Page 26 of The Cowboy's Temporary Solution

"Probably for the best." With my hat back where it belongs, I step up and run my hands down her arms. The night air's plenty warm, so I know the shiver that I feel move through her is from my touch and that's got me hungry to see just how badly I can get her shaking.

"That's something I want to be sober for."

10

SERENITY

We weren't able to find Singer at the fair to let her know I was leaving with Ranger, but she responded to my text message with a heart emoji.

"No, I'm in one of the little houses out back." I point toward the row of small buildings that line up against a fence pasture behind the main house that Ranger's steers for as we make our way up the long, private road to the Kelly family Walking Y Ranch.

"She got the guest houses put in," Ranger muses more to himself that to me. "Nice to see the place is turning a profit finally."

I point at the first of the little cottages, the one with the porch light glowing an inviting, warm yellow in against the backdrop of stars and the mountains in the background.

Out in the pasture, there are still a few light-colored shapes where a few of Singer's Pygora goats have opted to stay out in the warm, summer night.

"Come check it out while I pack up." My hand brushes his as I slide out of the passenger side door of the truck he borrowed from the ranch's fleet.

Since Singer's brothers left Slow River in search of better opportunities than the run-down, bankrupt ranch their parents had left to be split between the kids when they passed away a few years ago, Singer's managed to convert it to a thriving bed and breakfast and traded out the failing cattle operation for prize-winning goats that she raises for the fleece.

The barn-style shed-turned-cabin that she put me up in when I asked if she had space for me to stay, is one of five new free-standing cabins that she's recently added, thanks to finally getting the ranch out of bankruptcy and showing its fifth year of running in the black.

From Ranger's surprise at seeing the additions, I thought he might be interested in poking around while I pack up. I'm not sure what the plan is from here, I just know we'll be figuring it out together.

The door of the cabin shuts as he walks in behind me and I hear an audible click from the lock being engaged. Then the clatter of blinds being pulled shut before Ranger's hands are grasping me by the waist and pulling me around to face him when he joins me in the small bedroom at the back of the cabin.

"I have to get you out of this outfit, before I lose my damn mind, baby."

He murmurs the words against the side of my face, nibbling at my ear while his hands slide under my blouse.

"Those tight little skirts you're always wearing get my mind racing, but seeing your sexy little body all wrapped up in these shorts has me in a helluva state."

His lips seer mine, his tongue sweeping into my mouth and stealing any words I was about to put together while his handtakes mine and places it over the very hard bulge throbbing behind the zipper of his jeans.

I feel myself backing toward the king size bed that takes up the majority of the small bedroom's real estate and I can't tell if Ranger's guiding me, or if I'm pulling him along.

Once I land on the thick mattress with the soft quilt cover though, it hardly matters anymore.

Ranger stops short of crawling over me, grabbing up one of my feet and kissing along the inside of my knee before tugging at the new boots Kim insisted on adding to our shopping spree earlier today.

Was that just today?

Ranger pulls my other boot off, adds more kisses to the foot he just freed and laughs.

"I remember now--" his voice is a husky whisper as he hits his knees at the edge of the bed and pulls me to him with his hands wrapped under my thighs. "You went to do whatever ladies do when they sneak off to the bathroom right before getting their pussies licked and I was in such a damn hurry to get inside you, I was pullin' my clothes off like an impatient teenager. Got tangled up in a boot that didn't wanna come off and gave up. Must have worn myself out."

"You downed a lot of shots at the bar," I remind him, wiggling my hips to help him relieve me of the denim shorts he claims are so distracting.

"Not enough to keep me from spending the entire damn night hard as a fucking rod with you in my lap like that. Guess I owe Bernie a thank you if she's the reason for you kissing on me like you did."

Somehow, he's managed to rid me of everything but the cotton undies I opted for when I got dressed for the fair.

The light is on in the front room of the cabin, but I hadn't turned the bedroom light on before Ranger came in. Now I'mgrateful for the soft light that makes me feel less self-conscious with a hot-as-sin cowboy between my thighs.

"Baby..." Ranger's voice is low and reverent as he drags his lips along the inside of my thigh, breathing deep when his nose reaches the damp center of the plain, white cotton thong before pulling the elastic down my legs and returning to nestle in the space he just exposed. "...you're as fucking wet as I am hard, Seri..."

If I was feeling self-conscious about having my most private of places opened up to him like this, Ranger manages to drive away those insecure feelings with the guttural sound of the groan he lets out as he drags the tip of his tongue through the seam of my sex.

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