The Bad Boy's Bride

We lie there together, sweating and panting, catching our breath. “So much for long and slow.”

Clayton laughs, the sound a rumble in his chest under my ear. “I think we have some energy to work out before we’re capable of long and slow,” he says, slipping out of me and away to deal with the condom. But he’s back in a second, wrapping me in his arms and pulling my back to his chest.

His hands are stroking down my body, helping to ease the lingering aches and pains. It almost seems…strange, after the deep and dominant fucking he just gave me. And the one this morning. But after that one he’d drawn the bath. I’d never experienced that level of both confidence and compassion at once.

Men have always been takers with me. From my father to the few boyfriends that I’ve had, and most recently, Solomon, trying to take what he wanted from me. But Clayton…

He makes my pleasure come first, and he enjoys it. Revels in it. And in the aftermath, he isn’t leaving. He’s staying to take care of me. I feel closer to him in this moment than I can ever remember being to someone else, and that is a little terrifying.

I can’t stop touching him the same way that he’s touching me. Turning over, I face him. I need to see the look on his face. He’s sleepy but content, continuing to drag his fingers over my skin.

God I love the feel of him, and I finally get to explore his abs with my fingers the way I wanted to earlier today. Clayton pulls me in for a long, slow kiss. All it does is warm my body up, but I’m too exhausted to move anything other than my hands.

“I don’t think I’ve seen a more gorgeous pair of legs,” he says roughly, hand wandering down my hip and pulling one of my legs over his. I like the closeness.

“I highly doubt that’s true.”

Clayton’s fingers tighten on my hip. “I know that we don’t know each other very well yet,” he says softly, “but I don’t lie.”

I blush. “Sorry.”

“No reason to apologize,” he says. “Like I said, you don’t know me. But when I give compliments, I mean them.”

“Okay.” I bite my lip. It isn’t easy for me to believe things like that about myself, but I can try.

“So why are you here?”

“At the ranch?”

The corner of his mouth tips up into a smile. “Yeah. As fun as this is, it doesn’t seem like this was your plan back when we last saw each other.”

I shake my head. “No…I—” How do I say this? “I quit my job. I didn’t want to, but I didn’t have a choice. My boss—” I swallow. “He wanted something that I didn’t want to give him, and when I told him no, he tried to ruin my reputation with the rest of the staff. It didn’t work, but I couldn’t stay there.

“I needed to get away for a while, and I wanted to see all of this.” I duck my head. “Though I guess I should have called to make sure that you were okay with it.”

A small smile again. “That would have been nice, but you’re not wrong, you do own half of this place. You have every right to be here.” Then his eyes go hard. “And if that man ever puts his hands on you again, I’ll break those hands so thoroughly he’ll never be able to use them again.”

“How did you—”

“Not hard to guess, even with you leaving out the details,” he says gently.

I stare at him for a moment, knowing what I want to ask, but desperately afraid to. What if he says no? But I don’t have to speak because Clayton is already speaking. He lifts his hand to cradle the side of my face and threads his fingers into my hair. “This isn’t something I expected,” he says quietly.

“Me either.”

“I want to know you, Rachel, if you’ll stay for a while. There’s something between us, and I’m not ready to give it up. We deserve time to figure it out. Maybe finally get to the place where we can do long and slow.”

My stomach flips, and my heart skips a beat. There’s something devastatingly sexy about a man laying out his feelings so plainly. No games, no having to ask questions to get vague hints about what he wants. And I want that too. Already the idea of leaving makes me panic. “I’d like that.”

Clayton rolls on top of me, my leg still wrapped around his hip. But he doesn’t bother to brace himself; he pins me to the bed with his weight. It’s steadying. Comforting. His lips are so close, I’m tempted to kiss him before he pulls back just far enough that I can’t reach.