Right here in front of me, and she doesn’t even realize how obvious it is.
My hands clench against my thighs, fingers digging in hard enough to leave marks, because I know I shouldn’t go there. I shouldn’t even think about what I’m about to say or where it might lead us. But I’m already drowning in thoughts of her. Might as well pull us both under.
“Read to me, darlin’,” I murmur, and her eyes snap to mine, blinking several times like she’s not sure she heard me right.
“What?”
“You heard me.” I lean back, spreading my legs under the table. “Read to me. Nice and slow.”
“I’m not reading to you.” She tries to laugh it off, but it dies in her throat when she catches the heat in my eyes. “You’re serious?”
“Dead serious,” I say, flexing my hand at my side, already knowing I’m going to regret this when it doesn’t end the way I want it to. “Whatever’s got you wound tight… I want to hear it. I want to feel it in your voice.”
She sits there quietly for a long moment, and I watch her turning it over in her mind. I can practically see the battle happening behind hereyes. One part of her is screaming to run, to stay the hell away from whatever I’m dragging out. The other part can’t help but lean in anyway.
She glances down at the phone resting in her lap, then back up at me, then down again. And before I can hate myself for pushing too far, her voice breaks through the stillness of the kitchen.
“‘I have no idea how long I’ve been asleep, but I wake to the sensation of hands roaming across the bare skin of my stomach and soft kisses trailing around my navel. “Nate,” I whisper his name, recognizing him the moment I feel his touch.’” She suddenly stops, and when I look at her, I see the crack in her usual confidence.
“Keep going,” I encourage, needing more, needing everything.
“‘I’m sorry I’m waking you up, baby, but I need to be inside you.’”
My cock hardens as I imagine slipping my hand into those little sleep shorts, knowing I’d find her wet and wanting and teasing her while she continues to read to me.
“‘You want my fingers or my tongue, baby? Or should I just fuck you senseless until you come around my cock?’”Her breathing’s gone ragged, pulse fluttering in her neck, and she lays her phone flat on the table again, looking at me like she wants to either kill me or climb me.
I drag in a deep breath as her arousal fills the space between us, flooding my senses until it’s the only thing I can think about. My cock’s harder than steel, and we’re locked in place, staring at each other like two animals in heat, drowning in a want we can’t act on.
“I can’t…” She runs shaky fingers through her hair, pushing back from the table with a sudden urgency, standing fast like she needs to get the hell out of here. “I can’t read more… I need…”
I’m moving before I even realize it, closing the distance between us. I reach out, tucking her hair behind her ear, and my knuckles brush against her flushed cheek. It takes everything in me not to fist that soft hair and pull her in until her mouth is on mine.
One more second of her looking at me like that, and I’m done pretending I’m anything but hers.
“I know exactly what you need, and I’d kill to be the one to give it to you. I’d give you everything, darlin’, every piece of me, but we both know why I can’t,” I whisper, my jaw tight with the effort of holdingback. “And as much as I don’t want to walk away from this… I have to.”
Dragging every ounce of willpower I have, I force myself to step back and move past her, knowing that I just crossed a line I should’ve known better than to touch.
Chapter 7
Christian
The sun spillsthrough the towering pines, casting a soft, golden glow over the frost-covered land. The air is crisp enough to make my lungs ache with every inhale, a brutal reminder that Mother Nature’s a cruel bitch when she wants to be.
And yet it’s still my favorite place on earth.
Preston and I are bundled up in flannel and thick jackets. We’re two idiots fighting against a cold that seeps straight to the bone while our breath turns to mist in the early morning air. But none of that matters when there’s work to be done, and the farm never slows down—not in December. Even with the seasonal crew we bring in this time of year, the work never stops. The heavy lifting that leaves your back screaming, the constant maintenance, and the relentless grind of keeping everything running smoothly—it’s a lot to think about, a never-ending list of tasks that pile up faster than I can cross them off.
Thank God for Billy.
My best ranch hand has already stepped in, handling the morning feedings and cattle checks before I even have to ask. He never waits for instructions. He just sees what needs to be done and does it, which means I can focus on everything else instead of worrying about whether the horses are getting their grain on time.
I reach up, shaking the powder loose that clings to the branches, watching it fall like confetti around my shoulders.The trees stand tall all around me, endless rows of evergreens dusted in white, stretching toward the pale morning sky.
Usually, standing here in the quiet morning with my boots planted in the earth is my peace. My sanctuary. But today, I can’t settle. All I can think about is Piper and how I let the animal inside me take control in my kitchen this morning.
The last thing I want is for her to feel uncomfortable around me or to see disgust in her eyes. I’d rather suffer in silence, watching her from across rooms and pretending my heart doesn’t stop beating when she walks by, than risk pushing her so far she never looks my way again.