Destry Read online

  A few minutes later, I pulled up by the lake and turned the engine off looking around for Amelia. Firstly, I wanted to find out if she was in some kind of trouble. I wasn’t about to throw the girl out; her car wasn’t even ready, but I didn’t want to be housing a murderer or a thief. Okay, so maybe my mind had gotten away from me; she was too damn sweet to be anything of the sort, but hell if I didn’t wanna know what was going on. She thought she’d snuck off a few hours beforehand; however, I’d leaned against my truck watching her try to be as stealthy as she could, while I chuckled to myself over her less than graceful moves. The best part was the triumphant smile that was plastered across her face when she’d finally maneuvered my ATV out of the barn and rode off on it.

  Walking up to the tree line, I pulled up short at the sight in front of my feet. A pile of clothes sitting on the top a pair of lace blue panties. “Shit,” I mumbled to myself, my cock going immediately hard when I realized she had to be buck-ass naked in the large pond.

  The internal battle started; did I give in to it and join her or leave quietly before she noticed? The first time, we agreed was a slip, just a buildup of tension. We’d agreed it wouldn’t happen again. I’d been lying out of my ass though. I wanted back in there for as long as she was here. I wanted to spend my time showing her it wasn’t a mistake. It was the best sex I’d ever had and I was craving more. She was like an addiction I didn’t need but I wanted all the same. I couldn’t stop thinking about her and it was wreaking havoc on my day-to-day doings. Moving hay bales with a raging hard-on wasn’t exactly an easy feat, and with my mind constantly wandering to her, it was now almost a permanent condition.

  I toed my boots off and simultaneously pulled my shirt over my head. I then shucked my jeans and boxer briefs. Her back was turned to me as I quietly walked into the still water. Thankfully, it was fairly warm. I kept going until I was waist deep, and then ducked under the water, swimming forward until I surfaced just behind her.

  “I heard the truck pull up,” she said, startling me; my plan to sneak up on her had backfired. I took a step back, momentarily wondering if this was a bad idea. She may tell me to go and get fucked if she realized what I was up to. Amelia stepped back bringing her out of the water enough that if she were facing me I would be able to see the swell of her breasts, her very soft, perfectly perky breasts. My train of thought had just put me between a rock and a hard place, literally. Every step she took back, I took one too, causing me to bump into the large cluster of rocks in the middle of the water while sporting a boner.

  Like I said, rock and a hard place.

  Clearing my throat, I watched as she stood a little taller and pulled her hands up to cover her boobs, turning around slowly. All thoughts of the private investigator, whose card was burning a hole in my Wranglers’ pocket, fled my mind when she dropped her hands standing straight ahead of me. A bead of water on her hard pink nipple caught my attention; my eyes trained on it as it ran slowly down and slid until it hit the water. Forget hard, I was now aching; all the blood from my brain was now in my dick.

  “Needed a swim?” she asked in a husky voice. My eyes snapped up when I realized I’d bean staring for far too long. I couldn’t be blamed though; she had the nicest set of boobs I’d ever seen.

  “Somethin’ like that,” I ground out when she took another step toward me, leaving nothing more than a few inches of space between us. She slowly slid her tongue across her lips. I instantly remembered the way it felt when she ran that tongue along the skin of my neck. Without even thinking, my hand went under the water and I gripped my cock tightly in my hand, squeezing it to try and sooth the ache. Amelia shuddered and bit down on her lip when I moved my arm back then forth, causing the water to ripple slightly. I hadn’t even tried to hide the fact I was stroking myself below the water; the heat in her eyes combined with the painful erection I had were more than enough to spur me on.

  Amelia shifted slightly, still looking unsure, contrary to the fire burning in her eyes. I let go of my dick and slowly moved my hands to her hips, giving her a chance to pull away and tell me to stop. Instead of moving away, her breathing picked up and she raked her gaze over my chest in a look that was nothing less than smoldering. I’d never in my life had a chick set me on fire the way Amelia did. I decided not to look too far into the reasons behind that; I’d think about it only when I had to.

  My tightly strung coil snapped when her delicate hands came up and landed on my chest before she dragged her nails down my pecs. I gripped her hips and pulled her flush against my body, my hard-on pressing against her soft skin. My mouth hovered over hers, anticipating the explosion I knew would happen the moment we caved in.

  “I gotta be inside you,” I growled, millimeters from her lips; my tongue flicked out and across her slightly open mouth. Amelia whimpered and reached between us, taking my throbbing cock in her hand, causing it to twitch and my knees to lock up. Our chests were rapidly rising and falling in time with our heavy breathing.

  My hands tightened on her hips with each pump of her fist under the water. Slowly, I slid my hand down her hip, pulling her leg up until I reached her knee. Hooking it on my hip, I slowly trailed my fingers up her inner thigh until I hit the heat of her pussy. Then teasingly, I ran my fingers across her clit before sliding two fingers deep inside, causing her to cry out. I could already feel her trembling in my arms. Her legs started shaking, so I shifted my other hand up to the crease under her perfect ass and lifted her the rest of the way off her feet. She complied instantly, hooking both legs around me; I moved my hand from between us and pulled her hips forward until she hugged my erection with her warmth.

  I grunted the moment she rocked her hips back and forth, searching for friction any way she could. I was on fire with want; my body strung as tight as a bow. Unable to hold out any longer, I brought my hands up to cup her head and crashed my mouth down on hers. The moment our lips touched, her tongue invaded my mouth and we went from anticipation to frenzy. I couldn’t get enough of the taste of her, of just her.

  She pulled back the tiniest bit and breathed against my mouth, “I need you, Destry.” Her body and breathing heavily, giving away the fact she craved this as badly as I did. My cock jumped when she brought her kiss-bruised lips back to mine and ground against me. I walked us out of the water and over to my truck without breaking our passionate embrace. One hand under her ass holding her to me, I used the other to drop the tailgate and sat her down. I reluctantly pulled away enough to lean over and flick out the blanket I had in the back. Amelia shuffled back until I was almost completely covering her gorgeous body. Droplets of water covered our naked bodies and we moved against each other, giving and taking in a maddening push and pull until I couldn’t take it anymore.

  “Condom… pants,” I panted out, trying to pull myself away for a moment to retrieve the rubber I had in my wallet. It sat a few feet away in my pants.

  “We’re good. I’m good,” she gasped when I rolled my hips again. Her eyes rolled back slightly with each buck of my hips; she was so close to falling apart and I knew I needed to be inside of her when she did.

  “You positive you’re okay with this?” I needed to be sure it wasn’t just a spur of the moment thing.

  She looked up at me with hooded eyes that conveyed she understood just what I was really asking. “We’re good. I’m sure.” I brushed the wet hair off her forehead and brought my mouth down on hers as I pushed forward and slid inside for the first time full skin-on-skin. Not a single word could describe what I was thinking right at that moment. I couldn’t have formed words if I wanted to. The only thing that came from my lips was a deep growl of satisfaction.

  The feeling of taking her completely bare had a wave of pinpricks running up my back. My knees buckled slightly and I groaned against her mouth. Pushing in again and again, Amelia gasped loudly and sucked my lip into her mouth, giving me a soft nip with her teeth as she rocked her body with mine. I picked up my pace, rolling my hips with each movement as she g
round hers back against me.

  “Fucking hell” I moaned and dropped my head to her neck, and pulled the creamy flesh at the top of her shoulder into my mouth. Without even thinking, I left my mark for the world to see. In one quick movement, I’d claimed her. She was mine and I was fine with everyone knowing it. Amelia tipped her head slightly, giving me better access and telling me without words how she felt about it. Her soft mewling turned to louder moans with each suckle.

  “Yes, oh, God, yes,” she cried out, pushing back against me with her hips. Digging her nails into the muscles of my ass, she pulled me forward with each thrust. Moments later, she screamed out my name, clamping around me. I drove into her, harder and harder. I bit down on her shoulder as my eyes rolled back into my head. I growled long and low when my balls drew up tight and I finally let go.

  “You okay?” I asked between fast breaths, realizing in our haste her back was separated from a hard metal truck with only a soft fairly thin blanket. The sun had set at some point while we’d been tangled around each other and a pleasant breeze was keeping us comfortable.

  “Yeah, I’m more than okay.” She smiled serenely; her lips curved up in a way that had me gently pressing my own against them. She felt perfect under my hands—soft in all the right places with skin as smooth as silk. I rolled to my back bringing her with me and tucking the blanket around her back. Her hair fell around our faces, creating a curtain to a moment I wouldn’t have imagined I would be in. This girl I’d pegged as a snotty city chick had surprised me at every turn, and with her lying in my arm, I realized I was in deep… and I was perfectly all right with it. Before I could even begin to tell her any of how I felt, I needed to get a few things cleared up.

  “What’re you running from?” I always was one to blurt out the first thing that popped in my head. It’d gotten me in trouble more times than I could count over the years.

  “A life I wasn’t meant to have,” she answered quietly, her body tensing up slightly. She rolled off me and snuggled up to my side. My hand running slowly up and down her arm until she relaxed again.

  “You sure you aren’t an escaped convict or a murderer on the run?” I half joked.

  She giggled and teasingly ran her fingertips down my chest and abs, my muscles tensing every time she drug her nails slightly. “I’m not a criminal. Just looking for a new place to start over and was run off the road by a hunk of meat.”

  I laughed lightly at her recount of the night she made her entrance into my life. Never in all my years had I seen a woman trying to beat up a cow. I’d never forget it either. A spur of the moment idea formed and I completely forgot about the private investigator. “Think you’d like to stay around here?” I closed my eyes and waited for her to laugh or tell me I was a fool. Seconds ticked by and still she hadn’t made a sound. I opened my eyes and looked over at her cautiously, only to find her head tilted up searching my face for something.

  “I’m seriously thinking about it,” she replied quietly, her brow furrowed in thought.

  “’Melia, I haven’t felt like this bef— Ah, fuck!” I yelled cutting my own words short. Amelia shot up and looked at me as if I’d lost my mind, while I jumped up and tossed our blanket aside, searching around for whatever had just bitten me. When I couldn’t find it immediately, I threw Amelia over my shoulder and jumped down off the back of the truck. Unceremoniously dumping her in the cab, I quickly slammed the door while she looked on bewildered. I ran back to the truck bed to find the snake and kill it. Seconds later, Amelia tapped me on the shoulder throwing her hands up when I spun around quickly.

  “Whoa, cowboy! It’s just me. What the hell?”

  “Snake, a snake bit me. You’ll get bit. Get in the truck,” I rushed out, flicking my eyes every which way, completely oblivious to the fact we were both still buck ass naked.

  “Where?” she asked looking at me.

  “I don’t know. I’m trying to find it but you need to get out of the way so you don’t get hurt.” I moved to pick her up again when she put her hands out to stop me.

  “No, where did it bite you?” she sighed, clearly exasperated.

  “Umm. I…” I rubbed a hand on my ass cheek where the offending bite was. Her gaze followed my hand and she raised an eyebrow.

  “You got bitten on the backside?” she asked, trying to hide her amusement. “Turn around.”

  “No.” I stepped back trying to hide the fact her staring at a bite on my ass would make me all kinds of uncomfortable.

  “Destry, I need to check,” she coaxed.

  “I’ve seen your rear. It’s a very nice one. Now, show me.” She tried to poke her head around to see.

  “You think I have a nice ass?” I stopped running and cocked my head to the side.

  “Yes. It’s extraordinarily cute. Now, please. Turn. Around,” she gritted out through her teeth.

  I sighed and turned, putting my hands on the back of my truck and closed my eyes while she bent down and inspected my backside. The moonlight was bright enough that she would be able to see clearly, so when her fingertips touched the offending spot, I tensed up, knowing she was getting a good look. Her hand left my skin and silence surrounded us. When a few seconds passed and she still hadn’t said anything, I spun around concerned it was worse than I feared.

  “The hell?” When I did lay eyes on her, she was bent at the waist her shoulders moving in silent laughter. “You’re laughing? What’s so funny?” I looked behind me, trying to see what about my butt was so funny. “Amelia?”

  She looked up at me with tears in her eyes and burst out into loud giggles while pointing to me with one hand and still holding her stomach with the other.

  “Really?” I raised my eyebrows, not understanding why a possibly fatal bite could be so hilarious.

  “It’s…” she took a big breath and laughed some more, “it’s not even a…” More laughter. “Not a snake. Oh, good God. It wasn’t a snake. It was just a bug or something.” Halfway through another bout of laughter, she snorted loudly; looking embarrassed, she slapped a hand over her mouth. My bitten ass forgotten, I turned and took one look at her pink tinged blushing face then threw her over my shoulder and spun her around to rest on the back of my truck.

  “Think it’s funny, huh?” I chuckled when she squealed in surprise. She let a giggle out when I laid her down on the blanket and crawled up over the top of her. Leaning my weight on one arm, I ran my free hand up her hip and along the side of her body, brushing my thumb over her nipple along the way until I was cupping her face.

  “Umm?” Was the half-moan, half-question I received as I stared down at her. An overwhelming need to tell her how pretty she was rushed over me. “‘Melia, you’re so damn gorgeous I almost can’t stand it.” Her slight blush turned into a full flush and she turned her face away trying to hide. Her simple action bothered me. How did she not know how stunning she was? Had she not been told enough?

  Either way I was planning on doing my best to fix it.

  Hours later, after another round of mind-blowing sex and some heavy petting, we were wrapped around each other watching the light dusting of cloud roll over the twinkling stars. Something had shifted between us; Destry had gone from fighting with himself to letting go and embracing whatever it was that was happening. I was still quietly conflicted. Not very long ago, I was resigned to marry a low life scumbag of a man, yet I found myself lying in the arms of a guy who wasn’t only the very definition of sex, but he knew how to treat a lady without trying to turn her into a Stepford Wife. Destry’s hands ran lightly over my hip in slow lazy circles, his face lax in its contentment. No doubt mine showed the same thing, considering I’d never felt more comfortable as I did right then.

  In the short time I had been on the ranch, I’d learnt a few things about myself. I was most comfortable just being me. Not worrying about a hair out of place or a designer cushion not perfectly centered. It was freeing and I’d come to quickly realize the life I had been living wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted
wide-open space and fresh air. I wanted a cowboy who’d wrap me up in his arms and lay in peaceful silence. I wanted this kind of life. I looked across at the man beside me. I wanted this kind of life with Destry. I didn’t know a million things about him, but I wanted to find them all out in the best ways possible. I wanted to watch him screw his nose up at food he didn’t like. I wanted to watch him struggle to do something just because he thought I wanted to do it. I wanted to learn about him. But first I needed to learn about me. I’d lived a lie for the entirety of my life. Not only had my relationship with Warren been a load of crap, apparently, any chance of a close relationship with my sister had been too. I shuddered at the thought of having to face the disaster I’d driven away from, but if I wanted to move on, I needed to go back and deal with it all. Or at least, collect a few things and clear out my trust fund.

  “Sorry?” I asked when I realized Destry had asked me a question and I’d missed it while wrapped up in my own thoughts.

  “I said, where’d you go?” He brushed my hair back and tucked it behind my ear while staring down at me. “You got this look on your face while you were off in dreamland.”

  “Oh, just thinking. I need to sort a few things out. Go back home and wrap some things up before I can start over here.” I stopped for a second when it registered how my words would sound out loud. “I mean, before I come back and find a job, get a house, all of the financials settled, that kind of thing.”

  “Mhmm.” His lips ghosted across my bare collarbone; the vibration from his lips as he spoke sent goose bumps across my arms. “How long will you be gone for?”

  “Umm. I, ah. I… Oh…” My train of thought completely derailed and his mouth came down over my nipple.