Her man.
If she was brave enough.
She tried to take a breath, but it caught in her throat. “If…if you leave me—us—again…”
“Never.”
“If you do, I’ll hunt you down and shoot you.”
Seth grinned at her. “I don’t doubt it. But I’ll never leave.” He didn’t ask again, opting instead to silently slip the ring on her finger and then pull her in close after he stood up. She cried into his chest, relief and joy flooding through her, rendering her unable to do anything but fist her left hand, as though the precious symbol of their shared future might fall off her finger and tumble into the dirt.
He left her for a moment, when she could finally stand on her own. Blinking through a haze of tears, she watched him pull a blanket from his saddle bag and spread it out over the flower-covered ground. He took her hand and drew her down with him, threading their fingers together as though he understood her fear, could sense it somehow.
“You’re mine, Rowan,” he declared as his free hand began to unbutton her shirt.
Rowan was lost underneath him, his hand dipping into her bra and freeing her nipple, only to cover it with his lips. “Seth!” she cried and pressed her hands to the back of his head, urging him breathlessly.
He knew what she wanted and delivered a sharp bite, pulling her sensitive flesh into his mouth and sucking hard.
She arched her back as he marked her, first one breast then the other. He finally let go of her hand and kissed and licked her exposed belly as he tugged at the button of her jeans.
As Rowan lay naked, underneath a robin’s-egg-blue sky and surrounded by a sea of wildflowers that whispered in the wind, Seth dipped his head between her thighs and brought her tense, taut body to its first orgasm with his tongue. Rowan understood that she’d always come first with Seth, and more than once, even if it took hours, all day, all night. He’d bring her shuddering to climax after climax, holding off on his own.
She was coherent enough—though just barely—to spread her legs for him, knowing what was coming next, or rather that they were coming next—together.
Seth grinned at her as he pushed down his jeans to his thighs. “There’s my girl,” he said. “Spread a little wider for me. Show me.”
Perhaps spurred on by the husky tone in his voice, or their isolation, hidden as they were by the flowers with no one out here to see them anyway, Rowan bit her lower lip and reached down, tentatively pulling her pussy lips apart, giving him exactly what he’d asked for.
The breeze rustled the lavender and puckered her nipples, exposed as they were. It danced across her swollen clit too, tickling her.
Seth wiped his mouth, lips still glistening from his earlier attentions. “God damn, Rowan. You are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” He had his cock in his hand, rubbing the thick shaft slowly, teasing them both.
Rowan groaned and couldn’t stop herself from lifting her hips into the air. “Seth!” she begged.
“Okay,” he said finally, ending their torment. “Okay.” He lowered himself, guiding the head to her entrance. He pushed in hard, knowing she was aching for him. The sudden clenching response of her body nearly sent her into a second orgasm.
It was too soon, though, for both of them, and Rowan wanted Seth to have as much pleasure as he’d already give her, many times over. She wrapped her legs around him, signaling that she was ready for a rough ride. He pounded into her, again and again, driving them both toward an intense release. Not quite together, but close. And there was always next time, something to strive for, thought Rowan as she held him in her arms, sweat and breath mingling against her bare skin.
Her ring sparkled in the sunlight beating down on them.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
‡
Seth woke just before dawn, as usual, and tried to slip out of bed unnoticed.
Rowan stirred next to him, though, and caught his arm, trying to draw him back.
He leaned over her, planting a soft kiss on her lips.
She groaned. “Don’t go.”
“I have to. And you have to be at work in a few hours anyway. Go back to sleep.”
She frowned but rolled back over, and Seth pulled on a fresh pair of jeans and a clean shirt before he eased the door closed behind him. They’d gotten themselves into a nice little routine over the last few weeks, coordinating their schedules with Rowan’s shifts at work so that they at least had one whole day off together every week.
Seth had fully moved in at this point, sharing half the closet space with her in their shared bedroom. His boots were by the door, next to everyone else’s, and occasionally Mac let him share the remote control at night before bedtime.
He walked quietly past the old man’s closed bedroom door, not because he worried about waking Mac. Seth already knew the old man wasn’t in there. He hadn’t heard the man wake—the large, rambling farmhouse offered a surprising amount of privacy, which made sense because like the Big House at Snake River, it had been designed with a large family in mind.
No, Mac was up before dawn because Mac was always up before dawn, and no heart attack seemed capable of altering the man’s routine.
The floor still creaked, though, and Willow was asleep.
Seth stopped at the little girl’s door and heard the familiar scrape on the wooden floor on the other side. He grasped the knob and pushed it in. Kinka greeted him, happily but silently as he’d learned, just wagging his white, fluffy tail, tongue lolling to the side.
Seth opened the door enough to let the dog head downstairs and snuck into the room on sock feet to pull up the blanket over Willow’s sleeping form. He leaned down and brushed his lips over her cool forehead, careful not to wake her. Someday, of course, there would be questions, so many questions, about dads and stepdads who were really uncles, and it would all be a little complicated, but Seth didn’t care. He loved Willow. And she loved him. And they both loved Court.
It would work itself out as long as they all wanted it to.
At the front door, he let Kinka out and pulled on his boots. He snagged two thermoses from the counter, filled them, and left. Outside, it was chilly, but the sun breaking over the horizon against a clear, bright sky told Seth, even without Austin’s uncanny ability, that it would be a good-weather day.
He fed all three dogs and left their gate open so they could join him at the pasture’s gate. Seth opened it for them, and the three guard dogs yipped with glee as they sped off to find the small portion of the Barlow herd that they enjoyed protecting. The cows had gotten used to their canine companions, and there was little lowing in the field to announce their incoming charge.
In the barn, Seth found his future father-in-law laying down feed for the small but apparently growing menagerie of pets. He saw Seth and put down the feed bag, taking the offered thermos of hot coffee.
“I’ll fix the leaning post on the western side on my way to Snake River,” Seth told him.
Mac nodded. “Sounds good. Tractor blew a fuse, and it’ll take me all day to get in there and replace the damn thing.”
Seth nodded in turn, grateful he didn’t have to be in two places at once.
Mac stuck a finger in the bunny cage and gave the little guy an ear rub.
“It’s different,” said Seth, because neither of them were the type of men to just ignore an elephant.
“Yeah, it is,” said Mac, but he didn’t sound unhappy. Not at all. “Different but good,” the old man declared, nodding to the livestock. “Pair of sheep, pair of cows, pair of horses, and a rabbit,” Mac grunted. “Seems like enough work for any man my age. And she’ll be up in a few hours.”
Mac’s eyes twinkled as he spoke. Seth knew the man loved his long days with his granddaughter. He had five years to catch up on, and Mac Archer was loving every minute of it. “We’re going fishing,” Mac declared.
“Oh, yeah?”
The old man nodded. “Can’t have her just watching that Spongeboob all day.”
Seth laughed. “No, we can’t have that. I’ll bring some of Sofia’s tortillas back tonight. We’ll have fish tacos.”
“Well,” Mac said, draining his thermos. “Sounds like we got a plan. We got work to do.”
He set off for his tractor, and Seth set about saddling up Choctaw, who was reluctant to leave Rafaela, the mare. Seth led him to her stall for a morning nuzzle then swung up into the saddle. He left the Archer place and headed for Snake River, thermos in hand, horse on a loose rein.
Kinka, Jory, and Kono barked when they saw him but didn’t leave their self-appointed posts at the far end of the range, putting themselves between the herd and any predators that might come down out of the mountains.
The trek was short and easy, only a mile to work each and every day, and honestly, Seth was glad to make the commute on horseback. How many men could say they did that? He’d trade his Ford for Choctaw any day.
When he reached the homestead, he tied Choctaw to the old hitching post outside the Big House and headed inside for breakfast. He found everyone gathered at the large table, Sawyer and Court fighting over biscuits, Austin and Walker sitting with their heads together, going over a set of documents. Even Gabe gave him a nod, and Seth was glad that things had gotten mostly back to normal. Though as he glanced at the two empty chairs at either end of the table, he realized normal wasn’t the word. Not normal, but manageable. Things had become manageable. And that was all right with him.