River Bound: Bound and Tied, Book 3

by Jackson, Myla

  Rosalyn was as beautiful as ever, even in her men’s garb, her slim legs encased in trousers.

  Dalton’s body reacted as usual to the woman who’d always turned his head and set his heart to thumping. Her long black hair bounced down around her waist, the luxurious waves rich and beckoning for his hands to comb through them.

  Pushing away from the wall, he stepped toward her. “Where have you been?”

  “You’re the second person tonight who’s asked me that question. Not that it’s any of your business, but I was at the Rose Palace.”

  “No… Where have you been for the past year?” He closed the distance between them and cupped her cheek.

  Her chest rose with a quick indrawn breath. “Like you give a damn.”

  “I did, but my being with you would only have caused you more trouble.”

  “And I’m too fragile to handle trouble?” She snorted and tried to push him away.

  “You know what I mean.”

  “Yeah, you asked me to marry you and the reality of it scared you so badly you jumped overboard is the more likely story.” She ducked under his arm and made to escape.

  He caught her and shoved her against the wall, pinning her hands above her head. “You’re right. I got scared.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Not of you, but for you.” He pressed his body against hers. “That lynch mob was after someone to hang. If I hadn’t jumped in the water, you’d have been widowed before we’d married and they might have decided to hang you as well.” He held both of her wrists with one hand, the other skimming down over her neck. “I’d hate to see such a beautiful throat wasted on a hangman’s noose.”

  “You’re very convincing, thief. But I’m not buying it.” She stood straight, defiant, her blue eyes flashing. “A year is a long time to think through all that happened.”

  “Enough time to change your mind about marrying a gambler?” The weight of the ring in his pocket remained a stinging reminder of Rosalyn’s choice to end their engagement. “Enough time to transfer your affections to James?”

  She smiled. “James loves me.”

  Dalton’s lip curled back in a snarl. “He doesn’t know you like I do.” He leaned in and nipped her ear, enough to bring pain.

  She gasped, her breasts pressing against him. “Oh, but he’s learning. He actually spanked me.” Her words were spoken with bravado, but her breath quivered afterward.

  “It’s against his nature.”

  “But with time…”

  “He’s not the man you can spend the rest of your life with. You would walk all over him.”

  “At least he won’t run off and leave me.”

  “I told you I couldn’t help it.” Dalton captured her mouth with his, biting down on her lower lip, close to but not quite drawing blood.

  Rosalyn moaned, her knee drawing up alongside his leg.

  Dalton pinched a nipple through the fabric of the man’s shirt she wore. “He doesn’t make you beg for what you want.”

  “How do you know you can? It’s been a long time.”

  The gauntlet thrown, Dalton smiled. This was a challenge he could master. He yanked her hands down, urging her to her knees. “Get down, woman.”

  “No.” She resisted, color flooding her cheeks.

  “Get down and beg.”

  “No.” Her voice quivered, her surrender inevitable.

  He dropped down with her, dragging her to her knees. Once he had her there, he rose back to his feet, one hand resting on her shoulder, holding her there. “You are mine. I am your master. Or did you forget?”

  “I belong to no one.”

  “You belong to me. Let me remind you.” With one hand, Dalton loosened the buttons on his trousers, slipped his suspenders over his shoulders and pulled his cock free. Blood rushed through his veins. “You know you want it. Suck my cock, woman. Suck it hard.”

  He held his stance rigid, his face stern, but inside his confidence wavered, wondering if Rosalyn was still the same lover she’d been a year ago. Would his forceful demand tempt her as before, or would it repel her? Dalton held his breath, awaiting her response.

  “No.” She looked up at him, her eyes wide, her lips trembling. She’d always loved it when he forced her. He’d been the only man she’d let bend her to his will. With his dick hard and straight in front of her, she swallowed the lust rising in her and whispered, “I won’t.”

  “You know you want it. Do as I say. I am the master.”

  Every part of her body burned, urging her to take him in her hands, to run her fingers over his length and make him cry out with the pleasure her mouth would bring. If she gave in to their game, she’d be right back where they left off a year ago—at his mercy, giving him everything he demanded…surfacing her hidden desires for rough, nasty fucking. “Please, don’t make me do this.”

  “Do it.” He tangled his hands in her hair and pulled her closer until his dick bumped against her face.

  Automatically, her hands rose to circle his member. She moaned, her tongue reaching out to tentatively touch the velvety end of his cock. He tasted clean, salty and oh so good. How had she come to crave sex in such a forceful, decadent way? As her fingers stroked his length, she vowed to make him regret ever leaving her, to remind him of what she had promised when she agreed to marry him. She’d make him crave her like an alcoholic craving his next drink.

  When he was completely at her mercy, she’d leave him. Only then would he understand the depths of despair she’d fallen to when he’d left her. Only then would he know how it felt to lose the air your body needed to remain alive from day to day.

  “Suck it, woman,” he rumbled, less coherent, more of a groan.

  “Yes, master.” She opened her mouth and took him in, sliding all the way over his length until the tip of his member bumped against the back of her throat.

  His fingers convulsed in her hair, pulling hard until her scalp hurt, the pain only adding to the rise of lust inside her. Low in her belly she ached for release, ached to be naked. Craved to have him ram his cock into her, hard, rough and soon.

  As her tongue swirled around his dick, her fingers worked the buttons of her shirt and trousers, feverishly loosening them, fearing that her plan to make him crave her had backfired. She didn’t care. She wanted her skin against his, his cock inside her, his hands touching her in all the most intimate places.

  His body tensed, his hips pumping into her, increasing in speed, his cock swelling to hardened steel.

  The frenzied pace only made her want more. She struggled with the buttons, her fingers useless, her body on fire.

  Then he stiffened and yanked free of her mouth.

  Rosalyn cried out, her hands reaching to take him back.

  He didn’t let her, pulling her to her feet. “That was good, but it’s not enough.”

  “It’s never enough,” she whimpered, falling into their old habits, the game they’d played a hundred times. Her eyes widened, pretending fear when all she felt was excitement, exhilaration and rampant lust.

  “You’ve been a very bad girl. You deserve to be punished.”

  “No, I’ve done what you asked.” She couldn’t stop the words, couldn’t change the story. At this point, she didn’t want to. She wanted what came next.

  He pushed her against the wall. “You can’t escape me. I own you. You are mine to take whenever I want.” In a flash of movement, he bent to jerk her trousers down. The woolen fabric slipped down her hips. He pulled them off, over her boots, leaving her legs and ass bare.

  Her body shivered, the anticipation building, her core wet and ready for his punishment. She bit hard on her lower lip to keep from begging him to take her.

  His hand slid up over the swell of her thigh and hips and down between her legs to the thatch of hair over her mons.

  Rosalyn groaned, her eyes closing.

  “Open your eyes,” Dalton demanded.

  She opened them slowly, her tongue sweeping across dry lips, the tast
e of him still there, making her want to spread her legs wider, to invite him in.

  His hand circled her hips and slid down over the backs of her legs, then he lifted her, slamming her back against the wall, his cock nudging her entrance. “What is it you want?”

  She shook her head, unable to speak, the lust so thick in her throat.

  “Tell me. I want to hear you say it.” The tip of his dick dipped in, just enough to tantalize, to tease and make her crazy with need.

  Rosalyn gasped, wiggling to slide down over him and take him more fully inside her channel. She whimpered, hating that she needed him so badly, but uncaring how weak it made her at this point. She had to have him. She wrapped her legs around his waist, her booted heels digging into his backside, urging him closer.

  He held her away, refusing to give her what she craved. Dalton stroked a finger across her cheek, down her throat, to the swell of her breasts. “Tell me,” he whispered, taking her mouth with his in a kiss so tender it hurt.

  Tears filled Rosalyn’s eyes as she returned the pressure of his lips, all the agony of a year’s separation welling up in her. “Love me, Dalton.”

  For a moment he stiffened, then he growled, “How do you want it?”

  Past caring that she’d given in to him, she cried out, “Fuck me like a whore.” Her legs tightened around him, her pussy aching for him to consummate their tryst. “Please, I want you.”

  His lips left hers, curling into a satisfied smile. “Good girl.” He slammed into her.

  Her back hit the wall, the exquisite pain adding to her fulfillment, the roughness of his strokes bringing her to the peak faster than anything she’d ever experienced.

  He fucked her, ramming in and out of her, harder and faster. When she’d reached the edge of reason, he shifted her suddenly, leaving the solidness of the wall.

  She squealed and held on as he flung her across the bed, the iron headboard hitting the wall with a resounding thud. He pulled her bottom to the edge, lifted her knees in his arms and fucked her more.

  Her pussy burned, the friction building, spasms shaking her insides. The man’s shirt pushed up around her armpits, not that she cared, so intent was she on riding this wave of desire to the very end. She tensed, the shards of passion sending out fiery fingers of sensation across her nerve endings, so intense it almost hurt. “Dalton,” she cried out, clutching his shirt.

  His body stiffened over her. He pulled her hips closer, ramming one last time into her cunt and holding there, his dick pulsing, shooting his seed deep inside her.

  She clung to her orgasm, savoring the exquisite moment until she collapsed against the mattress, drained but replete.

  Dalton scooted her across the bed and lay down beside her, still fully clothed except his cock, his hand resting on her naked hip, the folds of her shirt bunched around her. “We still have a connection. You can’t deny it.”

  She sighed, nestling against him, refusing to face reality for another moment. Let him think all was well. He’d been gone for a year, a year that counted for something. A year in which he hadn’t found her and rescued her from her own insecurities.

  His arms circled her, hugging her close.

  She’d let herself revel in his embrace now, but later she’d have to make a decision. Stay with Dalton and risk him breaking her heart all over again, or move on.

  Chapter Four

  “You two made enough noise to alert the entire riverboat to your activities.”

  Dalton turned to the open doorway. “I should have locked the damned door to keep the riffraff out,” he grumbled.

  Rosalyn stirred next to him, her hands rising to push her shirttails down over her nakedness. He caught her fingers in his hands. “Leave it. I like looking at your ass.”

  Her face reddened and she shrugged. “It’s not as though James hasn’t seen it.” She smiled up at the other man. “Care to join us?” She scooted closer to Dalton, making room for James on the bed beside her.

  James rounded the corner of the iron bed to stand beside Rosalyn. He reached out to slide his fingers over her naked hip. “Ah, as beautiful as ever.” His hand dipped low into the mound of hair at the apex of her thighs. “And so wet. Umm. A man could get excited at the prospect.”

  A stab of jealousy hit Dalton low in the gut, followed by the rise of lust tugging at his cock. “Don’t get the idea that this is a permanent arrangement. She’s mine.”

  “I belong to no man,” Rosalyn stated, her hand going out to the buttons on James’s trousers.

  “Did we not establish who you belong to a moment ago?” Dalton asked.

  She flipped the buttons open and pulled James’s cock out. “A woman can change her mind as quickly as she changes clothing.” Her brows rose. “You’re so hard and ready. I’m certain Dalton will be flaccid for a while. Care to service me?”

  Dalton frowned. “I’m not in the sharing mood.”

  “Oh, pooh.” Rosalyn waved his words aside. “We’ve done this before.”

  “Over a year ago,” he groused.

  “And you don’t remember how good it was?”

  “I’m too spent to enjoy it now.”

  “Then leave while James and I enjoy a little romp.”

  James had his trousers and boots off before Dalton could voice a protest.

  The bounty hunter turned Rosalyn to face Dalton and slid in behind her, his cock nudging its way between her legs.

  “Damned rutting bull,” Dalton grumbled, refusing to leave the bed or give any more space to the other man. He reached for Rosalyn’s clit, running his fingers through the fine, curly hairs to find that special spot that made her crazy with desire. Her hand closed over his, the delicate fingers guiding him to the nubbin of sensitive flesh.

  Dalton smiled, glad to have her facing him as he stroked her clit. “You will be my woman in the end.”

  “Don’t be so certain.” James’s hand smoothed over Rosalyn’s hip and back to the crease between her butt cheeks. “I can give her stability.”

  “You’re a bounty hunter,” Dalton retorted. “You’ll be gone ten months out of the year.”

  “You’re a gambler. Gamblers aren’t known for their ability to put down roots.”

  Dalton didn’t mention the ranch in Texas. “Do you even know what the lady wants or needs?”

  “Did either of you bother to ask me?” Rosalyn shook her head. “Both of you be quiet and make love to me.”

  “I’m the better man for her.” Dalton flicked her clit to emphasize his words.

  “Shh.” Rosalyn pressed a finger to his lips. “Shut up and show me.”

  “I’ll show you.” James unfastened the remaining buttons of her shirt and pulled it over her shoulders, tossing it to the floor, leaving her in nothing but her boots.

  “Thank you.” Dalton dragged her against him and eased his hard cock into her cunt. “I’m staking my claim.”

  Rosalyn’s brow furrowed, her naked breasts rubbing against his chest.

  The smooth orbs reminded Dalton of the other feminine delights he’d missed in their earlier lovemaking. He plumped her breasts, his mouth watering, anxious to taste of their delights.

  “Let me remind you, I’m not a claim to be staked. I’m a woman to be courted and wooed.”

  Dalton snorted. “You like it when I’m rough.”

  She smiled at him, her lashes lowering over her beautiful blue eyes. “A year is a long time in which a woman can change her mind and desires.”

  A warm, rough hand caressed her arm, and James leaned against her back. “You’re an amazing woman, Roz.” His hand slipped between her and Dalton, cupping a breast. “Your skin is as soft as a newborn kitten, and you smell like flowers.”

  Dalton chuckled. “Is that the best you can do?” He slid out of Rosalyn until just the tip of his dick remained poised at her entrance.

  She gasped, her eyes squeezing shut as her body strained downward to take him back inside.

  “Want it?” He dipped in and back out. “
Tell me,” he demanded.

  Her pretty lips thinned, her jaw clenched. “I want…” her breath caught, “…to hear more of what James has to say,” she finished in a rush.

  That wasn’t what Dalton had in mind. He wanted her to beg him like she’d done earlier.

  Instead, James scooted even closer, his cock nudging her from behind.

  She arched her back, presenting her ass toward him.

  James grinned over her head at Dalton and, with his own dick, shoved Dalton aside, sliding his cock into Rosalyn.

  A growl rose in Dalton’s chest, his eyes narrowing at his former friend.

  Rosalyn laid a hand on his chest, her gaze direct and sure. “Be nice to James or leave my bed.”

  Dalton glared at James. “You’ve not won her yet.” His fingers danced over Rosalyn, laying siege to her breasts. He scooted down, taking one into his mouth, sucking hard, pulling until the woman drew in a sharp breath.

  James moved from behind her, his cock riding in and out, his hands holding her hips. “Like that, Roz?” He nuzzled her neck, tapping the back of her ear with his tongue.

  “Umm.” She reached up to cup his chin.

  Not to be outdone, Dalton switched his attention to the other breast, his tongue flicking, teasing the tip to a hard little bud. His hand slipped down over her belly and into the curls guarding her womanhood. His fingers parted her folds and stroked her clit. He pressed lower for some of the moisture she and James were creating, his fingers connecting with James’s cock.

  “Hey.” James stilled, his dick halfway out of Rosalyn’s cunt.

  Dalton smiled. “Concerned about a man touching you?”

  James frowned across Rosalyn. “No, of course not. You just caught me off guard.”

  “Let him touch you, James.” Rosalyn lifted her leg and guided Dalton’s hand to circle James’s cock where it remained half sheathed inside her. Her eyes closed and she purred.

  Dalton’s own dick swelled, his hand closing around James’s shaft. “You like me touching James?”

  “Umm. It’s wickedly sensuous.” She lifted her thigh higher and stared down between them at Dalton’s hand on James’s cock. “So very bad.” Her words said one thing, her voice and the way her body undulated indicated another. “Touch him like you touch me.” Rosalyn gazed right into his eyes, her own blue stare glazed. “With your tongue.”