Honoring Freedom (Cowboys of Sagebrush Rose #3)

Chapter Nine

She smelled like honey and vanilla.

Keller nuzzled her neck and inhaled the intoxicating scent.

Holding her…he felt as if he’d found what he’d been missing all these years. Like he’d lost a part of himself and was just now recovering. He’d never wanted someone like this.

“You taste good,” she whispered.

He growled under his breath, incapable of putting two words together. All he knew, he wanted her in his bed, in his arms, naked. He wanted to see her spread out waiting and willing…and wet. He wanted to feel the smooth connection of their bodies as they rediscovered each other.

“Your bedroom or mine?” She looked up at him through the veil of her thick lashes. Her flushed cheeks made her blue eyes brighter. Everything about her pulled him in, like a riptide in the ocean. He could drown there with her and he’d never want to be rescued or pulled to shore.

“Mine.” With a growl he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. She was the perfect size to carry around weighing no more than a sack of feed. He planted his palm on her firm bottom and got excited. He’d soon be touching her bare skin and he practically salivated at the thought.

When he entered the bedroom, he flipped the lamp on and deposited her on the bed like she was the most precious thing he’d ever touched. Hell, she was the most precious thing he’d ever touched. He leaned over her and brushed the strands of hair off her cheeks before he sat down next to her hip. The intensity of her stare unsettled him. Her eyes were the windows into her soul and she wanted him, just as he wanted her.

There came a time in a man’s life when he had to admit defeat. Not defeat as in losing, but as in allowing fate to take the reins.

*****

Despite what she read in his expression, he didn’t rip her clothes off and lick every inch of her, but instead he kissed her, softly. Exploring her mouth with his tongue as if relearning her.

She dove her fingers into his thick, silky hair, pulling him closer for a deeper kiss. He growled when she suckled his tongue.

He lifted his head, smiling down at her—a grin that spoke volumes about what he wanted to do with his tongue.

He pressed kisses to her jaw, her neck, lower to her collarbones. His whiskers tickled her and she gave a little squirm under him. She didn’t realize she giggled until he looked at her in question.

“The beard? Does it bother you?” he asked.

“Not at all. It feels good.” She stroked the crisp hairs.

He smiled and his eyes crinkled at the corners. “You feel amazing.” He went back to kissing her neck again, this time darting his tongue out to taste her. He lowered his hand to the hem of her skirt and lifted it higher on her legs. The tips of his fingers brushed against her satin covered slit. She lifted her hips an inch, but he didn’t accept the invitation. He continued his exploration upward.

“I want to see your breasts.” He grasped the material and pulled it to her waist. He growled when he realized she wasn’t wearing a bra. “I like this,” he murmured. He flicked his gaze to her, looking so sexy with that expression that told her how much he wanted her.

“Keller…”

“In time, sweetheart. Let’s get rid of this.” He lowered the dress and maneuvered it down her body. The cooler air stroked her warm breasts and her nipples tightened in response.

He wasted no time in sampling the buds, sucking one then the other, licking her into a puddle of melted bones. Her nipples were sensitive, and the apex of her thighs was damp.

He suckled the tight buds deep into his throat and she moaned in pleasure.

Countless moments passed as he feasted on her breasts, every now and again moaning against her skin. She had no clue why those noises made her tremble with need. Her panties were growing damper, and need vibrated her inner thighs. She lifted her hips higher and rubbed herself against him, feeling the bulge behind his zipper.

He let go of her damp breast with a smack of his lips and he stared down at her. His focus, the desire in his expression, pushed her closer to that proverbial cliff. He continued to stare, like that of a painter committing his muse to memory.

“Keller,” she whispered his name.

He lowered, trailing his lips and fingers across her stomach. He dipped the tip of his tongue into her belly button, swirling the indention before planting a kiss there.

Once he moved to the waistband of her panties, he looked up her body as if to confirm what was about to happen. Yes , her mind screamed. Take me with your tongue.

Her cheeks were burning and her pussy throbbed. She’d had men taste her before, but never had she needed a man to lick at her folds and drink her juices like she desired from Keller. She remembered how he’d always enjoyed bringing her pleasure with his tongue. At first, she’d been shy and lacked confidence, but she learned to trust him and brazenly opened to him. Now with maturity she reached down and pushed her panties lower on her hips.

He helped her rid her body of the delicate material and gave them a toss over his shoulder. He caught her knees with both hands and separated them. A feral moan escaped him as he stared.

“I’ve seen a lot of views in my lifetime but this one rates as the best,” he said on an exhale of breath.

He gripped her legs, resituating them until her feet were flat on the bed and her knees were wide open, wide enough that he could wedge his broad shoulders in the space. His touch came on her slit. She gave a little startle and a gentle squeal when he spread her. A tremor raced through her.

She’d been with men after him, but he somehow meant so much more. And that first slide of his tongue sent a trickle of tingles down her legs and into her toes. He glided through her folds, sampling the dew and all rational thought disappeared from her mind. With each firm stroke of his tongue, he looked up at her and she realized he was exploring, relearning what she liked.

She liked it all!

But there was a spot, or a button, that made her shiver in delight when his tongue skimmed over the sensitive flesh.

“Right there.” she said. The combination of the stroking of his tongue and the position drove her over a ledge.

“Right here?” He teased her by striking an invisible line through her slick center while thrusting two wide fingers inside her aching channel. “You’re so wet.”

He continued to lave on her, licking, sucking, and nibbling until she felt herself unraveling. The feeling of his tongue and the sounds…. She could barely draw air into her lungs.

His tongue rolled over her, his fingers slid in and out, while occasionally he looked up at her.

He planted kisses on her slit, then suckled her clit while making humming sounds against the delicate flesh. The vibration made her toes curl. She about came off the bed but his hands on her knees kept her anchored. Her body spasmed and she cried out to the feral gods. Tingles rushed down her spine and nestled in her bottom.

Just as a fast learner would, he knew what she liked. He never broke the rhythm, continuing to lick, suckle and thrust. Her body had surrendered to him. And when the orgasm finally crested inside of her, she soared higher and higher, her breath escaping from her lungs. Everything turned black as she was filled with exquisite pleasure.

She tugged at him, silently pleading that he come to her, but he didn’t. He continued to pleasure her with his mouth and fingers. His pace had slowed, his tongue moved differently. She had barely come down from the first high when the tingles started again, and she soared even higher.

Freedom heard loud moans and realized the savage sounds came from her.

“Keller!” she pleaded.

“Not yet, baby girl. Too good for me to stop.”

He worked her body until she gushed into his beard. She felt the wetness drip down over her bottom. She was covered in her juices and his saliva. She’d never been this turned on.

Like a lion who’d just fought and claimed his spot as king, Keller lifted and swiped the back of his hand over his smiling lips. He’d missed a few drops from his beard.

“I don’t want to ever let you go.”

His expression, and that soft smile, as he looked down at her with such tenderness made her heart pang. The realization that he still held real estate inside her heart awoke her senses. How could she ever give him what he needed? Wanted?

“We can’t,” she whispered as she reached for the blanket and covered her nudity. She pulled the cover around her shoulders and stood, looking down at him through unshed tears. “I’m sorry.”

The room suddenly became too small, the air too thin. She couldn’t focus on one thought of a hundred racing through her head. It reminded her of a race as cars spun around the track, their engines loud and the thumping of their tires on the dirt.

She hurried from the room, but didn’t go to her bedroom. She sprinted outside onto the porch, and she sucked in a breath as her bare feet touched the cold, wet planks.

Going to the rail, she leaned over, looking up into the dark sky. The light shone upon the fat raindrops falling silently toward the ground, some landing on her face. She could still smell the scent of sex on her body, and the warmth of desire lingered between her thighs.

She pulled the blanket tighter around her.

Why had she stopped their lovemaking when she’d enjoyed it so much?

Because she knew that she needed to know, with one hundred percent certainty, that this was what she wanted. Once they crossed that boundary there was no coming back.