Page 108 of The Cowboy and the Stray

“Fine,” I said. My voice sounded off. “Just thinking.”

He didn’t push, just sat down on the bed. The old mattress groaned, and the wood frame echoed it. He waited for me to talk.

I said, “You ever get scared of the future?”

He nodded. “Yeah, sometimes. Doesn’t everyone?”

I wanted to laugh. Instead, I stared at my hands. They’d finally stopped shaking, but every time I looked at them, I remembered what I was about to do.

I said, “I want to do it.”

He looked at me, eyes dark and steady. “You want to what?”

I swallowed, then met his gaze. “I want you to claim me.”

He blinked. For a big, tough alpha, he looked like someone had just handed him a live grenade. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” I said. “I’ve been over it and over it for the last month. I’m sure.”

He chewed on that, like he thought maybe I’d take it back. I didn’t. He put his hand on my knee, slow and warm.

“You know what it means?” he said.

“I know what it means to me.”

He squeezed my knee, not hard but enough to make me pay attention. “Say it.”

I said, “It means I’m not running anymore. It means I’m yours.”

He watched me for a long time, then nodded. “That’s what I wanted to hear.”

I tried to grin, but my mouth was dry. “You’re supposed to say something back.”

He shrugged. “I’m not great at speeches.”

I rolled my eyes. “You don’t say.”

He kissed me, then. Not rough, not like he was claiming anything. Just soft, with his hand cupping the side of my face. His lips were warm, and he tasted like black coffee and the peach pie I’d watched him eat three slices of at dinner.

I kissed him back, pulled him closer, and for a while there wasn’t anything but us.

He stripped me slowly. He was already naked as soon as he let the towel fall away. Naked and ready for me by the looks of it. He took off my shirt first, then kissed the scar on my collarbone, the one Lance had given me. He kissed it every time he saw it. Then the bra, which he unclasped with one hand, the show-off. He kissed down the line of my chest, then my ribs, then my belly. Every time his lips touched skin, something in me unclenched.

He ran his hands over me, slow and rough at the same time. He sucked my nipple until it got hard, then bit it just enough to make me gasp. I arched up, and he pinned my hips with one hand. The other slid down to my thigh, fingers pressing hard enough to leave marks. I wanted that.

He worked his way between my legs, kissing every inch, and when he finally got to my pussy, he didn’t waste time. He spread me open with his hands, then licked a slow, deliberate line up my slit. I moaned with abandon, losing myself completely. He licked me again, then sucked my clit into his mouth. It felt like being struck by lightning, sharp and hot and impossible to ignore.

He licked me until my legs started shaking, then pulled back and kissed the inside of my thigh. “Still want this?”

I said, “God, yes.”

He slid between my legs, lined up, and pushed in slowly. It was the most delicious feeling. Like I was finally complete, whole. Like he was really meant to be there.

He filled me, bottomed out, and just held there for a second. He kissed my mouth, tongue pushing past my lips. I wrapped my legs around his waist and dug my heels into his back, trying to get him even deeper.

He fucked me slow at first, just rocking his hips, letting me get used to the stretch. Then he started going faster, slamming into me so hard the headboard hit the wall in time with every thrust. I clawed at his back, digging lines down his spine. He growled, deep in his chest, and it turned me on so bad I almost came right then.

He reached down and thumbed my clit while he fucked me, and I lost it. I came so hard I couldn’t see, my whole body shaking and spasming around his cock. He didn’t stop. He fucked me through it, then slowed down again, kissing my neck and my jaw and the corner of my mouth.