by Em Petrova
“You gonna rope your crutches onto the saddle too? It’s only six weeks, Wheeler. Give yourself the time to heal.”
“Maybe I can use the ATV. At least feed and check the herd. Be of some damn use.”
King contemplated him. “Not a bad idea. Let me think on it. I don’t want you to have a setback because you’re working too soon.”
“If you ever get in this position, and I hope you don’t, you’ll know how damn hard it is.”
“Not as hard with a pretty brunette around, though.”
With a shake of his head, he said, “You never let up, do you? She’s been a damn good help with Gusto. Knew just what to do for his leg, and without her, I would have struggled a lot more.”
“That’s how you knew she’s a Montana girl.” King’s statement told Wheeler he’d just put two and two together.
“Apologized already, didn’t I? Stop sounding like a whiny little brother who didn’t know there were cookies till they were all gone.”
King huffed a laugh and eyed him. “So she’s a cookie. And I’d be the big brother.”
“Dude, shut up.” Wheeler grinned and took a sip. Thank God nothing more was said, because the ladies came outside then, pushing through the screen door. Wheeler started to get up, driven by the manners his momma had bred in him, and King was already up and ushering his wife to his seat.
“Can I have your beer too?” she asked.
“Darlin’, you can have anything you want.” He smiled into her eyes and she took his beer and handed him a mug of tea.
A month ago, Wheeler might have wondered at this type of exchange, but somehow, Aria had changed his thinking.
“Don’t get up.” She settled a hand on his shoulder and that one small touch reached deep inside him and heated his chest.
He plunked back into the seat and she went to lean against the railing and look out over the ranch.
God, he was out of his league. No way would he have a chance at more with a woman like Aria. She belonged on a place like this, was practically ranch royalty and to top it all off, everybody knew her as a rising star. What did he have to offer? A ride in his decade-old truck with spots of rust and dinner at the local mom and pop joint for today’s special?
She hitched a boot onto the bottom rail and leaned forward, giving him a perfect view of her round ass.
He buried his focus in polishing off his beer. Sweetest thing he’d have were his memories, and those would have to last him a long time.
Memories of that luscious ass in his palms, dragging her down and onto his cock. Of her lips… and dammit, her eyes as she splintered apart for him with a throaty cry of passion.
Hell.
Two of King’s top horses were housed together to keep each other company, and just then they came into sight, running the line of fence in a game of chase.
Aria straightened, and Wheeler couldn’t sit there another second. He got up and drifted to the railing to stand next to her. Even to smell her and feel the warmth coming off her skin would have to do.
“They’re beautiful,” she said. “I’ve missed this so much.”
He watched her face a moment, heart doing little tricks in his chest. It was on the tip of his tongue to say he’d miss her so much, but he bit back the words. Sensing someone watching him, he tossed a look over his shoulder. Sure enough, King and Bellarose were staring.
Tugging his hat low, he faced forward again. “Maybe after the filming, you should go back to Montana for a visit,” he suggested.
Her gaze snapped to him. “Maybe I could. You’d love—” She broke off and pinched her lips together, watching the horses again.
He didn’t know what she was about to say, but it sounded like it could be that he’d love it there.
Dwelling on it would do him no good, and he had to shake off any notion of there being more between them. He had a life to live, and so did she. In fact, she needed to get back to the set.
As if she realized this too, she turned to him. “I think it’s time.”
He nodded and together they faced King and Bellarose. “Thanks for the refreshments and talk. We’re gonna get on the road.”
“I’m so glad you came to me, Aria. I’ll see you tomorrow on set.” Bellarose came forward to grip Aria’s hands. The women embraced.
“Ah shucks. See ya soon, King.” Wheeler reached up to pound his buddy on the back, and the women broke apart to laugh at them.
“Stay off that foot. Want me to come down and check the horse in a while?”
Wheeler gave a shake of his head. “I got it, but thanks.”
As they made their way back to Wheeler’s truck, silence fell over them.
She got into the passenger’s seat, and he worked his way to the driver’s side and tossed the crutches in the back. When he closed the door, quiet surrounded them, closed them in.
She stared down at her hands in her lap.
“I sense a weight on you, Aria. Going back will mean facing a lot of things, but you’re strong.”
She nodded. “Thank you.”
“There might be something that could lighten your spirits.”
She turned her brown eyes on him, sending sparks shooting through his system, especially with what he was about to tell her.
“This morning when I was rooting around in the truck, I found something.”
“What’s that?”
He slanted a crooked grin at her before leaning across her thighs and popping the glove compartment. There, resting on top of a pile of paperwork for the truck, was a single foil packet.
Her sharp little intake of air made his smile spread. He plucked up the condom and held it out to her. “Whattaya say, honey?”
“Can’t let it go to waste.” She ran her tongue over her lips in suggestion. “Start the truck, Wheeler. We can’t do it in Bellarose and King’s driveway.”
“You don’t need to ask me twice.” He twisted the key, heart pumping with excitement that he’d have one more stolen moment with this amazing woman.
Chapter Seven
Wheeler stepped out of the truck and instead of grabbing the crutches, he reached behind the seat and pulled out a blanket roll. His cock was already fully hard, and he’d barely made it onto a back road to stop the truck and reach for Aria.
Her reaction to him finding that condom had given him one hell of an ego boost too. She slid out of the truck and slammed the door. When she rounded the back, their gazes collided.
He felt those sparks all the way to the tips of his toes. Holding out the blanket, he rumbled, “Will you do the honors?”
With a tempting grin, she took the blanket, walked a little ways off and unfurled it. He followed as quickly as he could with one crutch.
The spot he’d chosen was relatively flat with a small clearing in the pines that provided a nice view of the mountain. The slate blue peak would ordinarily claim his attention on a good day of riding, but nothing could make him look away from the beautiful woman facing him.
She stepped up close and reached for her shirt buttons.
His mouth dried out as he watched her nimble fingers work down the line until a sliver of tanned skin was revealed. With a flick of her finger, she twitched the cotton aside. “You want me, cowboy?”
“Damn right I do.” He practically growled out the words and let his crutch fall. Stepping up to her, he slipped his hands into the open edges of her top, clasping warm, silken skin that rippled with goosebumps the moment he laid hands on her.
Bracing her palms on his chest, she moved to stand between his legs. She looked up into his eyes and then slowly pulled off his hat. “You know, if a man takes off his hat to kiss a woman, he’s a keeper.”
His lips quirked up. “That so?”
“Yes.”
“What does it mean when she takes his hat off before he can get to it?”
Her brown eyes burned with desire. “It means she wants him bad.”
He couldn’t restrain his growl this time and claimed her lip
s. A dark need gripped him as he plunged his tongue into her mouth, taking every small cry she’d give up to him—demanding more.
She circled his neck with her arms, pulling him down. He caught her against him, and supporting her weight, swept her off her feet and laid her on the blanket, buckling at the knees to follow her down.
Her thighs parted automatically for him, and he pressed his erection into the heat between her legs. “I’m about to burst my zipper for you, honey.”
“Can’t have that.” She went for his fly, and he reached beneath her to pop the clasp of her bra. The instant her nipples were freed, he bent to take one in his mouth and continued to fumble off her clothes.
When he eased his hand inside her panties, a full-body shudder rolled over her, and he felt her tense against his hand.
“Fuck, you’re slicker than the slope to hell. Give me your mouth.” He crushed his lips over hers and sank one finger into her tight sheath. Liquid heat enveloped his hand and thundered through the rest of him.
She’d managed to get his belt loosened and the button of his jeans free, but the instant he touched her, she’d focused on the pleasure he was giving her.
Just the way he wanted it—with Aria desperate and needy.
Maybe then she’ll come back for more.
Unlikely, but a cowboy could dream.
He kissed her senseless, distracting her from the fact he was stripping her clothes off. With boots, socks, jeans and panties off, and her top and bra only partially covering her, he gave her a wicked smile before lowering himself in a slow, easy glide down to her pussy.
She was ripe as a peach, soaking wet and ready for his tongue. Flattening it over her clit, he teased at her opening with his fingers.
Clapping her hands around his ears, she threw her head back. “Yes, Wheeler!”
Encouraged by her raspy cry, he buried two fingers deep into her pussy and lapped her clit. Need clutched at his balls at her flavors on his tongue and the way she flooded his fingers with more juices. Glancing up the length of her body, he watched her eyes open wide and then her lids droop with each move of his fingers.
He pulled her clit between his lips and swirled his tongue across the bundle of nerves. She sucked in a gasp and plastered her hands over his shoulders, hips moving to get closer to his mouth.
Fuck, she was gorgeous, desirable and did she have to be so damn perfect? Because now he was ruined for any other woman. Didn’t matter who came along after Aria—it wouldn’t be Aria, and he couldn’t see anything but her.
Her hair tumbled across the blanket, and the tiny point of her chin strained toward the sky as he sucked on her nubbin and fingered her pussy. A rough groan left him, which she echoed with a feminine moan of her own.
With a final plunge into her pussy, he applied pressure to her inner wall. A pulsation met his fingertips, and he knew he’d found her G-spot. With slow precision, he massaged it. Lightly, a fleeting touch. Then pressing harder and dragging a cry from her.
“Wh…” Her mouth opened on a silent cry that seemed to go on for long minutes. “Wheeler. Please.”
She wanted to come, and hell if he wanted to hold her back.
He doubled his efforts, drawing on her clit with lips and tongue and massaging her G-spot in a steady rhythm that would send her shooting over the edge fast and hard.
Too late he realized he should drag out this moment. It was unlikely he’d get another—he was out of condoms and she was going back to her life. But when the first contraction of her inner walls gripped his fingers and a loud cry ripped through the air, he couldn’t be sorry anymore.
He leaned upward to mouth her clit as he fucked her hard and fast. His gaze centered on her beautiful face as she came apart for him, rocking her hips over and over and finally collapsing to the blanket, trembling.
She lifted her shaking hands to his jaw and looked into his eyes. “You’re so damn good at that.”
He shot her a crooked grin. “Good. Maybe you’ll come back for more.”
Something flickered in the depths of her eyes, and she pulled him up her body. He slowly withdrew his fingers from her pussy and painted her wetness on her inner thigh, raising another shiver in her.
“You never shaved today.” She rasped her fingers over his jawline.
“Got lazy.”
“That’s the second time you’ve called yourself lazy to me. You’re far from lazy, Wheeler. Now kiss me.”
She didn’t need to ask him twice.
* * * * *
Damn, this man could kiss. And he knew just how to make that spot inside her bloom with want. Her insides hummed, and she ached to get him inside her. To feel his weight moving over her, that big chest pinning her and making her feel so safe and sheltered from the world.
For two days, he’d given that to her—a stranger who crashed into his peaceful life, and still he’d let her in, offered her everything he had including his trust.
Men like that just didn’t exist anymore.
In a time of alarm systems and guard dogs, Wheeler had left her alone in his house and gone off to King’s. He’d fed her even when his rations were spare, and he hadn’t batted an eye when she asked him to keep her secret under wraps, when so many would run straight to a telephone and call a news station to say they knew of her whereabouts.
Wheeler was completely different.
And yet so familiar.
Maybe it was the mark of a cowboy on him that gave her a sense of homecoming. Or the fact he was cut from the same bolt of cloth the men in her life were—her daddy and her momma’s brothers, the trainers, wranglers and so many others who had supported the ranch she’d grown up on.
Wheeler pulled away from the kiss, panting as he stared down into her eyes. “I want to make this last, honey, but if I don’t get inside you soon, I’m going to lose my mind.”
Her eyes fluttered shut on the compliment, and she wrapped her arms tighter around him. With a low groan, he buried his face against her neck. The intimacy of the moment and the idea of her returning to her life in a few hours was enough to make her decision.
“I’ll come back and I’ll bring condoms.” She ruffled the hair on the back of his head.
He made a noise in his throat and curled closer. “You won’t have to—I’ll have a semi-truck back up to the door and deliver them as soon as I can make the call.”
A giggle left her, and the strangely emotional moment fled, to be replaced by him delivering a playful pinch to her nipple.
They rolled. She got his clothes off and wet her lips when she set eyes on his impressive length. Tracing a vein down the side to the base, she watched his eyes darken with need.
“Tell me you got the condom out of the truck,” she said.
“In my jeans.” His Adam’s apple worked in his throat.
She reached out and snagged his jeans. Locating the condom was easy—it was her shaking fingers that made opening the packet difficult.
“Gimme it.” He stuck it in his teeth and ripped.
Fresh arousal flooded her at the sexy-as-hell action of the hottest man she’d ever met.
He jerked the condom on in one flick of his wrist and dragged her down on the blanket again. Cupping her face tenderly in one broad palm, he kissed her. Softly at first and letting it build, taking her from desire to bone-shattering need in a heartbeat. By the time he settled her over his hips, with her pussy poised at the tip of his thick cock, her emotions were back in place, all tangled up with the fun of the moment.
With his gaze locking her in place, he took hold of her hips and shoved her downward at the moment he pushed up. His cock stretched her, and she cried out at the sensations running through her system.
Every jerk of his hips drove her too high too fast. She didn’t want the moment to end. Wanted to keep hiding here with him and finding herself again.
A shock tore through her.
That was it. She’d lost a little of herself between working with horses on the set of Redemption Falls an
d getting in front of the camera. Where she belonged was with the land, the animals.
And this man was most definitely fitting the bill for her. Jason Lee who?
She took Wheeler’s mouth and fed him her tongue. He growled out his response and locked her against him, fucking her slow and deep.
When she felt his muscles stiffen, she knew he was close and damn if her body didn’t react. Her orgasm hit out of nowhere, a pounding bliss that overtook her brain and yanked a scream from her lips.
As he hollered his own release, she opened her eyes to look down at his handsome face twisted in ecstasy. And he was looking back at her.
* * * * *
Wheeler was sick of these crutches, that was for damn sure. His frustration level was at an all-time high, and he knew why.
Aria was gone.
For two days he’d been on his own, and he’d been attempting to manage the chores alone. The irritation of trying to lead horses while leaning on one crutch was bad enough without the echoes of Aria following him around ever freakin’ corner he turned.
The ranch felt empty without her.
He found it damn odd, too. It was like having a stray cat show up and feeding it for two days and then when it left again, he missed it.
It felt just as fleeting, passing through, enriching his life for a blink of time and then vanishing once more.
He hadn’t heard from her but dropping her at the set had been a wrench to his heart. The word smitten didn’t begin to cover how he was feeling about the woman. What had begun as a small ache in the center of his chest had spread until he felt pretty fucking miserable, with the bad temper to match.
He’d started using only one crutch, but he swapped it for the shovel instead. Cleaning the stalls would keep his mind off things and kill some time before he needed to head into town to the doctor. Hard to believe it hadn’t’ been a full week since he’d broken his foot. He hoped to hell the doc saw how desperate he was to get onto a walking cast and took mercy on him.
Of course, Wheeler was kidding himself, but a man could dream, right?
If I was gonna dream, it would be about a curvy brunette pinned against a wall.
