Page 41 of Bucked By Love

I’m grateful we’re both looking up at the dying sunset. I’m grateful it’s getting dim. This way, I don’t have to crush him when he sees the disappointment on my face.

“You see that?” he says suddenly.

“See what?”

“You know, any time I feel trapped or lost or just…hell, I’m gonna die in Belleflower…I just look up. We’re lucky to live here. It’s one of the last places in the world you can feel the wild in your bones.”

And suddenly, I stop seeing the truck as a dirty, unromantic, low-life sort of thing.

Instead, I see it the way Ransom sees it: wide open skies. Endless terrain. The whole world spread out before us, stars so bright we could reach out and pluck them. We can take whatever we want here.

Is that how he sees me?

Endless. Wild. Free.

I want to be that woman.

I want to be his woman.

He catches me staring at him. He must mistake my contemplative look for second guessing, because he starts to hesitate. “You know,” he says, “we don’t have to?—”

I silence his questioning with a kiss. I throw myself at him, giving him all. Giving him everything.

He takes it. His strong hand cradles me, providing a pillow for the back of my head as he rolls over on top of me. Despite all of his blankets, the truck bed is hard under my back. But with the way Ransom kisses me, I don’t feel it at all. I don’t feel anything but the slow swirl of his tongue and the warmth of his lips.

I moan into his mouth. I rip at his shirt, tugging it free from the buttons. We test each other—hands roaming, fumbling, lips clashing and crashing together. I grasp his belt buckle—the same buckle I rescued for him all those years ago—and tug it free.

“I want to feel it,” I tell him.

I’m nothing if not a cautious adventurer. I need to know what I’m getting into before I dive in.

Ransom gives me permission, his breath shaky against the side of my face. “Go on.”

I slip my hand underneath the band of his boxers. I feel the wiry curls of hair at his pelvis. That hard, secret length brushes against the back of my hand.

Oh. Hello.

I explore freely. I take it in my hand. It’s thick to wrap my fingers around, and strong. A hot, living thing. I find the base of it and slowly pull my fingers upward. I like the dichotomy—velvety soft skin and that steel hardness underneath.

Is this what makes a man?

Maybe. Maybe not. But by the way Ransom’s breath catches and his gaze goes hazy…it can certainly be used to break a man.

I bite back a smile.

“Riley Ransom, you’re perfect.”

Clarity returns to his eyes. They fix on me—brown and bright.

I release him from my grip. I shift to pull my underwear off my legs and toss them aside. Now, we’re even. Both of us bare under the night sky.

“I want it inside of me.”

He presses his fingers between my legs. It sends a sharp lash of heat through me, but—I’ve waited too long for this. I can’t stand his teasing.

I don’t want a part of Riley Ransom.

I want all of him.

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