Sarah had gone to the rollover and probably hadn’t slept since either.
“Come on, baby girl. Let’s get some shut-eye.”
Her fingers loosened on the back of my shirt, and I led her into her bedroom. Her bed wasn’t made, and I had to assume she’d climbed out for the call. A sleep shirt was on the floor and a bra slung over the footboard.
I sat on the side of bed and got her between my knees and began to undo the button on her jeans. Her hand stilled mine, and I lifted my gaze to look into her pale eyes. I saw my whole world there. We had so much to work out between us, but we would. Later.
“You can’t sleep in these pants,” I murmured. I kept my words soft and gentle. I’d jerked off to the idea of getting her bare more times than I could count, but this wasn’t the time to do anything. “Let’s get you comfortable. Nothing more.”
She let go, and I got the button open, the zipper down. She took over and shimmied the denim down her legs. They caught on her sneakers, and she toed them off, then got rid of her jeans and socks.
Once done she stood in a T-shirt that hit her mid-hip and a pair of pale blue panties, I leaned my forehead against her chest. She was so small, tiny compared to me, that the soft swells of her breasts were a cushion. I breathed her in as I set my hands on the backs of her bare thighs.
It was easy to lift her and turn, settling her into the center of the bed. I stood and set my gun on her nightstand—no kids around for it to be an issue—took off my utility belt, and laid it on top of her dresser. Then I stripped down to my boxers and climbed in beside her, pulled the blankets over us before hooking my arm around her waist and settling her close. I wasn’t satisfied until my arm was her pillow and she was tucked up against my side. One of her legs was over mine.
I sighed. Hard.
Fuck yes.
The room was bright with the midday sun, but I didn’t give a shit. I was too tired to care, and besides, I had my girl in my arms.
“Sleep, baby girl. I’ve got you.”
SARAH
The sound of my shower woke me. I rolled over, my arm reaching out to where Huck had slept. His spot was warm, meaning he hadn’t been up for long. Wiping my eyes, I glanced at the bedside clock. We’d slept for hours. Together.
Just slept.
Being in his arms had been… heaven. I’d felt small and precious. Cared for. Protected. Safe. His dark scent clung to my sheets, and I lifted the pillow he’d used and breathed him in.
Huck.
He was here. He’d come to me when I needed him most. How had he known? How had he just… been there?
I realized it didn’t matter. He was naked and in my shower. Using my rose-scented soap. The corner of my mouth tipped up at the thought of a guy as big and brawny as Huck smelling like me. That made me think of the other night when we’d been in his bed. When, while he hadn’t been stripped bare, he’d been so attentive. I’d left him with a throbbing hard-on and probably a horrible case of blue balls. That had been my plan. To make him realize how much he’d hurt me.
But in reality he hadn’t. He wasn’t the one who’d hurt me.
It had been my dad.
I sat up and pushed my messy hair out of my face.
I’d gone to Huck’s bed wanting revenge. While I’d responded to his touch, consented to it all, it had been given for a purpose. But Huck had been into it. He’d craved me. Gotten hard and eager enough to let me handcuff him to his headboard because he wanted me. He’d eaten me out because my pleasure had been his sole goal.
Huck Manning still desired me as much as I desired him. It was time to make a decision about what I truly wanted from Huck. I’d had six years thinking the worst of him but only a short time to know the truth. I wasn’t who I’d been back then. Neither was Huck. I didn’t really know much about this older version of him.
But I knew him.
Huck Manning was in my shower. Did I want him as much as I had all those years ago? I wasn’t nineteen any longer. Not an innocent young woman who was infatuated with the rugged older cowboy. After what my dad had done, how I’d not gone to Huck and talked to him about Claire, he still wanted me. No guy would wash with rose soap otherwise.
I climbed from the bed and pushed the bathroom door open. Steam billowed over the top of the shower curtain. His boxers were on the yellow bath mat.
I took off my T-shirt, bra, and panties and slid back the shower curtain. I wanted Huck for all the right reasons now. It was time to show him that.
13
SARAH
Sunday night
Huck was naked. Wet. I took in the strong back muscles. Soap bubbles sliding down over his taut butt. He turned. Then my mouth went dry. I stared. I couldn’t help it. I shouldn’t objectify the man by ogling his body.
But… holy shit.
I couldn’t look away from his broad torso, the rock-hard abs. The jutting cock that was thick and long and now aimed straight at me.
He’d been inside me. Once. We’d made out for months, getting hotter and heavier until that night in the
