Page 70 of Wild and Wanted

20

STEVIE

Stevie sighed happily as she slid her bare thigh across Clay’s bare thigh, her head coming to rest on his shoulder, her hair loose from its plaits now, falling softly down her back as her arm slid across his chest, her hand coming to rest on a nicely rounded pec. It was three in the morning and every part of her was inebriated with malaise. Drowsy and drunk in the best way possible, not from margaritas but from the deep satisfaction of four earth-shattering orgasms, drifting in their glorious aftermath.

She was tired yet more vibrant and awake than she’d ever been, lying in a pool of moonlight pouring in through the large picture window, revelling in the absolute quiet of a rural Wyoming night and the soft, slow caress of his fingers trailing down her arm. In the soft slow caress of her fingers, tracing the solid ridge of his collarbone from his shoulder to the notch at the base of his whiskery throat.

Revelling in the slight ache between her legs.

Although she only had the stories of friends to compare it to, Stevie figured as far as cherry popping went, it had been spectacular, and she smiled to herself remembering it again, hugging it close. Stephanie Everhart – ex virgin.

Waiting for Clay Calhoun had been a very good decision.

And no matter what happened after she left here, she would never forget this night.

Lifting her hand, he kissed her palm and Stevie’s eyes drifted closed as his fingers toyed with hers, his thumb rubbing over the place where her purity ring had been until a few hours ago.

‘Why is it complicated?’ he asked, his voice low in the night. ‘With your mom?’

Her eyes fluttered open at the question, part of her pleased he was interested in her life outside them being naked together. The other part wishing she didn’t have any baggage to explain. But wanting this man who already knew her in the most physically intimate way possible to know her in the most emotionally intimate way, too.

Withdrawing her hand from his, she turned so she was lying on her stomach, supporting herself on a bent elbow. Her breath caught at the sight of him, this hardened cowboy softened in the moonlight falling gently across his abs and pecs, across the bones of his cheeks and forehead. Splashing his whiskers in alabaster.

Stevie regarded him for a beat or two trying to decide where to begin. ‘My family are church goers.’

He shrugged. ‘So are mine. You don’t see any purity ring on Mags’s finger.’

Okay… she clearly needed to go back a little further. ‘My sister⁠—’

She faltered for a second. She’d felt so close to Yolly tonight and the thought that she wouldn’t be sharing this experience with her sister as Yolly had shared hers, whispering the details to Stevie under the covers the next morning, caused a raw, bitter ache in her throat.

Yet another first in the unending cycle of firsts without her sister.

‘Yolanda,’ he prompted, his tone gentle.

Stevie smiled and nodded. ‘She was… outrageous. You would have loved her.’ She laughed as the ache in her throat turned bittersweet. ‘She’d always gone her own way and been headstrong and known what she wanted in life. Which was to experience as much of it as possible all at once. She believed in making your own destiny and if it hadn’t been for her drive, we’d have never got our first break in the industry.’

‘She sounds like a force of nature.’

‘She was.’ Yolly had been chaos in action but Stevie had loved her older sister with a fierce kind of desperation.

‘Did that cause arguments with your mom?’

‘Yes, huge arguments. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t like they constantly argued, there was a lot of laughter between them too and Mom was Yolly’s biggest supporter in lots of ways, especially helping to navigate those early attempts at getting a toe hold in the music industry. They just had different outlooks which often clashed.’

‘I get that. You should have seen the clashes Dad and I had when they started talking about turning the ranch into a tourist venue.’

‘You weren’t impressed?’

He snorted. ‘Hell no. It was arrogant and selfish of me, of course. Especially as I was heading for the circuit, but the idea of it.’ He shuddered. ‘Now I can see my parents were just trying any way they could to save the ranch and even though I still wish things were like they were, the fact they’ve been able to save the working part of it because of the tourist side of it is pretty damn impressive.’

‘It is,’ Stevie agreed.

A couple of moments passed before he spoke again. ‘So… let me guess. You were the good sister?’

Stevie laughed. ‘Yes. I was the rule follower. The obedient daughter. There was always so much noise around Yolly whereas I ate all my vegetables and did my homework and coloured inside the lines. I kept to my curfew and didn’t mind that Mom could track me on my phone because I never did anything worth worrying about anyway. I learned really early that my parents needed a less… spirited child and I was a natural introvert so I was happy to play that role.’

‘That didn’t cause friction between you and her?’