CHAPTER SEVEN

SAMUEL

"Hope could be my future."

A part of me wonders if I'm dreaming.

If the lost power and raging storm have catapulted me into some sort of dreamland where a girl like Hope wants a man like me—a hardworking rancher who can be overprotective and downright ornery at times.

But this feels real.

Hope's hands combing through my hair. The taste of her sweet arousal on my lips and tongue. How her hips rise to meet my hard cock as I kiss my way back to her mouth, making sure to stop at her breasts to lick and suck the swollen nipples.

"Samuel…" she groans, and my name has never sounded so good.

"Say it again."

She does, and a shudder rolls down my spine to settle in my cock. Nudging between her splayed thighs, our gazes connect as I slowly push forward until I'm buried to the hilt in Hope's tight cunt.

My heart pounds in my chest. Blood whooshes in my ears. This past week has been filled with thoughts of Hope no matter how hard I tried shoving them away. The ghost of Tara's words replayed through my mind, mocking each obsessed daydream.

"Hey, where'd you go?" Hope's hands hold my face still as she searches my expression.

Fuck. Here I am buried inside her warmth, yet I'm frozen in the past.

"Nowhere that matters." My hips retreat then thrust forward, steadily increasing my pace. "I'm here, baby. I'm with you."

Her look of doubt guts me. Reaching down, my fingers find her clit as I capture her mouth in a hard kiss. I want Hope's full attention on pleasure, not worry.

I swallow her gasp of surprise then growl in satisfaction as her pussy clenches around my cock with her orgasm, drawing my own to the forefront.

Collapsing to the side, I fight to catch my breath as Hope curls into me, her head resting on my chest.

"Ready to share what happened?" she asks.

"I'm not sure it's a good post-coital conversation," I joke, ashamed by my brief loss of focus.

Tara is my past.

Hope could be my future.

She deserves one hundred percent of me one hundred percent of the time.

"Let me be the judge of that." Hope pats my chest. "How about we make a trade? A secret for a secret."

"Hmm… I'm intrigued. What sort of secrets are you keeping?"

"Only one way to find out, so spill."

It's obvious she's not going to let this go, and if I have any chance at a future with her, I'll have to share my past eventually. Might as well be now while we're snowed in.

"Relationships aren't my strong suit," I admit. "I know this is new, and maybe you're not interested in more than a—"

A finger lands on my lips. "I'm interested. Don't let this stop you from sharing, but I was a virgin until a few minutes ago."

"What?" Shock reverberates through my body. Hope was a virgin? "Did I hurt you? Why didn't you tell me?" She didn't act like I figured a virgin would. Didn't look like she was in pain when I first entered her. She pulled me closer with each deep plunge of my dick rather than tensing up and asking me to slow down.

"No, you didn't hurt me. Everything was perfect. I didn't mention it because it didn't matter. Which is why I didn't bring up birth control either. I'm on it for my period, by the way." Hope peppers kisses over my pecs before rising to meet my eyes. "I wanted you to be my first, and nothing was going to deter that."

An unexpected chuckle bursts free at the fierceness in her tone. It matches the determination I felt to make her mine, despite how long we've known each other.

"Now, stop stalling."

"Right…" I sigh. "I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I can be an intense guy. My ex liked to say too intense or attached. Clingy. Overprotective. Take your pick, Tara used it as an insult."

"I'm sorry. So, you were thinking about her?"

"I was thinking about how what I feel for you after mere days far outmatches what was between Tara and I. And I don't want to scare you off."

"You won't. The thing is… No one has ever treated me like I'm something special. The fact that I inspire such passion in you is kind of intoxicating."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Good to know." I've never considered my intensity a strength, but maybe I needed Hope to show me it could be.

I caress her back, contemplating the change of perspective.

"What's your secret, since I'm guessing it wasn't the fact that you were a virgin?"

Her muscles tense beneath my touch before releasing with a long exhale. "I'm one of the Guardian Valley heirs."

"No shit?" Of all the things Hope could have admitted to, this never even occurred to me. "Why are you staying at Vanderhorn's place rather than Serenity Ranch? They have plenty of empty cabins you could commandeer."

"I've been too overwhelmed to go over there. Brooke is my friend, but I haven't seen the other heirs since we were kids. It just seemed easier bunking at Braden's home with Carrie instead of jumping into the situation there."

"They'll love you, trust me. But I understand wanting to ease into everything. It's not every day you become an heiress and inherit a handful of strangers, too."

"You make the decision sound almost reasonable when I've been berating myself for being ridiculous."

"You're not ridiculous." I hug her closer and drop a kiss to her crown. The tangled brown strands cling to my beard. "You're protecting yourself. No one can fault you for that."

Hope yawns and snuggles her nose into the crook of my neck. "Thank you. I'm going to try to remember that."

"Why don't we table the subject for now, hmm? You've got to be exhausted after everything that's happened today."

"I don't want to miss a moment of this, though," she says through another yawn.

I gently trace the roundness of her cheek, careful not to irritate any leftover aches from being hit by an airbag.

"I'm not going anywhere, baby. Rest."

She murmurs something I don't quite catch then cuddles closer, and I revel in the trust she's given me.

Being vulnerable with her mind and body.

Staring up at the ceiling, I watch shadows from the flames dance across the beams rather than sleep.

Because I don't want to miss this either.