Page 26 of Cozy Cabin for Two
“Fuck yes. You’ve been starring in my dreams for a week now.”
“Good. I like hearing that. Night then, Ash.” Witha sultry wink and curve of her lips, she disappeared inside. And locked the door behind her.
I almost stumbled down the porch steps in a Willow-induced daze. Not ready to face the guys in the bunkhouse, I drove out to a pretty place on the ranch I’d found last spring.
As far as I knew, no one else had been here, so I parked and claimed it as my special spot. I hiked through some trees, coming out on an outcropping of boulders forming a ridge. It looked out over a small valley. About fifty feet below, a sliver of a stream ran, lit by the moon, and not another soul in sight.
The place had become sacred to me, where I came to think or to forget. To just be.
Tonight, it was the place where I knelt on the big boulder like at an altar, shoved my jeans down, and groped my aching cock. Willow’s name whispered on each jagged breath of mine and became my wishes to the stars above. The river below carried off my frustrations, stripping away all my emotions until all I felt washer.
Our connection filled my soul, and it seared her name on my heart.
Like a feral beast, I howled when the climax hit me, fast and hard, and I painted the rocks below. The echoof my cry continued until I collapsed on my back, gasping for breaths.
In the aftermath, I lay there a long while, praying answers to my life would come to me. But all I saw were visions of the life Scott once had, the wife and child once his. Only now the visions changed, became clearer—I took his place.
FIFTEEN
Tasted
WILLOW
Daisy wassweet to give me riding lessons on Marshmallow Saturday morning. Although Juniper complained so much from her stall that Knox let her out with us in the arena. She followed me and Marshmallow around in circles, whinnying like she was happy, never more than a few feet away.
“Feel like a cowgirl yet?” Ash showed up and called, watching at the fence. I brought the pony to a stop beside him, and put all my weight into the stirrups, leaning up.
“Sure. Although my ass is complaining in this saddle.”
“Interesting. I have no complaints at all watching your ass bounce in that thing.” He winked, with a devious smile. I loved how he’d warmed up to me atlast, flirting with me. Soon he’d claim all of me. I believed it with my whole heart and soul.
Tempted to kiss him, I glanced away. Daisy and Knox were chatting with Dusty about ten feet from us. Ro and Eli were serious about catching bugs in jars up at the barn. I wanted to keep Ash to myself for a little longer. Besides, how would I explain us to Ro? Not yet.
“Would you be up to skipping church tomorrow night? There’s someplace I’d like to take you. I could get Daisy and her sisters to watch Ro,” he said, appearing rather sexy and rugged today, albeit dusty from whatever work he’d been doing. And where’d he get that black cowboy hat? This version of hardworking mountain man and cowboy Ash, appealed to me immensely.
My heart had always pined for that bad boy in the principal’s office. This grown up manly Ash on the mountain stole my heart completely.
“Why, Ash, are you asking me on a date? One that Ivy didn’t have to talk you into?”
“She didn’t have to twist my arm to take you out last night to the Sapphire.”
I chuckled and teased. “I suppose I could miss church with you. I’ll just say an extra few prayers as penance.”
“I didn’t say you wouldn’t be on your knees.” His eyes darkened with whatever that meant and flicked to my tongue wetting my lips. I was here for it, no matter the adventure he desired to take me on.
“Where are we going?How much longer?” I held onto Ash, with one hand on his thigh, the other holding on to the handlebar of the ATV for dear life. We’d been driving about an hour deeper into the ranch, and not a soul in sight, but there were amazing views as far as my eyes could see.
“Almost there, city girl,” he teased and chuckled.
Ro had gone to church with Daisy, and Dusty and Eli would be there with her, too. Ash had ridden to the cabin on his big black horse named Tank. How studly he’d looked when he first showed up to get me for our date. But I was saddle sore from my lessons and didn’t think I could handle a ride.
So here we were in an ATV. The way it bounced and jiggled across the prairie wasn’t much better on me. Even worse, now that we traversed a grade, heading to higher elevation.
I hated to complain, but wherever we ended up had better be worth it.
Finally, the trail opened into a meadow of wildflowers, scattered across the earth like a blanket of yellows and pinks. The sun shone on it, as if it were a happy place you’d expect to find in heaven. I reached out and touched the flowers as he skirted the field until he pulled to a stop under a cluster of towering pines.
“We’re here,” he announced, grabbing his pack from behind the seat. I followed his lead, hiking a little way through the pines, hearing water running nearby.
