Page 116 of Ignite

Now?

I felt him fight off his orgasm. His body tensed as he bit down for each thrust. I wasn’t close, not yet, but I knew all it would take was to feel him come inside.

“Ethan, I’m clean and on the pill.”

“I’m clean. Got the medical for the Hawks.” He grunted through clenched teeth.

“Ethan, please, come for me.”

“You?”

“Please, don’t hold back on me. Not now.”

His mouth crashed on mine as he increased the pace. Each thrust hitting my spot, as I knew he would. My ankles locked together, I trapped him until he had no choice but to come.

Long, firm, hard, thrusts until he let out a cry that should have scared my horses.

Only for my body to convulse beneath him.

“By the way, I love you, too.”

Chapter 31

Epilogue: Did Anyone Else Survive?

Rylee

“Ihaveaconfession,”Ethan said, pulling me closer. Even though the immediate risk of fire had passed, neither of us had wanted to grab our clothes and leave the pontoon. He had turned the jackets into pillows and my flannel shirt had proven to be enough covering for when helicopters passed us to dump more loads of water onto the fires.

“I’m listening.” I gazed into his eyes amazed that we had survived, and that we had survived together.

“I took about a hundred photos of your workshop.”

Before I could react, Ethan’s lips wrapped around mine and he carefully rolled me onto my back. The pontoon rocked, but we’d worked out how much movement it could take before threatening to tip over and send us into the water.

Our mouths and bodies worked together, disrupted by Cider who wanted either more apples or a fresh bale of hay. I’d been planning to open up the long-term silage underground pit that dad had put in place in the eighties within the next month or so. I couldn’t afford to keep buying horse feed and dad’s records showed sixty-five bales were just waiting for a drought to be bad enough to break open.

“Hey,” Ethan said, breaking our kiss to inspect me. “Where did you go?”

“I was thinking about digging up bales of hay and distributing them to the community for anyone who has stock left after today.”

“Of course you were,” Ethan kissed my nose. “I’m here professing my undying love for you and you’re thinking about helping others.”

I wrapped my ankles around his legs and teased, “I’ve been known to do one while also doing the other.”

“I’d prefer that you don’t think of other people when I’m kissing you.”

“I was actually thinking of Cider.” Of course my mare acknowledged her name by stamping her hoof. “We should check on them, and …”

Ethan rolled to side, hugging me so tight that I coughed up more smoke. “You want to see how your family and friends survived. And I wouldn’t mind seeing Ryan’s ugly face.”

“I don’t know if the wind change came in time, and they are out there …” I couldn’t finish the sentence. Sucking in a deep breath that hurt like hell, I changed the subject. I couldn’t think in terms of who might not have made it. “You were talking about confessions?”

“Yeah,” Ethan paused. “Probably not the right time or what you want to hear, but I took a stack of photos from your workshop, including the honor wall of framed photos. At the time I wanted to make sure I selected the right sort of photos from your jobs that would fit the overall theme, but now they can help rebuild if …”

He hugged me tighter as the reality hit and my tears were no longer just from fear for my family and friends.

“Thank you,” I whispered as my sobs slowed. “I’m not ready to think about what’s left, but thank you.”

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