Heart & Hope (Rosewood Ranch #2)

Chapter 35

REED

T he snowfall is frigid. But it’s forgotten the second Ruby’s elegant hand slips into mine. I peek through one cracked eyelid as we cross the barn threshold. It’s slightly warmer in here than outside.

“Hey! Your eyes are supposed to be closed!”

Shit.

I snap my eyes shut and let Ruby lead me over the hay-littered floor. She stops me, hands on my shoulders. “Stay.”

Her strawberry scent fades. Something crackles, hissing as it falls to the ground, I’m guessing.

“Hand out,” Ruby says excitedly.

I put a hand out and warm fingers turn my palm up, as something that clinks drops into it.

Ruby’s smell closes in on me and her soft lips brush against my own. A heartbeat later, she breaks away. “Open your eyes, baby.”

I crack an eye, and she jumps up and down, grinning, her hands wrapped around my free one.

Both eyes wide, I stare at it.

Mouth gaping.

Heart frozen on the last beat.

Ruby is grinning from ear to ear, but her excitement fades a little when I don’t move. “You like it?” She chews her bottom lip and glances between me and a brand-new Black Widow Limited Edition F-250. The exact same one I had, but next generation.

Sweet Jesus, Rubes.

I step toward her. “I?—”

She drags me to the driver’s side door. “Sorry I totaled your old one. I know how much your truck meant to you.”

She opens the driver’s door and maneuvers me closer to the inside.

The new car smell hits me in the face. I scrunch my nose up as the bridge of my nose burns. This woman. She is more than I fucking deserve.

“Rubes... I can’t.” I swallow past the stone wedged behind my Adam’s apple. I am not fuckin’ cryin’.

“ Yes , you can.” She pushes me closer. “Unless you want me to drive?” Her eyebrow hitches, and she gives me that don’t argue with me, Reed face she does so damn well.

“Nope.” I chuckle and slide into the seat. The soft, buttery Napa leather is heaven. I grip the wheel with both hands, running an eye over the dash. It’s similar to my old one, with a few upgrades.

“Does it feel as good as the old one?”

I turn back to her. “Hop in, baby, let’s find out.”

She closes the driver’s door and walks around the front. Her blonde hair bounces over her shoulders as she runs an elegant finger across the hood, holding my attention. My blood sinks fast, and my cock stretches my jeans. I start the truck up and get the warm air pumping.

When she slides into the passenger’s seat, I reach for her. She crooks a finger. I slide on over to her seat and she rises up and spins, coming back down on my lap, one leg on either side. Dainty kisses pepper my lips and jaw. Her hands under my shirt are freezing now, sending goosebumps over my back and shoulders. “Sweet Jesus, Rubes. Let me warm you up.”

“I like it when we steam up the windows.”

“Same, baby.”

She wriggles on my lap and heat rushes my body as I take in the most amazing woman on the planet, right in front of me. I will never deserve her. But I will do everything I can, every day, to try to. My wife.

Ruby Jane Rawlins.

Sounds fucking perfect.

Hungry hands shove the coat from my shoulders, crawling back under my shirt. I sit, watching her. The way her eyes catch me. The way she comes alive at my touch. The hitch in her breath when I cup her face with my hands and pull her in for a kiss. She opens for me, and all of a sudden, I can’t breathe... but in the best way possible.

Hands dropping to her striped boat neck navy shirt, I tug at the hem. “This all comes off, Rubes.”

“We’re gonna have to fog up these new windows good to keep warm,” she utters.

“Listen to that Montana talk slipping past those pretty fucking lips.”

“They’d look better wrapped around your cock.”

She slides from my lap and makes short work of my jeans. I rise off the seat as she pulls them down. My rock-hard cock springs free, and she grips the base with one fine hand and pumps it. Gaze burning into mine, she takes the tip into her mouth. Closing her eyes, she takes it all.

My head falls back on the headrest, my hands sinking into her hair. She pulls back up, suction tight. I groan, fisting her hair. I want her wrapped around me, those gorgeous breasts in my face while she rides my cock. “Rubes, up here, now.”

Hands under arms, I tug her up. She licks her lips and I slide her jeans off, leaving the lacy red panties behind. Sending the seat backward, I remove the rest of her clothes. The windows are well and truly foggy now. Our breathing heavy, every touch is so desperate. I run a hand down her belly, finding her apex.

“Reed.”

“Tell me what you want, Rubes.”

“You, everywhere.”

“You have me, beautiful.”

I slip two fingers inside her. She’s fucking soaked. She wriggles forward, straddling my lap. I retract my fingers and line up the head of my cock with her wet center. When she leans forward, those gorgeous breasts in my face and her blonde hair surrounding me, I slam up into her.

The sweetest whimper tumbles from her lips. Seated up to the hilt, I kiss my way from her neck to her hard peak. Tangling my tongue around the left nipple, I grip her hips and lift her up. This time, Ruby drives down, taking up the rhythm between us.

The windows are a white out.

The truck rocks on its wheels as we meet each other, stride for stride. And the beautiful wreck claiming her face tells me all I will ever need to know.

Ruby is mine.

And I’m hers.

The diamond on her finger is the first of the many ways I’m going to show this gorgeous girl how much I love her, for as long as she will let me. Rubes sits back up, her hair falling behind her back, her breasts bouncing as she pushes her palms to the ceiling of the truck.

Unshed tears burn the bridge of my nose.

This moment, right here, is one I will never forget.

She slows, opening her eyes, as she drops her gaze to mine. “Reed...”

The rasp in her voice sends me spiraling as her lips skate over my jaw. I take her face in my hands, stilling her, and she breaks away. “What is it?”

“Your turn on the soft leather, baby.”

I flip us over, holding her against me to keep from being apart from her for even a second. When she is settled on the seat, her head on the reclined headrest, I grab up her boots and slide them on her feet. The smile that blooms over her face takes the last of my fucking breath. I tug her forward and drop to one knee.

I lean down and run my tongue around her clit. She arches off the Napa leather. The smell of new truck mixed with Ruby Robbins wet for me might be my new favorite thing. Lifting her leg, I rest it over my shoulder and straighten ‘til she is spread wide for me.

“Fuck, baby. Best damn Christmas ever.”

“This was on your list?” She smiles at me, cheekiness shining through her eyes as she plays with her breasts. It takes everything I have not to come all over her belly.

I grip my cock and nudge her entrance. “This was not on my Christmas list. But you’re in my mind every single minute of every single fucking day. And this”—I nod to her lying on my front seat—“is going to keep my mind spinning ’til the day I die.”

“Well, how about you fuck my name right out of my head?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“You make an incredible first mate, Reed Rawlins.”

I close my eyes as my breath peters out with her words. Captain’s Choice, that’s what her t-shirt said the first night we spent together at the ranch. I knew it then. Hell, I knew it the second I saw Ruby Robbins clacking her way down that sidewalk in Great Falls.

But I never for one minute thought I would be worthy of this girl. I slam into her, and she lifts her hips from the seat. I rub a thumb over her clit, and she hums my name like a fucking prayer.

“Right here, Rubes...” She tightens around me. I hold her ankle and pick up the pace. Her fingers roll her nipples, and her face breaks. Every long, languid stroke sends me higher. Warmth coils at the base of my spine. My rhythm shatters as she explodes.

“Reed! Baby, fuck.”

“Good girl, Rubes.” I slam into her with erratic, hard strokes.

Fuck me, nothing on this earth compares to Ruby. Never will.

Her fire.

Her faith in me.

Her loyalty.

Her unconditional and all-consuming love for a man who shouldn’t have been worthy.

I burst, hot and fast, into her. She tightens again and follows me over the edge. Exhausted and ecstatic, I peel her from the leather seat and pull her close. When my face sinks into her hair, it takes every last ounce of energy to not fall apart.

The overwhelming happiness she gives me is so precious.

“God knows how much I love you, Rubes.”

“He’s not the only one who knows.” She pushes back, hands on my face, her big brown eyes studying my face. “Rule number one... Reed Rawlins is my reason for breathing.”

I choke through a laugh that turns to a sob.

Sweet Jesus.

So much for not fucking cryin’.