Off to the Races: A Small Town Enemies to Lovers Romance (Gold Rush Ranch Book 1)
Off to the Races: Epilogue

Billie woke me up by crawling on top of me and whispering, “I need your cock, Boss Man,” in my ear before dragging her teeth down my neck and fisting my length roughly. I have a real love-hate relationship with that nickname.

But this morning, it’s working out well for me.

She’s straddling my waist, hips rolling seductively. Golden morning sunlight fills the room, highlighting the matching streaks in her chestnut hair like a halo. I watch her body move. Her hands roaming her breasts wantonly.

Fuck. She’s looks so good touching herself while she rides me. Like an angel. A pain-in-the-ass-angel with a trucker mouth, who I love.

“Come here, baby,” I rasp out, urging her to lean forward. When she does, I wrap my hand around her throat and she moans, letting her eyes flutter shut.

I can’t help but smirk as I squeeze lightly around her slender neck. My dirty girl loves this.

She slams herself down harder on my length and I feel a bead of sweat roll down the back of my neck as I strain to watch her.

When I reach my other hand up to circle her sensitive nub, her panting starts to sound more like mewling. “Oh god, Vaughn. I’m going to come.”

I thrust up into her wet heat, swirling my fingers, excited to watch her come apart. It never gets old. This woman can crawl on top of me for the rest of my life, and I’ll never tire of it.

When I squeeze that delicate bundle of nerves, she cries out and writhes on top of me. Her lips part and her loose hair sticks to her damp forehead. The view paired with the way she’s pulsing around me is too much and I roar my orgasm into her body and growl, “Take it all, baby. Every drop.”

“Yesss,” she hisses out before falling forward onto my heaving chest.

We lie together, letting our breathing slow, letting our heart rates return to steady beats, for several minutes. Our quiet moments together are still some of the most intimate we share.

She eventually presses a gentle kiss right over my heart. “Thank you. Now coffee, please.”

I laugh as she rolls off me and flops onto the mattress with a satisfied smirk on her face. “That’s all you want me for. My cock and my coffee.”

She bites down on her bottom lip with a mischievous glint in her eye. “Don’t forget your tongue.”

I shake my head as I toss on a pair of sweats, shooting her a wounded look over my shoulder as I jog down the stairs. If my girl wants coffee, she gets coffee. With cream. Just the right amount. Exactly how she likes it.

Down in the kitchen of the log house, I hit the button on the coffee maker and then slide on a pair of shoes to head outside.

DD nickers at me when he hears the back porch door open. I imagine that he’s saying something like, “Bring my hay, peasant!”

So that’s what I do. What the king wants, the king gets.

I shove a few flakes of our best into a net and toss it over the fence to him before giving him a few sound pats and shaking my head.

The little horse that could.

The horse that nobody wanted to work with. The horse that saved me—who brought Billie back to me. I’d never be able to repay him. So, the best hay that money can buy and the odd peppermint for the rest of his life it will be.

Back up on the porch, I realize I missed the newspaper that someone left there. Hank or Violet, hard to say which. Stepping into the house, I shake the paper out and read the headline.

Local stallion takes the Northern Crown in another stunning win.

Pride bubbles in my chest. I can’t take credit for any of this. It’s all Billie and I couldn’t be more proud of her. Her work ethic, her drive, her passion. I’ve always known she’s an inspiring woman. A force to be reckoned with.

A force I have every intention of locking down for the long-haul. I pat my sweatpants to make sure the little black box is still there, where I planted it last night.

Coffee in hand, I head back upstairs. Billie is lounging in the sunny bedroom wearing my t-shirt, in the charming little house we’ve both come to love and call home over the last several months. My city apartment is a glorified closet at this point.

Setting the coffees down on the bedside table, I drop a kiss on her forehead, trying to hide the shaking of my hands. “Coffee for my love. Just the way she likes it.”

She giggles happily and sits up, propping pillows behind herself. “I’m amazed you didn’t bring it black just to piss me off.”

“I would never do that,” I deadpan.

“Mhm.” She looks at me with accusation in her eyes.

I place one hand across my chest like I’m about to take an oath. But with the other, I pull the velvet box out of my pocket and hold it out to her. “I promise to make it just the way you like it for the rest of your life.”

She shakes her head like she’s testing her vision and then points at my outstretched hand, “Is that…”

I drop to my knees beside the bed. “Billie Black, I choose you. Over and over again. Every time.” My voice cracks with emotion, but I forge ahead, “Will you marry me?”

Her eyes are glassy and her cheeks are the prettiest pink as she stares back at me with earnest intensity on her face. It feels like minutes pass when it’s really only seconds.

“Vaughn Harding, I’ll choose you back every damn day.”

“Is that a yes?”

One tear spills out and trails over her cheek as she whispers, “That’s a hell yes.”

I launch myself at her on the bed, wrapping around her. Soaking up her feel, her smell. Our joy.

I can hardly believe it. I get this.

Forever.

How the hell did I get so lucky?

She sniffles and nuzzles into my neck. And then she says, “Do we have to name DD Mister Harding now, though?”

I can’t help but laugh as I lean back to look at her. “You’re insane, you know that?”

She tilts her head and smiles shyly. “Yeah, but you love it.”

And I smile.

Because it’s true.