The Rancher's Redemption

“Yeah?” He kissed her until she couldn’t breathe, and then, with one expert move, rolled them both over until she was the one straddling him. “Better?”

“Much better.” She grinned down at him. “Now if I only had something to tie you up with.”

“I’m not quite ready for that, yet.” He eased his hands free of hers and brought them over his head to grip the headboard. “Will this do?”

“Yes, after I’ve stripped you naked.”

She took her time revealing his glories, the heavy slab of muscle over his chest and shoulders, the visible ridges of his abs, and the dusting of dark hair that narrowed as it went down his stomach to his groin. He didn’t complain about her slowness, the only evidence of his impatience in the rising curve of his shaft and his harried breathing.

She took her panties off and settled over his stomach, her thighs gripping his hips, and moaned with pleasure at the rigid heat and slickness now pressed against her softness.

“You’re leaving your dress on?” he asked hoarsely.

“No.” She smiled sweetly at him.

“Can I help you take it off?”

“No, again.” She pointed at him. “Keep your hands up there, okay?”

He licked his lips; his heavy-lidded gaze focused on her face as she lifted her arms and took off her dress.

“No bra?”

“I don’t always need one.” Lizzie glanced ruefully down at her small boobs. “I have to wear one at work, but other than that? I try not to.”

“Good to know,” Adam said fervently. “May I touch you?”

“Not quite yet.” Lizzie leaned forward until her naked breasts brushed his chest. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him slowly and thoroughly, rocking her hips into the rhythm of her tongue until he groaned her name. She felt way too vulnerable right now, like her skin was supersensitive, and that the slightest hint of uncertainty would destroy the moment.

“Lizzie, I need a condom,” he murmured against her lips.

“Where are they?”

“Bathroom cupboard.”

He grimaced as she peeled herself off him, ran into the bathroom, and came back with the whole box. She helped him ease the condom on, and then raised herself over him, and slid home, gasping as he filled her.

He shifted on the bed, spreading himself more widely so that she sank right down on him. “You still want me to hold onto the headboard, or can I touch you now?”

“Touch me.” Lizzie deliberately squeezed her internal muscles and his eyes almost popped out of his skull. He was hers for a little while and she was determined to enjoy it. “Touch me a lot.”

* * *

Much later, after they’d changed positions a couple of times, used up half the box of condoms, and even dozed off for a while, Adam lay on his back, Lizzie curled up against his side. Her thigh rode his stomach and her hair was tickling his chest. He hadn’t felt this content for years....

“You still awake?” Lizzie whispered.

“Yeah, just thinking too hard.”

“I know how you feel.” She spread her fingers over his chest. “I’ve spent way too many hours of my life recently worrying about Miranda and the Smith family.”

“I was just thinking about something Carlos said to me today,” Adam admitted. “He said he wasn’t going to do any more treatments. I get what he’s saying, but it’s going to be hard to watch him fade away.”

“I can imagine,” Lizzie replied.

“I had to watch Louisa go through the same thing.” He paused, and then let out his thoughts into the intimate darkness and to Lizzie. “But with her, it felt even worse because there were some treatments she could’ve tried, and she chose not to.”

“I remember her talking about that,” Lizzie said.

“It’s a shame neither of us could convince her to at least try,” Adam said. “It made me angry sometimes, and then I hated myself for feeling that way when she was going through so much. But I wanted her to stay with me—to fight for us—and sometimes I felt like she’d accepted her fate, and that I was irrelevant.”

“She wanted to stay with you.” Lizzie stroked his chest. “But near the end she started to believe that she might make it through the pregnancy, and that she’d be leaving you your child.”