STORY EXCERPT

Exhausted and almost numb with fear, Mel walked into the hospital, unsurprised to find Callum waiting for her.

Her breath caught at the sight of him. The handsome young man just growing into his skin had filled out in a way that left her mouth dry and her stomach doing strange little flutters.

Still handsome, but with a maturity and hardness to him that hadn’t been there in the past, he was all muscle. She knew how hard he worked at the ranch and suspected those muscles would be hard as iron.

She took a deep breath and made the mistake of looking into his eyes.

She didn’t know how such dark eyes could be warm. She only knew that the chill that had gone all the way to her bones seemed to ease somewhat. “Callum.”
He stepped closer, close enough for her stomach to knot, and opened his arms. “Come here, baby.”

Remembering that he had a girlfriend, who could be his fiancée by now, Mel shook her head and took a step back. “No. I’ll fall apart. How is she?”

Callum dropped his arms. “She’s still in ICU, but she’s stable. Just like the doctor told you, they’re going to keep her in the ICU for a couple of days. If everything goes okay, she should be able to go home in a week.”

“Home.” She didn’t relish going to her father’s house.

Callum took her hand in his. “Come on. Betty’s waiting for you.”

Her hand felt so small in his large rough one. It reminded her of another hand, a rougher one, a hand that hadn’t held hers since the accident. “Where’s my father?”

“He left about an hour ago.”

“He knew I was on my way?”

A muscle worked in his jaw. “He knew.”

When they turned another corner, Mel’s knees buckled at the sight of Betty, stretched out on a padded bench, her head on a hospital pillow and a hospital blanket tucked under her chin.

When Callum released her hand to walk over to Betty, Mel caught his arm and shook her head. “Let her sleep.” Setting her purse and coat on one of the chairs, she gestured toward the nurses’ station, barely visible in the distance. “I’m going to go see if they’ll let me see her.”

“They will. The doctor already approved it.”

Mel couldn’t help but smile at that. “Your doing?”

Callum shrugged. “He knew you were driving from Cheyenne in this weather. Go see your aunt so we can all go back to the ranch.”

Instead of taking the time to argue with him, Mel started toward the nurses’ station, anxious to see her aunt.

Callum stared after her, still trying to recover from the punch to the gut he’d felt when he first saw her.

Before, she’d been beautiful.

Now, she was absolutely stunning.

Even tired and scared, she took his breath away.

Her dark brown hair, secured at the back of her head, shone with good health and made his fingers itch to loosen it and run his fingers through it.

Her eyes, a brilliant green, had appeared darker under the harsh hospital lights and held a sadness and exhaustion that he vowed to himself to fix.

The sweater dress she wore clung to curves that made his mouth water.
Scraping a hand over his face, Callum sighed and turned at the rustle behind him. “We’re going to keep her here.”

“Yes.” Betty sat up and touched his arm. “This is where she belongs. She needs people around her who love her.”

“But we don’t know what kind of life she has in Cheyenne. I’m not taking her from a good life.”

Betty rose and folded the blanket. “She can have a better life here.”

Amused by Betty’s automatic defense, Callum smiled faintly. “That’ll be for her to decide. Right now we just have to worry about getting Jean better. They’ll both have to stay on the ranch. After hearing what her father’s done, there’s no way I can allow her to stay with him.”

Keeping one eye on the hallway in anticipation of Mel’s return, Callum clenched his jaw. “Has he been abusive to Jean?”

“No.” Betty pressed her lips together and shook her head. “No. She didn’t take her brother’s shit. After Mel left, he’s the one who asked Jean to come live with him. He needed someone to cook and clean, and she was tired of living alone. Plus, she thought she was safer with a man in the house and she appreciated having a man in the house, especially since her brother knows his way around tools. You know for yourself how often Jay has to fix things around the ranch house.”

“Hmm.” Hearing the truth in Betty’s tone, Callum turned his attention to Mel as she came toward him. As he slipped on his coat, he watched her, wondering if she was aware of the tears streaming down her face.

Without a word, he held out his arms again, but this time instead of stopping, she kept coming closer until she pressed her face against his chest and began to sob, her cries ripping his heart to shreds. “It’ll be okay, baby. I’ve got you.”

He lifted her high against his chest while Betty gathered her coat and placed it over her before slipping into her own and gathering their purses. “Everything’ll be all right.”

He pushed down his anger at her father.

Dealing with him would have to wait.

Right now, the precious bundle in his arms and soaking his shirt needed him.

This time, he would be there for her.

He took her coat from Betty and bundled her into it.

“Come on, baby. Let me take you home.”

ADULT EXCERPT

Lifting his head, he reached up to roll her nipple again, overwhelming her already bombarded system. “Are you denying me what belongs to me?”

Every ounce of the hard fought independence she’d gained railed against his arrogance, but the pleasure she’d received at his hands brushed all of that away.

“Damn you!”

His eyes flashed with both possessiveness and amusement. “Are you gonna deny me?”

“No, damn it!” Shaking her head, she struggled to breathe. “It’s too damned sensitive!”

“I know that, baby, but I’m not done. Be still while I have a little more.”

With her legs spread high and wide and her hands bound at her sides, Mel found herself helpless and vulnerable to his ministrations, purposely blocking out the knowledge that she could stop him whenever she wanted to.

She jolted at every slow swipe of his tongue, her cries and ragged breathing primitive and desperate. “Callum! Oh God!”

Lifting his head, he once again knelt between her thighs. “I’ll have mercy on you this time since you’re new at this, but it’s only going to get more intense over time.”

Shocked when he hooked her knees over his arms and leaned forward, lifting her hips from the mattress, Mel couldn’t hold back a cry when he plunged into her.

“Open your eyes!”

Mel obeyed immediately, struck by his hard tone as his cock stretched her pussy to accommodate his thick length. Her pussy clenched on his cock, which made her feel even fuller. “Callum?”

His features had become tight with something that looked remarkably like anger, but the hunger in his eyes as he held her gaze belied that.

Fierce possessiveness.

“You’re mine, Mel.You’re mine, and I intend to have all of you.”

Mel cupped his face, marveling that she could have such an effect on such a strong man.

“Yes. Tonight I’m all yours.”

Something hot and brilliant flashed in his eyes, something so stark it made her breath catch.

Before she had the chance to do more than feel grateful that she’d given herself to him, Callum began to move, slowly and shallowly at first and then with greater speed and depth.

His cock, so thick, so long, so hard thrust into her over and over, each thrust taking more of her and giving her more and more of himself.

Watching her face, he held her gaze with his glittering one, her cries and his groans filling the room as he took her to the edge, so close that she would swear one more thrust would send her over.

As if he knew, he slowed his strokes almost to a stop, seeming to enjoy her effort to get more. Chuckling softly with an erotic edge, Callum released one of her legs to slide his hand up her body and caress her nipple. “You look like you want to come. Your pussy’s clenching hard on my cock and sorely testing my control.”

“Good!”

Callum’s laugh was strained. “Got a mean streak, don’t you, darlin’? Good. So do I.”

“Please, Callum!”

“I already gave you one orgasm to take the edge off. You’ll have the next when I’m fucking ready for you to come.”

So close to coming she could taste it, she slapped at his shoulders. “You can’t do this to me!”

With a hand braced on either side of her, he narrowed his eyes and lowered himself, nipping her bottom lip. “In that, you’re wrong, baby. You gave yourself to me. I can do anything I want to do to you tonight.”

He licked the spot he’d nipped, soothing it. “Isn’t that right, darlin’?”

“Damn you!”

“Calm down, baby, so I can start thrusting again.”

Kicking her legs, Mel fought to come. “I need to come!”

“You’ll come, baby. But you’re gonna come my way!” Releasing her legs, he covered her body with his, sliding a hand to her bottom to lift her into his thrusts.

Mel’s toes curled as he shoved her ruthlessly toward the edge again. “Yes! Yes!”

With a rough curse, Callum hooked an arm around her back, and with a strength both startling and thrilling, he yanked her against him, impaling her on his cock. “Never like this. Never fucking like this.”

With a hand at the back of her neck, he covered her mouth with his again, sliding the fingertips of his other hand slowly down her spine.

They both moved in the rhythm of lovers, her hips moving against his, guided by his hand on her bottom.

A whimper escaped, one of frustration and need. “Callum. Oh God!”

With his lips hovering over hers, Callum continued the slide his fingertips down her spine to the crease of her ass. “All mine.”

His hand firmed, and he stopped moving his hips, his hold preventing her from moving hers.

Shivering at the slide of his fingertip over her puckered opening and lower to where his cock filled her, Mel was surprised when he released her wrists. “Callum?”

Callum smiled. “You’re soaked. I love this sweet juice.”

Writhing on his lap, Mel wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her face against it. “Callum. Dear God! What are you doing to me?”

Moving his finger through her juices, Callum held her face against his neck, his lips warm on her shoulder. “I’m making you mine in a way you’ll never forget.”

Unnerved by the feel of his slick finger caressing her puckered opening before moving back to gather more of her juices, Mel moaned when he moved her on his cock again. As the pleasure continued to grow, the attention to her puckered opening became less unnerving and more wickedly pleasurable.

Her head dropped back, still supported by Callum’s strong hand, another moan escaping when he pressed his fingertip against her puckered opening again, this time adding pressure.

Callum pulled her closer and ran his lips from her neck to her ear. “Yes. You like that. This is mine, too, baby.”