Braving the Storm (Crimson Ridge #2)

Chapter 14

F uck this shit.

Fuck having to endure watching a bar full of assholes stare at my niece like she’s a slab of meat all night. Now I’m the lucky guy who gets to take her home, take her to my bed, and for all my sins, I can’t do anything more than wish like hell our circumstances were different.

Didn’t know you were an uncle there, Storm. At least you’re not her dad or some shit, but either way, hope you don’t mind. Briar and I got chatting over at the bar before, and we’re gonna meet up to grab a coffee in town tomorrow.

I’ve known Wes for a long time. He’s helped at a few of the same ranches as I have, is decent enough, and on the face of it, he’s someone who is the perfect kind of guy to treat Briar the way she deserves to be treated.

But goddamn, if I didn’t want to slam his mile-wide smile into the bartop when he came up to me as I paid the check. Chatting away all sparkly-eyed because the prettiest girl in this whole godforsaken town simply looked his way twice. Screw him and his perfect country boy bullshit. I already had to damn well sit there watching on as she smiled and flirted and gave Westin Hayes her number within all of two seconds. Then, to top it off, had to put up with the prick coming to regale me with all the details of the scene I just witnessed.

She even told the asshole that I’m her uncle. For fuck’s sake.

Why that pissed me off so much is a question that doesn’t bear answering.

I can’t have this girl, yet I want her so fucking badly, and I’m about one more interaction like the one tonight from threatening every male with a pulse in this entire goddamn state to stay the hell away from her.

Thank fuck, she and Kayce seem to get along just as friends because I’m not sure how I would have explained to Colt that I’d reversed my truck over his son and dumped that blond idiot’s body over the ravine if he’d shown even the slightest hint of interest in Briar.

He can give her horse riding lessons, and that’s about as much as I’m willing to tolerate.

The truck bumps over the shingle as we draw up to the cabin. We’ve both been silent through finishing our meals and for the duration of the drive back up the mountain. There are a thousand things I want to say to Briar, but none of them are appropriate, and certainly the things I don’t want to say but want to do are even less appropriate.

So silence has seemed like the safest refuge.

Cutting the engine, the quiet is oppressive. Deafening in contrast to the hum of the motor and my usual roster of metal blasting through the speakers. I flick the headlights off, and darkness seeps in, wrapping around us. Only the glow of the porch light left on outside the cabin spills out a warm patch of yellow, reflected off the faded reddish paintwork on the hood of my truck.

Neither of us moves.

“Your car’s a piece of shit, by the way. Total death trap.” I tighten both hands around the wheel, staring straight ahead while painfully aware of the small space filled by the two of us.

Briar seems a little surprised that I've finally said something. As if she’d been caught out while somewhere far away from this mountain, lost in thought herself. “Oh… it is?”

“Don’t go driving anywhere in it.” And by anywhere, I mean the date she’s got coming up tomorrow. I’d prefer she never left this mountain unless it was under my supervision, but it’s hardly likely she’ll be happy to tag along with me for the rest of her time in Crimson Ridge.

Suddenly, I’m seeing images flash in front of my eyes of Westin fucking Hayes pulling up this very drive, in his truck that looks identical to mine, with Briar cozied up next to him, tucked under his arm.

“If you ever need to get into town, especially if it’s icy, take my truck, not that heap of junk, ok?”

Briar twists her body to face me and laughs softly. It’s a sound that makes my gut twist because I want to be the only man she laughs freely like that around. I want to be the one she rolls her eyes at and graces with disapproving huffs and gives her smart-mouthed side exclusively to.

“I’m serious.” My knuckles are white, gripping the steering wheel like I’m intending to rip it out.

“Well, I have no idea how to drive a stick.” Briar rolls her lips together. “So, in that case, it looks like I’m going to be stuck up here.”

The temperature in this truck skyrockets as she says those words. She’s got that raspy edge to her voice as she says out loud what shouldn’t sound so alluring, but does.

Is Briar content to be stuck up here… with me?

Fuck. Maybe it’s the late hour, or the tension of seeing her with another guy, one who’s been busy stealing her smiles, but something breaks inside my brain.

“Do you want to learn?” The words are out of my mouth, and I can’t take them back. Either Briar is going to vanish out that door, with it slamming in my face, or she’s going to step across this line with me. Embers build low in my stomach as soon as she locks her dark eyes with mine .

Her tongue darts out to wet her lips, and she slowly nods her head.

“Slide over here then, darlin’.” There is absolutely no doubt that I’m going to hell, but fuck it.

She hesitates for a moment, then inches closer. Her jeans crease around the tops of her thighs, and it reminds me just how difficult today has been not to stare at the way they suction perfectly around her ass. This girl has got a body designed to bring a man like me to his knees.

“You’re not gonna learn from all the way over there.” I ease myself further back in the seat to create more room between my thighs and the wheel. Yup. Straight to hell.

Widening my legs, I reach one hand to settle on the headrest, opening my lap in invitation.

“Come here.”

Her eyes widen slightly, and goddamn, do I eat up every second when she starts to squirm at the prospect of what shouldn’t exist between us. Of the two of us dancing around this closeness that we’ve both tried our hardest to ignore.

But like the good girl she is, Briar slides over onto my lap, and I have to stifle a groan at how fucking perfect it feels to have her back tucked against me, her hips fitted to mine, our bodies lining up in the most sinfully, temptingly, perfect way.

“Now what.” She tilts her head to one side, voice barely a whisper, just like the night in the kitchen.

“You have to use the clutch to change gears.” I show her with my feet on the pedals. “When you want to shift up or down, you gotta use this guy right here. It’s like a dance. If you ease this one down, you let up on the accelerator. And then do it all in reverse.” My voice is low, my chin just about resting on her shoulder as I talk through the motions.

“I can’t reach the pedals.” She protests.

“Just put your feet on top of mine, I’ll guide you through it.”

Briar’s steady breathing picks up a little as I shift my arms, caging her in to demonstrate shifting in and out of gear .

“Seems complicated.” Her fists are balled on top of her thighs. The way my head is spinning with her scent and the heat between our bodies, I’m not entirely sure she’s talking about driving a stick, or something else.

“Nothing you can’t learn if you give it a try.” I wrap my palms over her fists, and she hitches in a breath, that preciously soft body jerks slightly when I make direct contact to lift her hands.

“I—I haven’t had much experience.”

Jesus. My cock jerks hearing those words, that admission. It sends a surge of something primal right through me. All my blood is running south at a rapid rate.

“One hand here…” Placing her fingers on the steering wheel, I guide her other to the shifter. “Use the other, like this, see.” Closing my hand over hers to hold the top, I’m acutely aware of how many lines we’re crossing right now.

But she isn’t running from me. This girl could have fled this truck and left me sitting here in the dark the moment we arrived. Yet, she stayed.

She’s just as drawn into the depths of this illicit thing as I am, and maybe we can’t cross every line, but right now, trapped up here alone, in the dark and the silent chill of the night air, maybe we can blur those lines and pretend for a little while.

“Try the pedals.” My lips are so close to her ear, I see the way she shivers as my breath glides over her skin. Fuck, all I want to do is suck down on that pulse point fluttering in her neck. I just know that spot would have her arching her back and grinding her ass into me, but I’m exercising a saintly level of restraint by maintaining a fraction of distance between my teeth and her throat.

Completely ignoring the fact my niece is sitting in my lap, and there is no doubt she will absolutely feel how hard I am beneath her ass, even through both of our layers of jeans.

“That’s it. Push down on me.” My Adam’s apple bobs as I swallow heavily.

Briar does as I showed her, guiding my feet to depress the clutch and shift into gear, then switching her weight to ease back on one side and press down on the other where the accelerator is wedged beneath my boot. We’re parked up and the engine is off so there’s only the quiet clunk of the pedals moving around to act as a soundtrack to this moment.

With each shift of her legs and feet and hand, it rubs our bodies against one another in a way that has me damn near groaning.

“A little slower, darlin’,” I murmur. Bringing my hands to her thighs, I slide my hot palms across the tight denim and guide her movements into a smoother transition between the clutch and the accelerator.

As my fingers hook over the inside of her knees, squeezing a little, Briar’s head drops back against my shoulder. I hear the air leave her lungs, and the tiniest sound of need slips past her lips.

If I wasn’t already fully gone and ready to risk it all, that tiny act of submitting beneath my touch just unraveled the last thread I was clinging to.

“Good girl. That was perfect for your first time.” I let my fingers stroke over the inside of her knees a little more, brushing and exploring a little higher and she melts against my chest the longer I keep holding her like this.

Her hands slide down the steering wheel, coming to rest at the base.

“What else did you never get taught?” Holy shit. My mind had already conjured up far too many filthy scenarios with this girl, but now I’m hungry to hear what she might admit to me out loud.

She lets out the softest whimper as my palms glide along the inner swell of her thighs. “Lots of things.”

“How long has it been since someone taught you something new?”

“Are you offering?” She drags her teeth over her bottom lip, and I’m damn near feral for this girl.

“I could show you a lot more than any of those assholes back at that bar could.” The growl that comes out of me is low and possessive. By this stage I don’t fucking care anymore. She might as well know that anything she does with anyone else around here is going to drive me insane.

She drives me insane.

My hands squeeze her thighs harder, and this time, Briar makes the sweetest little noise of need. “It’s been a long time… since anyone showed me… anything.”

Fucking idiots, whoever wasted their chance with Briar Lane deserves a shotgun to their balls. But it somehow led her to me, hidden away up this mountain, so I’m more pleased than I have any right to be that these are the circumstances of how we’ve ended up here like this.

“How long?” I exhale heavily.

“A very long time.” Her voice hitches as I gently slide her knees wider. We’re both fully clothed, but fuck me, this is possibly one of the hottest things I’ve ever experienced.

“You must be pretty good at taking care of yourself, darlin’.”

Briar hums and presses her ass back against me, and I nearly fucking blow in my jeans. “I’m a quick learner.”

The air crackles as my breath fans across the side of her cheek, my fingers tracing up and down, running along the inner seam of her thighs.

“Do you want your uncle to take care of you tonight?” My lips finally make contact, brushing over the soft, delicate shell of her ear. I whisper words that we both know shouldn’t be allowed between us, but here we both are, and nothing about this feels wrong.

The faint touch draws out one of those little noises I’m growing addicted to. I want to see just how loud my niece can be when she’s lost to the rolling waves of pleasure.

The girl perched in my lap feels like she was goddamn made to fit against me, to draw out something in me that has laid dormant until she came along. It would take nothing at all to draw her earlobe between my teeth and suck down. To explore with my tongue one of those gold hoops she wears.

“Teach me something, Uncle Storm.” She arches her neck, exposing that curve of flesh, while keeping her head tucked against my shoulder. Oh, she wants to play this game? I hear the hint of not-so-innocent Briar in the way she floats that word. Hanging it tempting and seductive in the air. I see the moment her eyelashes flutter closed, and it stokes the flames riding hot and wild through my veins.

But I can’t touch her. If I do, there is absolutely no way I’ll be able to stop, and I suspect that come tomorrow, things are going to have to go back to how they need to be between us. As much as that fucking kills me to admit.

“Have you ever touched yourself while someone watched?”

Her lips hang open. A quick shake of her head comes in silent reply.

“Then go ahead and unbutton those jeans, little thorn.”

“You… you want me to do it?” She sounds breathless.

“Do you trust me to tell you what to do? To teach you what your body needs?”

“I’ve never…” Her fingers are a little shaky as she pops open the button.

My mouth keeps brushing against the edge of her ear. “I know you haven’t. But I know this is what your body craves. Having someone who will watch you, pay attention to you, to see exactly how perfect you look when you fall apart.”

Briar sucks in a ragged breath; her fingers pause on the loosened material at her waist. Goddamn, the way she’s eager to wait for my next instruction.

“That’s perfect. Now, lower that zipper, nice and slow.”

Another one of those delicious noises escapes past her lips, accompanying the glide of her zipper, filling the truck with an unmistakable sound. One confirming we’ve gone far, far beyond the lines that should divide the two of us.

“Good. Now slip that hand inside your panties for me, that’s it, lift your hips if you need to.” I talk Briar through her next moves, easing below the waistband and soak up the shudder that rolls through her body as she makes contact with her pussy. Her delicate fingers are wedged in tight, thanks to her jeans and the position our bodies are in.

“Oh god.” A moaned whisper fills the darkened cab. “This is so wrong.”

“Darlin’, you can stop this any time you like. You’ve got all the power here.” Skating my palms across the denim covering her perfect thighs, I keep my touch feather-soft. Reminding her that she can leave any time she likes, even though I know she won’t.

Turns out my niece is just as turned on playing this wicked game as I am.

If I have it my way, she’ll go on that date tomorrow and spend the whole time thinking about this forbidden moment right here with me in the dark. Because I’m a selfish fucking asshole like that.

“I know you’re soaked. So slide that finger through the mess you’ve made in your panties while you’ve been sitting in my lap, and then I want you to pull that hand out and show me.”

“Holy shit. That’s so dirty.” She exhales shakily, but does as I say. Tugging her hand out and holding her fingers up for me to see the slick sheen coating them.

A rumbled noise brews in my chest. “Mmm. Now taste yourself.”

She sucks in a sharp breath.

“That’s it.” I devour the way she obediently raises that hand to her mouth, those pretty pink fingernails brush over her plump lips, and they close around her middle and forefinger. “Right up to the knuckle, then slide in and out for me, stroke your tongue, press down, and enjoy how good that feels.”

Goddamn. I’m unable to keep my hips still as I watch her follow my instructions. All I can see is her unraveling perfectly, with the way that loose sweater has slid off one side of her shoulder, showing off rounded and full cleavage. An expanse of bronzed skin I so desperately want to run my tongue across and slide my cock between—fuck, she’d feel like heaven.

Breathing harder, I shift beneath her ass and eat up every tiny whimpering noise Briar makes as she fucks her mouth with her fingers and tastes her own arousal.

“Now you’re gonna touch that needy little clit. Get your fingers nice and sloppy first, good girl.” She’s desperate now, dragging her fingers out of her mouth with a wet noise. Wedging her hand back down the front of her panties, her lips are parted, and a small whine accompanies the moment her fingers brush over that sensitive bud. Briar’s so lost in this she’s not self-conscious or questioning what we’re doing anymore. She’s desperate to come, and I’m hungry to witness how beautifully this girl shatters.

“Just like that, hard and fast for me, darlin’.”

Briar is panting and writhing in my lap as she chases her climax. My eyes are fixed on the spot where her hand disappears below the waistband of her lacy black panties. Frantic movements of her fingers, circling, seeking out her climax, are the most illicit thing, hidden away from sight beneath the silky material.

“I’m so—I’m nearly—” She gasps, and moans, and that seductive sound has my hips shifting against her ass even harder. My fingers dig into the fleshy part of her thighs, and I wish we could say fuck it, and do so much more, right here, right now.

“You look so pretty touching yourself in my truck.” I lower my lips dangerously close to her ear. “If I was any of those men, those men tonight who all wanted to take you home, this is exactly what I would give you, because I know this is how your body would want to be played with.”

My niece is panting, whimpering, almost there, but needs that final push to tumble over the edge.

“I know your sweet little pussy needs to be licked and sucked and stretched full… and I know you want someone to give you that release you’ve been craving. So let go, little thorn. That’s it. Exactly like that.”

“Oh, god—oh, god.” Her body clenches, her mouth drops open, and she turns her head toward my chest as she comes.

It’s the most beautiful sight as her eyes squeeze shut, and pleasure washes through her limbs as the wave crashes with such intensity her body jerks. I’m stroking her jeans and murmuring more words to her softly, telling her just how pretty she looks coming on her fingers. And when I instruct her to suck, she doesn’t even hesitate. Dragging her hand out of her panties, her movements are heavy-limbed with the force of her orgasm.

“See how good you taste. How sweet your cum is, darlin’.” I really don’t want to do anything but hold this girl tight, to show her just how good I could really make her scream. Except, that dreaded moment has arrived all too soon. A moment when this game has to come to an end, because we’re two people who aren’t supposed to desire anything remotely close to what we’ve just gone and done while hidden in the deepest depths of this forest.

I allow her to stay slumped against my chest and fix her jeans for her. Fighting every single screaming cell in my brain telling me to kiss her, to take her mouth and carry her to bed, and to see just how sweet I know she’ll taste.

“Is it weird that I feel like I just wanna stay out here?” She rasps against my shirt.

“I know you do, but go inside and get into bed before you get cold, ok. I’ll be in soon.”

I swallow the lie.

Watching her slip out of the truck, with a tiny glance up at me through heavy lashes, she pauses. Her dark eyes gaze back at me through the thick glass of the passenger side window, and then, with a sharp click, she closes the door.

I sit here, watching her make her way inside, surrounded by the heavy scent of her arousal and lust still filling the front seat of my truck. Punishing myself by not running straight after her, I stay in my seat with an impossible hard cock I’m going to have to take care of. Alone.

Because I won’t follow her tonight, even though every single part of me wants to.