Page 25 of His Texas Claim

He drove into me harder, this hoarse sound tearing out of him. He was losing it, I could feel it, he was close⁠—

“Fuck, Bryn.” His forehead dropped to mine, a messy kiss passed between us, his tongue in my mouth, my teeth catching his lower lip. “Fuck yes…take it. Take it⁠—”

He buried himself deep⁠—

His hips jolted, and then he was coming; I could feel the heat of him filling me up, spreading through me, right against my cervix. He stayed there as we both arched and rode out the orgasm, time stretching and curving around us. I couldn’t tell if I was seeing stars or if they were fireflies, didn’t care.

He rocked his hips once on the aftershock—driving his cum deeper—then let himself collapse on top of me, still buried in my pussy.

I took a shuddering breath, turning to look at him and finding him staring right at me.

“You must think I’m insane,” I murmured.

He lifted his head just enough to kiss me…then he touched my face, cupped my cheek.

“I don’t think you’re insane. I know you are.”

I laughed out loud, the sound echoing off the rocks around us.

He shifted his weight to one forearm, still buried inside me, not in any hurry to move.

"You’re a woman who knows what she wants,” he murmured. “Not gonna say no to that.”

“But if I⁠—”

“Woman’s choice what she does with her baby, with her body,” he said. “If you did…you do what you want. Don’t know you well enough to stake any claim.”

“And if I wanted you to?”

He leaned in to kiss me once. “Fuck, Bryn…if you asked? I’d claim you over…” Twice. “...over…” Another. “...and over again.”

NINE

Stetson

Riding together was a whole different ballgame after what we’d done last night.

Bryn rode nestled between my legs, every motion pulling her back against me, my arms around her. Her hair smelled like cedar and smoke, a little like me; she kept talking to me about her life, about Ireland, about the damn frogs.

I’d been fine alone all this time. Didn’t realize I hadn’t been happy until now.

Didn’t want this to end.

We stopped to check out another pool off to the edge of the creek, where Bryn found more frogs, recorded calls, collected a few more specimens. After, I fucked her bent over against a tree as the rain fell on the leaves above.

She begged for me to give it to her harder, so I did. Begged for me to come inside her, so I did.

Wondered if she was gonna get pregnant. How that could change things. If she’d leave and I’d never even know, if she’d raise our kid by herself because I was just a convenient stop on the way to something she wanted without me.

“Are you close with your family?” Bryn asked around two in the afternoon when we stopped to eat. We’d just crossed the western fence line of the property, heading to higher elevation as we climbed toward the aquifer. It wasn’t far now; we would walk the rest of the way with Buck, while Gage and Neto came by to grab the horses.

Her foot still worried me, but I would carry her if I had to.

“Mm,” I hummed, trying to think about the best way to say this. “Close with my aunt and uncle and cousins. My mom runs the diner in town.”

“And your dad is…”

“The bastard who’s been tryin’ to steal this land ever since he got out of prison,” I said. My eyes flicked up to hers. “Always been an asshole.”