Western Dreams (Rescue Me Saga Extras #1) (9 page)

He landed six more lashes and noticed her hands had relaxed on the palms of the cuffs. He stopped, coiled the whip, and walked over to assess her. Dreamy smile on her face, eyes closed, body completely relaxed.

Subspace.

He’d let her float a while before taking her inside the house. After placing a kiss on her lips, he went to the table and laid the whip down. He’d clean it later. First, he wanted to take photos of the outcome of their first whip session to share with her later. He pulled his phone from the back pocket of his jeans, snapped a few shots of her complete back and ass, then some close-ups of the better-defined marks.

Ryder knelt down and removed the chains and spreader bar. Some part of her brain must still be functioning, because her legs remained apart and supporting her. He stood and placed kisses on each of the marks he’d given her. The skin felt warm to his lips where the more recent ones had been made.

Sweet
.

He reached up and untied her suspension cuffs, and she groaned as he lowered her arms. Her eyes fluttered open, but she didn’t focus on him.

Ryder wrapped her in a soft blanket he’d stashed out here earlier and scooped her into his arms.

“Oh!” She grabbed onto his neck.

“Hey, beautiful,” he whispered. “How are you doing?”

Her blissful smile spoke volumes. “Anytime you want to use the whip on me, Sir, you have my permission.”

“I don’t need your permission, do I?”

“True.”

He grinned. “But it was that good, huh?”

“Oh, yes.” Her voice sounded a little mellowed out from the endorphins. Megan tucked her head against his shoulder, and he decided it was time to move this scene into the bedroom. Before he’d come out to join her in the tack room, he’d done some preparation for this part of the evening, knowing how susceptible she was to going into subspace and not wanting to have to be apart from her during this important bonding and aftercare time.

Trying to carry her and open and close doors from the barn to the house was a challenge. When things slowed down around here, he needed to convert Luke’s old office—the second bedroom in the house—into a playroom. The privacy would give them more freedom to explore beyond implements and toys they could easily hide.

Ryder also wanted to install a hot tub and sauna. Man, nothing could invigorate a person faster than running naked from one to the other on a cold winter’s night. He and Megan intended to live here the rest of their lives at this point unless some unforeseen circumstance changed those plans.

After pushing the bedroom door open with his foot, he crossed to the bed, already turned down for her, and laid her down gently. She opened her eyes and looked up at him, patting the other side of the double bed with a smile of invitation. In late summer, Adam had delivered the things they’d stored in his garage along with this antique cherry sleigh bed and matching dresser. He’d told them the set came from his former residence in Five Points and that he no longer needed them, but Ryder suspected he really wanted to help them save a little money on furniture. Megan’s mother had also enlisted Patrick to deliver some things from her childhood home. Megan seemed to enjoy adding these and other special touches to their first home, too.

Ryder smiled down at her and removed his T-shirt before sitting on the edge of the mattress to remove his boots, jeans, and socks. She caressed his back with her foot, but he remembered he hadn’t turned on the music or lit the candles yet.

“Hold that thought, baby.”

He’d cued up a generic instrumental station on satellite radio, having it set to play with the flick of the remote. Soon the strains of a western string arrangement spilled from the speakers. He lit several candles waiting on the bedside table.

“Someone was busy while I was waiting for him in the barn. This is really sweet.”

He didn’t always do the romantic thing, but, dammit, he’d missed her. “If I’d had time to go to town, I’d have bought you fresh flowers and fine chocolates, but I’m afraid the best I could do were these.” From the top of the dresser, he picked up a candy dish filled with dark chocolate chips.

She giggled. “We chocoholics aren’t particular about what shape our chocolate comes in.” She scooped up a handful and popped them into her mouth with a grin.

Shucking his boxers, he picked up his phone again and joined her in bed. “Even though I didn’t have time to go to town, I
did
bring you flowers.”

She glanced around the room, then cocked her head as she met his gaze. “You did?”

Ryder held up his smartphone and clicked on the photo app, scrolling back past the photos he’d just taken in the barn to the ones he wanted to share with her now. “I most certainly did. First, I wanted you to have these purple asters.”

He showed her the photo of the yellow-centered asters he’d spotted near one of the fence posts he and Luke were working by.

“They’re beautiful! Ryder!” When she met his gaze, he thought her eyes had become a little misty. “That’s the sweetest, most beautiful bouquet a girl could ever receive. Knowing that you were thinking about me while out there working those long days touches me even more.”

He leaned over and placed a kiss on her lips, delving inside her chocolaty mouth. He pulled away and smiled. “Baby, you’re about
all
I’ve been thinking about out there.” He lifted the phone again. “But wait, I found some others, too.”

He showed her clumps of fringed sage, sorrel, and paintbrush. “That last one was down by the creek where Luke and I had lunch today while the horses drank.”

Megan cleared her throat. “This is so much better than a store-bought bouquet, Ryder.”

Pleased that she didn’t find it too hokey, he smiled as she climbed on top of him, bent down and braced herself on her palms, and gave him a soulful kiss.

When she pulled away to sit upright, he reached up to latch onto her nipples. “Where do you think you’re going, Mrs. Wilson?”

Her gaze grew smoky. “Oh, I’m not going anywhere, Mr. Wilson. I’m afraid you’re stuck with me for the rest of your life.”

He tugged her toward him by the nipples, and she adjusted herself to where his hard-on pressed against her opening. He gripped her by the hips and lifted his hips to enter her, feeling the warmth of her body envelop him.

“It’s good to be home, Red.”

Luke & Cassie:
Moonlight Dreams

L
uke pulled his Silverado into his spot in the lean-to next to the alpaca shed and entered the house through the mudroom. The past few days he’d come home so late that his early-riser wife was already in bed. At least Ryder had helped speed up the job or it might have taken him a solid week.

“I’m home, Cassie!”

No answer. She must be in the studio. Exiting the cabin’s front entrance, he noticed the snow was falling more steadily now. He took the slippery path to the standalone studio—the only structure to survive the wildfire unscathed last summer—in double time. Thank God she hadn’t lost this building. She poured herself into every piece of artwork she created, but had been forced to leave behind a number of them when she and the girls fled the flames.

He looked forward to spending more time up here alone with her once the snow piled in—both in the cabin and in this studio. There were some projects he’d been thinking about, including one that would involve Cassie. His art had been on the back burner so long, he wasn’t sure he had the creativity anymore. But Cassie inspired him with her dedication to her body of work, and he wanted to share space with her in their studio during the winter months at least.

Inside the studio, he glanced over at her work area but didn’t see any activity. Surely she hadn’t taken a walk in the snow shower. Just when he was about to turn around and head back to the house, he heard the splash of water and walked over to the bank of windows that normally would show evergreens and distant mountain peaks. That was all blurred out as a backdrop to his beautiful bride. Sweet Pea sat half-submerged in her outdoor soaking tub, another survivor of the fire. He’d never forget the first time he’d caught her bathing in it, after the avalanche when they had been snowed in. She’d risen from the steamy water like a goddess or nymph.

She picked up the wooden bath bowl, filled it, and let its contents pour over her back. His little lady might need a bit of help tonight. Shedding his clothes before exiting the studio, he opened the sliding door. A blast of cold air assaulted him, but what pained him more was seeing her body go on alert instantly.

“Just me, darlin’.” He hated that she lived in fear all the time, but at least her nightmares were few and far between now that her rapists had been brought to justice in Peru.

She relaxed almost instantly, turning to smile at him as she gave his naked body the once-over. “You should get in before you freeze something off.” Her pointed look in the direction of his cock made him smile. There was a time when she’d have gladly watched his and every other man’s fall off. Progress.

Cassie scooted to the far end of the oval to make room for him, and he slipped into the cozy tub for two. His sweet wife wasted no time getting onto her knees to close the gap between them, though, straddling his thighs.

“I have missed you, Luke.” She kissed him, tentatively at first then more boldly. He usually let her set the pace, but enjoyed caressing her back in several long strokes before she opened her mouth to him. He reached up to hold the back of her neck tightly before deepening the kiss.

When they broke apart, both were breathing hard. “I guess you have. It sure is good to be home, Sweet Pea.”

Rather than retreat to the other end of the tub again, she turned around and pressed her body against his as they looked out over the snowy scene. The flurry of a few minutes ago seemed to have blown over, leaving behind a winter wonderland. No getting snowed in at this rate. Maybe he’d take most of tomorrow off anyway, though. Ryder probably wanted the same time with Megan, given how hard he’d been working. They’d take what time they could to spend with their wives and not fret about anything other than taking care of the horses and alpacas.

Luke nuzzled Cassie’s ear and her head lolled to the side to give him better access. Tucking her hair behind it, he let his finger trace the shell of her ear before he bent to nibble on the lobe. Her moan told him she liked that, as if he didn’t know just about everything that turned her on by now. He’d spent months becoming familiar with every inch of her body.

As he trailed kisses down the slim column of her neck, his fingertip blazed a trail to her breast, circling the areola until finally closing in on her hard nipple. She stroked his thigh but didn’t have access to his cock in this position. He’d remedy that in a bit.

He pushed her forward slightly to separate them so his lips could gain access to nibble the crook between her shoulder and neck. Another moan and her hand stilled, squeezing his thigh.

She was hotter than a firecracker. Maybe they ought to take a break from lovemaking for a few days every now and then to build up more tension.

Nah
. He’d never succeed in that unless it was absolutely necessary they stay away from each other.

Luke squeezed her breast before his hand roamed over her belly toward her mound. An idea struck him, and he decided tonight would be the night he finally shaved her for the first time. He’d wanted to do so for the longest time.

“How’d you like to try something a little different tonight?”

“Hmm?”

Sounded like she was already in the zone, but he reined her in by stilling his hand. “Focus, darlin’.”

But that could wait. Two of his fingers slid along the curls on her outer lips before the middle one dipped inside her honey pot. Slick. She might be ready, but he wasn’t in any hurry. Pulling out, he slid along the cleft between her lips until he reached her swollen clit hood, lubricating her clit with her juices.

“Oh!
¡Si!
”

He grinned.
Not so fast, darlin’.
The water dissipated the slickness and he stopped stroking her clit for fear of making her sore.

He’d slowly been introducing Cassie to subtle BDSM techniques ever since the night he’d bound her feet on his studio table, although he’d never broached the subject of whether she might consider herself to be submissive. The word held bad connotations for her. At least she enjoyed bondage in the context of art. That was enough for now. Eventually, he’d introduce her to discipline and help her to explore whether she might be interested in more.