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  “You’re soaked,” he scolded.

  I shrugged and tried to play it off like it was nothing even though my entire backside all the way to the tops of my thighs was soaked. “Nothing I haven’t experienced before.”

  He shook his head and pointed to the ledge. “Now do you see why I wanted you to wear a better hat?”

  I took my helmet off and hung it over Jenny’s horn. “I’d take a wet shirt over a dented skull any day.”

  “I’d take you in a wet shirt over anything any day,” he answered with a smirk as I shook my head, wondering what the hell was going on with us.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Jake

  The space beneath the overhang was way too small to keep enough room between Summer and me. She looked like a drowned mutt and I wanted to pull her into my arms and dry her off. Her wet hair clung to her shoulders and that shirt couldn’t possibly have been any tighter or wetter. Of course, I immediately remembered those heavy breasts and the way her nipples tightened into little bullets as soon as I touched them.

  Feeling the need for a cold shower myself, I walked to the edge of the overhang where the mist from the rain could cool my overheated body. When I’d first wanted to take her up here, it was just to help me drive the cows in. But then after last night, I’d decided maybe it would be good for us to have some time alone so we could talk. Now, I wasn’t so sure it had been the best idea because I still didn’t know how she felt about me or last night. She was acting odd, to say the least.

  Behind me, I heard her shuffling around, cooing to Jenny and pacing off the tiny area. I hadn’t expected her to be so scared of the cliff edge, but I guess I’d ridden this so many times, I could do it in my sleep.

  “Everything okay?” Summer asked and I turned away from the pouring rain. Her face looked fresh-scrubbed, her cheeks bright and lips full. I wanted to ignore her obvious beauty, but every time she glanced my way, I wanted to taste those lips again. Bad.

  My Johnson was already throbbing inside my jeans and I was sure that if she glanced down, she would see the outline. That was one of the problems with being so well endowed, it was very obvious, even when you didn’t want it to be.

  I tugged on a strand of her wet hair that was clinging to her shoulder. “Everything except you being soaked to the bone.”

  Her lips parted on a comeback but her words seemed to stick in her throat and as her eyes dilated, it was fairly obvious that she wanted me to kiss her. I started to go in for the kiss but she backed away, pretending interest in Jenny. The distance between us suddenly felt as if it were miles long.

  “We won’t have to be here long,” I offered, feeling rejected.

  She nodded and stuck her hands in her back pockets, then turned to stare at the sheets of rain. I leaned against the damp rock and crossed my arms, curious about what she was thinking, but not sure I should ask. It was clear that something was bothering her. And I was really worried that that something was me.

  Maybe I hadn’t done a good job making love to her? I knew she’d had an orgasm but maybe I hadn’t been as good as I could have been? Maybe I’d rushed? Maybe she was disappointed in me? Maybe she hadn’t enjoyed it? Maybe I’d hurt her?

  She shifted, cocking one hip to the side and pulling her wet pants snug against the curve of her ass. I groaned and lifted my eyes to the ceiling. I didn’t want to be a dick, but I was only a man. Put me anywhere near a wet woman whose clothing was clinging to her, and I was going to look.

  Her chin tipped toward me as she studied me with curiosity. “Are you okay?”

  No!

  “Yeah, I’m fine.” I cleared my throat and stared past her to the droplets clinging to the underside of the branches. “This should clear up soon.”

  “Sorry I made us stop.”

  My gaze clashed with hers and I was shocked to see that she really believed that she was the reason we were here. “What? No.” I stepped closer. “You did great. That was a pretty advanced trail and I probably expected way too much out of Jenny. I didn’t want to keep soaking you if we could help it.”

  She looked away. “Oh.”

  The rain intensified, nearly drowning out her sigh, but I heard the sadness in it and I was drawn closer to her. As the water continued to beat down on us, we were enclosed in our little shelter, away from the entire world and for a minute, I wanted to believe that we weren’t so different. My fingertips brushed her cheek, but she didn’t look at me. “Who hurt you, Summer?”

  That brought her gaze to mine and she looked surprised that I’d either noticed or asked. “I—no one.”

  I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and my fingers were glued to her skin. “You’re safe here,” I whispered as my fingers slid around her nape and I wasn’t sure who closed the gap between our bodies, but her cheek ended up on my chest and my other hand found the small of her back. I closed my eyes and dropped my chin to the top of her head. She smelled like vanilla and alfalfa and I liked the way her curves molded against mine. Liked it way too much to be standing here, miles from civilization and trapped in a rainstorm with thoughts of what we’d done last night racing through my head.

  I flinched when her arms linked behind my back. It had been a long, long time since I’d held a woman, or wanted to. I wondered if it was the same for her. I’d given her nothing but grief since she’d arrived at Springhill and she probably could have used a friend all the while because there was something troubling her. There always had been.

  My thumb swished across her skin and I wanted to hold her forever, protect her from whatever was still chasing her, be they real monsters or only imagined fears. I wondered maybe if I could keep my own monsters at bay while I was defending her from whatever was hunting her.

  As soon as the thought crossed my mind, I wondered what the hell was getting into me. I just wasn’t a man who ever thought this way or felt this protective toward a woman but for some reason, I felt protective over Summer. At the very thought that someone could hurt her, an inexplicable anger began boiling over inside of me. I would kill anyone who tried…

  She lifted her head and I stared into those emerald eyes until I was lost in them. And that was when I knew I had to taste her again. I tipped her head up so I could taste her lips. They were soft and cold and her breath mingled with mine. I surrendered to the need and swept my tongue out to taste her. One of us sucked in a quick breath but I wasn’t sure who because breathing was the last thing I could think about. Her tongue darted out to touch mine and I took her mouth feverishly. She clung to me, mewling and moaning and wrapping her tongue around mine. Her hands tightened on my back and I deepened the kiss. Rain misted our bodies, but I didn’t give a shit about anything else.

  I pulled her closer, pressing her stomach against mine and she sucked my lower lip between her teeth. My control slipped and my hands slid down to cup her ass. She responded and ground against me. She grabbed the sides of my head and sucked hard, clearly needing this as much as I did.

  I backed her toward the rock wall away from the blowing rain and pressed her against the solid surface. Her hands slid down to my shoulders and she clawed them as I dragged my mouth down the side of her neck and she arched into me. I pressed my hips into hers and she moaned and ground against me. When she lifted one leg and wrapped it around me, I grabbed it and pulled it higher so I could press deeper against her. She raked her fingers down my back, driving those hips against me until I was so hard there was no way she didn’t know exactly what she was doing to me.

  “Are you okay with this, Summer?” I whispered against her skin as my fingers slid down her ribs and beneath the hem of her shirt.

  She turned her lips to my ear and licked the rim, then breathed a ripple of hot air over it, sending a shiver down my entire body. “Don’t stop.”

  That was the answer I needed. I was overwhelmed by her beauty and the memory of her innocence. I was the only man who had ever been inside of her. I was the only man to know her intimately.

  And
you should be the only man to ever know her intimately. Period, I said to myself.

  I wanted, I needed this woman in a way that felt almost spiritual. Each kiss intoxicated me. Every touch excited me in ways I only lived out in my fantasies. But this wasn’t a fantasy. This was real life. I was in the here and the now. The smell of her wet hair, the warmth of her mouth, the firmness of her body.

  As we tasted each other’s lips and peeled off the wet clothes from our bodies, it felt like there was no outside world—that it was just us. Nothing else mattered but Summer—the way she looked at me, the way she wanted me. The way I wanted her.

  “I need you,” I said to her.

  “Take me because, God, I need you, Jake,” she said, and reached down and gripped my hardness in her hand.

  My eyes rolled back inside my head. I panted and moaned... and waited.

  I opened my eyes again and looked deep into hers. I picked her up as we kissed and caressed each other’s wet bodies. Summer wrapped her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck. Meanwhile, my dick strained against my jeans, needing to slake itself within her tight, wet folds as soon as possible.

  “Is your back hurting?” I asked in between kisses, wanting to make sure I wasn’t hurting her.

  “Back?” she asked with a laugh. “What back?”

  I chuckled in response as I carried her to the driest spot I could find. Then I laid her down and kneeled down on top of her. I pulled her to me as I searched the floor of the cave beneath her for rocks or other debris that might hurt her. But not finding any, I laid her back down again.

  I kissed her face, her neck, her breasts. Her breasts were perfect—so creamy white and her little, pink aureoles just begged me to suck on them. I worshiped each one with my tongue, lips and mouth. I slid further down and kissed her stomach, belly button and waist.

  My tongue began tasting every bit of her as I slid down to the wet folds between her legs. God, I so wanted to lose myself in that sweet flesh between her legs. I wrapped my lips around her nub and swallowed it with fervor. As I sucked her wondrous fruit, her moans were an indicator that I was doing a good job.

  I took my time and worshiped her with all of my tongue, mouth and lips. Her body tensed and she screamed out my name as she slammed her hands into my hair and held my head in place. I drank her juices in, wanting and needing more of her.

  I took one last taste of her and then moved my body higher so I was now gazing into her beautiful green eyes.

  “I never felt this way before,” I said, even though I was surprised to hear the words coming out of my mouth. “There’s just something about you.”

  “And I don’t regret losing my virginity to you for one second,” she answered.

  “That means the world to me,” I replied, telling her the absolute truth.

  Then, I situated myself between her thighs and guided myself to her tight little opening. She was so wet, I knew she was ready for me. But this time, instead of slamming myself all the way to her cervix, I wanted to take her slowly.

  She threw her head back and moaned as soon as I shoved past her lips. Once again, I was inside my beauty and my loins were raging. Goddamn, but she was the best I’d ever had. She was so tight, slick and hot, engulfing me like a glove.

  I slid in and out, making sure it was firm but not rough. As I thrust inside her, Summer reached up and gripped my ass and pulled me deeper inside, her breathing coming in short gasps.

  “I want you to do me hard like you did last time,” she breathed.

  “I want you to feel every inch as I give it to you,” I answered. “Slowly.”

  “Oh God,” she moaned as I pushed in a little deeper and fought my own need to pound her with everything I had.

  Once I was lodged all the way inside of her, I pulled out and thrust all the way back in and then started pumping her faster, deeper.

  “Wait,” she said as I stopped and she slid from underneath me. She then crawled over to the dripping wet wall. She bent over, revealing the fact that she wanted me to take her from behind. I just stood there for a few seconds, admiring her, loving the fact that I was about to claim her, that I’d been the only man to claim her up until now. I crawled over to her and pressed her up against the rock as my hard length pressed against her butt cheeks.

  I slid my body down behind her as I maneuvered myself right inside her sweetness. I grabbed her hips and slid myself in and out of her warmth. When I glanced down, I could see myself disappearing inside of her and I started giving it to her harder, wanting to cover myself in her.

  “I want to be the only man who ever knows you like this,” I ground out, my voice deep, sounding almost like the growl of some wild animal.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Summer

  As we disentangled ourselves, I was in a full body blush and tingling from the tips of my hair to the underside of my toes. Jake was amazing. Everything about him. The way he touched me, the things he said to me, the way he manipulated my body into feeling things I’d never thought possible. After our little sexual rendezvous, the rain stopped as suddenly as it had started, and we were ready to head back.

  All the while, I couldn’t stop thinking about what he’d said right before he’d ejaculated—that he didn’t want another man to know me intimately. Those words had thrilled me as soon as he’d said them and they were continuing to thrill me because I didn’t want to even think about being with another man. Jake was the only man I could think about, the only one who held my interest.

  My head was dizzy, swimming with all the images of him naked and inside me, all the things he’d said, the way he looked at me. I felt like I was living a dream, but the most wonderful, realistic dream I’d ever had.

  Jake held Jenny for me and his hands lingered on my calf as I mounted. I wasn’t sure what he was thinking after we’d just had sex for the second time. And it wasn’t like I was shy or nervous in general but I wasn’t going to be the one to bring up whatever this was or wasn’t. The last thing I wanted was to act from a place of insecurity or desperation. Not after the beauty we’d just experienced together.

  Jake mounted Breezy and glanced over at me. “All set?”

  I nodded and slipped my fingers a few inches up the reins. “After you.”

  It didn’t take us long to get down the mountain. As soon as they saw Jake, the cows instantly started shuffling around like they’d missed him while he was gone. He whistled, calling to them. I was fascinated at how their ears perked up; they weren’t the dumb, ignorant creatures I’d thought them to be.

  “Are the light brown ones the same type of cows as all the others?” I asked, noticing that some of the cows’ faces seemed a little flatter and their heads shorter and wider than the others. Not that I was really that interested—I was more trying to find something to talk about so my mind wouldn’t stay fixed on the subject of what happened next between Jake and me. I was determined not to let it go there. Instead, I wanted to soak in the last hour, to make the memories last. I didn’t want to dilute them with my own insecurity.

  He stared at me for a few seconds. “I’m impressed you noticed. They’re a new line I’ve been trying to introduce for the last couple years. They’re a little more durable in the drought conditions we’ve been having here over the last decade.” He shrugged. “I figured I could cross breed them with our other cows and make some sort of super cow,” he finished with a laugh that I echoed.

  I looked over at a black and brown one standing together. “I guess that makes sense. That you could pull characteristics out of cows, just like we do for horses.” I shrugged. “I’ve just never thought about crossbreeding cows before but it’s a good idea.”

  “Thanks.”

  He whistled at one of the cows and apologized before loping off to bring her back into the herd. As he called to the herd, he gave me directions too, and together we pushed them through the pasture toward the ranch.

  “You’re doing great,” he called to me. I wasn’t so sure abo
ut that, as another cow spurted out from between us and hid behind me. Jenny stopped and turned, circling back for the cow.

  “It’s a good thing one of us knows what we’re doing,” I answered with a laugh as I motioned to Jenny. Somehow, and I wasn’t sure how it was even possible, considering I didn’t feel like I was doing much of anything to help, but the ranch finally came into view. I was both elated at making it home alive, and disappointed that Jake hadn’t bothered to bring up the subject of us.

  Even though we’d had sex twice now, and maybe that was all it had been, somehow it didn’t feel like that to me. It felt like so much more. There had been a tenderness about him, like he actually cared about me. Maybe I was just imagining it but I felt like he was my refuge, just as much as the carved-out section of the mountain had been during the storm.

  Maybe you’re just projecting, Summer, I warned myself. Maybe you need someone close to you so much that you’re imagining things about Jake that aren’t really the truth. Maybe you aren’t really anything more to him than just another woman he’s had sex with. Maybe he’s like this with all of them.

  There were a lot of times over the last several months that I could have used someone, a shoulder to cry on, someone to talk to. And yet, I’d only been able to rely on Aria or myself. So maybe there was some truth to the way I was thinking. And if I was merely projecting my own needs and wants onto Jake, that was the last thing I wanted to be doing.

  As we got closer to the ranch, the cows become more vocal, showing their joy at being home. It was so strange and another facet to their hairy personalities that I hadn’t expected.

  “Why don’t you ride Jenny up ahead and open that gate?” Jake asked. “We’ll leave them in the big corral, and then, depending on what Brady wants to do, we’ll either leave them for a day or get Marlene and the kids to help us push them up north.”