Page 34 of Light on Love
She laughs softly, “what moves do you do? Have you used any on me?”
“Honey, I’m offended that you think I need moves.” She rolls her eyes as Brett pulls her into his arms.“But also, I didn’t care about giving anyone that time or energy since becoming a SEAL, then rancher. Until now.”
Laurel smiles and brushes a kiss across his jaw. “I’m a lucky girl,” she murmurs.
“I don’t think the guys would question if we spent more time setting up in here,” he says, voice low, nuzzling into her neck. Laurel leans her head back, exposing more skin for him to run his tongue up. Brett unbuttons the jacket around her and slides his hands inside as she leans into his touch. Laurel can’t think of a time when she evercravedsomeone, not even once. And now she feels a constant need to have his hands on her.
“If you’re almost done in there, you could come help with the fire and food,” Grey calls from outside.
“Or I was wrong,” Brett says rolling his eyes. He brings his lips to hers, kissing her deeply, slowly dragging his mouth back away. Laurel sighs as he withdrawals his lips from hers.“Later,” he says in promise, buttoning her back into the jacket before they step outside.
—
If Laurel thought sunsets in the mountains were beautiful, the starry night sky was downright spectacular. The sky was obsidian without any lights from a city, or even the compound lights, competing against its darkness. And that darkness made the stars shine brighter than she had ever seen. The five of them were stretched out around the bonfire, the food long ago consumed and the whiskey pulled out shortly after. Laurel leans back into Brett’s side, settling under the arm he has stretched around her. From this angle, she can comfortably take in the lake across the fire and the sky sparkling off the water.
“Is it always like this? The stars?”
Floyd, who was looking up at the stars as well, answers her. “Sure is, out west here, we’re closer to heaven.”
“Never gets old though,” Grey says with a soft smile.
The men begin to chat about the winter forecast, and the sorting, gathering, and weighing of the cattle they are in the midst of. They share their hopes for the numbers they’ll be pulling soon, predicting how the herd bred up this year. Laurel is fascinated by all the details that come with ranching, admiring how much attention to detail they pay to planning for the future.
She never was good at picturing her future. Short term goals seemed to be her specialty. Her focus had been getting out of Massachusetts and then securing a job she felt spoke to her in the moment, even when it came with a one-year trial. And now she’s in a test at the end of that trial, but what does she want? Listening to how the ranchers plan long term, sacrifice when Mother Nature deals them a bad hand, and endure for their passion, she is in awe.
Lately, proving herself to the captain has seemed so trivial. Even with the importance of the actual work she is doing, Laurel feels unsettled by the idea of going back to her old life. Or maybe, it was just unsettling to think about leaving this place, no matter what she was going back to.
Brett squeezes her shoulder. “Where’d you go just now?” he asks in a whisper.
Laurel looks into his eyes, loving how they are ablaze with amber and browns from the fire reflection. She thinks of how they looked this way during that first bonfire, not long after she arrived. The ways she has begun to feel connected to Brett, to the ranch, since then flows through her thoughts. She looks up at him and says, “the life you guys have here, it’s… real.”
He searches her eyes, her last word hanging between them. “Laurel,” he murmurs. “Tell me, what makes a life real?”
She chews on her lip in thought. “You’re not just living for the next day; you have something bigger that matters to you. And you have a place that you feel grateful to… well, to belong to.”
“You’re forgetting the most important thing,” he points out. She waits for him to continue. “Having apersonthat you feel grateful to belong to,” Brett says. Laurel looks up at him, her heartbeat fluttering as he runs the back of his hand along her cheek.
“Life has felt more real having you here, honey. And seeing you out there herding today, when you jumped into that place beside me… it’s like a simple work task that I enjoy usually, it turned into something significantfor me.”
Laurel opens her mouth to respond but the words feel caught in her throat, caught in the lump that has formed.
“Can we go to bed now?” he asks, his eyes glance around the circle of cowboys, as if conveying a wish to finish this conversation in private. She stands and reaches a hand to him. With a wave to the others, she leads him to the tent.
The instant Brett closes the tent’s entrance behind them, he reaches for Laurel, holding her against his solid chest. She loops her arms around his neck and their lips meet in a breathless kiss. She explores his mouth, warm and wet in the crisp, fall night air. She’s desperate to show him how his words just melted her to her core.
Brett runs his hand down until he’s at her waist and undoing her pants. Together, they are a tangle of legs kicking off boots and hands yanking off clothes until they tumble, naked, onto the bed. Brett clutches her, pulling her against him. Laurel rocks her hips forward eagerly, already feeling the tension between her legs at his touch.
She drags her hand down his torso until she’s grasping his cock. Stroking him firmly, she’s spurred on by the wild, devouring look in his eyes. The look that darkens when he watches her bring her mouth lower and wrap around his length. She takes him deep, and he shutters as she glides back up and sucks at the top, flicking her tongue across his sensitive head.Delighted by his response, she pushes deeper again until he is at the back of her throat, moving repeatedly until his fingers are digging into her ass and he whispers that she’s going to make him come. She moves with more urgency when he says this, until Brett finds his release.
The look in his eyes is pure animal hunger when she brings her head back up. He tangles one hand in her hair, the other moving to slide his fingers inside where she needs him most. “As much as your moans and whimpers make me lose my damn mind, you’re going to have to be quiet tonight,” he says gruffly in her ear.
“No promises,” she purrs as he pulls his fingers from her and flips her over, laying her on her stomach.Brett positions his body over her, and slowly drags kisses down her spine.
Laurel shivers at the feeling as he asks, “are you going to be quiet?” She nods as his hands are grasping her and spreading her open to him, driving his tongue in and tasting her once again. She desperately bites down on her fist to stay quiet, strangled moans being blocked by her knuckles. He goes until she reaches completion then sits up on his knees and drives his now hard again cock into her, lifting her hips to him in one swift motion.
Laurel lets out a gasp, her vision blurry from pleasure with each thrust until stars are exploding in her, as bright as those in the night sky outside. Unable to contain it, a whimper escapes her. Brett responds by pushing into her deeper.
“Bad girl,” he grits through clenched teeth, moving faster now.