by Em Petrova
To hell with slow.
He grabbed her jeans and whipped them off her. They caught at her ankles, and he groaned with frustration at having to remove her boots and socks. For extra convenience, when the time came, he kicked his off too.
Sadie gave him a pleading look that sent his heart thundering the same as the hooves of that runaway horse.
He grabbed her ankles and wrapped them around his neck. She cried out, angling her body for him to eat her pussy now, and he helped her by cupping that luscious ass and levering her toward his mouth.
Her swollen pussy dripped with juices, and his mouth watered at the sight. Her scent drove him into a fever, and his cock gave a heavy pulse, threatening him that if he didn’t get the appendage involved soon, it would be a mutiny.
You’ll get your turn, he said to his dick.
You haven’t used me enough lately, so get busy.
Lowering his mouth, he trapped her pussy lips. She moaned and grabbed at his hair, twisting the strands the way she’d done the covers. The tug against his skull only fueled his fires, and he sank his tongue between her lips, into her warm, wet folds.
She tightened her calf muscle along his neck and towed him closer. As if he needed more encouragement.
Get your tongue out of her pussy and put me in her instead.
Shut up, dick. I’ll get to you when I say it’s time.
Which might be sooner if he wanted to blow his load inside her sweet body rather than in his briefs.
He sank his tongue deep, burrowing through her folds to her entrance and breaching the tightness. She squeezed around him. Juices coated his tongue and he growled with pleasure at her response to him.
He could eat her all day.
No, you won’t. Remember me? Nine inches long? Heavy balls? In your jeans right now instead of—
SHUT. UP.
He danced his tongue in and out of her pussy, bringing moan after moan to her lips. Then he lapped upward to latch onto her clit.
Sucking the hard pearl until it strained on his tongue.
Finding the core and flicking it with the softest brushes of his tongue that would drive her up the schoolhouse walls.
Wagging his tongue back and forth, he drew on her, arching her into his hands and molding his tongue to fit her body—then her body to fit his tongue, applying pressure, suctioning his lips around her bud.
She exploded on a harsh cry that echoed through the high ceilings and swelled his ego—and his cock too.
How ‘bout now, champ? She came. Time for action.
Ignoring his dick, he spent the precious seconds with Sadie, bringing her down from her high with soft curls of his tongue and flicks through her folds. When he delved into her channel again, swiping his tongue against her walls to gather all her sweet flavors, he felt her tense with need once more.
This was how sex should be. Dirty, fun and delicious.
He only hoped he didn’t hurt her. As Dom said, she was fragile. And today he’d witnessed it with his own eyes when he stressed and scared her by chasing that runaway horse.
He stuck the point of his tongue into her drenched hole and then fucked it in deeper. She cried out and thumped a heel against his back.
Lifting his head, he shot his gaze to her hands and found them not twisted in the covers—but cupping her own breasts.
Jesus Christ, she was the sexiest woman alive.
Her eyes were pinched shut as she circled the tight pink buds with her fingertips. When she rolled them between thumbs and forefingers, he thought he’d lose his goddamn mind.
He settled his tongue in her pussy again and licked from hole to clit, through her springy curls to lower belly and all the way up to her breasts. She released her hold on one nipple and pulled his head down to suck it.
Which he did—and now he didn’t know if he could stop.
He worshiped her tight pink bud, the wider areola, her undercurve and cleavage. If he left an inch of her un-kissed, touched or tasted, then he’d regret it.
His dick jerked in his jeans, demanding to be heard, but he battled against his own bursting need and moved to capture Sadie’s lips.
She gasped at the tender brush of his mouth. He reared back to stare into her eyes.
Then he slammed his mouth over hers again. Claiming, stealing all her noises for himself and applying pressure with his thumb on her chin to force her mouth wider, wider, to take his tongue.
She raked her nails over his spine, and he grated out a moan at the sensation of her marking him with those nails he remembered were painted in a pale pink…almost the same hue as her nipples.
Christ, he’d never look at her hands the same way again.
She hooked her legs around his hips, bringing her wet pussy against the bulge of his fly. “Take me,” she rasped between deep passes of his tongue. “Take me, Theo.”
Now? his dick asked.
Now.
He shoved to his knees to tear off his clothes and stretch a condom over his thick length. She watched with stars in her eyes and her tongue running slowly, distractingly, enticingly, over her bottom lip.
With his blood roaring in his ears, he scooped her off the mattress into his arms. Still on his knees, he brought her flush against his body, her breasts crushed to his chest and her wet pussy snug against his swollen cock head.
She grinned at him before he kissed her, and he felt his own smile spread over her lips. She wrapped her legs around him—her arms too—and he dropped back onto his heels, cock jutting in the perfect position for her to slide over.
She did. Christ, did she. Inch by inch, she lowered herself over his cock until his balls snugged against her body.
The intimate position, with her seated on his lap and wrapped around him this way, eye to eye, made his heart give a hard flip.
Just as he knew she would if given the control, she began to move, using her hold on him to shimmy up and down, and he felt his body stiffen.
Electricity, chemistry…hell, whatever was between them, he wanted more of it.
He cupped her ass and lifted her up, watching her as she sank over his cock once more. They moved fast and slow, rocking and pushing and pulling against each other, until he saw the light shimmer in her eyes that told him she was about to come.
His own release hung in suspension for a long, breathless moment. As he watched Sadie shatter, he kissed her, churned his hips—and came with more force than he had in his life.
* * * * *
To say the next day Sadie couldn’t walk was an exaggeration. Of course she could walk—she only felt the small twinges of being wholly, thoroughly loved when she did.
Her thigh muscles had been given a workout when she used them to slide herself up and down on Theo’s thick, hard…
Well, she didn’t have time to think about that. She was on her way to see her first client here in Crossroads.
Jada had hooked her up with the woman’s name and number after talking up Sadie’s business. Even though her list of to-dos once settling in Crossroads was going to hell, and she didn’t yet have a finished home or her life in any semblance of order, she couldn’t pass up the chance to work.
Using her GPS to navigate the unfamiliar roads, she arrived a few minutes early at the old brick structure. Two stories, with a roof that looked to have seen better years…decades?...with fading paint and landscaping that had far overgrown the windows and the flowerbeds they were originally planted in. Sadie hadn’t sat in her car more than two seconds before her mind formulated several changes she’d make.
She got out of her truck and walked up to the front door. A thirty-something woman opened it with a smile and a thick syrupy drawl that would put most Southern ladies to shame.
“I’m Reagan Kennedy. Named after the Presidents.”
“Nice to meet you. Sadie James.” She shook the woman’s hand. “Great location you’ve got here. When did you buy the house?”
“It was my uncle’s. He left it to my mother in his will when he died
, but she doesn’t know what to do with it. I said it would fetch more cash on the market if we fixed it up a little bit. I spoke with Jada at her restaurant, and she said you did this sort of thing back in Dallas?”
“That’s right.” She gave Reagan her professional smile and waved to the front of the house. “It looks a little outdated from the street. One thing that helps is curb appeal.”
Reagan nodded, sending her bleach-blonde Southern girl curls bouncing on her shoulders. “Oh yes, I watch all the home improvement shows on TV. I know about curb appeal.”
She’d heard this before, and while a lot of people had good results from DIY, Reagan asked for a professional the same way she found a surgeon to remove her gall bladder. Bottom line? She could help this seller.
“Okay, let’s have a look around outside and you can share your ideas with me,” she told Reagan.
They walked into the yard and discussed all the problems Sadie mentioned. She’d learned early on not to share her ideas with clients, because it was giving away the milk before buying the cow. Sure, that saying referred to sexual encounters, but it pertained to interior design too.
She jotted some notes in her phone and then Reagan showed her indoors. The place sported old paneling, scratched floors that revealed the former uncle had owned a dog with overly long toenails, and outdated bathrooms and kitchen.
“I don’t think this place needs totally gutted, but a few things would help for sure. Getting rid of this wall, for one.” While her rule to never give too much away for free was a good one to stick to, she also found dropping hints such as this removal of the wall often made clients buy into her ideas.
After the visit, with many new ideas bouncing through her mind, Sadie shook Reagan’s hand again and traded phone numbers with her. Reagan said she’d be in touch, and Sadie gave her a smile and a wave on the way to her truck.
Bouncing into her seat behind the wheel again, she smiled. It felt good to be back in the game. In fact, for the first time since before Jackson died and her world flipped upside down, she felt closest to her old self.
She had a cute new hometown to feed the explorer in her. Great friends in Dom and Jada. Her schoolhouse was maybe the best buy of her life—better than those vintage Tony Lama boots she snagged at a flea market in Dallas.
And then there was Theo.
Whenever her thoughts even brushed the edges of the sex they had, her insides turned hot and clenching. There was one problem, though. Dirty-hot fun sex she was on board for. Intense, look-into-my-eyes-as-you-come sex? She was far from ready. Years from now, sure. She still had dreams of a family and hugging a husband when he arrived home from work.
But now? No way—and not with Theo. The cowboy might be great in bed—okay, fantastic—but he also worked on a ranch with big, dangerous, unpredictable animals. Something she promised herself she’d never want in her life again.
She shook her mind out of the knot it continued to try to pick apart. It was only sex. Nobody asked her to settle down or get serious. She was a young woman who didn’t mind a romp in the back of a truck now and then. Theo just happened to have the bonus of being hot as sin and a great lover.
When he left her around ten o’clock last night, and several orgasms later, he promised to return tonight to help with the start of those walls she wanted to add. She tried to suppress the butterflies that hatched in her stomach at the thought of seeing him again.
She located the hardware store and purchased paint and supplies. Then she stopped at Meyers Supermarket with the cute small-town touch of red and white banners crisscrossing the parking lot and flapping in the Georgia breeze. As she shopped for food that would fit into her small dorm fridge she picked up secondhand from a garage sale, she found herself thinking of what Theo might enjoy eating.
Dang it. This was one of her biggest fears. She liked taking care of a man. Cooking dinner for him and seeing his satisfied smile afterward and rubbing his shoulders when they were locked up with tension were only two of the things she missed about having a man in her life.
But Theo wasn’t that man. Never could be, in her book. Sure the confidence he carried himself with hit all the soft, willing spots in her body, and a smoldering look from him had her on fire, but she would never put herself into a situation that would leave her heartbroken again.
She passed up the steaks she knew he’d prefer to eat and instead purchased a small pack of chicken for herself.
But she loved steak too, dammit. She didn’t need to buy it for Theo’s sake.
She turned her shopping cart around and bought the steak. Two strip steaks would provide her at least two meals, she mentally argued. She didn’t need to take care of Theo by feeding him.
But she knew if he stripped off her clothes tonight, she wouldn’t turn him away.
She bit down on her lip to hold in the fizzle of excitement.
* * * * *
The damn kid was more trouble than Theo wanted or needed.
He jumped in his truck, thinking he should call Sadie and tell her he couldn’t work on the schoolhouse tonight because he was so far behind with chores on the ranch.
When he discovered Jordy missing, he thought the kid had cut and run. At first, Theo thought it might be for the best—then he realized what a dark, selfish turn his thoughts were taking, shook himself and started a search.
He looked in every hayloft and behind each stack of feed on the ranch. The thought of Jordy on his own in the world, without the basic necessities of life such as food and shelter, pained him.
After searching the entire morning, he’d almost given up. Then he looked across the field and spotted movement in the trees. There, he’d found Jordy waking from a late sleep.
At the moment he discovered the boy, he understood his parents a hell of a lot better. He wanted to pull the kid into a hug and then cuff him in the ear.
In the end, he yanked him in for a hug, roughly palming his head while warning him to stay out of trouble.
As he drove toward the schoolhouse, his mind clouded with the list of work he’d neglected this morning, which still needed caught up. If he didn’t get that shipment of feed put up by tomorrow, Cort wouldn’t be happy with him. Other neglected chores that were his sole responsibility formed in his mind, and for a minute, he thought about turning around and heading back to the ranch.
He didn’t have Sadie’s number, but he could get it easy enough by calling Dom. Of course, then his buddy would be asking a lot of questions, and Theo never was good at being put on the spot. At the party, he didn’t have a damn clue how to lie to his friend and keep from blurting out the truth—he and Sadie slept together.
Twice now.
He closed his eyes for a second, seeing her glorious and naked and burning for him. Then he opened them and focused on the road.
Today, he had to keep his hands to himself.
He couldn’t sleep with her. He had work to do, and he needed to find Jordy a better living situation—as soon as possible.
But the second he pulled up in front of the schoolhouse and saw her outside bent over with a measuring tape, Theo’s gut clenched.
She wore loose sweats and a baggie T-shirt, a switch from her country girl attire of jeans, fitted top and boots. He froze in his seat, unable to move as she bent over to measure what seemed to be the dimensions for the sidewalk, and then reached into a box, pulled out a metal post and pounded it into the ground as a marker.
When she finished, she turned, hammer in hand, to peer at him seated behind the wheel of his truck. His cock already throbbed.
He got out and every step toward her was blurred with anticipation of gliding his hands over her, feeling her curves slipping under the cotton.
He steeled himself, thinking of all the responsibilities that came before his own pleasure.
But do they come before mine? his dick asked.
Jesus Christ, stop hounding me.
Sadie threw him a smile and wave. “You’re early.”
Fu
ck, he wanted to stay and help her but if he did, he’d be pounding something besides stakes into the ground.
He closed the gap between them as if her body was a magnet his couldn’t stay away from. Her beautiful face, her hair pulled back in a messy, careless fashion both gripped at him like her hands twisted into those covers.
You’re not going to leave.
He didn’t respond to his dick’s comment. Why the hell did he ever hold a conversation with it in the first place?
She gave him an expectant smile.
“I only came by to tell you I can’t work on the walls with you today. I got behind on some chores and need to be at the Bellamy.” He blurted all this while thinking about how he’d first pull her near, then kiss her and undress her.
And suck her pretty little nipples and make her scream.
She tipped her head, which caused her updo to wobble on the back of her head. “That’s okay. I have other things to do around here. We can start tomorrow.”
He swallowed, throat dry as he noted how she dipped her stare over him in the same way he eyed her right now.
Her gaze flicked back up to his, and he experienced that jolt of electric current.
“I can help you lay out the rest of the sidewalk. If you want, that is.” What was he doing? He didn’t have spare time.
“Right now? I thought you said you have work to do. Oh, I just realized you don’t have my number. You can call next time.”
Hell, was she dismissing him? No way.
“Give me your phone and I’ll enter my contact.”
He handed it over.
She arched a brow. “No passcode or thumb ID?”
“No.”
She smiled. “Trusting guy. Okay.”
He watched her as she entered her name and number into his phone. When she handed it back to him, he thought to only take it—but then he closed his hand around hers.
Her head snapped up.
He didn’t release her, only stood staring into her eyes.
“Theo,” she said on a shiver.
He yanked her in. She braced a hand on his chest but instead of shoving him away, she twisted the cloth and went on tiptoe.