Wrangled and Tangled

by Lorelei James

  “Am I in trouble?” he prompted.

  “It depends. Anything you want to confess? Something you’ve done wrong lately to save me the bother of guessing?”

  Renner smirked. “So you’re narrowing the list to what I’ve done wrong lately? Hell, in that case . . . nope. It’s still gonna be a fairly long list.”

  Another round of chuckles.

  “I figured you might say that.” Tierney glanced at each male guest and smiled. “Gentlemen, I need to have a few words with Mr. Jackson, if you don’t mind.”

  “I’m expecting they’ll be pretty choice words, Miz Pratt,” Renner drawled again. “But duty calls. Enjoy the rest of the evening. Remember, your huntin’ guides are gonna be at the lodge at five a.m.”

  “Guess we’ll be calling it a night soon,” said the brawny biker with a Santa Claus beard.

  “Good luck tomorrow.” Renner placed his hand in the small of Tierney’s back and steered her toward the curved staircase.

  The heat from his palm seemed to sear a hole through her clothes, straight into her skin. Desire zinged up her spine. Every nerve ending in her body flared with anticipation. Halfway up the stairs, she turned and looked at him. His jaw was clamped together so tightly his lips had nearly vanished in the hard set of his mouth. “Renner—”

  “Not a fuckin’ word until we’re in the office.”

  Maybe he thought this was real. She’d never done a covert seduction, or any kind of seduction before. What if she’d hosed it up? “But—”

  He bit off, “Not. Another. Fucking. Word. So help me God if you look at me like that again I will not be responsible for my actions. And that will not bode well for either of us, especially given where we are, understand?”

  She swallowed. Managed to nod. Purposely added distance between them as they ambled down the hallway. With the open floor plan, everyone on the lodge’s main floor could see them from the waist up.

  When they reached the office door, she unclipped the lanyard from the belt loop on her trousers. Her hand shook so much she couldn’t insert the key in the lock.

  Renner swore and took the key from her, without touching her hand at all, and angrily jammed it into the keyhole. He pushed the door open and said tersely, “After you.”

  Tierney marched past him, head held high. Two seconds later the door slammed. Hard. She had no idea how she’d heard him engaging the dead bolts above the hammering of her heart.

  Before she uttered a sound, she was spun around and her back hit the door. Any protest was lost in Renner’s mouth as he plastered his body to hers and kissed her wildly.

  No sweet kisses. No tender touches. Just raw hunger.

  He tasted different than he had last night. A heady mix of male need and a hint of bourbon.

  She kissed him back with equal ferocity. Wanting more. Wanting everything this man could give her. Could show her. Could do to her.

  His rough-skinned fingers braceleted her wrists, forcing her arms by her sides as he inhaled her. Wordlessly proving he was in control, whether or not she liked it.

  Oh, she liked it all right. She’d imagined his fiery passion but she’d failed to factor in one teeny detail in her girlish fantasies.

  Renner Jackson under the influence of lust was not the Renner Jackson she’d ever seen before. It didn’t matter she was sexually inexperienced. She knew, without a shadow of a doubt, being intimate with him, even one time, would change her forever.

  He ripped his lips from hers to softly snarl, “Damn you.” Then his mouth savaged hers with powerful kisses and she whimpered when he stopped. “How can I want you this fucking much?” More, hard, deep, passionate kisses followed, giving her no chance to answer his question.

  If it even was a question.

  The plastic pieces from her glasses dug into the sides of her nose when Renner changed the angle of the kiss. She gasped at the sharp pain and he pulled away. “What?”

  “I need to take my glasses off.”

  His hands traveled up her arms, over her shoulders and neck to cup her face. He very carefully slipped her glasses off and set them on the ledge below the light switch.

  The brightness from the outside sodium lights cast a soft orange glow through the window. Or maybe the glow started inside her, as this man was filling her with so much heat she feared she’d combust.

  Renner muttered, “Sassy mouth of yours drives me insane,” and returned to burning her up with hot, wet kisses.

  Since he’d freed her hands, she touched him across the breadth of his wide shoulders. Dragging her fingertips down his spine. Dipping below the waistband of his jeans to mold his butt cheeks in her hands. Oh, he had a firm ass. She remembered just how drool-worthy his ass had looked framed in a pair of fringed chaps.

  She brought her palms around his hips to his lower abdomen, feeling powerful as the rock-hard muscle rippled beneath her touch. Her greedy hands followed the plane of his long torso, caressing his pectorals hidden under his shirt. Her fingers slid sideways to squeeze his biceps. Not the bulging type from hours spent pumping iron in a gym, but steel bands forged from hours expending physical labor required to run a livestock operation.

  Renner’s hands remained flat on the door by her head throughout her all too brief exploration of his body.

  Wanting more body-to-body contact, Tierney twined her arms around his neck, spearing her fingers through his hair, amazed the wiry-looking gold and light brown strands were so baby soft and carried a deliciously male scent.

  That’s when he changed the pace of the kiss, morphing from an openmouthed inferno into an erotic tease. She gasped softly when the very tip of his tongue stroked the roof of her mouth, never imagining such a simple touch had the power to make her entire body tingle. His bottom lip traced the inside line of her upper lip, and again, the simple changeup had butterflies taking wing in her belly.

  Renner eased back until their lips were barely touching. His breath as choppy as her own.

  “Want to touch you,” he whispered. “Now.”

  “Yes.”

  Her head buzzed as his thick fingers circled her wrists. Her limbs nearly floated to land beside her hips and he flattened her palms to the coolness of the wooden door.

  “Keep them right there.”

  Then his hands were at her waist, tugging her blouse from her pants, unbuttoning her shirt from the bottom up. He nibbled along her jawline to her ear: hot breath and hotter kisses. He peeled her shirt back.

  She would’ve expected him to go straight for her breasts, but Renner let his tongue track the line of her collarbone from the hollow of her throat to the dip in her shoulder.

  Every wet flick of his tongue, every heated pass of his mouth sent her spiraling into pleasure. She was so focused on absorbing every nuance of his seduction that she didn’t feel him messing with the front clasp of her bra until it popped open.

  Tierney fought the urge to cover her small breasts.

  When he growled, “Damn, you’re perfect everywhere,” and hungrily closed his mouth around her nipple, paranoid thoughts of her unimpressive cup size vanished completely.

  Once he ascertained what she liked—not a hard task since she liked it all—he used his lips and tongue to ensure she squirmed. Whimpered. Grew so moist and hot at her core she couldn’t help but move her legs together restlessly, looking to assuage this new ache.

  Renner lifted his head from her nipple and looked at her. His eyes were dark with want. Then he bent his mouth to her other nipple and repeated the delicious process.

  His hands went from cupping and stroking her breasts to a featherlight caress of his thumb on the sweep of skin below her belly button. Tierney knew his next move would be to unhook her pants.

  Much as she wanted that intimate touch, she understood if he slipped even a single finger into her, he’d suspect her innocence. She needed to turn the tables and doubted he’d stop her explorations once her hand connected with his cock.

  Tierney shifted free of his kiss. “It’s
my turn to touch you.”

  “Bossy thing.”

  “But I didn’t hear you say no.” Her lips grazed his earlobe.

  Renner groaned. “And you won’t because in cases like this, I don’t mind bein’ bossed around.”

  In a smooth move that defied her usual clumsiness, she reversed their positions, pushing Renner’s back flush with the door.

  “Whoa. You’re serious about this.”

  “Yes, I am.” She attacked the freshly shaven skin of his throat with persistent kisses, demanding, “Unbuckle your belt.”

  The pulse in his neck leapt beneath her lips. Her fingers made quick work of his shirt snaps as he unfastened his belt.

  Tierney was determined not to let her nerves get the better of her, praying her enthusiasm would make up for her lack of expertise.

  Since that day he’d dropped the towel she’d wondered how his shaft would feel in her hands. How it would feel gliding across her tongue.

  When the weight of his belt dragged his jeans to the tops of his boots, Tierney awkwardly dropped to her knees.

  Up close, the cockhead was purplish-red. The vein running up the underside pulsed, almost angrily. A clear bead trickled from the tiny slit. Curious about the taste and texture, her tongue darted out and she licked it.

  Sticky. A little salty. She circled her fingers around the base, leaning closer to take just the head into her mouth.

  Renner groaned, “Sweet Jesus.”

  She moved her lips down his shaft, swallowing him an inch at a time, fighting her gag reflex when the tip reached the back of her tongue.

  He rasped, “Stop. Look at me, but keep that hot fuckin’ mouth right where it is.”

  Tierney raised her gaze to his, her heart pounding with the fear she’d done something wrong.

  But he touched her face reverently. “Lookit you, sexy girl, on your knees, with your lips wrapped around my dick. You have no idea how many times I’ve imagined this.” He paused and seemed strangely conflicted. “But there’s something missing.”

  With her mouth full of him, she couldn’t ask what.

  Renner reached over and grabbed her glasses. “This is gonna sound weird as hell, but I want you to wear these while you’re blowin’ me because in my fantasies, you’ve always got them on. Hold still.” Once they were in place, he murmured, “Better. Now it’s really you.”

  His admission that he’d fantasized about her knocked her for a loop. She wanted to make his reality better than the fantasy. She circled her index finger and thumb at the root of his cock, sliding them up his length as she suckled the head, using fast flicks of her tongue on the rim below the slit.

  As much as this was about pushing Renner to the edge of ecstasy, this was also about Tierney pleasing herself. Learning the taste, the feel, and the scent of him. Her heart sped up, her nipples tightened from contact with the coarse hair on his thighs. His every sexy grunt, his every muttered curse, every impatient bump of his hips fired her blood. She never imagined doing this would make her body so hot and eager—the how to please a man in bed books she’d boned up on had definitely left that part out.

  “More. Faster. So good I’m already there.”

  Her hand increased the speed. Any fear that she pulled too much was lost in Renner’s guttural sounds. Keeping the head of his cock balanced in the middle of her tongue, she sucked harder, stroked harder with her hand and swore she felt his cock get harder.

  “Like that. Yes. Almost... Fuck. Yes!”

  His cock pulsed in her mouth. She didn’t pull back, even when it appeared Renner expected her to. Instead she matched her sucking motions to the contractions traveling up his shaft and swallowed each hot burst.

  After the last pulse, Tierney was curious to see if she could fit his entire length in her mouth. She removed her hand and slid her lips down his shaft until the hair tickled her nose. She swallowed, just to see what’d happen. When she did it again, Renner palmed the top of her head.

  “Christ,” he panted. “You’re killin’ me. Tierney. Stop. Please.”

  She savored the sensation of the separation of his hot flesh skimming her tongue and teeth as he pulled out. She licked her lips. They were fuller than normal. Smoother than normal too.

  A clank from his belt buckle hitting the door sounded as he jerked up his jeans, zipping and buckling faster than she’d ever imagined possible.

  Renner hauled her to her feet and kissed her wildly, his hands fisting her hair, then trailing down her throat, squeezing her breasts, spreading his palms down her rib cage and stopping to span her waist.

  “Goddamn, I wanna put my mouth on you.”

  That wet ache between her thighs became more pronounced. “Yes.”

  He fell to his knees and unhooked the clasp on her trousers. Tugging the zipper down, he parted the material to reveal her black and white zebra-print thong.

  His breath fanned the damp skin of her belly and she shivered. When he licked the sheen of sweat from that same section of skin, more slowly, more thoroughly, she shivered again and closed her eyes.

  “Huh-uh. Watch me.”

  His penetrating blue gaze fastened on hers as he planted kisses down the rise of her mound over her panties.

  Three sharp knocks on the door vibrated against her back. By some miracle Tierney didn’t jump and knock Renner on his butt.

  Renner left his mouth right where it was and his eyes burned into hers with a hot challenge.

  “Tierney? Renner?” Janie’s voice sounded through the cracks. “Did you guys kill each other?”

  Maybe if they ignored her she’d get the hint and go away.

  “I swear to God if you don’t open this door and prove to me you’re not in the midst of a bloodbath I will kick it in.”

  “Answer her,” Renner hissed.

  “We’re hashing things out, Janie,” Tierney said loudly. “No blood spatters on the wall.”

  “Prove it. Open the door. Now. Guests are staring at me.”

  “I don’t fuckin’ believe this.” After Renner zipped and hooked her pants, he rolled to his feet and snapped his own shirt.

  Tierney’s fingers weren’t cooperating. He took over with a whispered, “Let me, okay?” and she could only nod in response.

  He kissed her sweetly, murmuring, “We’ll pick this up later. For now, follow my lead. Go stand by the windows and pretend you’re so mad you can’t even look at me.”

  She blinked at the brightness of the overhead lights when Renner turned them on. The lock disengaged and he opened the door.

  “Took you long enough,” Janie complained.

  “We were in the middle of something.”

  “What?”

  “Not your concern. From now on if the door is shut and locked, that’s a big hint to stay the fuck out, understand?”

  “Sheesh. All right. But in my own defense, I’ve gotten used to running interference between you two, so don’t blame me for worrying I’d come up here and find bloody entrails on the floor.”

  “That’s in the past. We’re tryin’ a new approach.”

  “Fine. I will let you two kill each other from here on out,” Janie retorted. “But I wouldn’t have interrupted if it wasn’t important. I’m taking tomorrow off, remember? One of the hunting guides can’t make it and he wondered if his son could fill in.”

  Renner frowned. “Who’s his son? Did he leave a number?”

  “The son’s name is Tobin Hale. He’s downstairs. He wants to talk to you.”

  “Now?”

  “Yes, now.”

  He gave Tierney a smoldering look that Janie didn’t see. “This’ll take about five minutes, and I’ll be right back so we can finish our previous discussion.”

  Tempted as she was to sneak off to her cabin, Tierney stayed in her office. If Renner just happened to come back . . . she’d be ready.

  But two hours passed and there was no sign of the hunky cowboy who’d turned her world upside down. She worked until she couldn’t keep her eyes open
and then stumbled to her cabin.

  The next morning she found a note on her desk. Renner had been called away to deal with a livestock issue at a rodeo and wouldn’t return for two days. Which left her more nervous than disappointed. Because with Janie gone, it also left her in charge.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “What time is Holt supposed to be here?” Janie asked as she stripped the bedding.

  Abe lounged in the bedroom doorway, wearing his lightweight coveralls. He’d already fed cattle, and probably constructed a new windmill. The man was almost too efficient. “He didn’t say. Happy as I am with the work he does when he’s here, I hate how them construction guys run on their own damn time frames. Christ. It’s almost noon.”

  “I imagine that drives someone like you crazy.”

  His dark eyebrows lifted. “Someone like me?”