Riding Rough (Rough Rider #2) Read online

  Contents

  TITLE

  RIGHTS

  DESCRIPTION

  ONE

  TWO

  THREE

  FOUR

  FIVE

  SIX

  SEVEN

  EPILOGUE

  SECOND EPILOGUE

  ROUGH RIDER

  ONE

  TWO

  ACKKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  ALSO BY ARIA

  RIDING ROUGH

  ARIA COLE

  Copyright © 2017 by Aria Cole All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Colt Sutherland has been to hell and back, from the day he was deployed to the desert to the one that nearly ended his life in an attack. Only one thing kept this soldier breathing, an angelic vision of a young woman with shiny blond hair and a smile that soothes the ache in his soul. The only girl to ever own his heart—the one that got away.

  Back in his hometown, Colt finds the unexpected in Raven Wetherspoon. Her lush waves and seductive curves call to him, leaving him chomping at the bit to get to know her better, and get her underneath him. But can her touch really heal his battered warrior’s heart, or will the past that haunts him steal his life once and for all?

  Warning: Skintight Wranglers, cowgirl boots, and bareback rides under the stars would leave even the wildest of bad boys believing in love at first sight. Letting go of the reins won't be easy when this filly needs breaking. Saddle up and hold on tight, Colt and Raven are riding hard for love!

  ONE

  COLT

  SWEAT DRIPPED DOWN my face, prickles of heat racing up my spine as our convoy cruised down the dusty desert road.

  “You see that truck, or is that my eyes playing tricks on me again?” Granger muttered at my side.

  “Nah, I see it.” I wiped the sweat out of my eyes, trying to clear my vision.

  “Whaddya think they’re up to way out here?” My battle buddy drew his gun tighter to his side on instinct.

  “Hard to say. Should we go check it out?” Just as the last words left my lips, a series of small bombs lit up the ground around our truck.

  “Fuck! IED!” Were the last words I heard Granger exclaim before my vision went black.

  I had no concept of time when a bright light radiated through the darkness. A mesmerizing outline moving closer, gliding on easy footsteps. The flowing, champagne-silk hair parted in soft waves to one side, just like it did in the picture I carried in my wallet. Just how I remembered her.

  My angel.

  My Caroline.

  The ache in my chest melted away as the beautiful girl from my childhood, now the girl of my dreams, drifted toward me, so close I inhaled the soft scent of cherry blossoms from the tree under which we shared our first kiss.

  This must be heaven.

  Caroline was here to save me.

  *

  I woke in a cold sweat, the same dream having played on fucking repeat in my mind every night for the three months I’d been home. Except, the last few nights had been different. Usually, the dream ended with a shattering blast going off in my head. Refreshing the memory of the last bomb that stole my buddy from me and tore into my leg, leaving behind the very visible manifestation of my inner torment. War changes a man.

  Most of the nearly eighty mornings since I’d almost had my leg torn from my body on a rural desert road, I’d woken up feeling like I didn’t deserve to be alive. I thought about all those boys with kids and wives who lost their lives, and I felt an intense guilt that I was breathing. That I had managed to escape the gunfire with such a relatively minor injury. I was a lucky son of a bitch, and I wasn’t sure if I deserved the luck.

  I rubbed at the scar on my thigh, then hauled myself out of bed. I tossed on the white shirt I’d worn yesterday, knowing only some fresh air and a walk could cool my thrumming heartbeat.

  It was so fucking hard to shake these dreams.

  Mild PTSD is what the nurse said I had.

  I didn’t give a fuck what it was called, I just wanted my heart to stop racing, the dreams to stop waking me up long after dark.

  I sucked in a breath of cool air, bare feet hitting the smooth wood of the deck as I stalked outside. The silver light of the moon cut sharp angles across the farmyard of Circle C Ranch. I was a fucking lucky guy when my sister and Nash said I could crash here while I healed, and now that she and my best friend were officially married—which still chafed me the wrong way—I was definitely wearing out my welcome.

  It was just the damn nightmares that held me back… Being around my little sis and my best friend was therapy in its own way. The sense of familiarity and knowing, no matter what, those two would have my back. I didn’t need to feel any shame here; I just had to get better. I didn’t need to be strong, I just had to get through, one day at a time.

  I kicked up dust with the toe of my boot, watching little clouds bloom into the moonlight as I walked closer to the paddock, closer to the barn, a place I’d been drawn to much more of late.

  I’d been hauling my ass into physical therapy three times a week for ten weeks now, every day my leg getting stronger, my resolve harder. The pain was a bitch some days, especially the damp ones, and I’d been chewing pain meds like candy, but it still felt like there was more I could do.

  Eden had taken to treating me with kid gloves, like anything she said might push me over the edge. But how the hell was a guy supposed to get on when it felt like someone took a chainsaw to their thigh?

  I should probably get to working on that.

  Couldn’t be pushing everyone away my entire life.

  Plus, Eden and Nash had just announced they were going to have a baby, and the kid couldn’t grow up with a growly-ass uncle. The only thing that had been relaxing to me lately was working with Raven and the horses. Something about the calm way she took care of Chase, tended to him, made peace settle over me.

  It was an odd feeling, but because of it, I’d taken to hanging around the barn whenever I had some free time. Raven and I had struck up a few conversations in the months I’d been back. The soft curves of her face, the dark-rimmed eyes and high cheekbones, even the melodic tone of her voice and the way she held her back so tall and straight left me mesmerized.

  I’d never been too keen on horses, so I kept my distance from her giant thoroughbred. The ability to crush you with just one kick of the leg had never sat well with me. But I could see that it brought out the best in her. I’d come to feel like I knew her well, watching her as much as I did. She probably thought I was creepy as fuck, always lurking in some corner, eyes on her, but that wasn’t the case at all. Raven was sweet, sassy, and pure class.. I could see it right down to the polished leather of her riding boots.

  She’d been on my mind a helluva lot more than I was willing to admit, and I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t conjured her image a few times in my dreams, when I needed a reprieve from the horror that haunted me.

  I turned the corner of the barn, surprised to find a sliver of golden light cutting across the dirt. Nash only had a few clients boarding horses at the moment. Raven was the most attentive, stopping by for at least a few hours most days of the week, but I hadn’t seen her car parked outside.

  Please, dear God, don’t let this be my little sister and Nash… I choked on my tongue just thinking of walking in on something kinky.

  “That’s a boy. Come to Mama.” The soft lilt of the voice was definitely not my sister’s. This voice was like that of an angel, sweet and melodic, and it made me want to be the obj
ect of her attention. My heart started pounding like a wild animal’s. The beats loud, like bullets ricocheting across the sky.

  I stepped around the corner, eyes landing on the beautiful creature cooing to the giant horse.

  Raven.

  She’d started boarding her horse here just a few months ago, and from the beginning, she’d caught my eye. In fact, if I weren’t dealing with so much of my own shit at the moment, I probably would have asked her out already. But hell, just the thought of dating made my chest hurt.

  Starting over with anyone felt like too much to bear right now.

  “Another step, Chase boy, then you get another apple slice.” She held out her hand, tempting the horse.

  I took another step, focused on the way the gleaming sliver of lamplight lit her profile, made her skin a creamy alabaster. Christ, just looking at her healed something inside me. The pain in my thigh magically melting, the erosion of my heart suddenly not so devastating. Six months ago, if you’d asked me if I believed in shit like love and fate, I would have laughed you off the ranch. But now… Something about going to war had changed me. Left me permanently altered—some for the better, a little for the worse. I was a man now; there was no doubt about that. Seeing another man die, friend or enemy, left a permanent mark on the soul. One I was still trying to scrub off.

  But being around Raven these last few weeks made that scar feel a little less tragic, my soul a little lighter.

  Watching her profile now made my fingers burn to touch her skin. Press my lips to hers, mold her soft angles to my hard edges.

  Hell, it’d been so long since I’d kissed a woman, I wouldn't even know where to begin. But just seeing her here like this made me want to learn.

  “He’s a stubborn one,” I offered, stopping at her shoulder.

  She whipped around, gorgeous eyes round as hubcaps.

  Christ, the way she looked at me stole the breath out of my lungs.

  “Typical man.” Raven’s eyes lingered on mine for a long moment. My stomach twisted, something down deep telling me to take this girl in my arms and caress the seam of those lush lips with my tongue. I wanted a taste. A touch.

  My fingers twitched at my sides as I tried to control the wild desire pumping through my veins.

  “He had a stone in his shoe earlier. I dug it out, but it’s still tender. He’s been babying it,” Raven said, then patted the horse on his nose, giving him the slice of apple anyway.

  “Maybe he just likes the attention.” I scratched the horse behind the ears. “I sure as hell would.”

  Raven’s eyes cut into me.

  Her lips popped open in shock, and the only thought in my head was to cover them with my mouth. I was a man dead on the inside, and for some reason, this woman was the only thing that could cut through the pain. She was pure, beautiful, and she consumed me in a way I didn’t think was possible. There was something familiar about her, something that made me gravitate toward her. And that feeling, as freeing as it was, also alarmed every part of my body.

  Before I could think twice, I dusted my thumb across her temple, my lips drawn to hers like a magnet. I reached the delicious seam of her sexy little pout, tasting that sweet cherry scent on my lips for the first time. A soft sigh escaped her mouth before her hands wound around my waist, tracing under the hem of my shirt and connecting with my hot skin.

  I nearly fell to my goddamn knees at that soft touch.

  This girl had me already.

  I delved deeper, searching, our tongues twisting until my hands were in her hair and our lips were fully melded. Our breaths merged together, and the silky strands of her hair flowed through my fingers as I pushed my hips against hers. With a few steps back, I had us pressed to the worn wooden wall, grinding my body against hers, hoisting her thighs around my hips.

  “I wish there weren’t so many clothes between us right now,” I growled, sliding a hand between her legs and running my thumb against the damp seam of her jeans.

  Only soft whimpers met my ears before our lips were together again. Her nails dug into the hard flesh of my shoulders before I shoved both of my palms down into the waistband of her jeans and fisted the warm globes of her gorgeous ass.

  “I’d be a dead man if I said I hadn't noticed how good this ass looks in a pair of blue jeans.” I nipped at her ear. She pressed her tits against my chest, forcing a low groan out of my throat. I attached my lips to the outline of one delicious nipple and sucked, pulling at the pebbled peak with my teeth and listening to her mewl on repeat. “Fuck, that’s a beautiful noise.”

  “Colt.” She breathed against my neck, and my blood ran thick in my veins. Something in the way she said it made fire race through my body. She tasted like sweet cherries, smelled like heaven, and felt like fucking home.

  Never in my life had a woman made me feel that way.

  Well, except one.

  My mind flashed back to the haunting memory of the girl in white. I pushed the thought away just as soon as it'd come, focusing instead on the gorgeous girl whose lips were attached to mine right at this moment.

  “Your pussy is soaked for me,” I gruffed, running the ridge of my hard cock against her cunt. “Takin’ everything in me not to sink into you right now, Raven…” I hissed the words from my lips.

  She shuddered, goose bumps spreading across her neck and sending a bolt of electric energy over my skin.

  I wanted this woman, hard, fast, now, forever.

  Hell. Forever?

  I didn’t know where the fuck that had come from.

  I had no business thinking about forever when I barely had my own shit figured out.

  “Should have put my lips on you from the moment we met,” I said, words that felt so right rolling off my tongue.

  “Jesus, Colt, you drive me crazy. One minute, you’re so…friendly…” She glared as she said the words. “And the next, it’s like I don’t exist.”

  “No, beautiful, that’s not about you. You are nothing but perfection. That’s not you,” I whispered. “Coming back from war ain’t easy, that’s all.”

  She sucked in her bottom lip, emotion pooling in her eyes. I wiped the tears gently from her face. I wasn’t worth her tears. This angel shouldn’t be crying; she deserved much more.

  Our gazes held for long breaths, our hearts syncing as I forgot where she ended and I began. In the span of only minutes, I’d forgotten my reality and fallen into her. Maybe she was just what I needed. Maybe she was the thing that would bring me back to life. God knew, she was the only thing that burned a fire through me. I felt like I was walking in the shadows. I had seen too much, felt the cold depths of what man was. There was no coming back from that…until Raven.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, thighs sliding down my waist as she landed on her feet. “I should go. I’ve been here all night working with him.” She escaped from the circle of my arms and started gathering up her things. “I’m sorry, Colt. I shouldn’t be making your life any more…complicated.”

  My eyes flew to hers, my heart cracking open when she broke our gaze and turned away.

  I nodded, wanting to run after her like a motherfucker, feel her under my hands again. Taste her lips. But at that moment, all I felt was a draft of cold, the warmth I’d just had in my grasp giving way to another mirage twisting in my mind.

  Suddenly the scar on my thigh was throbbing, a reminder that I was broken and that she deserved a fuck of a lot better than a beat-up soldier.

  I couldn't even complete my job over there—only a month and I was back in this goddamn town while my buddies were still there, fighting without me.

  I hung my head, shoved a palm over my face before locking the gate on Chase and making my way out of the barn.

  Raven’s car engine was all I heard as I closed the barn door, the taste of cherries still on my lips.

  I shoved a hand through my hair, heading into the house and thinking I’d ruined everything by kissing her too soon. Hell, this was all new. I’d only been back from the des
ert for eighty days, and my body was still healing. What the hell was I thinking kissing Raven? She probably thought I was a lunatic, but hell…she’d been into it.

  Just when I thought life couldn’t get more complicated, I had to go and start shoving my tongue down a stranger’s throat in the middle of the night.

  But she wasn’t just any stranger, she was Raven. She was the one who’d been there when I pushed everyone else away. Eden and Nash were settling into their married bliss bullshit, and I was left to do a lot of thinking. “Brooding” is what Raven said I was doing.

  Just the memory of her soft giggle made my dick ache.

  I palmed my cock over my jeans, trying to relieve the other permanent ache I’d had to deal with. Watching Raven on horseback every day had taken the control of a saint. She was beautiful sitting atop that horse, hair in the wind, smile on her face. Hell, if I could have convinced her to come up to my room just to talk all night, I would have tried it.

  I shoved off my jeans, pulling my shirt over my head and settling back against my pillows. My gaze cast out my window and over the barnyard where I’d been kissing the prettiest girl I’d ever seen, just a few moments ago. I slipped my hand down the waistband of my boxer briefs, sliding my cock under my hand, root to tip. A bead of pre-come leaked from the tip, pained pleasure pulsing through every nerve so violently I crammed my eyes closed.

  Long, dark hair came into view, Raven’s gorgeous tits jiggling as she ran to me, lips bruised from my kisses and a content smile on her face. Hell, she was so beautiful it nearly hurt. I cupped my balls with my other hand, wishing like hell Raven had followed me up, the only prescription for this fever, her touch.

  “Fuck,” I gritted out as I gripped the base of my cock and tugged up, blood flooding my veins and making everything but the image of her in my head hazy. I imagined her lips pursed and pleasing my cock, or her body on her hands and knees, bent over a bench as I licked her sweet pussy until she was screaming.

  I nearly choked on a rush of air as my orgasm built, tingling slowly up my spine before exploding from my balls and causing thick jets of come to spray across my abdomen. My cock throbbed, still horny enough for a round two, before I slumped back on the bed and tossed a pillow over my head.