James grinned as he watched Ivy. Her eyes were closed, but her breathing was still heavy and labored. She looked as if she’d just run a damn marathon. Meanwhile, he was fully dressed, a state his throbbing dick was not happy about.

Standing, he drew his T-shirt over his head, then went to work tugging off his jeans. The relief he felt being free from the denim was almost enough to have him coming right then and there.

Reaching above her head, James untied the knots. Ivy stirred and gave a little mewl that told him she knew she was free, but she didn’t open her eyes or lower her hands.

Once he was naked, he gently pulled off the last few pieces of her clothing, sliding the blouse and bra along her arms. Ivy remained motionless through it all.

He lay down next to her and finally, his dead-to-the-world girl stirred, rolling toward him. She placed her head on his shoulder and her hand on his chest.

“I love you.”

She spoke the words softly. James smiled. Nothing had ever sounded sweeter.

“I love you too, darlin’.”

He placed a kiss on her forehead.

“I know you haven’t come yet,” she said, not lifting her head, “but I think you might have killed me.”

James chuckled. “I keep telling you. There’s no rush. Take a minute. Catch your breath. We have all night.”

“We have forever.”

Tired or not, James needed to see her eyes when she said that. He twisted until they were laying face-to-face. “Open those pretty blue eyes and say that again.”

Her lids were heavy, but when her gaze found his, he saw what he’d been waiting for. Conviction. Confidence.

“We have forever, Jamie.”

“You’re right. We do.”

He pressed her to her back, and if Ivy was still worn out, she didn’t let on. Her hands wrapped around his neck, tugging him down for a kiss as her legs parted, welcoming him between.

He slid into her as they kissed, both of them sighing when he reached the hilt.

James didn’t move for a minute or so. Instead, he soaked up the wet heat, let her singe him with her fire.

Then he lifted his hips, pounding deep and hard, taking her with everything he had.

Ivy’s back arched as her pussy constricted so tight on his dick, it almost hurt. This was going to end too fast. He’d stretched out the foreplay too far.

“Darlin’, I can’t hold—”

“Shhh,” she whispered. “I’m there too.”

He thrust three more times and gave in to his climax. A lifetime with this woman wouldn’t be enough.

But he didn’t have to worry. Ivy was right there with him, scoring his shoulders with her nails as her orgasm slammed through her.

When the climax passed, he dropped down to her side, and his fierce lady curled back into his arms. She was asleep in an instant, and James figured he wouldn’t be too far behind her.

He glanced at the rope and grinned. Jake would have loved this story, would have gotten a kick out of calling him a chip off the old block.

James looked toward the ceiling, toward the heavens above, and mouthed the word, “Thanks,” to his beloved old friend.

Then he closed his eyes and drifted into a deep and dreamless sleep. After all, dreams weren’t necessary when you were living the perfect one.

* * *

James sat up slowly, wincing slightly. He was accustomed to hard work, both on the ranch and while beating down flames, but last night he’d used muscles he didn’t even know he had.

He was about to limp to the bathroom, intent on drawing a hot bath for the two of them, when he heard Ivy gasp.

Looking over his shoulder, he realized what had caught her eye.

“Like it?”

She hadn’t seen his back last night, but given her wide-eyed expression, it was obvious she’d discovered his new tattoo.

He turned away from her when she sat up, kneeling directly behind him on the bed.

“Wow,” she whispered.

Vaughn had warned him before he’d put down the first drop of ink, suggesting James shouldn’t etch something on his back that was enveloped more in hope than reality. To prove his point, he’d tugged aside the collar of this own torn black T-shirt and jabbed a finger at Bryant’s name, which sat high on the left side of his chest, over his heart.

James hadn’t listened to the man’s wisdom, insisting that Vaughn give him the design he’d requested while mentally swearing he was going to have one hell of a talk with his cousin when he completed this mission. Austin would probably help out with that now that he and Hayden had seemed to work their shit out too. James had planned to show off his ink to Austin the night he got it, but he’d walked into their place—and right back out again—as his cousin and Hayden were celebrating her permanent homecoming to Compass Ranch. It was a fairly large tat that mimicked the one his dad and uncles sported. He’d had Vaughn recreate the compass, but James had put his own spin on the concept.

Within the center circle of the compass were his parents’ initials, as well as Jake’s. He’d wanted to include the beloved ranch hand who’d been such an important part of his life. James had gotten the idea from one Austin already had. Then he’d recalled his cousin mentioning wanting to get a tat that paid tribute to Jake.

James had asked Vaughn to fill in two of the four quadrants created by the compass. In the quarter between west and north, Vaughn had inked in a horse, using James’s beloved quarter, Spitfire, as the model. Between north and east, he added a bright flash of flames in reds and oranges to represent his years spent jumping the fires. The bottom two quarters were still empty, though James knew what he hoped to include there someday—the family and life he and Ivy would build together.

“It’s incredible,” Ivy said. Though his back was turned, he imagined her eyes taking in each detail. He’d gotten it his first week back in Compton Pass, so some of the healing had already happened, the initial soreness gone.

“Oh! Jamie!”

She’d noticed.

James had been waiting for the moment when she’d finally spot it.

“Ivy,” she breathed.

The entire Compass was encapsulated in a circle of ivy. Her.

“James…”

Words were clearly failing her, but it didn’t matter. James still had plenty. A lifetime’s worth of things to say to her, to tell her.

“I’ve been a man with a foot in two worlds. I thought those two halves made a whole man. They didn’t. I was just biding my time, waiting for…something. And I never knew what that was. Until you. My parents and Jake gave me a strong foundation, but I never managed to build a damn thing. I want to build something with you, darlin’. Want to make a future, a life.”

He turned toward her, pushing her to her back on the bed.

He was surprised when she placed a hard hand to his chest and said, “No.”

James frowned…until she shifted their positions, slowly rolling until he was beneath her.

“My turn,” she said with the sexiest grin James had ever had flashed at him.

She straddled his hips, her hands reaching for him.

He was ready. Jesus. He figured at this rate, he’d have to spend the next fifty years or so trying to learn how to live with a goddamn hard-on. No matter how many times they came together, he only wanted her more the next time.

Ivy rose up on her knees, just enough to tuck the head of his dick inside her before she slowly slid down his hard length.

They both groaned.

“I think I could live here forever, with you inside me, and never want to leave, Cowboy.”

He grinned. “Ditto, Doc.”

James placed his hands on her hips, but he didn’t seek to take control. Ivy had a game plan and it was obvious she wouldn’t be deterred.

She started slow, rising and falling in a manner that had him praying for patience as well as strength. If he had his way, he’d flip her over and fuck them both with reckless abandon.

One of these days, he’d find a way to make love to her without wanting rough, hard, fast…fuck…kinky.

Ivy bent lower, sucking his nipple into her mouth briefly before she used her teeth on him, biting his pec hard.

She got it. Got him.

Felt the same need to claim and possess.

He reached for her hair, but she was quicker. She pressed back up to a kneeling position and waggled her finger at him. “Careful, or I may use that rope on you.”

James tightened his grip on her waist, her words prompting the response. He’d never played the submissive and didn’t intend to. Wasn’t something he needed. Problem was, he was afraid his desire to please Ivy was stronger. Which meant there was a chance he’d succumb if he thought it would make her happy.

“Don’t even think about it,” he growled. Mercifully, Ivy recognized and responded to his tone.

Rather than reach for the dangling rope still anchored to the headboard, she ran her fingernails along his chest, scratching him, but damn if it didn’t have his cock thickening even more.

“Fuck me, Ivy. Ride me hard, darlin’.” James could hear the slight tinge of pleading in his tone, but he didn’t give a shit.

Ivy bent down quickly, kissing him hard before she began to rock on his dick, lifting up and pounding back down with a speed and force he was certain must be hurting her.

James loved it hard, and until that moment, he thought he’d been giving her what she wanted. Now, he could see just how much he’d been holding back. He wouldn’t make that mistake again.

He added his own strength to the thrusting, using his hands on her hips to pull her down roughly as he lifted his hips, driving his cock even deeper.

Ivy’s head fell forward, then back as her cries drove him insane.

“Fuck,” he said loudly, when he couldn’t take it anymore.

He needed more. And he could tell she did too.

James shoved her off him on one of her upthrusts.

Ivy cursed even as she tried to reclaim her spot on top.

“No.” It was all he said. All he needed to say. She stilled, waiting as he shifted their positions. He placed her facedown on the mattress at the same time he lifted her ass into the air. Within seconds, he had his dick buried deep inside her pussy again, and he pounded in and out like a man with only minutes left to live.

Ivy tried to raise her head, but he held it down. She trembled, her entire body quaking at his rough use. While her body cried submission, her brain—her words—told him she wasn’t finished making a few demands of her own.

“Goddammit,” she screamed through gritted teeth. “Pull my hair.”

He complied, but it wasn’t enough.

“Harder!” she yelled, as if he were merely appeasing her. Something he wasn’t doing.

He tightened his grip and gave her exactly what she asked for.

Her orgasm exploded like a bullet from a gun. She jerked roughly, but didn’t stop driving herself back, impaling herself deeper on his erection.

She might be small and slight, but his woman was a fucking warrior. And she wanted it all.

James maintained his grip in her hair as he lifted his other hand to slap her thigh.

Her back arched after the third slap and—sweet Jesus—she started coming again.

“More, more, more,” she chanted, breathlessly.

He thrusted, pounded and spanked as the second climax morphed into the third.

James recalled his aching muscles. Shit. He’d be lucky to be able to walk after this, but damn if it wouldn’t be worth it.

His balls clenched and, somewhere in the midst of her third—or maybe fourth—orgasm, he came with the power and speed of a runaway train.

Spurt after spurt of come filled her, and he hoped to convince her to give up the birth control. He wanted to be a dad. Wanted to be the father of her babies.

Ivy collapsed as the last vestiges of her orgasm waned. She simply fell forward, eyes closed, completely shattered, exhausted.

James felt the same as he pushed off her, mimicking her exact position.

He had no idea how long they lay there, sleeping like the dead.

Ivy was the first to rouse, and she woke him, her fingers gently tracing the outline of his new tattoo.

His eyelids opened slowly, but it was still several minutes before she realized he was awake and watching her.

“The tattoo isn’t finished,” she said.

He grinned, pleased that she’d noticed. “Saved those last two spots for us. For what we’ll create together. God willing, it’ll be our babies and a long life. I want to change dirty diapers with you. Want to go on family vacations to the beach to see your mom, and to rodeos, and to ride horses with our kids and build a home on Compass Ranch.”

“I want to spend Christmas with your family. Do you think my dad could come?”

“Of course he could.” James didn’t bother to hide his smile. The idea of spending holidays with her, the fact that she already seemed to love his family as much as he did, only solidified the fact that what they were talking about, what they were building, was right.

“So you’re really happy?” she asked.

The tiny bit of self-doubt had snuck back in. He didn’t blame her for that. This thing between them was way too new for everything they were talking about. But he didn’t care. If it took a year or five, he’d make sure she knew, that he told her every single day how much he loved her.

“Happier than I ever knew I could be. I swear it. I want to show you something.”

He took her hand and the two of them walked back to the living room. James loved that any shyness she might have about her body vanished with him. They were both unabashedly naked. It felt natural. And right.

James reached into the bag of clothes he’d packed for his stay. He hadn’t been sure how long it would take him to convince Ivy that his feelings were sincere, so he’d come prepared.

At the last minute, he’d thrown in the postcard from Jake. “I came back from the jump in Idaho to find this.”

Ivy’s eyes softened as she read the words, and she sniffled. “Haiwee was Viho’s mother?”

He nodded. She’d met Viho, and heard the story of how Jake and his true love had been separated by her insistence that she would never change him, never ask him to give up what he truly loved—ranching.

“There are a million jobs,” he whispered as he leaned down, placing a soft kiss on her cheek.

Ivy turned her face toward him, stealing her own quick kiss.

“But there’s only one Ivy,” he said, gripping her waist and pulling her closer, letting her feel his erection. His desire and his love were tightly entwined, and he couldn’t imagine a day where he wouldn’t feel both for her—passionately. Unending.

He kissed her again, deeper this time as her hands wrapped around his neck, her breasts pressed to his chest.

“And she’s mine.”