Their getaway

The cool night air settled over them, but the heat between their bodies hadn’t faded. John’s fingers traced lazy, possessive circles on Leticia’s bare shoulder, his chest rising and falling in a slow, steady rhythm against her back.

​He leaned in closer, his lips brushing the shell of her ear as he spoke, his voice dropping to a low, gravelly whisper. "Leticia... I have to go to the city in two days. Legal business for the blacksmith shop, and ordering new iron." He paused, his grip tightening around her waist just a fraction. "I want you to come with me. You have to figure out a way to tell your Pa, or sneak away. Whatever it takes."

​Leticia caught her breath, her heart instantly quickening. The city was a full day's ride away—an impossible distance to disappear to without her father noticing.

​"I'll get us a room at the saloon," John continued, his hand sliding down her hip, his touch sending a fresh jolt of electricity through her skin. He rolled her over onto her back so he could look directly into her eyes in the moonlight. "A real bed. A door we can lock. I don't want just an hour in the woods, Leticia. I want the whole night. I want to wake up inside you, spend the dark hours making love to you, and intense, hard fucking until neither of us can walk. You belong to me now."

​The raw intensity in his gaze made her stomach flutter with a mix of thrill and apprehension. She thought of her father, already scouting out young men at the social, **** to see her settled. If she was caught going to a city saloon with the local blacksmith, it would ruin her reputation forever.

​But looking up at John—feeling the heavy, muscular weight of him beside her and remembering the incredible sensation of him filling her just moments ago—the risk suddenly felt entirely worth it.

​"Two days," Leticia whispered back, her fingers tangling in his hair as she pulled his lips back down to hers. "I'll find a way, John. I'll be there."