The Romeo Arrangement: A Small Town Romance

by Nicole Snow

  These people are the reason I got stuck in a high-end prison of a life in the first place, and plenty of money to escape when it was time.

  “Will you be having breakfast this morning?”

  I turn, shaking my head at Tobin, who stands in the doorway of my office like a loyal sentinel.

  “Pass. I overslept and it’s already coming up on lunch.” I’m not hungry—not for food. “Plus, I have to go to town soon. Return Jess’ truck and check on mine.”

  “And?” Tobin lifts a brow. That’s damn near screaming for him. “Did he find anything out of sorts?”

  “Yep. A tracking device just like the kind I pulled off the Sellers’ truck that night at the Bobcat. One of those fuckers slashed a brake line, too.”

  Tobin mutters a curse under his breath, then straightens like he’d been saying the rosary.

  I frown.

  It’s never a good thing to see him that shaken up.

  “Bebe called last night. She said she’s arrived back in Los Angeles and the press releases should be posted by noon today.”

  “Perfect.”

  I’m glad something’s gone right and she’s following through on her promise.

  Whatever else she is, the woman always comes through for me in a pinch, and the dumpster fire performance of my last couple movies wasn’t her fault.

  She warned me about all the actors who bombed when they tried moving into producer roles.

  I’d already checked out by then but hadn’t fully moved on.

  “I’m going to take some bacon and eggs over to the cabin, in case our guests are getting hungry.”

  “Great. Try to get some solid grub in the old man. He’s improving by the day,” I tell him.

  Whether he ever admits it in this lifetime, I know Tobin enjoys the company around here.

  So do I.

  And if I have my way, I’ll continue enjoying it, particularly my time with one sexy blonde wildcat.

  Grace is dumping grain and pasture in the feed bin for the horses when I step into the barn, and the sight of her makes my jeans feel three sizes too small.

  Hell.

  I close the door, latch it, and walk over, meeting her as she walks out of the stall.

  “Missed you when I woke up.”

  “Oh, I...” Her cheeks flush red and she averts her eyes. “We, um...we probably shouldn’t have done that.”

  A flash of disappointment hits but dissolves just as fast when I realize she’s only saying that shit because she thinks she should.

  Casual hookups aren’t her thing. She’s more old-fashioned than damn near every girl I’ve ever bedded before, and honestly?

  It gives my dick an appetite for everything but doubt.

  “I woke up smiling, darlin’. Can’t remember the last time that happened. If you’re worried about any hard feelings here...they’re only below the belt. Promise.” I flash her a grin.

  “But we’re pretending, remember? Aren’t you worried about complicating things even more?”

  “I remember. And fuck complications.” I step closer, sliding my hands inside her open coat to grasp her around the waist. “Wish I could say I came out here to talk, but...Jess found a tracking device and a cut brake line on my truck.”

  She gasps, her eyes wide, and she grabs my upper arms. “Ridge! They could have—”

  “Kept me from having the best sex of my life?” I interrupt. “Yeah, tragic.”

  “Will you be serious?” She rolls her eyes. “That’s bad news. Scary news.”

  I pull her forward, firmly against me so she can feel how hard I’ll fight for her if any of those pricks show up where they shouldn’t.

  “I know. I’ve got you. I’m not letting go.”

  Smirking, I push my hips into hers, making sure she senses something else that’s hard and just as determined as my will.

  “Stop it.” She’s trying not to smile. “I’m not falling for your games again. We need to focus on the bad guys.”

  “We will.” I lean down, brushing a kiss on her temple. “And I recall the game being very, very mutual.”

  She sucks in a sharp breath and releases it slowly.

  “Fine. You win. Now can we—”

  “Seems like the attraction’s pretty mutual, too,” I add. “As it should be, considering we’re engaged.”

  “Fake engaged,” she quips, dropping her head against my chest. “You don’t hear me arguing, but we can’t just keep—”

  “Why?” I interrupt. “Give me a good reason. We’re adults, we’re responsible, and we know full well what we’re doing.”

  Lifting her head, she asks, “Oh? What are we doing? Besides ignoring thugs who were trying to set us up?”

  “Fuck them. I said it’s under control.” Grabbing her ass, I press her harder against me. “All this talk when we could be doing something better.”

  I grind out a sigh, pressing my forehead to hers, brushing my lips across her hot mouth like a kid with the forbidden candy.

  “Ridge!” She slaps my shoulder, even while laughing. “Be serious.”

  “Fine. I’m pulling together a backup with my crew. Faulk almost has his resources in place, and we’ll bring in Grady and Drake soon. The full force of the Dallas PD might not seem like much when it’s half a dozen deputies, but they’ll have our backs, and so will the Feds. Bet we’ve got more than a few agents just waiting for their chance to bust the Old Town Boys.”

  She melts against me, relief already filling her. “You’d best not be playing.”

  “No, Scout’s honor. I’ll tell you another secret—I’ve had a hard-on that could hit a home run since I woke up. Only one way to fix that. The same cure we had last night. What was it, six damn times?”

  “Ridge!” She swats playfully at my arm but can’t deny it.

  God, she’s good for my ego.

  Then her eyes flutter and her body trembles slightly as she squeezes my shoulders, burying her face in the nook of my neck.

  “Ridge, listen...”

  “I am. You want it, Grace,” I whisper, grinding against her. “Just as bad as I do.”

  She groans, pursing her lips until they’re more like a thin, pale line rather than a decadent strawberry.

  “That doesn’t mean we should do it again,” she whispers. “We should come to our senses. Pull back. Think about this.”

  “Darlin’, I’ve done a whole lot of thinking ever since I woke up, and I’ve got one question for you.” I slide my hands under her shirt, rubbing her back, loving the heat of her skin on my fingertips. “You don’t want me inside you?” I kiss her cheek, slow and sultry as hell. “You don’t want these hips trying to break you again? Faster and faster, until you come your brains out?”

  “Yes,” she groans. “I mean, no!”

  I smile.

  She’s such a terrible liar it’s adorable.

  My cock jerks in my pants, dangerously encouraged.

  “I think you mean yes,” I growl, my forehead to hers, walking my fingers up the small of her back, her spine, until she shudders. “Tell me I’m not wrong.”

  She whimpers again. “Yes.”

  “Then we ought to do something about it. Now.”

  The look she gives me is all the answer I need.

  Then those lips are on mine, sweeter than wine, begging for everything she can’t bring herself to say.

  One day, I’ll mess her up so bad, the small-town prude burns right out of her.

  I’ll have her waking me up with her mouth, rewarding her dearly with hit-and-run flings when she least expects it. This woman makes me want to take her on a fuck-tour around the world, starting with this barn.

  I love how honest she is, how genuine, though.

  Finding the clasps on her bra, I work my fingers.

  “You woke up horny, too, didn’t you?”

  “Maybe.” She works her hands under my coat and shirt. “That’s why I had to leave...before you woke up.”

  Her scent was still in the shee
ts, and smelling it now, up close and personal, doubles the frantic desires I’ve been dealing with since Cornelius roared me awake.

  “You should’ve stayed. Now we’ll have to give a classic roll in the hay a try.”

  She laughs. “You’ve never had hay in your clothes, have you?”

  “Nope,” I admit. “Today’s the day.”

  “Well, I have. It feels like barbed wire when it’s stuffed inside a bra.”

  I run my hands up her sides, find the hard nubs of her tits with my thumbs. The soft moan that falls out of her when I graze her nipples fucking guts me.

  “We’ll make sure it doesn’t happen.”

  She flashes me a skeptical look, shoving her hands under the waistband of my jeans.

  Holding her as close as possible, I walk across the barn to the tack room, where I know there’s a chair.

  It’ll do.

  Hell, a pile of mud would do right now.

  I’m about to lose my wad in my jeans if I don’t have her now.

  I release her once we’re in the room and tear off my coat, tossing it aside. She removes hers, too.

  We’re off to a frenzied race then, kicking off our boots and shedding our jeans and underwear.

  Sitting down on the chair, I drink in this minx in all her naked glory, my cock up in full salute.

  “Oh, wow.” Grinning, she steps closer. “I’ve never done it on a chair before.”

  “You’ll love it.” I point at her shirt. “Take that off.”

  “You have your shirt on, Ridge,” she says, grasping the hem of her blue sweatshirt and toying with her lip.

  Fuck.

  Just wait and see if I don’t take her over my knee if she keeps that shit up.

  “Yeah, I don’t have any tits to play with,” I explain.

  Laughing, she tugs off the shirt and lets her bra fall to the floor along with it.

  “You want to play with my boobs that bad? Is that a promise?” Arching her back, she wiggles her shoulders, teasing me with those otherworldly tits right in front of me.

  Goddamn, she’s beautiful.

  Her body is perfection distilled down into a nymph I want to mark, every square inch of her. Skin like silk and a pussy like honey. My tongue rubs the roof of my mouth, hungry for her taste.

  “Come find out,” I growl, reaching out with both hands to twirl the nubs of her nipples. “I’m also going to lick them and suck them and bite them while I see how wet you are. You’ll come. Then you’ll sit on my lap so I can drive my cock inside you and fuck you until you come even harder. Sound good?”

  She lets out the sexiest whine I’ve ever heard, stepping between my knees.

  “Can’t argue with that plan,” she whispers.

  “Shame. I was hoping you’d fight me all the way to the first climax, darlin’.”

  She trembles at my words.

  Damn, do I love it.

  I start out slow, pulling her close, sucking her nips against my teeth. I graze her with just the right roughness as she climbs on my lap.

  It’s a brutal test I barely pass, avoiding fucking her then and there.

  Her sweet cunt is already dripping on my thighs, on my balls, driving me out of my mind.

  Then she grabs at my shoulders as her legs wobble.

  I clamp down on one nipple, sucking, lashing my tongue across the tip, sliding my hand up her inner thigh.

  Right to the sexiest folds on God’s green earth, already sopping wet, hot, and perfect.

  Grace moans again, digging her fingernails into my neck as I reach down, find her slit, and push two fingers in.

  Right. Fucking. There.

  Her walls tighten around my fingers instantly.

  I find her clit with my thumb, snarling the whole time.

  “Ridge.” She gasps, shivering. “This...this won’t last long.”

  Hell no, she won’t.

  Not if I have anything to say, and turns out, I have a fucking dissertation to write on every lithe inch of her.

  I sweep my thumb across her clit several times, delaying her explosion so I can play with her longer, loving how responsive she gets.

  This woman is my instrument and I want to hear her sing.

  Moving to her other tit, I take her nipple hard while my fingers pump slowly, languidly, sensually.

  It’s getting to me as much as her.

  My dick has never throbbed so hard in my life, sending a dense shock through my blood, demanding its pleasure.

  Incredible. No other word fits what she does to me.

  “Ridge.” She grasps my head, holding it against her breasts. “Please. I...I can’t take—”

  “You want me to make you come?” I release her tit only long enough to ask the question.

  “God...please!”

  Finding her clit, I pinch lightly, flick it, pressing it firmly into her soft flesh. Her slickness runs down my hand, and I fight not to lick it right off.

  “Ridge!” she shouts. “Fuck me.”

  I nearly explode on the spot, hearing her want, her need, getting her nasty.

  Her body goes hard, stiff, then shudders.

  I keep finger-fucking her harder, building her heat, her wetness, her insanity.

  It’s so sexy it could kill.

  I clench my jaw together to keep my dick under control. That’s a first for me.

  I’m usually not this desperate, this fucking smitten.

  It’s always been an act before.

  Not with Grace Sellers.

  With her, it’s real. It’s deep. It’s lethal.

  She slumps slightly, pinching my shoulders, her legs twitching, gently kicking mine. “Did...did you bring condoms?”

  “Of course,” I answer. “In the pocket of my jeans.”

  The second I pull my hand away from between her legs, she drops to her knees, between mine, and grabs my pants. I lean back in the chair while she digs out the condom.

  Have to fill my lungs just to maintain control over the pressure, the painful ache for my own release.

  My blood turned to lava minutes ago.

  My heart thumps in my ears like a war drum.

  I reach for the package, but she shakes her head.

  “I’ll put it on,” she says, a bright playfulness whirling in her eyes.

  “Hurry,” I tell her, shifting in my seat, moving my legs apart so she has more room.

  She grins as she opens the package and peels it apart with her teeth. Just like I did the first time we fucked. It’s a sweet torture seeing the condom foil in her teeth.

  “Grace,” I snarl, hating how easily she’s reduced me to this starving beast.

  My toes dig at the cold floor. I suck in air as she grasps the base of my cock with one hand.

  Her hand glides up, all the way to the head of my dick. Then she thumbs the top, where a clear trickle of pre-come leaks out. Her hand slides back down then, and up, and—

  “Enough! Grace, goddammit.” I can barely get her name out.

  She pumps me a bit firmer. “Hmm? Did you need something, sweetie?”

  Oh, fuck.

  She didn’t—did she?

  “Put the condom on right fucking now,” I snarl, reaching to fist her hair.

  She’s smiling fit to kill, smearing my leak all over the bulging head of my dick again. “Change of plans,” she whispers.

  “What?”

  “I’ll get to it, don’t have a conniption fit. But first...”

  Damn.

  The instant it dawns on me I nearly leap off my seat as the heat of her mouth engulfs my cock.

  I have to grab at the base of the chair to stay seated, sucking in air between my clenched teeth.

  Fuck!

  Her mouth is nirvana.

  So hot, so syrupy sweet, I can’t believe it belongs to this world.

  “You murder me,” I manage to growl out. “Don’t you fucking get it?”

  And of course she’s still smiling with her mouth full of me.

  Of course.
/>
  Shit.

  Releasing the tip of my cock with a smacking sound, she places several fiery kisses down my shaft, starting at the very tip.

  “Hmm. If it’s anything like what you do to me, you should be enjoying your demise.” She goes down on me again, sucking me deep, pumping the base with her hand.

  Fine, so I’m enjoying being killed.

  Fucking-aye, do I love it.

  I’ve never been pushed so far to the brink, edged to the point of total destruction.

  I’m up for the challenge because I love how much she’s enjoying this.

  Nothing quite like the moment when a man sees his naked angel become a hellion.

  Her eyes glow like soft blue sapphires. She lifts those long lashes to look up at me.

  My grip on the chair tightens as she gets serious, sucking and pumping, driving me right to the edge of my restraint.

  The air heaves in and out of my lungs in hot rushes when she finally releases me.

  “I think you enjoyed that,” she says.

  My jaw stays locked tight.

  “Condom. Now,” I say between clenched teeth.

  She slides it on, evenly, securely, and so slowly my balls must be bluer than my eyes.

  Then she stands, and one at a time, swings her legs around my hips.

  My cock is so hard, so ready, it doesn’t need any help to slip inside her.

  My hands whip around to her ass, jerking her to me, a vicious sound ripping out of my throat.

  We both gasp. My eyes roll back as my dick sinks inside her, straight to the hilt.

  Paradise.

  “Sweetheart, your pussy was made for my cock.”

  No lie. It’s too perfect.

  She grips my shoulders with both hands and meets my thrusts, taking me in even deeper.

  I hold her waist, keeping her pinned to me, letting us both bask in the glorious insanity rising with every stroke.

  Grace leans forward and kisses me. “I almost came while sucking you.”

  “I could tell,” I snarl, throwing my hips into hers so hard those tits shake just for me.

  “I never knew sex could be like this.”

  “Fun?” I ask, slowly moving my dick inside her tight heat, forcing a groan out of her.

  Give it the fuck up.

  “I meant so...so fulfilling,” she whispers, barely keeping her composure.

  “Then you weren’t doing it with the right man,” I whisper, taking her mouth before she’s able to say anything else.