Page 15 of Her Boss, Her Rancher: Sunrise On The Ranch

They were simple words of praise from a complicated man, and the offerings meant the world to her. But soon she gave up trying to hear him as he worked her body like a master painter worked a canvas, taking it from a blank slate to the very thing it had always been meant to be. She was obviously supposed to be wanton under his touch, and that’s just what she became. Writhing madly, she urged him to move faster and cursed him in frustration.

He chuckled—chuckled!—and suggested she slow down.

“I don’twantslow,” she ground out even as she pushed at him.

His movements slowed even more. “Don’t tell me what you want, Emmaline Graystone. I want your deepest desires, darkest cravings, the things you can’t live without,” he demanded in a voice that was accompanied by a commanding thrust of his hips.

She mewled, fighting to find her voice, to admit what she most craved. But her voice wouldn’t come.

He drove into her harder, only to slow down as the sensations she craved began to build, layering one atop another. “Answer me, Emma.”

“I need to let go!”

He released every ounce of restraint he’d shown her. He tightened his grip and pushed into her, bringing her release rushing to the surface, the flood of pleasure rippling through her core in waves.

As lightning continued to flash and thunder rolled, wind whipped through the trees and made the rain sting everywhere it struck her bared skin.

He bent his knees and wedded her bare back to his chest, thrusting up into her. Then he slipped his fingers into her core and found her swollen clitoris. She came apart in his arms again.

Head thrown back, she opened her mouth and cried out into the deluge of rain.

He held her to him as he thrust once, twice, a third time, and then let loose what could only be called a roar of satisfaction.

She shook as he did, her legs giving out and leaving him to support her.

Cade scrambled to get ahold of her rain-slicked skin, finally shifting her around and settling her on the tailgate in a lumbering, far less graceful maneuver than he’d pulled earlier.

Settling between her legs, he rested his forehead against hers. His hot breath skated over her chilled skin. With infinite tenderness that surprised her, he ran his hands through her hair and simply held their heads together. Then he retrieved his hat and settled it on her head, smiling as she was forced to tilt the brim up in order to see him.

“You definitely earned the right to wear that,” he murmured, zipping his pants.

“What right?”

“A cowboy never lets anyone wear his hat.Anyone. Unless it’s a woman he wants to bed or has bedded. It’s a...” He searched for the words, his brow creasing. “Not sure what it is, really. Not a tradition. Just a thing, I guess. It’s a way to advertise to other men to keep their hands off his...the woman.”

Emma’s stomach sank a little. As far as she was concerned, this had been a onetime thing between them, a way to burn off the tension so they could work together. It wasn’t some...claiming. She was no one’s territory to mark. The fight to become her own woman in a profession dominated by men had been too long and too brutal to give in now. She claimed herself, and no man had the right to claim any part of her as his territory.

If he actually believed that his slapping his hat on her head marked her as off-limits, he had another think coming. But that could be cleared up later.

Right now? She had to come up with a plausible excuse for the condition in which she was going to arrive at the ranch. She had the distinct suspicion even the best explanation would be transparent.

Then there was the internal voice that grew louder and more certain with each passing day, her initial paranoia quickly becoming outweighed by clear evidence that said her business partner, Michael Anderson, was doing his level best to set her up to fail. If the information made its way back to him that she’d shown up at the Covington ranch looking like she’d been well loved in a tempestuous storm?

Michael would have the ammunition necessary to succeed.

5

AFTERTHEY’DSETthemselves to rights, they worked together to essentially drain the truck cab. Cade had been livid when he’d realized he’d forgotten to put the windows up. There was enough standing water for a goldfish to be quite happy.

Emma had silently rolled with it. Opening a suitcase in the backseat, she’d retrieved dry clothes and dressed without comment.

Cade hadn’t had the option. He’d been forced to fold up the new saddle blanket he’d bought Reagan for her birthday and use it as a seat pad to keep his wet ass off the leather seats. Emma had also used the blanket to dry off and it now smelled of her.

They made their way to the highway at a much less frantic pace. He wasn’t as anxious to get to the ranch now, sure there would be questions about their late arrival and the reason he, at least, was soaked through. He didn’t want to ask Emma to lie about what they’d done, where they’d been or why they were late, but he also didn’t want her subjected to his family’s questioning. He’d end up getting pissed off and affirming what they would all most want to know about Emma—what was she to him?

He’d tell them she was the same to him as she was to them: a contractor and guest.

Liar, his mind whispered.She’s yours.