5. Amanda

Chapter 5

Amanda

I slept hard. I’m guessing it’s because I wore myself out from crying. Finding Alex… no …Leo and knowing he’s okay means the world to me.

Back at the Home, he sheltered me. He gave me food, he bandaged my wounds. He stood up for me. He taught me how to read when the staff said I was too stupid to learn.

He never laughed at my mistakes, and I knew…I knew then that he was and always would be my best friend, my love. My boy and now my man. Forever. Because I am not letting anything separate us.

Flinging off the blankets, I quickly put on a pair of stretchy shorts I accidentally grabbed instead of my denim ones and my favorite t-shirt, then scurry from the room. I nearly fall over Leo who’s sitting by the wall beside the bedroom door.

At first, I thought he was asleep, but then he stands.

“Hungry?”

I nod, and he turns away toward the stairs.

“Are we going to talk about last night?”

He starts down the first step. “Yes, but in the barn when we’re alone. My brothers are up.”

Someone made bacon and eggs and set them on a platter on a farmhouse table. A stack of pancakes and maple syrup are beside them. My stomach growls.

“Morning.”

His brother Flint doesn’t smile when he greets me, but his eyes are friendly enough.

“Morning,” I say as I take a seat.

A shirtless guy walks in, yawning and rubbing his hair. “Did I smell bacon?”

He stops when she sees me. Gives me a cautious once over before he glances at Flint. “Is this the new ranch manager?”

“Put a shirt on, River, and no, this is Leo’s angel.”

River plucks an apron from a hanger and puts it on. “Shit. Leo’s angel?” He sits across from me. “He’s been looking for you. Where have you been?”

“Enough,” Leo says, and the brothers trade stares. He motions toward the pancakes. “Eat and then find your damn rooster and put him up while I fix the barn.”

“I did that last night.” River is still staring at me. “Are you sure you’re his angel? I don’t remember seeing you at the Home.”

“You were there?”

River nods. “All of us brothers were. Dad and Mom adopted as many of us as they could.”

“She’s younger than you and was kept in a different dormitory,” Flint says setting the bottle of maple syrup down hard in front of his brother. It’s clear he doesn’t like talking about the place.

“Didn’t stop Leo from befriending her,” River says.

Leo gives his brother another hard look, takes a sip of coffee, and makes a face. “Tastes like cow shit.”

“Jude made it before he went to town,” Flint says.

Then they all start talking about how someone else needs to get their ass up earlier so Jude won’t be the one to make the coffee.

Finally, Flint starts outlining what needs to get done on the ranch.

I take it all in, the ebb and flow of their conversation. Their obvious love for this ranch and for each other. I’m glad that Leo has this. I’m glad he’s been loved.

Once breakfast is finished, I stand to help River clear the table.

“We take turns and today is his. Let him finish that,” Leo says, taking my hand.

He leads the way to a shed where he collects a toolbox and a couple of pieces of wood.

I follow him into the barn and look around while he nails the boards up over a hole at the rear of a stall.

When I spot a wooden ladder, I stop at the end of it and look, getting on my tiptoes to see as far as I can.

“It’s a loft. Go on up if you want. I’ll be right there.”

I climb the ladder and step off onto the loft, heading straight for a chair. I’m determined to talk about the past with Leo, to show him I don’t need him treating me like I’m made of glass.

He takes the chair across from me, removes his Stetson to set it on the sleeping bag, and runs his fingers through his hair.

“You said you wouldn’t add to my pain,” I begin. When he nods, I continue, “I told you, you were never part of my pain. You were always my hope and my healing.”

He blinks at that.

I smile at him, my heart overwhelmed with the joy of finding him again.

“If I wouldn’t have snuck off to the woods, that day, I would have been there. I could have?—”

“I was adopted then, Leo. There was nothing you could have done to stop it.”

His throat works as he swallows. “I missed you every day.”

I blink away the tears. “I missed you, too.” I love him so much. I want our bodies to be as close as my heart feels to his.

I glance around the loft, my mind going a hundred miles an hour. It’s private here. We wouldn’t be overheard.

Like he can read my thoughts, Leo says, “No. I’m not sharing a single moan of yours with anyone else.”

I grin at the possessiveness in his voice. “Then are you saying you will cause me to moan?”

Leo

Me thinking about her moaning…that’s one way to make my cock as hard as the hammer I used to pound in the nails.

I ought to stay away from Amanda. I should focus on protecting her and making sure she has a good life like she deserves. She said I was her hope and her healing.

There was nothing I could have done, she said. But I know I’ll always carry guilt around with me because I didn’t keep my promise to stay by her side.

“About that moan?” Amanda says.

Right now, I should be a gentleman. I should.

But I’m not one. Reckon I never will be either.

Slowly, I push up from the chair and cross over to her, slowly sinking to my knees at her feet.

She’s. So. Damn. Perfect. I’m glad I’m kneeling because one glance from her makes my legs weak. I’m putty in her hands.

Turning my face, I kiss the inside of one of her knees, then the other. Her skin is warm against my lips. I circle my tongue over a spot, and she sucks in her breath, saying my name on a gasp.

Moving from her knees to mid-thigh, I leave a trail of kisses.

She slouches in the chair, her legs opening wider.

I nuzzle the outside of her shorts, taking the material in my mouth and pulling it away from her pussy with my teeth.

She whimpers and moves even lower in the chair.

“That’s right, honey. Put your legs over my shoulder. Offer me that pussy like it’s on a plate. You feel me nipping at you?”

“Y-Yes.”

“You like that?”

“I do.”

I push my lips harder against her, sucking at her shorts, drawing them into my mouth. “Maybe I’ll just play around,” I say, tapping my tongue against the center. “Maybe I won’t let you come.”

“Leo…” she closes her eyes.

“You think I’m going to let you get off here? Because you’re wrong. I haven’t waited all these years for you to turn our first time into a quickie.”

Her eyes fly open. “What?”

I lower her legs to the floor and stand. “This will be an all day session before I let you come, honey. Would you like that?”

“I don’t know. I’m so ready right now.” She frowns as she sits upright and shoots me a look like I’m being bad.

“You’re right. I am bad. Dirty as fuck just for you.” Leaning down, I run my thumb over her lips.

Her lips part under the pressure.

“If that’s what you want, give me a kiss.”

She kisses my thumb, taking it into her mouth and letting it rest on her tongue.

“Not there, honey. Kiss the cock and tell King Cock what you want from him.”

Her eyes glazed with longing, Amanda pulls my thumb out of her mouth and leans forward. Her lips graze the front of my jeans.

I tangle a hand in her hair and pull her head back. “Kiss it like you mean it.”

She presses her lips forcefully against my crotch and I bite back a groan. “That’s right. Now tell it what you want.”

Her voice low, she says, “I want you to do me.”

“Do you? What do you mean?”

“I want you to fuck me.”

“He can’t hear you. Say it again.”

“I want you to fuck me,” she says hoarsely.

I pull her away from my body and look deep into her eyes. “Your wish is the king’s command.”