Cocksure (The Cochrans of Cocker County)

by Walker, Shiloh

  He hauled me back up against him and dragged my skirt up. “I fuckin’ love it when you wear dresses...”

  He paused, because I’d pulled on a pair of Spanx-like panties today—not the kind that I had to wedge myself into like a stupid sausage, at least. That would be humiliating to have him peel off, but the smoothing shorts did reach mid-thigh and despite the pretty lace trim along the edge, they were more for practicality and function—as in, to keep my thighs from rubbing together than anything else.

  Luke groaned and buried his face against my hair. “Why have you got to tease me like this?”

  The warmth of his breath against my neck, and suddenly, those simple, unsexy shorts took on an entirely new life. When he slid a hand around and cupped me, stroking me through the thin material, I realized I might not ever be able to wear such a garment like this again without remembering this gut-wrenching pleasure, the way his fingers slid against me, dragging the material over me, teasing my clit.

  I gasped, head falling forward. It hit the door and I braced my hands against the panel, nails scraping against it ineffectually. My knees wavered underneath me. “I’m going to fall,” I whispered raggedly.

  “I won’t let you,” he said, sliding an arm around my waist, steadying me against his body. He increased the pressure, centering on my clit.

  Sparks of pleasure raced outward. I rocked against his hand. The movements made me almost brutally aware of the heavy ridge of his cock, burning into my backside. Reaching back, I grasped his hips and tugged him closer. “Please.”

  In response, he pressed his fingers more firmly against me, this time pushing the thin material of the shorts inside me. “You’re so wet.” His voice, a low rumble of a growl, vibrated against my ear. “Fuck, stop wiggling like that.”

  “No! I want you inside me.” I shoved back against him yearningly, yet again.

  He froze, then abruptly, he let me go. It was a good thing I was braced against the door because I might have fallen otherwise. He went to his knees behind me and I felt him grab the waistband of the shorts. As he dragged them down, I caught my breath. It hitched, then froze as he leaned even closer, sinking his teeth into my right butt cheek. As he dragged the garment away, he shifted his attention to the left and did the same.

  I heard the rasp of his zipper and shivered, shifting my legs and widening my stance. “Luke, please...”

  He surged to his feet.

  A split second later, he caught me around the waist and I felt his cock press against me, hard and insistent. I yielded to him, trying to angle back to take him deeper, faster, but his grip limited my leverage. Instead, I reached up and wound my arm around his head, spearing my fingers into his hair and clutching at the soft, slippery strands.

  He continued to thrust upward until I’d taken all of him, then, for a moment, we stood like that, unmoving. I felt every breath he took, his chest rising and falling. I felt every pulse of his cock and how it sent ripples of sensation jolting through me.

  Slowly, he turned around and we half-tumbled back against the front door. I groaned as he slid to the floor, the sensation of his cock swelling inside me so arousing I could almost imagine coming right there.

  “You’re wet as rain...tight as a fucking fist, Ina,” he muttered, thrusting up into me.

  I whimpered, although whether it was from his words, or the way his cock stroked me so sweetly, I didn’t know.

  He slid a hand down and stroked my clit.

  His fingers slid wetly through the curls surrounding it, then lower, stroking me where I stretched so tight around him.

  He whispered something against my ear. It took a moment to process—my brain was on fire from the pleasure, on fire from him.

  Then, abruptly, I sucked in a breath as his words penetrated. “I’m not wearing a rubber.”

  “Luke?”

  “Do you want me to stop?” he asked, rolling his hips against me once more.

  Logic told me to say yes. Logic told me to be smart.

  But logic had never served me well when it came to Luke.

  He stroked me again and I reached down, covering his hand with mine. “No,” I whispered. “Please...don’t stop.”

  He guided my legs and knees, arranging me until I straddled him facing away, then he caught my hips.

  I moaned. The angle of his cock, the way he pressed against me now was...different. He stretched me and filled me, and even just the slightest sway of my hips sent the pleasure rippling through me, starting low in my belly and spreading outward until even my fingertips tingled with it.

  Luke’s hands massaged and squeezed, urging me on. The folds of my dress still fell down around us and for some reason that made it all seem even more decadent, even more erotic.

  He ran his thumb along the seam of my ass and I gasped. The muscles in my pussy clutched at him and he groaned as he repeated the caress before slipping even closer.

  “Luke...”

  He teased me more—light brushes, slow circles. A sharp contrast to the way I’d started to move on him, to the way he’d begun to rise under me, meeting each hungry move of my hips with one of his own.

  “Oh!” The sharp, startled cry shattered the quiet as he pressed inside me, just a fraction, just enough so that the sensitive flesh yielded to him. And I went shuddering and shaking into climax, almost sobbing.

  WE SAT IN BED, A MOSTLY demolished pizza next to us.

  Luke skimmed over the presser that had been put together by Kelly and the Belle Rive PR team. He grabbed a pen and scrawled something on there, then tossed it down. “It’s fine.”

  I checked the change, then opening the original file, I altered it and sent it off to the necessary parties. Mentally ticking off one task, I glanced over at Luke. “You want me to have Kelly send somebody by your place to get some clothes for the opening? Or are you just going to find something here?”

  He slanted a look at me, the sharp angle of his brow quite effectively relaying what he thought of the question. “Sure, Ina,” he drawled laconically. “I can go shopping. We’ll go by Bardstown Road tomorrow after we visit Mom. I’ll find a couple of cool new T-shirts.”

  “Okay, I’ll rephrase.” Rolling my eyes, I added, “Do you want me to go buy you something?”

  He stroked his fingers down my thigh. “If you want. Why not just have the hotel in New York send the monkey suit here, though?”

  “Because I’m paranoid.” I made a face at him. “It’s one thing to trust a tux to get delivered via a courier service when I’m the one packing it up and I know the person taking delivery. Too many fingers in the pie. I don’t trust it. Are you wanting another tux? Behard to get anything customized at this point. Or you going to go a little more casual?”

  “A little more casual.” He hitched up a shoulder and reached for one of the mangled crusts. “What are you wearing?”

  I grimaced. “Do I have to go?” I hated openings.

  “I think the press might find it kind of odd if my fiancée wasn’t there,” he said, eyes focused on the tablet I’d given him with the tentative schedule of events for the last-minute movie opening that had been thrown together. Harley’s friend Dia had gotten in touch with me, and between Dia and an event-planning group based in Louisville, Luke would be hosting his own opening night event at a movie theater in the East End.

  My heart fluttered at his words and I had to remind myself again that this whole thing wasn’t real. It was an act, something we’d have to end sooner or later.

  Feeling the weight of the coming heartbreak looming over me, I looked at him.

  He was staring at me. Almost as if he knew what I was thinking.

  “Luke—”

  He caught the rest of my words with his mouth and whatever I’d been planning to say simply slipped away as he moved forward, then urged me down onto my back.

  I was so lost to him. Completely and utterly lost.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Luke

  “DO I REALLY NEED TO be doi
ng this?”

  Sabrina gave me a droll look. “I’m pretty sure I’ve already answered this, Luke.”

  I blew out a sigh and shoved my hair back as I eyed the crowd, complete with news crews, gathered in the town square of Madison. It was a sunny day, and as was typical for late July in the Ohio Valley, it was hotter than hell and the air was muggy and thick. It was early in the day and the later it got, the hotter and muggier it would get.

  “You know, when I was a kid, I could spend the entire day outside, even when it was nasty as hell out, worse than this even. Never bothered me.” Tugging my sunglasses out of my pocket, I slid them on and looked up at the hazy skies. “Now I just want to get the hell out of this heat.”

  “You’re getting old.” She jabbed me in the side with one finger. With her other hand, she gripped the strap of her bag. “I’m hoping it will hold off raining.”

  “It probably will.” I gave the sky a jaded look. “We’re never lucky enough to have rain on days like this. And when we do? It rains for twenty minutes, then it’s even hotter and muggier.”

  “Lovely.” She grimaced and plucked at the bodice of the pale pink dress she wore. “Maybe I should have just worn a bikini.”

  “I wouldn’t have minded.” I grinned at her as we hit the sidewalk.

  Noise rose from the crowd and I reached over and took her hand. “I think we’ve been spotted.”

  “Yes.” She gestured toward the uniformed cops. “There’s your escort.”

  I continued to hold on to her hand. “Don’t you go trying to disappear into the crowd. You’re going up there with me, remember.”

  She grumbled under her breath but didn’t try to pull away.

  The cops greeted us at the barricade. I did a doubletake at one of the men standing with the uniformed officers. He wore what I’d consider a cop’s summer uniform—a polo shirt and slacks—and a familiar grin on his face. “Duncan Perkins.”

  He grinned and shoved his hand out at me. “Luke. I swear, every time I see your face on the TV, I stop and stare. I still can’t believe the guy who used to kick my ass in track is a movie star.”

  “I can’t believe you’re a cop,” I said, looking him up and down. Pieces clicked and I laughed. “Let me guess. You’re the dumb-ass who volunteered to be my ‘security’ guy for the event.”

  “Yeah.” He smirked at me. “I know Devin usually handles it, but...” The smile faded. “Your family doing okay? Your mom?”

  “Yeah.”

  Sabrina touched my arm, a familiar nudging sort of touch. Stay on program.

  Glancing at her, I nodded then grinned at Duncan. “My right hand is reminding me that we’ve got a busy schedule and we have to keep moving.”

  Sabrina rolled her eyes then smiled over at Duncan, offering her hand. “We’ve talked via email. I didn’t realize you two were friends,” she said.

  “Well, I don’t know if that’s the case.” Duncan fired a grin at me.

  “Ha, ha.” I glanced at the crowd, then looked at Sabrina. “You ready for this?”

  Apprehension flickered across her features. I brought her hand to my lips. She’d attended any number of press events with me, but she’d never once been at my side. This time she would be. Harley had been the one to mention that national news outlets would also be in attendance and there would be questions about the engagement—she’d mentioned it on the fly, along with a suggestion that Sabrina be ready to appear on camera.

  “It’s going to be fine.”

  WITH THE MAIN PAIN of the press event, and the lottery selection over, I’d been ushered into the large banquet room at a nearby casino. Harley had come up with the idea of giving away a hundred tickets to the Ulysses and Madison area and the idea had snow-balled from there to include a catered lunch for the winners with Sabrina and me.

  “You okay?” I asked as Duncan opened the door for his.

  “Oh, fantastic.” She laughed weakly, smoothing a hand back over her hair.

  I looked her up and down. “Despite all the crazy shit and that heat, you look beautiful.”

  “Whatever.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m hot and sweaty and want a thirty-minute cold shower.”

  “You look beautiful.” I leaned in and kissed her. “Beautiful.”

  Voices caught my attention. Sabrina was the one to pull away.

  We started across the plush carpeted floor and I heard her taking a deep breath.

  “You sound like you’re getting ready to walk a gauntlet,” I told her.

  “I feel like it.” She made a low humming sound under her breath. “Wow. That lady on the right looks like she’s going to be fun.”

  I glanced over. As my eyes collided with that particular woman, my legs felt heavy and leaden and the only thing that kept me going forward the next few steps was momentum...and Sabrina at my side.

  She sensed something and looked over at me.

  I felt her attention but couldn’t drag my eyes away from the woman on the end.

  Malice glittered in her eyes.

  I tightened my hand on Sabrina’s and jerked my gaze away and focused on the others gathering closer.

  Sabrina came to an abrupt halt. “Damn...” She laughed. I heard the sharp edge to it, but others might not. She held out a hand to them and flashed a wide, gracious smile. “Can you give us a minute? I totally forgot something that I needed to talk to Luke about? I’m really sorry...I’m not used to the spotlight thing.”

  I think anybody other than me, and maybe Kelly, would have believed her.

  She turned toward me, a sheepish smile on her face as she caught the front of my shirt in her hands and tugged me closer. It gave us the illusion of privacy and we were far enough away that we had just that, barely—the illusion.

  Although the easy, smiling expression never faded from her face, the look in her eyes was sobering and serious. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” I said, forcing the lie out through a tight throat.

  The smile faded a bit and she reached up, laying a hand on my cheek. “Don’t lie to me. Who is she?”

  “Later.” I covered her hand with mine and leaned in to kiss her. Then, because I needed it, I lingered, sliding my hand around and cupping the back of her neck, tugging her in a little closer. Pressing my brow to hers, I murmured, “You’ll probably figure it out in about two seconds, if you think about it. But I can’t talk about this now.”

  I went to pull away.

  But I stopped.

  I needed something else, something more.

  Slanting my mouth over hers, I caught her hip in my free hand and pulled her up tight against me.

  Sabrina moaned low in her throat and reached for me, pushing up onto her toes and clutching at my shoulders.

  I took a few seconds to lose myself in her, in the sweetness of her mouth. She tasted like the strawberry wine she’d sampled earlier out on the courtyard. I lost myself to her softness—the curve of her hips and her breasts and the swell of her belly. I lost myself to everything that was her...for just a few more seconds.

  I don’t know who broke away first.

  One second her mouth was against mine then we were staring at each other and I could feel the weight of others staring at us.

  And the gaze of one person in particular was so heavy, I almost collapsed under it.

  It had been more than fifteen years, but as I turned to look at the group in front of us, my cheek started to sting, as though the years and months and days since she’d slapped me had disappeared and I was once more standing in the kitchen where Maureen Wine had backhanded me after dragging me up the stairs.

  Sabrina’s hand tightened over mine.

  “We’ve got this, Luke,” she said under her breath.

  Something about her voice, or maybe it was just a need to look at her again, compelled me to turn my head. I did and I could see her gaze lasering in on Maureen Wine. There was an incisive, burning awareness in her eyes, along with a snapping fury.

  I didn’t even re
alize I was doing it until I squeezed her hand. “No hairpulling on my account, Ina.”

  “Please,” she said in a cool voice. “Like I’d resort to that. I’d much rather knock somebody’s lights out, then their teeth.”

  Somehow, with everything that was going on, she managed to make me laugh.

  “Come on,” Sabrina said, starting forward once more, going out just a bit in front of me and half-turning to look at me. “Let’s get this over and done with so we can get back to the apartment. Kelly had an outfit sent in for me...along with some lingerie. I think you’ll like it.”

  She did it just to distract me.

  I knew it, even as she tugged me along.

  But still, there was a strange, yearning ache in my chest, one unlike anything I’d ever felt before.

  I’ve just loved him.

  Meeting her dark-brown eyes, I let her pull me farther into the room.

  THE ENTIRE LUNCH PASSED in a blur.

  I’d done enough of these things that I could operate on autopilot and still get through, which was good, because there was no way to get control of the matter with Maureen standing by and watching me, that cold glint of malice in her eyes.

  Sabrina was aware, of course, and stayed close by my side.

  The only time she left was to hit the restroom, and when she did, I wasn’t surprised when Duncan slid into her spot.

  He settled down easily into the seat and looked around. “So this is what it’s like being a movie star. Everybody wants to talk to you, get your autograph, ask you if you’ve ever slept with Scarlett Johansen...” He slid me a sidelong look.

  “We’ve met a couple of times.” I rolled my eyes. “I don’t make it a practice to sleep with every woman I meet.”

  “Good to know.” He stole a potato chip from my plate. The buffet had been barbecue, along with chips, potato salad, mac and cheese, green beans and cole slaw. Pretty good food for something thrown together with just a few days notice. Duncan crunched the chip, his eyes thoughtful as he stared across the room. “Any idea why Mo Wine is staring at you like you’re the devil incarnate?”