Page 68 of Alive and Wells

“Show me I can trust you,” she says just like she did when I kissed her for the first time. Right now it hits me so much harder because not fifteen minutes ago I made her question the faith she had in me. “Let me show you how much I love you.”

“Darlin’, I told you I wasn’t going to take you in a dirty barn.”

“Nuh-uh,” she murmurs, gripping my quickly growing erection through my jeans. “You told me thefirsttime wasn’t going to be in a barn. This is far from our first time.”

Now I’m really kicking myself for dragging her to this barn instead of tossing her in the truck and going home.

“I don’t have a condom.” I wasn’t exactly anticipating this. Later tonight? Sure—I tossed a handful in the truck glove box before I left home. But I didn’t put any in my pocket because I didn’t think we’d find ourselves in a barn in the middle of the Wells Canyon rodeo grounds.

She lets out a soft laugh. “Fucking Kate. You know, she warned me this would happen.”

My eyebrows raise in alarmed interest. I’m a bit worried about what they’ve been talking about forthissort of situation to come up.

“She said something about how rodeos have a way of making people horny and to be careful not to get knocked up tonight.”

I choke on air, coughing into a fist and feeling every inch of skin on my face heat up. They were talking about us having a baby?Us. Cecily and me.Is that what she wants?

“Relax.” She smiles, gripping my forearms. Probably holding me down because she’s afraid I might bolt. “You look panicky. I told her it was absolutelynothappening. I have an IUD, which has yet to fail me. So...”

The relief I feel is smaller than I would’ve expected—it scares me that I’m not as firmly against getting her pregnant as I should be, but I shove the fear aside and look her in the eyes. She smiles and I can’t help but smile right back. “Are we doing what I think we’re doing, darlin’?”

Her hot breath in the crook of my neck makes my dick jump to attention. I can’t believe I’m actually considering fucking her here. First the drive-in and now in averypublic barn at averybusy rodeo. In broad daylight. Without a condom for the first time in my life. Somehow she has that kind of hold over me.

“Please,” she says.

I kiss her softly, holding her like she’s the most important thing in the world. With fragility, tenderness,love. My hands catch in her hair, holding her still as I pepper kisses across her face, down her jaw, on her neck. I gently trace the curves of each breast overtop her t-shirt, then down her waist, stopping to squeeze her fleshy hips. If it weren’t such a long drive home, I’d be taking her to a bed where I could properly ravish her right now. She lets out the softest, sweetest moan I’ve ever heard and the sound goes straight to my cock.

“Do you trust that I’d never hurt you?”

“Yes,” she whimpers as I press the seam of her jeans into the right position for pleasure to rock through her.

“Do you trust that I love you?”

“Y-yes.” Her back arches as I unbuckle her belt and slip my hand inside, stroking her lacy panties with my fingertips. I’ve barely touched her and she’s already soaked through them.

“Do you trust that I’ll protect you until the day I die?”

She gulps. “Yes.”

My fingers plunge inside her wet, warm entrance. “Good, because none of those might seem true for the next few minutes, so you’re going to have to trust that they are. We need to be rough, dirty, and fast if you don’t want somebody to walk in on us.”

“Just the way I like it.”

Holy fuck.

26

Cecily

Austinpullsmeintoan empty stall filled with the dusty smell of alfalfa. His eyes are dark and, if I didn’t trust him with everything I have, I’d be alarmed at how intense he is.I do trust him, even if things got a bit heated. The announcer’s voice blares somewhere in the distance to indicate the end of the steer scramble, leaving thumping musicto blast throughout the rodeo grounds for the remainder of intermission.

I’m fully clothed, yet I feel naked with my back against the wall and Austin staring at me with the look of a predator. He carefully rolls the sleeves on his dark blue plaid button-up, exposing his forearms, like he’s about to get to work. His palm presses on the wall next to my head and his eyes pin me in place. Just as before, but without the fear and all of the heat. Then he kisses me as if he’s starved for oxygen and I’m the only source, stealing my breath. Austin makes quick work of undoing my belt and shimmying my jeans down around my thighs. His fingers slide over my underwear and, discovering how wet I am, a deep groan rumbles from his chest.

“Fuck, you drive me wild. You know that?” His teeth graze my ear. “Knowing you’re this wet for me—it’s too much.”

My hips reflexively roll into his hand, urging him to touch me. Inching closer to him. He hooks my underwear with a finger and slides them down to meet my jeans. I let out an agitated exhale, already struggling not to come undone when all I really want to do is yank his pants down and climb him. The empty ache is overwhelming and we’re so perfectly made for each other—his cock is the only thing that will truly satiate me. His fingertip makes hard contact with my sensitive clit, waves of hot electricity pulse through my core, and a loud moan vibrates up my throat.

“Jesus Christ,” I whine as I lean into his chest, losing all my senses.

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