Billionaire Protector - Alexa Hart Page 0,57

stared at each other while the motion began. I pulled my body up, and pushed down, up, and pushed down, until Penn let out a moan and grabbed my hips.

With his muscled arms now in charge of the activities, the ride began to speed considerably. For every heavy thrust he gave that sent me upwards, his strong hands pulled me back down immediately.

I was thankful that this trail was closed to others, because noises started coming out of both our mouths that couldn’t be mistaken for much else other than exactly what we were doing.

As my orgasm hit, I was sure I would vibrate right off into space with pleasure, but Penn held me down, and then down, and then down as a giant roar escaped him.

I collapsed after that, and we lay bare on the bench for a while, letting the ecstasy flow through our bodies.

I had never felt so safe in my whole, entire life.

11

Penn

I wished there had been a way to take a picture of Anne standing bare against the backdrop of the sunset. I knew I would never see anything so magnificent ever again. But in some ways, I liked that the image was solely in my mind. No one else had seen it or ever would. Including Anne.

Mine. Just mine.

I managed to convince Anne to stay for a late dinner. On evenings when everyone was coming home at different times, Betsy often just left out a buffet of a bajillion choices for dinner.

By the time we arrived, Murphy, Avy, and Braden had already downed numerous bowls of Betsy’s famous mac n’ cheese with hot dog slices. She’d been making that for as far back as I could remember, and probably much longer than that even.

It had to have started when Pierce was little, and a hilarious family secret that we all pretended not to know, was that Pierce would, on occasion, sneak a bowl of the kid food himself, even now.

Payden and Jessie were still in the dining room. Preston had never showed, and Pierce would be back soon to get his little ones ready for bed.

None of us ever knew exactly when Dad would eat. Sometimes with us, sometimes without us, sometimes not at all.

“Certain processes cannot be interrupted. The creative flow is one of those processes. To stall it is to lose it.” Another one of his favorite sayings that was tombstone – or at least tattoo – worthy.

“Ya’ll watched the sunset, didn’t you?” Jessie had on her widest smile yet, and Anne immediately blushed.

“It’s the best part of the ranch. A must see.” I quickly replied, shooting Jessie a brief warning glare. That only made her smile bigger.

“Um, I could be in the minority here, but aren’t the horses the best part of the ranch?” Payden had talked more in the last week than in the entirety of his life. I wasn’t sure what his deal was, but I figured it had a lot to do with Jessie being home.

“The horses are absolutely exquisite,” Anne blurted, her voice full of emotion.

Payden smiled. “You and Tianna seemed to form quite the bond. That’s good. Horses know people. It’s a compliment.”

Anne blushed yet again, and Jessie stood. “Gotta go, boys and girls. Beauty sleep. It’s a thing.” She smiled warmly at Anne.

Murphy nearly tackled her when she tried to walk out of the room, but she assured him she’d be back tomorrow. I wasn’t sure whose face was more disappointed – Payden’s or Murphy’s.

I thought I caught a flash of something like yearning cross Pay’s face but decided not to even go there.

Pierce stepped in shortly after to collect his duo. They parted ways with Murphy as though the three of them went way back to... days in the crib? It was cute, and it was hilarious.

And Pierce was smiling – really smiling – again.

Payden talking, Pierce smiling... Next thing I know, Preston will give up the bottle, and Dad will start showing up at campfires.

There was a familiar feeling, although it was still very light – very quiet – that things were looking up in the Hardick household possibly once again. A bit of déjà vu from the days when we first met Sarah.

I imagined losing Anne suddenly, the same way that Pierce had lost Sarah. The thought made me physically ill.

No one could have known or stopped Sarah’s accident, but the idea that someone you loved could be gone so quickly...

And did I love Anne? Was it insane to believe – to