Justice for Laine (Badge of Honor: Texas Heroes Book 4) Read online

  Reluctantly he’d pulled away, and had helped her mount a gentle mare. They’d ridden lazily along the fence line of his large property. Every now and then, he’d stop to make some adjustments to and reinforce parts of the fence. Each time, he’d helped Laine dismount and she’d assisted him where she could.

  They’d stopped and had lunch under a few trees on the far north side of the pasture. They’d made out after they’d eaten and Wes had pulled back before they’d gone too far. He’d looked sheepishly at her and said, “I swear I had only planned for us to eat lunch.”

  He’d been so earnest, all Laine could do was laugh.

  They’d arrived back to the barn and made their way into the house. They’d talked some more, eaten a light dinner, and watched a movie. The show had long since been over, but neither had the desire to get up and put in a new one, so they sat in each other’s arms, enjoying being together.

  “Tell me you feel it too,” Wes said during a lull in the conversation.

  “What? The anticipation? The electricity? Yeah, I feel it too,” Laine reassured him.

  “I keep telling myself that it’s too soon. I haven’t been this interested in a woman in a long time.”

  “I know. I feel like I should consider myself a slut for even contemplating going to bed with you tonight, but I don’t. Not in the least. It feels right.” Laine looked up at Wes and put her hand on his face. “Take me to bed?”

  “With pleasure,” Wes told her, standing up, grabbing hold of her hand as he did.

  Laine stood up with him and followed him into his bedroom.

  * * *

  Wes felt the adrenaline coursing through his veins. He was more hyped up to see Laine naked for the first time, to feel her skin next to his own, than he was when he tracked down a fugitive. He hadn’t really thought about finding a woman he could spend the rest of his life with . . . figuring no one would really want to hole themselves up on his ranch and all that came with being married to a rancher. He wasn’t ready to pull out a ring and ask Laine to marry him. But he liked her. A lot. He wanted to spend more time with her . . . not to mention, he really, really wanted to get her into his bed.

  Reaching behind his neck, Wes pulled his T-shirt off with one quick tug. He smiled as Laine’s eyes widened at the sight of his wide chest. Not feeling self-conscious in the least, Wes undid his jeans and pushed them down his legs until he was standing in his boxer-briefs, which left nothing to the imagination. He was way too excited at this point to hide his erection or even try to control it.

  Laine reached for the hem of her own shirt and slowly drew it up and over her head. She bit her lip and paused in her disrobing.

  Seeing her discomfort, Wes took over, not wanting to do anything to make her feel ill at ease. He soothed his hands from her shoulders to her wrists and back up. “You’re beautiful, Laine. Never doubt that I find you attractive.” He ran his palms over her breasts, still covered in her lacy bra. “I’ll never forget the sight of you standing in front of me outside my barn, blushing when you realized how hard your nipples were as you’d been gawking at me.”

  She smiled up at him at that. “I was so embarrassed to know I was showing you a full nipple hard-on.”

  Wes chuckled. “Nipple hard-on?”

  Laine nodded. “Yeah, me and Mack came up with that term in the tenth grade. We’d been at a football game and it was raining. We’d forgotten our jackets and were freezing. A freshman cymbal player looked at us and his eyes got huge. We didn’t know what his problem was until we scrutinized each other. We decided our hard nipples were the equivalent to a guy getting a hard-on at an inconvenient time.”

  Wes smiled at Laine’s story while he reached around her back, unhooked her bra, easing it down her arms and dropped it on the floor. He lifted her tits in his hands and gently squeezed, not taking his eyes away from her hard little nipples, amazed when they tightened further in front of his eyes.

  “This moment will forever be engrained into my head.” He glanced up and looked Laine in the eyes for a moment, before gazing down at his prize again. “My mouth is watering, I want to taste you so badly.” He took a step closer to her so she could feel his erection against her lower stomach. “I feel like I could burst just from looking at you, from smelling your arousal.” When she moaned, he added, “From listening to the sounds you make.”

  Wes ran his thumbs over her nipples once . . . then twice, before lowering his hands to her pants. “If I don’t get your pants off, I might just do that.” He deftly undid the button on her jeans and unzipped them, pushing them, along with her panties, down her legs without missing a beat. “Step out, darlin’, then scoot back on the bed.”

  Wes took care of his own underwear as Laine moved onto his mattress. He noticed her eyes were taking in his body as much as he was taking in hers. She was all woman. Yes, she was tall and slender, but she had an hourglass shape, which made his hands itch to trace her slight curves, and she had a pair of tits that made him want to bury his head between them.

  Laine licked her lips and she took her time taking him in as well. “My God, you are gorgeous, Wes. Seriously. I feel like the band geek who somehow managed to snare the quarterback.”

  Wes crawled over to Laine on his hands and knees and his legs almost gave out when she took his cock in her hand and caressed him.

  “You wouldn’t have liked me back in high school. I was a self-centered prick who probably wouldn’t have taken a second glance at anyone outside my own circle. I know better now. When I see the sexiest realtor I’ve ever seen in my life, I’m not dumb enough to hesitate to make her mine.”

  Wes ran his hand from Laine’s hip up to her chest, taking her breast in his hand again, pushing it up as he came down onto his elbow next to her. He licked the rosy nipple begging for his touch, watching as her pectoral muscle jumped under his ministrations, before stating, “And make no mistake, Laine, after tonight, you’re mine. I’ll never get enough of this body . . . of you.”

  Done talking, Wes leaned down to stake his claim once and for all. He engulfed her nipple in his mouth and sucked, hard, loving how her back arched into his touch. One of her hands came up to grab his naked ass, and the other landed on the back of his head and pushed him harder into her.

  He took his time worshiping her breasts. First one nipple, then the other. He licked around the turgid bud then kissed along her collarbone. He nipped her earlobe and blew into her ear, loving how she shivered under him and goosebumps rose on her arms.

  She tried several times to reciprocate, but Wes hadn’t had nearly enough of her to let her take her turn yet. She apparently got impatient with him taking, but not letting her give anything in return, because she pushed against him hard, and Wes rolled over onto his back.

  Laine immediately straddled his stomach and put her hands on his chest. “My turn,” she demanded, waiting for him to argue.

  The view Laine was giving him was heavenly and Wes had no desire to deny her. He put both hands on her hipbones, letting his thumbs rest in the creases where her legs met her groin . . . close to her folds, but not touching.

  Without taking his eyes away from where she was weeping for him, Wes encouraged, “Knock yourself out. But I’m warning you, darlin’, you’ve only got a couple of minutes before I take over again. I need you too much.”

  She didn’t argue, or hesitate. Laine ran her hands down his chest to the hair above his cock, then brought them back up and pinched his nipples. She leaned down, blocking his view of her gorgeous pussy, and sucked one of his small buds into her mouth. The position might have obstructed his view of her, but it also pushed her hips farther down his body. She shifted until she was straddling one of his legs.

  Wes swore his vision went black for a moment when she sucked hard on his nipple, snaked one hand down his body until she grasped his hard length, and ground herself against his leg, smearing her wetness on his thigh in the process.

  Before he even thought about what he was doing, Wes had pushed
Laine over until she was on her back again and he was hovering over her. “Goddamn, darlin’, you make me lose my head. You’re so fucking perfect I can’t . . . shit, I can’t even talk,” he groused as he felt his balls pull up against his body.

  “Bad timing, I know, we should’ve already talked about this,” Laine ground out, “but I’m on the pill. I haven’t had sex in a year and a half and I’m clean.”

  “Fuck. I have condoms in the drawer. I meant for this to go slower. It’s been fourteen months for me. I’m clean too. Swear.” Wes groaned as Laine arched into him and his cock brushed against the trimmed hair above where he wanted to bury himself. He cleared his throat and rushed his words, wanting to get this part over with so he could experience bliss. “The papers are in a drawer in my kitchen. I’d planned to discuss this with you like a civilized person while we relaxed after dinner.”

  “Fuck me, Wes. God, please. I’ve resisted the urge to get off this week because I wanted to wait and see if it made this better. I’m so damn horny I feel like my skin is on fire, and I need to come so bad. Please.”

  Before the last word was out of her mouth, Wes took hold of the base of his dick and guided his way inside her hot folds. He slipped in easily, her excitement coating his way. They both groaned at the feel of him coming inside. He caught himself on his hands on the mattress next to her shoulders. He closed his eyes, not moving, wanting to memorize the moment.

  “Wes?”

  “Shhhhhh.”

  “What are you doing?” Laine whispered.

  “I’m imprinting this exact moment to memory.” Wes opened his eyes and looked deep into Laine’s. “The first time I am inside you. How perfect it feels. How amazingly, wonderfully perfect this is.”

  “Wes . . .” Laine’s voice trailed off as he pulled almost all the way out and pushed his way back inside.

  “As much as I want this to last forever, I’m afraid it’s not going to,” Wes warned as he continued to thrust in and out of her.

  “It’s okay, we can do it again.”

  “There’ll never be another first time,” Wes told her a bit sadly.

  Laine brought her hands up to his face and held it lovingly. “But there’ll be a second. And a third. And a fourth. And if we’re lucky, a four thousand one hundred and sixty-eighth. Make me come, Wes. I need you.”

  Her words were all it took for him to let go of the iron control he’d been holding onto. He moved one hand down to where they were joined and used his thumb to press against her clit as he thrust harder into her. “I didn’t get the chance to taste you, but I will. That’s on my list . . . and you should know, my list of things I want to do with you is getting longer and longer. But for now I want to feel you come apart under me.” His thumb was relentless, dipping down to where they were joined to gather her juices, and caressing, rubbing, and pressing down on her sensitive bundle of nerves.

  Wes felt her clit swell until the tip peeked out from the hood that usually protected it as she writhed under him. Loving that he could turn her on that much, he sped up his efforts until Laine was shaking on the verge of her orgasm.

  He thrust inside her and held himself still as he felt Laine’s orgasm explode from the inside out. She gripped his cock so tightly, it was all Wes could do to hold off his own orgasm so he could fully appreciate her ecstasy.

  Finally, Laine was only twitching in his grasp instead of out-and-out jerking. He pulled out then slammed back into her. Once. Twice. Then, knowing he was close, bit out, “I’m coming, darlin’. I’m coming.” He thrust into her to the hilt and held her to him as his balls drew up close to his skin and he burst forth harder than he’d ever done before.

  He vaguely felt Laine’s hands running up and down his chest as she caressed him through his orgasm. Wes dropped down lightly onto her, pushing her legs open farther, forcing her to wrap them around him. He felt himself growing soft and mourned the end of their first lovemaking session.

  “Don’t be sad,” Laine said, somehow reading his mind.

  “I’m not sad, exactly.”

  “Then what, exactly?” Laine asked with a smile in her voice.

  “Uh . . .” Wes couldn’t think. “I guess I am sad. I wanted it to last longer.”

  Laine giggled, and they both groaned when her laughter pushed his flaccid length out of her body. Wes immediately rolled so Laine was resting on top of him.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Well, since we didn’t use a condom, the gallons of jizz that you forced out of my body will, sooner or later, be making its way out of yours. I didn’t think you wanted to sleep in the wet spot . . . so I’m trying to be a gentleman here.”

  “Oh, you goof. Let me up. I’ll go take care of things and come back, then neither of us needs to sleep in the gross wet spot.”

  “I like you here,” Wes whined.

  Laine pushed up to her hands and knees then leaned down and kissed him, pulling away when he tried to deepen it. “I’ll be right back, don’t move.”

  Wes watched in the dim light of the room as Laine hopped off the bed and headed for the bathroom. He thought for the hundredth time that night how lucky he was and how pretty Laine was.

  She was back within moments and snuggled into his side. Wes drew the sheet up and over them both and closed his eyes in appreciation for his life.

  7

  Laine smiled down at the text on her phone the next morning while she sat at the table waiting for Wes to finish making their breakfast. He’d insisted on making them both omelets, and Laine didn’t argue. Why would she? She’d let Wes cook her every meal if he wanted to.

  “What are you smiling about over there?” Wes asked as he carried two plates to the table, putting one down in front of her.

  Laine turned her phone so Wes could see the text that Mack sent.

  On a scale from 1-10?

  Wes’s brows furrowed in confusion. “What’s that mean?”

  Laine looked down at her phone as she typed out a reply. “She wants to know on a scale of one to ten how the sex was. I told her a seven point five.”

  Laine screeched as her phone was grabbed out of her hands. “Hey!”

  Wes was looking at the screen. “You did not. A twenty?” He grabbed Laine around the torso and tilted her chair until it was resting on the back two legs.

  Laine squealed again, holding on to Wes for all she was worth and laughing at the same time. “Wes! Let me up! Of course it was a twenty! Good Lord, man. You were there. Do you disagree?”

  Wes kissed her until she couldn’t breathe and finally brought her upright. “I would’ve told her at least a thirty.”

  Laine snatched her phone back up and read Mack’s response.

  You’re welcome.

  They both laughed. Laine relaxed as they ate their breakfast. She’d been a bit worried that the morning after they’d had such awesome sex would be awkward, but it hadn’t been. Laine had opened her eyes that morning to find Wes up on an elbow, watching her. He’d smoothed a length of her hair behind her ear and smiled down at her.

  “Good morning, sleep well?”

  “Yeah. You?”

  “Best I’ve slept in a long time. You make a good pillow.”

  They’d both laughed and Wes had told her to use the master bathroom and he’d use the guest one. Yes, they’d had sex, but it was still a bit weird to do normal morning stuff with him the morning after, and he’d somehow known it. So they’d taken showers in separate bathrooms and met in the kitchen.

  “What are your plans for the day?” Wes asked her after they’d finished eating.

  “I have a showing this afternoon. You?”

  “I’m assisting in an interrogation of a suspect in a robbery, and I’m on call.”

  Laine wrinkled her nose.

  Wes smiled at her and stood up. He kissed the top of her head and grabbed their dishes. “Such is life for two working adults. But know this, darlin’, I’m going to make every effort to see you every time I can. When I’ve got t
ime off, I want to spend it with you. When you’ve got the time, I’d love to meet you for lunch. As much as possible, I want to spend the night with you. I don’t care if we’re both dead on our feet and all we do is sleep, I like being around you.”

  Laine stood up, followed Wes into the kitchen, and watched as he nonchalantly rinsed off the dishes and put them into the dishwasher without having to be prompted. It hit her then. Wes wasn’t a boy. He was a responsible man, who’d lived on his own for a long time. He wouldn’t expect her to cook all the time, or always do their laundry, or clean the dishes . . . he was used to doing those things for himself, just as she was. The perks of dating a man like him occurred to her again. She smiled and came up behind him, wrapping her arms around him and resting her head on his back.

  “I’d like that.”

  “Like what?”

  “All of what you just said. Meeting you for lunch. Sleeping with you. Hanging out with you. Spending time with you when we’re both free . . . and when I’m not busy hanging out with Mack.”

  Wes turned in her arms. “I’d never make you choose between me and Mackenzie, Laine. I know how important she is to you.”

  “Thanks. I know I told you about our close relationship before, but wanted to make sure you really understood.

  “Never be afraid to tell me how you feel. As we’ve said, we’re not sixteen. Communication is the key to having a strong relationship.”

  “Agreed. So we’re officially dating?”

  “Absolutely.” Wes beamed at her, showing off his perfect smile. “So . . . what time is this showing you have this afternoon?”

  Laine grinned back at him mischievously. “What time do you have to go into work?”

  “Not for a few hours.”

  “Same here.”

  Wes started backing her out of the kitchen toward his room. “Looks like we have a few hours on our hands then. Whatever shall we do to pass the time?”

  “I might have some ideas,” Laine said, then turned and sprinted down the hallway, laughing as she heard Wes pounding after her.