Page 48 of The Rancher’s One and Only

“You’re beautiful,” he said, his voice firm. Like he could read her mind. Like he could read all of her insecurities.

He pulled her bra the rest of the way off her arms before taking hold of her underwear and sliding it down her legs. He made a low, growling sound, and words really weren’t necessary. She completely understood what he meant. He liked her. He liked what he was seeing. She felt it. She felt it reverberate in her soul.

A shiver went down her spine. She was so aware of her body. And then, his hands went to the waistband of his pants—athletic because of what they were doing earlier, and he pushed them down his thighs, taking his underwear with them, and revealing his—

Oh.

Oh, he was huge. She was a scientist. She had seen male anatomy. In pictures. But this was not… This wasn’t even scientifically reasonable. It was…it was too much. It was just greedy at a certain point. Showing off, really.

She swallowed hard, trying to contain herself. Trying to get ahold of herself.

Could she? She could hardly catch her breath.

“Are you doing okay?”

“I’m great,” she said.

He kissed her again, drawing her naked body against his. He was warm, and solid. Gorgeous.

He moved his hands down her back, down to cup her butt. And her internal muscles pulsed with need.

She forgot to breathe for a second. She didn’t notice until she got dizzy. Then she sucked in a sharp breath.

“Let me check the water.”

They parted and he went to stick his hand beneath the spray. And it must have met with his approval because then he took her hand and led her to it. There was something extra profound about being able to see outdoors. About all of this being open. Like he wasn’t embarrassed to be doing this with her. And she knew no one could see. That wasn’t really the point. The point was that it felt good.

The point was that this felt like something a girl like her wasn’t normally apt to get.

This beautiful man, standing with her in the shower, wide-open space all around them.

He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her against his body, now slick from the water. The hard length of him between them, the temptation pressed against her stomach.

He didn’t touch her intimately, didn’t let his hands wander. Instead, he just kissed her. And kissed her and kissed her as the water cascaded down on them. She reached up and grabbed hold of his shoulders, bracing herself as he took the kiss deeper, his tongue sliding deep.

It’s this simple, gentle kissing that’s driving me absolutely out of my mind. Different than I expected it to be. Did I even really have an expectation? Maybe. But one that lived so firmly in my head. One that had nothing to do with how my body might feel.

She felt like she was melting. From the inside.

Her whole body was trembling. And then, he moved that big hand from where it rested between her shoulder blades, down to cup her hip, then around back to cup her rear. She arched against him, need flowing through her like a river. Her skin was slick, and so was his, her breasts rubbing against his chest just so…so pleasurable. So good.

She was in her body, and that was a miracle all on its own. Her mind was her comfort zone. Her brain was the tool that she used to get herself out of everything, and to make all the good things in her life happen.

But right now, it was her body that was allowing her to feel. To experience. To progress. Right now it was her body making the achievement. And she was proud of herself, honestly, that she could feel it. That with every breath, she was in this moment.

He moved his hand up to cup her breast, then skim over her nipple, and she gasped. He kissed her deep, swallowing the sound, and she arched against him as he grabbed a washcloth off the shelf in the shower and doused it, then soaped it up before stepping away from her and eyeing her closely. “I can’t wait to explore every inch of you.”

His words were innocuous in some ways, but applied to this situation, very deeply not. Imagining him touching her everywhere—

Then she didn’t have to imagine. He pressed the washcloth to her shoulder, and she closed her eyes, relishing the feeling. The feeling of his touch, the warm, slick washcloth moving over her skin, then down over her breast. She bit her lip, and he continued his exploration down her torso, down between her legs. She whimpered as he pressed the washcloth between her thighs, and then moved down her legs.

He continued on like that until she was gasping. Until she felt like she was going to lose her mind. And what would she even be without her mind? This, she supposed. A creature made entirely of need. A creature at his mercy. She wasn’t even mad about it. Not really. It felt too good.

She put her hands on his chest, and toyed with the idea of exploring him. But she felt just a little bit too tentative. A little bit too timid. He wrapped his hand around her wrist and pressed her hand to his chest, growling when she touched him.

And that emboldened her. She moved her hand over his pectoral muscle, down his abs. She avoided that most masculine part of him. She was just a little bit too timid for that. At least, right at this moment.

He maneuvered her beneath the spray, rinsing her body before shutting the water off, and leading her out of the shower. He gave the same amount of attention to detail drying her off as he had rubbing soap over her skin.