“I THINK I know what you mean about the stars,” Mare announces, interrupting the comfortable silence between the two of us.
We stare up at the twinkling balls of light above us. High up in the mountains, it almost seems like we could reach out and touch some of them if we dared.
“And what’s that, Goldie?” My fingers absentmindedly play with the hair that falls over her shoulder. I’ve never felt so at peace. This has been the best summer of my life, and there’s still so much I have planned for the two of us.
She turns, resting her chin against my chest. With the moon behind me, it perfectly reflects in her large, blue eyes. Mare stares at me with so much adoration, it makes my chest feel tight. “That I don’t think they shine any brighter than they do right here in Sutten.”
I try not to let her words affect me. If only she really meant it. I can see why she could get swept up in the moment between us, for her to forget that her dream has always been to get out of this town where mine has always been to never leave it.
Mare stares at me expectantly. I let out a sad sigh. For the summer, I can pretend that deep down she actually means those words. “Tonight, I don’t think there’s anywhere else in the world they shine brighter,” I tell her, knowing at least that’s the truth. They fight for attention from her. She’s my Goldie. The sun. The stars fail in comparison to her, but they sure do put up a fight.
Her finger softly traces the emblem for the family ranch. She traces it three times before she meets my eyes again. “What if I didn’t go?” she asks softly. I’m only able to hear her words because the night is quiet and still around us.
She must see the shock written on my face. I can’t hide the raise to my brows or the way my body stills underneath her. “Would it really be so bad for me to stay here forever?” she continues, her voice timid and unsure. “To stay here forever…with you.”
I bite my tongue. I don’t want to tell her all I could ever want is for her to stay here forever with me. But I won’t hold her back. I can’t hold her back. Deep down, I know I can’t be the reason Goldie stays. One day far from this night, I can’t have her resent me because I asked her to stay when she always dreamed of going.
Mare rakes her top teeth over her lip, catching it between them as she watches me anxiously. She presses her palm into my chest. If she feels the way my heart ricochets against my sternum, she doesn’t say anything.
“Say something, Cade,” she pleads.
I’d give anything for you to want to stay, runs through my head. I’d give anything for us to have more than just this summer.
I can’t live with knowing I held her back. I’m confident that if I asked Mare to stay, she would. But what good would that do us? Eventually her feelings for me would fade, and all that’d be left in their wake is resentment toward me for holding her back.
I swallow the lump in my throat. It pains me to speak up and not tell her how I’m feeling. But I do it anyway, because I’d do anything for her, even when it hurts me. “I think that I’m counting on you to find all the other beautiful places the stars shine bright in the world.”
Her eyelids get heavy with sadness. She closes them for a few seconds, as if she’s trying to get ahold of herself. I have to keep my jaw locked to not open my mouth and tell her the thing I want most in this world is for her to want to stay on this ranch forever. My teeth grind together so loudly I’m wondering if she can hear them.
It appears she’s too lost in the hurt to realize the restraint it’s taking me to ask her to stay. Finally, she opens her eyes. There’s sadness in those beautiful blue eyes of hers. I’d rather see it now then later on when we’re already too far gone.
My thumb brushes over her cheekbone. “Will you do that for me?”
She leans into my touch, locks of her hair brushing against my arm in the movement. “I can’t imagine leaving you, Cade,” she answers hoarsely. “I can’t imagine losing this.”
My head shakes. “Then don’t imagine it.” Leaning up, I pull her into my lap until she straddles me on both sides. “Don’t think about it.” Grabbing her wrist, I place her hand against my heartbeat. Once I’m confident she won’t move her hand, I place a hand against her own heart, cherishing the way her heart seems to beat in the same rhythm as mine.
It’s like our heartbeats have always beat in sync, like our hearts knew something we hadn’t quite realized.
“Focus on our heartbeats, Goldie. Focus on us. Right now, in this moment.”
She nods her head, her eyes fluttering shut. Her features soften, the sadness almost disappearing from her face. It doesn’t completely go away. There’s still a hint of it when she focuses on me.
I do the only thing I can. I lean in to kiss her, hoping that the connection of our bodies can clear the hurt from our hearts. At least for right now.
Mare clings to me, kissing me with everything she has. I meet her pace with the same desperate need for her. When her hips roll against mine, I can’t fight how much I want to feel even closer to her.
Pulling my lips from hers, I kiss along her neck. When her head falls back, letting out a loud moan as my teeth graze the tender skin of her neck, I know that if she pushed for us to take the next step tonight, I wouldn’t be able to say no.
My lips hover over her collarbone, my eyes focusing on the small red mark I left on her neck from my teeth. I’m an ass for thinking it, but I want to keep that mark on her forever, so Brendan and any man brave enough to look at the girl that’s always been mine knows that she’s taken.
“Cade,” Mare pants when my palm skirts over her breast.
My resolve breaks. I nip at her neck once again, my thumb brushing over her peaked nipple underneath her T-shirt. She moans, her hips bucking against me. There’s no doubt in my mind that she feels my growing cock pressed against her center.
“This okay?” I ask, my voice breaking with lust.
She hurriedly nods. “More than okay,” she rushes to get out. “This is what I’ve wanted for so long.”
Her words encourage me. Slipping my hand beneath her cotton shirt, I marvel at the way her soft skin feels against my fingertips. Her stomach muscles tighten as my hand snakes up her shirt. When I make it to the edge of her cotton sports bra, she gasps in pleasure.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” I mutter against her shoulder. My thumb slips underneath her bra, testing the feel of the swell of her breast against it.
Her back arches when I roughly swipe it over her nipple, my mind memorizing every sound and movement that comes from her.
“Can I see you?” I ask, my tone desperate with need. I want to see every part of Mare, to commit every curve and bare inch of her skin to memory.
Mare doesn’t use words to answer. She separates her body just enough from mine to grab the bottom of her T-shirt. She hurriedly tugs it up and over her head, tossing it to the side. Keeping eye contact with me, she grabs the bottom of her sports bra. Slowly, she pulls the fabric up, taking her time revealing her perfect pink nipples to me.
“Is this what you wanted?” she whispers, watching me carefully.
I’m stunned by her beauty, by how perfect she is. Her breasts are heavy, her nipples peaked, and waiting for my attention. “Yes,” I answer. “And this.” Leaning in, I test the weight of her breast in my hand, loving how it fills my palm perfectly. My breath hits her sensitive flesh, causing her to let out a small sigh of pleasure.
The sigh turns into a loud moan when my tongue glosses over the peaked flesh. I take her nipple into my mouth, my tongue circling it as she pushes her hips against me. Her hands tug at my hair, encouraging me to keep going. My free hand plays with the other nipple, making sure they both get the attention they deserve.
Pulling away, I lay a kiss to Mare’s lips, letting our tongues lazily push against one another like we have all the time in the world. With the stars seeming infinite above us, it really does feel like I can take my time exploring—tasting—every inch of her body.
“Don’t stop,” Mare begs when our lips part. “I want you to make me…” she doesn’t finish, her words falling off as if she’s embarrassed by what she wants.
I grip her face, forcing her to look at me. “You want me to make you what, Goldie?”
Color fills her cheeks. “You know what I want.”
“Maybe.” Quickly, I spin her body so she lays on the blanket, my body hovering over her. I trace over the skin right underneath the bottom of her full breast, the touch making her entire body break out in a shiver of pleasure. “But I want you to say it. Tell me what you want and I’ll fucking do it.”
“I want you to make me come, Cade. I want to know what it feels like when you do it.”
My head rears back for a moment, jealousy flaring through my body. “When I do it? Opposed to someone else?”
She smiles at my words, reaching up to run her thumb over my bottom lip. “You’re really hot when you’re jealous.”
“Mare, so help me god if another man has touched you—tasted you—” I say through gritted teeth—“then they’re as good as fucking dead.”
She playfully bites her lip, clearly amused by how fucking crazy she’s made me at the thought of someone else intimately knowing what’s mine.
“I’ve come before, Cade,” she whispers. “But it was only with my own hand—from thoughts of you.”
Fuck. My cock pulses in my jeans, begging to be touched by her. I’m so fucking hard from her words. At the look in her eyes as she watches me expectantly. At the thought of her coating my tongue. “It seems it’s time for you to find out how much better it is when it’s me making you come.”
My knuckle brushes over her bare skin above her jeans. I draw out the moment, wanting to take my time with her, as I slowly undo her button and pull down on her zipper. As soon as her jeans are loose, she’s lifting her hips off the blanket, guiding me to peel them off. My hands grab at the fabric on either side of her hips as I slowly pull them down the tops of her thighs. My patience wears thin as I pull the denim down her shins. I toss the jeans to the side, having no interest in needing them for a while.
“I can already see how needy you are for me,” I announce, absentmindedly guiding my palm over my rock-hard cock. It’s straining against my Levi’s, desperate to break free and finally know what it feels like to be touched by Mare.
Mare must get the wrong idea for my brief pause. She tries to close her legs, but my palms press to the insides of her thighs stopping her. “What do you think you’re doing?”
She worriedly chews her lip. “Stopping? I don’t know,” she whispers. “You stopped…I didn’t know if that was a good thing.”
My tongue runs over my lips. “Goldie,” I say, lust laced in the huskiness of my voice. “It’s the best thing in the fucking world to know how fucking ready you are for me. I love the idea of your pussy already dripping with need for me, and I haven’t even tasted or touched you yet.”
Her mouth pops open in shock. “Oh,” she mutters.
“Spread those legs open and wide for me, baby. It’s time for me to show you how much better my tongue is compared to your fingers.”
