Page 38 of Stealing the Runaway Bride

I don’t need to be told twice. I grab her hips, my thumbs digging into the soft flesh, and I lift her again. I guide my cock to her entrance, the tip of me brushing against her swollen heat. A bead of precum smears against her, and I nearly come right then.

I look at her. I want her to see this. I want her to see me taking her.

"Show me, princess. Don’t hide a damn thing from me."

She opens her eyes, her gaze blurry with lust and love.

“You’re mine,” I say, the words a vow.

Then I thrust.

I bury myself in her in one long, agonizingly perfect stroke. She’s tight. So fucking tight. Her walls wrap around me like a glove, clenching and welcoming me all at once. I groan, my eyes rolling back in my head as I bottom out, my balls flush against her ass.

She’s gasping, her mouth hanging open, her body trembling with the shock of being filled. I stay still for a moment, letting her adjust, letting my own brain catch up to the fact that I’m finally home.

“You’re so full,” she whispers, her hands gripping my biceps so hard her nails sink in. “You’re so big, Cag.”

“I’m exactly where I belong,” I growl.

I start to move. Slow at first, pulling out until I’m almost clear, then slamming back in. The sound of our bodies colliding—the wet, slapping rhythm—fills the empty cabin. It’s the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard. Every movement drives the promise of this place deeper into me.

I’m feral now. The restraint I’ve been holding onto for days, for years, just snaps. I’m a beast, a predator claiming his mate. I’m thrusting harder and faster, my breath coming in ragged snarls. I’m marking her with every movement, letting her know that every inch of this cabin, every acre of this ranch, and every beat of my heart belongs to her.

“Cag! Oh god, Cag!”

She’s spiraling. I can feel the tremors starting deep inside her, the way her walls are pulsing around my cock, begging for the end. I pick up the pace, my movements frantic and powerful. I’m holding her against the studs, the wood groaning behind her, but I don’t slow down. I can’t.

I’m seeing stars. My vision is blurring into a tunnel of chestnut hair and magnolia scent. I’m close. So fucking close.

“Come for me, Juliette,” I command, my voice a roar. “Let me feel it.”

She shatters.

Her body convulses, her inner muscles clamping down on me in a series of rhythmic, agonizingly perfect squeezes. She’s screaming my name into the night, her voice echoing off the unfinished walls.

The feel of her climaxing around me is the final straw. I growl, one last, deep thrust that pins her to the timber, and I let go.

I’m pouring myself into her, my seed a hot, thick flood that marks her as mine in the most permanent way I know how. I’m pulsing inside her, my eyes squeezed shut as the world explodes into white-hot light.

I stay there, buried deep, as the world slowly comes back into focus. The sun is gone now. The cabin is bathed in deep indigo shadows. The only sound is our labored breathing and the distant, lonely call of a coyote.

I slowly let her slide down my body until her feet touch the floorboards. Her legs give out immediately, and I catch her, pulling her into my arms. I sink down onto the wood, pulling her into my lap, wrapping my bare arms around her.

The floor is hard and dusty, but I don't care. I’ve never been more comfortable.

"Here," I murmur against her temple, holding her close. "Stay here with me."

She nods against my chest, her breath finally slowing. “I’m here.”

I look out through the gaps in the studs toward the western horizon. The upstream flow is still restricted, and the easement still has to survive a courtroom. But as I hold this woman in the shell of the home I’m finally going to finish, I know one thing for certain.

I’m Cag Kramer. And I’m not done yet. Not by a long shot.

I reach into the pocket of my discarded jeans, my fingers brushing the finished cottonwood hawk. The wings are smooth beneath my thumb, spread wide in a moment of flight.

I carried it unfinished for years.

Then Juliette climbed into my truck and reminded me that some things are worth seeing through.