AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Hot breath on my inner thighs. The gentle scratch of his beard on my skin. His hot tongue sliding over my clit, dipping down to push inside me.
My toes curl.
Oh God, so it’s going to be that kind of night.
He makes me come until I’m gasping and shaking. Then, he takes the blindfold off, kisses me, and puts me over his knee. He doesn’t spank me very often. Most of the time if I break a rule, I get tied up with a vibrator on my clit until I sob. But tonight, he spanks me until I feel heat rise from my skin. Then, he fucks me, limp and tingling, into the new mattress.
We’re both exhausted but satisfied when we’re done. He wipes my body clean, rubs lotion into my reddened skin, and holds me until my eyes close.
The sex is rougher, harder, in the following week. Every night, I sleep soundly, my body so relaxed that I wake up feeling brand new in the morning. I think I know what he’s doing, but we don’t talk about it. This time, I let him have control.
My body slowly works its way out of fight or flight.
Winter creeps in. Snow swirls in November. Ice makes patterns on the windows at night. I start cutting out squares for a baby quilt and wonder when it will happen. We’re in no hurry, but I want to give him this. He’s given me so much.
But we can wait. I’m safe. He’s there.
All is right in our small corner of the world.
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
WESTIN
It’s January when Sovereign and I finally make the sale that melds our two farms together. Now, Carter Ranch and Sovereign Mountain sit side by side, separated only by a thin fence line. In the spring, we’ll put a gate in it so we can ride our horses back and forth.
Maybe someday soon, our children will do the same.
“How’s Keira?” I ask one day while we’re in the city getting the papers finalized.
“Pregnant,” he says.
“I knew that,” I say. “She’s been pregnant since summer.”
He pulls the door open to the general store and takes his hat off. I follow him inside, grateful for a bit of warmth.
“She sleeps most of the time,” he says. “Can’t blame her. Looks exhausting.”
I nod, like I know what the fuck I’m talking about. We get our things, and I pick up a bag of lemon candies and a bolt of flannel for Diane. Sovereign heads up the mountain, and I take the road that loops around to Carter Ranch.
Snow falls softly over a frozen landscape. The air smells clean, like new beginnings.
I rewrote my story. I’m still the gunslinger. I’m still my father’s son. I still come home at the end of the day with those fucking candies in my pocket.
But she chose me, and that makes all the difference. Every day, she chooses me. It’s in the collar on her neck, the ring on her finger, her name on our contract and marriage license.
It’s in the way she falls asleep in my arms, melted into me, trusting me with every breath in her lungs.
She was broken, but she gave me her trust. I’ll never take that for granted.
Back at the house, she’s in the little corner of our bedroom where I built her two bookshelves. She’s in a dressing gown, her bright hair falling almost to her waist. Her back is to me as she stacks her books up. A guide to the flowers of northern Montana. A sketchbook with all her pictures.
When I kiss her head, she jumps and turns around.
“Don’t scare me, Westin,” she says.
I kiss her. “Are you hungry?”
She shakes her head. “I’m tired. I made soup and biscuits. Yours are in the microwave.”
