Page 115 of The Mountain Echoes

He’s hard. I can feel the heat of him through his jeans. I stroke him slowly, savoring the way he groans and thrusts into my grip.

“Jesus, Aria,” he mutters, his voice strained.

He pushes me away, and before I can protest, he’s carrying me.

“Hey!”

“I told you the next time we do this, we do it on a bed.Mine.”

We don’t, thankfully, see anyone on our way to his bedroom. It’s large and masculine in the way that only a real working man’s space can be. He sets me down on the bed, and I sit up, my dress in a disarray.

I like his space. There’s a thick wool rug, Navajo-style, covering part of the hardwood floor near the bed.

The bed is massive. The headboard is carved with worn-in details like it’s seen a few generations. The sheets are soft cotton, tucked clean and tight, and there’s a wool blanket tossed across the foot.

A couple of ball caps hang from hooks on the wall next to an old, framed photo of cattle under a stormy sky.

There’s a bookshelf beside the window that surprisesme—lined with ranch manuals, sure, but also a few novels, poetry even, and one worn spine that I can see is Steinbeck.

The windows are large, trimmed in cedar, and overlook the back pasture. A gun safe sits tucked in the corner.

It smells like leather and cedarwood, and faintly of Maverick’s aftershave.

Comfortable. Uncomplicated. Unapologetically him.

And somehow, it makes me feel safe in a way I didn’t expect.

“Well, I’m in your bed.” I flick my gaze toward him, humor tugging at my mouth. “What are you goin’ to do with me?”

His features soften with tenderness as he goes to his knees.

He takes my boots off, sets them aside. The act makes me wobbly, because it’s sweet and sexy.

He rocks forward, resting on the balls of his feet, his eyes focused on me.

“Take your panties off,” he demands.

I’m not used to this. The men I have had sex with were…men, notmen. Now I wonder if they were boys. Their sexuality, like mine, was submissive.

Maverick is dominating. Loud. He takes what he wants.

I shimmy out of my panties, and he yanks them the rest of the way off.

“Spread your thighs, darlin’. Showme your pussy.”

I blush at his words. No one has ever spoken to me this way,ever.

“Maverick.”

“Do as I say, and I’ll let you come.” His tone is gruff, and I’m pretty sure he’s serious.

“I—”

“Darlin’, stop thinking and start doin’.”

I spread my legs a little. He pushes them farther apart. “Prettiest pussy I’ve ever seen.”

He slides a finger over my slit.