Page 51 of The Cowboy and the Stray

"I'm sorry," I said, the enormity of it choking me. "I shouldn't have dumped all that on you."

Calder's mouth twitched, and he tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear.

I bit my lip, tears threatening again.

Calder let out a cough that might have been a laugh. "Come here," he said, pulling me into him.

I barely knew what I was doing as I reached for his jaw and kissed him. His lips were warm, insistent. It was slow, burning, unexpected. It was more than I knew how to handle.

My head spun, and Calder's hand cupped my cheek, his thumb tracing the curve of my jaw. I opened my eyes and saw him looking back at me, surprised and searching and all mine. My arms snaked around his neck, and I leaned into him, afraid to stop. Afraid it would be over. Calder's hand moved to my waist, and I almost laughed with the rightness of it. Yeah. This was just what I needed.

I kissed him deeper. His mouth trailed down my neck. Rough. Soft. Everything I needed. I needed him. Holy hell.

My hand found his waist, shaky and desperate. He laughed, a deep, hungry sound that sent shivers over my skin. We tangled together, mouths, bodies, wanting. I dragged his shirt off and pulled him back to me. He held me like I was air, and he was drowning.

It was everything I'd been waiting for. Everything I'd thought I'd lost.

Best hayloft meltdown ever.

It was hot, hay sticking to our skin as we pressed against each other, gasping, unable to stop. His hands traveled over me, searing, and I gripped his shoulders, holding him close, needing this. Needing him.

The world spun and shrank until it was just us, just this, just the pounding of my heart and the solid strength of him beneath me. We rolled, a tangle of limbs and want, the loft spinning around us. Calder's hands were everywhere, pulling me down, holding me up, moving like he knew the places I'd forgotten to hope for. I arched into him, eyes closed, a sound I barely recognized escaping my throat.

Desperate. Gasping. I was all his.

His hand found my waist, my neck, the curve of my hip. I was burning, my pulse thundering in my ears. He tugged my shirt up, urgent, and his mouth moved over my skin, sending shockwaves to places I'd locked away. Hot damn, I needed more.

My hands were on him, wild, his hair, his chest, the warmth of his back. I never wanted to stop touching him. I rocked against him, losing myself to the building heat. He caught my wrists, pushed me back gently as he sat up, his mouth grazing my collarbone.

He kissed me like it was his last act, and I clung to him, afraid to let go, afraid to wake up and find this was a dream. The hay prickled my skin, but it only made me want more. Want him closer. Tighter. Forever.

And somehow, we were both naked. He pushed me back on the hay and worked his way down my body. Holy shit. Was he going to⁠—

Oh. Oh, yes, he was. He buried his face between my legs, and I gasped, my body arching off the ground of its own accord. His lips moved over me, hot and sure, and I could barely think. It was just sensation now. Just this. Him.

I cried out, clutching at the straw beneath me, the world spinning too fast, too bright. He smoothed his hands up my thighs, tracing along my hips, kneading my stomach as he lapped at me.

"Calder," I whispered, unable to form anything more. And then I couldn’t even say his name because he spread my lower lips with his fingers and sucked my clit into his mouth, his tongue harassing it as he sucked.

Shit! I squirmed beneath him, but he didn’t let up. His tongue was everywhere. Inside me, outside. Swirling my clit, then inside again. An orgasm began to build, one like I’d have with myself, alone in the bedroom with a little buzzy rose.

Holy shit. This was better. It built and built until I screamed his name. The world went white and then black, and he was there, kissing me again, murmuring things against my skin that made no sense but felt like forever.

And then he moved over me, slipping on a condom. He whispered, "I put one in my wallet after our fun last time." My giggle cut off into a gasp as he guided himself inside. It was slow and hot and perfect. I wrapped my legs around him as he thrust into me, and it was more than right. It was everything we'd been missing. Everything we'd needed.

We moved against each other, our bodies in sync, sweat dripping from our skin, hearts pounding wildly. The loft felt endless suddenly, the hay magical beneath us as we lost ourselves to the moment. To each other.

I came again when he bit my neck softly, rocking into me hard as he chanted my name, his hips pumping faster and faster until we both cried out together.

He collapsed on top of me, sweaty skin sticking together, and I traced the lines of his back with my fingertips. My legs trembled beneath him as he kissed me again and again, our lips swollen and chapped from all the wanting.

We lay there for what felt like hours, staring up at nothing in particular and everything all at once. "You okay?" He asked finally, his voice hoarse but sweet against my ear.

"Never better," I whispered back, my hand trailing down his spine to his ass before pulling him close. "Never better."

26. TESS

The revolver was heavy in my hand, but the weight of him watching me was heavier. I lined up the barrel with the fencepost, pulled back the hammer, felt it click into place.