Timing (360 page)

sure I missed my shot.”

I stopped breathing, and my throat went completely dry. “Why?”

I croaked out.

“’Cause you were gone for so long I… and then I was cold to

you, and I didn’t wanna be, but I couldn’t… help it.”

“You missed me,” I got out, even as my heart started pounding

like a drum.

“I missed my chance ten years ago,” he said slowly, his voice

husky as he cupped my face in his hands. “I will not let that happen

again.”

“You were young, Rand.” I smiled through tears I didn’t realize

had filled my eyes. “Give yourself a break. We both needed time to

grow up.”

“I can’t lose my love twice,” he whispered to me, his jaw

clenching as he spoke, the muscles flexing. “That’s just stupid.”

His love? I just stared at him. It was all I could do. His love?

“Say something.”

I reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck and drew him

down to me. I felt like I was freezing; my teeth were chattering, and I

was trembling, terrified the moment would pass, unbearably happy that

I was there with him.

It was not a smooth Hollywood embrace. I clutched at him,

keeping him close, my hands in his hair, on his back, making sure he

couldn’t get free. When I kissed him, I felt the sigh of pleasure just

come up out of me. I had been holding on for so long, holding it

together and being strong. I didn’t want anyone to feel sorry for me; I

let no one see a trace of uncertainty or fear. There was only my iron

will and my strength, my drive, my purpose.

“I was mad at you for so long,” he said into my hair, holding me

close, pressing me tight against him. “And with wanting you at the

same time… damn.”

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“You should have told me,” I heard myself say, breathing him in,

kissing his throat as he spoke.

He moved me suddenly out to arm’s length, and I smiled in spite

of myself. He was treating me like I belonged to him, and I thought my

heart was going to explode from my chest.

“So where is all your stuff?” he asked me.

“In the house.”

“And where do you work?”

“In Lubbock, with Ben’s dad.”

“Really.”

“Yes, really, I have an office and everything. It’s working out

great.”

He grunted. “That’s quite the drive you have every day, Mr.

Joss.”

“I know.” I smiled big at him, absolutely adoring him. “And your

truck gets shitty gas mileage.”

“Best we get you somethin’ else to drive.”

“That’d be good.”

He was thinking about a lot of things. I could tell as all the

emotions blew across his face. “So.” He cleared his throat, pulling me

close again. “This is where you’re gonna be?”

“Yessir,” I sighed, my cheek against his chest. “If you still want

me.”

He didn’t say a word for several minutes, so even though I was

terrified at what I would see, I stepped out of the embrace and looked

up at his face. His eyes were so dark, and he was just staring down at

me.

“So do you… want me?”

“Do I want you?”

I waited breathlessly.

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Mary Calmes

There was the heat of his breath on my face before he grabbed me

and kissed me like he was a drowning man and I was the air he needed

to breathe. One hand was in my hair, tangled deep as he tugged it

gently back, his other sliding over my ass as he deepened the kiss, his

mouth slanting over mine. It was ravenous, and as he pressed me

tightly to his chest, I felt the shudder that tore through him.

“Please,” I begged him, tearing free, needing it to be clear

between us, “can I stay?’

He lifted his face to the wind, and the breeze blew his hair back

from his face. I watched him take a deep breath, and then he looked

down at me hard. I lost myself in his eyes and heard the prayer in my

head.
Please give me this man. He should be mine. I don’t deserve him,

it’s true; I’ve messed up a million times, and I’ve broken my share of

hearts. But I know the real thing when I see it, and this is it. Give me

the real one. Give me the man I’m going to keep forever.

And then suddenly he smiled, and it was a good one. It lit his eyes

and took my breath away. “Oh, you’re staying,” he beamed down at

me. “You think I’m lettin’ you off this ranch a second time? You’re

mine, you belong to me, and that’s how it’s gonna be, ’cause I ain’t

fixin’ to worry about this no more. We’re done with you bein’

anywhere but right there with me.”

I watched the relief as it washed over his face, saw it lower his

shoulders, smooth out his entire stance. He looked, finally, relaxed, at

ease for the first time in all the years I had known him.

“Go get in my truck and I’ll drive this one in.”

I bolted for the other truck only to be grabbed and yanked back

into the man’s arms. “What?”

He just waited.

And it came to me, what he needed. “I love you, Rand.”

“I love you, Stef.”

I arched an eyebrow for him, and he rolled his eyes before he

shoved me away. I laughed all the way over to the truck.

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211

He made driving the truck and trailer look really easy. I was

scowling when he made it back up to the house from where he had

parked it. His knowing smile was not to be missed.

“You’ll practice,” he said as he came up the steps.

“Like it’s a skill I need to have on my resume,” I said irritably,

walking into the house, letting the screen door bang shut behind me.

I heard the squeak a second time, and he was suddenly all over

me, grabbing me tight, lifting me to press against his chest. I wrapped

him up in my arms and legs, taking the brown cowboy hat off and

putting it on my head as he carried me up the stairs, his hands cupping

my ass.

“I’ll get you a hat,” he said. “It looks good on you with all that

pretty blond hair you got.”

“You just like it because it’s your hat on my head, Holloway. It’s

that simple.”

He growled, leaning in, bumping my chin with his nose so I had

to let my head fall back to give him access to my throat.

I smiled as he licked and bit down my neck, loving how

possessive he was, how he needed to mark me. I kissed his eyes, his

face, his temple, his chin, his throat, and finally his mouth. His smile

fired his eyes, and I did not miss the fact that he couldn’t seem to stop.

When I squirmed free, I backed him up against the wall and made

quick work of his belt buckle, snap, and zipper. The cock I released

was hard, already leaking, and a beautiful sight to behold. I traced the

vein on the side with my tongue, licking, kissing, and breathing in the

scent that was Rand’s alone, spicy, like smoke and rain mixed together.

“God, Stef, don’t… tease, just… oh.”

For the teasing comment, I swallowed him down my throat. He

moaned hoarsely as he bucked into my mouth. Pulling back, I laved the

length of him, making him slick with saliva before sucking faster and

harder, missing no part of him.

“Stef… I can’t… stand,” he barely got out. “I’m gonna come if

you don’t stop.”

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Mary Calmes

I wrapped my slick hand around his penis and jerked him off

while my mouth did wicked things to the flared, throbbing head.

“Fuck,” he roared, grabbing me, lifting me up in one fluid

movement and hurling me down onto the bed.

I watched the quick striptease, unable to tear my eyes away from

each glimpse of golden skin and rippling muscles that he uncovered.

Every inch of the man was gorgeous, and now he belonged only to me.

With a growl, he came down on top of me, and I was very pleased

to have caused such a violent, visceral reaction. I made him crazy, and

that was very good.

“Get your clothes off and wrap your legs around me.”

I made quick work of my jeans and T-shirt, and in seconds I was

naked under the man of my dreams. I watched him squeeze lube into

his palm, and seconds later I felt his fingers slide between my ass

cheeks. When the first finger slid inside me, I sank down on it.

“Don’t do that,” he cautioned me, “unless you want another.”

“Please.”

He caught his breath as he added two more fingers to my

quivering, needy hole, and groaned as I rose and lowered myself on

them.

“Jesus, Stef,” he groaned. “You’re so beautiful.”

“Show me.”

“Shit… it ain’t gonna be… it can’t be—”

“Slow?” I asked him, smiling playfully.

“Yeah, I can’t—I missed you, and—”

“I got it, cowboy,” I told him, my eyes narrowed in half. “Fuck

me through the mattress.”

He let out a low, primal groan before he withdrew his fingers and

gripped my thighs as he parted them, lifting my knees up over his arms,

angling me against him.

I felt the head of his shaft against my fluttering passage for a

second before he buried himself inside me deep and hard. Arching up

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213

off the bed at the same time he pounded down into me, I had him

further inside than ever before.

“Fuck, Stef!”

I clutched at him with arms and legs as he plunged in and out of

my body, bent over me, one hand fisted on my cock. He supported all

his weight on his other as he thrust into me, shifting his angle so he slid

over my prostate with each new lunge.

There was no other way for me to show him how I felt about him,

how much I craved him, how I needed him, how much I loved him and

wanted to be with him always. Words were meaningless in the face of

passion.

“Christ, Stef, you feel so good.”

He was filling me, stretching me as most other men could not, his

thick shaft causing my muscles to grip him tightly. The hammering

thrusts built heat inside me, sizzling up my spine until I was ready to

explode.

“Come for me, Stef,” he whispered into my ear, his breath wet

and hot.

I yelled myself hoarse when my back bowed, and just for a

second, I thought I died before euphoria infused every cell of my body.

My shuddering orgasm, my muscles bearing down on him, clenching

tightly, proved more than he could take. He thrust to the hilt one final

time, and I felt liquid heat fill me, overflow me, and run down the

inside of my thighs. He collapsed on top of me, pressing me down into

the bed.

“Kiss me.”

The demand made, I lifted my head for his blistering kiss. He bit

and sucked and devoured my mouth, his tongue tangling with mine as I

returned all the heat I was given. In me, he did not have a passive

partner, and I could tell he loved it.

“You were made just for me,” he said, leaning back and panting,

staring down into my face. “Only for me… this is gonna be a forever

thing, Stef, me and you.”

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Mary Calmes

“Me and you,” I agreed, offering up my heart to him. “I’m not

gonna run away. I don’t want to. I’ll stay as long as you want me.”

“Then you’re done, ’cause like I said—I want the forever.”

“I’ll try not to make you crazy.”

“Don’t do that,” he said, rolling off of me, pulling me sideways

into his arms. “I don’t want you to change. I like you just how you are.”

“I love the ranch, Rand,” I said, coiling around him.

“I know you do,” he said, holding me tight, close to his heart.

“It’s one of the many reasons I can’t live without you.”

His words, his actions, filled me with peace. It was so good to be

home.

MARY CALMES currently lives in Honolulu, Hawaii, with her

husband and two children and hopes to eventually move off the rock to

a place where her children can experience fall and even winter. She

graduated from the University of the Pacific (ironic) in Stockton,

California, with a bachelor’s degree in English literature. Due to the

fact that it is English lit and not English grammar, do not ask her to

point out a clause for you, as it will so not happen. She loves writing,

becoming immersed in the process, and falling into the work. She can

even tell you what her characters smell like. She works at a copy store

but has been unable to incorporate that into a book… yet. She also buys

way too many books on Amazon.