Heart & Hope (Rosewood Ranch #2)

Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

RUBY

R eed’s big and perfect and so hard. My insides curl up at the sight of him, desperate to be impaled on this man. This gorgeous, funny, kind, thoughtful, amazing man. But for now, I sink back to my knees after pretending to make him suffer. Who am I kidding—not straddling his lap and letting him stretch and fill me up is my own personal hell.

I take his hard, perfect cock in one hand and slide him into my mouth, as deep as I can go. One of his hands snaps from the doorframe and sinks into my hair. He likes this. I like this. I pull back up, increasing the suction.

“Baby, slow down.” His voice is pure gravel.

The things that sound does to me. Heat pools low in my belly again. I’m so wet, I’m not sure there isn’t a puddle between my knees. The fire in my core is killing me. Reed’s eyes are closed. His face is twisted with something like beautiful agony. I sink down and pull up quick, pumping with my hand as I go, and his stance falters as he hisses a breath. I pop off the top.

I need to slow down.

“Look at me, Reed.”

Slowly, he lowers his head, brilliant green eyes locking onto me. “Don’t take your eyes off me, okay?”

He nods, jaw feathering as he slaps his hand back to the doorframe. I grip my breast with one hand and roll the nipple between my fingers. I can’t help the soft moan that falls from my mouth.

“Sweet Jesus, Rubes. Baby, you’re killing me.”

“This hurts?”

I pluck the nipple and move to the other breast. This time, I whimper as the pressure on the nipple has my core twisting on itself.

“God, beautiful. I need that sweet pussy wrapped around my cock.”

“Oh, this pussy?” I glide my hand down my belly until my hand cups my wetness.

“Yeah,” he rasps.

I pump two fingers inside. “Like this?”

He doesn’t respond. His gorgeous face is devastation in motion as his jaw works, his lips part, and he grabs his cock with one hand. I bat it away.

“Ah ah, that’s my job.”

I pump my fingers in and out a few more times, closing my eyes. When I open them, Reed’s strung out in the best way possible. I wrap a hand around his cock and take him deep into my mouth. This time, I tangle my tongue around the tip, teasing the small opening. Sucking my way back up, I repeat the action before sinking back down.

His legs begin to shake. “Bab—” The word turns to a heady groan.

Good man.

I suck and pull, sweeping my tongue over the tip with every stroke up. The taste of him, I catalogue away, along with every other part of this man who has been my friend for so many months. Every single thing I adore about him is stored securely away in my heart.

On the next stroke, his cock pulses. I keep up the motion, tightening my grip, increasing the suction even more as Reed Rawlins falls apart above me. And the look, the shape of his face when he lets go, that I stash away for later.

That’s something I will never forget.

When the last wave peters out, I reluctantly release him from my mouth, wiping the last drop from my lips with a finger. I close my eyes, breathing in the moment. Something thuds in front of me, and when I open my eyes, Reed is on his knees in front of me. His hands move to cradle my face as his mouth covers mine.

I break the kiss a moment later. The wood, as lovely as it is, has my knees aching. I push to stand. When Reed doesn’t follow, I tilt my head with a shy smile. “Coming to bed?”

“Yeah,” he breathes.

But his gaze doesn’t leave me as I crawl in between his covers, bare as the day I was born, and curl up.

The bed dips a minute later. His finger glides over my cheek, brushing strands of hair from my face. A kiss lands on my temple. “Night, baby.”

“Night, Reedsy.”

When he wraps his body around me, his breathing is steady. His hold is tight. His heart pushes into my back with every beat.

A girl could get used to this.

“We need to find at least five spots for camping and day trips. Mountains, the stream, open fields, etc. for guests.” Reed is looking at me over his coffee cup, a slice of toast in the other hand. Disheveled and in his PJs still, he is damn cute. I try to keep things all business this morning, not sure whether last night was simply two people who got carried away and needed to blow off some steam, or something else entirely.

“Yup, can do. I have to sink some holes for Harry first, replace an old fence line. Then after we can do that.”

“Sweet, the website should be up and running by the end of the week. Any word on the cabins?”

“Oh shit. I was goin’ to call Huddo.”

“Reed!”

“I was busy, baby.”

“Ring him now. I’ll wait.” I give my sweetest smile. But he lowers his mug and tosses the toast to the plate. Rising from the chair, he comes to stand by my side. He crooks a finger. Brows furrowing, I do what he wants and stand. My red captain shirt rubs against his, the brush sending my nipples hard.

He grips my waist and hauls me up onto the table. “I will do nothing of the sort. Mornings are for eating; for slow, pleasureful things. Not Huddo’s short temper.”

“You’re almost done with breakfast, though.”

“Nope.” He tugs at my shorts and pulls them and my panties over my hips. “Still starving, baby.”

The cotton of his PJ shorts is tented. I huff a laugh at him. Looks like this is our thing now. Fooling around. Getting each other off.

“You need my mouth on this, Reed?” I rub the hard length through his shorts and his forehead drops to my own as he moans. I’m soaking wet for him already.

“Yeah, amongst other things.”

All I can manage is a raspy laugh as he buries his head between my legs. Anticipation has my body trembling already. After last night... I’m not sure anyone else will ever come close. Pun intended. I groan internally at the lame joke and run my hands into his messy dark blond hair, leaning back and closing my eyes. He runs his tongue through my center, and I arch up involuntarily. He nips my clit and suckles lightly as I moan, my grip tightening on the table’s edge.

A knock rattles the door.

“Fuck.” Reed pushes to his feet fast, slipping my shorts up my legs. “I forgot Mack was coming over to pick up hay this morning. Jesus. Sorry, Rubes.”

I catch my breath and slide my feet to the floor, hoisting my PJ shorts up as hysterical laughter swallows me whole. He is about to answer the door with a raging hard-on that’s very visible through his worn, too-thin boxers. He starts for the door, and I wrap a hand around his arm. “Let me.” I nod to his very obvious erection.

“Oh, yeah. Maybe you should.”

He moves to stand behind the kitchen island. My panties are soaked through, but nobody is going to notice that.

With a glance at Reed, I pull the door open. Mack’s beaming smile greets me. “Mornin’, Ruby.”

Oh god, he heard us.

Fuck.

I fight to tamper the heat that’s flooding my cheeks and step aside, hoping he will stop looking at me and come in. Ugh.

“Good morning, Mack.”

Reed sips his coffee. How did he get that from the table?

“Looks like it.” Mack nods at Reed. “You need a bib, little bro?”

Reed’s mouth and chin has my wetness all over it. Praying the floor will do me a solid and swallow me whole, I close my eyes and grip the doorknob like it’s the only thing that can hold me up right now.

Reed grins and wipes his face with the tea towel that hangs on the oven door. Making a mental note to throw that piece of linen away, I shut the door and make my way to the table. Sitting, I take up my coffee with both hands, homing in on the brown liquid that will hopefully save me.

No luck.

“I can wait in the barn, if you two wanna finish what you started?” Mack says. His smile is genuine, albeit full of cheek. They are so similar, these two.

“Actually,” I start, barely brave enough to make eye contact, “I should go change. Lots of work to be done before we start out.”

“Going for a ride, Rubes?” Mack winks.

“No, you idiot.” Reed tosses the tea towel at him, and I cringe, holding my breath. Mack catches it with one hand as Reed drains his coffee cup. “We’re going out to find some spots for the guests to ride to, camp out, etc. Me and Rubes.”

“Just you and Rubes?”

“Mack”—Reed grips his shoulder—“follow us and I will back the tractor over you.”

“Taking the new wheels for a spin, hey?”

“Yeah, Harry wants post holes dug for a new fence line. Two birds, one stone, and all that.”

“Sweet Jesus, Harry and his fencing. I swear, it’s his favorite fucking sport.” Mack tosses the tea towel at Reed’s head. “See you at the barn, lover boy.”

“Fuck off, Mackie.”

Mack chuckles, walking through the door. When it closes behind him, heat is still blazing its way across my cheeks. I’m not embarrassed about being with Reed, but being caught doing that at all is mortifying. Like it should only be something the person you adore the most in the whole world is privy to.

My brain short circuits with the realization that the man standing in front of me is that.

And like that, The Rule, number one—no dating, no distractions—that I have lived by for so, so long, goes up in a brilliant ball of fire.

Fuck, fucketty, flaming fuck.

The big red tractor purrs next to me. And to say I’m dwarfed by its enormous size and power would be an utter understatement. Reed putters around the barn, plucking up a toolbox and a bundle of rags. Okay...

When he climbs up the step of the tractor and opens the cab door, he dumps the items behind the seat. Back down, he walks to the back of the machine, muttering to himself, something like a checklist. A few clangs, and he reappears.

“Right, ready for a ride in my big shiny tractor, baby?”

I chuckle. “I think so.”

He climbs up and opens the door. The seat sinks on coiled springs when he drops into it. Tilting his head, coaxing me in, he holds out a hand. I put a foot onto the grilled foothold and push up into the tractor. In his Wranglers, a faded blue work shirt, and brown cowboy hat, he is so damn fine. Even in his worn-out, old clothes, this man is god’s gift to women.

When I’m securely inside, he closes the door behind me and pats his thigh. “Have a seat.”

In my new cowgirl boots, I spin and drop onto his lap. A huffy laugh rattles through his chest. The white sundress I wore seems silly now. But with no underwear on, I plan on making the most of our time alone in the middle of the gorgeous Montana countryside.

Reed’s arms wrap around my waist, resting one hand on a lever and the other on the wheel. He slides the lever forward and the already loud tractor roars. I swear a moan rumbles from Reed behind me. This man really loves his machines. The giant wheels behind us turn slow as we roll out of the barn and into the morning sunshine.

“Hold the wheel for me, babes. I got to check the PTO.”

“Oh, okay.”

The tractor all but stops as he flicks a toggle switch, and the long shaft swinging behind the tractor rumbles to life, turning on its axis. He lets it run a minute and then flicks it off. When the metal spiral stills, his hand covers mine, and he pushes the lever forward again. We chug along to the first gate.

“This is the part where you earn your ride. Grab the gate, baby.”

So a dress was not the right thing to wear, at all. I climb down and open the wide gate, and he drives through. The red tractor passes, still way too huge, still making me feel like the smallest thing on the planet. When it stops at an idle, I shut the gate and climb back up, returning to his lap.

“You’re a natural gate maid, Rubes.”

“For that, I’m going to grind on you until you can’t see straight, Reed Rawlins.”

He tosses his head back with a hearty laugh. “Go on, give me what you got. If you’re lucky, I can find a bumpy road for you while you sit on my lap.”

I turn and kiss his mouth. “Don’t tempt me.”

He nips my ear, and we roll forward again. Ten minutes later, we come to a fence line that looks like it has seen better days. Guess Harry was right about this one.

“We have to sink a hole for every post along this old line. Should take about an hour, and then we can go for a wander.” Reed points to the ragged length of weathered posts and sagging wires.

The gorgeous face I have become so used to looking at, to seeing lit up with mirth, is currently frozen with stony concentration. The spiral digger sinks into the ground like a toothpick into marshmallow.

Reed watches every second of its descent into the brown earth as dirt is flung out all around it. When it slows with a shudder that reverberates through the entire machine, he curses under his breath, easing back on the lever that controls the spinning digger’s speed and ferocity.

Fascinated, I stare at the heavy implement as it groans through another slow turn until it reaches the hilt of its shaft. A moment later, Reed snaps the lever back and the digger comes up, every spiral skirting covered in dirt and rock. He reverses the motion, snapping it to one side, and the dirt falls to the ground like rain, leaving the spiral as clean as it was before we started.

I huff an amazed laugh and he pecks a kiss to my cheek. “You want a go, beautiful?”

“Um, I have no clue how to work that thing. And we still need to get around to find those spots.”

“Aye, aye.”

With a half salute, he turns and steers the tractor to the next withering fence post in desperate need of retirement. It takes another hour and a half to dig out the rest of Harry’s post holes. And as much as I love sitting on Reed’s lap, I’m one hundred percent I’m in the way, so I take up a spot on something I’m sure he called a rumble seat. It’s captivating, watching him work. In his element.

The way he operates the enormous machine like it’s an extension of himself is impressive. He really has a way with the machines. Trucks, tractors, and the like. My phone, in the lone pocket of my dress, vibrates. A text from Mary-Sue.

Howdy, Ruby, I had a thought about our next event. When is a good time to call?

Shit. I can’t call her with the tractor humming in the background. Not exactly a New York City sound.

“Reed, I need out.”

He spins and glances at me from the PTO controls. “Yeah sure, let me turn this off first.”

When the tractor fades to a gentle purr, he pushes the cab door open and lets me out. I jump onto the grass and step away from the machine. Putting distance between the farm noises and me, I tap the screen, dialing Mary-Sue back.

“Ruby! Thanks for callin’ me back, hon. Can we video chat? I want to run through some options for decor I found for the event.”

“Oh, I don’t think that will work, I’m in traffic at the moment.”

A cow bellows in the field over.

Shit.

“What was that?” Mary-Sue says.

“Oh nothing, some random making animal noises on the subway. You know how it is.” I feign a laugh, but my insides are twisting like the old wire hanging from Reed’s decrepit fence line.

“I thought you were driving?”

“Ah, foot traffic, sorry, you know how it is in the rush.”

Ugh. My lies don’t even add up.

I am so out of my depth.