A Breath of Heaven: El Camino Real (11 page)

“Yes, ma’am.” He rose over Abby,
blanketing her with his body, straddling her, supporting himself on his knees
and forearms. With unerring accuracy, he found her mouth in the dark, kissing her
as if he was ravenous for her lips. “Help me. Spread your legs.” The little
scrap of silk that stood between him and the heart of her didn’t do a damn
thing to deter him. He opened the tiny slit and caressed her, spreading the
cream that would ease his entry.

“You know...I’ve never…done this.”

Cade wasn’t surprised. “Oh, baby, I’m
honored to be your first. You’re perfect. Remember?” He took his cock in hand.
“Are you ready for me?”

“Yes. I want you so much.”

He felt her lift her hips slightly. “Help
me. Guide him in.” Together they placed his cock at the opening. Abby let her
fingers linger on his shaft and he trembled at the significance of the moment.
This was more than just sex. This was Abby. He’d dreamed of this moment
forever. “I’ll be gentle, my love.” He pressed in and her warmth enveloped him,
clasping him tight. He sighed at the exquisite relief he felt. His manhood was
wrapped in hot, wet velvet. “God, this is so good. Nothing has ever felt this
good,” he moaned. It was all he could do to keep still. He wanted to plunge in,
to plunder, to ravish, to pound. But this was Abby, so he mastered his
instincts and sought control.

Stretching. Burning. So big. So full.
“Cade,” she whispered. How could she tell him how empty she’d felt? How she’d
longed to feel whole, complete? As he pushed in, she held on to him, both with
her hands and deep within. “I can’t tell you…”

“What, Abby-girl?” He dipped his hips and
pushed further. God, just a bit further. It was hard to think, so he just let
himself feel. But as he sank within her, knowing he was becoming one with the
woman of his dreams, he had an overwhelming sense of rightness. For the first
time...ah, there...to the hilt—he’d come home.

Abby strained to see his face. The
darkness was her cloak, but she longed for cat eyes, to see his beautiful,
precious countenance as he closed his eyes in ecstasy. She could hear his
moans, his groans of satisfaction as he seated himself fully within her,
and—Lord, he began to move. In and out…in and out. She moved with him,
mirroring his moves, holding on to him tightly, trying to keep him inside of
her. Her hands were not still. She rubbed his arms, kneaded his muscles, raked
her nails in erotic patterns on his skin. And all the while, she was
whimpering, straining, arching her body into his and taking every bit of the
passion he would give her. “Cade, Cade, God, Cade,” she groaned as she felt
something building deep inside.

Holding back was impossible. She was a
fever in his blood. Cupping her head in his hands, he kissed her as his hips
pumped, driving his cock in and out of the sweetest pussy he’d ever known. This
was no stranger, no one night-stand, this was no casual affair. This was Abby.
His
Abby. And he wanted her not once, not just for tonight. He wanted her over and
over, forever and ever.

Shivers and sparkles of bliss began to
sizzle and bloom within her vagina. A feeling of desperation overwhelmed her.
She wanted to grab onto him, hold him and never let go. Wrapping her legs
around his hips, she enclosed him, her arms around his neck. The tension in her
pelvis was amazing—the sense that she was about to loosen from the moorings
holding her to this earth and be flung out into the starry night. Cade’s
thrusts became more forceful, he pumped faster, increasing his speed and Abby
began to convulse, her muscles jerking as every part of her sought to be closer
to him, a part of him.

“That’s right, Abby-girl. Come for me.
This is incredible.” Their pants and moans of hunger filled the room.

At that moment, she would have given
anything to see how they looked. He would be magnificent, his big body covering
hers, thrusting between her thighs. The slap of their bodies together was only
fuel for the fire and when he whispered in her ear, “I can’t get enough of
you,” she flew apart, simply exploded and the white-hot perfect bursts of
pleasure took her breath away.

Cade slipped his arms beneath her, lifting
her, plunging inside of her over and over, nipping her neck until he bellowed
and tensed, filling her womb with hot jets of seed. He gasped, whispering words
of praise, his chest heaving. Abby moved her hands lovingly over his body, the
fine sheen of sweat a testimony to his satisfaction. “Are you all right?” She
traced the outline of his mouth with feathery caresses.

Cade buried his face in her neck, his
breathing deep and hard. “I think you may have killed me, but I’ll die happy.”

 A slightly nervous gasp of joy bubbled
from Abby. She’d made love with Cade and the world hadn’t ended! “I’m happy,
too. I’ll never forget this. Thank you, so much.” With a sigh, she settled into
his arms, happier than she could remember being in a long, long time.

“You’re welcome, Abilene.” He put a
teasing note in his voice. He didn’t want to scare her off with how deep his
feelings were. Cade moved to her side and held her for a long time. He thought
about getting up to clean them, but decided a shower could wait ‘til the
morning. Tomorrow, he intended to find answers to some of his questions. Abby’s
fears had to be stemming from something and if it was the fire, he needed to
know. Because there was one thing for damn certain—he had no intention of
letting her slip back into her shell.

* * *

OMG! He was real! Abby held her breath.
She was draped over Cade like a blanket. The morning sun was just filtering
through the curtains as she peeked at the face of the man who’d made love to
her the night before. Goodness! For a second or two she let herself enjoy the
sensation of being nestled against his hard body, wrapped in his arms. Dang,
she couldn’t let herself start to dream. This was only temporary.

Easing from his embrace was hard, in more
ways than one. First, he was big and had her pinned to him in the same hold he
used to take down a steer, his arm around her neck and shoulders, and second,
she didn’t want to move. But she needed to. She needed to get out of bed and
back to her own room before he opened those big black eyes. The dark of night
had hid the flaws on her body which would be starkly apparent in the light of
day.

Taking a huge risk, she placed one very
soft kiss on his chest and began edging her way out of his embrace. He grumbled
a bit in his sleep, let her go and rolled over. Abby breathed a sigh of relief
as she eased out of the bed. As soon as her feet touched the floor, she tiptoed
from the room. As quickly as she could, she showered and dressed. On her way
out, she got a message from Ridge Anderson. He had a prize cow who was having
trouble calving. Abby assured the rancher she was on her way. Taking time to
message her assistant, she left instructions for the morning. On her way out
the door, she thought about leaving Cade a note.
Cade
—damn, just the
thought of him made her smile. Twirling a lock of hair around her finger, Abby
debated on what to say. Finally, she decided to tell the truth—or part of it,
anyway.

Cade

I have to go to work, but I couldn’t leave
without telling you how much last night meant to me. Thank you so much. I will
cherish the memory for as long as I live. Please forgive me for my weird
requests, and believe me, you don’t want to know all of my issues. Ha! But,
thank you. Maybe, if you’re not busy, we could go hunt a Christmas tree
together when I get home. If nothing else, I’d like to see us become the
friends we used to be.

I offer an olive branch and a white flag.
How about it?

Have a good morning. There’s plenty of
breakfast food for you in the fridge.

See you later

Abby

Propping the note up on the bar, she
grabbed her heavy coat and hurried off to help a new life into the world.

* * *

Friends?
Friends?
Cade didn’t feel
like a damn friend. Folding the note and jamming it into his pocket, he poured
a cup of strong coffee. He’d slept better last night with Abby in his arms than
he could ever remember doing so before. The only problem had been waking up alone.
Several times during the night he’d stolen a kiss. When she was sleeping, Abby
was as cuddly as a kitten. And when he’d woken up with morning wood, he’d
reached for the woman he’d dreamed of having in his bed for years and had come
up empty handed. Now, he was determined to find out what the hell was going on,
if he could.

 To get his blood pumping, Cade hiked the
distance from Abby’s cottage to the main house. Walking up to the massive stone
lodge, he kept his hands deep in his pockets. It was warmer than the day he’d
fallen into the pond, but the weather was still dang cold. His breath made a
fleeting cloud as he moved over the frost covered ground. A whooping rumble
announced a helicopter was landing. Cade knew the closer it got to the wedding,
the more guests would begin flying in from all over. As he neared the big
entrance gate, he saw people milling around like bees. The ceremony itself
would be held in the lake pavilion, a large guest house with massive windows
facing the chain of three lakes which decorated the expansive grazing lands
where some of the finest bred horses in Texas roamed free.

“Cade! Over here! Come join us.”

Looking over, he saw Jase and Justice
standing at the entrance to one of the big barns with an attached stable. “Are
you two hiding out?” He happily angled his path and met them outside the corral
gate.

“How did you guess?” Jase grinned. “Come
in here. I got some coffee strong enough to float a pistol. Want a cup?”

“Sounds good.” He stepped into the warmth.
There was a wood stove in the corner and a table to one side that held an old
coffee pot. This was one of his favorite places on the property. When he’d
first come to El Camino, he’d done a lot of hiding out in here with his Dad’s
horse, Whiskey. He remembered Jase and Justice sleeping out here with him and
the horse, doing their best to make him feel less alone. Of course, it had all
been redone after the fire. “I need to talk to you two about something.”

“If it’s about your tuxedo, don’t even
start. I know we’re all going to look like western penguins, but I can’t help
it. This wedding isn’t exactly going my way. I have to write vows.” Jase made a
face. He sat down on a bale of hay, and pointed to another for Cade to sit on.

“Plus, Scout lost out on his ring bearer
position.” Justice laughed and Scout ‘woofed’ when he heard his name called.
Cade held out his hand and the ancient German Shepherd came to greet him.

“Yea.” Jase sighed. “We’d already
rehearsed and everything. He got his feelings hurt.” He knelt down by his dog
and rubbed the old mutt’s ears.

“Are you sure you’re ready to get married,
Jase? You don’t exactly strike me as an eager bridegroom.” Cade asked
sympathetically, hoping he didn’t overstep.

“Hell.” Jase stood up. “I have to take the
plunge sometimes and Pam is hot as hell.”

Justice took his hat off and ran a hand
through his hair. “I’m gonna bite my tongue, since I’m the best man and all.”

Cade decided not to voice his opinion
either. ‘Hot’ was important, but there had to be more to a relationship than sex.
He had to grin. He and Abby had more than sex—they wrangled, locked horns—hell,
it was exciting and thrilling. Plus, he respected her, a lot. Life with Abby
would never be boring. “I wish you all the best, Jase. You know that.”

“Thanks, now what did you want to talk
about?”

“Abby.” He said the word like it explained
everything.

Jase guffawed. “We can’t be held
responsible if she accosted you or performed any type of Chinese water torture
on you, buddy.”

Cade didn’t say anything and Justice
tensed, eyes narrowing. “What’s going on?”

“Well, I—” Cade began, uncertain as to how
to approach a subject he found difficult to bring up with her brothers.

“Hold on.” Jase checked his phone. “Damn,
I’m being paged. I’ll catch you two later. I have to greet Great Uncle Felix,
whoever he is.” With a frown, he hurried off.

Justice stood and walked up next to Cade.
“Talk to me, Tallbull. I can sense whatever is on your mind is important.”

Crossing his arms, Cade leaned back
against the wall. “I need to understand why Abby has this stupid idea she’s not
appealing to men.” He thought it might be a good idea if he didn’t admit they’d
slept in the same bed the night before. Justice, however, was more on the ball
than Cade gave him credit for.

The big King squared his shoulders and put
his hands on his hips. “I knew it was a mistake for you to stay at her house.”

“Before we go any further, let me assure
you that I hold Abby in the highest of esteem and my intentions…” He paused and
locked gazes with his friend. “...are entirely honorable.”

“If you hurt her, I swear I’ll—”

“I would cut off my arm before I hurt her.
You know that.” Cade didn’t blink. He’d never been more serious about anything
in his life.