Falling Softly: Compass Girls, Book 4 (14 page)

Sterling shivered as passion rolled from her fingers through her whole body and out her toes. Nothing in her sexual experience could compare to making love with Viho. And she knew that was what it was. This wasn’t fucking. Or sex for the sake of a quick, hard orgasm. It was something more meaningful. Deeper and more powerful.

A bond they were forming. One that could be strong enough to last for life.

When his hand shifted upward, coming to cradle her throat, she couldn’t help herself.

Without warning, Sterling’s whole body quaked. She came around Viho’s cock, squeezing him and attempting to wring him dry. But he lunged into her, embedding himself fully, and rode out her orgasm with only his fingers tapping her clit to keep time with his heavy breathing in her ear.

“Viho,” she panted. “That was—”

“Beautiful,” he finished for her. “I can’t wait to see you do it again. And again.”

“I can’t.” She shook her head, dragging her damp hair against his chest.

“You will.”

He rolled forward, pressing her into the mattress, still careful to keep his full weight off her. Face down, she allowed herself to go completely limp as her body still quivered. The braid of Viho’s hair slipped off his shoulder and landed on hers, the slight sting making her jump.

And moan.

Viho nuzzled her ear, nipping the lobe, then promised, “Someday we’re going to explore your submissive side more. Not now, not like this. But we will.”

Her sigh was cut off by a moan when he began to move inside her again, rejuvenating the smoldering arousal in her nerve endings. He pumped into her with infuriating carefulness. So she helped him out by rocking backward to meet his thrusts.

She got away with one or two twitches of her ass, enhancing the motion of his fucking, before he pinned her tighter. Only for a few strokes, an unmistakable reminder.

And when he released her, she tried to play by the rules.

But after a few more unbearably deep drives, she found herself unconsciously participating, undulating her hips in counterpoint to his shuttling.

“Sterling, if you can’t be still and calm, I’ll tie you up. I swear I will,” he growled in her ear as he tapped her ass. And she thought she might come again on the spot.

She whimpered and writhed harder beneath his restraining weight. With her head turned to the side, she could peer up at him as he studied her reactions up close and personal.

“You like the idea?” Viho gave her that special wolfish smile she loved so much. It might have made some people nervous. Not her.

“Mmm. Yes.” She admitted it.

“Then tell me,” he murmured against her cheek, hardly allowing her room to breathe. “Do you have any scarves in your closet?”

“Yes. They’re hanging from the hook behind the door.” She didn’t hesitate for a second.

Neither did Viho.

He climbed off her, making her moan at the loss of his cock.

“Don’t worry, I’m coming right back. Promise.”

Crossing the room with two enormous strides, he whipped open the door and collected what he’d gone for, returning with a fistful of hand-dyed silk.

“This will do.” He hummed as she rolled onto her back and spread-eagled herself without waiting to be told.

“I couldn’t have imagined a woman like you, Sterling.” Viho spoke to her as he bound first one wrist, then the other. He tied them to the headboard before moving on to her feet. The wide band of silk hugged her ankle, the material cool then warming quickly against her heated skin. “Someone made for me. Someone I could give all of myself to without hiding anything. You understand me. Shadows and light.”

“Because I’m the same.” She owed it to him to be honest.

“You are. And I can hardly believe you’re real.” He secured her other leg, then traced one finger down the arch of her foot. When she jerked, she unwittingly tested his knot work, finding it thorough, like everything else he did.

A gasp left her throat as he leapt onto the bed between her spread legs. She couldn’t close them. Didn’t want to. Though she expected him to climb up her body and plunge inside her, he didn’t. He continued to ratchet her desire higher by licking her anklebone, then kissing up her calf as he kneaded her shins in a pale imitation of his earlier massage.

These touches were less concentrated on healing and more intent to inflame her.

It worked.

She squirmed, trying to rush him to no avail.

But he made it worth the wait as he caressed, sucked, nipped and generally worshipped every inch of her on his path upward. Though when he reached the crease of her thigh, he teased, skirting the moist folds of her pussy and lavishing his attention on her belly instead.

Of course, while he made love to her, tenderly, with his mouth, his hands wandered to her breasts and lightly, so very gently, toyed with her nipples. She appreciated his finesse since they’d become sensitive, almost to the point of pain.

Somehow his touches made the ache subside, or morph into something she could definitely enjoy. And just when she thought he couldn’t be more skilled, he lowered his mouth and applied his tongue to her clit.

Sterling would have rocketed off the bed if she hadn’t been tied. She jerked against the bonds, only making herself hornier when she realized that she was his captive. The bastard chuckled against her pussy, thoroughly enjoying her display of both wanton desire and helplessness.

It didn’t matter that she’d lost control of the situation when he read her signals so adeptly.

Viho lapped at her slit, drawing the arousal from her while humming his appreciation. The resulting sound waves amplified his influence on her, incinerating the last of her inhibitions.

“Please, Viho. Make me come.” She moaned, unsure of whether her reaction had grown so intense because of him or because of the changes her pregnancy was beginning to wreak on her body. Somehow, though, she suspected it had more to do with the man than her hormones.

He didn’t obey immediately.

Instead, he fed the tip of one finger into her pussy, barely poking the fat digit inside her before withdrawing. He stretched her slowly, bit by bit, more patiently than she could ever have managed if his cock were within her grasp again.

She supposed that was the point of his little display.

And when he fully embedded a single finger and began working on a second, she quaked, already hovering on the edge of another orgasm. His probing deepened and expanded as he scissored the fingers inside her. He massaged her internally as well as he’d done to her exterior—or better.

When he pressed, with deliberate pulses, on the spot just above her pubic bone, Sterling could no longer resist the call of her body. He tended her as if she were one of his plants, pruning her responses, shaping her experience until she blossomed under his ministrations.

Sterling called his name as she crested, but he was well aware of her body’s capitulation to his sensual demands. He wrung every bit of rapture from her before ascending, giving her a taste of her own ecstasy from his full, talented lips.

And when she thought she couldn’t get any more satisfied, he slipped his cock inside her.

Viho began to drive into her with shallow, persistent jabs that were no substitute for animalistic humping. Or so she thought, until he adjusted the angle of his penetration and zeroed in on a wonderful place within her.

Her eyes went wide, and he laughed even as he fucked.

Enjoyment radiated from him. Not just the sensual kind either. He smiled down at her, relishing their time together as much as the pleasure they concocted.

He was so gloriously male, and entirely focused on her, that she thought she might melt.

When he entwined his fingers with hers, enhancing the sensation of being captured, she wished she could wrap her legs around his waist and hug him tight to her. She didn’t have to worry, though—he wasn’t about to abandon his post.

It was the kind of sex where the journey was more important than the destination. The kind she’d read about but never had before. She forgot about coming and instead gloried in the moment. The connection. The pure intimacy of sharing the experience with Viho.

He took her to a place far beyond those she’d ever gone before.

And if the intensity of his gaze or the sweetness of his kisses were any indication, the same was true for him.

Neither of them spoke, choosing to communicate exclusively with their bodies.

His hips never stopped their incessant rocking, like a pendulum on the world’s sexiest clock. He fucked her with the precision of a metronome, pushing and pulling in time to his own unrelenting beat.

Until she’d had enough of his reserve. “Viho, that feels so good.”

“Uh.” He grunted his agreement.

“I love the way your cock stuffs me. How you stretch me around you and make me feel so full of you.” She flashed him a wicked grin when, finally, his stride hiccupped.

“Not fair, Sterling.” He imparted even more sensation as he rode her slightly harder and a bit erratically.

“Why not?” She nipped his lip when he came close enough.

“I want to wait for you,” he groaned.

“You have more stamina than all the other guys I’ve been with.” Reassuring him felt right, and it wasn’t a lie. He was a machine in bed. “You’ve given me so much. Take, Viho. I’m here for that too. To give you what you need.”

He groaned as he plunged into her fully, then retreated almost to the point of dislodging himself.

“It’s okay, Viho. I want you to let go. Find your pleasure in me. Fill me. Flood me. Come on.” She urged him as his ironclad control frayed around the edges.

“Yes!” he shouted as his head fell back for a moment. He fucked deep and thoroughly a few more times before going still above her. “Yes. Sterling!”

He soaked her with his come, saturating her with his pleasure. She swore she could feel the ethereal joy as clearly as the scalding fluid that painted her pussy with his seed. Good thing he couldn’t get her pregnant again. It was no wonder the Vasalgel had been no match for his impressive release.

The man was practically a sex god.

And he proved it.

“Do you think you’re so clever?” he said between kisses on her nose, mouth and over her eyes. His cock softened within her, but that didn’t stop him from pumping a little, making her rethink her strategy as her body still pulsed with warmth and some excitement.

Contentment too, and that would be plenty.

“Kind of.” She grinned up at him.

“Well, shows what you know. Now I can concentrate on driving you crazy again.” He bit her neck softly, making her eyes fly open at the resulting electric jolt straight down her spine.

“What?” She tugged at her restraints. “Viho, I’m good. Seriously.”

“Think you’ve had enough, do you?” He lifted a brow.

“I’m never going to be horny again.” Sterling admitted.

He took that as a challenge. “I’ll be the judge of that.”

His cock slipped from her along with a trickle of moisture. Instead of pausing to clean her off with a more traditional method, Viho surveyed her pussy, messy from his release. He flicked a glance at her as he descended.

“I like seeing my claim on you.” He shrugged. “I know I’m probably not supposed to admit that, but…it’s true.”

Sterling didn’t think she was woman enough to confess that she liked his possessive streak, just a bit. So instead, she drummed her heels, as much as she was able, in response to the first contact of his mouth on her iced folds.

At one with everything natural, she shouldn’t have been surprised by his acceptance of their mingled fluids as just another normal part of them. He devoured her, proving over and over, that he would always have the upper hand when it came to delighting his partner.

No matter what, he would satisfy her.

Beyond even what she realized she needed.

Viho dipped his fingers inside her, withdrawing them to study the mark he’d left within her. He played with the result of their passion, toying with the cream inside her to allow him to slip and slide against her sensitive flesh.

The idea alone had her gritting her teeth to keep from coming so soon.

He chuckled against her, only making her dilemma worse.

Until he paused long enough to say, “That’s what I thought.”

Before she could gather her wits enough to make some retort, he’d surrounded her clit with his lips and began to suckle with a light and rapid pulsing pressure that she had absolutely no chance at resisting.

“Viho!” she screamed as she shattered, this time losing all of herself in the process. She unraveled so thoroughly, she wasn’t sure she would ever be able to be put back together. Or not in the same way she had existed before.

Still he didn’t abandon her. No, he brought her down slowly, feeding her his finger and tongue until the spasms faded to aftershocks and then those diminished, leaving a gentle glow in their wake. Only then did he kiss her belly before untying her limbs and blanketing her with his body.

As Sterling lounged beneath him, steeped in passion and bliss, she realized that Viho had won more of her than a partner in raising a child. He’d stolen part of her heart. And she didn’t ever want it returned.

It might take a while for it to grow from this spark to something that burned as fierce and bright as the love of her mother and father or the other Compass Brothers and their wives, but it existed. And if they nurtured it, it would thrive.

Feeding the fire could make it burn forever, granting them a lifetime of warmth and light.

She chided herself for getting so sappy after a handful of spectacular orgasms, until he spoke and sealed the deal.

“Would you mind if I raided your kitchen to make us breakfast in bed?” he asked. “I’ll even bring some of those brownies I found out on the counter last night. They were fucking great.”

Oh yeah, he was
definitely
a keeper.

Chapter Twelve

Jake sat with Vicky on the porch of the main house a couple of months after the incident with Sterling. For him, he���d considered that the beginning of the true end. Though she’d declined by degrees, Vicky had never fully recovered to even her previous level of alertness.

Sam and the rest of the Compass Brothers had agreed that for the foreseeable future he should spend his days tending to her, since they needed to be sure that whoever kept her company could take charge physically if necessary. They wouldn’t risk one of the women after what had nearly happened that day.

He shuddered.

Tucking the quilt tighter around Vicky, he stood and stoked the blaze in the fire pit, which allowed them to get some fresh air despite the steady slide into winter that had already begun. Most times they sat here, saying nothing, Vicky lost in her own world while the sounds, smells and sights of the ranch formed a backdrop for her memories.

It seemed fitting that he was here with her, near the end.

They’d always shared a bond. The understanding of the pain of a lost mate. Vicky had been there for him, a mother, mentor and friend. And now he would be there for her. Until she no longer required his assistance.

He’d gotten so used to his quiet guard that it shocked him when Vicky spoke. Lucidly.

“Jake?”

“Hey there, pretty lady.” Surprised, and thrilled, he rushed to her side and knelt so they were at eye level. “How are you today?”

“There’s no good answer to that, is there?” She shrugged. “Let’s not pretend, Jake. Things are as they are.”

He could have plopped onto his ass, she sounded so much like her old self. Spunky and direct. Sure of herself. How he’d missed her!

Vicky stared down at him. “Winter is coming.”

“Are you cold? I can take you inside.” He shrugged out of his coat and layered that on top of her blankets.

“No, I’m ready for it, Jake.” She smiled. “Sometimes those snowy days are best, when you forget about going outside and stay in your cozy house, surrounded by loved ones.”

He remembered a lot of such days. When they’d done the bare minimum, feeding and watering the animals then racing inside to enjoy Vicky’s spiced hot apple cider. Card games, trash talk and home cooked meals. They
were
good times.

“And somehow, when it’s coldest, a new year begins. A place for spring to jump out from. Like most things in life, it’s a matter of perspective,” she continued. And it’d been so long since she’d spoken like this, making sense, that he didn’t dare interrupt.

“I’ve seen a lot of years, Jake. A lot of winters. Some of them colder and longer than others. But there’s always the chance to start again. I want you to remember that.” She lasered her blue gaze at him. “I don’t worry about my children. They’re living their own lives as they should. But you…I’ve always been troubled about you, my friend.”

“I’m good, Vicky.” He shrugged. “Don’t waste time thinking about that.”

“You will be.” She nodded. “If you embrace the new year. I understand that some things cannot be replaced. But you have a chance now. To know your son. Your grandbaby. To fill the winter inside you with light and warmth. It won’t be the same as a sunny summer day. But it will save you from freezing to death.”

He was stunned that she remembered Sterling was pregnant. Almost so much that he took longer than usual to process the rest of what she said. But when he did, the words hit him like an angry bull. Goring him.

There was a time when he’d used sex to thaw that part of him. But he’d outgrown that phase of his life. Mostly. What she said made sense. And already he knew that spending time with Viho these past eight weeks had begun to chip away at the layers of ice that had preserved him when he couldn’t handle a world without Haiwee.

Other things had helped. Sterling, her brother, their cousins.

Being lucky enough to do what he loved every day of his life.

But Vicky was right—there were times when he’d imagined himself frozen to the core. A lost cause. A man without a purpose.

“If you repeat this to my children, or theirs, frankly I’ll pretend like I’m demented and you heard what you wanted in my rambling. I’ve got a little practice.” She shrugged and flashed him a devious grin.

Oh, this could
not
be good.

Jake nodded solemnly.

“I’m telling you this because I know you understand. There are times when I have prayed to forget. Permanently.” She wrung her hands. “What would it be like, if I hadn’t spent all these years with the constant knowledge that my soul mate was gone?”

A white-hot poker stabbed Jake in the chest. He knew that pain, lived with the regret every day. That he hadn’t looked harder. In his heart, he could have guessed where Haiwee had fled to, but he’d let his own doubts encourage him to stay still.

He’d convinced himself that she left because he wasn’t good enough. Couldn’t provide for her in the way she was used to as the daughter of a powerful family. He was no Compass Brother, only a ranch hand. And now he’d never see her again. He’d live with that bitterness until he died, knowing he could have done more.

And hadn’t.

“If I could simply forget he was gone, I could be happy again, Jake.” She turned to him with tears in her eyes. “My final days would be spent at peace. The kind I haven’t known in over twenty years. I know that it is selfish. But I have held off the winter for over two decades. Is it wrong to want that pain to ease?”

“No, Vicky. It’s not.” Jake felt the ragged wound in his own heart. He knew as long as he was alive, it would never fully heal. Scab over, maybe. But it would scar.

Had already.

“I feel most days like I’m living in a fog,” Vicky continued. “It’s not so bad, that aimless floating. But when I surface. And I remember.” She gasped. “It hurts, Jake.”

“Where?” He was afraid she was having a stroke or something else he couldn’t combat.

“Here.” She tapped her chest, over her heart. “Worse, every time. It’s a cruel punishment. And I’m ready to stop living in pain.”

The piercing look she gave him chilled him to the core. No amount of wood on the fire would melt that terror. “Uh, Vicky. You’re not asking me to—”

“No. No need to smother me with a pillow.” She chuckled, then patted his hand. “Nothing like that. It’s just that none of us knows what waits for us beyond this life. I think I’d like to spend what time I have left with those who have gone before me. Is that terrible to admit?”

Jake thought of JD. Plus Snake and all the other old-timers who’d passed on. A whole generation of ranchers lost. And he knew there were more, from before he’d found Compass Ranch and the community it had founded. He wished he could visit them himself. Maybe Vicky’s illness wasn’t exactly the curse it seemed.

“No, Vicky. That sounds…kind of nice.”

She nodded. “I think so too, dear.”

For a while longer they sat in companionable silence.

“So you’ll explain, to my family? Where I’ve gone? It’s a lovely place.” She looked up to him. “I have lived a fantastic life. One any woman could hope for, and I am happy to relive the best moments of it. The barn dances…our children being born…their children…but mostly, my husband…JD…”

And when she trailed off, the glassy look he’d gotten so familiar with lately hazing her once-clear eyes again—more completely—he knew she had gone. For good.

“Goodbye, Vicky.” A lone tear trailed down his cheek. “Say hello to JD for me, would you?”