by Em Petrova
She patted his nose. “No treats today. I’m sorry.”
He grunted.
Drifting down the line of stalls, she spoke to the mares and then the two reining horses. She knew less about them, but she intended to spend a lot of time with them the instant filming wrapped up.
If Wheeler didn’t mind her working here with him, that was. But only if she set him straight. They would be much more than a partnership—she wanted it all.
After a moment of contemplation, she began to open the stall doors and lead the horses out into the fresh air. Then she leaned on the fence and watched them prance around to stretch their legs. Gusto was doing well on that leg. Maybe it wouldn’t take up to nine months to heal, after all. Though he still favored it, Aria felt it was far better than some injuries she’d seen in her life.
With the horses happy, she was happy too. She cut across the yard to the house. The door was locked, a sure indication that Wheeler didn’t plan to return very soon.
Pressing her lips together, she wandered back to the barn. Fatigue from her sleepless night weighed on her, pressed down on her shoulders. By the time she reached the barn, the sun on her head had done the job of warming her to a sleepy state. Her eyelids drooped.
One look at the hay bales where her saddle sat was too much for Aria. She grabbed a relatively clean blanket and tossed it over the hay, and then curled up next to her saddle. With her arm folded beneath her head, she stared at the barn door, willing her lover to come through it.
Her breaths slowed, but she didn’t realize how close she was to falling asleep until her phone jolted her.
She sat up and made a grab for the device. When she saw the caller, her heart fell. “Bellarose.”
“Aria. Have you heard from Wheeler?”
That had her on her feet, her boot heels scraping the barn boards. She gripped the phone tighter. “Wheeler? No. I never made it to the airport, and I turned around and came back to his place, but he isn’t here.”
“Oh God. He was at the airport looking for you.”
A surge of joy struck her, rendering her speechless.
“Aria?” Bellarose asked.
“I’m here. You’re telling me that Weheler came looking for me at the airport?”
“Yes. He seemed pretty down and out, which is why I’m calling to see if you heard from him.”
She pressed her fingers to her forehead. “No,” she said unevenly. “He didn’t call me.”
“Well, I’m sure he’s on his way home now. Wait—did you say you never caught your flight out?”
“Bellarose, I won’t be at the banquet. I’ll call and make my apologies.” It seemed she was letting down a lot of people lately, and she never seemed to be doing what was expected of her. First Jason and now this. To her thinking, it meant she was in the wrong place in her life.
“Aria, in this business, life still has to come first. Your happiness has to come first. Don’t lose sight of that.”
Tears burned Aria’s eyes. “Thank you, Bellarose. I needed that.”
“Take care. I’ll see you when we get back to the set.”
“Yes. Safe travels.” Aria ended the call and raised her head, staring out the open barn door to the dark, empty house. Wheeler had come searching for her. She’d come back for him.
And they’d crossed paths.
She thought of getting back in her car to go looking for him, but that would be silly. He was on his way home. There was nothing to do but wait.
Returning to the hay, she lay down again with one arm slung around the gleaming saddle.
* * * * *
The sight of the small, unfamiliar car parked in Wheeler’s driveway had his heart pounding out of his chest. He jumped from the truck, barely aware of the cast he shouldn’t be walking on as he made his way to the barn. The door stood open.
When he reached the opening, his breath punched from his lungs.
Jesus, she’s home.
Aria was fast asleep on the hay bales, curled onto her side with the saddle tucked close like a little girl who’d taken a nap on Christmas Day, tuckered out from all the excitement.
His heart throbbed into his throat, and he braced a hand on the doorframe as he watched her chest rise and fall in sleep. Her lashes, thick and lush, cast shadows across her cheeks, and her lips were plumped out, the most kissable things he’d ever seen.
Why had she come back here? She should be in Hollywood by now, and instead she’d backtracked and come full circle, falling asleep in his barn.
He was moving forward before he fully realized his intention. When he scooped his arms beneath her and gathered her close, she jerked awake.
“Wheeler!”
“Honey, you fell asleep in my barn again.” Tenderness shook him to the core. God, he was in love with this woman, and he wasn’t going to wait another second to tell her. “Aria—”
She was one of those women who was instantly awake and ready to take on the day, and this time was no different. She drew from his hold and climbed off the hay to stand before him. Disheveled and more beautiful than ever, she met his stare.
“I’m sorry—” he began, but she cut him off.
“Wait. I want to talk first if that’s okay.”
He nodded, hands fisted to keep from grabbing her and doing the talking between the sheets. Hell, he didn’t want to take the time to get to the bedroom. He wanted to feel her clutching around his cock and listen to her little cries of pleasure, even if it meant having hay in places no man ever wanted it.
“Wheeler. God, it’s good to see you.” Her throat worked, and she raised a trembling hand to brush the warm brown hair from her eyes.
He took a step forward. “I need to touch you.”
She nodded, and then she was in his arms, head tucked under his chin where it belonged. She grasped his shoulders, clinging like she never wanted to let go. Fuck, he hoped that was the case and this wasn’t really a goodbye.
“Wheeler, I know you didn’t mean what you were saying about the partnership. I mean, you meant it. But I don’t think you want to just be partners?”
“Hell, yes, I do. But—”
She clapped a hand over his mouth. From over her fingers, he stared down at her. “I’ve learned a lot since I came here weeks ago and you found me asleep in your barn. I’ve figured things out about myself that I hadn’t completely owned before, and that was how much I was letting life overtake me instead of jumping in the saddle myself. It started when I was young, I guess, and I just sort of went along with the things that were presented to me.”
He stared down at her, anticipating there was more.
She dragged in a breath. “I don’t want to be an actor. I’m going to ask to be written off the show.”
His eyes widened, but she didn’t move her hand, so he didn’t speak.
“I don’t love it, and life’s too short to do something you don’t feel completely passionate about. Those horses—I feel passionate about them. I’m going to train them up and take them to competitions, finally do what I always dreamed of.”
He made a noise in his throat.
She shook her head. “I’m still talkin’, mister.”
His grin spread behind her hand, and her eyes shone for a brief moment before narrowing with intensity.
“As for you, cowboy, I don’t just want a partner in the business. I want a partner in life. In your world. In your bed. I’m making a big decision here, and that is you, Wheeler.”
He couldn’t take anymore. He grasped her wrist gently and pulled her hand away from his lips. He was too choked up to speak, yet he must tell her all the things he’d intended to a day before.
“Aria, I’m in love with you. I don’t know how to be without you anymore, and I don’t wanna try. I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my days with you. Marry me. Stay here on the ranch with me, and I’ll build it up for you, make it everything you ever dreamed of.”
A cry left her, but she was smiling. “Will you get rid of
that ugly blue bathroom?”
“I’ll begin demo today. Just find me a sledgehammer, honey.” He wrapped her closer to his chest and butted their hips together. “Just say you’ll be my wife and we can start living this very minute.”
“No, we started when I woke up in that stall over there with you lookin’ down at me. I love you, Wheeler.” She went on tiptoe, and he swooped in at the same moment. Their lips crashed together in a seeking, emotional kiss that took long minutes to surface from.
He searched her eyes. “You’re sure about quitting the show?”
She nodded. “It was a good run, but it’s not for me. I’m a rancher’s daughter.”
“And a wrangler’s fiancée?” He arched a brow in hope.
“I’m saying yes to this proposal, Wheeler. Yes, with all my heart.” Her eyes flashed as she moved upward for another kiss. “And I promise I won’t run.”
He brushed his mouth over hers, tasting woman and the salt of her tears of joy.
Sealing the deal.
* * * * *
Watching a gorgeous and muscled man strip bare and sheath his impressive cock in a condom was every woman’s wish—but being in love with the man made it so much more exciting.
Somehow, they’d made it from the barn to the bedroom, the whole process taking only minutes, yet she felt she’d lived a lifetime in those kisses and promising touches they’d shared while crossing the yard.
Aria ran her tongue over her lower lip, and Wheeler let out a growl. “Do that again, and I’ll make you use that tongue.”
She purposely darted her tongue along her lip again, and he tossed the condom wrapper over his shoulder. “That’s it. You asked for it.”
When he dived for the mattress, she opened her arms. As soon as his hard, warm body slid over hers, she began to wiggle closer. The touch of his skin against hers had her body on fire. Juices wet her inner thighs. Her need built until she couldn’t hold back any longer and sought his mouth.
The kiss was a soft brushing, barely a caress. Then at the same time, they shared a sound of abandon and gave themselves up to the passion they’d been trying to stretch out.
She curled her hand around his nape, pulling him down. He swept his tongue through her mouth, sending tingles all through her. Rocking her hips upward, she showed him exactly what she wanted—now.
But he remained still, pinning her with his body, flattening her to the bed. The need snaking through her core made her hyper-aware of every flick of his tongue, every stroke of his fingertips.
His fingers teased the sensitive spot behind her jaw and down her throat, leaving a trail of white fire in their wake. He dipped one into her cleavage. Then slid it between her breasts and down around the curve of one. When he dragged it up to her taut nipple, she let out a cry.
He traced her areola in languid circles until she was arching into his touch. “Wheeler, I need your mouth on me.”
Her plea went unanswered. He only continued to tease her with the roughened pad of his finger over her sensitive bud.
Two could play this game of torment. She slipped her hand between their bodies and enveloped his cock.
He went still, hazel eyes on her as if waiting to see what she’d do.
She closed her fingers into a tight ring and drew it up over the mushroomed tip of his erection.
A shudder ran through him.
“Good to know you’re not immune to me,” she whispered.
“Honey, I’m far from immune to you. I love you.” He bent to her mouth again, his kiss wild and hungry. She matched it stroke for stroke of her tongue as she tormented him with her hand the way he was doing on her breast.
Suddenly, he broke the kiss and began to slither down her body, spattering kisses over her chest and breasts to ribs and belly. Her thighs parted for him long before he reached the place he sought, but by the time he sank his tongue between her wet folds, she was trembling.
He rumbled a growl against her pussy. His tongue anchored her in place, only the tip moving, flicking, strumming her bundle of nerves. Her pleasure level spiked, and she cried out as she gripped his shoulders. He lightened the pressure of his tongue on her clit and just as she was building toward her orgasm, he changed rhythm, keeping it just out of reach.
She dug in her short nails and let the waves of need wash over her.
With an abrupt switch, he ran his tongue down her seam and dipped it into her wetness. His warm, soft tongue barely breached her opening before he returned to her clit, circling it this time with exquisite torture. Aria bit back another cry and squeezed her eyes shut.
As she was about to begin the climb to what seemed to be the biggest orgasm of her life, he fit his fingers into her opening. Holding them there, unmoving.
He had her toeing the edge of a cliff. Then he plunged his fingers deep, and she dangled over the side of the precipice. Her insides clutched at his fingers. Her clit pulsed beneath his tongue.
A low scream left her, growing louder as waves hit her harder and harder. “Wheeler!”
Her thighs locked around his ears, and he hummed in encouragement.
She crested, peaked and let go. Her release hit with a strength that tore the cry off her lips.
* * * * *
The moment went on and on, and damn if Wheeler ever wanted his woman to stop feeling good at his hands. Each moment would not be perfect, but they’d do their best to reach those heights.
She bucked against his lips and tongue, and he stroked her inner wall with his fingers. A final hard contraction rocked her, and then she collapsed, gasping, fingers entangled in his hair.
“Wheeler… babe, I need you. Don’t make me wait.” Her brown eyes were darker with a passion that he couldn’t deny another second.
Gliding up her body, he poised at the quick of her, looking down into her beautiful eyes. “Forever,” he grated out.
Tears burned in her eyes. “I love you.”
He cupped her jaw and kissed her at the same moment he thrust into her pussy. Liquid heat enveloped him. He had to grind his teeth against the urge to come there and then. With all the sensations coupled with his emotions for Aria, he was having a difficult time holding back.
When she began to writhe under him, he rolled with her, seating her atop him.
Her hair tumbled down over her breasts, and she offered him a sassy smile.
“Ride ’em, cowgirl.” His voice was gritty from restraint.
“You’re in for it, cowboy.” She began to rise and fall on his cock, taking his shaft all the way to the edge of her pussy before slamming back over him. At first, her motions were timed, but soon it became apparent she was just as far gone as he was. Her breasts jiggled in his palms, her nipples straining against his thumbs as she took herself—and him—up toward a release so big, he wondered if he’d survive the fall.
Hell, he was willing to break more than his foot on this venture. And there was so much more at stake—his heart.
Looking into her deep eyes, burning with lust and love, he knew without a doubt he could trust her.
He moved his hands from her breasts around her body to her ass, helping her pump up and down on him. She threw herself forward and covered his mouth with hers. Their tongues tangled, a cry slipped loose from one of them, and then she was pulsing around him again.
The roar hit his lips before he could hold it back, and the first jet of cum shot from him. Each after that seemed to come from someplace deeper and deeper until his balls began to throb. The final blow ended on a rush of silence. His ears were ringing. Aria lay plastered to his chest, damp with perspiration and breathing heavily.
“So that’s what it feels like.” Her murmur against his skin took him a moment to make out.
God, he loved this woman so damn much. Nothing could be purer—not riding the trails with his horse, not the range of Blackwater nor the very mountains.
“What feels like?” His own voice was unsteady.
She twisted her head to stare up at him. One hand
curled against his pec. “What it feels like to be so in love that nothing else matters in the world.”
His lips quirked up at the corner. “If this is it, then I see why people toss away everything to have it.”
“First thing I’m tossing away is the acting.”
He smoothed a hand down her spine. “Aria, I’d never ask that of you. You can continue with the show, just live here and travel to the set, the way Bellarose does.”
She smiled. “I love you for it, but I realized it isn’t what I want. And I’ve decided that from here on, everything I choose is for myself. Or for you. We’re a team now, Wheeler, whether you like it or not.”
“A partnership, you’d say?”
She batted him in the shoulder. “Only if the partnership involves trusting each other enough to get rid of this box of condoms.”
His heart gave a wild heave of joy. “We haven’t talked about a family or anything yet.”
“I’m not ready for a family, but I’m ready to have you—only you, with no barriers. I’m on other birth control.” She shifted against him.
He moaned at the slippery feel of her body up next to his hardening cock. “Box is almost empty anyway.”
“Uh-huh.” She nibbled at his lips.
“Honey, if you haven’t’ noticed, I trusted you from the get-go.”
“With your house.”
“With my horse.”
Her eyes gleamed as she gazed down at him. “With your heart?”
He drew her hand over his chest to the part that beat only for her. “That was yours from the get-go too.”
This time when she kissed him, he felt all the love flooding into the moment. He held her fast to him. Damn if he was ever gonna let go.
Epilogue
The arena erupted with applause. Wheeler leaped to his feet, his heart wedged in his throat with total pride for his wife and all she’d accomplished this past year. The newest horse and rider to hit the National Reining Horse Association’s millionaire club.
Even from here, he could see Aria’s face crumple with emotion. She buried her head against her mare’s side, and he saw her shoulders give a slight shake as she wept for joy.
