Page 58 of Saving the Rain (Crimson Ridge #4)
“ C ome here.”
Raine’s voice is a low-pitched command filling the front seat of his truck as we pull out of the parking lot.
My heart is in my mouth, and I’m almost certain my brain has melted completely.
I glance at the length of bench seat between us, illuminated in a slow-moving strobe effect of streetlights as we drive by.
My eyes tick up to him, filling the space at the opposite end, with one hand leisurely caressing the steering wheel.
He has an arm hooked up high on the back of the seat and looks every inch a rodeo king.
Raine wants me to nestle there at his side.
For some reason, that sends shivers flying everywhere.
His eyes remain on the road, but he adjusts his weight and clicks his tongue. “There ain’t a question mark on the end of that. Come. Here.”
The truck’s engine purrs into the night as we drive away from town, headed toward the ranch, and it feels like my chest is vibrating at the same speed, caught someplace between being so lost in him and not being used to this sort of treatment.
I huff out a little protest, half-heartedly grumbling as I inch my way over to join him.
“I’m not a girl.” My complaint is wafer-thin. I like it far too much for my sanity as soon as his warmth and big, strong arm becomes a safe place to curl into.
“Oh, that’s right. You’re a cowboy who absolutely, definitely, under no circumstances would ever blush... because that’s not manly .”
I pinch the side of his stomach as he treats me to the faintest hint of his dry sense of humor.
“Shut up.” Wriggling around a little to get more comfortable, I hook one foot up on the seat and let my body sink into his.
Reclining against him, while he drives, and music plays through the stereo.
It feels like we’ve done this before. And, of course, there have been countless times we’ve been stuck in a vehicle together; if anything, I have too many memories to count of us driving somewhere while trapped in silence.
Yet, this particular moment feels . . . comforting.
I mean, my blood is still on fire after that kiss outside the bar. I’m a riot of need and hunger running rampant through my veins. But I also wouldn’t trade this, being tucked in this spot right here, in the crook of his arm, for the world.
There’s an allure hidden in this scenario, the front seat of his truck, of enjoying being with Raine in the quietness. As much as the times when he steals my breath and torments my body in the most delicious and enthralling of ways.
When we pull up at his place, that hammering of my pulse, a flurry of strikes against an anvil, has intensified to the point I feel giddy. Have I ever felt this way? This incredible? With this kind of liquid gold pouring straight into my veins?
I can’t believe this is happening, and it’s as if Raine can read my mind. When we move to get out of the truck, he’s right there waiting for me. Not only does he move like lightning, but without any preamble or explanation, he reaches for my hand.
I’m securely anchored by him—our fingers threaded together—and I shiver at the warmth of his touch intertwined with my own.
My eyes fix on that spot as we walk up the steps, and with every passing second we climb higher; my heart races into the starry night sky above us.
Captivated by the sight of the place where my hand joins with his.
.. the veins, his ink, those corded muscles of his forearm revealed where his shirt has pushed back.
It’s a possessive kind of hold on me, one that leaves an internal battle going on to avoid a bashful little noise escaping.
That calloused, working man’s hold wraps me tight as he unlocks the door and pushes inside, dragging me behind him.
It’s only once he turns on a soft light that our focus flicks in a series of rapid-fire bounces between each other’s eyes, lips, cheeks.
.. we simultaneously digest the other’s appearance, and it’s impossible not to burst out laughing.
Red and charcoal is smeared everywhere, coating his mouth and cheeks. There’s no doubt I’d find the same if I looked in a mirror.
We’re a pair of messes.
Raine shakes his head and plucks at my jacket, reminding me to take it off. I’m thoroughly addicted to the way his lips quirk as he takes in more of the details of the outfit. Leaning a little closer, he flicks the dangling gold cross earring clipped on.
As he does, the pad of his finger grazes my jaw and sends a thud straight to my balls. I could never have imagined the smallest, faintest hint of a touch from this man could have such an impact on my body.
“Can I take a shower to get all this crap off?” Pulling at my hair and all the stickiness gluing it to stand on end, I grimace.
“Can you help me figure out how the hell to get rid of this while you’re at it?” Raine scoffs and circles a palm in front of his demon-eyes.
Trapping my bottom lip under a biting hold, I nod.
This time, with a racing, skittering pulse, I reach for his hand.
He doesn’t pull away. Instead, allows me to lead him to the bathroom, where we end up chest to chest in his shower, scrubbing at costume paint and, in my case, washing my hair to get rid of the gel.
Raine needs a few attempts at the layers coating his eye sockets until all the black has washed away, remnants swirling the drain at our feet. As he does, I’m slowly doing the same, but mostly find myself trapped in a daze, checking him out from behind my fingers.
God, he’s stunning. All those slopes and planes of his muscles become more defined, perfectly highlighted by running water.
I love the way his body isn’t for show, but is strong all the same.
He’s not training for a certain physique, and if anything, the way his stomach holds a little softness while slightly indented at the sides, just makes him even sexier.
I want to run my hands everywhere . So that’s what has me damn well tackling him against the wall with soap.
“Let me do it this time?”
Raine lets his hands drop, then devastates me with a twitch of his lips while leaning back. Those onyx eyes are heavy-lidded as I start to lather over his chest, tracing the path of his broad shoulders and down to those biceps honed by years of ranching.
“You’re really hot,” I breathe as rivulets of water trace over my lips. “Do you even know?”
I can’t look him in the face as I say it.
The whole notion of telling my stepbrother something like that out loud is the kind of madness that should have me snapping out of it.
Hearing those words pass my lips should be the incantation that clears my haze, freeing me from this unhealthy fascination with someone I can’t possibly be so pulled under by, can’t possibly feel such a strong urge to be with.
Yet, nothing approaching that occurs. If anything, all it does is make me want to erase the words step and brother and replace them with something else.
Boyfriend, maybe? I don’t even know. Gnawing the inside of my cheek—watching my hands descend his stomach, following the path the water spray maps out for me—I realize that even that word doesn’t feel right to describe what we are.
It feels too immature, too fleeting, too easily forgotten, as girlfriends and boyfriends tend to be over the course of a lifetime.
“You like my body?” Raine keeps his shoulders against the wall but drags the backs of his fingers up my stomach, starting from the spot where the dusting of hair thickens just above my erection.
We’re both rock-hard but haven’t touched each other properly yet.
I guess knowing that we’ve got all night to indulge our yearning allows me the freedom to explore, and generously adore other parts of him.
Dipping my head forward to kiss the tattoo of the wolf sitting above his heart, I hum softly. “Insanely gorgeous.” The truth of that confession probably isn’t loud enough to be heard over the running water, but I keep my lips pressed against him.
Raine lets his fingers slide up to curl into my washed hair, running up my nape, leaving a scattering of goosebumps flying across my skin in the wake of his caress.
It’s perfectly him, with just enough firmness there to drag me up to his mouth so he can kiss me, while also staying in this gentle place we’ve paused in. .. until this moment.
“Aren’t you cute when you’re horny.” He draws my bottom lip into his mouth to suck down and turns the shower off.
From that point on, we’re ravenous for each other. Towels are only a cursory thing. Hardly stopping to bother with anything like properly drying ourselves, it’s just him and his mouth on me as we stay connected through a hurried stream of passionate kisses, tumbling onto the bed.
When he takes hold of the reins, it’s unquestionably my favorite thing. I’m spread out beneath his bulk, staring up at him as he kneels between my thighs and works my body. With expert hands, he preps me, all while keeping that glittering, hooded gaze locked with mine.
Raine tells me how pretty he thinks I am. How much of a good boy I am. And with each gradual slide of his lubed-up fingers, each time he pushes my knees higher, my body comes alive... just for him.
“Oh fuck. Fffffuck .” I writhe as he finally, fucking finally, closes a fist around my swollen length.
He coats me in lube and treats me to long, drugging pulls from root to tip, before reaching lower to tease my balls.
I’m too easily begging, far too quickly feeding him all the pathetic sounds that I didn’t ever think I would make.
But where his compelling touch is concerned, it always feels mind-altering.
“No girl can give you this, can they?” Something fierce takes over his voice as he strokes me harder from both inside and where his rough handling of my cock works me in slick glides up and down. “No one else can give you what you crave, will they?”