Braving The Storm: An Age Gap, Cowboy Romance (Crimson Ridge Book 2)
Braving The Storm: Epilogue

Nothing feels as good as being back on this mountain, back in my cowboy’s arms, and returning to Devil’s Peak Ranch.

It’s as if my lungs are able to fully expand once more, and my heart feels lighter than ever in my entire life.

This feels like a brand new beginning in so many ways, and I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face as we drove beneath the hanging steer skull and sign welcoming us back to the top of Devil’s Peak.

Within a heartbeat, I’ve been waylaid by Layla for coffee, who insisted that I join her while Storm got started on the horses he’s working with today. After whisking me inside the house—complete with warm, lengthy hugs and more than a few tears on my part at the relief of being back surrounded by good, caring, kind people—she also let slip details of her little plan she had set in motion.

Turns out Layla Birch is a girl’s girl, a locked vault of epic proportions, and had been keeping our secret for quite some time—since that night when we all went out for dinner, in fact—and had I not been at the cabin waiting for him the other night, she’d orchestrated a plan to make sure Storm was about to get on a plane in order to come and replace me.

“City girl, I spent a winter stuck on this mountain with a man I wasn’t supposed to be looking twice at… trust me, I know the signs.”

We spent hours talking, and Layla filled me in on what I’ve missed, with her excitement in full-flight at the news Sage is returning to Crimson Ridge any day now for some final meetings with her new clients, before she relocates at the start of summer.

I can hardly believe I’ve been sitting at the kitchen island of a beautiful ranch homestead making plans for the warmer weather and being able to breathe easily that my life is my own to do with as I please.

I’ve got a future to plan for, and it looks fucking incredible.

Now, Layla has headed off on horseback to her and Colt’s cabin, which is on a more isolated part of the ranch, looking every inch a cowgirl dreamboat. Kayce is around here somewhere, and I’m assuming Colt is, too. However, I haven’t seen either of the Wilder men since arriving today.

Although, I am certainly not complaining about having a private moment to appreciate the sight of Storm hard at work.

Damn, the sight of him in a pair of chaps does something to me I can’t explain.

Am I a chap-slut? A chap-whore? Either way, I would do very questionable things to ensure those make it into the bedroom at some point in time.

“Do you always get this wet watching your uncle work?” Storm is bent over, with a hammer in one hand, holding the hoof of the horse he’s currently attending to in the other. As he speaks, he tilts his head up just enough to flash me bright blue eyes and a devilish smirk.

“Shhh. Oh my god, you can’t say stuff like that here.” My eyes dart around the barn.

“Oh, can’t I?”

“No.” I hiss, still craning my neck to ensure no one is nearby to hear his wickedness.

He quickly snips off the remaining pieces of nail sticking out of the hoof, then rhythmically files the points down to a smooth surface.

The man is wearing a white t-shirt, stretched tight over his broad shoulders, and with each practiced glide back and forth of his tools, I’m treated to a show of straight-up forearm porn.

Corded muscles flex and roll, with veins and tattoos popping all the way down to the backs of his hands.

My mouth goes dry as I stand there, openly watching him, because it feels incredible to be able to. Yet, the sensation that I shouldn’t still lingers… and well, shit, apparently, it still turns me the fuck on.

Storm sets the horse’s hoof and brand-new shoe back down, then fixes me with a heated look. I’m captured in that piercing blue gaze as he picks up a new horseshoe, a hammer, and all the while maintains eye contact.

I shiver, and Storm advances on me straight away, still with tools in his hands.

“Show me your wrist, ‘ he says, not touching but looking at my body with raw desire, and that sets alight whatever embers were merely glowing just before.

My hands tremble a little with nervous excitement. Pulling back the sleeve of my sweater, the leather strap—the evidence of how much this man entirely owns my heart and goddamn soul—sits around my wrist.

The cuff is on.

“Hmm. Thought so.” His lips tip up at the corner.

“We can’t. Not here. What if someone sees?” I’m backpedaling fast, as Storm continues to crowd my space, and before I know it, we’re inside the tack room. A rich scent of leather fills the air, and my pulse flutters frantically.

“This will only take a minute.”

Confusion and arousal are waging a battle inside, yet I already know that this man could ask for anything and I trust him with every fiber of my being to take care of me. Even within these risky moments he likes to indulge us in.

“Show me your pussy.”

My gaze flicks to the wide-open doorway behind him, and I shake my head. “Storm, no.”

“The cuff’s on, isn’t it? I want to see exactly how wet you are. So you’re going to pull those jeans down and tug those panties with them. Just enough so I can see.”

“God, you’re going to get us into so much trouble.” There’s absolutely no disguising the way I’m panting for him.

“Says my pretty toy, who’s drenched right now.” His big hands flex around the tools he’s still holding onto as he gestures to a point just behind me.

“Now, sit your ass on that saddle stand and show me. I want to see my sweet little cunt.”

I have to swallow quickly before wetting my lips. He’s serious. With trembling hands, I undo my fly, unzipping and tugging everything down exactly as he instructed. As the material gathers around my thighs, a shudder runs through me when the cool air brushes up against my overheated skin, followed by the hard surface as I rest backward against the wooden stand in the position he wants me to. My heart is pounding with anticipation and eagerness for every scrap of his attention. Loving it when his intensity is so firmly fixated on me.

Storm crouches down on his haunches, still refusing to touch any part of my body. Instead, he sets about inspecting me up close.

Well, shit. That winds the arousal in my core beyond the simmering heat and into a raging blaze. Yet, I can’t help but keep on checking the empty space beyond that open door every two seconds.

“Show me properly, darlin’.” His voice is dangerously low. When I drag my gaze back to watch him, those blue eyes have darkened, with his pupils starting to blow out.

I can feel it. The slippery sensation. Why this is turning me on feels insane, but the fact this man has to see me no matter the time or place, leaves me glowing.

“Two hands. Show me just how wet you are.”

A whimper falls out of me as I do exactly as he tells me to.

“Oh, darlin’, look at how messy you are. Look how ready you are. God, you’re just gagging to be squirting all over my tongue and my cock while bent over this saddle stand right now, aren’t you?”

“Please.” This is driving me into a frenzy, and he damn well knows it.

He hits me with another of those looks that leave me at risk of melting right here on the barn floor, then leans forward. Keeping those eyes firmly locked on mine, Storm tortures me with one lick straight up through my parted pussy lips, humming as he coats his tongue with the taste of me.

I’m absolutely ready to combust. Ready to beg for him to eat me out right here and now and fuck the risk of someone else walking in.

Except, he reads all of that written in the way I’m damn near writhing to chase his tongue as he settles back on his haunches and gives me a devious expression.

“Good girl. Now, back to work.”

“Oh my god. Why?” No. He surely cannot be intending to leave me hanging like this. I’m shaking and desperate, and the temptation to finish what he started right here and now is overwhelming.

Standing up, his grin is downright sinful as he takes in the sight of me perched here, completely gone for him. “That’s for making us both have to be in agony all day long.”

“Come here, darlin’.” Storm’s voice is thick with desire. “Full weight. No hovering. Ride my tongue and drown me in that sweetness.”

He holds my hips and drags me down onto his mouth as I lose my goddamn mind.

We barely made it in the door. I could see he was about two seconds from pulling the truck over and recreating our roadside escapades as we made our way down the mountain this evening. Except, something tells me this man had a reason for making sure we got home and locked the door.

By this point, I’m seriously hoping we can hide away from the rest of the world for at least a few days.

We’ve got a lot of missed time to make up for. Or at least, orgasms to make up for if Storm’s intentions are anything to go by.

As his tongue presses forward and roams through my slit, I feel his fingers swipe through my center from beneath, gathering up the slippery wetness there. Only, he doesn’t push inside like I’m expecting him to. This time, he drags all that slickness around to my ass and starts to play with me back there. Drawing slow circles at the same time as he mirrors the motion with his clever tongue.

“Oh god.” I moan much louder than intended and feel a surge of heat flood my veins.

Looking down, it’s a filthy sight, watching him lick me while at the same time studying closely for my reaction. While that leather cuff around my wrist bone is his permission to use me any way he desires, my cowboy doesn’t ever push it too far beyond my realm of experience all in one go.

To be honest, we’ve been working our way closer to this since I’ve been back, and while there’s no denying I’m nervous, I also haven’t been able to stop imagining what it would feel like with him.

I might have done some online research one night after waking up from a particularly intense dream where he’d been buried deep inside my ass, and oh my god, the way my body woke up ready to detonate was something else entirely.

“I want that. I want you. Please.” With one hand, I brace myself against the headboard, and with the other, I sink my fingers into his hair, allow my head to drop, and simply let go.

His mouth works miracles on my pussy and reduces me to a quivering mess in no time at all.

Sucking and nipping my flesh in time with the press of his finger, he rubs harder over those sensitive nerve endings, producing a feral noise when I give him exactly what he wants as he sucks down on my clit—making my back bow and dragging out a flood coating his face that I’ve since learned not to feel so embarrassed by. Especially not when he actively sets about making me squirt for him at any given opportunity.

This man apparently hasn’t lost his competitive edge, despite being out of the rodeo arena for so long.

“Stay right there.” Storm slides out from beneath my thighs as he says those words in that way he always does. As if I had the ability to do anything but. I’m sure it’s his own private little joke, feeling more than pleased with his efforts to reduce me to a boneless puddle.

The mattress dips behind me, as his giant frame moves around, then he’s positioned at my back. Reaching around, he hands me my vibrator, already on the setting he knows I like best, and drags a sloppy kiss up the side of my neck.

“You want me to take this sweet little ass while the taste of your pussy is all over my mouth?”

I somehow manage a nod.

“All you gotta do is follow what I tell you, alright? Trust me to know what your body needs.”

God, I love this man so much. He’s not rushing me, yet he somehow manages to guide me into new states of pleasure time and time again. Pretty sure I murmur something to the effect of how much I missed him and how badly I need him and tell him he can have whatever he wants.

“Rub that all over your clit for me. Slow circles around that tight bud until you fall apart.” Of course, I’m already doing that even as he says those words, which draws a deep chuckle out of him.

While I’m getting lost in the way the vibrations roll through my body, he drizzles lube over my ass, causing me to jolt with the unexpectedly cold sensation, and quickly sets to work carrying on the teasing he’d been giving me a glimpse of just before.

It’s too good, too addictive, and on reflex, I start pushing back against his hand within the space of a few minutes.

“Baby, I need more,” I whine. Everything about this moment is perfect, and right here, right now, I want him to go faster, even though a tiny part of my brain understands why he’s not.

“Shhh. Just breathe for me. Stay nice and loose.” As he rubs and presses against my hole, I feel my body give way and allow him to slip a finger inside.

The more he gradually works me, those ripples like ribbons of pleasure keep flowing in every direction, and I’m not going to survive much more of this before my next climax threatens to sweep in.

As the stimulation on my clit tips me over the edge, Storm keeps praising me, telling me the filthy things he knows I want to hear. When I come back to my senses, I can feel the added stretch and pressure now that he’s slowly started working another finger inside.

“Goddamn, you’re doing so well. Look at you, every part of you fits perfectly, stretched around my ink.”

My fingers clench in the sheets as a loud moan falls past my lips.

“Want me to film this for you next time, hmm? Show you how good you look taking me like this?”

He already knows the muffled noises I’m making are an agreement.

Yes. Please. More. Own my entire soul forever.

“Put that toy inside your pussy for me. As far as you can go.” His voice is thick with arousal, and as I do just that, I feel his fingers pull out gently, before more gel coats down my seam.

Then, the broad head of him is there, replacing his hand, slowly pressing forward.

Everything turns into bright sparks behind my eyelids. There’s a little burn as I keep on yielding to his slow, careful attention with my body. The more he nudges his way forward, the more I get lost in the way he continues talking to me. That deep, velvety tone flows and caresses my skin and makes sure I stay safely with him, even though I might be floating on wave after wave of desire threatening to spirit me away any moment now.

“Breathe, darlin’… just like that for me. Keep breathing; we’re only gonna go nice and slow.” We both let out a groan as his tip slips inside. “Fuck, you’re the tightest thing. Relax and let that toy take care of your perfect cunt while I fill this sweet little ass like I know you want me to.”

Storm commands my body with precision and the utmost care, and I’m sobbing with pleasure as he pushes deeper, working his way inside me until I can’t think straight.

The vibrations extending through my pussy must be driving him insane, too, because each grunt comes louder, and his grip tightens against my hips as we both succumb to the moment.

“Fuck. Fuck. It’s too good… your hot little ass is squeezing me to death. Fuck yourself with that toy nice and fast now. I need you to come because I’m not gonna last with how good this feels. You have no idea how good this feels.” He says the words through gritted teeth, while my whimpering sounds come thick and fast.

I tumble, headlong into a full body climax that extends through every cell, every muscle, leaving me a shuddering mess in his arms as he wraps me tight with one powerful arm and bands my back against his chest.

There’s nothing but pure pleasure and desire and so much love flowing between us as I feel him throb and swell, his length burying deep inside me as he comes and lets out a primal groan in my ear.

We’re only hearts thundering and pulses racing and sweat-slicked skin as he tumbles us forward onto the bed. I hardly even register as he helps me pull the vibrator out and turn it off before roaming his hot palms everywhere, kneading my softness and murmuring how much he loves me.

Lying there connected like this feels so undeniably special, as he tilts my face toward his, fusing our mouths together, I can feel every single one of those words as he kisses me long and deep.

Fragments of scenes of all of our other stolen moments together fly in, back from a time when there wasn’t supposed to be anything between us, that night outside his truck when he kissed me for the first time, it all swoops in and cradles me so sweetly.

This man, our life together, it’s so much more than anything I could have dared imagine.

I’m ready for an eternity more of learning exactly how this kind of love is supposed to be.