For Keeps Page 4

  I turn to her and start us moving back along the trail. “Cole, Ty and me still run our land as ranches, but Kyle and Wes have other concerns. Wes is pretty busy as deputy sheriff over there in Jade Creek.” I nod towards the town in the distance on this side of the trail. “He expects to be voted in to take over when the sheriff retires next year. Kyle owns the Gemstone Hotel over in the Diamond Springs Resort.” The sprawling resort’s just visible far down in the valley on the other side. It sits in a semi-circle around Jade Lake with the hot springs and the cascading falls just a bit further on. “Cole, Ty, and me split their land between us and ranch it along with ours. We all share in a proportionate amount of the profits.”

  “Sounds like a good arrangement. Shows a lot of trust.”

  I give her a tilted smile. “It works for us. We’re a happy, close-knit family.”

  “Yeah I can see that. I guess we are too, but I can’t imagine living so close to each other and sharing so much. I love my parents and my brother and cousin, but I need to create my own space and identity.”

  “Yeah, Cora. I get that.” Her words flatten the mood, somehow. “You make it pretty clear you need your independence.”

  Cora

  Brett goes quiet for a while after he shows me the homesteads. He’s deep in thought. I don’t disturb him, but I wish I knew what he was thinking so hard about. He leads me through the narrow trail until we emerge into a large clearing that contains a majestic lake nestled among the surrounding mountains.

  It literally takes my breath away. New England where I was born and bred is beautiful, especially in the fall, but this… this reminds me that the description of breathtaking is not exaggeration in the mountains of Wyoming.

  Brett lets go of my reins. I guide my horse to stand beside his. I simply stare at the magnificent sight in front of me for several minutes.

  “Takes my breath away every time.”

  I turn to him. “Still?”

  “Always. It never gets old, Cora.”

  “I guess not.”

  “Let’s head over here.”

  He’s back to his usual self. The natural beauty has jolted him out of his thoughts. He indicates an area near the banks of the lake. There’s a small cabin with a taller structure behind it. It’s half open to view with some canoes stored in it.

  “Oh, that’s clever. Is this still your land then?”

  “The portion we’ve just left is, but not the lake. Its state parkland. We have an agreement to store the cabin, equipment, and supplies here as long as we make it available to others. It’s a bit out of the way and mostly inaccessible other than from our land, so we tend to be the only ones who use it. We allow people through as long as they request it first.”

  We reach the cabin and both dismount. I’m a little wobbly and stiff. I’m glad to be on my feet again. This is the first time I’ve ridden this distance. I enjoyed the ride, but appreciate the opportunity to stretch my legs.

  “We’ll set up here and catch some fish for lunch. Then we can take one of the canoes out to the middle of the lake to catch us some bigger ones for supper and to take home. What do you say, hon?”

  I nod, the bright blue sky and the crisp air of the mountains along with the gently lapping lake mesmerize me. Brett shows me how to tie my rod and line. He’s patient when I take several attempts to cast successfully. I learn how to bait my hook with salmon eggs, but I draw the line at worms, regardless of his insistence that they’re the best. I ditch my delicacy when he shows me how to gut the fish for the frying pan he cooks over a campfire for lunch. After eating the fish straight from hook to pan, I know I’m spoiled for anything else.

  After lunch, we paddle out to the middle of the lake in the canoe. He takes some time to show me how to improve my paddle stroke, while claiming I’m already pretty good. I glow under his praise. At the end of the afternoon, we clean our catch together.

  After I gut and toss the fish for dinner into the pan, he tells me, “I’m impressed you’re not prissy about the dirty work, sweetheart. Most city women I’ve met complain about it.”

  I shrug. “I enjoy fishing and I’ve learned to get over my squeamishness about this part of it. I use fish remains as fertilizer at the nursery, so I’ve gotten used to them.”

  I help him add the potatoes and vegetables to circle the fish inside its cooking tin. Pushing back my Stetson I wipe the sweat out of my eyes. “Besides, I’m not a city girl anymore. I hate corporate work. No way I’d go back. I only stuck to it so I could save enough to move west and enjoy all this.”

  I look around at the stunning beauty and back to his face. He looks real happy all of a sudden. Satisfied.

  Relieved.

  Damn is this what Cassie was trying to tell me? They all think I’m a quitter? Brett, Cassie, Wes, his family, the ladies of the cribbage club even? Hell maybe the whole town are worried I’ll break his heart. I want to yell at him that I’m not like the city girls who take off. I understand what Cassie was getting at now. It’s important to me to show him I’ll stay. I want to see that happy look on his face all the time.

  Every day of my life.

  I mull this startling revelation over as we sit by the campfire listening to the sizzling of the fish on the grill and the calls of the wild life echoing across the lake in the retiring sun. Once it’s cooked, we enjoy a succulent dinner. I lean back against the tree trunk and rub my stomach.

  “Yummy. Food always taste so good eaten in the open air.”

  He nods. “Especially when it comes from the fruits of your own labor.”

  I smile at his phrasing. Then sit up. His words give me an idea.

  “Speaking of labor. You know how I’ve been searching for a heavy framed greenhouse so I can grow all year round? Well, I think I’ve found one, but I need it hauled in and winterized. I thought maybe you can recommend someone to help with that.”

  His face lights up and he tips his Stetson to fix me with his olive stare. “You’re that committed? You’re ready to sink your funds into winterizing first time around? You sure? Wyoming winters are pretty tough, you know.”

  “You think I don’t know that. Remember, I did my research.” I sit up further, put my hands on my hips and square up to him. “So what? You think maybe I’m just playing at all this? That I’ll head on back to the city when winter sets in?” I square up to him some more. “That maybe I’m playing at us?”

  “Maybe.” But he’s got that real happy look on his face again.

  I challenge him with a wide grin. “Can you recommend someone or not?”

  He grins even wider and gathers me into his arms. “I sure can,” he tells me before he kisses me into next week.

  Brett

  We pull up behind Cora’s bungalow. It’s late but I can see her clearly on account of the full moon. She gave me a pretty good signal up at the lake. All that talk about not being a city girl anymore. I get what she’s trying to tell me. It’s about more than just her business. But I want to her say it outright. I need to be sure she wants this as much as I do

  “Will I come in for a bit, hon?” I ask her.

  She smiles at me, nods and takes the hand I offer. She’s hot and trembling beside me. I put my arm round her and pull her into me.

  “Brett,” she asks into my chest. “Do you think maybe…,” she takes a deep breath and asks me in a rush, “…maybe you could stay over?”

  I pull her close and kiss her hair. My pulse hammers and my heart tenses. This is what I’ve been waiting to hear. “You want me to, Cora?”

  She nods, her eyes are big as she waits for my answer.

  My voice is a husky whisper. “I’d like that too, sweetheart.” I pause, moved by the rush of pleasure in her face and body. “Except…”

  Her face falls. “Oh…?”

  “Reckon we should talk about how we feel first. I’m not fooling around here. My feelings, my intentions toward you, are real serious.”

  Cora flushes. “That’s what Cassie said. I get it. Seem
ingly the whole town gets it.” I smile at the faint resentment in her tone. She plays with my shirt and expels a deep breath. “I won’t pretend this isn’t more than I bargained for, Brett. I was thinking just some romance and sexy fun. I wasn’t looking to fall in love.” The last words come out in a rush all jumbled together.

  “Reckon you have, though,” I tell her with conviction.

  She looks down at her hands, straight ahead, and then back at me. “I… I guess I have,” she concedes quietly.

  I let out my breath, haul her over to sit on my lap, and give her a slow, fierce kiss that shakes us both. When I finally let her go, tears are rolling slowly down her cheeks. I kiss them away a little at a time, “You’re not alone in that, Cora. I’m already far gone. I’m all out in love with you.”

  Neither of us speak for a long moment, our breathing the only sound in the truck. Finally I ask, “Got any candles, hon?”

  Cora sniffs. “Um, yeah. Plenty. All different types and scents.”

  “Thought you might.” Reaching across to open the truck door on her side, I tongue her ear wetly. “Looking forward to undressing you in candlelight.”

  Once inside the bungalow, we walk hand in hand toward her bedroom. She opens her cupboard and points to the shelf that holds her candles.

  “Take your pick.”

  “Don’t mind if I do,”

  I grab all of them. There’s at least twenty. I start to spread them around the room. I choose each place carefully, using my firefighter experience to guard against accidents. She looks at me like I’m crazy. I am. About her. I need this to be romantic so she gets how much it means. I want it to be perfect. I grin at her.

  “Get lighting, woman,” I growl, jolting her out of her surprise.

  Together we set up the candles. When we finish, the glow is bright enough to illuminate the love in her eyes. Taking her by the hand, I lean on her mirrored dresser, holding her in front of me so she can see her reflection. I run my finger down the bridge of her nose and tuck a stray, fiery curl behind her ear. She moans when I draw my hand down her body and grab her mound through her jeans. “I’m desperate to discover if the curls here match the hair on your head or your lashes.” I tell her.

  She gives him a sideways look. “Really? That’s what you think about when you imagine me naked?”

  “Damn right. Thought about it that first night when we were sitting out there on my gram’s old couch and every night since.” I keep my hand firmly on the apex between her thighs while I trace her lips and jawline. “You wanna give me a hint?” I ask in low growl.

  She shakes her head. “Nope. You’ll just have to find out for yourself.”

  I don’t need another invitation. I take my time baring her. One garment at a time, I strip her completely. Her curves looks gorgeous in the candlelight. Her body shows me she’s aroused. I gradually uncover her in front of her own mirror while I remain fully clothed. I’ll bet she’s undressed in front of this mirror plenty, but tonight the woman she’ll see is the one reflected in my eyes. I look at her like she’s the most desirable woman on earth. Because. Hot fuck. She is.

  When she’s completely naked in front of me, I reach out and pull on the curls nestled between her thighs. “Flame-colored like your hair, just like I hoped. You know why, hon?”

  I pause, waiting for her answer. She shakes her head.

  I tug gently on her curls, again. “Because then I can watch them turn dark like your lashes when I suck on your clit and make your sweet pussy weep.”

  She sways a bit, so I scoop her up and carry her to the bed. She moans again when I trail my tongue down her throat over her breasts and belly. Taking hold of her hips, I dip down and suck at her throbbing little clit. I take a hell of a long time pleasuring her with my hands, lips, teeth, and tongue.

  “Fuck, Cora, I can’t get enough of you. You taste so good.”

  When I finally finish, her lower curls are darkened, but so are the ones on her head from the moisture and heat of her orgasms. As well as the pulsing heat of both our rampant, heightened hearts.

  Cora

  Brett leaves the wet heat between my thighs and joins me on the bed. Taking me in his arms, he pushes the damp tendrils of my hair from my face. “You taste mighty sweet, Cora. Sure feels good to have you naked in my arms.”

  I mutter my agreement and curl into him for several minutes before recovering enough to make a request. “Feels good to be held naked in your arms, Brett, but fair do’s.” I raise my eyebrow and look his fully clothed body up and down.

  Fair enough,” he agrees. Standing by the bed in front of me, he gives me the show I ache for. Stripping methodically, he reveals his hard, muscular body in the glow of the flickering candles. I watch in wonder at this first revealing of his masculine beauty. At last, he removes his boxers and his erect cock springs free.

  The sight of him sends my heart into my mouth. Heat throbs through me.

  His torso rises and falls with ragged breaths. The passion in his olive stare is so intense, I back away from him across the bed.

  “Going somewhere, babe?”

  I swallow in awe at the wild hammering of my heart. I’ve ached for this moment. Yet here I am backing away from him like a scared virgin. I will my body to stay still. I breathe a sigh of relief when it obeys me. I lick my lips, ogling the muscles of his chest rippling as he closes the space between us.

  Reaching the edge of the bed, he stops and looks down at me with dark eyes. “C’mere, sweetheart,” he commands with a gruff growl.

  I melt, a soft rush of longing invading every pore. I scoot over the sheets to meet his solid strength. He hunkers down to my height, reminding me of the night of the fire when his stare met my eyes with intense concern. I hear labored breaths I realize are my own. Closing my eyes, I slow them. Brett’s warmth is beside me, his own breath frayed.

  He runs his hands down my arms and speaks in my ear. “Open your eyes, love. Look at me.”

  I open them. His look is serious. “I’ve always used protection, before, but with you...”

  I understand what he’s asking. “Me too, I’ve always been safe…and I’m on the pill.”

  He’s close beside me, so close I feel small. His hands ease over my shoulders down my collarbone to massage my breasts, teasing the nipples.

  “It’ll be a first for both of us, then. Flesh to flesh for the very first time. You want that, babe?”

  Excitement fills me. I do want it. I want it so much that there’s no denying how much I want him. I know that now. I don’t hold my feelings back.

  “OMG, yes, I want us to be as close as we possibly can, Brett.”

  I feel his heart hammering in his chest. He clutches my hair, “You’re so beautiful, Cora, and all mine.” He bends my head back to pierce me with his olive stare ablaze with love and lust. “Every part of you, every inch.” He groans and buries his lips in the curve of my neck. “Mine. All mine.”

  “Brett, I need to be yours. Please?”

  Scooping me into his arms, he pulls me under him. I wriggle and spread my legs, encouraging him toward my entrance. He holds me close to his lips on the pillow. The strength of his body holds me still. His breath in my ear sends a sensual shudder from head to toe.

  “Relax, darlin. Gonna cuddle you, hold you, touch every part of you, while I tell you how much I love you, how happy I’m gonna make you, how I’m gonna fill you full of our babies when the time’s right. You want that, sweetheart? You want me hard inside you every day of our lives?

  “Oh, God! Yes, Brett. I want you.”

  “You got me, love.”

  He controls every movement, performing every action in tantalizing slow motion. His hands and mouth linger over every part of me and in turn, he introduces me to every part of him. By the time he spreads my thighs, holding his body poised at my entrance, I’m in such a haze of passion, I almost fail to recognize the words I long to hear. “Open for me, love. Let me in. Let me sink inside you.”

  Spreading, I
welcome his hardness. Little by little, he eases into me. Rising up to meet him, I move my hips into his thrusts. “Brett, you feel so good. So hot and hard and wet. I love the feel of you inside me.”

  He answers me in fast, ragged breaths, holding my hips steady. “Fuck. You’re so sweet and tight, love. Stay still. You feel so good, not sure I can last much longer if you don’t. The feel of just you around me is amazing.”

  “Oh, Brett. I want that, I want you to come. I can’t wait to feel you spurting inside me.”

  He grasps me hard. One hand directs my hips. His other hand guides my lips to his. Mirroring each other’s movements, we ride together. A deep crash of pleasure ripples through me. My core explodes in convulsions that grab his hard shaft. He tightens and explodes his hot seed inside me, joining us completely.

  Epilogue

  Cora

  Founders Weekend.

  I look around the land behind the ranch house Brett has set aside for my nursery. I’m standing inside the vine entwined gazebo we lovingly transported from the bungalow. At only nine-thirty in the morning, the ranch is teeming with townsfolk. Everyone is here to share in the festivities for Founders Weekend. And the re-opening of my nursery. The whole of Garnet Junction, and even a good bunch from Jade Creek, have turned up to support us.

  I’m glad I planned it to coincide with the celebrations. This way it’s a turnout for my business and the festivities. As one of the founding families, the Johnson’s host many of the events. The annual affair brings in loads of tourists. Re-opening during the celebration means my nursery gets to benefit from national exposure. I don’t expect to have the same drop-in business now I’ve moved to the ranch. But that’s okay. I always planned for the bulk of my business to be online. Still, I’m touched that so many townsfolk have turned up.

  I’m also touched at all the help I got to transport the nursery. That’s how I was able to move to the ranch so quickly. Everyone rallied round. All the Johnson family and loads of friends from town came to help.