Page 109 of Homebound

I park my truck and walk up to her, needing to feel the warm reassurance of her body in my arms.

“Guess what?” I whisper into her ear.

She leans back into me, her body fitting perfectly against mine. “You had a quarter-life crisis and bought a boat.”

I laugh into her ear, tugging her closer. “Try again.”

“You… won the lottery on a scratch-off?”

“That’d be nice, but no.”

“Okay, what?” she asks, curious. “Tell me.”

I kiss her very bare, very sweaty shoulder. “You better dust off those chaps because you’re gonna have a PBR scout watching you compete in the Granite Falls rodeo this weekend. Buckle up.”

She drops the watering can to the ground with a dull thud, jerking around to face me. “What?”

I lift a shoulder. “You heard me. You’re riding. I talked to the scout for you, and he agreed.”

She spins around fully, and the most beautiful smile breaks across her face. Dimples and all. She flings herself at me, wrapping her legs around my waist as she climbs onto my chest and squeezes me hard.

“Thank you, Wyatt,” she says, showering kisses all over my face. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! Holy shit. How’d you make that happen?”

I hold her tight. “It just took a little convincing, wasn’t too bad. Let’s just say I complimented the hell out of all the llamas on his farm. I never knew I could talk for hours about how those all-natural, organic mineral feed supplements make their coats shine.”

She laughs at that. “We need to take Vi to the llama farm. I think she’d love the llamas.”

This woman. She’s always thinking about my baby girl.

She pulls back to cradle my cheeks, searching my face for something I hope she finds. “You have no idea how much this means to me. Sometimes, I wonder what I did right to get saddled with a man like you.”

She starts kissing me with hungry lips, and I kiss her back, just as eager. That one sentence eases all my worries about Boone. She moans into my mouth, and I’m hard for her in an instant. My tongue slips between her lips, exploring, teasing, swiping the roof of her mouth, and her happiness quickly turns to need. She tastes like salt and sweat, and the tang of her workout is all over her skin.

I start walking us to the outdoor shower, her legs still wrapped around my waist, every inch of her body pressed against mine. She grinds against me like she needs me to give her some relief, and I will.

“Where are we going?” she whimpers against my lips.

I kiss her sweaty skin. “You need a shower.”

44

SHHH…

DAKOTA

Wyatt drags me beneath the stream of running water, kissing me while he cups the back of my head. I love the dichotomy of Wyatt Patterson. He’s hard, but soft. Rough, but gentle. Dominant, but caring.

Our teeth clink.

Something falls to the ground. A bucket, maybe? Or my self-control.

“I figured we could shower together,” he says, stripping off my bra. “Get nice and clean.”

“I thought you liked me dirty?”

Another teeth knock.

Another smile.