BUCKED Box Set: A Bull Rider Western Romance (73 page)

She thought about this and I saw her eyes
turn a little bit lighter. “Really?”

I nodded earnestly. “Of course.” I
tightened my grip on her. “Even if we never speak again…you could do pretty
much whatever you want to me and I know, as stupid as it sounds, as long as my
heart is still beating, I am going to do whatever I can to help you…with
whatever you need. I…”

Thank
God I stopped there,
I thought as I felt my breath draw back,
close and quick with the surprise of what I was about to admit. Even though I
was sure by now she knew exactly how I felt about her, there was still no point
in expressing it.

She stepped closer to me and carefully
snaked her arms around my neck before she turned her head to the side. “You
what?”

If we weren’t interrupted then, I might
have actually told her. I found that with her close proximity, I was getting
completely lost in her eyes and I knew for sure that was going to be an issue.
I knew that if I stared too much, I would become completely moldable and she
could probably get me to tell her anything she wanted.

However, instead of me falling into her
trap, the way that her hand moved hit an incredibly sore spot on my neck, and
even though I tried to shift it away without letting her know that I was in so
much pain, a rush of lightheadedness overcame me.

I swayed slightly and heard over the
otherwise deafening, consuming darkness, Valerie yell, “Oh my God! Shawn!” I
felt her hands clasp tightly around my arms.

When I came back to, after the black
curtain that was forming in front of my eyes had opened again, I saw Valerie
and realized that I was leaning against the door, sagging dramatically..

That
would be the second time today a girl had to save my ass…
I
vaguely remembered thinking before I smiled at her and insisted, “I’m
okay…Relax. I’m good.”

She pulled me quickly over to the couch
and had me lay down before she almost reprimanded me, “You aren’t good, Shawn.
You just passed out!”

I could tell by the look on her face that
she was extremely worried, but I had no idea what I was supposed to do to make
her feel better. I nodded. “Okay…But I am feeling better,” I told her and I was
fairly certain that I was being honest with her. I couldn’t actually be sure,
but I was almost positive that not passing out again was an improvement.

“What hurts?” She asked.

I shrugged, feeling slightly woozy again
before I answered her in a silly way, “Everything? Is that an answer?”

This only made her appear more concerned,
though, and I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I was just trying to focus
on whatever it was that was going on with me and not have that black curtain
come over my eyes again. To look at Valerie, you would have thought that I was
dying. “It’s not a very good one!” she exclaimed. “Do you want me to call an
ambulance?”

I could tell that her breath was
heightening and I knew that if we continued to have this conversation, she was
going to start legitimately freaking out and I couldn’t have that. I needed all
of the help I could get maintaining my own composure. I felt sore and I knew
that I was still bleeding a little bit. My head heart and my chest and back
still felt tight from where Zachary had leaned into it.

I didn’t think that anything was broken,
but I did feel as though there were many different ailments going on that I
should probably be cautious of.

I tried to breathe deeply, but realized
that it was fairly painful. I wheezed slightly, but shook my throbbing head in
response to her question, which I was afraid was not convincing. “No. I will be
fine…”

“Are you sure?” She stared at me with an
inquisitive look and I nodded, even though I could tell that my eyes were
scrunching, giving away the amount of pain it took to perform the motion.

After a long moment of consideration from
Valerie, she finally said, “Okay, well at least let me get you some ice.”

“Thank you…” I said, feeling that my cheek
was swollen and my limbs were sore, but by the time she returned, even without
the aspirin that she gave me along with the ice, I was beginning to feel a lot
better.

Apparently all my body needed was rest,
but the other helpful nuggets didn’t hurt that much either.

Chapter
35

Valerie

I was really worried about Shawn. Plus, as
I tended to him and realized exactly what he had done and what he had gone
through for me, I began to feel a little guilty.

There I was, trying to have a conversation
with my mother and glaring at the little bit of noise he was making, all while
he was trying to protect me from what he originally thought was a crazy
ex-boyfriend.

I personally still thought he was crazy,
but Shawn did have a point. However, I still refused to believe that he took
the word of a total stranger to him, without even attempting to know whether or
not it was the truth.

Despite that I was not a fan of violence
and I was horrified by the brutality of their fight, I had seen a side to Shawn
today that made me feel extremely safe with him. As much as I hated to admit
it, while I loved everything about Shawn, I had never thought that he would be
much use if we ever got into trouble.

I was almost certain that this was the
first fight he had gotten in since the second grade and even that didn’t end
well. But this one, even though he came out of it with a few bruises and cuts,
he had done really well, especially against Zachary, who by contrast was always
looking for a way to show the world that he was all man.

It wasn’t that I wanted Shawn to fight for
me, but it was just the knowledge that he would if he needed to made me happy
and caused me to feel a sense of attraction to him that was strange. I had
always thought that Shawn was attractive, but now, that attraction coursed a
little deeper. I didn’t know exactly how to put it into words, but there was
definitely a change and I liked it a lot.

I helped to tend to his wounds and within
an hour, Shawn seemed like he was
 
back
to normal. The swelling had gone down and he was able to move without grimacing
and so I was able to stop feeling so overwhelmingly worried about him.

Instead, I focused on being near him, but
not worrying so much about his health. Yet, there was still a part of me that
watched every single thing he did. I didn’t want to miss any signs that he was
worse off than either of us thought and despite what I would have thought
before this whole terrible situation, Shawn had made it very clear that he
would not tell me if he was in any more pain.

So we watched a movie together and
throughout it, I began to instinctively snuggle closer to him, careful of his
injuries.

By the time the movie was over though, I
was feeling a strong sense of allure. I felt his arms holding me securely,
while his touch gracefully rubbed up and down my back as my head lay on his
chest, listening to the rhythm of his heart. I knew that it was only a matter
of time before I began to feel the pull of his allure.

When the movie was over, I was feeling
extremely needy and just as I had predicted, I felt myself begin to be pulled
into his essence, wrapped up by the spirit that had always enthralled me. I was
ensnared by the charm that had always attracted me to him.

Shawn didn’t even have to say anything.
Just the feel of him, close to me, while the scent and sound of him being close
enough to touch me was an amazing and enthralling feeling and at this moment
especially, I couldn’t get enough.

When the credits rolled on the movie and
we began to arouse from the half-stupor that the movie had cast upon us, I
looked up and caught a glimmer in his eyes.

He smiled at me and I felt my lips part in
a beam back toward him. As I did so, I felt a pressure coursing through my
body, heating and making me feel a tingling sensation.

Suddenly I wanted to kiss him.

The familiarity and exploration of his
face, along with the closeness of our warm and already excited bodies made it
so that no matter what I did, I could not look away from him. I focused on his
lips after a moment, realizing the delight that I had in kissing them once. I
wanted to do it again.

Yet, I also wanted to resist, hoping,
naively that I could overcome the power that Shawn apparently always had and
always would have on me. However, I knew soon enough that was a futile mission.

As though reading my mind, Shawn eased his
way up toward me in a sensual motion. Before I knew it, he was ducking his head
toward me, his lips parted slightly, while his hand came to rest on my face.

Moments later, the “come hither” look that
was in his eye and the expression on his face caused me to turn my head to the
side, readying myself to accept his presence on my lips.

From the first brush of his lips against
my own, as my mouth took in his sweet, familiar taste, all of my anger, all of
my misunderstanding and all of my willpower dissipated. There was only the
desire for his lips to reside on my own, drinking of my drugging nectar, with
his curious tongue easing its way deeply into my mouth.

As I grasped his face with my hand,
bringing him closer as the enthralled excitement encased me, I felt myself
shiver before I was willed forward into his embrace.

The smile that crossed my occupied lips
caused Shawn to allow his lips to linger, before he pulled his head back
carefully to gaze into my eyes once again.

“Oh my God, Valerie,” he exclaimed and
then mindlessly captured my lips again before I had a chance to argue against
him. Feeling his tongue push past my teeth and travel deeply into my mouth once
again, while his hands repositioned so that he could feel my body beneath my
clothes, I realized that there was nothing I was going to do now to stop him. I
repositioned one of my hands on his shoulder, pulling him closer to me, while
my other hand snaked around his neck, my fingers coiling in his shaggy hair.

I felt his neck curve as his lips
mindlessly chased after my own and I let out a shrill laugh as he thrust
forward, landing on top of me on the couch in the opposite direction. Our
hearts were already pounding so fast that I could feel them thumping as they
pounded as one.

Once Shawn was on top of me, he began to
pull my shirt up to expose my breasts and stomach.

I helped him to ease the shirt off of my
head, only breaking the unity of our mouths for a second, and once the shirt
was thrown away, I felt his hands return to my now mostly naked body. They made
their way up and down, caressing my curves and taking in my true entity.

After a few playful strokes however, I
began to feel him claw at my bra hungrily.

I laughed behind his lips and helped him
to remove it. Once again, the second he had thrown the apparatus across the
room, his hands were on me once again, drinking in my satin nakedness. His
mouth continued to massage my lips, which were now plump from the attention.

However, when he slipped his hands easily
onto my breasts, I felt my body convulse with excitement. I smiled and heard
him chuckle as his fingers gathered easily around my breast, causing my nipple
to automatically become taut.

I giggled and grasped his hand, but he
pulled my hand away, before pulling himself back and eagerly removing his
shirt.

Within an instant, his shirt and pants
were gone, revealing the slim, sexy, rampant body that lie underneath.

I also removed my pants, so that we could
relish in the complete and total nakedness of one another.

His broad chest was endearing and his
hair-roughed skin was enticing. Immediately, my hand came up to play with it
and as my fingers began to nestle into him, he smiled and made his way back
down so that he could take part in
 
my
quintessence as well.
 

While Shawn friskily teased my bosom and
ran his hand down my thigh, we melded ourselves into one another and grew
cozier by the minute.

Every second that passed, Shawn seemed to
get braver and more adventurous. My body allowed him to go so far, but every
once and a while he would cause my body to lurch forward from pent up emotion
being released at once, making me yell out and grasp his hand. But eventually,
when he decided to stop teasing my inner-thigh and go right for my womanliness,
even my surprised reaction did not stop him.

He simply chuckled and eased his way
deeper, until I knew that the wetness that I was feeling from his sexual taunts
was now seeping onto his hand. I heard Shawn groan with a sense of excitement
while his fingers wiggled a little as he held me close to him.

I clenched my thighs together for a
moment, but he was persistent and by this time just as immensely turned on as I
was and so, he thrust my legs apart and eased his hand into me with a
domineering force that caused me to scream. I groaned and grasped at his hand
again, while he found my sweet spot.

While he swatted my hand away, I arched my
back, before I felt his other hand curve around my neck and pull my mouth
towards his once again. The wetness of his mouth against my swollen lips caused
me to moan with muted eagerness as he rubbed his hand up and down my
womanliness. He laughed behind my lips and eventually curled his hand up into
my hair, pulling my head back.