Jared (Coyote Ridge) (Volume 2)

by Nicole Edwards

  Travis smirked. Oh, he definitely knew.

  Yep. It was very clear that Derrick was more than excited to spend the night with his cousin tonight. Derrick loved being at Kaleb’s, but he was always over the moon to go to Travis’s and play with Kate.

  So, after grabbing dinner as he’d promised, Jared made his way to Hope’s, arriving at seven o’clock on the dot. As he pulled down the narrow dirt path that bypassed several cabins, he found the one with the number four on the outside. Looked like there were nearly two dozen spread out on this side of the ranch, several hidden back in the trees that ran along the eastern side of the property. He didn’t know how many they used for guests and how many were occupied by those who worked on the ranch, but it appeared they had enough to go around. There was a black Chevy that’d seen its fair share of life on the ranch parked haphazardly beside it, and the front porch light was on, so he assumed he was at the right one.

  It took him all of a minute to grab the food and make it up to the porch, another minute for Hope to come to the door. The instant he saw her, he damn near swallowed his tongue.

  Standing just inside the screen door was quite possibly the sexiest woman in the world. She was wearing some kind of flowy shirt with thin straps that showed off her tanned shoulders, her silky blond hair concealing only a portion as it hung down. The short denim shorts she wore gave him an eyeful of her equally tanned legs. As soon as she pushed open the screen door, he stepped inside, and his nostrils were instantly tickled by the sexy perfume she was apparently wearing. Or maybe that scent was coming from the candle burning on the kitchen table.

  “Hey,” she greeted softly, smiling up at him as she closed the door behind him.

  He cleared his throat because, yes, he couldn’t speak.

  Thankfully, she took the paper sack from his hand and put it on the table beside the candle. Before she started to unpack their dinner, Jared reached for her, unable to stop himself.

  Her quick inhale told him she wasn’t expecting it, but she moved closer, willingly letting him tug her toward him. He took a few seconds to drink her in, lazily gazing down her body, then back up to meet her eyes. “I … uh… Christ, woman, you look amazing.”

  Hope’s smile made his dick twitch.

  “Forgive me for being so forward,” he said politely but then pressed his lips to hers.

  He’d thought about kissing her again for the past four days. He wasn’t sure he could make it through a meal without tasting her at least once.

  Her soft moan was music to his ears. The way her hands fisted in his shirt, pulling him closer, had Jared deepening the kiss. And then, very much like the last time he’d seen her, Jared hoisted her up, forcing her to wrap those smooth legs around his waist.

  “We should probably eat,” he mumbled as she bit his lower lip.

  “Probably,” she agreed but never stopped kissing him, inhaling him with the same urgency he was showing her.

  “What is it about you?” he questioned, rhetorically, of course. There was something about this woman that caused him to lose all control. Even before that first kiss they’d shared at the bar, Jared could think of doing nothing but touching her, kissing her. And since… He wanted to make her come; he wanted to hear her cry out his name as she came on his cock.

  Hope’s finger slid into his hair, tugging to near pain as he kissed her harder, deeper. She thrust her tongue against his, their teeth clashing as they attempted to devour one another. Unable to resist, he ran his hand up the underside of her leg, his fingers dipping beneath the edge of her shorts.

  Her skin was so smooth, so soft. He wanted to run his fingers over it for hours. She smelled like heaven, tasted even better. Jared knew he should stop, but he couldn’t.

  “I didn’t mean for this to happen,” he told her truthfully.

  “I’m not complainin’,” she whispered. “Dinner’s overrated anyway.”

  Yeah. What she said.

  “Aww, God. You’re wet for me.”

  Hope moaned softly when he slid his fingers beneath her panties, teasing her. Damn it. He couldn’t force himself to pull back, to press pause. He didn’t want to.

  When Hope shifted, trying to get his fingers where she wanted them, he took that as a sign to continue. Jared walked around to her couch and sat down with her straddling his lap. He gripped her ass, pulling her so that she was once again grinding against him.

  “Tell me to stop, Hope,” he urged. Heaven knew he wasn’t going to be able to do it.

  “I don’t want you to stop.”

  Okay, well, there went that idea.

  Jared slid his hands up underneath her shirt, stroking the smooth skin of her stomach, then higher. He lifted her shirt, taking in the soft pink bra she had on and what looked to be a colorful butterfly tattooed on the upper swell of her right breast. Granted, he saw it only briefly because he closed his eyes when he leaned forward and took her breast in his mouth, sucking her through the satin.

  Yep, they’d gone from zero to sixty in a minute flat. If she didn’t put the brakes on, they were going to careen out of control. He wanted her so fucking much it hurt.

  “Jared… Oh, yes… Yes.” Hope held his head against her as she moaned.

  He teased her nipple through the fabric, then pushed her bra up and gave her his full attention. First one pebbled tip, then the other. She was still grinding against him, the warmth between her thighs driving him wild. If it weren’t for his jeans and her shorts, he could’ve easily slid up inside the heaven of her body.

  Releasing her from his mouth, Jared kissed her again, holding her head as he attempted to slow things down. He’d known that this thing between them was explosive, but he honestly hadn’t intended to get down to business quite this soon. Sure, in his fantasies, maybe. But the gentlemanly side of his brain told him he needed to chill.

  Only he couldn’t seem to stop and Hope didn’t seem to want him to.

  Hope’s hands tugged his T-shirt out of his jeans, then lifted it up and over his head. He groaned low in his throat when her mouth slid down his neck to his chest. Her hands wandered over his stomach, soft and silky smooth. He stroked her back, his eyes rolling back in his head. Her touching him… More than he could process right now.

  “Nothing wrong yet,” she mumbled.

  “Huh?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Hope…” He wanted to tell her they should stop, but his brain wouldn’t relay the information to his mouth. Apparently his dick was in charge, and no way was he going to stop if that was the case.

  When she reached for the button on his jeans, he knew there was no turning back.

  “You sure about this?” he asked, his hands cupping her breasts while she attempted to undress him.

  “Absolutely. Lose the clothes, Walker.”

  Well, he always had been good at following directions.

  THE INSTANT SHE saw Jared standing on her front porch, so overwhelmingly tall and sexy, Hope knew exactly where this night was headed. And when he reached for her as though he couldn’t keep his hands off, she gave in to her overwhelming urges as well.

  Since the night at Marla’s, she’d thought about him at least a dozen times. No, make that two dozen. Per day.

  For whatever reason—lack of sex, hormones out of whack, you name it—Hope simply couldn’t stop thinking about him. More accurately, she couldn’t stop thinking about getting him naked.

  And though she’d almost had herself convinced that there was something wrong with him—had to be because this man was too good to be true—she couldn’t find anything at the moment. She’d happily keep searching, though.

  Oh. Boy.

  And now that he was here…

  She couldn’t get enough of this man. Especially now that he was shirtless. As her sister had said, God had been in a damn good mood the day He made Jared. Damn good mood.
The man was perfect in every possible way. All hard angles covered by smooth, tanned skin. He had soft, dark hair covering his chest, which she liked. A lot. There was something about a man with hair on his chest.

  Jared chuckled as she tried to release him from his jeans. With her sitting on his lap, that wasn’t going to happen easily, but she didn’t want to stop. She wanted to feel him inside her right now, and if she had to wait another minute, she was going to scream.

  “Stand up,” he instructed.

  Hope crawled off of him and got to her feet, watching him, waiting for… She didn’t know what she was waiting for, but she needed him. Right fucking now.

  He seemed to know that, because Jared’s eyes locked on hers, and then he was removing her shirt, working the button free on her shorts. He even managed to get them off of her with little movement, relieved her of her bra and panties before pulling her back onto his lap, once again straddling his hips.

  “You have too many clothes on,” she told him. She was stark naked, and he had on his jeans and boots.

  When he produced a condom, a sigh of relief escaped her.

  “In a hurry?” he teased.

  His gaze was smoldering as he looked at her, his eyes slowly caressing her overheated skin.

  “More than you know.” Why the hell shouldn’t she be honest with him? It was clear what they were doing. It wasn’t often that she had the chance to tear off some sexy cowboy’s clothes in her living room.

  “I thought you said you wanted to get to know me first,” he said, his voice gruff.

  “I decided I know all I need to know.” Not quite the truth, but no way was she going to put this on hold. They had plenty of time to get to know each other. And if they didn’t, it really didn’t matter. The chemistry at work here clearly wasn’t built on friendship and understanding.

  Jared lifted his hips, forcing his jeans down to his thighs, and in an instant, he had the condom rolled over his length while Hope stared down at him. The man was … extremely well-endowed. Thankfully, she didn’t have time to contemplate the mechanics of how this was going to work, because Jared pulled her back to him, their lips melding together, and Hope was once again in charge.

  She lifted up at the same time she reached between her legs, guiding him right where she wanted him most. It took a moment, but she managed to work herself down on him, taking most of him inside her with little discomfort.

  “Yesssss.” He felt so damn good. So freaking good. It’d been so long… He stretched her, filled her, caused a fiery storm to ignite in her womb, ratcheting up her need tenfold.

  “Relax, Hope…” He pulled his mouth from hers and glanced down to where they were now joined. “Darlin’… Oh, fuck yes… You’re so damn tight.”

  It sounded almost as though he was trying to warn her, but she ignored him. Instead, she lifted up slightly, lowered herself back down. All the while watching him watching her. It was sexy as fuck. It was like she’d gone to the all-you-can-eat buffet and started with dessert first. And in this case, Jared Walker was the sweetest chocolate ever made.

  Jared’s hands moved to her hips as he began guiding her, rocking her onto his erection, giving her a little more with every upward stroke. When he lifted his eyes and met her gaze, she saw everything he wanted her to see.

  “You riding my dick… Best feeling ever. Don’t stop, Hope. Ride me, darlin’.”

  Oh, boy. If he kept that up, she stood no chance against him.

  Hope couldn’t keep from staring at him while she took her pleasure from his body. The heat of his hands on her hips, the warmth of his gaze as he watched her breasts, the exquisite friction…

  “Keep goin’,” he urged. “You’re not done yet, Hope. You’re so damn beautiful. And you feel so fucking good. So soft, so hot, so wet. God, yes.”

  Hope squeezed her inner muscles, watching the way his eyes rolled back when she did. Yeah, he definitely liked that. She probably could’ve done that all night long, but she suddenly needed more. She was riding that fine edge, the unmistakable hum of an impending orgasm beginning in her core. She was going to come, no doubt about that.

  Jared must’ve sensed that she was close, because he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against him, her breasts crushed to his chest, his mouth meeting hers again. And while he kissed her hard, Jared held her to him, thrusting his hips upward to meet her.

  “Yes,” she murmured against his mouth. “That… Oh, God… Keep … doing … that…”

  Before she had a chance to warn him, Hope’s entire body ignited into a firestorm of sensation, her orgasm ripping through her, hot and bright and so damn incredible.

  “You comin’ for me, darlin’?”

  “Oh, yeah,” she managed to groan, her body drawn up tight as she crested again thanks to the incredible thrusting of his hips.

  “Can you come for me again?”

  “If you … keep … doing… Oh, God, Jared!” How he did it, she didn’t know, but suddenly Hope was soaring once again, but this time, he went right over the edge with her.

  Chapter Thirteen

  JARED DID HIS best to catch his breath, but it wasn’t easy. Whatever had just happened between him and Hope… Holy. Fuck.

  Quite possibly the best orgasm of his entire fucking life.

  He ran his hand down Hope’s back. She was still lying against him, still straddling him, still sheathing him inside her warm body. And the hell of it was he didn’t want to move. He wanted to remain right there forever. Or for at least another couple of hours so that he could do that again.

  “That was … surprising,” Hope said, smiling when she sat up to look at him.

  Jared smiled, too. He couldn’t help himself. “Surprising, huh? I could’ve come up with a million different adjectives.”

  “Yeah?” Her eyes glittered with amusement. “Such as?”

  “Incredible. Mind-blowing. Amazing. Fan-fucking-tastic. Best sex ever.”

  Hope laughed and this time he dislodged from her body, his cock far too sensitive after that explosive ordeal. Before he was ready, Hope climbed off of him and began retrieving her clothes from the floor around them. While she dressed, he went to the bathroom to dispose of the condom. Telling himself he was giving her a little privacy, he closed the door and took a moment, staring at himself in the mirror above the sink.

  He looked like a man who’d been fucked within an inch of his life.

  Which was probably true. Sweet little Hope Lambert had completely and totally rocked his world.

  Okay, so maybe he’d figured that would happen if he was really, really lucky. He wasn’t sure he’d done enough good deeds in his life to deserve this. Then again, he wasn’t going to get all sappy, either. Sex was sex. Sex with Hope was… Well, maybe it was more than sex. It was mind-blowing, as he’d told her. But he had to remember that there wasn’t anything else for him here. Hope had already told him that it couldn’t be more. She wasn’t looking for a relationship.

  Then again, neither was he.

  “Holy fuck,” he whispered to his reflection.

  Not wanting to dwell on the crazy sensation tormenting his insides, he cleaned up and righted his jeans before stepping out to find Hope placing the food he’d brought on plates. She was so fucking sexy. He honestly had thought she couldn’t look better than she had the day he met her when she’d been wearing a T-shirt, jeans, and boots, her straw hat on her head, but fuck if he hadn’t been dead wrong. She looked incredible wearing those short jean shorts and that flowy shirt that offered a hint of her tanned stomach or even her back, depending on which way she moved.

  “Hungry?” she asked, smiling over at him.

  “Starving.” He simply didn’t know what he was hungry for. Food or her.

  Definitely her.

  “Come on then. Sit down. You want a beer?”

  “Sure.”

 
; After tugging his T-shirt back on, Jared claimed one of the chairs at her table, but he waited until she sat down before doing the same.

  “This gentlemanly thing”—Hope waved her hand at him—“is it hard to do?”

  “What gentlemanly thing?” Jared picked up his fork but kept his eyes on her.

  “Opening doors, pulling out chairs…”

  “I guess I don’t even think about it. It’s the way I was raised.”

  “I like it.”

  Jared grinned. “I figured you’d be used to it. Workin’ on the ranch and all.”

  “The term cowboy is not synonymous with gentleman. At least not always. A lot of the cowboys I encounter prefer the look to the real deal.”

  “Is that right?” Jared took a bite.

  “Yep.” Hope put her hand on her beer bottle. “And I’m not making fun of you by any means. I really do like it. Unfortunately, it’s a rare trait these days.”

  “Not in my family,” he told her. “My father would tan my hide if I didn’t treat a woman with respect.”

  Hope’s cheeks turned a pretty shade of pink.

  “Why’re you blushin’?” he inquired.

  “I was wonderin’ if your daddy would consider what we just did respectful.”

  Jared dropped his gaze to his food. Now he was the one blushing, and wasn’t that just stupid. He did not blush.

  “Again,” Hope said, “not making fun. I’m actually lookin’ forward to doin’ it again. Soon.”

  It was a close call, but he managed not to choke on his steak. “Good to know.”

  “Since we seem to be doin’ things backwards, tell me about yourself.”

  “What do you wanna know?”

  “You said you were raised in El Paso. You’ve got four brothers, one sister, all younger. I’m assumin’ your folks are still alive because you mentioned your father in present tense.”

  “They are,” he confirmed. He remembered his first trip to the ranch, when they’d had a brief but somewhat personal conversation. “You’ve got a good memory.”