Brokenhearted Beauty(Divine Creek Ranch 19)(66)

The flurries of pleasure on the verge of exploding shimmered in her pelvis and she moaned, ready to beg for him to suck her nipples but her voice was stuck in her throat. As if reading her mind, he lifted a hand and squeezed one of her breasts. “So luscious. The perfect size for my hand.” His hot mouth encircled her nipple and the gentle tug accompanied by the soft lapping of his tongue sent her straight to the edge of orgasm. She hung there teetering and panting, waiting for what he’d do next, no longer struggling to move.

“Find the missing piece, fluff,” he murmured as he released her nipple and dragged his chin, with its neatly trimmed beard down her midline past her belly button, straight to her pussy.

One more touch was all it’d take.

“Mmmm,” he hummed and inhaled deeply. “So precious and delicate, fluff.” Warm breath drew a gasp from her a second before his tongue parted her pussy lips. He delved within, slipping into the slick juices welling from her opening all the way up to her clit, and a wild cry tore loose from her throat. The orgasm raged through her like a storm and her body arched and her heart pounded as rapture rained down on her in wave after wave.

“Find the missing piece, fluff,” his voice echoed and the dreamscape shimmered all around her, the sensation of his warm, damp lips on her hip bone the last thing she felt as she struggled to move, to reach for him and finally succeeded, only to find that it was the covers and her body pillow that she was holding on to.

“Patterson!” she cried out into the pale dawn, her body still throbbing from her orgasm, but she was alone.

She flopped on the bed and closed her eyes, drew the covers over her and tried fruitlessly to recapture the feeling of his hands on her body, his lips, his mouth, and his tongue. She arched her back and even though it’d only been a dream, she luxuriated in the way her body hummed. Her wet pussy tingled, and if he’d actually been there, she would’ve begged for him to take her. Her eyes grew misty. “Patterson, I wish you were here so much. I miss you.” The ache was there but it wasn’t debilitating like before.

Full wakefulness came as she recalled his words. “Find the missing piece, fluff.”

She pondered what her subconscious was trying to tell her. What he was trying to tell her. Was this a commentary about her life and the fact that she was currently only living a half-life because of her career? Was it disquiet in her own heart for finally finding those missing pieces of crystal only to pack them away with the rest of her collection, hidden away in boxes where she couldn’t see them or enjoy them? Had the repetitive, excruciating nightmares been a vain attempt to hold on to him, no matter how painful?

“At least it was a different dream and I didn’t wake up crying.” On the contrary, she woke up fresh from an orgasm she’d dreamed Patterson had given her and it hadn’t inspired tears. Instead, she actually felt like getting up, facing the day.

“No—seizing the day, damn it.”

She sang in the shower for the first time in she didn’t know how long, and it was a George Strait tune, too.

She turned on music while the coffeepot gurgled and sang along with Florida Georgia Line and Luke Bryan to “This Is How We Roll” as she fixed her breakfast. She tried to dance sexy like Grace and Charity but gave up when the moves just didn’t come easy to her, glad no one was watching as she lost her balance.

Remembering that the guys were having a visitor later that day only put a slight damper on her mood. She always went in to work on Saturday mornings, regardless of scheduling, and today would be no different. Where the day took her and whether or not she had the guts to go to James and Vincent’s cabin was still anybody’s guess, much like that other important decision she had to make.

Over the last few evenings, she’d filled pages of yellow lined tablet paper with reasons to go and reasons to stay and she was feeling more divided than ever. Her dad hadn’t made it any easier, calling her the day before, on Friday, to see what he could do to cajole her into taking the position in Abilene. Evidently he’d talked to Denny and had felt that the store, the city, the job—even the contractor—were all a perfect match for her. Now he was waiting on an answer just like her men.

Her coffee mug landed on her small dining table. “My men? Since when did I start thinking of them that way?”

To distract herself from all of that, she reviewed her to-do lists, her promotional calendar, and her work agenda until it was time to go. The day promised to be a boiling-hot one, and she was happy she’d be inside for most of it as she trotted down the steps to her car.