Can't Touch This by Pepper Winters
“If you don’t say you’re mine, I’m going to march you to the water’s edge, shove you onto all fours, and mount you.” My nose nuzzled her wet hair as my heart jackhammered at the image. “I wouldn’t tease you. I wouldn’t touch you. I’d just line up behind you like a feral dog and a bitch in heat and slam inside you so fucking hard, so fucking deep, you’d scream.”
A guttural groan tumbled from her lips.
“Do you want that, Ves?” I couldn’t stop my hips rocking, sandwiching my bellowing cock to make such a fantasy a reality. Fisting her hair, I yanked her head back again. “Yes or no.”
She licked her lips. “I—
Cutting her off, I crushed my mouth against hers. Her heart strummed through her back while mine answered in a crescendo of agony and need. Tearing our lips apart, I grunted, “Say you’re mine and I’ll stand here and wash you so sweetly, so tenderly, then make love to you on the bank in the sunshine.”
She shivered as I inserted a third finger into her wetness.
“And if I don’t?”
“Don’t and I’ll fuck you like an animal. I’ll lie across your back as my cock slams inside this delicious pussy I’m currently fingering. Don’t and I’ll act out one of my debased fantasies with no shame or apology. I’ll let myself go. I’ll show you just the sort of man I am when you get me so hard and insane.”
She squirmed in my arms, breathless and wanting. River droplets rolled over her overheated skin as she made eye contact with me over her shoulder. “In that case, Ry. I’m not yours. I’ll only be yours if you show me what happens when I refuse you what you want.”
“Christ.” Grabbing her chin, I wrenched her face to mine.
Our kiss was sloppy and messy and fast. Her tongue fought mine as we both gave into whatever chemical intoxication drugged us.
She wanted to be free with me.
I wanted to be free with her.
I wouldn’t fucking argue.
My fingers slipped from her pussy but we never stopped kissing as I hoisted her into my arms and waded back to the river bank. We made noise. Lots and lots of noise as the depths let us return to shore and soft lichen and moss lined a green area ahead.
The moment my toes met softness, I slammed Vesper onto her feet and without a word, shoved her between her shoulder blades.
She fell like a damn angel. Invisible wings carried her elegantly to the ground. I followed like a disgraced devil, slamming to my knees behind her.
There were no talks of condoms or contraceptives. We knew each other was clean. Precautions would have to come later. Insanity had taken away common sense.
Lining up my quads with the back of her thighs, I folded my torso along her back. Shoving her hair away from her nape, I bit her like a dog would before mounting.
Planting my hands over hers in the dirt, threading our fingers together, I allowed instinct to guide my cock to find her drenched entrance.
There was no touching. No words. Nothing but animalistic desire.
The moment I felt her heat on my crown, I slammed inside her.
Her back arched.
A scream fell from her lips.
And fuck, fuck, fuck I’d never felt anything so good as my stomach sticking to her ass as my cock took her fully.
So this was what nature felt like at its crudest form.
How bloody fantastic sex could be when two people wanted the same things.
Her fingers clawed around mine as her ass rocked backward. She whimpered for more as my teeth sank deeper into the back of her neck.
I pulled out.
She cried in frustration.
I slammed inside her again.
She screamed in bliss.
I grunted like a beast as I pulled away then thrust forward. I cloaked her with my body, giving her nowhere to run as my cock penetrated her over and over.
There were no thoughts anymore.
All I lived and breathed was this woman on all fours and me on top and inside her. The slap of my balls against her clit as I drove inside her made me mad. The slickness of her need and the pounding pain in my dick made me lose that final frontier of humanity.
Giving her my entire weight, my chest pinned her down while my hips lost control and fucked.
I fucked her like an animal.
But I cared for her like a man.
My teeth unlatched from her nape only to reattach on her shoulder. Holding her under me in case she had any ideas of running.
This wasn’t sex.
This was mating.
This was crude and crazy and even slightly cruel, but shit, it was the best thing I’d ever done in my entire life.
And when she moaned and whimpered and her pussy clenched and melted, I couldn’t do it anymore.
My teeth increased its hold on her shoulder and my hips flew.
I grunted as I speared into her again and again, relishing her screams as her pussy fisted my length, coming over and over.
Only once she’d finished did I let go of whatever control I'd been able to keep.
The sensation of cum ricocheting up my balls and spurting into this woman made me black out and all coherency fly from my head. My stomach glued to her flesh as I impaled myself so damn deep inside her, I had no doubt I’d done what nature intended as a man mating with a woman and forced my cum as far as I could.
The bands of bliss as I gave her every drop made shooting pains erupt from my chest. I felt everything so intensely.
I didn’t know how long I came for but I blinked into vision as Vesper collapsed beneath me, pressing her cheek against the lichen, her ass still in the air where we joined.
“Christ…” My voice was jacked and shaky. My heart a gong. My head a bowling ball. Falling to my side, I gathered her close, cupping her breast, vibrating in time with her rapid heartbeat.
We lay like that for minutes, panting and still joined below, my front cradling her back. When the lust had left us broken breathing things, slowing returning us to human, I brushed aside her hair and kissed her cheek.
The teeth marks I’d left would most likely bruise, but I hadn’t broken her skin. Even after the best orgasm of my life, my cock hadn’t deflated and the simplest of moves amplified the feeling of still being inside her.
As we calmed, fear filled my overly relaxed state.
What have I done?
What did I do?
How could I treat her like that?
Shakes hijacked my muscles. I sucked in a trembling breath, closing my eyes tight. “Vesper…shit, I’m sorry.”
She sucked in a breath; the noise of dogs splashing up river was the only sound apart from sparrow chatter in the willow above us.
She didn’t reply.
Panic replaced my fear.
Hoisting myself up onto an elbow, I rolled her onto her back and gazed down. I was terrified I’d find tears and disgust. Mortified and horrified that I’d ruined the best thing that’d ever happened to me.
Only, her face was pink and shiny. Her lips puffy and red.
Her eyes captured mine. “If you ever do that to me again, Ryder Carson…”
She didn’t finish.
My mind ended her sentence with every terror I felt.
If you ever do that to me again, I’ll report you. I’ll tell the town what a monster you are. I’ll kill you.
However, her lips didn’t twist into hatred. Her hand came up to cup my cheek, pulling my face down to hers. As our lips met, she murmured, “That was the single most amazing insane sexual experience of my life. And if you ever do that to me again, I’m going to have to marry you.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
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Vesper
“YOU DID WHAT NOW?” Polly’s voice entered my ear with a disbelieving shriek. “I didn’t hear you correctly over the smugness in your tone.”
I giggled. “I slept with him.”
“Ugh, there’s that smugness again.” Polly huffed dramatically down the phone. “And by him, I?
I rolled my eyes, reclining on my bed and staring at the ceiling. It had been a long day at the surgery and with just me on duty with Amanda running the appointments and any pop ins, I was knackered.
Not to mention, I’d had to dash to the doctors on my lunch break for the morning-after pill after our risky sexcapade on the river bank.
You told him you’d marry him if he ever did that again.
For the past twenty-four hours, I’d suffered embarrassment, shock, and disbelief. Had I truly said that? After only a few days of dating?
He had to know it was a joke, right?
And besides, the sex…holy cow, the sex.
My nipples hardened.
Every time I thought of the way Ryder thrust into me so quick and possessive, I got wet. The mental image of how it would’ve looked to anyone perving on us made my body spindle for another release.
Every damn time.
It’d distracted me all day. Caused me to make little errors in my paperwork that I couldn’t afford to make.
And Amanda was no better at helping fix my work faux pas.
We really need to hire another vet.
With my day off yesterday and Polly’s today, it was too hard to keep going the way we were. We needed better structure if we were going to do this long term. We needed more than one day off every six.
“I did. I touched it. I squeezed it. I let it do naughty things to me.” I lowered my voice. “And I liked it.”
Polly giggled. “Well, I’m glad one of us is getting some.”
I sighed happily, optimistic for my best friend. After all, she was pretty, smart, and had good prospects. If I was this loved up, she could be too.
She just needs a tiny bit of help.
Twirling my hair, I said, “I told you that guy we looked at on that dating site passed my sleuthing.”
She pretended to gag. “I’m old fashioned, Ves. I’m open to internet dating—hell, I met Jason from Call for Company in our last year of uni, remember? That lasted a few months, and he was a nice guy. But I want to find someone because of joint interests, not because a random app said we’re compatible.”
“Internet dating is a joint interest. You have that profile box that gives you the opportunity to write exactly what you want to share.”
“I know…I don’t, ugh. It’s just…you and Ryder seem more…organic. I guess.”
“Organic?”
She sighed heavily. “I’m not making any sense.”
“You’re not, I agree. Was it because you had such a great day off you’re relaxed and not ready to work tomorrow?”
Polly growled. “Unlike some of us who were busy having sexy naked time, I was cleaning my house, browsing the supermarket, and running errands that I can’t do any other day. I’m exhausted, Ves. I need someone to pour me wine, massage my back, and then give me an orgasm with his talented man wand.”
I laughed. “Well, get off your pity party and go find one.”
“Did I mention I don’t like smugness on you? I might have to tear up our friendship agreement.”
I grinned. She would never do such a thing. We were stuck with each other for life.
That’s a point.
Polly was my other half—the one person I spent most waking hours with. Ryder was fast becoming the other most important part of my life. Therefore, they would have to get on if I was to have the perfect relationship I wanted.
Deciding to begin ‘get Polly to adore Ryder for my sake’ operation, I said, “Do you know why I was at his house at one a.m. the other morning?”
“Because he dipped his ‘you can touch this’ stick in sherbet and called you over to lick it off?”
“No, but that’s not a bad idea.” I sat up, hugging a pillow as Visa strutted her stuff on the end of the bed. “He’d rescued a Pusky Bull from a dog fighting ring. Poor thing was scarred and terrified. But he made him a grotto complete with toys and food. He even wheel-barrowed him to the lake to spend the day with us swimming, and tucked him back into bed when we got home.”
“Whoa, hold up. Wheel-barrowed? Is this a new sex position I’m missing out on?”
“I think there is a sex thing about a wheelbarrow, now you mention it. But no, I mean the dog was literally in the wheelbarrow.”
“Wow.”
“I know. Once we’d finished swimming, he asked me show him how to change the bandages and give the dog his medicine so he could keep on top of his care while I came to work.” My heart fluttered. “He’s truly one of a kind, Pol.”
“Oh, no…”
“Oh no, what?” I sat up straighter. “You okay?”
“I’m okay. But are you okay? That smugness has just morphed into sappy wonderment. Don’t tell me you touched it and now in love with it that fast? What did he do? Drug you?”
Worse, he took me on my hands and knees and showed me just what it means to let go.
“Don’t be absurd. I just appreciate kind people looking after mistreated animals, that’s all.”
“That’s all, huh?”
“That’s all.”
“So it wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that whenever you mention his name you float away like a lovesick pony?”
“I’m not a lovesick pony.”
“Prove it. What did he do when it was time for you to leave last night?”
My mind skipped despite myself to the excruciatingly hard goodbye. After spending all morning at the river, we’d returned to the house where Ryder handed out dog kibble and treats before making us a rustic style fish and chips with trout he’d caught up river a few days ago. We’d eaten on the deck while Scar chewed on some jerky and the cutest pot belly pig arrived to investigate our scraps.
The way Ryder looked at little Hippo as he introduced me had taken what was left of my heart and made it completely his. He’d hoisted the little pink and black pig into his arms and given her kisses on her snuffling snout before treating her to a crust of bread from his plate.
I’d heard of people having pigs as pets—supposedly they were cleaner and smarter than dogs—but I hadn’t had the privilege of meeting one.
As afternoon turned to dusk, and the dogs were semi cleaned the best we could with towels and given their dinner, we returned to his work-in-progress-lounge and turned on the TV. I didn’t think either of us watched it as the moment he opened his arms for me to slot against his side, all I could think about was his touch on my skin, his heart matching my rhythm, and the awful, awful knowledge that I would have to go soon.
And when it came time to escort me to my car, the way he clutched my hand told me everything I needed to know.
Ryder Carson, caring rescuer, perpetual renovator, and insanely talented sex god, didn’t want me to go.
He wanted me to stay.
I just didn’t know for how long.
Or how quick I was prepared for this relationship to escalate.
His kiss goodbye said everything we didn’t and the drive home was the loneliest I’d ever felt even though I was so damn happy to have met him.
It was an awful conundrum. To be obsessed with someone and miss them at the same time.
“Earth to Ves. Hello, chickadee? What sex fantasy are you reliving?”
I cleared my throat. “Sorry, not sex. Just doing what you told me to do. Remembering what he did when it was time for me to leave last night.”
“And?”
“And…it was what he didn’t say that felt the strongest.”
“Oh God, that’s it. I’ve officially lost my best friend. You’re going to replace me with him and we’re just going to be work colleagues who barely tolerate each other and then one day you’re going to want to sell your side of the practice and leave me a spinster and all alone with useless Amanda while you go off and have puppies and kiddies and dreams made of cotton candy.”
I laughed, even though my heart hurt that she thought I could ever abandon her. “
The slight melancholy of the conversation switched to ridiculousness. “Eww, you and girl on girl. I think you need to get a three-way out of your system, you dirty minx.”
“Ryder says I’m dirty, too.”
“Okay, that’s my cue to leave.” Her tone was tired but happier, hinting it wasn’t just exhaustion from a day of chores but the past six months of running our surgery. It wasn’t a long time. But when we saved lives, euthanized lives, and acted as consoler to the owners of pets they adored, it was a freaking eternity. “You’re annoying me.”
I giggled. “You’re annoying me.”
“Well, good job we get to annoy each other in person tomorrow, isn’t it?”
My mind flitted to the operation we had scheduled for an elderly Papillion in the morning. “After the surgery tomorrow, how about we look into putting out an advert to hire someone?” I put a hand over my eyes, wondering how the hell we’d do that with our start-up debt but knowing it had to happen.
“Like who? We’d need a decent salary to tempt anyone to come to this tiny town.”
“We could just tell them there are hot men.”
“One hot man.” Polly corrected. “And you’ve taken him off the market.”
“Whatever. He’s not off the market.”
“Okay, seeing as you’re so dense. Let’s do a test. How many times has he texted you today while you were working?”
Ah, ha. I had her on this one. “Not once.”
“Okay…that’s because he’s seen you in action and knows how hard you work with no time to check your phone.” A smile entered her voice. “How many times has he text since you’ve been home?”
Dangnamit.
I sheepishly looked at the message thread of the past few hours while I cooked, scratched Visa, and climbed into bed. “Sixteen.”