened the truck door for Indie and helped her step up. “You’re gorgeous, you know that?” he vowed. His eyes tracked the curvature of her spine and landed on her ample backside as she stood on his running boards and slid into his truck.

  “You’re full of shit, you know that?” she came right back.

  Huffing, he slammed the door and climbed in the driver’s seat. “Seeing as how you’re mine again, I think every time you don’t take a compliment from me, which are always sincere, I might just turn you over my knee.”

  She tried with all of her might to look unaffected by his suggested plan, but a luscious grin formed on her beautiful pink lips despite her efforts.

  “You are absolutely beautiful. You have always been beautiful, and you will always be beautiful. You got that?”

  An eye roll was her only response this time. It wouldn’t have driven him as crazy as it did if she was one of those women that postured at compliments, pretending they didn’t know they were true, but she wasn’t. She really couldn’t see her rampant sex appeal. He added that to the list of things he needed to accomplish in the next two weeks if he was going to get her to stay.

  “What’s that look for?” he inquired.

  “What look?”

  “Indie, honey, I’ve been in love with you for most of my life. I know your looks. You got that I’m freaking out but I’m gonna play it cool thing going on.”

  “You remember that time after the first ice of winter when we all decided to be idiots and go out and spin the trucks in your back fields?”

  Luke turned to stare at her for a long moment before he cranked the truck. “Uh, hell yeah, I remember that. Scared the shit out of me.” Luke, Austin, Grant, Tucker, Matt Seaton, and the rest of their crew all went out in the Camden fields after school, thinking it’d be cool to spin the trucks on the ice instead of the dirt like they did in the summer and fall. Being a show off, Luke had locked up the brakes of his old Dodge Ram so they could keep spinning. Indie was loving every minute of it. That had driven him on. It always did. She got him going with nothing more than the fire in her eyes and a broad grin on her face. He’d been thinking life couldn’t get much better right up until the CV axle on the rear tire had snapped. The steering wheel seized and they were headed straight towards the old salt house, which was constructed of solid concrete bricks. He shook his head still angry at himself. “All I could think was I was about to get my
girl killed. I’ll never forgive myself for being so stupid.”

  “Yeah, but remember how we’d been having a ball right up until then.”

  “Yeah, I remember that, too. Also remember skipping school the next day so you could fix the joint, and my tire, and the alignment so my parents never found out.”

  Chuckling at that, she nodded. “I just kind of wonder if this whole two-week thing is gonna end up the same way that did. Time of our life until it all has to end.”

  “Do me a favor.”

  “Beyond fucking you senseless for two weeks, being your date to my sister’s wedding, and our dumbass reunion? It’s a good thing you’re so freaking good looking. Seems like I’m making all of the concessions in this plan of yours.”

  “You know when you get sassy and stubborn with me it just makes me want to fuck you harder, so hush up. I’m on ragged edge just having you in my truck. I’ve been thinkin’ about what I want to do to you since the last time you were home, but I need to take care of Juliet before I take care of you. I just don’t want you to go into this thinking it has to end. At least give me a chance to prove to you that life here ain’t half as bad as you remember it.”

  “Luke,” she set to argue again.

  “Please.”

  “Fine, but you make me a deal. Don’t be so sure this is going to work out that I feel like a Grade-A heartless bitch when I go back to Oklahoma in two weeks. It don’t matter how much I love you. I cannot live in this ridiculous town.”

  “Fine.” He tried to hide his grin. All he needed was a chance, and she’d just admitted she still loved him. He’d sure as hell take that. She’d rarely let that admittance slip, even before they’d broken up.

  He laced their fingers together, holding her hand on top of her thigh just the way they used to always drive together. “Tell me what’s going on with Juliet.”

  “She won’t put her right front hoof down. Dad says he rode her this morning and she seemed fine. I checked her leg and hoof and couldn’t see anything wrong. I’m worried about her.”