Page 42 of Rancher's Return

Wholesome.

That described so many of the interactions they’d had since he’d come back to town.

And then he’d kissed her.

Which had been anything but wholesome.

And what he wanted now was anything but wholesome.

He was about to knock when the door opened. There she was, her red hair wild about her face. Her eyes wide.

“Dammit,” he said.

She stepped back, and he stepped in, closed the door firmly behind her and pulled her into his arms. He was kissing her before she could say anything. And she melted against him, kissing him back with a ferocity that didn’t even surprise him, because the wild look in her eye when he had approached her, said everything he needed to know.

He could read her. It was so goddamned annoying. It would be better if he hadn’t known. If he didn’t see the sensual need in her eyes when he looked at her. But he did. Because it was the same need that echoed inside of him.

Because, for some reason, they felt that for each other on the same level. Because for some reason they felt...inevitable.

Was this it?

That day she had come to his door with Colton—was it all leading to this?

Well, his dick would like to think so. But that seemed... Well, it didn’t really seem like atonement. Because it felt a hell of a lot like pleasing himself.

He would put her needs first. He would putherfirst.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingers pushing up through his hair, cradling the back of his head, moving down his back, and he did the same to her, feeling those wild curls, her petite frame, moving his hands all the way down to the delicious curve of her ass.

She was so gorgeous.

She was unlike any woman he had ever wanted before. Simply because she was her. Maybe because he knew her.

Maybe because he cared.

It wasn’t about a generic desire to score points with the universe, but about wanting to see her experience pleasure at his hands.

This was an entirely different experience to any he’d ever known.

Friends with benefits?

Yeah. That was what it would have to be. Because they were business partners. Because of the kids. Because no one could ever know that this had happened, least of all Colton and Lily.

Shit. That would make him the worst dad in the entire world. Scamming on his son’s girlfriend’s mother. The absolute worst. And Colton would have every right to disown him. Or punch him.

So no one would ever know.

No one would ever have to know.

That fueled him now. Made this feel darker, more glorious. Surrounded by her adorable house with gorgeous knickknacks. She had a shelf full of birds wearing scarves. And he wanted to strip her clothes off and see every inch of her bare skin. Right in front of those birds.

Maybe that was the whole point of it. That they had thrown themselves into this other reality. One where they tried to be acceptable. One where they tried to be neat. One where they tried to be better than they were. Better than their darkest, wildest impulses—but neither of them were. Because maybe no person was. And maybe they weren’t two different things, or two different kinds of people. Maybe everyone had this inside of them.

They had suppressed it. They both had. She sure as hell had. But it was still there.

And it was pretty damned glorious.

“I want you,” he growled against her mouth.

---