Page 8 of Lonesome Man (The Smith Brothers #4)

I chewed my steak and nodded. “There are Smiths scattered all over these mountains, but I see Beau, Hank, and Cash more than the others. They live farther down the mountain with their wives and kids, and Cash, who you’ve met, his wife, Riley, is actually a writer as well.”

She perked up. “Really?”

I nodded and took another sip of my drink. “She’s a romance author.”

Her brows shot up. “I’m a huge romance reader. What name does she write under?”

“Her maiden name, Riley Lewis.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh my god! I love her books. I’ve read all of them.

” She blinked over at me, looking stunned.

“I was in a plane with Riley Lewis’s husband and I never even knew it.

” She shook her head. “I mean, it’s obvious now that you’ve told me.

She dedicates every book to Cash. Wow, that’s so cool. ”

I couldn’t contain my smile. Seeing her this excited was infectious. “I have most of them as well.” I motioned to my bookshelf with my fork. “If you want, I could get Cash to bring you a signed copy of one of her books when he comes back?”

“Could you really?”

I nodded and winked. “No trouble. Riley loves me.”

She chuckled. “I don’t doubt it. That would be amazing. Thank you.”

I shrugged. “Nothing to it.”

She laughed then, full and throaty and sexy as hell. “You’re just showing off now.”

“Maybe,” I said and grabbed the mason jar I’d brought in with me and held it up.

She nodded, all pink cheeked and eyes bright with happiness and held out her glass for more.

“So what kind of farm did you grow up on?”

Ruth stilled, her shoulders kind of coming up. “We had cattle mainly.”

“Farm life wasn’t for you?”

She sipped her drink. “Nope. I thought it was because I hated the solitude, but…”

When she said no more, I gave her a little nudge. “But?”

She shrugged. “I’m starting to think it was more about the people I was stuck with.”

Maybe I was heading into territory she didn’t want me to go, but I had to ask. “You don’t get on with your parents?”

“More like they didn’t get on with each other…

or more, my father was an abusive asshole and there was no escape.

” Her gaze shot to me, alarm covering her face.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to say that...that wasn’t something I planned to dump on you.

” She shook her head and chuckled awkwardly. “It’s this moonshine.”

Everything in me had frozen; every muscle in my body going rock solid. “Your father was abusive?”

Her gaze was darting around the room, as if she was looking for an escape.

“Ruth, we don’t have to?—”

“This just got really heavy, really quickly. God, you’re probably thinking all kinds of things.

” She shook her head again. “I mean, yes, he was abusive. He liked to hit, mainly my mother, occasionally me, but it sounds worse than it was. Sorry, I don’t know why I shared that. Can we just drop it now?”

My hand beside me had curled into a fist. All I could envision was slamming it into her weak, fucking bastard father’s face. I stretched my fingers out, shoving down my anger, and nodded. “Yeah, of course. I’m sorry, Ruth.”

“No, it’s fine, I’m fine. Really.”

I changed the subject, got us some ice cream for dessert, then I spent the next hour trying to make her laugh by telling her stories about me, Hank, Beau, and Cash when we were kids, the things we got up to when our families got together.

Every time she let loose that musical laugh, it felt like a win.

Ruth was tipsy from the moonshine and, thankfully, a lot more relaxed. She scooped up her last mouthful of dessert, then glanced at me and snort-giggled. I looked down to where she was looking and I realized I’d spilled melted ice cream down the front of my shirt.

“Jesus,” I said, putting down my bowl, then I tugged off my shirt and grabbed a fresh one from the clean laundry basket sitting on the window seat and dropped back down beside her.

I glanced at Ruth and she blinked, then something shifted in her eyes, and she put down her empty bowl and crawled over to me, pressing into my side.

“Hey,” I said, grinning down at her. It was as if she’d read my mind. I’d wanted her closer all fucking night.

She slid her hand up my chest. “I’ve been doing some research,” she said, “you wanna hear what I’ve learned, honey?”

Her voice was a little different, so was the way she was looking at me.

My gaze dropped to her hand on my chest, and I realized I’d put on a black shirt without even thinking about it.

She’d jumped straight into character. No more Ruth looking up at me with that needy expression, this was Libby.

She was fucking hot, sexy, and having her draped over me like this, just her hand on my chest, had me hard for her, but a part of me wished she was still Ruth, that we weren’t playing.

But then she sat up and tugged off her shirt, tossing it on the floor, and before I had a chance to register that, she reached back and unhooked her bra, tossing that aside as well.

“Fuck, darlin’.” I choked, eating up the sight of her.

She ran her hands over those full breasts, cupping them, toying with her nipples. “When you get me pregnant, these”—she massaged the soft mounds and my breath caught in my throat—“they’ll get bigger, and my nipples will darken.” She took one of my hands and placed it on her breast to cup her.

I took over, pushing her hands away and using both of mine. “Yeah, tell me what else,” I choked out, pulled into the scene with her.

She licked her lips. “Because of the increased blood flow, my pussy might change. It could look a little swollen, like we’ve spent a long night fucking.

It’ll be more sensitive as well.” She straddled me and ground against my hard cock while I played with her tits.

“And I’m gonna be so horny, Tuck. Some pregnant women are insatiable.

I’m gonna need my husband to fuck me all the time. ”

Fucking hell, I was panting now, and with that, I was lost, I was right there with her, in a little bubble of make-believe. “While you were away, I stroked myself to thoughts of holding you down and filling you with my come. Of breeding this tight little body over and over again.”

She trembled against me. “I did too.”

I’d wanted inside this woman all day, and I snapped.

Tossing her onto the couch I came down on top of her, relishing the soft curves of her breasts and belly, then taking her wrists, I held them over her head.

“You did this to me, Libby, it’s all your fault.

This curvy little body was made to be fucked, to be bred.

Now I’m going to pump you full of come and you’re going to hold it there inside you, understand me? ”

She nodded, gasping as I held her wrists with my hand and yanked down her pants and underwear with the other. She pulled one leg free of the fabric and wrapped both of her legs around me, while I shakily undid my belt and jeans, freeing my cock.

I didn’t wait. I stared down at her, our eyes locked as I pushed inside her, stuffing her full with one smooth stroke.

“You exist to take my cock, Libs, to get pregnant by me,” I growled, the words coming from a part of me I didn’t know existed, as I began fucking her frantically, like I believed the shit I’d just said, like my life depended on filling her up, on breeding my curvy little wife.

She arched against me. “ Oh god .” Her nails dug into my skin as she clung to me. “Do you have any idea how good you feel inside me without a condom?” She groaned against my ear. “I love it when you come inside me. Please, I need you to come inside me.”

I shuddered and rocked into her harder, faster, then lifted my head and looked down at her. “Because you’re mine, aren’t you, Libby? You’re mine, and once I’ve put a baby inside you, you won’t go anywhere. You’ll never leave me, will you, darlin’?”

She shook her head. “I’ll never leave, never again.”

Then she moaned loudly, and I felt her pussy clutch around me so fucking tight before she came, crying out, gripping rhythmically around my cock and pulling me along with her.

I fucked into her, pounding her like a goddamn barbarian, then I was coming deep inside her, grinding and groaning. “Fucking take it, Libby, take it all and don’t you dare lose one drop.”

She nodded, eyes half lidded, panting, while her legs were locked around me, holding me inside her, making sure she gave me what I asked for.

I lowered my weight, still deep inside her, rocking more gently now, and buried my face in her hair while I tried to catch my breath, but it was hard, because I was fucking shaken.

What the fuck had just come over me? Where the fuck had I gone? I’d been so deep in the scene, I hadn’t seen Ruth beneath me, I’d seen Libby, only Libby, and I didn’t know how to deal with the feelings slamming into me one after another.

So I stayed where I was, and when my cock softened and I slipped out of her, I rolled to my side and held her against me, fucking hiding just how much I was feeling.

Because I realized now, just how much losing Libby had truly broken me.