A False Start: A Small Town Brother’s Best Friend Romance (Gold Rush Ranch Book 4)
A False Start: Chapter 25

I wake with hair in my face. Beautiful golden strands criss-crossing over my line of vision with Nadia’s naked limbs entwined with mine. I’m not sure where I end and where she begins, and I realize that’s how I like it.

My eyes clamp back shut. I’m not ready for this night to be over. Not ready to face the day and all the realities it might bring. I’m happy here, suspended in time up in the mountains with a woman I didn’t see coming and don’t deserve.

Last night was . . .

I sigh. Last night was something else entirely. When I inhale, her sweet rose-petal scent filters in, and I smile. Her feel, her smell, the fucking whimpering sounds she makes. This girl is it.

After spending the better part of the last several years alone, I know what it is to feel at ease around someone. Not just like them but feel like they belong with you, and you belong with them. Sure, I can manage around most people. But I’m never sad when we part ways. Aside from my parents, I don’t really miss anyone.

But the mere thought of spending the winter up here while Nadia spends her winter in the valley has my chest clenching. It literally makes me flinch, which she must notice. Because now she’s nuzzling into my chest and pushing herself closer to me, even though I’m pretty sure there’s no extra space to take up.

Her hand slides over my chest, and she presses her palm against my cheek, letting her fingers rake through the thick stubble. Then she makes this adorable little sighing noise before walking her hand back down my torso.

I force my eyes open when her path doesn’t change. Her lashes stay shuttered, but her lips turn up in a playful little smile as her hand disappears beneath the sheet.

“Good morning, Wildflower.” I chuckle, pressing a kiss to the crown of her head.

“Good morning.” She drops her lips onto my pec, letting her tongue dart out over my skin before nipping at me.

“What’s that for?”

She stares up at me, her honeyed irises sleepy and warm and full of mischief. Her fist clamps down around the girth of my cock, and she licks her lips. I swear I almost come on the spot. Blow my load like an over-excited teenager.

“That’s for all the hickeys you left on me after that night behind Neighbor’s.”

My lips roll together. That was admittedly not my finest moment, but she doesn’t look disappointed about the encounter.

“I shouldn’t have done that.”

She climbs up on top of me, straddling my hips and pressing the slickness between her thighs against my raging hard on. Her full tits practically glow in the golden morning light. My mouth dries out. She’s so fucking beautiful.

“I guess you’ll have to make it up to me.” She sticks her bottom lip out dramatically, and I bark out a laugh.

My arm wraps around her waist, and I flip her underneath me as she squeals with happiness. Fuck, that sounds good.

“Has anyone ever told you what a brat you are?” Our gazes collide, the heaviness of last night having transformed this connection between us into something surer, stronger.

“Never.” She says it, but we both know she’s lying. She can hardly hold her laughter in, those top teeth digging into her bottom lip as her cheeks twitch. But she fails, dissolving into a fit of giggles.

We both know she’s full of shit. But I kiss her anyway, loving the feel of her soft lips against mine, loving the way she’s opened up to me and silently convinced me to do the same with her. It feels like she knows me better than I know myself.

Her light laughter continues against my lips, her arms looping around my neck as she bucks her hips into me.

“You done giggling yet, Wildflower? I’ve got some making up to do.” My teeth sink into her lip, and she moans. And then we spend the morning sinking into each other.

Until Tripod finally wakes up and starts leaping through the covers like we’re playing a really fun game. Asshole dog.

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We tidied the property quickly and quietly this morning.

Except that time I yanked her away from whatever chore she was doing to fuck her brains out on the stairs.

But after that, we got the place locked up, and now we’re in her car driving down into the valley. She insisted on driving, and I’m not gonna lie, it’s terrifying.

I wonder if this is what it’s like in her brain. Just no speed limit and lots of sharp turns, leaving a trail of dust behind herself on whatever dirt road she’s flying down.

“Are we in a race that I don’t know about?” I ask, looking over my shoulder. “Is someone in hot pursuit?”

She snorts. At least her hands are at ten and two. Hot little psycho driver that she is.

“Are you even old enough to drive this thing?”

Her head turns and her eyes narrow. “Fuck you, Griffy.”

“You already did.”

Her goddamn lead foot sinks down, and she smirks out the windshield like she’s proving something to me right now.

She’s not. Other than she’s just as crazy as I already know.

I let out a sigh of relief when Nadia finally slows. What I don’t expect is for her to pull over. “You drive.”

“Why?” I ask.

She just grins. “Because you look like you’re going to have a heart attack.”

As she flips her door open and unfolds herself, I ask, “Is that some sort of old joke?” Nadia barks out an amused laugh as she rounds the back of the car and comes to yank my door open.

With very wide, very serious eyes, she says, “I would never.”

I can’t help but chuckle and shake my head as I get out of the car. I snake my hand around her waist and capture her mouth on the way past, unable to stop myself, or keep my hands off of her. I could spend hours tracing this body. Kissing this body. Feeling her lips move softly against mine, that cool little rush of air when she sighs into my kiss like she did just now.

She steps in closer to me, and I’m like a teenager with hearts in his eyes. Her warmth, her scent wraps around me like a comfort blanket. I push her up against the pearl white car and claim her mouth, angling my head over hers, one hand clamping on her ass while the other cups her cheek. The little hairs at the base of her neck tickle my fingers. The brim of my hat lends an air of privacy, like we’re locked into a fantasy world on the side of the road.

She smiles against my lips, a light airy giggle escaping her as I nip gently at her bottom lip, giving her a soft, private smile of my own.

“Careful, Sinclaire. You’re gonna make me climb you like a tree right here on the side of the road.”

I smile even bigger. I love that she doesn’t want anything from me. She doesn’t care about my money, my past, my fame. She wants a quiet, simple life. And I think she might want it with me, which is the most incredible feeling. To know that someone wants you for you, not for what you can do for them. It warms me in a completely unfamiliar way.

She squeals when I scoop her up and place her into the passenger seat. And my goddamn heart races at the sound. So sweet and playful. Nadia grins up at me when I grab the seatbelt and pull it gently over her shoulder, and when I lean across her body—eyes catching on the rise and fall of her full breasts—she presses a kiss to my neck. She trails a hand over my spine and reaches behind me to squeeze my ass.

When I make a deep rumbling noise, she just laughs again, before leaning close and nipping at the lobe of my ear. All while I struggle with a fucking car seat buckle. Distracting me from day one.

“Wildflower . . .”

Her hand slides up beneath my t-shirt right as the latch clicks tight. “It’s not my fault you’re strutting around, teasing me with a body like this.”

I shake my head, almost uncomfortable with how genuine the compliment is. How hungry her voice sounds. Gripping her chin with my fingers, I gaze straight into her eyes with a knowing smirk. “Behave yourself.”

Brat that she is, she just winks. And I kiss her again swiftly, tongues tangling briefly, but as her hands start to wander, I pull away. I’ll never leave this goddamn mountain if we keep this game up.

When I hop back in the car, she gives me a mischievous look. A look I recognize. A look that haunts me.

Again.

She said it that night. And her eyes say it right now.

I swallow as I adjust the seat and mirrors, avoiding turning my eyes on her right now, because if I do, I’m worried about where my head might go. Suddenly, this thing between us feels so monumental.

So monumentally right.

I pull back out onto the road as she fiddles with the radio, trying to find reception that doesn’t exist. When she finally gives up, she flops back in her seat and places a hand casually over my thigh. It starts out innocent, but after a couple of minutes, one finger strokes. Her thumb joins in, rubbing in a firm circle. Hand sliding down and in toward my swiftly swelling cock.

I keep my eyes trained on the road in the quiet car, but I can sense her gaze on me. And out of my periphery, I see her smile.

A trouble-making smile.

Which is right when her hand slides up to the button on my jeans and flicks it open.

“Nadia.” My tone is warning, but my desire betrays me. My voices oozes longing. She has that effect on me.

“Yes?” She blinks innocently as she makes quick one-handed work of my zipper. And then her hand slides into my boxers and wraps around my steely length, chasing all the words I was about to use right out of my head.

She pumps me and quirks her head innocently. “Was there something you wanted to say to me, Griffin?”

I give her a quick look with one eyebrow arched, but don’t take my eyes off the road for long. We’re not driving fast, but my track record with safe driving leaves something to be desired of late, and Nadia is the most precious of cargo.

Focus on the road.

I just grunt at her, seeing her lips tip up in pleasure as she reaches for her seatbelt.

“That stays on,” I interrupt her movements.

She rolls her eyes playfully and adjusts it without removing it before pulling my dick right out of my jeans.

A small sigh escapes her. “You have some nerve looking the way you do and also having a cock like this.”

I chuckle. I can’t help it. I love her compliments.

“No dick will ever compare. I’m ruined.”

My shoulders go tight right as my cock throbs, bobbing lewdly in my lap. “God,” I bite out, and she just giggles. She licks her lips and stares down at me.

And I pray I don’t crash.

Because within moments her head is dropping, tongue swirling around the head as she laps at me and hums in pleasure.

“You have the perfect cock,” she whispers before sliding my length into the back of her throat. My fingers clamp around the steering wheel, knuckles going white as I chance a look at the mess of blonde hair now bobbing between my legs while I drive down the bumpy gravel road. The vibration makes it that much better.

The sight of her working me, sucking me so firmly, has me groaning and willing myself to focus on the drive.

When she pulls back, eyes trained on my cock, I feel a surge of pre-cum, and she instantly licks it away. “Mm. I love that.”

“Jesus Christ.” I steer the car to the side, knowing it’s not safe to keep going. Not when she says things like that in her sugary sweet voice.

She looks up with an evil smirk as I reach over her to put the car in park. And then she dives back down. I quickly scoop her golden locks into my fist, lifting just enough to lean back and watch her work me. Watch her cheeks hollow out, her pretty pink lips suctioned on to me as she slides up and down.

Even the way her lashes flutter and cast a shadow over cheekbones drives me crazy.

Eyelashes. I mean, goddamn.

She hums, sending a throb through me, and an ache twinging just behind my hip bones. I brace a hand on the roof of the car, wanting so badly not to take over. Just wanting to watch her take care of me. To revel in it.

A light graze of her teeth has my hips bucking and I curse. “You love this, don’t you?”

She tries to meet my eyes and nod with my cock still wedged between her lips. I swear I almost blow at the sight.

“Good girl. You suck me so well.”

Her lips tip up at the compliment before she slides her soft mouth back over my length. On the way back up, her teeth graze gently, and I feel the tell-tale pressure building in my pelvis. “Oh, fuck yeah. Like that again.”

She repeats the motion, and my head falls back against the headrest as my heart races and my lips part. A truck drives by, and I suspect the passenger may have seen what we’re doing.

On one hand, I feel like I could beat my chest. Look at this beautiful girl blowing me. You see that, asshole? But mostly I feel like I’m going to track him down later and kill him.

But when her teeth graze again, my murder plans evaporate. All I can think about is the tight squeeze of her fist around my hilt, the warm, wet heat of her mouth, and my cock butting up against the back of her throat as she takes me all the way back.

Suddenly, I can’t hold back any longer. My pelvis tips up a couple times as I fuck her mouth. “Fuck!” I bark out, surging forward and shooting my release over her tongue.

She keeps sucking—twisting and licking me like I’m a goddamn popsicle. Swallowing like she loves the taste.

I sag back against the seat, stroking her hair and basking in the feel of her taking care of me this way. So eagerly. So playfully.

And when she sits up and smiles at me while daintily wiping the corners of her mouth, I swear I almost have a heart attack. She’s just too fucking much. A special brand of kryptonite made exactly for me.

I never stood a single chance at resisting her.

“Best blow job of my life.”

“Really?” She sounds genuinely excited by that compliment, smile widening and eyes twinkling.

Hand cupped around the base of her skull, I tug her forward, dusting my lips over her puffy, ravaged ones as I say, “Hell yes. That’s one I’ll think about for the rest of my life. I can’t wait to repay the favor.”

When I pull her close and claim her mouth, she shivers. I can taste myself there, but I don’t give a fuck. Kissing her is a privilege that I’ll never take for granted.

“Ready to go, Wildflower?”

She rubs her lips across my beard and smiles against my skin before kissing the bristly hair. “Yes.”

We both take a moment to right ourselves, and then I’m pulling back out onto the road. I place her hand back onto my leg and link my fingers through hers, wanting to maintain whatever contact I can. Like she might slip away from me if I don’t.

Like this is just too good to be true.

When we hit the stop sign where the dirt road joins up with the paved one, Nadia takes a deep breath, her shoulders rising and falling with the weight of it. “I wish we were just staying at your house.”

“Me, too.”

“I can see why you like it up here so much. It’s peaceful.”

“It is.” I nod and let out a deep sigh.

“Can I come back up here again?” She peers out the window with a little too much interest, like just asking me that makes her uncomfortable. It’s a failed attempt at being casual.

I swallow. “Yeah. Anytime.”

Her head tilts in my direction. “Do you only speak in sentences with more than two words when you’re on your own property? Just revert to single word answers and grunts the minute you leave?”

I grunt. I’m lost in my head right now.

She laughs.

I roll my eyes, folding my arms across myself. “You’re the one who told me I’m a good listener.”

She nods as I flip the signal light on and check the road again. Even though there’s hardly ever any traffic up here.

“I don’t want this to end.” Her voice is so small that I barely hear her. The confession makes my heart twist. “This weekend, I mean.”

Right.

“Wanna go for a stupid coffee and hear about how riveting playing the same golf course every damn day is?”

Her smile is soft as her car accelerates beneath my foot.

“Yeah. A stupid coffee sounds great.”

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