Teach Me The Ropes (Bachelor Auction Book 1)

by Vanessa Vale

  “How do I make you feel?” I asked, cutting to the most important part of what she said.

  She finally looked at me, her head tipped back. I saw the torment, the worry in her eyes. “It’s happening really fast.”

  “And yet you’re in my bed.”

  She glanced down at it, a little frown forming in her brow as if she were second guessing her bold presence.

  “I…. I—”

  “It’s not happening, sugar. It’s done. One look, and I knew.” Okay, so I wasn’t going to play it cool after all. She was... In. My. Bed. In my fucking bed. Naked. I went over to her, sat down on the mattress, shifted to face her. “There’s nothing to be afraid of in that. You should be reassured.”

  She pulled her mouth to the side as if considering. Hard.

  “I’m not going to drop you,” I added. “Ever. I’ll always catch you.”

  She shook her head slowly. “You’re a romantic.”

  I laughed then. “Again, you’re in my bed. Who’s the romantic one?”

  She rolled her eyes, and her mouth turned up in a smile.

  “You think Alice would let me be a dick to you?” I continued. “Think Huck would lock me up? Thatcher’d take me out into the south forty and shoot me.” I paused, wondering why he hadn’t earlier while we were out there for leaving her at the station.

  She didn’t say anything, but I saw that my self-deprecation made her eyes sparkle.

  “As for being a romantic? I think only with you. How about this? I want your body.” I let my gaze drop and rake over her, so mussed and perfect beneath my sheet. “I want to be in your body. If I could be inside you all day long, I would.” I reached out, picked up the spoon from the ice cream carton then dropped it. “I want all the ice cream cones with you.”

  She blushed and huffed out a laugh.

  “I’m not joking.”

  She flung herself at me. Fortunately, my balls were safe. She wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed the hell out of me. An oomph escaped, and she used my surprise for her tongue to find mine.

  My arms wrapped around her as the sheet fell to her waist. Her body was warm and lush beneath my palms.

  In an instant, I took over the kiss.

  Fuck, yes. She tasted of vanilla cream and every dark desire.

  Kelsey’d been willing before, but now… now she was right there with me. In. My. Bed.

  This was our first kiss. The real one where we were both in this thing together. It meant something. It was something.

  She lifted her head, blinked, then her eyes met mine filled with warmth and need. “I want all the ice cream cones with you, too.”

  I stroked her hair back. “Good.”

  “I’m not fixed, Sawyer.” Her soft breath fanned my cheek. “Being with you isn’t going to make my feelings change.”

  “Not right away. Over time,” I countered. “Bunky’s an asshole.”

  “With a broken nose,” she said.

  I smirked because I was very pleased with that, and her eyes held something that looked like glee.

  “You’ll learn being with me, as part of the Manning family, how much of a shit head he is. Then you’ll thank him.”

  She leaned back as if she’d thought I said we were moving to the moon. “Thank him?”

  I nodded and absently ran a finger over the line of her collarbone then lower to circle a nipple. It hardened before my eyes. “Yeah, we’ll add him to our holiday card list because he brought us together.”

  Her lips pursed, and she gave me a skeptical look. “My mother’s going to be a long-term problem.”

  I pulled my hand away, not wanting to talk about anyone’s mother while I played with her nipple.

  “She’s not going away. You can’t punch her in the nose.”

  “When she texts again—”

  “Which she will,” she added.

  “Then you’ll show it to me. We’ll talk it out. Not let it affect us.”

  “That simple?”

  I huffed out a laugh. “Family’s not simple, that’s for fucking sure. But like you protected me from Delilah, I’ll protect you, too.”

  “When you put it that way…”

  “It’s settled.”

  She laughed. “Just like that?”

  I shrugged, content. Fucking happy. “You’re in my bed where you belong.”

  She squirmed, her tits shifting, and my dick ached to get in her. To have no clothes separating us. We were halfway there.

  “This isn’t happily ever after,” she said. “Even if you do have puppies.”

  I wasn’t going to contradict her. I would prove her wrong in about fifty years. My parents' marriage had been solid. Sure, they had problems. Three boys who must’ve made them nuts. But I remembered them laughing. Kissing in the kitchen. My dad pulling my momma into a corner for a little more than a smooch. They’d had their happily ever after, even if it had been cut short.

  “Fine, then, happy for now,” I said instead. I’d take it one day at a time, and the two so far with this woman… well, it had been a fucking roller coaster, but it seemed I liked that kind of ride.

  She took some time to contemplate my words. “Happy for now is good. But I… I want my own place,” she blurted as her eyes met mine.

  I cocked my head. This was important to her. Even though I wanted to keep her right where she was, just as she was, it couldn’t happen. “Okay. You can be mine and still have your own apartment.”

  “Really?” she asked, clearly surprised.

  Yeah, we had work to do. “I get it. Your own space. Standing on your own two feet, especially after what happened.”

  “Exactly. Alice says I’m staying in the big house until then.”

  “Let me guess, she put you in Huck’s old room.”

  She frowned. “Yes, why?”

  “Because it’s on the ground floor, and she wanted you to sneak out and come here.”

  “She did not,” she countered, as if she couldn’t imagine Alice matchmaking.

  “She told you about Delilah and what she did in high school.”

  “Yeah.”

  I tipped my head and gave her a look that screamed, See?

  Her hand smacked my chest. She thought I was joking. “I mean it. You having your own bed doesn’t mean I won’t be sleeping in it. Or you tonight in mine.”

  She tipped her head, squinted up at me. “I guess that’s true.”

  “Being with me doesn’t make you anything like your momma, sugar,” I told her, reiterating this because like she said, her issues with the woman weren’t going to end just because she was in my arms… or bed. “I heard the preschool’s going to relocate to the community center for a while, so you have a job. Soon you’ll have your own place. Like you had in Colorado before Bunky, right?”

  She sighed. “Yes. I wasn’t this crazy then.”

  “You sure?” I asked, tipping her chin up.

  “You think I’m crazy?” I had been the night before, but now, when I had all the answers? No.

  “You’re in my bed. Just like Delilah was back in high school.”

  “I bought you to save you from Delilah,” she countered. “I just… need to be sure. If I don’t take a little time to be good at being me, then I’ll never know.”

  That made sense, and I respected her for it.

  She glanced away. “The fire scared me though. I’m actually really glad to be staying here at the ranch. But I guess the guy’s dead in that rollover.”

  “Earlier, I talked to one of the fire guys who went on the call,” I told her. “Besides your description of the car leaving the scene, there was other evidence he did it.”

  “But why?”

  I cupped her chin, made her look at me. “Huck will figure it out.”

  “Okay.”

  I dropped my hand. “Now, tell me about this plan of yours.”

  She blushed prettily. “My plan was for you to find me here.”

  “Then?”

  “That’s as
far as I got.”

  I licked my bottom lip. “Want some choices?”

  “Sure?” Her eyes dropped to my mouth, and the word came out as a whisper.

  “Do you want to come first from my fingers, mouth or dick?”

  “That’s what’s going to happen next?”

  I leaned forward, which had her falling onto her back. I set my hand beside her head and leaned over. “You coming, yes. Choose.”

  Her cheeks flushed, and I couldn’t miss the need in her eyes. “Dick. I want you right there with me.”

  Reaching down, I opened my jeans one handed, pulled my dick free. Fuck, that felt better. I stroked it from root to tip, once, then again. I hissed, my balls aching to be in her.

  “Gotta see if you’re ready for me first.”

  I’d always make sure she was right there with me.

  Her eyes flared as I kissed my way down her body. She parted her legs for me, and I found her wet. Her folds swollen, her clit poking out hard and eager for attention. I flicked my gaze up her delectable body, met her eyes. She watched me closely then gave me the perfect smile.

  Yeah, she was mine. It wasn’t going to be simple with Kelsey, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

  KELSEY

  I’d been insane to climb in his window. Insane to strip bare and raid ice cream from his freezer and wait. And wait. But I had to show him I wanted him. Wanted… us. I’d settled myself into the one place I’d fought so hard to be.

  The look on his face when he’d come in… priceless. He didn’t hate me. He hadn’t thrown me out. In fact, now, with his warm breath fanning the inside of my thigh, I believed everything he said. I was it for him.

  I was scared shitless, but I wasn’t going to let that keep me from being happy.

  And when his tongue flicked over my clit, I let my head fall back, my eyes close. When he got his fingers into me, I grabbed his hair. Held on.

  He’d never let me fall. He’d always catch me. With that thought in my head and Sawyer’s mouth on my pussy, I let go.

  Completely.

  I came on a breathy cry, the wicked curl of his finger over my g-spot and the ruthless skill of his tongue were my undoing.

  He kissed my thigh once, then pushed back, then climbed from the bed. He stripped, letting his clothes join mine on the floor. Shifting onto my knees, I crawled over to him, took a firm grip of his hard cock, and licked the tip like an ice cream cone.

  “Kelsey,” he practically snarled.

  I glanced up at him, met his blue eyes. I felt power here. I made this amazing man lose control. I made him feel good. He found desire and pleasure in my body. In my actions.

  It made me realize this truly wasn’t one sided. He was giving to me. I wasn’t the only one taking. It was an even exchange because we were both in this one hundred percent.

  His fingers tangled in my hair and pulled me off him. The crown was slick from my mouth. Red and hard and eager to get in me. “That’s not part of the plan,” he said, his voice deep and rumbly.

  “Neither was what you did. I said dick, not fingers and mouth.”

  He reached and opened the bedside drawer, pulled out a condom, ripped it open with his teeth and slid it on.

  With a hand against my shoulder, he gently pushed me onto my back again, but grabbed my ankles, pulled me to the edge. He didn’t let go but lifted my legs, so he held me against his shoulders. “That scream didn’t sound like a complaint.”

  Only then did he push into me.

  I groaned. He groaned.

  I clenched, he groaned again.

  He fucked me then as he stood at the side of the bed, pulling out, thrusting deep. Positioned as I was, I couldn’t even lift my hips. I had to take the pounding that he was giving me. I wanted it. Needed it deep. Hard.

  His hands released me, and he dropped to his forearms on either side of me, my ankles crossing at his back.

  “Sawyer. God, it feels so good,” I told him.

  “Always, sugar. Always,” he said, and I fell apart, coming again.

  As he came soon after, dropping onto the bed beside me as we caught our breaths, it would be good. Always. With Sawyer Manning, I’d be happy for now, and I had a feeling happily ever after as well.

  Ready for more of the Bachelor Auction series? It’s time for Huck’s story in Back In The Saddle!

  I've always wanted her. After all these years, that's never changed.

  I thought Sarah O'Banyon had been The One. I'd been f-ing wrong.

  I moved on, made something of myself. Became police chief. Even had a beautiful daughter.

  When Sarah buys me at the bachelor auction, I'm stunned. It's been six years. She wants me for something now. When we end up in my bedroom, I know exactly what. Except I get cuffed to my headboard by the sexy mechanic—and left. Getting free isn't the only thing that's hard.

  Turns out she's learned something about my past. A secret which makes her angry. I'm okay with that. It means she still feels something for me. I'll change hate to love.

  We're going to pick up the pieces of our first love... and our broken hearts because there is no other option. It's Sarah O'Banyon for this cowboy. Always.

  A single dad gets a second chance at first love in the next Bachelor Auction book. It's Huck Manning's turn to reignite the flames on his love life... and your ereader.

  Read Back In The Saddle!

  Note From Vanessa

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  About Vanessa Vale

  Vanessa Vale is the USA Today bestselling author of sexy romance novels, including her popular Bridgewater historical series and hot contemporary romances. With over one million books sold, Vanessa writes about unapologetic bad boys who don't just fall in love, they fall hard. Her books are available worldwide in multiple languages in e-book, print, audio and even as an online game. When she's not writing, Vanessa savors the insanity of raising two boys and figuring out how many meals she can make with a pressure cooker. While she's not as skilled at social media as her kids, she loves to interact with readers.