Riding High

by Vicki Lewis Thompson

  “Are you sure? We sat at the end. We didn’t even use that part of the table.”

  “Yeah, right there.” He moved a chair aside to give her access.

  She came over and peered at the area he’d indicated. “Maybe there is something left over from another meal. Oh, and FYI, buttoning your shirt would be a good thing, too. You still look like a Playgirl centerfold.”

  “Think so, huh?”

  “I’ll bet you’re doing it on purpose to get me hot.” Leaning over the table, she scrubbed at the nearly invisible spot he’d pointed out.

  He coughed to cover a moan. “Is it working?” He unbuttoned his jeans.

  “I’ll never tell.”

  “Let’s see.” Stepping closer, he caught her around the waist.

  “Hey!”

  He slid his free hand neatly under the waistband of both her sweats and panties.

  Her breath caught. “I thought we agreed to...Regan...”

  “What, Lily?” Pulling her against the erection straining the zipper of his jeans, he thrust his fingers deep. She was slick and hot. Ready.

  “Work.”

  “We will.” He breathed in the scent of her hair and the musk of her arousal. “This won’t take long.”

  “That’s what you think.” She gulped for air as he continued to probe her heat. “Once you get me back in that bedroom, we’ll be in there for—”

  “We’re not going back to the bedroom.”

  “Then where are we going?”

  “Right here. If we stay out of the bedroom, we’ll be fine.” He stroked faster. “Come for me, pretty lady.”

  “You’re...crazy.” She braced her hands on the table and widened her stance. “But that feels so...good.”

  “Thought you’d like it.” Closing his eyes against the intense pressure in his groin, he pumped rapidly until she began to whimper and tighten around his fingers. “Let go,” he murmured.

  “I... Yes, there. There!” Gasping, she came, massaging his fingers with each contraction.

  Gritting his teeth against the demands of his own body, he stayed with her until her tremors subsided. Then he slowly withdrew.

  Hands still braced on the table, her face hidden by her curtain of red hair, she took a shaky breath. “Great for me. Not so great for you.”

  “It will be. Stay right there.” Quickly unzipping and shoving his jeans and briefs down, he rolled on one of the two condoms he’d stuffed in his pocket when he went after the shirt. From now on, he planned to have one with him at all times.

  Then he drew her sweats and panties down, exposing her creamy backside, which was also dusted with cinnamon and nutmeg. He longed to kiss her there, but this episode wasn’t about leisurely kisses. There would be other times. Many other times.

  She sucked in a breath. “Regan?”

  “Lean over,” he murmured. “Arch your back and raise your hips.” He nearly came when she did as he asked, resting her upper body on the table and presenting him with an exotic view of his destination—pink, glistening and blatantly inviting him inside.

  He certainly planned to accept that invitation, but the angle was different and he didn’t want to hurt her. Breathing hard from the effort to maintain control, he grasped her hips, eased partway in and paused.

  She moaned softly.

  “Did I hurt you?”

  “No. I want more.”

  He gave her that and fought to hold back his climax. Sweat beaded on his chest.

  “More. I want it all, mister.”

  He sank in up to the hilt and groaned at the pure pleasure of it. He swallowed. “Still okay?”

  “This is amazing.”

  She sounded surprised. Hadn’t she ever tried it this way before? “But surely you’ve—”

  “He...he wasn’t built like you. So it was...anticlimactic.”

  Regan smiled. All righty, then. His ego had been stroked, but not his impatient cock. It wanted to move. “Tell me if this is okay.” He drew back and slid forward again.

  “Outstanding. More of that.”

  “How about this?” He initiated a steady rhythm.

  “Oh, yeah.”

  “Faster?”

  “Oh, please, yes.”

  As he picked up the pace, she began to pant and urge him on. He didn’t need much urging. His thighs slapped against hers in a frantic tempo amplified by bare walls and floors.

  “I’m coming! Oh, Regan, I’m coming!”

  Her wild cries and the undulation of her hot channel hurled him over the edge. He surged into her with a bellow of surrender. Locked tight against her firm bottom, he shuddered and moaned as his cock kept pumping. It was the most intense orgasm of his life.

  Neither of them moved. He knew he should. He’d planned for this to be short and sweet. Timewise it might qualify as short, but no way had it been sweet. Sweet was lollipops and roses, unicorns and rainbows, kittens and puppies. This coupling had been black velvet, bloodred wine and the low wail of a saxophone. This was sex in its most earthy, sensual, primitive form. And he wanted more of it.

  While she remained stretched out against the smooth tabletop, she drew in a shaky breath. “Wow. Way to sabotage a work schedule.”

  He smiled. “Couldn’t help it.” Then the smile became a chuckle, and the chuckle morphed into a belly laugh.

  “That feels very strange, Regan, since you’re still...you know...connected to me. It’s sort of vibrator-ish.”

  He laughed harder. “Is it turning you on?”

  “It might if I hadn’t just had a peak orgasmic experience, but my private parts are currently in a state of shock and awe.”

  He couldn’t seem to stop laughing. She had a way with words, this girl genius. He supposed that went with the high IQ. “Want me to disconnect so you can recover?”

  “I may never recover my dignity. Dear Lord. Bent over a dining room table and taken from behind. What next?”

  “Is that a question or a challenge?”

  “I’ll let you decide. But you probably should let me get up before I dislocate something.”

  “Okay.” Reluctantly he started easing away from paradise.

  “Wait.”

  He paused.

  “Promise me something first.”

  “Good timing. I’m in the mood to promise you anything.”

  “This one’s easy. Don’t look.”

  “At what?”

  “Me! Bent over the table in this unflattering position!”

  “I find it extremely flattering.”

  “Maybe before, when you were filled with lust, but I doubt you will now. So promise me you’ll close your eyes, turn around and head for the bathroom. Okay?”

  He hesitated. “That’s a lot to ask of a guy who’s all about visual stimulation.”

  “You don’t need any more of that. We have work to do. Promise you’ll close your eyes?”

  “Sure. I’ll close my eyes.” He hadn’t said when.

  “Good. By the time you get back, I’ll be presentable.”

  “All right.” He reluctantly backed away. But he sure as hell looked his fill before he left. He could talk until he was blue in the face and never convince her that men enjoyed different visuals from women.

  Oh, yeah. He wasn’t about to miss that. Surely there wasn’t a prettier sight than her freckled bottom, so rosy from the incredible sex they’d just enjoyed. Below that, peeking out seductively, were the moist pink folds of her sex, still swollen with arousal. Any man would remember that sight for the rest of his life. And he was no exception.

  * * *

  LILY SUSPECTED REGAN hadn’t honored her request not to look. Her first clue was his soft hum of appreciation after he’d slid out of her. Her second clue was his
heartfelt sigh as he walked away. Her third clue was when he started whistling in the bathroom.

  He was one happy guy, and come to think of it, she was one happy woman. Too bad he’d shot the timetable all to hell. But once she’d peeled herself off the table, pulled up her pants and walked slightly bowlegged into the kitchen, she was astounded to discover that they weren’t so far off schedule, after all. Who would have thought you could pack so much pleasure into so little time?

  And oh, the pleasure. She’d never considered herself a hedonist, but a man like Regan could make her reconsider her position. That cowboy knew how to ride. In any position.

  Even better, he had the equipment to take that ride to the next level. She’d never been so thoroughly massaged, inside and out. She’d told him that she couldn’t be aroused again so soon after such an all-encompassing episode. Apparently that wasn’t true, because as she stood in the kitchen, she wanted him again.

  Speak of the devil. In he walked, looking fresh as a daisy with his shirt buttoned and tucked into his jeans. No one would ever know what he’d recently been doing at the dining table. “Ready to do some horse training?”

  But anybody who looked at her would guess she’d been had, thoroughly and with gusto. She gazed at him. “You know how women are always saying that guys have it easy when it comes to peeing in the woods?”

  “Do they say that?”

  “Trust me, they do. Because it’s true, if you think about it.”

  “I suppose it’s true. But how does this apply to our current situation? If you’re proposing a hike in the woods, or a campout, I don’t think that’s in the cards. We have too many responsibilities.”

  He was cute. She had to give him that. “I was merely making the point that men also have it easier when they have sex. Everything’s sort of contained in one place, and once they zip up again, they’re golden. Women, on the other hand, tend to feel sort of squishy and in need of a hot shower afterward.”

  His dark gaze was gentle. “By all means take a hot shower, Lily. Meet me down at the corral whenever you’re ready.”

  “I didn’t want to wuss out on you.”

  He smiled. “You aren’t wussing. I’m the one who convinced you we had time for sex, remember? You wanted to get right to work.”

  “And boy, did I hold on to my resolve. Did you notice how tough I was? You really had to labor at changing my mind about having sex. It took at least five seconds.”

  He closed the gap between them and combed her hair back from her face. “I love that about you. You want me and you don’t care if I know it.”

  “I used to care. At first I did everything I could to hide my reaction to you.”

  “But the important thing is that you don’t hide anything from me now.”

  “No, I depend on your chivalrous nature not to look at things I’d rather you didn’t see.” She batted her eyelashes at him, daring him to confess.

  “I looked.”

  “Hell, I know you did! I could tell! I hate thinking that you’ll carry that picture around in your head for God knows how long.”

  “I’ll remember it forever.”

  She groaned. “Great. Etched in Regan O’Connelli’s brain forever—Lily King’s freckled fanny and her recently enjoyed feminine parts. Lovely.”

  “They were. Both enjoyed and lovely.” He stroked her scalp with his fingertips. “If I let myself dwell on the image too long, I’ll drag you into the bedroom, after all.”

  She tamped down her immediate response to that. If she let him know that she still wanted him, too, they would never get to the training. “We have to exercise some control.”

  He gazed into her eyes. “I know that. I’m not losing sight of what we have to accomplish for the sake of those horses out there.”

  “Good. Neither am I.”

  “So we’ll go work for a few hours. But eventually we’ll have to give up, because the corral isn’t lighted.”

  “Should I consider that?”

  “Not at this point. Installing lighting would be a major disruption. The lines should be underground, so you’d have all kinds of equipment in here. I doubt a construction crew would be able to finish the project in time to do us any good.”

  “So when it’s dark, we’re done?”

  He smiled. “With the horse training, yes. I’ll bet we can find some other projects to occupy our time.”

  “I don’t know what’s left on the list. Oral sex, check. Missionary position, check. Doggy style, check.”

  Heat flickered in his dark eyes. “I’m sure we can come up with a few other variations. You’re the brainy one. Set your mind to it.”

  “Not a good idea. I can’t be thinking about sex with you and learning to train horses at the same time. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re not too good at multitasking.”

  “Then we’ll have to explore the options together, won’t we?” His gaze dropped to her mouth. “We’ll have several hours to do that tonight. I’m sure we can think of some way to entertain ourselves.”

  “You’re a naughty boy, Regan O’Connelli. You know perfectly well I won’t be able to forget about sex now. If I’m not effective with the horses, it’s your fault.”

  “You’ll be effective with the horses.” He dropped a quick kiss on her lips. “Compartmentalize. Horses for the next two hours. Sex after that. Now go take your shower, and think of me while hot water is streaming over your amazing, responsive body. Imagine my hands rubbing your—”

  “Stop it!” Laughing, she pushed him away. “Go out to the barn, and don’t think of me in the shower. It could be dangerous.”

  “You’ve got that right.” He winked at her. “Don’t do anything in that shower that I wouldn’t do.” Plucking his hat from the counter, he settled it on his head before sauntering out the back door.

  Lily found the willpower not to call him back by reminding herself how much the horses needed his help. Yes, she also had to learn how to work with them, but this week the burden of the training would fall on him because he was more experienced and therefore more efficient. If she didn’t make it out to the corral for another fifteen minutes, the world wouldn’t come to an end.

  Normally fifteen minutes was more than enough time for her to take a hot shower. But Regan had awakened a more sensual Lily, a Lily who might just decide to grab a little personal enjoyment while she was in the shower. He’d warned her not to do anything he wouldn’t do, which left lots of room to maneuver.

  13

  REGAN HAD PLENTY of practice at compartmentalizing. He’d used the technique to wall off thoughts about Jeannette while he’d taken the necessary steps to leave Virginia and relocate in Wyoming. But that wall was developing some serious cracks.

  As he walked to the barn to pick up a lead rope, Lily was on his mind for obvious reasons, but Jeannette was there, too. After such explosive sex with Lily, he had to face the truth. He and Jeannette had never had that kind of chemistry. Sure, they’d enjoyed the experience. He had some good memories of sex with her. But none of them compared with today’s total sensual immersion.

  He thought back over the last couple of months he’d spent with his ex-fiancée and reluctantly admitted he’d let their sex life grow stale. He’d planned to spice things up after discovering that he wouldn’t be spending Christmas Eve delivering a valuable foal, after all, but that had been an afterthought. Too little, too late. Jeannette very well could have felt neglected and unappreciated. He hadn’t wanted to accept any blame for what had happened, but he might want to rethink that position.

  He began to remember little things—the sexy nightgown that he’d barely noticed because he’d been exhausted from an all-night vigil with a sick thoroughbred. The candlelight dinner he’d missed when a high-earning stud ate some moldy grain and almost died.

  Jeannette
had assured him she understood, and he’d believed her. After all, she’d been raised in the world of thoroughbred racing and he’d become the vet of choice for her parents’ stable as well as others in their exclusive circle.

  But he should have found a way to make it up to her for those little disappointments. He could have been much better at letting her know that he cared. He had cared, but in a low-key, comfortable, take-her-for-granted kind of way. Ugh. No wonder she’d been tempted by Drake.

  That didn’t excuse Drake, though. Regan wasn’t cutting that guy any slack. He’d moved in on his best friend’s fiancée, and a friend just didn’t do that. They’d all known each other since freshman year in college, for God’s sake. He and Drake had decided within weeks of meeting in a biology class that someday they’d open a clinic together in Virginia and specialize in thoroughbreds.

  Drake had introduced Regan to Jeannette that first semester, too, and the three of them had been inseparable. If she’d cheated with someone else, anyone else, Regan wouldn’t have reacted with such fury. He’d thought he could trust the guy with his life, but he hadn’t even been able to trust him with the woman Regan had planned to marry.

  A horse nickered, pulling him out of his dark thoughts. He found himself standing in the barn, fists clenched and jaw tight, wondering what he’d come down there for. Oh, yeah. A lead rope so he could catch himself a horse to train. Might as well grab two ropes and get both horses in the corral at once.

  The barn was empty except for Sally, who was the one who’d called to him from her stall at the far end. She probably hoped he’d let her out so she could continue snacking on Lily’s house. “Sorry, old girl. You’re in a time-out for now.”

  A rope looped over each shoulder, he headed out of the barn into the sunlight. His shades were clipped to the visor in his truck, and he’d decided to leave them there. Lily thought they were a sign of his secret anguish, so he’d be damned if he’d keep wearing them when she was around.

  He didn’t want to, anyway. They interfered with his full appreciation of Lily walking through sunbeams, her hair glowing like fire. Damn, wasn’t that poetic? She had that effect on him, inspiring him to think in ways that were totally new to him. He’d never had thoughts like that about Jeannette, and he realized now that a guy should be entranced by the woman he intended to spend his life with.