Texas Hold 'Em

by Christie Craig

  She could do this. Turning off the shower, she realized she hadn’t brought in a change of clothes. She started to re-dress in what she had on, then stopped. Snagging a towel from the rack, she wrapped it around herself. Feeling a surge of confidence, she shifted the slit to be a little sexier. She finger-combed her hair and did a leg check for bristle. No bristle.

  Picking up her clothes, she gave herself a quick pep talk.

  Ready or not, here I come.

  Hair ball removed from shoe, Austin sat at the kitchen table. He hadn’t moved his eyes off the bathroom door since the water shut off. Leah walked out wearing nothing but a towel and a sexy smile. Some really nice body parts played peek-a-boo in the slit of her towel.

  Did he really need a shower?

  He wanted to undo that knot under her right shoulder and watch that piece of nubby cotton cascade down to her feet. He wanted her completely naked. He wanted to touch, to taste. He wanted her so much it hurt.

  He wanted to make her want him equally as much.

  She held her folded clothes in her hand, then set them on the end of the bed. The bed where he’d like to take her right now.

  “My turn.” He forced himself to do the right thing.

  The right thing ended up being the shortest shower he’d ever taken. Seconds later, naked and dripping wet, he searched his bathroom cabinet for condoms. He’d brought a pack a couple months back when he’d considered inviting someone up for the weekend, but had decided he’d rather keep the cabin his own. Oddly, he didn’t mind sharing it with Leah.

  What did feel wrong was that he only had four condoms, which meant they were going to have to make a run to the store. Soon.

  Checking the mirror to make sure he’d scrubbed off his clown face, he ran a hand through his wet hair. She’d set the dress code and he’d follow it. He tied the towel around his waist. Glancing down, he noticed a problem. He’d already pitched a tent under the nubby cotton. An impressive tent, too. Taking a deep breath, vowing to make this good for her, he hid two condoms in his palm and walked out.

  She sat on the edge of the bed, frowning. “Do we have… protection?”

  He turned his hand over.

  She sighed. A touch of hesitation and sweet innocence showed in her smile. It only made him want her more.

  She’s the dangerous kind.

  He ignored Dallas’s warning and went to her. Dropping the condoms on the bedside table, he reached for her hands and pulled her up. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in for a kiss. He had to lean down, but not so much it was uncomfortable. When the kiss turned hot, he pulled back and brushed a damp strand of dark hair from her cheek. Her skin felt like silk.

  He reached for the knot holding up her towel. “Think we can lose this?”

  She cut her eyes up at him. “I’ll show you mine if you’ll show me yours.”

  Grinning, he released her knot and watched the towel sweep down her naked body. He tried not to stare, but couldn’t help it. “You’re so damn beautiful.” His gaze moved over the sweet dips and curves of her body. He’d seen her without her shirt, but completely unclothed was amazing. Her breasts were round, tipped with soft-rose nipples. Her abs were flat, her waist so tiny that… He reached down and fit his hands around it. Her hips flared out. She had a perfect hourglass shape. So feminine. So… perfect. Between her legs was a dark triangle of hair. Not shaved the way some women did to attract attention. No, Leah was… real.

  Her legs were like the rest of her, shapely. He glided his hands up her rib cage to her breasts. He traced her nipples with a fingertip. Her breath hitched.

  “You like that?”

  She nodded. “I thought we had a deal.” Her voice came out a little raspy. She pulled his towel loose. It slipped from his hips to the floor.

  Her gaze lowered one second, then came back up, almost as if embarrassed. There was something charming in her bashfulness.

  “Happy now?” He grinned.

  “Yes.” She blushed.

  He took her hand and pressed it against his chest and slid it down. The whole time he watched her expression. If he saw any hesitation, he’d stop.

  She showed none.

  When her hand found his dick, she cupped her palm around him and rubbed her thumb over his swollen tip.

  “You like that?” She tossed his question back to him.

  “Oh, yeah.”

  He moved to the bed and pulled her with him. He rested on his side and let himself feast on her. Her hair, still wet, looked almost black. He brushed it off her shoulder, wanting to see all of her. “I feel like a kid in a candy store. I don’t know where to start.”

  She smiled and then he did know. He touched her dimple. Then he leaned down and kissed the same spot. His mouth didn’t stay there long, though. He moved to her lips, to her neck, to her breasts. Bringing her tight nipple in his mouth, he suckled her with barely any pressure, not knowing if she was into gentle, or not so gentle.

  He slipped his hand down to the soft patch of hair of her sex. Slowly, he slipped his finger between her cleft. When he found her wet with want, his dick got harder.

  Moaning, she rocked her hips against his hand. But she kept her thighs closed.

  Wanting some part of him inside her, he slipped a finger into the tight opening between her thighs. Moving his lips from her breasts, he breathed kisses down her rib cage. Stopping at her navel, he flicked his tongue inside.

  When she arched her hips off the mattress, and her thighs parted just a bit, he took advantage and moved down, positioning himself between her knees. Keeping one finger inside her, he parted the soft wet flesh and moved his tongue over the little nub that he knew would offer her the most pleasure.

  Her taste, her scent, made his own hips rock. Her soft moan reached his ears. She tightened her thighs around his head.

  “Slow and easy,” he whispered against her sex. “Make it last.”

  Seconds later, he knew she hadn’t taken his advice. Her tight opening clenched on to his finger, and all he could think about was that squeeze around another body part.

  When her orgasm stopped, he moved up. He reached for the condom; she reached between his legs. She tightened her fist around him, moving her palm up and down his length. The next thing he knew, she’d sat up and snatched the condom from his hand.

  “Let me.” She pushed him back on the bed. Sitting straddled over his knees, she opened the condom with her teeth. He feasted on her, her eyes bright, her hair dancing on her shoulders. As she shifted, her breast juggled and her nipples stood tight and erect. Her thighs were open, exposing the pink wet flesh he’d just tasted. He didn’t think it was possible, but he got harder.

  He waited for her to slip the condom on, but instead, she scooted down his legs, leaned over, and took him in her mouth. She moved her tongue around his engorged tip. It took everything he had not to explode. He reached down, grabbed her by her shoulders, and pulled her up. His dick almost slipped inside her as he got her where he wanted her.

  He snatched the condom from her hands, reached between them, and slid it in place. Then because he couldn’t forget how good it had felt standing with her legs around him, he stood up and took her with him. Holding her bare ass in his hands, he guided her in place. Her sex surrounded him like a glove. He almost orgasmed right then.

  “You’re tight,” he muttered.

  “You’re just big.”

  He laughed. “Just what a man wants to hear.” Holding her sweet ass in his palms, he shifted her closer, moving in and out. As good as it felt, he suddenly needed to be horizontal. Not pulling out, he lowered her to the bed, keeping most of his weight on his elbows.

  She arched her hips up and took him deeper. Her lids fluttered closed. He whispered, “Look at me.”

  She opened those brown eyes, wild with passion. She moved, setting a slow, easy pace. But then her legs came around his waist, and the position allowed him to go even deeper. Their pace quickened. She moaned again. When he felt her sex spasm a
round him, he let go. The orgasm shook him to the core. He rolled over and pulled her on top of him. He wrapped his arms around her. She dropped her head on his shoulder.

  Her short in-and-out breaths against his chest felt both hot and moist. Holding her close, her heart thudded against his chest. He couldn’t remember any moment ever feeling this right. No woman had ever felt like this against him.

  He moved his hand up and down her back. “That was…” He paused to find the right word. “Real.”

  She raised her head and looked at him, a smile in her eyes. “Real? That’s all I get?”

  He laughed and ran a finger over her cheek. “Let me try again. That was friggin’ amazing! You’re amazing.”

  He kissed her. “We’re going to have to make a run to get some more condoms. I only have three more.”

  She made a cute face. “I think that’s enough.”

  He rolled on top of her. “Then clearly you didn’t enjoy that as much as I did.”

  An hour later, they were still in bed, still naked, and down two condoms. He slipped his hand under the sheet, drew circles around her navel, and kissed the side of her neck.

  Leah couldn’t decide if Austin was just a champion at sex, or if she’d just forgotten how good it was. She decided it was him. Especially when she saw the tent in the sheet.

  He noticed where her eyes went. “It’s not my fault. You turn me on.”

  She leaned in to kiss him. “If we keep this up we really will have to run to the store.”

  He laughed. But stopped when Socks, her tuxedo cat, jumped up on the bed.

  “He’s not going to hurt you,” Leah assured him.

  “Right.” He raised his arm and pointed to a jagged scar. “How do you think I got this? And you’ve seen my ear.”

  She kissed his scar. When she pulled back, he was sneaking a peek down the gaping sheet.

  She pressed the sheet to her chest. “Seriously, they won’t attack you.” Spooky jumped up and slowly tiptoed over to Austin. “He really likes you.”

  He studied the cat with caution, but didn’t push him away. “We sort of bonded. But your cats don’t like me.”

  She frowned. “Probably because you squirted them with a water gun.”

  “I didn’t squirt them. I only threatened to.” He eyed Socks, then watched Spooky curl up next to him. His expression softened. “He purrs when I pet him.”

  She didn’t have the heart to tell him that most cats did. “Because he likes you.”

  “Yeah.” He carefully touched Spooky, then glanced at Socks. “That guy hisses at me.”

  “He doesn’t know you.”

  “It’s rude.” Austin stopped petting Spooky, and his eyes went back to the sheet that had glided down her chest. He stopped petting the cat and slipped his hand under the cover and fit his palm into the curve of her waist. “You sore?”

  “Not too sore,” she said, loving his touch.

  That’s when it hit her. She was a kitten’s whisker away from falling in love with this man.

  And that was a dangerous place to be.

  But as his hand slid past her waist and slipped between her thighs, she decided she could use a little danger in her life.

  Feeling brave, she rolled on top of him, straddled his thighs, and sat up. The sheets tangled under her knees. She ran her hands over his chest as he gazed up. He was so perfect he almost looked Photoshopped.

  Skitter, sitting in the window, suddenly hissed. Leah glanced that way and saw the cat leap through the air toward the bed. Then she saw not one but two faces peering in the window.

  Screaming, she tried to snatch the sheet, but in her desperate rush to cover herself, and Austin’s desperate attempt to get up, she fell sideways off the bed and plopped her naked butt onto the wooden floor, facing the window.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  “IF YOU’D HAVE answered your damn phone, you’d have known we were coming,” Dallas ranted back. “But no, you don’t, and that led us to think someone followed you back here and something bad had happened.”

  “You could have knocked instead of behaving like Peeping Toms.” After recognizing the faces in the window, Austin had assured Leah it was okay. But naked, embarrassed, and sitting bare-assed on the floor, she’d bolted into the bathroom. He’d snagged his sweats from the bag on the sofa and went to give his two partners hell.

  Before he got to the door, he’d heard their laughter and considered killing them.

  “We thought someone might be in there holding you at gunpoint. Knocking didn’t seem smart,” Tyler said. “Besides, we didn’t expect to find you—”

  “Just shut up before you piss me off more.” Austin considered another reason they were here, one that would tear Leah’s heart out. And that would tear his heart out. “Is her brother okay?”

  “Yeah. We moved him to a hospital outside of Austin.”

  “So y’all really came because I didn’t answer the phone?” That’s fucking nuts. He was a grown man and was trying to do grown-man things.

  “No, we were coming anyway. Roberto and that friend of his are on their way, too. They have a plan to catch DeLuna. I wanted all of us to go over it together.”

  “Is Luis okay?” At the sound of Leah’s tight voice, they all turned to see her standing in front of the kitchen table. She’d donned his clothes. In one hand, she held his jeans, which were about eight sizes too big, bunched up on her waist. On her other side, his shirt hung clear to her knees.

  Austin’s breath hitched in his lungs. He’d never seen a more adorable sight. She looked like a little girl playing dress-up. But he knew below all that cotton was a woman whom he’d just had incredible sex with… twice. And it would have been three if they hadn’t been interrupted.

  For reasons he didn’t understand he liked the thought of her in his clothes. Liked how her hair danced around her shoulders as she shifted her gaze from him to his two partners. Then Austin noted the concern in her eyes.

  “Luis is fine.” He fought the need to bundle her up in his arms. But not one to show affection in public, he didn’t move. Still he couldn’t look away.

  She shuffled to the side of the bed, his jeans bunched up at her feet. She retrieved a stack of her folded clothes, then waddled back into the bathroom.

  He stared at the closed door, unsure why his chest suddenly felt like an open vault.

  Tyler cleared his throat.

  Austin turned. The two of them stared at him. “What?”

  “Nothing,” Tyler said, but his expression said it was something. “She’s cute.” He grinned. “Well, she’s more than cute.”

  “Don’t go there.”

  “Hey, both of you walked in on Zoe naked.” Tyler laughed. “The only one of our girls we haven’t gotten to see naked is Nikki.”

  Austin and Tyler looked at Dallas. “Over my dead body,” he growled.

  They all laughed, but then Austin realized they were putting Leah in the same category as their wives. It wasn’t like that. Was it? “But Leah and I aren’t… you know.”

  “Looked like you were…‘you know’ to me.” Dallas cracked a grin.

  “I mean, it’s not… serious.” But damn if it didn’t feel serious.

  “Looked serious.” Tyler glanced at Dallas. “Didn’t it to you?”

  Dallas grinned. “She threw tomatoes at him and he didn’t get mad.”

  “Shit!” Tyler said. “It’s definitely serious.”

  “Stop this!” Austin snapped, uncomfortable in his own skin.

  Uncomfortable with his own thoughts.

  Uncomfortable with the feeling in his chest.

  “We didn’t start this. You did,” Dallas said. “And for the record, I warned you she was the dangerous kind.”

  It was twenty minutes before Leah came out of the bathroom—wearing her own clothes. She still looked adorable, but it didn’t hit him so hard now that she wasn’t wearing his. He pushed his silly concerns about his feelings aside and reminded himself that each of
them had their own lives and lived almost two hundred miles apart.

  Dallas had called Roberto, who was supposed to be pulling up anytime. Wanting to warn her about what was going down, Austin met her in the kitchen.

  “A couple other guys are coming here.” He hesitated. “I just wanted to warn you that… we’re going to be discussing your half brother.”

  She nodded. “I want him caught. He’s a monster.”

  “I know.” Austin studied her. He wanted to touch her so badly, he had to poke his hands in his pockets.

  She glanced toward the opened door where Dallas and Tyler stood on the porch.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  She leaned in. “They saw me naked.”

  Unable to resist, he pulled one hand out and passed a finger over her cheek. “You want me to kill ’em?”

  She giggled.

  He slid his finger to her dimple. And he wanted to keep sliding his touch. He exhaled. “I can’t wait for them to leave.”

  And just like that, he realized how hard it was going to be—only seeing her on the weekends. What he’d seen as his safety net was beginning to feel like a trap. But it was better that way. Wasn’t it?

  He pulled his hand back and tucked it in his jeans. Snared. Trapped. He cared. He cared too damn much. Yet his eagerness to run wasn’t nearly as strong as it should be. How the hell had this happened?

  When Austin stepped out on the porch, he heard a car pulling up. Roberto and Brad Hulk, the big guy who swung a mean toilet plunger, got out of the car. Brad nodded a silent apology at Austin.

  Austin nodded back, letting the guy know there were no hard feelings, but he couldn’t deny that it felt damn good when he saw the man’s swollen nose and bruised eyes. Sure, his own eye still carried a mark, but not as bad.

  They brought chairs out on the porch and Roberto told them of the plan. He’d call Cruz, claim he missed DeLuna’s call because he’d been shot, say he still had the cocaine from the New Orleans deal gone bad, and offer to drop it off. Once he got the cocaine there, they’d have the cops raid the place, finally placing DeLuna with the drugs.