Heart & Hope (Rosewood Ranch #2)

Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty

RUBY

S oul-splintering ecstasy spirals through my core, flooding my body. I ride each wave, with Reed coaxing every last tiny piece of pleasure through my veins. The man is a literal god.

A moment later, limp against the wall, I try to steady my breath as I stand on wobbly legs. Sex really is a thousand times more intense when you care about the person you’re doing it with, and we have only just gotten started.

None of the guys I have been with have ever been a romantic interest. Purely around for the physical. Associates with benefits? Sounds so very clinical. And the thought of it makes my heart hurt. It never worried me back then. But now, it’s sad to think I could’ve had more.

Rules . . .

My rules. The ones I thought I needed to thrive. They were keeping me from the best things in life. Reed clears his throat. Looks like he’s not the only one getting caught up in his head tonight. When I drop my gaze, he pushes to his feet and spins around, turning off the water. “We’re not doing this in here, baby.”

“We’re not?”

His arms are around my back and under my butt instantly. Sweeping me off my feet, he carries me to his bed. My heart picks up its pace. The giant rustic king bed that Louisa picked for him as a housewarming gift is comfy. And very Reed.

He sits me on the edge of the bed, and I wiggle back a little. His hands are around my face, his mouth against mine, tongue wanting in. I open for him. Gladly.

He sweeps in, and I taste him. Needing more.

But first . . .

I pull back and grab his wrists. I want that delicious cock of his in my mouth. Looking at it makes me ache. “Tap me if you want out, okay?”

He frowns a little, but his lips pop open with a gasp as I slide him into my mouth. Oh god, he tastes amazing. He’s rock hard yet velvety soft. I take him in further.

“Rubes, baby,” he growls.

Hell yes. I suck hard and pull my way back up.

“Fuck, Ruby.”

But I ignore him and pick up the pace. I want him as close to undone as I can manage. I take him in again, even deeper this time. With a hum, I suck my way back up.

“I—” he rasps.

A little closer . . .

I plunge down until he hits my gag reflex and pull up quick, swirling my tongue over his tip. He shakes against the bed, knees hitting the mattress, fencing me in. “Rubes, enough.”

I pull back and lean on the mattress, elbows propping me up, my breasts bounce with the movement. His eyes are the darkest green I have ever seen them. He is feral, and I fucking love it.

“Where do you want me, Reed?”

He groans, closing his eyes as if trying to think of something else and pace himself. He’s right, we should make this last. My first time with this gorgeous man is going to be everything .

“Definitely not under me,” he breathes. “That’s not you, beautiful.”

He sits at the head of the bed, holding out his arms. “I want to look up at you every time you fall apart.” I spin and walk up the bed on my knees until I’m straddling his lap. The way he watches me, the awe and adoration ... Fuck.

The air rattling up my throat burns.

Reed takes my hips, moving me forward. He leans to the bedside, reaching for the top drawer, but I grab his arm. The veins over his wrist run under my fingertips. “No, we don’t need it. I don’t want it.”

“You sure?”

I nod, breathless.

“Okay, baby, you’re drivin’.”

I huff a soft chuckle. Always with the vehicle talk. My hair, almost dry again, falls over my shoulders and surrounds his face as I rise up on my knees. He moves his soft, wide tip against my entrance, and my breath hitches. His face is strained as his hands return to my hips, and I suck back a sob. Emotion is commandeering this ship, as it always does when he is around.

His chest plummets as I hover in place. And when I lower a little, he groans, his grip turning so tight on my hips it bites. A few inches lower and my entire world is going to change. Tell that to the heat searing a hole in my heart, the fire lancing through my veins, and the threads of my scattered soul that are weaving back together after decades of not feeling loved.

It takes a moment to rein in my thundering heart and process the feelings now flinging around my heart like rogue javelins. The ones that I have suppressed for years after growing up in a house where affection was considered unnecessary. And love, well, that was something my parents and family never discussed, let alone showed.

I sink onto him and watch as his face wrecks in front of me.

“Ru—”

I snatch his face between my hands and devour his mouth before he can say a word. And when I rise back up, feeling every long, hard inch of him, I whimper against his lips.

Fuck me.

All the way to Sunday, Reed Rawlins.

Oh. My. God.

His hands are in my hair. Lips and a little teeth close over my hard nipple, and I take up a steady rhythm. Back arched and moans cascading from my mouth, heaven will never compare to Reed inside me. “Gorgeous man, you are everything.”

“Steady, beautiful. God, you’re perfect. Too fast and this ain’t gonna last long.”

He clamps down on my hips, driving further inside me, and I buck, heat spiraling in my center as lava tracks up my spine, heading toward release.

Never before has anyone sent me over that cliff while inside me. And the feeling working up to it is so intense. Driving me to the brink of no return faster and faster with every long, controlled stroke. I cup his face with my hands and tilt his head up. When I take in those gorgeous green eyes, the words I want to say to him solidify, squashed down by the rock that wedges its way into my airways. But my face must be etched with a thousand phrases, because he says, “I know, Rubes.”

I slap a hand over my mouth to hide the stupid fucking emotion that is bubbling up through my insides.

“Hey, you’re okay. I will always take care of you, baby. It’s my privilege.”

I suck in a handful of breaths and recover, not wanting to cry during our first time. “Where did you come from?” I whisper, running a hand through his hair.

“Sometimes God gets it right, beautiful.”

I huff a strangled laugh and bend down. “You’re not supposed to be thinking about God right now.”

A laugh rumbles through him, and he sweeps his arms underneath me, flipping us over. But he pulls out and I’m on my stomach a heartbeat later. Rough hands pull my hips up, and he sinks into me again. So much deeper, the fit tighter. I slam my hands onto the rustic headboard.

“Damn, Ruby, I can barely control myself,” he pants.

“Then don’t.”

“Jesus, baby.”

I widen my knees and push back with every stroke. The stretch is incredible. And I plummet toward sweet agony faster than before. And when Reed grabs my hair and leans over, dotting kisses down my spine, gooseflesh ignites along my spine, sending me over the edge.

“Reed! Oh, don’t stop. Plea?—”

The words accelerate into a cry as I contract around him, wave after wave, and he meets me there, with long, fast strokes that make my mouth water and my heart fling against my breastbone, like a captured bird.

When I catch my breath and the last wave is wrung from my body, I grind back into him. Still, even after that soul-shattering orgasm, I am desperate for him. I push off the headboard, rising up on my knees until my sweaty back meets his chest.

“Baby, you’re ruining this man for anyone else.”

I slide my hand up and behind his neck and drag his mouth down, kissing his lips. “Good.”

“Want some more, baby?”

“Yes,” I rasp, resting my head back on his shoulder.

He thunders into me. Each harsh thrust comes with his thumb circling my clit.

Again, I explode around him.

This time, he groans. His body starts to shake, and his hand slips from my center. “We need to move, baby.”

I don’t argue, and he’s off the bed and waiting with his arms outstretched for me when I walk on my knees to the edge. Scooping me onto his hips, he pads to the wall. My back meets the wood, and he adjusts his hold on me and thrusts inside. Oh, wow . . .

Holy shit.

“I like this.” I grip his shoulders, nails biting into his skin. All I want to do is arch into him, but I don’t want to hit the floor, so I tilt my hips, taking him deeper.

He smiles under hooded eyes and slams a hand onto the wall above my head, thrusting harder. Reed tenses, and his body starts to shake again. God, I want him to unravel. Just like he said. What I wouldn’t give to have him do that while I’m wrapped around him.

“Reed.” I take his face in my hands. “Look at you.”

I kiss his mouth, his jaw, and trail nips down his neck. When he groans, I meet his gaze.

“You are my whole heart, Ruby Jane Robbins.”

The words hit hard.

I’ve never been anyone’s first priority, let alone someone’s everything. The words tangle around my heart with a squeeze. And... like that, I can’t breathe. I want Reed to take it all. All I have.

A growl rumbles from his lips as his movements turn erratic.

He’s close.

So am I, again.

I close my eyes and let my head fall to one side. Warm lips tease my nipple, and I explode around Reed. Letting go of his shoulders, I open my eyes with a whimper. Hands through his hair, I tighten my grip as my heart and soul shatter for him.

“Beautiful, god,” he rasps, slamming into me hard. He spills into me in hot waves. Giving me everything he has.

Trembling all over, I fold around him as he buries his head in my shoulder and peels me from the wall. He’s moving, but I don’t know where to. Wrung out and thoroughly satiated, I breathe him in, my forehead on his temple, our air mingling as he lowers us. When I open my eyes, we are on the bed, his back to the headboard like before.

I kiss his mouth, but it’s not hungry—not anymore. It’s more than that; it’s adoration and contentment, swaddled into a feeling I can’t really explain.

His arms are still tight around my waist as he hugs me close. “I don’t want to let you go, Ruby.”

The words are soft, too quiet, almost like a well-kept secret I’m not supposed to hear. I pull back a little and search his face. His green eyes are creased with emotion. He traces his fingers over my cheekbones and down to my jaw. Each breath as heavy as the last, he’s still as worked up as he was moments ago.

“Please don’t,” I whisper.

Something painful flashes across his face, and he schools it back before he folds me into his embrace. Exhausted, I nuzzle into his neck, happy to stay put for a while and be held. Be wanted.

The slow pull of sleep creeps up on me, and my lids droop. When a small sigh slips from my lips, he moves. A heartbeat later, I’m lying on the bed on my side. His warmth has all but disappeared, and I glimpse over my shoulder. “Reed?”

“It’s okay, beautiful. Not lettin’ go, I promise.”

He slides in behind me and pulls my weary body against his, arms folding me into him, his chin on my head. The thump of his heartbeat taps against my back. Like a comfort. I lace my fingers through his and let sleep drag me down.

Time, if you don’t mind, you can stand still now.