Chapter 23

Stone

It's been one hell of a goddamn day. Dealing with Gray getting shot has my blood boiling in a way that isn't about the heat. And as if that isn't enough to chew on Ivy's face when she saw him? Damn, if that didn't shoot right through me. The worry lighting up her eyes that damn caring gaze meant for him, not me.

Am I the asshole for coming between them, even if it wasn't my intention? Yes, I am an asshole. But Gray willing to accept it so easily is fucking with me.

Doesn't he love her? Does she love him? Does she even love me? All these questions are burning a hole in my gut. Where do I stand with Ivy? I know she's attracted to me, but is she ready to forgive me for ghosting her while I was in California?

The moon hangs low in the sky, casting an eerie glow across the whole ranch and making the fresh paint job on the bunkhouse look like it's drenched in blood.

Funny thing is, the longer I'm here, the more I can admit how fucking much I missed this place. This is my home. My turf. Now, don't get me wrong. Angel Harbor and the Reckless Souls were a great experience. But it's not home. Ma and Dad were right. It was time to come home.

Boots scuff the dirt behind me, pulling my attention from the starry night, and I turn to see Ivy. She's so fucking beautiful, it makes my chest ache. She's effortless about it, too. The last word anyone would use to describe Ivy is high maintenance, yet even in jeans and a plain old t-shirt, she puts most women to shame.

"Hey," I manage, resisting the urge to scoop her up in my arms. Hell, maybe she's already made her choice, and it's not me.

"Hey, yourself," she begins, folding her arms across her chest as she draws closer to me. "What are you doing out here?"

"Waiting for you," I answer simply. "Where else would I be?"

Her blue eyes flicker and then dart away before I can get a read on what she's thinking or feeling.

"Are you all right, Ivy?" She's more shaken up about Gray than I want to believe.

"Yeah, I'm okay," she answers softly, but she still doesn't look at me.

"You wanna talk about it?"

She shakes her head. "I'm not in the mood for conversation."

"Oka-a-a-a-y," I reply, drawing the word out to five syllables. "What do you need from me, Ivy?"

"Nothing," she says, her expression blank as she steps forward. "I don't need anything from you, Stone."

"Okay, got it. Message received." I push off the side of the bunkhouse and look at Ivy. "If you want to talk, you know where to find me."

"No," she says a little more forcefully as both hands fly to my chest to stop me in my tracks. "I don't need anything from you, and I don't want to talk."

"Yeah, I heard you. You know where I'll be."

The pressure of her hands against my chest disappears for the briefest of moments, and then they're back with a hard shove that slams my back to the bunkhouse wall. "You heard me, but are you listening to me?"

"Ivy. Stop fucking with my head. Okay?"

"I'm not fuckin' with you," she says, her voice suddenly soft and vulnerable.

"Good," I growl.

"Like I said. I don't need or want anything from you, Stone." Her hands cup my face, and she looks up at me. "I want you. I choose you." Her blue eyes are clear and sharp, and the pulse in her throat beats wildly as she says these words.

"Say it again."

Her lips tilt into a slow grin. "I choose you."

"You choose me." The words rush past my lips like a tidal wave. It's what I want to hear, but still, I'm having a hard fucking time making sense of it.

"Yeah, Stone, I do." She's watching me, waiting for a response. "You," she says again before jumping into my arms, giving me no choice but to catch her. "I choose you. Right here. Right now."

"What about Gr—" Before I can finish my sentence, Ivy's lips are on mine, raw and hungry as she devours my mouth. Slowly at first and thoroughly, and then with every pass of her tongue, the kiss deepens and intensifies.

Her hips grind against my dick, teasing me beyond all good sense while her fingers spear through my hair, gripping me tight enough to cause a sting on my scalp. I don't give a fuck, not when I finally have Ivy in my arms. Not when I can savor the taste of her mouth.

I turn us around so she's up against the bunkhouse, looking up at me with hazy blue eyes and swollen lips. "You taste even better than I dreamed about."

She blinks and then licks her lips. "You've thought about me?"

"Only every fucking day since I've been back." My hand brushes across the soft skin of her midriff, drawing a shiver from her. "There's so much I want to know." I flick the button on her jeans and tug on the zipper. "I need to know, so if you don't want this, it's up to you to tell me. Feel me?"

She nods, never looking away from me, not even when my hand slides down her waistband, and my fingers skate over the patch of hair before I find what I'm looking for. She gasps and leans her head back against the bunkhouse, but her gaze never wavers from me.

"Say it," I growl.

"I feel you," she smiles. "Oh fuck!"

I find her pussy wet and swollen, her clit peeking through just enough to let me know just how aroused she is. "Already so wet for me."

I slide my finger deep in one long thrust. Ivy moans, and my dick twitches to her sounds. Her hips push forward, and I tap-tap-tap my finger inside. "You like that?"

"Don't. Tease."

I smile and nip at her earlobe and down her neck, sucking on that strip of skin between her neck and shoulder. I nibble her bottom lip and string kisses across her cheek, giving the other side of her body the same treatment until she's trembling with her need to come.

"Make me come, Stone."

"Make yourself come, Ivy." I pull back and watch as heat and fire flare in her gaze. She grips my wrist with one hand just as I add a second finger, grinding on my hand, and I'm drenched in her juices.

I watch as she fucks my fingers, hips rolling fast and wild as she chases her pleasure. "Oh fuck! Yes, Stone, yes!" She watches me as I watch her, my cock so hard it'll have an imprint of my zipper soon enough. "Stone!" She rides until her pussy clenches me hard, until her juices drip down my palm and down to my wrist. "Fuck!"

I hold her while her body convulses, her legs wobbly, and her chest heaves with labored breaths. "So goddamn beautiful when you come."

"Oh, damn," she groans when I remove my fingers from her body and place them in my mouth. "That was good," she whispers.

I smile at her, my cocky smile she has a love-hate relationship with, and then I lick my fingers. "Sweet. Salty. One hundred percent you."

"Good God, that's filthy."

My brow shoots up. "Yeah?"

"Hell yeah," she says as she shucks her jeans and the small cotton panties. "It's so hot I need to come again. Right now. With or without you." The way she's smiling and breathless, so hungry for my dick is more than I can take.

"Come here," I tell her seriously.

"What?"

"Come. Here. Now."

Without argument, she takes a step closer. "Take my dick out."

She licks her lips, her gaze still on me, as her hands make quick work of my jeans and boxers. She only shoves my pants down halfway before she has her hand on me, stroking me and rubbing her thumb on my slit. Then she says, "Damn."

"I'll be gentle."

She laughs. "I really hope you won't be."

And that's the last Ivy says other than my name along with a few moans. She's in my arms with her legs around my waist, using gravity to slide down the length of my cock.

"So fucking tight," I groan. "Tight and wet and greedy." She fits me like a fucking glove, and once my hips start moving in long, deep strokes, I can't stop.

"Oh, fuck! Fuck yes! Oh fuck yes," she pants in my ear. "So fucking good." She grips my hair and tugs my head backward to lick her way up my neck.

"Ivy," I grunt. She's close again. Her pussy is milking my cock, squeezing him like a possessive lover, and I'm barely holding on.

"Harder, Stone. Fuck me harder."

I grip her hips at her command and give her what she wants, sliding her up and down my dick, harder and faster and deeper. The sound of slick skin hitting slick skin rips through the air, and soon enough, Ivy's cries of pleasure join the symphony of sounds. "Oh, fuck, babe."

"Yes," she pants. "Yes!" Her head falls back and then forward as she arches into me, twitching and convulsing through her orgasm.

She's so hot and tight, she's every goddamn thing I want, and I refuse to hold back. My fingers dig into her flesh, and I pump harder and faster until I hit the spot that sends her over the edge one more time while my own pleasure explodes out of me and right into her. "Ivy!"

Her head rests on my shoulder while she gulps down air. Her fingers continue to pull my hair until her breathing returns to normal. "I like the way my name sounds on your lips."

"I like the way you feel around my cock. And I like knowing that you want me as much as I want you."

She smiles up at me, a sweet smile that hits me like a donkey kick to the chest. "I do, Stone. I really fuckin' do."

"Good. Let's go inside so I can taste that sweet pussy of yours."

"Yes, please!" She wiggles to get down, but I grip her ass cheeks. "I can walk."

I smile. "Have I mentioned how much I love having your pussy wrapped around me?"

She laughs, and the sound reverberates throughout her body, making her squeeze my dick even harder. "I'm in trouble, aren't I?"

I smile and nod. "Honey, you have no fucking idea."