To Desire a Wilde

by Kimberly Kaye Terry

  “Yes…baby, yes, only you,” she cried brokenly.

  He grunted his satisfaction and in one long, sure stroked embedded deep inside her.

  Ellie bit down on her lip harshly, drawing blood, squeezing her eyes tightly closed, her body tensing as he fed her his entire length.

  Once fully inside he stopped, allowing her to grow accustomed to his length and girth.

  “Are…are you okay?” he asked, his voice barely recognizable, his breathing harsh in the quiet room.

  She licked her bottom lip, wiggling her body, trying to ease the sweet ache between her legs at his invasion.

  “Keep that up and this will definitely be over too soon, baby,” he groaned, his laugh harsh against the side of her neck. “And I want this to last.”

  She nodded her head, taking deep, even breaths, forcing her body to relax around his invasion.

  Once he was assured she was okay, she felt his body move.

  She loved him. The words reverberated around his head as Shilah moved inside her, fighting off the way the sweet feel of her warm, wet walls clenching and releasing his cock threatened to make his seed burst from him.

  The knowledge that she loved him too washed over him like a much-needed rain after a drought. His hands roamed over her, refamiliarizing himself with her the perfect lines of her body, over her back, and the nipped-in indenture of her tiny waist, cupping the muscled contours of her perfect ass.

  As he worked his body inside her, he heard her gasp as his finger darted along the seam of her butt, separating the round globes, as he plunged inside her, her body jostling as he moved in and out of her in short, powerful thrusts.

  It wasn’t enough. As he plunged and retreated inside her body, her cries echoing off the walls, he knew this feeling of being inside would never be enough.

  Ellie bit down on her lip to prevent the scream she felt at the back of her throat threatening to erupt. As he thrust inside her, his strokes became hotter, harder, more demanding. Had his strong arms not held her pinned to the wall, she would have crumbled to the floor, unable to support her own weight.

  Her legs, wrapped around him, quivered and her breath came out in choked gasps as he stroked inside her body.

  Her head rolled back and forth against the wall, her body on fire. She tightened her hold around his neck, her nails scoring deep into his flesh. He barked out a completely masculine laugh but she didn’t care.

  No one had ever made love to her like this. No one had managed to tap deep inside her, pull out the responses, wild out-of-control responses, like Shilah.

  “Baby…baby, I’m coming,” she heard him roar, his voice sounding muffled against the roar in her own ears, as though from a distance.

  He hoisted her higher on his shaft, his hand coming out to slap her butt, while he delivered one, two, three more corkscrew thrusts and she went over the edge.

  Crystal-like shards of glass flashed behind her eyes as she felt her own orgasm rip through her body.

  She gave in to the release, throwing her head back, her body no longer hers, she gave in, completely, mind, body and soul to Shilah.

  After her mind-numbing release, she allowed her trembling legs to slide down his body. She’d have fallen had he not lifted her high in his arms, cradling her against his chest and carrying her to the bed.

  She smiled, drowsy and content, as, moments after placing her on the bed, she felt the bed shift and his chest drape against her back.

  His cock, still hard, rested against the curve of her back and he reached around to cup her mound. When she felt a thick finger move inside her body, she gasped.

  “Shilah?” she asked, sleepily, her voice hoarse.

  “I’m not done with you yet.” His hot words whispered against her neck, brought her eyes wide open and her mouth form a perfect O.

  Chapter 22

  Early dawn light peaked through the wide-slatted blinds in Shilah’s bedroom as Ellie lay close, tucked against his side, their bodies so close that nothing, not even the sheet he’d finally drawn over them after their marathon lovemaking, separated them.

  Her head lay pillowed on his wide chest, while he had one arm draped around her waist, his long fingers caressing her bottom.

  A sigh of hedonistic pleasure left her lips and a lazy smile tilted the corners of her mouth as she felt his deft hands stroking over her body, yet she kept her eyes closed.

  She couldn’t have lifted them even had she wanted to, their long night of lovemaking leaving her too weak to move even her eyes.

  She felt the bed shift as he moved, and within seconds she was carefully maneuvered until she lay on her back.

  Another slight movement, the sound of a drawer opening and the rip of foil, and she drew in a deep, long breath and waited, as expectancy gripped her.

  At that moment someone knocked on the door.

  “Ignore it, they’ll go away.” He mouthed the words against her mouth. But the insistent knocking grew, followed by the sound of Holt’s voice, warning Shilah what would happen if he didn’t answer the damn door and starting a countdown.

  Shilah bit out a curse, and with a sigh and one last kiss, moved away from Ellie, his glance raking over her.

  “He’s on number three. You’d better answer the door before he gets to one,” she said with a laugh.

  Shilah gave her another swift kiss, bounded from the bed.

  Before making it to one, Holt was opening the door, as Shilah stood bare naked in the center of the room.

  “Aww, man…I don’t wanna see that. Put some damn clothes on!” Holt put his hands out as though shielding himself from the view.

  “Then don’t walk into my room unannounced,” Shilah grunted, grabbing his slacks from the floor and shoving them up his legs.

  It was then Holt noticed Ellie and swiftly turned away. “Ohh…sorry, Ellie. I didn’t know you were here! My bad.”

  “Yeah, your bad. Now get the hell out of here. I’ll be out in a sec,” Shilah said, turning to make sure Ellie had the sheet over her body.

  Although embarrassed to be caught in Shilah’s bed, Ellie giggled at the four different shades of red Holt had turned before hastily making his retreat.

  Striding toward the door, Shilah turned, his hand on the knob. “Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be right back.”

  After he left, Ellie snuggled down deeper into the sheets. Her glance fell to the discarded condom, half way out of the foil wrap, unused as they’d been interrupted.

  A slow grin stretched across her lips. She had no plans to go anywhere anytime soon.

  Ellie woke, stretching, and cracked open her eyes, quickly shutting them again as the sunlight beamed down on her from the skylight in Shilah’s room.

  “God…what time is it?” she groaned, yawning widely.

  She turned her head toward the bedside table and the clock radio, its neon-blue lights indicating the hour.

  It was just past nine a.m. She must have fallen asleep…but where was Shilah, she thought, frowning as she glanced around the room.

  With a groan she lifted her torso from the bed, throwing her legs over the side, when her eyes lit on a note laid across Shilah’s pillow.

  With a frown, she lifted the small note and opened it, her eyes scanning over the bold letters, a blush stealing across her face as she read the succinct note.

  Will be back soon to pick up where we left off…

  She shook her head, rising from the bed. The man had the sexual energy of a randy stallion, she thought, wincing as her legs trembled when she stood.

  She inhaled a long, shaky breath.

  Her thighs, back, between her legs, even her breasts, all had the same sweet ache that forced her to place a hand out on the bed to steady herself.

  Strike that; the man made a stallion look like the newborn foals she’d helped her father deliver yesterday, she thought, and she gingerly walked to the end of the bed. She grabbed the towel they’d used last night and wrapped it around her body.

  Deciding a l
ong hot shower was exactly what the doctor ordered, she turned toward the bathroom. Halfway there, she remembered a small bottle of her favorite lotion was in her purse and walked toward the door to retrieve it.

  As she lifted the purse from where it sat near the door, she frowned, seeing a large manila envelope had been pushed under the door.

  A half grin crossed her face, as she saw her name written across the top, wondering what Shilah had placed inside for her.

  She slid her finger beneath the seal and lifted out the contents, frowning as she held in her hand what appeared to be printouts of images.

  Moving toward the light to see the pictures better, she stopped, a strangled gasp escaping from her throat.

  Nausea burned in her stomach and she sank to the bed, staring in horrified numbness at the images.

  Photos of she and Shilah, together; from the first time he’d taken her to lunch, his arm loosely wrapped around her waist, casually, to the night he’d shown up at her father’s clinic to ask her out…to late last night when they had lain, their bodies intertwined after making love.

  The pictures dropped from her nerveless hands to cascade to the bed.

  Nausea swelled, filling her gut, when she spied a note that had been included with the pictures.

  Ellie hesitated, not sure she wanted to read the contents. With trembling hands she lifted the note, reading it.

  For you, Shilah.

  The knot of nausea grew and, stumbling from the bed, she ran to the bathroom, barely making it to the toilet before her stomach emptied.

  Chapter 23

  Although exhausted from helping his brothers clean up the mess and re-capture the cattle that had gotten free from one of the new pastures, Shilah was bounding up the stairs, two at a time, rushing to return to Ellie.

  The entire time he’d been helping his brothers, his mind had been on Ellie, their night together. The memory of how well she fit him, both in and out of bed, had been on his mind throughout the morning.

  It had been a long time since he’d felt as he did; happy, content…he laughed out loud. Hell, he’d never felt like this before. But, she brought the joy out in him. Made him believe that he was worthy of love. And knowing she loved him as well had sealed it for him.

  He was going to do it; he was going to ask Ellie to marry him. There was no one else he wanted, no one else made him feel the way she did. He knew no other ever would.

  He’d wrestled with the thought as he’d helped his brothers, distracted, a part of him afraid of her answer, although she’d told him she loved him.

  She said she loved him, but did she love him enough to take a chance on him? Take a chance on them, and bind herself to him, for the rest of her life?

  She valued her independence, a hard-fought independence. One he knew had come from a steely determination to overcome the curve life had thrown her at a young age.

  If it took her a little while longer to come to the same conclusion he had, that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, as he did with her, he was willing to wait.

  He’d wait as long as necessary.

  Taking a fortifying breath, he opened the door to his room and walked inside. When he saw her standing in front of the single, large window, staring out, he walked over to her. Leaning down, he placed a kiss on the side of her neck.

  “Hey, baby, I’m sorry that took so long. I—”

  The minute she turned around, his heart seemed to stop beating for a moment at the look in her red-rimmed eyes.

  “Baby, what’s wrong?”

  When she simply stared up at him, her large doe-shaped eyes rimmed in red, he ran his hands over her, glancing down at her knee, his first thought that she’d somehow hurt herself.

  When she said nothing, he frowned. “Are your parents okay?” Again, she said nothing. He looked closely at her, saw the anger behind the tears, the set cast of her features, and his gut hollowed out.

  “You’re scaring me, Ellie. Wha—”

  She turned away from him. Calmly walking over to the bed, she lifted a large yellow envelope in her hand and turned back to face him.

  “I think this was meant for you.”

  Shilah’s glance ran from her set face, back to the envelope she held in her hand.

  Slowly he walked toward her, taking the envelope. He lifted the flap and drew out the contents.

  The minute he saw what was inside, a fury unlike anything he’d ever felt gripped him as he leafed through the pictures.

  “Where did you get this?” he bit out.

  “They were left under your door. Guess whoever put them there didn’t think I’d still be around,” she said, laughing humorlessly.

  “What’s that supposed to mean, El?” he asked, reaching out to touch her.

  She jerked back, her nostrils flaring, anger rolling off her slim frame. “Don’t call me that,” she said, and he allowed his hands to drop to his sides.

  “Obviously you didn’t take the pictures.” She laughed harshly. “You left that up to someone else. Be kinda hard to take these types of pictures yourself,” she said, her laugh shrill, unnatural. “I’ve got to hand it to you, Shilah. When you said family meant everything to you—” she stopped, shaking her head “—you meant it.”

  His glance flew to hers, his eyes narrowing even more at the hint of accusation. “Surely you don’t think I had anything to do with this, El…Ellie?” he asked, a new type of anger replacing the one at seeing the pictures.

  She spun around, facing him. “What am I supposed to think, Shilah?” she asked, her voice no longer flat, her eyes blazing…accusing.

  “You’re supposed to think that someone else did this. Not me.”

  “Why? Who would have anything to gain by that? No,” she said. “Do you want me to tell you what I think?”

  He crossed his arms across his chest. “Yes, why don’t you tell me?” he asked, flatly.

  “I think you knew about this. In fact—” She stopped, her eyes narrowing. “Maybe you and your brothers were afraid of what the investigation would show and thought you’d stack the odds in your favor, just in case.”

  She laughed, shaking her head. “Sad thing is I was just going to tell you today that the results came back last night. Preliminary, but they cleared the ranch.” She shook her head, choking down tears. “None of this was necessary. The ranch was going to be cleared.”

  Shilah waited for her to continue, remaining silent. If he said anything now, he knew he’d regret it. The very fact that she believed he and his brothers would use her like this, was like a knife. He felt the pain of her doubt and accusations pierce his skin and rip through his heart.

  He turned away from her, unable to look at her face.

  To think he’d wanted to ask her to marry him, to become a part of his family, a family she thought capable of something so horrendous.

  “You didn’t have to screw the cripple after all.”

  At her words, the knife drove the rest of the way through his heart. He turned away from her.

  “Get out.”

  When she said nothing more, he kept his back to her and repeated the demand.

  “Get the hell out and don’t ever show your face at my home again.”

  Chapter 24

  “So this is where my mad scientist is holed up. Thought I might find you here.”

  Ellie spun around in her chair and with a tired smile glanced at her father standing in the doorway.

  “What are you still doing here, Dad? Thought you’d left hours ago,” she asked, watching as he strode inside.

  “Naw, thought I’d hang around for a little longer. Your mama is having that bongo game of hers tonight with some women from her church group.”

  Ellie laughed. “That would be bunko, Dad,” she said, correcting her father.

  “Craps, that’s what it really is. And to think these are supposedly upstanding women in the community… No shame,” he said, shaking his head. But Ellie saw the twinkle in his eyes and knew that her fa
ther was trying his best to make her smile, something she hadn’t done…hadn’t felt like doing, since her breakup with Shilah.

  “These women have no shame.”

  “Dad, come on, it’s just a harmless game!”

  “With dice,” he said, lifting a brow. “Where they play for money.” He shook his head again. “I don’t know, El, sounds like craps to me.”

  Ellie burst out laughing and her father grinned at her. When her laughter subsided he came to stand next to her, running his hand over her hair.

  “Good to see you smile, baby girl.” He frowned, running a critical glance over her. “You look tired. Can’t you wrap this up for the night? Maybe those hustlers left us something to eat. I think they should be leaving soon,” he said, referring again to her mother’s friends, tugging another smile from Ellie.

  With a sigh she spun back around.

  “Can’t. I—I have to finish this,” she said, and turned back to the clutter on her desk, sifting through it to find the file she was looking for.

  From the corner of her eye she saw her father discreetly move his glance away from the screen of her laptop, where her typed notes were in plain view.

  She turned to her father, unknowingly biting the corner of her lips.

  “What’s wrong, Ellie? I can tell something is bothering you. And before you say it—” He raised a finger, before she could make the automatic response. “Yes, I know you can’t tell me details. I wouldn’t ask that of you. But, if I can help in any small way, you know you can trust me, El.”

  Ellie sighed. “I know that, Dad. And it’s not that I don’t trust you.” She shook her head, laughing humorlessly. “Besides, it’s not as though I need to worry about any taint to the investigation.” She drew in a shuddering breath, tears of frustration and loss clouding her eyes as she looked up at her father. “Been there, done that.”

  Seeing the concern in his eyes, she turned away, wiping the corner of her eyes with the back of her hand.