Page 98 of Stockman's Showdown

Reaching up for him, keeping her body against him, she wrapped her legs and arms around his now-kneeling body, impaling him deeper, where he became the cure for her suffering and her escape from her past.

He pulled her closer, his large hands controlling her body as she grinded harder and their kisses grew more urgent. She’d never been more turned on.

She knew he was going to make her scream as the white-hot pleasure threatened to steal her breath and her brain struggled to catch up. All she could do was surrender to those delicious feelings of this ride, the push, and the sliding grind of his body inside hers that was a potent combination of fireworks and fury.

She bit down on his shoulder to contain the scream. Her whole body trembled with pleasure.

But then his hands framed her face, where his dark eyes peered deep into her soul, as a fire began in her womb. Every stroke was so good, the fit absolute perfection.

‘Don’t stop.’ Her body was already rolling into another storm.

He grinned against her skin and kept moving, the pleasure intensifying, the friction flawlessly fulfilling. When his thumb pressed over her sensitive nub, the sweet surprise of nerves exploding inside her had her coasting to the heavens, made even better as she felt him come with her, beneath her, inside her, to fully become a part of her, while she surrounded him. He had made her feel like a queen, with his embrace almost possessive, which surprisingly she enjoyed.

In that sliver of time, where the dust particles floated on a sunbeam illuminating her bedroom through the cracks of her curtains, the world was perfect. There were no horrors, no fears, just Ryder, raising his lips to meet hers in a kiss filled with such incredible tenderness while still joined as one.

Wrapping his muscular arms around her, he drew her to his chest, almost crushing her with the intensity of his embrace. It made her dizzy. If she was honest, all of him made her dizzy, like she was on an amusement park’s merry-go-round ride, indulging in the infectious sugar rush of cotton candy that gave her the kind of giddiness that was a sweet ride indeed.

It made her feel safe.

And it had been a very long time since she’d ever truly known that sensation.

With his fingers tenderly stroking her spine, her head rested on his broad shoulder, she enjoyed the rise and fall of his chest and the warmth of his breath against his skin. When she heard a door creak, her eyes flew open.

Oh no, Charlie was awake.

‘I’m not sneaking out like I’m a teenager, Bree.’

‘It is my grandfather’s house, it’s his rules.’

His lips brushed against hers, his warm breath making her skin prickle again with desire. ‘Whose house?’

She pushed back, frowning. ‘Don’t you dare start playing landlord on me.’ Jumping off the bed, she wrapped the bedsheet around her body. ‘Get. Out.’

‘Whoa, baby…’

‘You can’t buy me or own me. If you want me, you have toearnme—and not like this.’ She threw his jeans at him. ‘Go, before—’

‘I’ll leave in my own sweet time.’ Ryder lay back on her bed, that grin both annoying and maddeningly sexy. When she didn’t relent, he slid on his jeans, rolled off the bed, and slid into his boots before grabbing his shirt and hat. ‘Tonight, you’d better not flirt with any cowboys.’

‘What if I do? You’re not the boss of me.’ He didn’t own her.

‘Because I’ll fight them all.’

‘Why?’

‘If you hadn’t noticed, sweetheart, your ass is mine.’ He gripped her butt cheeks hard, as hard as his lips pressed against hers in a blinding kiss of passion, to then let her go, and slip out the door.

With her fingertips pressing against her swollen lips still buzzing from his kiss, she tried to remain mad at him but could only bite on her bottom lip to stop her smile while watching Ryder slide on his shirt as he walked out the front gate.

She had to admit, this sneaking around only made it sweeter.

Why ruin it with relationship rules, which she knew he wanted.

But Bree wasn’t ready. Not when she needed to focus on Charlie, because tonight would be Charlie’s first time at the local rodeo in decades, fronting a lot of his peers.

She had a surprise organised for the old man. And a night off is what they all needed because they’d been living on the trigger’s edge ever since they’d found Leo’s crop.

In only one more sleep Leo would get raided, making tonight a dangerous time. A lot could happen in 24 hours.