Page 30 of Roaring Fork Rooker (Roaring Fork Ranch #4)

I pulled back, almost all the way out, before slamming into her again, my hips moving in a relentless, punishing rhythm.

“You like that, don’t you, baby?” I growled. “You like feeling my cock deep inside you, filling you up, making you mine.”

“Yes. You know I do.” Echo nodded, her breath coming in short, sharp gasps.

She wrapped her legs around my waist, and her heels dug into my ass, urging me on. “Please,” she panted.

I didn’t need further encouragement. My fingers dug into her soft flesh as I held her still and pounded into her.

“That’s it, baby,” I groaned, my voice thick with lust and desire. “Take all of me.”

Echo nodded, her eyes locked onto mine, and her pussy gripped my cock like a vice. “Yes,” she moaned, her voice ragged. “I want all of you. I never stopped wanting you.”

I knew she was close, could feel her tension building.

When I made her come for the second time, she convulsed around my cock and her screams filled the room.

But it wasn’t enough. I needed more. I needed everything, and I took it, roaring her name—Maya, not Echo—as my release left me breathless and sated.

I shifted and lay beside her. Our bodies were covered in a sheen of sweat as we both struggled to catch our breath.

“I’m sorry for calling you Maya,” I said a few minutes later.

“It’s okay.”

“Can I ask what made you decide to go by Echo instead?”

“There was a time in my life when I wanted to be someone very different from the girl you knew. I needed a fresh start, so I left Maya behind.”

“I need you to know that I?—”

“Shh.” She pressed her fingers against my lips. “Being with you again was perfect, JW. Just as incredible as I remembered.”

Sex between us had always been wild and passionate. Even the first time, when neither of us knew what we were doing, our bodies innately figured it out. I’d never experienced anything close to it with the few other women I’d been with.

No one was like Echo. No one would ever be. This time, I wouldn’t be so foolish as to let her go. She told me to make her mine again, and I did. Just like she’d made me hers.

The next few weeks fell into a flow that felt surprisingly natural. I split my time between Echo’s house and the guest cabin at Roaring Fork, slowly integrating myself into her daily life while helping at the Roaring Fork.

Echo threw herself back into her work with renewed energy, and I found myself accompanying her to site visits and family meetings when she wanted the support.

Watching her with grieving families, seeing how she balanced compassion with practical help, only deepened my respect for the woman she’d become.

One evening in mid-September, we were walking along the Slate River after dinner when certainty hit me like lightning.

“Echo,” I said, stopping on the path.

She turned, immediately picking up on the change in my tone. “What is it?”

I’d been carrying the small box for a week, waiting for the perfect moment. But standing here, in the place where we’d first confronted our past, where she’d fled from me and later let me explain, I realized there was no moment more perfect than this.

“I love you,” I said, dropping to one knee.

Her hands flew to her mouth. “JW?—”

“I’ve loved you for thirty years. I wasted three decades, believing my obligations were more important than my happiness, than our happiness.” I pulled out the band with a simple solitaire. “I don’t want to waste another day. Marry me, Echo.”

Tears streamed down her face as she looked from it to my face and back again. “Yes,” she whispered. “Yes, of course, yes.”

My hands shook as I slipped the ring onto her finger. When I stood, she launched herself into my arms, kissing me with the same joy I felt.

“I can’t believe this is real,” she said against my lips.

“It’s real. We’re real.” I kissed her again and again. Marveling at feeling whole in a way I hadn’t felt since the night before my mother and I got in my truck and drove away from Crested Butte, not knowing if we’d ever return. “I don’t want to wait, my love. I’ve waited too long already.”

“When?” she asked.

“As soon as possible. I’d marry you tomorrow if I could. Today, if you’d agree.”

“I don’t want to delay or rush, but I want to celebrate our love with our families and friends. I want Kingston to be there. Is that okay?”

“As long as I can kiss you, touch you, and feel your naked body next to mine, we’ll already be married in my mind. When it becomes official, it won’t change anything.”

“It can be a simple ceremony…”

Over the following days, we discovered that “simple” was relative when it came to weddings. Echo had friends and colleagues who’d want to attend. I had the entire Wheaton clan plus my staff from Sangre Vista. Simple could still mean fifty people.

“Where should we have it?” Echo asked one evening as we sat in her living room.

“Wherever you want.”

“That’s not helpful.” She nudged me with her elbow. “I’m serious. This is important.”

I’d been thinking about it, actually. “What about Roaring Fork Ranch?”

Her eyebrows rose. “Really?”

“Unless you’d prefer somewhere else.”

Echo was quiet for a moment, considering. “It would be perfect, JW.” She leaned up to kiss me, and I tasted happiness on her lips. “I love the idea, but we have to check with Flynn and her brothers. They may not want us taking over their ranch for a day.”

I laughed. “Echo, they’ve been plotting to get us together since the Fourth of July, Flynn especially.”

The next day, we drove out to Roaring Fork to present our idea. Flynn took one look at Echo’s ring, and her eyes filled with tears.

“Oh, this is perfect!” she said, pulling us both into a hug. “Getting married here at the ranch will be magical. When are you thinking?”

“Whatever’s practical,” I said. “But as soon as possible.”

“How many people do you anticipate inviting?”

“Maybe fifty,” Echo said.

“The dining hall can easily hold that many. If the weather is nice, the ceremony could be outside…”

Flynn and Echo’s conversation faded into the background as I looked around the room where I’d last seen Patricia alive.

My mom and I had risked one last visit to say goodbye.

But today, I could feel her presence. I could almost hear her voice, saying how happy she was for us.

While my goal had been to complete my promise to her, to ensure her kids were happy and living full lives, I realized now that Flynn’s journey hadn’t been the last. Mine was.