Page 34 of Ropers Can’t Tie Knots (Kissing Ridge Cowboys #3)

twenty-one

Gabe

T he ranch house is quiet when I get home.

Kicking off my boots and juggling the takeout bags, I call out for Hunter. “Hunter? I’m home!”

When no call back comes, I pull out my phone to call him. His truck is in the yard, and he knows I’m bringing dinner. It’s unlike him not to keep me posted if plans change.

Just as I’m about to dial his number, I hear footsteps and a thump upstairs, followed by a curse that I know is Hunter. After leaving the food on the table, I take the stairs to investigate what my husband is up to.

Hunter exits our bedroom and almost crashes into me.

“Shit, you’re home already. I lost track of the time.” He bends to kiss me, and it’s not a quick peck. This is a full-on make-out kiss that leaves me panting…and confused.

“Not that I’m complaining, but, uh…I brought dinner home and…why are you smiling like that?”

“Like what?” Hunter steps in front of me, blocking my way to the bedroom.

“Are you hiding something?”

“Nothing bad. I promise. But we can eat first.” He closes the bedroom door behind him .

“Hunter, I won’t enjoy dinner until I know why you’re acting so weird.”

When Hunter lets go with a genuine laugh, he’s the most breathtaking man I’ve ever seen. His entire aura is happy, not just his facial features. Right now, he radiates happiness like the sun, and I’m directly in its path.

“Sorry. It’s not weird. I’m just really fucking happy.” He smooths his hands down my arms, and for a moment, he looks almost shy. “Let’s have dinner and I’ll explain.”

Together, we go back downstairs and open the containers I brought home.

It’s nothing special. Hunter loves the fried chicken at the grocery store deli, so I grabbed his favourite chicken and one of the pasta salads I love.

Diamond had Hunter’s favourite cheesecake, so I brought that home, too, for later, along with a homemade caramel sauce that sounded too damn good to leave behind.

After dinner, it’s a breeze to clean up, and Hunter suggests we have dessert and tea on the porch swing.

“I’ll never say no to that.”

As he makes the tea, I plate our dessert, and together we settle outside on the swing that’s become one of my favourite things about this place. There’s just something about the peace and togetherness of it that warms my soul in a way no vacation ever could.

“Do you think if I asked Diamond and batted my eyes real nice, he’d make me a whole cheesecake every week? I don’t know what he does to make this so damn fluffy and delicious, but it’s amazing. ”

Hunter hums and closes his eyes as he savours the cheesecake, and I laugh softly. “He calls you…what again? Mr. Hunky? Pretty sure he would if you asked.”

He sets his plate on the side table and takes mine before handing me a mug of tea.

Curling into his side as he pushes us gently, I let myself enjoy this moment.

Once rodeo season starts, we won’t have as many of these evenings together.

If he’s not at a rodeo with Levi, he’ll be teaching at the rodeo school he and Jackson are forming, and while I’m happy he’s found his footing, I’m a little sad to not have these moments as often as I’d like.

“He calls you Mr. Handsome. Maybe you should ask him for me.” Hunter chuckles as he sips his tea.

“Maybe I will.”

“I went to the cemetery after I left your office,” Hunter says softly. “I should’ve done it sooner.”

“Are you okay?”

He drops his head back with a sigh. “Yeah, mostly. I just wish I hadn’t let him get to me the way he did all those years.”

His voice is steeped with regret, and I know it’s hard for him to accept that he can’t change the past, but it sounds like he’s ready to let it go.

“He manipulated you when you were emotionally vulnerable, Hunter. That kind of action isn’t something to shake off lightly, and you shouldn’t feel bad about it.”

From all the stories he’s shared, I’m glad I never met Jeremiah because I’d probably punch him in the face.

“I thanked him.” Hunter lifts his head and cups my cheek with a gentle hand.

“I thanked him for bringing me you. Without you stepping up, I’d never have married you.

But I also forgave him because I think…I think the hatred I carried was affecting all my relationships.

Jackson and the guys tolerated me, but the men I took to bed before you…

” He trails off and slides a thumb across my lips.

“They were quick replacements to lose myself in sex and avoid intimacy.” Hunter’s gaze searches my face, and my breath catches.

This isn’t the same man who left my office. “I was afraid…and then I met you.”

Hunter bends and kisses me, and my free hand clutches his thigh as he kisses me much like he did at my office earlier.

It’s passion and love, and an unspoken promise that I always come first. But there’s something different there, too, and I didn’t think it was possible to be swept up into this man anymore than I already am, but he’s doing it again.

“I didn’t plan on this being a permanent thing, either,” I whisper against his lips. “I just wanted in your pants.” Hunter’s chest rumbles as his hand wanders to the inside of my thigh.

“That can be arranged. Come with me?”

“I’ll go anywhere with you.”

He places our mugs on the table, and he pulls me into the house by the hand. He’s not said a word as we walk upstairs towards the bedroom, and when we pause at the bedroom door, he holds up a finger for me to wait and slips inside.

I don’t know what he's hiding in the bedroom, but I’m counting my lucky stars that it’s me he’s sharing it with. The door peeks open, and Hunter steps aside to let me pass.

“It’s completely cliché, but after everything that happened today, Gabe, I want you to know that I’ll never hurt you again.

Not on purpose at least, and if I do something that breaks your heart…

” He reaches for my hand and brings it to his lips.

“Please call me on it and don’t just let me have what I want. ”

Hunter must have bought out the store’s inventory of battery-operated candles. Every available surface is covered. Tea lights, pillars, and lanterns all cast the room in a romantic glow. Two giant bouquets of flowers, one on each nightstand, sit with white roses and teal carnations.

“These are the flowers we picked for the wedding,” I whisper.

“They are.” His fingers move to my shirt buttons, and I bring my gaze to his.

“I googled romantic ideas because you know I’m not good at this shit and it said flowers and candles.

” His hands slide under my shirt and push it to the floor while I’m still getting my brain to catch up with everything that’s happened today.

“You cared enough to do something special. I’d say you’re doing all right with this shit.” He huffs a laugh, and I place a kiss at the base of his throat. The vibration of his laugh against my lips dies away, replaced by a soft moan.

“I’m so gone for you, counsellor.” Hunter rests his forehead on mine. Our breaths mix between us, and Hunter places his work-roughened hands on the side of my neck. His thumbs stroking my cheeks in the most tender of ways are almost too much to handle.

“Show me.”

He kisses me, sweeping me farther into this love-drenched moment, while his fingers work my pants open. I want nothing more than to have his weight press me into the mattress, but Hunter’s touch signals he’s in no hurry to get there.

From his knees, he pushes my pants and boxers down my legs and rests his head against my thigh.

Calloused fingers trail over my exposed skin, lighting every fuse in my body as my dick swells with every breath of air I take, like it’s connected to my breathing and not the worship of the man in front of me.

Sex with Hunter has been hot. We fuck with unbridled passion or make out like lust-driven teenagers and even get each other off while laughing.

We connect every time, and it’s never disappointing, but there’s a very definite shift when I grip his hair in my hands as he finally parts his lips to swallow me down.

Looking down at Hunter with his mouth full of my cock, eyes looking up at me with this…this gratitude? I’ve never seen him like this, and a part of me fears he thinks he has to do this to get me to forgive his actions.

“Doll…” Hunter moans around me, and I lose my train of thought for a moment, but I tug his hair and pull him off my cock. “You know you don’t need to make up for anything, right? I love you just the same as I did this morning.”

He kisses his way up my body until he stands again. His eyes tell me everything I need to know, no matter what his lips might say. “I love you. I love us, and we’re going to make mistakes. Just love me, okay?”

“I’ll love you as long as I breathe, Gabe. Probably even longer.”

“That’s all I need.”

Hunter’s body relaxes, and I know I was right.

He always wants to do the right thing and hates letting people down.

The divorce situation sucks. I won’t deny that I wish I didn’t have to experience that ache as I signed my name, but what matters to me is that he’s my husband.

Obviously, it’s what he wants, too, and while I appreciate the romance, love it, to be honest, I want him ravishing me because he wants to and not for any other reason .

Candles flicker as we let the rest of his clothes hit the floor. His playfulness returns, and I’m once again under the spell of the hot cowboy I never thought I’d have. He pulls me onto the bed with him, our legs tangling until he hitches my leg over his hip and grins against my lips.

“Have I told you lately I love your ass?” His fingers run through my crease, and I shiver.

“I don’t think so, but don’t let me stop you from telling me again.”

Hunter reaches up and pulls a bottle out from under the pillow.

After flipping the cap, he places my hand on my ass cheek.

“Pull it apart for me, beautiful.” Of course I do as he asks, and he squirts a line of cold lube down my ass.

“Sorry about the chill, but you’ll be too hot to care in a few minutes. ”

He tosses the bottle behind me and, because he knows what I like, he wastes no time pushing a finger inside. My hips press into him, and he hovers his mouth over mine. “How many do you want before I have you ride me again, Gabe?”

His lips tease me with quick kisses, and I can taste the caramel sauce from his cheesecake on his tongue.

“More.” It’s all I can pant as he fucks me with his fingers and holds me so tight I can’t even get a hand to my dick.

“I could make you come like this. Do you want that?” He pauses as he slips another inside, and we both groan. He knows all the right spots to make my body keen for more.

“Not this time,” I groan. “I want to come on your cock.” Hunter bites my shoulder with his fingers in my ass, and I moan in frustration. “Please… ”

Hunter lingers, dusting his lips on my neck before he gently rolls me onto my back. He runs his finger through the puddle of pre-cum on my belly with a smirk. “You sure do like that, don’t you? Next time, I’ll remember those toys you teased me with at Christmas.”

We haven’t made time to have proper fun with those yet, and right now I regret it. Hunter rolls off the bed and walks to the closet, leaving me naked and needy on the mattress. The candles cast a glow on his body as he rummages in the closet.

“Picking out tomorrow’s clothes already?” I joke, but it’s breathless and needy, and he looks back over his shoulder.

“More like picking out your attire for the rest of the evening.”

He returns with a giant white box and sets it on the bed before making himself comfortable next to me.

“Open it and put it on, counsellor. You know what to do.”

Not the best time to give me a gift that’s not his dick, but I won’t complain. I lift the lid and my jaw drops.

“No way.” Inside is a cowboy hat, and Hunter’s gaze darkens as I place it on my head.

“I prefer you wearing mine, but you look damn good in a cowboy hat, Gabe. Even with clothes on.” He grins as I scramble over his body. My lips press to his and I kiss him before straddling his hips.

“You are amazing. Every day. All day. I love it.” Smashing my lips to his again, he smiles against them, and I slide my ass back and forth along his dick. “Gimme something to ride, doll.”

He holds himself steady as I sink down on him with an appreciative moan. My fingers splay across his chest, his chest hair coarse under my palms as I adjust to him. The soft scent from the roses and the flickering of the candles couldn’t be more perfect to reflect the softer side of Hunter.

“Christ, Gabe, why do you always feel so good?”

Hunter’s fingers curl into the flesh of my hips, and I bite my lip and sit up. With a hand on my new hat, I roll my hips. “You were made for me, doll.”

He really is.

With one hand on my hat and the other behind me on his thigh, I swivel my hips and let my head fall back as I lose myself to the pleasure that builds.

Digging my knees into the bed, I sit back with both hands on his thighs and ride him like I know he likes. No, that he loves because his lips part and his gaze locks on mine before his eyelids lower and he moans a long, drawn-out sound that fills the room.

“Gabe…fuck…”

His hands roam my chest and thighs, and my breath hitches when he tugs on my balls. “Yeah, counsellor, lose it for me. I want to watch you come apart so bad.”

Hunter wraps his fist around my cock and strokes me with every bounce. It’s so good I don’t want it to end, but the best thing is, I can do it again in a few hours.

“Ah! Oh god…” Hunter wrings my orgasm from me like he wanted, and when I allow myself to open my eyes and sit up, his smirk of satisfaction just gets me.

I lean down to kiss him. My hat bumps the pillow, so I push it up out of the way and swivel my hips as I stare down at Hunter.

His jaw is set tight as he grips the flesh of my hips and punches his hips up, driving himself into me.

His orgasm is hard, his entire body quaking as he pants against my lips .

The candles still flicker as we pant in a sweat-slicked heap, and he brings a shaky hand to my cheek.

“Hell of a ride, counsellor,” he croaks, and I laugh against his lips.

“Must have been the hat.”

We extricate ourselves from each other, and before heading to the shower, I place the hat in the box and survey the room. He went to great lengths to make a romantic setting.

He didn’t need candles and flowers.

He just needs to show up.