The Alpha's Fine Print novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: Earn It

He did not knock until nine at night.

I had spent the day at the pine table with the deed and a legal pad.

I traced every boundary line on the old survey.

Four thousand acres of larch and creek, held by a human trust for a hundred and fifteen years.

I had also spent the day not thinking about his mouth.

I was bad at it.

"Come in," I said.

The door of the corner bedroom upstairs opened, and Lorcan stood in the frame.

He had showered.

His hair was damp and loose on his shoulders, and he wore a plain gray T-shirt and black sweatpants and no shoes.

He looked younger and more dangerous at once.

"I'm not here to trade," he said at once. "I want that clear."

"I did the fence line and Bess's chores, and none of it buys anything. You don't owe me one thing."

"I know that."

"Good." He swallowed. "Then I'm asking. Can I come in?"

"Why?"

"Because I haven't been able to think about anything else since the kitchen."

I put down the pen.

The lamp threw a gold circle on the quilt.

The bed was wide and old, made up with white sheets I had pulled tight myself.

"Come here," I said. Then, because he had taught me, "Please."

He crossed the room.

He stopped in front of my chair, and I looked up, and he looked down, and neither of us pretended.

"I'm going to undress you," he said.

"Yes."

He drew me to my feet.

His hands went to the buttons of my blouse, slow, one at a time, and each button he opened he kissed the skin it uncovered.

My throat.

The slope of my collarbone.

The rise of each breast above my plain white bra.

He slid the blouse off my shoulders and my skirt down my hips.

Then he knelt and rolled off my stockings, his palms warm on my calves.

I stood there in a bra and nothing else.

For once I wasn't thinking about my stomach or my thighs or the size on the label.

He was looking at me.

"You're beautiful," he said. "I want you to hear it. I want you to know it. Every inch."

"Take your shirt off," I said. "Please."

He tore it off over his head.

I put my palms on his chest and felt his heart hammer under my hands.

He was hot to the touch, and I ran my fingers down his stomach and over the hard line of him beneath the sweatpants.

He groaned.

"I'm taking this," I said. "Tell me it's mine."

"It's the only thing I want," he said.

I slid my hand under the waistband and closed my fingers around his cock.

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