“Wow, how does a person develop such exquisite talent as a master manipulator?” Juliana murmured as she watched Brenda tear up for her date’s benefit.
Ethan shook the cowboy’s hand again and spoke a few admonishing words to Brenda before leaving them at the bar ordering drinks. Next he sought out Kendall Warner who was talking with two men who had just come in. Ethan stayed there for a moment, talking with Jack’s cousin and shaking the men’s hands, and then checked in with the bouncers before returning to his table.
Juliana glanced at Grace, trying to gauge her reaction. She didn’t look happy as she turned when Adam whispered in her ear. She nodded and laid her head on his shoulder.
Ethan placed his hand on Grace’s shoulder, caressing her. “Her date is new in town. His name is Gil James, and he’s working out at the Rockin’ C. He met her at O’Reilley’s when he was eating lunch with Kendall and the boys. Kendall and his bosses, Chance and Clay Carlisle, said he was a stand-up guy and vouched for him. I explained to Gil what happened at the house and at Stigall’s, and you saw how she played it. I told him she could stay as long as she was with him and minded her manners. He seems like a nice guy.”
Grace didn’t look happy about it, but she seemed to accept what Ethan said. This was Grace’s territory, and it was a hard situation.
Juliana shook her head, turning to Ethan. “I’m surprised she returned, Ethan, after the public humiliation she received when Hank escorted her out of the store in handcuffs the other day. I would’ve thought she’d never show her face in Divine again.”
Ethan rubbed his shoulder and nodded thoughtfully. “After what happened last June, I don’t trust innocent appearances like I used to. Someone who is innocent proves it with their actions, not with coy, well-placed words and looks. She’s back for a reason, and if that’s the case, I’d rather have her where I can keep an eye on her. She played it as a simple misunderstanding, but I don’t think he bought it.”
Grace looked up at Ethan and nodded silently, smiling as Ethan drew her from Adam’s lap.
“Come on, Gracie, I need a dance with you.”
She let him lead her away to the dance floor. No one could look at Grace when she was with her men and doubt that she was soul-deep in love with them. She snuggled close to him and allowed him to lead her into a dance.
Juliana watched Brenda as she seated herself at Kendall Warner’s table. She flirted shamelessly with Gil, probably trying to make up lost ground, but Juliana also observed Brenda watching Ethan on the dance floor with Grace, a sharp, pinched look on her face that she hid quickly. Then Brenda surveyed the crowd until she found Ash where he stood talking with Jack and Adam. Juliana didn’t miss the venomous look Brenda shot her way when she recognized her. Juliana gave her a smirk before turning away to talk with Rosemary and Bernadette.
Juliana disregarded Brenda and her attitude once it was clear she planned to behave herself and not cause any trouble. Juliana danced with Ash until her feet ached and she begged to be set free from her high heels.
Chapter Fourteen
Juliana laughed when Ash lifted her in his arms and carried her to her back door rather than let her walk. He used her sore feet and the unlikely chance that she might slip on ice on the driveway as his excuse to carry her.
“Far be it from me to deny my cowboy anything he wants.” She inserted her key in the lock.
“All this cowboy wants, besides getting you in where it’s warm, is to have you model what’s underneath that pretty little dress you have on,” he said as he strode through the dim house with her still in his arms.
“Give me a minute, and I’ll do that for you.”
He allowed her to slip away, and she went into the bathroom to brush her teeth and her hair. When she returned to her bedroom, she was impressed to find that he’d turned down the bed and lit the candles. He was big and tough, but she loved the considerate, romantic side of him, as well. She was coming to love an awful lot about him.
He was reclining against her headboard, his hat off, his shirt unbuttoned and untucked from his jeans. The golden candlelight flickered, creating dancing shadows on the wall, softly illuminating his chiseled features, chest, and abdomen. She stopped and took in the sight of him. Watching him as his eyes roamed over her, she felt warmed by his gaze.
He sat up and unzipped her dress for her then returned to his position on the bed. She noticed as he reclined again that the bulge at his groin had grown quite large. Stepping back with a seductive grin, she allowed the dress to slide slowly over her hips and legs and then stepped out of it, watching the tension grow in his features as she did.
Juliana stood for a moment gazing at him, clad in heels, stockings, garter and black lace push up bra and G-string. Ash twirled his finger as he sat up on the side of the bed, and she slowly turned for him, her breath catching when she felt his fingertips trace over her hip, gently squeezing her derriere.
Ash drew her to stand between his spread knees. Her breath left her in a rush when his fingertips slid up the backs of her thighs, gliding under the garter belt to grip each cheek of her ass. He brushed his lips over her abdomen.
She slid her fingers into his thick hair, and he tilted his head back and kissed the underside of her breasts. He held her as though she was precious to him, and it made her heart feel like it was swelling and throbbing.
She was barely aware of it when her bra and her garter belt came loose. His fingers were at the lace tops of her stockings, but she was too caught up in the feel of his lips and his facial hair against the sensitive flesh of her breasts. She moaned in anticipation when she felt his fingertips slide down the cleft of her ass, pulling her G-string aside to run a fingertip through the wet arousal between her thighs.
He lifted his face from her breasts, hooked the waist of her G-string in his fingers, and pulled it off quickly then groaned so deep it inspired orgasmic tremors in her cunt.
“Darlin’.”
He held her hips and looked his fill for a few moments, at her in her high heels and stockings.
As he gazed at her clad that way, with her breasts and mons bare, except for her neat patch of auburn curls, she felt a wave of boldness come over her. She trailed her fingertips over his cheek and reached into the night table drawer and withdrew a condom and the bottle of lubricant.
“I’ve wondered all night, since you asked me to model what was under my dress with my high heels on, if you’d treat me like a piece of fragile china, or if you might fuck me the way a man fucks a woman so she knows she belongs to him.”
As she said it, she turned and sauntered to the end of the plush king-size bed, placing the two items on the bed beside her. His eyes were riveted as she placed one hand then the other on the mattress then placed both knees spread wide apart on the end of the bed and knelt there in a sitting position until he rose and came around to her.
He bent down to kiss her as she leaned back and rested her head against his bulky shoulder, looking up at him as he fondled each breast with his work-roughened hands.
“You know what you’re asking for, darlin’?”
“To be fucked hard? Yes. I do.”
“Your wrist?”
“Healing fine. I can take whatever you can dish out, cowboy.”
“We’ll see.”
He thought she couldn’t handle his rough edges? She loved a challenge. Juliana could handle rough with him because she knew he’d never take it too far and would stop at the first word from her. She trusted him.
“Why don’t you break me in gently. We’ll see where we end up.”
She leaned forward and slid her forearms over the quilt, baring herself to him until she was resting on her elbows, the weight completely off her injured wrist.
He stood behind her for endless seconds as she took her time getting into position, smiling at what must be going through his mind as he watched her, dressed only in her stockings and high heels, her ass tilted up to him.
When she was in the perfect spot,
she then lowered her shoulders and cheek to the quilt. She arched her back in blatant invitation, her breath stuttering when she felt her pussy lips part with the action, making herself completely vulnerable for him.
Her thighs were already damp, and he could probably see her juices coating her pussy, which was clenching in needy contractions.
Moaning at the feel of his hand on her ass as it slid down to her slick pussy, she watched over her shoulder as he quickly shed his clothes, dropping them all around him in his haste. Her heart hammered as she heard the foil wrapper tear and the bottle of lubricant pop open. Ash groaned as he spread lubricant over his cock. “You’ve got me so hot, darlin’. I’m not going to be gentle with you at all.”
She bit her lip as his declaration caused more moisture to rush to her clenching pussy.
“Damn, darlin’.” His tongue suddenly made gluttonous contact with her cunt. “That’s exactly what you want, isn’t it? Want me to fuck you hard?”
“Yes!” she pleaded, an edge of desperation in her voice as she felt another spasm and wondered if she wasn’t experiencing a mini orgasm every time he opened his mouth. His tongue and lips played with her for a minute until she begged. He teased more juice from her, making her buck against his mouth, his mustache prickling and making her pussy even more sensitive.
“Want me to fill you full of my cock?”
“Yes, Ash, please!” she begged, wiggling her ass at him.
“Mmm, I love to lick this pussy. Know what I love even more?” he asked, sounding like he now stood behind her. She gasped harshly at the sudden presence of his thick cock at her clenching opening.
“Oh, baby, what?” She cried out as the tremors started deep in her cunt and vibrated outward to her lips, trying to grip him and draw him in.
He groaned loudly as though he felt her reaction to him. “I love fucking this pussy, darlin’.” He grasped her roughly and whipped his hips hard, slamming home in one hard stroke. She howled as her pussy spasmed wildly in orgasm around him. She tried to move on him, but he managed to hold her still. Her pussy quaked around his cock and the sensation of being dominated and held so she couldn’t get free made her struggle against him harder and come again, screaming in rapture.
“Stop moving! You’re so fucking tight. I don’t want to lose it yet.” He held her firmly until she calmed a little. Taking a few deep breaths, he loosened his grip a bit. His hands slid around her waist, stroking her abdomen as he pumped deep, grinding strokes into her. The storm built powerfully inside her again.
“You feel so good. I need you so much, honey. Don’t stop. I want it all.”
“Trust me?” he whispered roughly, his voice strained with his exertion.
“You know I do!”
His cock still pounded in hard strokes into her slick cunt as his fingers slid through her juices then to her asshole. She arched and cried out, her hair fluttering around her as she moved against him.
“Easy. Not going to hurt you.”
“You didn’t scare me. You surprised me.”
The sensation of his callused fingers against the nerve-ending rich opening nearly sent her through the roof. She moaned when his light touch became a masterful stroke, and her body relaxed, his finger finally sliding in with a burning, naughty sense of intrusion.
“I promise I won’t hurt you, darlin’, but if you want me to give you everything, that’s going to include my cock in your sweet, snug little ass. Think you can handle that?”
She couldn’t think because he started pumping his finger into her ass with the same rhythm he used with his cock inside her pussy. There was no thinking, only feeling, at the moment.
“I’d make it good for you, if you’d trust me.”
“I’d love it. You’re so good to me.”
“How does it feel to have something stuck in your ass while I fuck your pussy?”
“Oooh! It feels like I’m being bad!” She moaned then suddenly giggled. “Like I’m being a very naughty, bad girl.”
“Oh, no. You’re a good girl, darlin’. Especially when you flaunted that beautiful ass and those long legs, offering yourself so perfectly to me. I thought I would explode just watching you get in position, and then you tilted this gorgeous little pussy up to me to take however I wanted.”
His finger twisted and stroked inside her then pulled out. She felt a few drops of the lubricant fall on her quivering asshole, and then his fingers were back.
He gripped her thigh with one hand and, using two fingers this time, pressed for entrance into her ass again. Ash pressed gently but persistently and slid into her burning asshole, slowly picking up the pace of his thrusting into her pussy.
She cried out at the pinching sensation as he breached the inner resistance with two fingers and then moaned at the arousal that flooded through her bottom, joining with the intense pleasure his stroking was creating in her pussy until it all blended together.
Her body convulsed under his, and her orgasm slammed into her with blinding intensity. She rode each wave until her world narrowed down to nothing more than the sensation of his cock thrusting in hard, pounding strokes along with his fingers.
Finally, he stiffened and roared his own release, and she could feel the twitching of his cock as his cum poured out in hot streams. He grasped her firmly, breathing hard even after the last pulse of his orgasm had faded.
Eventually, his grip loosened, and he traced his fingertips lightly over her back and hips until he finally groaned and withdrew from her, sounding reluctant to do so. Whispering quietly to her, he helped her up into the bed and under the covers. The room had grown a little chilly, and she looked up at him drowsily as he tucked the covers around her.
“Won’t you stay, Ash?”
“If that’s what you’d like, darlin’. But I’ll have to get up early. I’ll go clean up and be right back.”
She did her best to stay awake but was barely aware by the time he returned to the bed, pulling her to him, with her back against his chest.
* * * *
Ash stroked her cheek and her temple, smiling as she drifted to sleep. The candles had all gone out, and he should have been asleep an hour ago. Instead he was wide awake, watching her. Moonlight filtered in through her windows, illuminating her skin, making her appear even more fragile and beautiful.
Breathing deep, he remembered how she’d lowered her shoulders to the bed in submission, something he was sure didn’t come naturally to her. She’d tipped her ass up so he could clearly see her little pussy, glistening in the candlelight. Her hips had undulated, and more of her juices had flowed for him, a treat he’d been unable to resist. Her quivering pussy had been luscious like the flesh of a ripe peach. He’d plundered her, pushed her hard, and she’d trusted him. It was that trust that now kept him awake.
He loved her. He’d probably fallen in love with her Christmas night, impressed with her fierce loyalty to a man who had not earned it. She’d stood up to him and told him off, even though he’d only wanted what was best for her.
He loved the fire in her eyes and the way she cared about her friends and her family at the store. Juliana was an others-centered kind of person, sometimes to her detriment. He had noticed a shift in her recently. Juliana didn’t talk as much about the store and its workings and seemed to have relaxed some.
He whispered as he stroked her cheek, “You’re everything in this world to me, darlin’. You take your time, but I hope you come to love me as much as I love you.”
Nestling his head behind hers, Ash pressed his lips to the back of her neck so that he could sleep with her womanly fragrance filling his senses and drifted off, curled around her.
Chapter Fifteen
The rest of January and the beginning of February passed in a blur for Juliana. Between after-Christmas chores and promotions and preparing for inventory, she had not been able to further reduce her hours.
Leah persisted in doing away with the commission sales. Doug had finally taken the matter into hand and
made the decision for Juliana as was his right, since he owned the store. Then he’d announced it at a morning meeting to the whole store. Juliana had felt sick the entire time, watching her employees’ faces as they reacted to that news.
He’d tried to sweeten any negative feelings by giving raises where appropriate and increasing other benefits here and there. That didn’t make it any better for the employees like Teresa, who, until recently, had needed the commissions in order to survive. Juliana was certain Doug had just cost her the store’s best floater. Teresa now had no reason to stay.
Changing the pay structure had soured her on working for the Woodworths, even though she knew they were good people. Doug had intimated that he had other changes in the works that included her but hadn’t offered any details. She grew weary of the way he hinted but was never more forthcoming about his plans and where she fit into them.
Thinking about it made her feel exhausted all the time.
Ash regularly stopped in with lunch or sometimes brought her flowers. He defined stability in her life. The sound of his voice when she was stressed about work was all it took to ease her. And the sound of his spurs jingling as he walked through the store never failed to make her heart jump and her body to respond in excitement. Valentine’s Day was just such a day. Juliana stood in the open stock room doors talking with Leah when her ears pinpointed a telltale, metallic jingle.
“What is that sound?” Leah asked, turning to look in the stockroom and then scanning the sales floor.
That, dear heart, is the sound of guaranteed heart-stopping, pussy-pounding sex headed my way. How fortuitous that she was leaving for the day in less than five minutes. Ash had promised her a special Valentine surprise and had asked her to take the evening off. He turned the corner, sauntering toward her, bearing a bouquet of cheerful white daisies.
“Well, boss, enjoy your Valentine’s evening.” With a heartfelt sigh, she added, “I sure hope there’s another one like him somewhere out there for me.”
Box Set: The Divine Creek Ranch Collection, Volume 2 [Book 4 - Rosemary's Double Delight (MFM), Book 5 - Spurs and Heels (MF)] (Siren Publishing Romance Collection) Page 33