Burning Barriers (Barriers Series Book 3) by Sara Shirley Page B

I had seen the look she gave me after I told her I tattooed her name on my back. It was the same look she gave me the first night I told her I loved her. I’ll never forget that look.
    A moan escapes from the back of my throat when Lucy’s rounded nails begin scraping their way down my back. I frantically grab her wrists and raise her arms above her head. The cowboy hat she just put on falls to the floor in the process. Her fingers wrap around the metal bars that start halfway up the door, and she pulls herself up. She lifts her legs and wraps them around my waist. With my own hands still securely wrapped around her wrists, desire wins out as I pin her against the gate within seconds. My weight keeps her easily in place between the gate and me.
    With one hand, I hold her steady as the other begins to trail up her chest and over her breast. I gently nip at her lower lip and begin moving my lips down her neck until I feel the small raised skin from her scar. The heat of the moment is suddenly chilled, and I take my time placing soft, delicate kisses along the thin line. With each tender kiss, I sense something within Lucy changing. It’s almost as though she’s healing a little more. I know she would have stopped this between us had this been a week ago. They say time heals all wounds, and right now, time with just Lucy and me is absolutely proving that statement true.
    “Jake…” Lucy whispers. Her soft lips against my ear send sparks directly to my hardened cock that I know isn’t where I need it to be. She doesn’t deserve a barn stall quickie, though. She deserves the campfire and tent set up in the mountains under nighttime skies with shooting stars flying above our heads as we lie amongst a generous amount of comforters and let our bodies do all the talking. It’s how we made love the first time and how we knew that our bond was special and binding for life. That moment defined our future, or at least, it defined mine. No other girl could ever take me on that journey. It’s only been Lucy, and it only ever will be.
    “Jake, we need to stop. It’s going to get too late to ride if we keep this up.” Her words sink in, and I lower her slowly until she’s standing in front of me fixing her hair. I bend over gently to retrieve her hat off the ground and shove in onto her head with some force. “You never did like it when I was always right.” She chuckles as she adjusts the hat.
    “Well, yeah, but I also never liked being left with a raging hard-on before jumping on a horse to go for a ride either,” I explain as I push my hand into my pants, trying to adjust the semi I’m sporting before walking out of the barn. “Don’t worry, Juicy , you’ll pay the minute we’re alone at the spot.”
    “Now, Jake,” Lucy playfully says as she slides open the gate again. “It’s not nice to get someone’s hopes up if you aren’t going to hold up your end of the bargain.”
    When she turns around, a giant grin is plastered across her face, and I feel as though all the years apart have just withered away. Our sexual banter is back, and it’s flowing naturally between us. There is no awkward readjustment. It’s just fuckin’ us.

I sprint all the way out to the back horse pen where Andrea stands with two beautiful horses. I can instantly tell which one is Jake’s, the giant draft horse that clearly says alpha male and ought to have “wide load” branded to his ass. Roman Numeral certainly fits Jake’s personality to a T.
    I hear Jake’s loud feet jogging up behind me and turn my head over my shoulder. It must have taken a few extra minutes to handle the hardened wood in his pants. I felt bad having to leave him like that, but I knew if I didn’t stop, I might do something I wasn’t sure I was ready to do just yet. I love sex, and I’ve had Jake’s image in my head all these years with the number of guys I’ve slept with. After Stone’s attack, I knew trusting men would be hard, but that was before all