“I’m sorry,” he says.
“It’s okay. You did good. Very good.”
The air suddenly feels cool on my overheated skin as I fall back against the wall. My limbs are loose and pliable. My brain fried.
He looks down. “But I…”
I pulls myself out of the haze, following his gaze to the damp spot on his jeans. And my lips curl up in a smile. He got so worked up, he came in his pants. Holy fuck that’s hot.
“It’s okay. You did good. I’ll let it slide this time.”
Then I reach down to scoop up the neat pile of clothes. Quint’s mouth falls open when I slip my arms back through my bra straps, and reach around to close the hooks at the back.
The look of desperation on his face as he watches me methodically put all my clothes back on is perfection.
“But I wanted to fuck you so bad. You have no idea.”
I manage to keep my fingers steady as I button the cotton shirt back up, then walk around him to unwind the rope. I check his wrists over, soothing the red indentations. The marks I put on him. I swipe the hat off his head, swapping it out for his own and head over to hang the lead rope back neatly on its hook before walking toward the exit. When I get to the tack room door, I turn around.
“I guess you’ll have to wait a little longer.”
Chapter 18
Quint
“Ican’tbelieveyoudid that to me,” I hiss at Aura as we’re walking over to the main house for dinner. Caleb’s cooking up a big batch of his famous ranch stew and biscuits, so it’s going to be a packed house. The family, plus any of the ranch hands who want to join in. Maybe some other folks from town will show up. Somehow word always spreads when it’s a stew night. Hell, even the prodigal son, Preston has returned to the ranch for a visit. Although that probably has more to do with the film production company showing up tomorrow than stew night.
“What?” she asks, all innocence in a white lace dress and the red cowboy boots she showed up in for our first lesson. They’re broken in now, but she’s switched to something a little more practical for riding, saving these for special occasions.
“You know what you did. Left me there desperate and wanting more.” I had to get right back to work after her little tack room performance, putting out fresh round bales in the fields, stocking the hay stall in the main barn, and going to negotiate a deal on a new stud. At least he’ll be getting some action. After I snuck back to my place to get changed of course.
She reaches up to give my cheek a pat. “You said you were okay with this. If you want to back out now, say the word.”
“That’s not what I want. But I thought…”
“What did you think?”
“I thought you’d at least let me fuck you. Do you know how hot it was watching you touch yourself? Getting to taste you? God, I was so worked up.”
She gives my dick a pat. “I know. But you got yours and you’ll get the rest eventually. It’s called anticipation, and you are going to thank me later.” She leans in close. “Because if you think I don’t want to feel your dick stretching me out just as badly as you want to give it to me, you’d be incorrect.”
I groan. “Are you sure you want stew? We could just go back to my place. I’ll make you a grilled cheese sandwich.”
“Of course I want to go. I’ve heard amazing things about this famous stew.” She puts a hand on my chest to stop me when we get to the porch steps. “Be honest, it can’t be that good, right? I don’t even think I like stew. Is your brother going to toss me out if I don’t like it?”
Her teasing distracts a chuckle out of me. “Oh, you’ll like it. Everyone likes it. Except Preston’s old girlfriend. She was a vegetarian.”
She laughs. “You make it sound like a dirty word.”
“Isn’t it?”
“Not where I come from. I mean, where I live. There are just as many herbivores as carnivores in LA, and everything in between.”
“What else is there?”
“Don’t worry about it. I can’t even keep track of all the fad diets, and I live there.”
“You two coming in?”
