Cowboy Lust: Erotic Romance for Women

by Delilah Devlin

  Reece couldn’t breathe. Every daydream he’d conjured about Lacy the past year stared him in the face. He felt an involuntary surge of blood to his groin. She was more beautiful than he’d ever imagined.

  Her head tilted back to allow the water to run from her face as she smoothed the excess moisture from her hair. His brain still hadn’t fully engaged after the rush of lust taking hold of his body when her eyes opened and pinned him to the spot.

  “What are you looking at, Reece?”

  Damn. Heat flooded his cheeks. He shouldn’t be ogling his best friend’s sister. Hell, his body shouldn’t be reacting like this either. He fought the urge to glance down and see how obvious his attraction to her was.

  “Just wondering why you’d come running down the hill screaming like a banshee. And why are you dressed like that?”

  A toss of her head moved body parts he shouldn’t have been eyeing.

  “I was after honey from that beehive in the big oak. I can’t very well climb in a bustle. I’d just dipped a finger in when they swarmed on me.” She swatted at the air around her head. “Can’t you see them?”

  Come to think of it, there were a few bees buzzing close by.

  “So a dip in the pond should scare them away. I get it. C’mon out, Lacy. You’re safe now.” Reece stepped closer to the edge and extended his arm.

  “I can climb out on my own.”

  Hitching her breeches to her waist, she began slogging toward the shore—and sank in over her head. Could’ve been a hole, but Reece wasn’t taking any chances. Muscles tensed, he dove, boots and all, into the water.

  Reece surfaced with Lacy, his hands circling her small waist. Her body was way too close. Her round doe eyes peered back at him as he found his footing on the slippery pond bottom.

  Lacy sputtered and wriggled as she surfaced. Reece realized that the placement of his hand was less than appropriate—it had somehow slipped over the outer edge of her left breast. If the sight of her hadn’t sent him over the edge, that simple touch did. His cock became ram-rod hard.

  Thing was, he couldn’t move his hand right away. She was suspended in the water, feet dangling by his knees, and shifting her would press all those luscious curves against his chest and groin. Lord knew, he didn’t need her bumping up against that. Damn. Not now.

  Her body softened in his hands. Doe eyes met his gaze, and her small hands grappled for his arms as a weighted hush stretched between them. He saw a rosy flush cover her sun-kissed cheeks, but it could’ve been the dunking.

  Reece needed to break the tension. “Are you all right?”

  “I will be when you put me down.” A deeper shade of red infused her cheeks.

  “Promise you won’t drown?” He lowered her feet to the bottom and slid his hand past the sensuous curve of her breast. Watching for any reaction, he grimaced when Lacy thinned those full lips of hers and cocked a brow.

  Setting her deeper in the water didn’t improve his predicament. The loose tails of her shirt floated up and the buttons at the top opened to reveal the thin fabric of her chemise as it caressed her tantalizing cleavage. His eye roved over every inch of her. Her lush form set a fire inside him.

  Once she regained her footing, Reece released his hold on her waist.

  But Lacy’s fingers circled his wrist and gave his arm a fierce tug. The force of it pulled him off his feet. Before his head slipped into the water, a smirk lit up her eyes.

  “What the hell,” he sputtered as his head broke the surface. “I’m only trying to help, Lace. You don’t have to drown me in the process.”

  “I didn’t ask you for any help.” Hands on her hips, she breathed a gust of air. Those brown eyes threw fire at him.

  Reece struggled to get his feet under him, the water in his boots giving him fits. He still hadn’t righted himself when Lacy pushed through the water toward him. What was she doing?

  She wore that same half smile she always seemed to get when she’d conjured some mischievous, daring joke to play on her brother Thad. That never boded well.

  Reece raised one brow at her approach, wary of her volatile nature. A feather could have knocked him over when Lacy grabbed the front of his shirt and leaned into him. Her chocolate eyes held his gaze, then shifted to his mouth. His mouth turned dry as she leaned in close and swept her pink tongue the length of her full bottom lip before brushing a tentative kiss across his mouth.

  A low moan escaped his throat as she pulled away. She tasted of honey and smelled of damp wildflowers. A timid tilt of her mouth and a sparkle in her eye betrayed her own pleasure in the act.

  Instinctively, Reece circled his arms around her shoulders and drew her closer. Lacy yielded, molding her body into his and tilting her face up. Dipping his head, he angled his mouth over her warm lips and pressed a heated kiss on her mouth. The contact of their bodies and the intimacy of their mouths scorched the damp surface of his skin. He could have sworn steam rose from the water droplets.

  Reece was aware of nothing but Lacy and the way her hands trailed up the muscles of his back and her fingers as they dug into his shoulders. Her body pressed into his, and all he felt was the delicious pressure of her curves against his hard chest and the softness of her skin as his hands dug beneath her shirt.

  She kissed him with equal fervor, hard and demanding. Emboldened by her confidence, Reece nudged his tongue against her lip, enticing her to open to him. Her soft lips parted, and his tongue slid against hers, warm and wet. Lacy moaned an answering sigh as his tongue swept deeper into her mouth, tangling with hers. Her grasp on his shoulders tightened as she met his every thrust with equal vigor. Tension built inside him as the taste of honey mingled with Lacy.

  Beneath the water’s surface, one slender leg twined around his as she used the soaked denim of his pants to climb up his body. Reece cupped his hand under the curve of her bottom and hoisted her up. Willowy legs draped in dripping wet canvas twined around his waist, clinging to him as if for dear life.

  Lord, he had died and gone to heaven to have Lacy Wills wrapped around him like a snake in an oak tree.

  Lacy clung to Reece for dear life. When her brain cleared from the haze of lust engulfing her, she realized she had wrapped herself around the man as if he were a mighty oak. It was all she could do when she saw him sluice through the water. Every corded muscled rippled beneath the wet shirt clinging to his skin. Shining drops of water twinkled on his tanned arms, and the tufts of hair that protruded from the neck of his wet shirt sent shivers of need quivering deep inside her.

  All those years she’d known Reece McCord, worshiped him even, came crashing in on her. She was just the younger sister of his best friend. She had always thought he looked like the vision of those Greek gods she’d read about in school.

  Today he was a Greek god incarnate. His sandy hair lay pasted against a high forehead. Golden green eyes shone as he brushed pond water from his face. Her first reaction was to taunt him as she usually did. But something inside clicked, and all the hints and suggestions the man had either ignored or just plain not seen made her ache once more for his acceptance. This opportunity could not be sacrificed. Lacy seized it, with both hands and most of her body.

  When her mouth brushed against Reece’s, she was sure she could have knocked him over with a feather. He seemed to go limp next to her. She was afraid she had underestimated the attraction—until Reece grabbed her with such desperation she thought he might never let her go. Not that she ever wanted him to. Two long years of flirtatious bumps, batted eyes, and punches in the arm, any sane man would have seen clearly how much she liked him…at least a little.

  Nothing she had done elicited any sort of response. She was Thad’s baby sister, and she guessed Reece saw her only as that.

  But not today.

  Today, she wanted to show him she was a woman. She had to pick the one day she’d dressed in Thad’s breeches and shapeless shirt for a tomboy adventure—hunting wild honey. The wild mass of chestnut waves around her head was ti
ed back with a leather thong for convenience. She hadn’t even dragged a brush through it before leaving the house.

  And now Reece kissed her with such fervor and hunger, she could faint for the sheer joy of it all. Her tongue tangled with his, and his large hands hoisted her up over his slim hips. With her ankles locked around his back, she hung on for dear, sweet life.

  “Oh, Reece,” she breathed as they broke for short gasps of air.

  “Lacy,” he growled, his forehead pressed to hers and his yellow eyes staring at her. “Thad is going to kill me.”

  “Thad has no part in this, Reece.” She threaded her hands in his hair and pulled his head closer to her.

  “Oh, yes.” Reece broke again. “He told me never to touch you.” His hands spread the width of her back, their heat evaporating the moisture of her shirt at their placement.

  “You didn’t touch me. I touched you.” She feathered kisses over the golden skin of his cheeks.

  Tiny lines crinkled at the edges of his eyes as he pulled back and smiled at her. “Not like I haven’t thought about it for years, Lacy.”

  “Could’ve fooled me.”

  Her hands bracketed his handsome face as she peppered his mouth with tender kisses. They trailed over his nose and cheeks, his stubbled chin, and down the thick column of his throat.

  “Carry me out, Reece,” she breathed against the pulse at his throat.

  Reece moved his hands to rest beneath her behind as she circled her arms around his neck and pressed herself closer to him. He strode effortlessly to the grassy shore. The hard planes of his chest crushed against her breasts, making the rough weave of her shirt rasp against the tight buds of her nipples.

  Reece knelt to the ground, Lacy’s legs still draped around him. He eased her onto soft spring grass shrouded conveniently by a hedge of honeysuckle. The yellow blooms teemed with scores of bees, a quiet hum droning in the background as the sweet scent filled their lungs, and her sweet mouth and soft body made every inch of him rigid with need.

  Nimble fingers fumbled with the buttons of his shirt. He wanted nothing else than to strip naked and bury himself inside her, but the fact that she was Thad’s baby sister continued to scream at him through the fog of lust permeating his body.

  “Lacy. What are you doing?” He stilled her hand and he met her questioning gaze. “We can’t do this.”

  Her eyes sharpened with annoyance. Delicate fingers fanned across the top of his chest beneath his shirt and through the hairs of his chest as she watched his reaction with rapt attention.

  Reece drew in a ragged breath, damning the surge of blood to his groin as he fought to maintain control.

  “Tell me you don’t want me to,” she breathed against his chin. “Tell me you don’t want this as much as I do, Reece.”

  He gazed into the depths of her chocolate eyes. Eyes that invited him to plunder her spoils at will. Eyes he wanted nothing more than to lose himself in.

  Dear Lord. He had no willpower. He was lost to Lacy Wills, consequences be damned.

  Reece captured the plush softness of her lips, nipping and suckling the pliable sweetness of her lower lip. Sweet murmurs escaped her throat as those fingers worked against the resistance of wet fabric to loosen each remaining button, until her warm palms traced the flat planes of his lower abdomen and moved to his back. He arched against the tender rake of her nails, then rolled carefully to press his groin into the space between her thighs.

  “Oh, Lacy.” Propping himself on his elbows, Reece held her head and shoulders between his arms.

  She loosed her hair and smiled up at him, her curls a spray of chestnut against the grass. Sunlight dappled her freckle-dusted cheeks. Reece’s heart clenched tight in his chest. She was beautiful.

  Such unabashed innocence and perfect trust. How could he take advantage of her?

  Lacy worked her arms under his chest, and her fingers pulled at the buttons on her own shirt. Reece’s brain told him to make her stop, but his mouth refused to form the words. He followed each movement as she exposed section after tiny section of creamy skin.

  “Lacy, it shouldn’t be like this.” He wrapped her hands in his to halt her progress, but then faltered.

  Her eyes smoldered as she smoothed the edges of the cotton shirt past the swell of each breast. She loosened the ties of her chemise in a flash. Her dusky, taut peaks beguiled him. Reece moaned low and rolled to his side, curling his leg over one of hers as his hand traveled over the smooth dips of her belly and along the curve of her waist.

  She felt like silk. His hand engulfed the full measure of one breast. At the slightest squeeze, her breath caught in her throat. He pressed the soft mound into his palm.

  Good lord, the feel of her put him in paradise.

  Reece found the temptation of her breast too much to bear. He glanced at her heavy-lidded eyes responding with pleasure and dipped his head to suckle one dark nipple, circling it with his tongue. He sucked it past the edge of his teeth and reveled in the way her body bucked gently against his. Her hand grabbed his shirt and she tensed.

  His leg edged between hers, rubbing the curve of his knee into the juncture at her thighs. Lacy turned in toward the pressure and pressed her velvet lips to the hollow of his throat. Fire shot through him again, and Reece began to fear himself more than Thad’s rage.

  Nimble fingers worked the buttons of his trousers loose, and before he realized what was happening, she’d palmed his entire length. He sucked in a breath to steady himself as the blood rushed away from his brain. Another heated groan eased from his throat at the soft touch of her hand. She was heaven on earth, and he hadn’t gotten as far as his body intended. Good Lord, if he ever took her, he’d probably die of pleasure right here.

  “Oh, Reese.” Lacy moaned as her hand began a heated stroke across his cock. “I never dreamed.”

  “Dreamed what, honey?” He planted kisses over the swell of each breast as his hands rubbed warmth along the curves from her hips to her breasts. She was exquisite.

  “That you could be so large.” Her fingers tightened around him and every muscle in his body tightened as she pulled up.

  “Good Lord, Lace. Don’t do that. You’ll have me going off, and I’m not ready, not yet.” He nuzzled the hollow of her neck, breathing in the scent that was wholly Lacy until her grip loosened.

  Her hands moved from his cock to slip beneath the waist of his trousers. Each delicate hand trailed warmth over his rear as she worked the wet fabric off his behind and down his thighs.

  She tipped her head up and grinned as the material cleared his knees. With some effort, he worked off his boots and socks and kicked the pants loose, shedding the shirt in the process before his fingers found the buttons of her trousers. It was almost a fight between them who could loosen the darned little fasteners the quickest. Lacy almost had them torn from the fabric before she tugged at the canvas and her drawers to expose the triangle of dark curls at the apex of her slender thighs.

  Reece’s mouth went dry as he took her in, all of her. She lay on the green mound of grass, propped on her slender elbows, eying him expectantly. Trust widened her brown eyes. He leaned over her, supporting himself on extended arms. Thad would kill him for what he wanted to do with Lacy. His brain told him back away, but Lacy reached up and pulled him down.

  Her tug was insistent and demanding. He couldn’t deny her. Dear Lord, he didn’t want to deny himself. A burning hunger engulfed him.

  Reece lowered his body over Lacy’s. Skin against skin, his blood boiled and his heart hammered. He couldn’t breathe for the sheer joy of touching Lacy Wills, all of her. Her breasts pressed hot, soft circles against his chest. Her thighs moved against his rough hair. Lacy moaned against the heat of his skin. Any stray droplets of water between them seemed to sizzle at the contact.

  His body pressed her cautiously into the soft grass beneath them. She shifted her thigh, opening herself up to him. Reece stopped breathing altogether when he felt her slender leg slide up the outsid
e of his thigh and over his buttocks. His cock nestled against the soft hairs at her groin. The contact made tension spiral through him. He didn’t see how he could last. Lacy beneath him and around him. He really had died and gone to heaven.

  Lacy’s arms circled his neck. Her hands grabbed fistfuls of hair as her supple lips brushed kisses up his throat and along his jaw before laying claim to his mouth. The pounding of his heart against his ribs paled only in comparison to the heavy throb in his cock.

  Take it slow, he reminded himself. Reece didn’t want to rush her. “Are you sure about this?” He muttered between kisses.

  Her brown eyes gazed up at him. Longing and desire warmed them—the same longing he’d held in for the past year. It surfaced with such vigor he prayed she wouldn’t ask him to restrain it.

  “More sure than anything in my life, Reece McCord.”

  Her pelvis angled against him, pushing against his hard length. He sucked in a breath to settle the raging inferno inside him. Supporting himself on one elbow, Reece slid one hip to the grass and eased one hand down her flat belly, reveling in the silky feel of her skin. His hand found that sweet place between her thighs. He felt her stiffen at his touch.

  Leaning forward, his lips brushed a tender kiss on her brow. “It’s okay, honey. Just relax.”

  “I’m not afraid with you, Reece.” Lacy’s pink mouth turned up at the edges as she pressed into his palm. “Touch all of me, please.”

  “I could kiss all of you, darlin’.”

  “Mmm. That would be nice too.” Those brown eyes of hers slid shut, and her body writhed under him.

  His heart took to flight. She wanted him. Lacy Wills wanted him. At that moment Reece felt his heart soar. He wanted her for his own. He wanted Lacy as his only. If she would have him, he’d move the moon for her.

  Reece’s hand slid between her folds to lay his claim. A groan erupted from his throat. Moisture wet his hand as one finger slid inside her. She arched against his touch while her fingers dug delicious pressure points into his shoulders. Desire coated her voice as tender moans invited deeper exploration. Lacy instinctively widened her thighs for easier access.