After each sock comes off, he rubs my painted toes and watches my reaction with a sly smile. Between all the bluster coming out of him and the hard surfaces on him, I forgot who I was dealing with: a romantic. Shane is a romantic at heart, whether he likes it or not. And I’m starting to suspect that Eamon Shane Hughes has feelings for me like I have for him.
He grabs the fly of his jeans and deliberately unbuttons them slowly. I’m riveted on every finely-honed muscle called into action as he pushes his jeans and boxer briefs down in a single motion. This show alone is worth the price of admission.
His dick springs free and it’s a beast, hard and thick and nearly reaching his stomach, the dark hair surrounding it neatly trimmed down. He steps out of his pants and walks over to the bed where I’ve gone into a trance watching him stroke himself slowly.
“You’re so beautiful I don’t know which part I want to touch first,” I hear myself mutter like a sex-deprived lunatic out on bail.
“They’re all yours to touch, shirina. Every part of me is yours whenever you want.”
I don’t dig into what he just said. I haven’t been happier or more satisfied in years and I don’t want to ruin the moment by thinking. Bad stuff usually follows when that starts.
Shane crawls on to the bed and I move backward to make room him. None of it feels foreign or awkward like it did the first time I slept with Jaime. This feels natural to me. Like coming back into a warm home after being out in the cold all day.
His fingers hook onto the hem of my dress and he drags it up as he moves over me. I raise my hips, and together, we take it off. Afterward, he makes quick work of my bra.
My breasts bounce free and he runs one hand back and forth over them while he kisses me deeply. He strokes them with confidence. His touch magic and knowledge, the work of someone who knows what he’s doing and promises great sex.
The heat from his hands and the pads of his fingertips, rough from the day working hard restoring the barn, sends sparks racing across my skin, pebbling my nipples, and making my thighs clench shut.
“You like that?” he murmurs in my ear as I squirm, silently begging for more.
“Yes, don’t stop,” I nearly whine, my eyes screwed shut from pleasure.
His hand leaves my breasts and move south to my panties. He drags them down and off without wasting time. One hand strokes between my legs and cups me while his mouth latches on to one nipple and pulls, then the other. My body arches off the bed. My legs fall open without anyone asking. Not even an open sesame. I am done. This man owns me now. I’ve never been so turned on in my life. And from his hands and mouth alone. I can’t even imagine what his dick can do.
“You’re not coming until I’m inside you.” Abruptly, he sits up and leans over the bed. It’s a bucket of cold water. I was seconds from euphoria and he ripped the celebration away before the party could get started.
Opening the side table, he grabs a condom out of there and puts it between his teeth. Last time I checked that drawer, there was only Chapstick and reading glasses. “Those weren’t in there last time I checked.”
“If you had any idea how many times I put some in there and took them out, you’d be worried about me.”
He’s so honest and emotionally exhausted that I grab his handsome face and kiss it all over. Pushing me back on the bed, he rips open the condom package and rolls it on. Hallelujah. I thought this would never happen.
“You ready for me?”
“I was born ready for you. I swear you are the biggest tease––”
Shane pushes inside of me, bottoming out, and we both freeze. The feeling of fullness steals my breath away. I hadn’t anticipated him being this thick. The binoculars really didn’t do him any justice.
“Just breathe,” he murmurs and kisses my face. Slowly, my body relaxes to accommodate his, to make room for him like my heart has. I hook my legs around his waist, put my lips on his, and kiss him slowly. He slides in deeper, until it feels like we’re one.
Shane starts to rock his hips, going deeper with each thrust until the bed is moving back and forth and the headboard is hitting the wall. Stucco flakes are falling on us, but we don’t notice. Because Shane is not fucking me. He is giving himself to me body and soul. We come at the same time, so hard I think I may never look at sex the same way again. I never knew it could be like this. It’s been redefined. And we’re rewriting the book on it.
Great sex is like potato chips or mini ponies. Once you have one, you have to have more. We’re basically programmed for it.
Last night we managed to have sex in the bed. Which inevitably led to sex in the shower. Which inevitably led to sex with me bent over the back of the couch and Shane hitting me so hard from behind that we rearranged half the furniture in the room. Overnight, the storm finally broke and made enough noise to provide good cover. After which, the Colonel slept like a baby for the next four hours until dawn.
“You sleep last night?” Mona eyeballs me suspiciously. My hair is practically teased up to the ceiling, and although I have a newly acquired healthy glow to my skin, the bags under my eyes kinda tell a different story.
I yawn. “Not very well.”
“Digging up dead bodies again?” She sends me a sly side-eye and sips her coffee.
“Yeah, that’s it,” I mutter and take a big gulp of mine.
“What happened to your neck?”
Beard burn. “One of the animals… Hey, speaking of which, it’s still raining. Should I leave them out there?”
Now that the barn is done, I can’t wait to break it in.
“They love it out there when it rains. And they have the run-in sheds if it goes on too long… Blue, honey…” she says in a small voice and I know what’s coming.
“Yes, Mona?”
“How would you feel if we had another permanent resident at the Harris Ranch?”
“I’m very happy for you both. Unless you plan to kick me out to make room for him.”
Mona stands and throws her arms around me, my face somehow getting smashed between her double E breasts.
“Kicking you out? That’s nonsense. Who would I have all this fun with?”
“Good, because I have nowhere to go and there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”
I’m doing night check and Shane walks into the barn, just back from a run. Sweat drips down his forehead and he wipes it away with the towel hanging around his neck. He is the epitome of masculine beauty. One of those rare individuals who get even better looking the more you look at them.
Hazel sees him and starts braying and walking in circles. “You have stolen her heart, Hughes.”
His mouth kicks up on one side as he walks up, close enough that I can smell the salty clean scent of sweat and pine soap.
“What about you, Baldwin?” he leans down and kisses me, brushes his mouth against mine like the mere touch of our lips brings him pleasure. “Are you crazy about me?”
That’s a loaded question if I ever heard one. One that I cannot answer without giving it all away.
“Shane…”
“Yeah.”
“I want you to know that I would never hold you back. I would never stop you from doing whatever, or going wherever you feel you need to be.” I pick up my chin to look into his eyes because like Mona says, you never know when it’ll be the last time. “I don’t mind if you wander… Just come back to me.”