Page 54 of Eight Seconds to Fly

My bedspread was some weird concoction of tulle and satin, the only girly thing in the whole room. I laughed as I ran my hand over it. I’d gotten it from Judy for my thirteenth birthday, because she said I was a woman now and I had to learn that women were superior. We didn’t have to give up our femininity to be one of the boys. We could be both; we could be anything.

Branch whistled between his teeth. “You know, when I was eighteen, I had a recurring fantasy of laying you down on that bedspread and making you mine. Making love to you until all you could do was whisper my name in that smokey voice that had no right belonging to a seventeen year old girl.”

“What are you waiting for?” I looked from Branch to the bed, my emotions raw but the rightness of the statement echoing in my heart.

Branch groaned. “Tessa May…” He shifted on his feet. “You… I… you were crying a moment ago. You are emotional. I won’t take advantage of you.”

I laughed, and it was real mirth. “Damn, Branch. Shut up and kiss me right now.”

He growled but launched himself at me, dragging me to his chest and kissing me with possessive heat. I untucked his shirt, sliding my hands beneath the button down to trace the hard lines of his torso. I just needed to touch his skin. We must have had the same idea, because his fingers quickly tugged at the sides of my shirt and tore it open. I sent up a silent hallelujah for snap buttons at that moment. I tried to get my fingers to work on Branch’s normal buttons, growling against his lips as I kept fumbling. I stomped my foot and tore my lips away from his.

“Naked. Now.”

His grin was wide and his dimples, those damn dimples, flashed. “Yes Ma’am.”

I watched like he was opening the big present under the tree on Christmas morning. When he lost his shirt and pulled off his undershirt, revealing beautiful, tanned abs, my mouth actually watered. I cleared my throat, dragging my eyes back up to his smug face. I lifted my chin haughtily. “Now your pants.”

“Nuh uh, Nugget. Your turn. Take it off.”

I raised both my eyebrows. “Oh is that how it's going to be?”

He nodded and grinned, but his expression changed into something so hot it branded me as I slipped my bra off my shoulders, the cooling evening air making my nipples pebble. He reached out to touch, but I smacked his fingers.

“Nuh uh, Branch,” I mimicked. “Your turn.”

I’ve never seen a man remove the rest of his clothes so fast. One moment he was standing there in jeans and boots. Next minute, he was naked and glorious and I was about to swallow my tongue as I gasped.

I was done playing. I had my boots gone and I was tugging at my jeans even as I went to him. His mouth caught mine again, his fingers nudging mine out of the way as he stripped me from my jeans and I kicked them off. His arms were under my ass and he was lifting me so I could wrap my thighs around his hips, pressing my aching core to his abdomen, his cock nudging at my ass. He spun us to the bed, both of us falling onto its silken top. He tore his mouth away from mine, kissing down my throat and then capturing one of my nipples between his lips and sucking hard.

“Fuck, Branch!” I breathed. My nipple popped from his mouth and he sat back up onto his knees. He took me in, his eyes eating up my body and the moment. “This is even better than I could have imagined.”

My laugh morphed into a moan as his teeth and tongue traveled across my overheated flesh. He moved off the bed and onto the floor, dragging my body to the edge, until my legs hung off the side. He lifted my knees and put them over his shoulders, and I lost the ability to think. The first biting kiss on my thigh and I swear I was going to combust. When he lapped at my core in one long stroke, my toes curled against his back. When he swirled his tongue around my clit, I gave myself over to the sensations as he ate my body like a starving man. He swirled, sucked, and nibbled my body like it was his favorite meal.

My legs shook as the pleasure built to unbearable levels.

“Branch,” I gasped as I came, grinding my body against his face, my thighs tight to his head. He groaned against my pussy and the vibration set me off again. Holy shit. My body arched and I wrapped my fingers in his hair, holding him where he was and wanting to drag him where I wanted him too.

My legs went lax and he looked up at me from between my thighs and the smug grin on his face had me grinning back. “Well, if you ever give up bull riding, you have a promising career as a porn star.”

He laughed and crawled up my body, and I scooted back toward the pillows. His naked body ran over mine, and he kissed me, his tongue dipping into my mouth. His steel hard cock nestled against my entrance like a heat seeking missile.

He swore softly under his breath. “I didn’t bring any condoms. I didn’t plan this.”

I wrapped an ankle around his ass, pressing him closer until we were both moaning at the slow stretch of the head of his dick. “I’m on the pill. And clean,” I moaned, my body curling, chasing the feeling that was only inches away.

“I am too. Fuck, Tessa May. I… this…” He seemed to lose the words, instead sliding into me one slow inch at a time. And there seemed to be never ending inches. How that didn’t hurt while riding bulls was beyond me. My whole body wrapped around his, we were still and one for a moment. Our breathing mingled, his face so close to mine. I could see those three words that wanted to pass his lips, he was all but yelling them from his eyes. Then he rolled his hips, hitting a sweet spot and I moaned. It was like a starter gun, and he began sliding back out and slamming in again until I was a moaning, clawing animal, and sweat dampened our skin.

He made love to me in a slow, languid yet purposeful way that was so Branch. He wasn’t going to be hurried, but he was going to wring out every last ounce of pleasure from my body before he was done.

He lifted one of my thighs, putting it over his shoulder until he was hitting so deep, scraping against my g-spot and making my moans bounce around the room until they echoed back at me. “Branch, oh god. I’m going to come, please,” I whined but I wasn’t sure what I was begging him for. Whatever it was, Branch knew and delivered, his body rolling, grinding deep, until he was hitting my clit and my g-spot in one stroke and I was coming in a screaming mess.

He came with me, his body filling me, and the moment was something else. Something more. It was like an ode to what could have been, or the promise of what could still be. He buried his face in my neck as his body bucked against mine. Then he collapsed onto my chest, us both heaving for air.

“That was…” I started but lost the words.

“I love you, Tessa May. Loved you every damn day of my life, even when I didn’t want to. Even when it hurt. I loved you.”

I swallowed hard, my hands stroking through his damp hair. “I didn’t know.”

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