What had he expected from her anyway? To hear her confess that Marshall had forbidden her from telling him about his parentage? To see her wringing her hands with regret? Maybe he’d wanted a better story than that one night of hook-up sex with morning-after regrets had resulted in his existence.

Jesus. Are you a f**king girl? You thought you’d hear a sob story about them being star-crossed lovers kept apart by circumstances out of their control?

Kyle snorted. Right. He paced around the farm equipment. He had no idea what some of these pieces were even for. Now he had to show even more ignorance with his wife and ask her.

Maybe that was what ate at him. He should’ve been learning how to do all this ranching stuff from Marshall. Marshall should’ve contacted him sooner, at least about his intent to leave him a working ranch. Or did he think that Kyle was a greedy bastard who planned to sell the thing outright?

No way. He’d prove that bastard wrong. He wasn’t giving up. Not the first week, not the first month, not the first year. This was what he’d wanted his whole life. He could do this. He could make this work. With Celia by his side he could do this.

To take his mind off his anger, he wandered through the barn, marveling at how damn clean it was. Marshall must’ve spent all his time out here and not in the house. That brought a smile. Bran’s barn used to be pretty clean too—he’d bet it wasn’t so much anymore. Bran wasn’t stupid enough to spend his time around machinery when he had a hot wife waiting inside for him.

The door slammed and Kyle glanced across the shadowy space at Celia.

Speaking of hot wife.

Luckily for him she didn’t look too hot under the collar.

Celia wandered over to where he sat on an ATV. “She’s gone.”

“Sorry…I just…”

“I know.” She hopped up, straddling his lap. Then her hands were in his hair. “Don’t think about that.” Her soft, warm mouth was gliding over his in a seductive tease. “Think about this.” She kissed him. “Just this.”

Kyle groaned and held onto her hips, letting her take the lead. Loving that she liked being the aggressor sometimes. Loving that she was equally greedy in her physical need for him as he was in his need for her.

But he knew the need wasn’t merely physical anymore. Being naked with her in body helped him trust that he could strip away some of his other defenses. So he lost himself in her, in the kiss that was so much more than just a kiss. His thoughts were of passion-slicked bodies writhing against each other. Of moans and sighs and heavy breathing. Of quenching his thirst for her by tasting the sweat beaded on her skin.

“Brace your hands behind you,” she murmured against his tingling lips.

As soon as he leaned back, Celia changed the angle of her pelvis. What a contradiction this was. The delicate, flirty kisses, interspersed with the  p**n -star way she was bumping and grinding against him.

His heart rate quadrupled when she picked up the tempo. Sliding along his rigid shaft while her nails dug into his scalp and her mouth sucked every bit of reason right out of his head. The weight and pressure of her body, the urgency of her tongue, pushed him from I’ve-got-an-erection to I-need-to-come-right-fucking-now. And wasn’t that amazing? She could dry-hump him to orgasm in record time.

He broke the kiss. “Celia. Stop.”

“Why? Are you close?”

“Yeah. Let’s go inside before I shoot in my jeans.”

Celia added a pelvis roll and bit down on his lower lip while staring hotly into his eyes. “I’ll come in mine if you come in yours.”

He sucked in a swift breath when she rode him faster.

“Be my first,” she whispered.

“First what?”

“First guy to make me come with my clothes on.”

“Seriously? You’ve never…?”

“Nope. My panties are wet, Kyle. You did that. My clit is swollen and begging for that sweet throb. You did that too.” She blew in his ear while she continued to move on him. “Don’t deny me. Don’t deny yourself. Come on. It’ll be fun getting nasty in the barn.”

Kyle turned his head, latching onto the tempting skin below her ear, sucking until she moaned. “Do it.”

Celia tipped herself over the edge first. She tilted her head back and Kyle felt his gut clench at her beautiful abandon—lips parted, a flush on her cheeks, her hairline damp.

Then her mouth was attacking his neck, sucking on the spot that made him shoot every f**king time. He squeezed his eyes shut and let go as her body pulled the orgasm out of his.

Kyle opened his eyes when sweet kisses peppered his face.

She smiled. Almost…shyly.

He grinned at her. “You can follow me into the barn anytime.”

As they headed to the house, Kyle realized it’d gotten to be a habit for them both to use sex as a distraction, as an amusement, as a substitute for conversation. As much as he craved that constant physical contact with Celia, he understood that to truly win her heart, he’d have to probe her mind, not just her body.

“So are you up for a little cribbage tonight? I found an old bowling ball–shaped cribbage board in a box of Marshall’s stuff.”

Celia stared at him as if he’d suddenly transformed into a unicorn.

“What?”

“You play cribbage?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“I didn’t know that about you.”

Kyle swept a piece of hair behind her ear. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me. And I’d venture a guess to say I have plenty to learn about you. I can’t wait to get started.”