Misadventures of a City Girl Read online

  She leans forward again and sifts her fingers through my hair. “Sounds absolutely perfect.”

  MADISON

  I’m reeling from Luke’s offer. I’m overwhelmed in all the best ways. That Luke wants to make a life with me in the middle ground we promised to explore together. That he wants to build me a house with his bare hands. That he’s come this far and is willing to go farther for the sake of us.

  We leave the car and rush inside. Our hands are everywhere, and it’s more than desire fueling my movements. I’m in love. So in love with this man I can barely breathe. He lifts me into his arms like I weigh nothing and carries me to the bedroom. He lowers me by the bed and unties the wrap that holds my dress in place. The fabric falls away and pools at my feet. For a long time, he simply stares. Seconds tick by and my skin warms unbearably. Need simmers through me until I’m ready to boil over.

  “Luke, touch me.”

  He takes a step closer and slips his arms around my torso. “Tonight, I’m going to take you in ways I haven’t yet.”

  I hold my breath and wait for him to elaborate.

  He traces his fingertips lightly across my lips. “Mine.” He trails them down to my nipple and pinches it. “Also mine.”

  I flinch, but the sensation he leaves is pleasant and adds to the fire raging inside of me.

  He hooks his thumbs over the thin elastic of my panties and pushes them down. Still gazing into my eyes, he drags his touch through the folds of my pussy and then sinks a finger into my wet heat. “This is mine,” he says, his voice low against my skin.

  I close my eyes with a breathy sigh and bow into his touch. I lift my leg to hook it over his hip, trying to deepen the penetration. Instead of giving me more, he withdraws and uses my position to his advantage, teasing his fingertips over my anus. He breaches the opening before I can object—one finger and then two, lubricated by my own arousal.

  My mouth falls open and a small cry escapes.

  “This is mine, Madison. And I’m going to have it.” His tone is full of love and determination and raw sexual need.

  I can’t resist him. Arguing is pointless, because he’s right. I’m his. I belong to him, more than I’ve ever belonged to anyone.

  I’m ready to build on that small miracle, because it feels so incredibly right. It feels like the next step of a life I worried had no course forward. If it starts with letting Luke push me past some of my sexual hang ups, then so be it.

  He twists inside my untried flesh. I dig my fingernails into his broad shoulders at the unexpected pleasure that hits me.

  “Take what’s yours, Luke.”

  He kisses me fiercely and then releases me, urging me down to the bed. Instead of coming after me, he riffles through a nearby bag and returns with a bottle of lubricant and a small pink vibrator.

  My eyes widen. “You bought those too?”

  He smirks. “What do you think?”

  “I had no idea how ambitious you could be.” No wonder he was gone so long.

  I expect him to move me how he wants, but instead he settles between my legs and hovers his lips over mine. Looking deeply into his eyes, I savor the warm press of his body against me. I savor all of it. His possessive yet patient touches. His kisses, deep and raw with emotion. He works me into a frenzy until I’m begging him to take me.

  “I need you,” I beg, lifting my hips against his, desperate for more contact.

  He’s maddeningly close, so hard and ready for me. When I think I can’t take a second more of this torture, he turns me so I’m lying on my side and spoons behind me. Any anxiety I’d had before has left me. All I can think about is having him inside me.

  Then he’s there, slick and hard, pushing past the tight ring of muscle. The sensation is intense, almost taking my breath away. He moves his hips rhythmically, each time claiming me a little deeper, until my breath catches. Then he slows, kisses my neck, and nibbles my earlobe.

  “You’re perfect, Maddy,” he murmurs against my ear.

  The way we’re coming together now reminds me of the first time, when I wasn’t sure I could take all of him. In the same way, I let go. I surrender and I trust. I curl my fingers around his hand on my hip and push back into his next thrust.

  “Fuck,” he groans, pleasure thick in his voice.

  He tightens his hold and the slow dance of our bodies joining picks up speed. I take him to the root and then he’s powering into me. I’m in disbelief…that he’s so deep, that I’ve taken all of him, and even more, that I’m enjoying it.

  I feel like I want to come, even if I have no idea how that’s possible right now. Then he pushes the little vibrator into my hand and switches it on. With his hand covering mine, we trail the little toy over and around my clit.

  “Come for me, baby. Let me feel you come.”

  He’s breathless, and I love that I’m the one who has him that way.

  He pounds into me, but his rhythm falters. He’s close and so am I. I put the vibrator right where I need it and press hard.

  Seconds later, I cry out and seize around his penetration. I’m flying, feeling everything, pulled down into the most incredible sensations.

  And I’m his… Utterly owned.

  Chapter Sixteen

  MADISON

  Luke parks the truck and turns to me, but I’m too caught up in the beauty that’s right outside my window to pay him any attention. I clutch my chest, breathless and in awe of the majesty of this secluded hideaway. This is going to be ours. Soon there will be no more his and mine. The thought of that sends a shiver through my body and warms my insides.

  “Do you like it?”

  “It’s…it’s…”

  I can’t find the right words to describe what’s in front of me. We’re thousands of feet in the air, perched on the side of a tree-lined mountain with nothing but wilderness for miles.

  “This is ours,” Luke says.

  I drag my gaze away from our mountain and finally turn to him. My eyes burn as tears form. I’m overwhelmed by his generosity and selflessness when it comes to us. “It’s perfect.”

  He pulls my hand from my chest and nestles it between his palms. “Madison. I want to build our dream home on this spot. Just over there.” He motions with his chin to a clearing near the southern edge. “I want nothing more than to make you happy.”

  I don’t look because it doesn’t matter where he builds the house. Luke will be there and that’s the most important thing to me—not the location. He’ll build it with his own two hands, and I know every inch of the house will be built with love.

  “I’ll be happy anywhere, Luke. As long as we’re together.” I swallow hard and push back the tears that are still threatening to spill over.

  “Well, then let’s just go back to my cabin.” He smirks, knowing full well that it’s way too primitive for me.

  “No. No.” I laugh softly and shake my head at his playfulness. It’s a side to him I’ve come to crave. “I want this house.”

  His lips slide into an easy smile and he moves across the seat so that our legs are touching. Goosebumps break out across my skin when he nuzzles my hair. Putting his mouth next to my ear, he whispers, “I’m callin’ in my wish.”

  The tiny hairs on the back of my neck stand at full attention as if fleeing whatever craziness he’s about to drop on me. “I thought anal the other night was your payback.” I have a feeling his idea isn’t going to be something I’ll love.

  “Nah.”

  He closes his teeth around my earlobe, sucking lightly and tugging until I’m unable to think and my breathing grows ragged.

  “We’re going to camp here tonight, survivalist style.”

  My eyes that had fluttered close while his mouth made love to my earlobe snap open. “Um, no.” I pull away. He’s not going to use his sexual powers to fool me into sleeping under the stars, rolling around in the dirt.

  “Come on, Mad. It’ll be fun,” he tells me in a voice that would make someone who knows him like I do actuall
y believe his words.

  I cross my arms over my chest and stare out the window again at the wilderness in front of me. There are no homes for at least five miles and no help if something should happen. “It’s too dangerous.”

  His fingers touch my chin, bringing my gaze back to him. “Bullshit. I’ll protect you. I’d never let anything happen to you.”

  “But there are bears and things out here.”

  His eyebrows lift. “And things?”

  “Uh, yeah. You know…other animals.”

  He laughs, shimmying his body closer, he pins me against the truck’s door. “There’s nothing to be scared of, except for maybe me.”

  My hunger for him intensifies, erasing the fear of the wide open wilderness. “Okay,” I say too easily. I can’t take it back once it’s out of my mouth.

  He leans forward, pressing his lips to mine. With his fingers still resting against my chin, he steals my breath with the most devastating kiss. There’s as much passion and longing in the way our lips move together as there was the very first time our lips met. Nothing has waned for me, only grown more intense over time.

  My heart’s pounding, reeling from the realization that we’re sitting upon what’s going to be our spot, the slice of heaven that he’s sharing with me. I snake my arms around his neck, burrow my fingers in his hair, and melt into him.

  He pulls away first, breaking the contact I could’ve stayed in forever. Well, at least through the night, safe inside the cabin of his truck.

  “I want to stay in here all night,” he says, his breathing hoarse and affected.

  “We can do that.”

  “There are things we have to do before nightfall.” His hand slides down my neck, cupping my breast before thumbing my nipple.

  I sigh, completely compliant with his wishes.

  “Once we’re done, I want to make love to you under the stars.”

  I envision Luke pumping into me slowly, the grass tickling my skin and the stars twinkling above us like a million little flashlights creating shadows across our bodies. Then the slow movement of his hips as he grinds into me, warming us from the inside out.

  He opens the door and climbs out while I’m still inside fantasizing about his body moving against mine. I hadn’t noticed the camping gear he had stowed in the back when he loaded my luggage. This idea didn’t just come to him. He planned it from the moment I agreed to go back to his cabin so he could pack up his life and head back to LA.

  “There better be a tent in there.” I join him near the rear of the truck and start to pull out duffle bags of what I assume are supplies and toss them to the ground.

  “I may have lied a little.” He grins sweetly, but there’s a hint of mischief in his eyes. “We’re not going to be survival camping.”

  “We’re not?” My insides that had twisted at the thought of roughing it for a night begin to relax. Luke wouldn’t do that to me, especially after I went easy on him when I trimmed his beard.

  “No. I have all the supplies we need for a relaxing night under the stars, including a tent and cooking supplies.”

  I scan the truck bed, looking for some groceries, but I don’t see anything. “Food?”

  “We’re going to forage and hunt. That much will be survival.”

  I gasp, horrified at the idea of killing an innocent creature. “I won’t hunt, Luke.”

  His eyebrows furrow and his gaze darkens. “I need meat. Especially if I’m going to fuck your brains out later. We can’t live off leaves.”

  “I refuse to kill an innocent creature,” I tell him and stand my ground.

  He rubs a hand down his face and groans. “You eat meat, Mad.”

  “Sometimes,” I lie.

  “It doesn’t just show up on grocery store shelves. It has to die sometime.”

  “Fuck,” I hiss and my stomach turns. “I can’t.”

  He hoists the final bag from the back and throws it over his shoulder before grabbing the rest in his other hand. “Fine. We’ll forage.” The last word sounds bitter coming from his mouth, but it doesn’t matter. I think it’s a win.

  “Good.” I follow behind him, watching my step as we walk through thick brush toward the edge of the tree line. But then it dawns on me that maybe there isn’t anything up here to eat besides leaves and twigs. What will we do then?

  I sit on a rock after Luke orders me to do nothing but relax while he sets up our camp. Watching him closely, I take in the way he moves when he’s comfortable and in his element. His relaxed demeanor is sexy, and the ease with which he sets up everything perfectly turns me on. It reminds me of when I peeked at him through the window above his bed after the first time we slept together. Something about his ruggedness makes everything inside me come to life.

  When the sun hangs a little lower in the sky, almost kissing the edge of the mountain, Luke pulls his shirt over his head and tucks it in his back pocket. Leaning forward, I rest my elbow on my knee and my chin in my palm to admire the view. His muscles ripple, hardening and straining under his skin with each movement. I’m fascinated. Even though I’ve seen them a hundred times, it never gets old.

  He’s mine.

  The knowledge of that fact makes this okay. When I’m with him, I feel untouchable, cocooned in an impenetrable force field of his love. Luke Dawson came into my life during a time when I least expected it and turned everything upside down.

  He saved me. He says I saved him, but in all honesty, he brought me back to the woman I was always meant to be. No longer did I live in the shadows of the man at my side. I finally had the type of love that Susan told me to chase.

  But it was the opposite. I ran. He chased. We both fell together.

  LUKE

  A coyote howls in the distance and she goes rigid underneath me. “I got you,” I whisper in her ear, slowly sliding back into her with sure strokes.

  Her legs tighten around me and her fingernails scorch my back. Then she tilts her hips, taking me deeper and relaxing under my touch.

  There’s nothing but stars twinkling above us in a cloudless night sky. The flames of the fire flicker, creating shadows across her face. My body aches for her. There’s not a second of the day that I don’t want to be joined with her in some way. A kiss. A hug. Or buried deep inside her. Since the day she barged into my cabin, I haven’t had my fill.

  I knead her ass, digging my fingertips into the soft flesh as I thrust into her. The strokes are long and drawn out, meant to touch every inch of her inside. I’ve never had the primal need to mark someone before, but Madison brings it out in me.

  Even now, seated deep, I want to go further and lose myself inside her. Madison makes everything else disappear—the worry, the fear, and the regret of the things in my past. None of it matters when I’m with her. She chases away the demons that have haunted me for years.

  I gaze down at her, memorizing this moment. “I love you.”

  She stares up at me with darkened, lust-filled eyes. “I love you too.” The words warm my insides hotter than any fire.

  She sinks her heels into my ass, holding my body against her. I’m a willing captive to her wordless command. She moves with me, grinding herself against me until she starts to tremble. She’s close, and I’m right behind her. Her muscles go rigid as her breathing sputters. Needing more, I thrust into her quickly and pull out, swiveling my hips with each forward movement. She rides the waves of pleasure, her nails biting into my skin. The pain-pleasure mix is enough to send me over the edge. The spine-tingling orgasm leaves me gasping for air.

  Her legs unfurrow. She goes slack underneath me, but her nails remain buried in my skin as she holds my body against her. We gaze at each other for a moment, and I think she’s going to speak. Instead she lifts her head and kisses me, feeding me the air I so badly need.

  “Thank you.” She pulls back far enough to look into my eyes.

  “For what?”

  “For everything.” She smiles, releasing her grip on my back.

  “I sh
ould be thanking you.” I roll to my side, taking her with me. “You saved me, Mad.”

  She places her head on my shoulder and studies me. “I was a shell of my former self, Luke, until I met you.”

  “We saved each other.” I pull her body close, leaving no space between us.

  “It’s really beautiful up here.” Her eyes move to the sky and to the stars reflecting against the darkness in her eyes. “I can’t wait to spend every night with you in this place.”

  My lips find her forehead. “Me neither.”

  She’s mine. It wasn’t all just a dream. I never thought I’d find someone else to share my life with again. But fate had other plans. Actually my dick did. If it wasn’t for the fact that her naked flesh and soft moans stopped me at the springs, I never would’ve met her. Instead of lying under the stars with her in my arms, I’d be alone in my cabin watching the fire crackle.

  Exhausted from the day and spent from her orgasm, she drifts to sleep in my arms. For a moment I think about staying outside next to the fire, but it’s not safe enough. The coyotes in the distance haven’t quieted, and remain too close for comfort. Moving slowly, I place my arms under her body and climb to my feet. She doesn’t wake as I carry her toward the tent just a few feet away and set her down on the sleeping bag. I adjust her body around mine to keep her warm through the night. I close my eyes, find the peace that only she gives me, and let the songs of the forest lull me into a deep sleep.

  I wake abruptly to the sounds of screams. I sit straight up and look around me. Madison’s gone, but the spot to my side is still warm. Without hesitation, I grab the knife I had stowed under my pillow and rush to my feet.

  “Madison!”

  Panic rises inside me as she shrieks louder. They’re terror-filled screams, echoing through the valley below.

  “Madison!” I yell again, trying to gauge my distance by the way her voice carries through the trees. Pushing aside the branches, not caring that I don’t have any shoes on, I bolt through the forest toward her pleas. Then I see it. A coyote has her pinned with her back flush against a tree. It’s growling, showing its teeth in aggression. Madison is frozen and naked.