Page 36 of Knot Her Cowboys (Big Sky Omegas #2)

C ooper’s thundering footsteps up the stairs were almost as loud as my heart pounding in my ears.

Mine.

Mine .

He always had been and he always would be.

Cooper swept in like a storm and my feet were off the ground before I could blink, locking behind his back as he spun and pressed me against the door. I’d dreamed of him touching me like this more times than I could count.

Was it actually real this time?

The grip of his hands on the back of my thighs had me hissing, a sharp burn from all those fucking splinters reminding me that I was indeed rooted in reality right now.

“Shit, sorry.” Cooper adjusted, using the pressure of his hips between my thighs and the wrap of my limbs around him to keep me where I was. “Did I hurt you?”

I held on tight, afraid that if I let go, he might vanish. “Not your fault the fence bit me.” My attempt to tug him closer for another kiss was met with him planting his forehead to mine.

He let out a shuddering breath. “If we’re doing this, you can’t leave again, but if you need to, we go together. That means all of us. If you still love me, either we choose each other or we don’t. I can’t live in limbo.”

“No limbo,” I promised. “We were never meant to be apart, and I don’t want to let the past steal my future.”

“You’re not going to run?”

“No. I’m sorry I was too scared to come back sooner.” I shivered, tucking myself tighter against him, running the tip of my nose along his throat, refamiliarizing myself with him. “I’ve loved you since the day we met and I’ll love you ’til the day I die. Nothing is ever going to change that.”

His mouth on mine unlocked a thousand memories, a thousand kisses I’d tucked away to keep me going on my loneliest days.

He moved with more surety than he used to.

We were different people now, more confident, stronger, and more experienced than the last time we’d been tangled up in each other, but the love was the same.

How had I ever let him go?

How had I convinced myself a life without him was possible?

Cooper was inevitable, a bright shining ending I would always make my way back to.

It didn’t hurt that he came with men who treated me well, who wanted me to be a part of their lives.

Cash’s love was like the sun: bright, searing, and impossible to ignore.

Dakota and Levi were softer, steadier, a peaceful haven among the chaos that was Cash and Cooper.

Cooper’s love was closer to a tattoo, something indelibly part of me, something I would carry forever.

He brought me over to the bed and I sprawled back among the plush covers. I laughed as I sank into them.

“What?” he asked.

“Is this the first actual bed we’re ever going to fuck in?”

Cooper barked a laugh. “Might be.”

The lack of a proper bed had never stopped us.

Neither of our homes had been safe enough to risk a liaison there, but teenage hormones were a veritable freight train even before either of us had presented or had any idea we were scent matches.

Truck beds, barns, tents, or any available surface had sufficed.

Anything worked so long as we got to touch each other.

Still, I wasn’t going to balk at the luxury of us finally being somewhere safe enough we could indulge like this.

No rush, no worries about who might find us, just basking in the moment.

I dragged his mouth back to mine, determined to memorize how he tasted now that he was a grown alpha. My purr was so loud Cooper broke away, chuckling.

“Happy to be here?”

“Never been happier.” I reached for him again, but he pinned both my wrists to the bed, sending an extra spiral of fervent desire rocking through me.

Cooper patted the rope at his hip, his gaze sliding from me and up to the crossbeams of the headboard.

“You want to tie me up, cowboy?”

“Depends on if you like that sort of thing.”

“I thought it was pretty established in our history that I’m down for anything with you.”

“Maybe so, but I would rather you tell me who you are today. We’re not the same people in the same situation. Tell me what you like.”

“You. I haven’t been tied up before, but I trust you.”

His purr erupted. “Good to know. How flexible are you? I don’t want you to pull something with what I have planned.”

“I haven’t stretched today yet, but—” I scooted up the bed and used the crossbeams to bring my legs up, hooking my toes beneath them. “Is this enough for what you had in mind?”

Cooper looked like he was ready to devour me whole.

He set the rope on the bed, moving to strip off his shirt before my pout stopped him halfway through.

I crawled across the covers and took over.

Cooper was a present to be unwrapped, and I let my hands trace over every defined ridge, exploring muscles that hadn’t been quite this developed before I’d left.

He looked like his soul about left his body when I hooked my fingers behind his belt and yanked him closer, lifting my face for another kiss. It was intoxicating as hell when the person you were with was just as desperate for you as you were for them.

This whole pack were practically professionals at making me feel wanted.

Cooper consumed my needy little sounds while we wrestled open the buttons and zippers on each other’s clothes.

Shirts flew through the air, my bra quickly following before Cooper flipped me back to yank off my shorts and panties.

He shucked his remaining clothes and climbed over me.

I tried pulling him down so I could experience every glorious inch of bare skin, but instead he took advantage of me koala-clinging to him, bringing us to the head of the bed.

I held my breath as he made quick work with the rope, binding my wrists first, and then brought my feet overhead to tie my ankles to the pine beams that made up the headboard. He sat back to look at me with so much fire in his eyes I could’ve combusted on the spot.

“Test the hold.” He observed silently while I tugged on the ropes, finding myself firmly secured. “Nothing cutting off circulation? No horrible flashbacks to contend with?”

I shook my head. I didn’t want to think about the multitude of times I had been tied to something as punishment growing up, so I ruthlessly shoved those memories away, trusting that Cooper knew what he was doing.

“Good. Tell me if that changes.”

Before I could inquire what the actual plan was, Cooper dipped his mouth to my cunt.

Panting replaced words in a heartbeat.

“Cooper, fuck .” I tensed in my bindings, digging my nails into the wood. He took his sweet time. I couldn’t blame him for that when there was nothing speeding him along.

He hummed softly, his tongue leisurely carrying me to the edge until I was shaking.

“Cooper, please, I’m so close.”

He pulled away with a mischievous smile.

My frustrated whimper only made that smile grow.

“That’s one.”

“One?”

“Eleven more to go.”

“What?” I blinked, confused.

“Just sharing a little of the frustration I’ve experienced. You get to have one trip to the edge for every year you were gone. I’ll give you what you want after that, but only if you beg.”

I absorbed his words one by one, my breathing turning shallow.

That much edging might kill me. I couldn’t stop my pout as I forced myself to relax.

“That’s really fucking mean, Cooper, but I accept that I deserve it, and I’ll take it if it’ll make you feel better.

It won’t take me ’til the end to start begging, though. ”

“I know.” His grin was wolfish. “Patience was never one of your virtues. Wait here while I wash the horse off my hands.”

He said it like I had any choice in the matter. I waited, shivering, listening to the water run, my whole body taut. If this was what Cooper needed, I would endure every glorious touch even knowing he was deliberately going to leave me unsatisfied until I was a mess of slick and desperation.

Cooper could touch me any way he wanted.

His return had a gush of slick dripping out of me, his gaze snaring on it. “Excited to see me?”

“ Yes .” I whimpered. Now that I’d put myself in this vulnerable position, the distance between us was pure torture.

Luckily, despite his intentions, he didn’t seem inclined to that scale of suffering. He traced his fingers down the backs of my legs, smiling when he hit the ticklish spot behind my knees. His touch continued onward, searching for my reactions.

The first plunge of his fingers inside me had me lifting my hips off the bed, using my toes braced on the headboard to boost myself. His pace was frustratingly slow.

“ Cooper ,” I snapped.

“Hmm?” His quiet questioning hum was so full of smugness I could hardly stand it. “Ready to beg already?”

I growled instead, pressing my lips together.

Cooper was stubborn. I just needed to ride this out, and who cared if I didn’t get to come?

Having his hands on me was good enough for now.

Patience was never something I’d had to cultivate with him.

When you could only spare ten minutes at a time before people noticed you were gone, speed became essential.

I kept my mouth shut as he slowly carried me up the peak, hoping he might not be paying enough attention. The hot second my pussy clamped down on his fingers, he withdrew.

“Fucking hell,” I whimpered.

“Two.”

“You don’t have to sound so proud of yourself,” I grumbled.

“No? I shouldn’t be proud that you’d have broken for me twice already if I let you?”

My pout formed again without my permission. “You’ve gotten mean in your old age.”

“We’re the same age,” he said with a laugh, his fingers returning to their work. “And anyway, it’s not mean. I’m going to let you come eventually.”

He hit a spot that had my eyes rolling back, my nails digging into the headboard.

“You look so beautiful when you’re about to lose it.” He ground his thumb against my clit until my hips lifted off the bed, trying to chase the pleasure I knew he wouldn’t let me have. He pulled away again and I melted onto the sheets with a pathetic whine. “Three.”

Getting to twelve was definitely going to kill me.

“Twelve is too many.”

Cooper laughed, leaning over me, gently rocking his cock over my clit as he dipped down to kiss me. “Twelve is generous. I could’ve said one for every month you were away, every day , every hour I craved you and couldn’t have you. Should I choose one of those instead?”

I shook my head frantically. “You know what? Twelve sounds great.”

“I thought so.” He kissed me again, stroking my clit. “Now be a good girl and let me play with you.”