Page 7

SHANE

I couldn’t stop thinking about Calder’s lips on mine.

I’d wanted him to take things further, to end up tangled in each other’s arms. I wanted to kiss down his naked chest, to feel him pressed against me bare.

The thoughts had been swirling around my head all day, embarrassing and constant.

I was torn between the urge to ask Calder for a do-over, one where I kissed him instead, and the urge to never speak to him again.

Calder hadn’t mentioned a thing since yesterday, shadowing me like things were still normal.

The only differences in him were almost imperceptible, him standing a little closer to me, asking questions like he wanted to keep talking to me instead of having the information.

It was the sort of thing it was impossible to call him out on, the sort of thing that could’ve just been in my head.

We were working in one of the barns, restacking feed, moving bales of hay inside. I was grateful because it was our last task for the day, which meant I’d finally be able to get some time away from Calder. I just needed to clear my head, and then I’d stop thinking about him so much?—

“On your left,” Calder said as he brushed past me. His skin was on mine for only a few seconds, but it felt like he’d started a fire. I groaned, a part of me desperate to throw myself into his flames, another part trying to pretend I hadn’t felt anything.

“You doing okay, Shane?” Calder asked as he casually lifted his t-shirt, wiping sweat off his forehead.

“Stop.”

“Stop what?”

“You know what you’re doing, Calder.”

“What am I doing, Shane?” Calder closed the distance between us. I tried to take a step away from him, but he gently grabbed onto my waist, holding me in place by my hips. “Please. Tell me what I’m doing.”

“You don’t just get to have things because you want them.”

“I know that. You think I don’t know that?” Calder scoffed. “But the problem here is that I know that you want me, too. You’re just…”

“I’m just what?”

“I don’t know. You just keep pulling away from me. Or trying to.” His eyes locked on mine. “Is that really what you want? To stay away from me? Because all you have to do is say the word and I’ll leave this alone. I swear I will.”

“I…” The words wouldn’t come to me. I hesitated as I stared back at him, my stomach twisting itself into knots. In that moment, I wanted him more than anything I’d ever wanted before. I just needed him to read my mind. I needed him to?—

Calder closed the distance between us again, this time pressing his lips against mine.

Grateful for his mind-reading, I kissed him right back.

Calder smiled against my mouth before he deepened the kiss, his tongue finding mine.

A few seconds later and he’d pressed me against a wall, his chest pressing into mine, his hands still on my waist. He slid his palms up to my hair and I moaned as he pulled at the strands, the sound quickly captured by Calder’s mouth.

“Off, take this off,” Calder instructed, his fingers already underneath my shirt, pulling it over my head.

I did the same to him, grabbing for his clothes, twisting the fabric in my hands.

It felt like we were desperate for each other, unable to go another minute without feeling each other’s skin.

Calder repeated the same motion with my pants, pulling them off me before I even knew they were gone, my hands reaching for his jeans at the same time.

“Wait, wait…” I was breathing, hard and heavy.

“What? What is it?”

“We should… uh… move…”

“You’re right. We should.” Calder grinned, something mischievous behind it.

Before I had a chance to ask him what he was thinking, I felt him grab for my hips again.

He playfully knocked me over into an unsuspecting bale of hay, and then he was on top of me.

He kissed me again, as he readjusted himself, his thighs resting on mine.

It felt like I was covered in Calder, in the best possible way, our warmth reflecting each other’s.

Calder brought his mouth to my neck then, biting and sucking at my skin with determination, completely focused on it.

“Calder, what are you doing?”

“Making sure everyone knows that you’re mine.”

“Don’t,” I groaned. “Everyone’s going to have a million questions.”

“Why does that matter?” Calder stopped what he was doing. He looked right at me, a question behind his eyes. “This is real, isn’t it? We’re real?”

“Yes… This is real. We’re real.”

“Then, let me have what’s mine.”

“Is this how it’s going to be with you?” I smirked. “Your way or the highway?”

“You don’t like things my way?” Calder shot me a faux frown as he lowered his hand, not stopping until his fingers were wrapped around my shaft. I opened my mouth to say something, but my response was cut off by Calder casually stroking my cock. “You don’t want to give me exactly what I want?”

“You’re so…” I moaned, as Calder continued stroking me, his fists steadily pumping up and down the length of me. “Fuck…”

He pressed soft kisses against my neck as his hand kept working, even as precome spilled from my tip.

I shivered underneath him, his thumb running across the head of my cock, using the precome to stroke me even faster.

My hips involuntarily bucked against his grip, my body feeling like it was at his mercy.

But the truth was that I wanted to give Calder everything he wanted, as long as he wanted it from me.

“Calder… Calder…” I moaned his name, my body so close to the edge. “I’m going to…”

“Good,” Calder said as he continued playing with my cock. “I want you to come for me, Shane. I want to see what you look like when you let yourself fall apart.”

“Calder…” It was all I could think to say as my shaft hardened in his hands, the tip of my cock exploding against his fingertips. My breaths came out ragged as my come quickly filled Calder’s palm, his hand still stroking me.

“Fuck. You look so perfect right now…” Calder was staring down at me. “Do you know how fucking beautiful you are, Shane Stratton?”

“Don’t.” I was uncomfortable under his gaze, my eyes breaking away from him.

“Don’t what? Tell you the truth?”

I rolled my eyes as I shifted down his body, not stopping until my head was at his waist. I went straight to work, my mouth taking his cock between my lips.

Calder groaned at the feel of it, steadying himself against the bale of hay.

The angle I was at made his already oversized shaft feel even bigger inside my mouth, the size of him stretching my lips.

I didn’t mind the feel of it as I eagerly bobbed my head up and down the length of him, his precome already landing against my tongue.

“Fuck… Shane…” Calder groaned. “That feels so fucking good…”

I kept going, a part of me warming at the praise.

I wanted to make Calder feel good, and I wanted him to know that I could make him feel good.

I picked up my pace, moving my lips up and down his shaft faster and faster, my hands braced on either side of him.

Calder’s waist began to meet my mouth, his hips pumping against me in a steady rhythm.

My mind went fuzzy, as thoughts of Calder inside of me played behind my eyes, his motions feeling like a tease of something else to come.

“Mine… you’re all mine…” Calder’s body began to tremble, his come spilling right into my mouth. I didn’t hesitate for a second as I swallowed down every last drop of him, already obsessed with the way he tasted. I whimpered when he moved away from me, his cock slipping out from my lips.

Suddenly, he was pulling me back up next to him, our bodies side by side on the hay bale. There was light coming into the barn, a soft gold as the day came to an end. Calder rested an arm around me, his face nestled against my neck. “Fuck. I’m glad that worked out the way I wanted it to.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, if I’d kissed you like that, and you told me you weren’t interested, I’d probably have to find another ranch to stay on.” He chuckled. “There’d be no coming back from that level of embarrassment.”

“Did you really think there was a chance that I didn’t want you?”

“Uh, yes?” He chuckled again. “You’re a hard man to read, Shane. Has no one ever told you that before?”

I playfully shrugged as I brought a hand up to Calder’s face. I absent mindedly traced his cheek with my thumb. “You know how to read me though.”

“Hell yeah, I do. You’re becoming a second language to me.”

Something in my chest bloomed at the idea of Calder learning how to read me. I’d never felt this close to anyone before, this understood— “Shit.”

“Shit, what?”

“What if when you get your memories back, you change your mind?” My eyes went wide. “Even after we just… did this…”

“I’m not going to change my mind, Shane.”

“You don’t know that?—”

“Yeah, I do.” He placed another kiss against my neck. “What did I just tell you? You’re mine, Shane. All mine.”

I tried to relax against him, tried to be comforted by his words.

But all I could think about was the unnamed woman in the photo, the one Calder was off and on with.

Even if they’d been off the last time he’d seen her, he was still carrying her picture, wasn’t he?

What if he’d been on his way to get her back?

What if the storm was the only thing that’d kept them apart?

What if when Calder remembered his old life, there wasn’t any room for me in it?