Page 32 of A Forever Kind of Rancher

It was Wendy, and she was imprinted into every cell of his body.

Her mouth was so soft. And she didn’t taste of strawberries. It was indefinable, wonderful her. It was nothing else. It never could be.

It had been the easy way out to imagine there was another flavor to compare her to. Something he could hang on to on late nights when he was unsatisfied. A lie. And one he had needed. The same as he could lie to himself and say that having sex with a gorgeous blonde might do something for that need.

Of course, it didn’t. Of course, it never could. Because that was just sex. And this was something else.

It was something more. Much more.

Sex was as cheap as vows that weren’t kept. This was precious. Real. Deep.

It pulled a sound straight from the bottom of his soul like dying, like hope, like pain and glory and wonder, all rolled into one.

He cradled her head with the palm of his hand as he leaned in, took the kiss deeper.

His heart was pounding so hard he thought it might be a heart attack, and if it was, he would accept that this was his moment to go and be happy with it.

He’d ridden on the backs of angry bulls intent on grinding him into the arena dirt beneath their hooves. He’d won competitions and lost them. His sister had died. His brother had left. He’d felt his heart pound with adrenaline, ache with loss, burn with anger.

And this was somehow more, and better and worse, all at once.

It was new.

Boone had given up on ever feeling anything new again in his whole jaded life, but this was bright and shiny and wholly unique.

This was Wendy.

Not a kiss.

An event.

His mouth shifted over hers, and it nearly brought him to his knees. He tasted her, deep and long, and as much as he wanted this to go fast, to see her naked, feel her naked, be inside her, he also wanted this moment to go on forever. Just like that breath before the kiss.

He wanted everything all at once. The anticipation, the glory of need and the thunder of satisfaction.

But he didn’t have the control to hold back, so he tasted her deep, though he kept his hand firmly on the back of her head, and the other wrapped hard around her waist, because if he let himself explore her...

It was Wendy who moved her hands over his shoulders, down his back, then his chest.

It was Wendy who let her fingertips skim down his stomach, and then skimmed his denim-covered arousal.

His breath hissed through his teeth, and he felt like she’d lit a match against him.

He lifted her off the ground, holding her heart against his body as he continued to plumb the depths of her mouth.

He knew what it was like to desire somebody. He knew what it was like to be physically aroused. This was past that. It surpassed everything.

This was something new altogether. Something intense and raw and more.

It was the thing he had always both craved and wanted to close the door on forever. Something altering and destructive that he felt far too familiar with.

Because how many times in his life had the landscape of his soul been rearranged? Torn apart?

He hadn’t wanted to do it with her.

And yet, there was an inevitability to all of it. Something that couldn’t be denied. And he wasn’t going to deny it, not now. It was only that he was very, very aware this wouldn’t simply be sex. But something more altogether. Something he had never experienced before.

It was Wendy.

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