Forever Falcon Ridge (The McLendon Family Saga Book 7)

by D. L. Roan

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Dani’s stomach growled, the rumble loud in the otherwise quiet cab. They both laughed when his gave an answering grumble.

  Clay’s hands lingered on her back as she sat up. “Guess we should eat before round three,” he said, his smile still lazy, his eyes roaming her face with a sated promise of more.

  “Round three?” Her mind was already weaving the sensual image, but her body had a few protests to the idea. She pushed up a bit, testing her muscles—and other areas—and winced.

  “Sore?” he asked.

  Dani nodded, heat rising in her face. She knew it was to be expected, but it was still a little embarrassing.

  Clay opened the door, gathered her against him, and slid out of the truck, depositing her gingerly on her bare feet, the desert sand, still warm from the hot day’s sun, squished between her toes. Uncomfortable standing in the middle of the yard half naked, she looked over her shoulder, but the night was pitch dark and his shirt hung almost to her knees, covering all the important parts, she hoped.

  He buttoned his jeans before he reached in and gathered her clothes and purse. They squeezed into the small space between the front bumper of his truck and the cabin door, Clay suppressing a grin. “I’ll move it when I head over to Pop’s for some food.”

  “Give me a minute to change and I’ll go with you.” Dani followed him through the door, already heading toward her suitcase he’d brought over that morning, when he snagged her wrist and gathered her into his arms.

  “Go take a hot shower,” he ordered, pressing his lips to the hollow beneath her ear. “I’ll go raid Pop’s fridge and bring us something back.” Dani shook her head in protest, but he gave her no chance to argue. “Don’t be stubborn. Let me take care of you,” he insisted.

  Dani bristled at the comment, at first, his tone dangerously close to hovering, but there was something different about the way he said the words, or different in the way she heard them. He was doing to her what Con and Car did to Breezy, but it didn’t feel exactly like hovering.

  She rubbed her hands over her dry and tired eyes. A shower did sound nice. “Yeah, okay.” She finally nodded. “But are you sure you don’t want to join me, though?” She knew she shouldn’t. Her whole body ached, but in a strange, well-worn sort of way.

  Clay barked a laugh and backed toward the door. “I get in that shower with you and we both know where that’s goin’, and you need a break. Besides, if we don’t eat soon, we won’t have the energy for anything else.” He opened the door and gave her a wink. “I’ll be right back.”

  Dani stood in the middle of the small cottage, staring at the closed door for several long seconds before her brain caught up to her body’s needs. She gathered a change of clothes and headed to the small bathroom.

  Hot water had never felt more wonderful. After washing her hair, she stood beneath the spray, letting the heat leach away the soreness. No wonder sex burned so many calories. Every muscle in her body had been tested in one delicious way or another.

  The day played over and over in her head as she finished her shower. Waking up with Clay, the climb to the top of the turbine, and the way he’d made her feel safe even when she knew it was dangerous. Losing her virginity. Making love with him, twice. Even helping him close the deal with Mr. Gardner had been shockingly rewarding. Now that she had a better idea of what he did, it didn’t seem like such a bad thing to help him with an account now and again. With Clay, anything seemed possible.

  When the hot water ran cold, she turned off the tap, feeling more invigorated and excited than ever. The day had been the most perfect of her life.

  She was reaching for the towel when she caught her reflection in the half fogged mirror above the sink, rolling her eyes at the goofy grin that seemed to be permanently stitched across her face. Except for that, and the lack of dark circles, she didn’t look any different than she had that morning. But she was different. She was no longer a virgin!

  Stifling the urge to shout the words aloud, she quickly toweled off and dressed in a comfortable camisole set. She checked the time on her phone and then dialed Molly’s number, biting her thumbnail as she paced the floor, already second guessing the call. She had never been one to kiss and tell, because there’d never been anything to tell, but now there was and she couldn’t hold it all in!

  “Hey. Yeah, hold on one second,” Molly answered. Dani snickered as Molly told whoever she was with that her best friend was crying and needed to talk, which was obviously a ploy to get out of whatever she was doing. “Girl, you just saved me from a manslaughter charge,” she breathed in relief when she returned.

  “I hear orange is the new black,” Dani snickered, lowering herself to the edge of the bed.

  “Not on this girl,” Molly scoffed.

  “Bad date?”

  “My grandmother.” Molly sighed. “It’s Scrabble night, and the woman never sleeps. But enough about her. What’s up? You sound…different.”

  Dani smiled as she flopped back onto the mattress, her cheeks flushing hot. “I am different.”

  A moment of deafening silence fell between them before Molly’s ear-piercing scream nearly blew the speaker on her phone. Dani jerked the device from her ear, but she could still hear her friend shouting on the other end.

  “Oh! My! God! No wonder you haven’t called me. You did it!”

  Dani nodded, squeaking out the admission. “I did.”

  “And you didn’t send me a picture?”

  “Eww.” Dani scrunched up her nose and rolled her eyes.

  “Not of it, of him! Who is this Montana god that finally stole your V-card?”

  Dani sat up and grabbed Clay’s pillow, breathing in his scent as she laid it in her lap and crossed her legs beneath it. “Um, I’m not in Montana,” she finally admitted.

  “What? Where are you?”

  Knowing Molly would guess who it was the second she told her, Dani squeezed her eyes closed, unable to contain her smile as she blurted out the words, “I’m in Texas.”

  “No!”

  “Yes,” Dani confirmed with a laugh.

  “The Texas cowboy?” Dani nodded silently. “The older, sexy pilot one?”

  “That’s the one.” An excited shiver ran along Dani’s arms just saying it out loud.

  “How the hell did this happen—wait,” Molly stammered. “First, how was it? Tell me.”

  Dani couldn’t contain the dreamy sigh that escaped as she flopped back onto the mattress.

  “That good, huh?” Molly asked.

  “Good isn’t even in the same universe,” she answered.

  “Damn,” Molly cursed with a disappointed tone. “Your first time with an older guy. You know what that means, right?”

  “What?” Dani sat up with alarm.

  “Girl, he’s ruined you for anyone your own age!”

  “Wh-what?” Dani asked with a relieved chuckle.

  “You are never going to find a guy our age with those kinds of skills, Dani. You know what they say. Once you go old…”

  “He’s not…old! He’s just older.”

  But as Molly’s warning sank in, Dani scowled at the thought. Not because of Clay’s age, but the idea of being with someone other than him had never occurred to her. It seemed…unimaginable.

  “Mark my words, girl. You’ll see. You might as well start trolling the senior centers.”

  “Stop!” Dani shook off the disturbing images. “Where do you get this crap, anyway?”

  “Uh, do you ever use the internet for anything other than research for school?” Molly teased. “You should try it sometime. Oh! Speaking of which, have you seen your brothers’ latest video blog? Haaawt!” she sang in an atrocious opera voice. “Connor, shirtless, should be illegal!”

  Dani rolled her eyes. “Says the woman who doesn’t like older guys.”

  “I never said that!” Molly insisted. “They could be fifty and I’d still do them both.”

  Whatever. Dani sat up in the mi
ddle of the bed just as Clay came in, clean shaven, dressed in a fresh change of clothes, his hair wet from the shower he’d obviously taken at the main house, his arms stacked with paper bags of food. “I gotta go.”

  “Oh, is he there? Tell him—”

  “Talk to you later.” Dani cut her off and hung up, tossing her phone onto the bed as she got up to help him. “Thank God! I’m starving.” She took the bags and headed for the bed, but when Clay didn’t follow her she looked up to see him standing motionless by the open door, staring at her.

  “What? What is it?” She followed his gaze to her shirt, then blushed when she saw her nipples peaking beneath her thin camisole. “Uh, yeah, sorry.” She crossed her arms over her chest with a self-conscious grin.

  “Don’t be.” He slammed the door closed with his foot, then crossed the room in three strides. He eased her arms down by her sides. “I—I, um…” He licked his lips, his gaze darting between her breasts and the bags of food on the bed, then back to her breasts. “Fuck it.” He backed her against the bed and followed her down onto the mattress, fusing his mouth to hers.

  Dani laughed against his lips, giving him a halfhearted shove, but the weight of him pressing her into the mattress, his hot mouth on her skin, the clean smell of soap, and everything that was Clay, all worked against what little resolve she had left.

  “Christ, I’m starving.” He kissed his way down her neck, slipping his hand beneath her top and pushing it up.

  “M-maybe we should eat.” She arched into the warmth of his hand when he cupped her breast, sucking in a desperate breath when his mouth closed over the other one. Oh yes. Who needed food anyway?

  “Mmm!” He jerked his head up with a growl, the effort it took to do so evident by the deep lines between his brows. “You’re right. We should eat.”

  No-no-no! No food!

  He pulled her top back down and flopped onto his side next to her. “You…I…” He shook his head. “I just get a little…crazy.” He waved his fingers at his temple. “When I see those.” His gaze still locked on her breasts, he swallowed. She tipped his chin up to get his attention, his gaze lagging a few seconds before he finally looked at her, and smiled. “Sorry,” he said with an apologetic grin.

  “Don’t be,” she teased back, then slid her fingers through his wet hair and pulled him back down to pick up where they’d left off, but he bypassed her mouth and diverted to her neck instead, placing an open mouth kiss to the sensitive bend at her shoulder.

  “Ow!” She jerked back when he nipped her there, laughing at the cocky grin on his face.

  “I found that little mark you left on me.” He chuckled, then pressed his lips to hers in a quick, playful kiss before he pushed up and scooted to the center of the bed, and then reached for one of the bags.

  Dani sat up, fingering the wet spot on her neck. “I was just getting even.”

  Clay gave her a sideways glance, opening the first bag. “Now you owe me one,” he said with a wink. “It’s not the fine dining experience I’d wanted for our first dinner date, but you get your pick. We have grilled turkey with American cheese.” He unwrapped a foot-long toasted hoagie sandwich. “Or grilled roast beef with cheddar-jack,” he continued, unwrapping another.

  Dani shrugged. “Whichever doesn’t have mayo.”

  Clay handed her the roast beef and she attacked it like a starving monkey. “Mmm! This is good,” she mumbled around a mouthful of cheesy goodness, taking the napkin he handed her. “Did you just make these?”

  Clay shrugged. “It was either this or leftover chicken and a southwestern salsa my dad made with rice and corn, and you don’t like corn, so…”

  Dani watched him as he took a bite from his sandwich. “You remembered I didn’t like corn?”

  He nodded as he reached into the other bag and pulled out two bottles of water and a bag of chips. “Hope you like barbeque.”

  “My favorite!” She grabbed for the bag and pulled it open.

  They both chewed in easy silence for several long moments, satisfying their hunger for something other than each other, each taking turns reaching into the bag of chips.

  “So, no corn and no mayo,” Clay said after his third or fourth bite. “What else don’t you like?”

  Dani thought for a moment. There wasn’t much. “Okra,” she finally said, wrinkling her nose at the thought. “And lamb. I don’t like lamb.”

  Clay’s eyes widened. “No lamb? That’s a crime!”

  Dani shook her head. “You sound like my dad Mason, and my brothers. My grandmother makes lamb stew every few months and I can’t even stand the smell of it. My Papa Joe and I always split a pizza on lamb nights,” she laughed, thinking of the first time they’d created the new tradition. “He hates it as much as I do, though he only told Gran a few years ago, after he had a stroke. It kinda slipped out in the beginning when he was still recovering. She was livid he’d lied to her all those years.”

  Clay laughed. “I’ve met your grandmother. I wouldn’t want to lie to her.”

  He asked her more about her grandparents and Papa Joe’s recovery, then how Uncle Cade was doing. She could only tell him what she’d been told, which was practically nothing.

  They talked for a long time, until the sandwiches were history. Down to less than half a bag of chips, Clay cleared his throat, but hesitated.

  “What is it?”

  He glanced up at her, then shook his head.

  “Ask me anything,” she insisted, nudging the forearm he was using to prop up his head after he’d stretched out across the bed. “You already know my biggest secret, which isn’t really a secret anymore,” she said with a bashful grin, though talking about it seemed easier now.

  Clay pushed up to a sitting position again, crossing his legs yoga style. “Your family, and the whole…plural marriage thing. Is that…would that ever be something you’d want?”

  Dani barked out a laugh, almost choking on a potato chip. “God no!”

  “Thank Christ,” he said in obvious relief. “I mean…I don’t judge them,” he rushed to clarify. “I just don’t think—no. I know I can’t share you.” He looked up and caught her gaze, something feral and possessive swirling in his eyes. “With anyone,” he added.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Clay wanted to add the word ever to the end of his declaration, but didn’t, afraid if he told her what he was thinking, how strongly he was beginning to feel for her, she’d spook like a high-strung stallion and he’d be back to square one. Things were already moving so quickly between them his head was spinning like the rank bull that had put Jackson in a coma.

  She sat motionless in front of him, a deer-in-the-headlights look in her eyes as he waited for her to say something, anything that would let him know they were at least on the same page. He didn’t think a woman who’d waited so long to have sex would do so casually, but what did he know about virgins? She could just be using him as a stepping stone to the next phase of her life. He didn’t think so, but his history with serious relationships could be adapted into an award-winning Broadway tragedy.

  She finally looked away. His heart sank as she calmly dusted the potato chip crumbs from her hands and replaced the cap on her bottle of water, nestling it between the pillows behind her. Christ. This was it. All or nothing.

  He was already thinking of excuses to extricate himself from the guesthouse so he could puke up the food now sitting like a rock in his gut, when she leaned forward and crawled across the short span between them, pushing him backward until she could straddle his lap.

  She threaded her fingers through his hair, then cupped his face and pressed her soft lips to his, a brief whisper of a kiss that gave him hope. “I don’t want anyone but you.”

  Her answer ghosted over his lips, burrowed beneath his skin, and worked its way through his veins, embedding itself inside the deepest chambers of his heart, making it swell until he thought it would burst from his chest.

  Every cell in his body rushed to claim her,
answering her ardent claims in return. In that moment, his mouth fused to hers, breathing in her every outward breath, he knew he would spend the rest of his life loving her. He had yet to say the words. They were nothing more than a newborn, whispered truth that circled in the back of his mind, like a fresh cool breeze after a thunderstorm, but they were real. She was real, and she was his.

  Dani shifted in his lap and he felt himself falling backward. She followed him down to the mattress, their kiss never ending as she lay atop him, her soft, feminine curves molding to his larger, masculine frame. He wrapped his arms around her, careful not to crush her, but desperate to bind her to him, in total awe of how well they fit, how good and right she felt in his arms.

  A loud thump, and then a series of muted creaks and snaps pulled at his attention, but he was too far into this fantasy to care. Dani hesitated at the sounds, but he rolled her beneath him, ready to lose himself inside her, when another loud pop sounded outside in the distance, this one metal on metal.

  Reluctantly, Clay lifted his head to listen.

  “What is that?” Dani asked, craning her neck to look toward the door.

  Straining to hear beyond the rush of blood flow to his dick, everything seemed quiet, until a round of loud bangs echoed against the cottage exterior walls, followed by a series of closing truck doors.

  “Shit.” He pushed to the edge of the bed and reached for his boots. “Stay here.” He checked his watch on the way to the door, wondering who was unloading what sounded like one hell of a pissed-off bull so close to the main house at eleven-thirty at night.

  Greeted by the bright glare of headlights, Clay shielded his eyes as he crossed the yard toward two trucks and a trailer parked beside a nearby exercise corral they used for their personal stock. He was ten yards away when he recognized Jackson’s truck hooked to the trailer, and then Jackson rounded the front end, silhouetted in the bright lights of the second truck.

  “What the hell are you—”

  Something bucked in the trailer, hitting the slatted walls so hard the whole thing rocked on its axels, the sound like an explosion in the night.