Channing launched herself at Colby, hiding her face in the warm curve of his neck.
“Hey, now, darlin’, what’s this? You okay?”
She shook her head.
He sucked in a harsh breath. “Where did that slimy fucker touch you? I’ll kill him.”
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Again she shook her head.
He cupped her face in his hands and tilted her face toward his. “What then?”
“Oh God, I’m so glad you’re here. It was stupid of me to come by myself but I was bored and lonely and hungry and you were mad at me and I know I’m supposed to be a tough and independent woman—”
Instantly, Colby’s mouth covered hers. His kiss was a mixture of comfort and sweetness and protection. When he broke away, Channing felt tears pooling in her eyes.
“I’m sorry for today. I just don’t know what I’m doing half the time.
I’m just not a very good cowgirl. I didn’t mean to make you mad.”
“Ssh. We’ll figure it out. Come on. Let me hold you until you calm down some.” He maneuvered her onto the dance floor, twined her body around his to his liking and they swayed to the strains of “Love Can Build a Bridge”.
“Better?” he murmured.
“Much. Thank you.”
“No problem. I’m sorry about today too, shug.”
She nodded and snuggled closer.
When the song ended he whispered, “Am I gonna have to kick someone else’s ass tonight?”
“No, why?”
“Mr. Grabby said something about your injun boyfriend.”
“Oh. He meant Cash. He was hanging out with me for awhile.”
“Remind me to buy him a beer to thank him for lookin’ out for my best girl.”
Channing slanted back and studied Colby’s face, hidden in the shadow of his cowboy hat and the dimness of the bar. “Am I really your best girl, Colby?”
“Goddamn right you are. You’re my only girl.”
“I don’t like fighting with you.”
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“Same goes, darlin’.”
Relief made her reckless and she ground her pelvis against his and discovered he was already hard. “Mmm. Maybe I need a refresher on the responsibilities of being your best girl. You can leave out the ass whooping this time.”
“Channing—”
“I hated the way you left me today, and we didn’t get anything resolved, especially after the way you put your mouth on me, I was so close to coming—”
Colby growled and clamped his hands on her gyrating hips. “Unless you want me to fuck you right here on the dance floor, knock it off, Chan. I’m not kiddin’.”
“I’m not either. I missed you. Let me show you how much.” She stretched to her tiptoes and brushed her lips across the pulse thrumming in his throat.
Tonight he was clean-shaven. A subtle piney scent teased her from beneath his starched shirt collar. She loved his smooth, square jaw and the way he considered her from beneath his ridiculously long dark eyelashes. She loved how his nostrils flared when he was aroused and the determined set to his mouth just before he kissed her. Everything about this sturdy, sexy, sweet man intoxicated her.
In between nibbling bites on his neck, she whispered, “I want to be with you, Colby. Running my hands over your skin as your rough flesh rubs against mine. Digging my heels into your tight little cowboy butt as you slide in and out of me. Looking in your gorgeous blue eyes as we’re barely a breath apart. Tasting your kisses. Seeing those dimples wink at me when I do something that turns you on. Your sweat mingling with mine, how it lets our bodies slide together perfectly—”
“Enough,” he said hoarsely. “Jesus, I only got so much willpower where you’re concerned.”
“And that’s bad because?”
“Because I gotta cool down or it’ll be over before it even starts. Damn, girl, I need a diversion.”
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Rather than towing her from the dance floor like a man on a mission to get her naked, he sauntered to the back corner of the bar by the dartboards and introduced her to some of the other guys she’d recognized from the circuit.
Normally she wasn’t tongue-tied in social situations but tonight she felt shy. Especially when Colby plopped down and rather than finding her another chair, he pulled her on his lap. Her butt straddled his thigh, high, near his groin.
A beer bottle dangled from his fingers and if she wanted a drink, he held it up for her to sip. She swore the heat from his lips left an impression on the glass, and her own lips fit that dent perfectly.
His insistence on catering to her and showing every one of his pals they were together didn’t make her feel like a piece of property. It made her feel special. Like she belonged.
Colby and the guys talked specifics on their rides and times and pros and cons of certain rough stock. Channing paid close attention because it fascinated her. The other women didn’t seem to care. Because they’d heard the stories a million times? Or because the dirt on rodeoing full time was old hat to them?
Cash swung by to make sure she was all right before he bid the crew goodnight. The hardcore partiers—young, fresh-faced cowboys barely old enough to shave—gave Cash a rash of crap for being an old timer. Cash winked at her and took it in stride. Channing noticed Cash politely excused himself from the clutches of several buckle bunnies and left alone. What was up with that? Very few cowboys opted to say no to willing female flesh. Ever.
During the latter part of the conversation with a group of tie-down ropers, Colby started lightly stroking the exposed skin on her lower back where her shirt gapped from her skirt. An idle, fleeting touch, which should’ve been comforting but packed a powerful punch of sexual promise. Every lingering caress of his blunt, rough finger felt like he was stroking her pussy. Didn’t take long for her panties to become soaked through.
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Sighing, she wiggled closer to his chest.
He subtly inched away, only to continue battering her senses with the lazy assault.
Two can play this game, Channing thought. When she rhythmically clenched her butt cheeks together on Colby’s thigh, he stood so quickly he almost knocked her on her ass.
Amidst catcalls and high-fives and suggestions for positions (spread-eagled across the horse trailer hitch?) they exited the rowdy bar.
Outside in the chilly mountain air, she shivered in her thin T-shirt.
Colby didn’t notice. They didn’t talk at all until they cleared the main thoroughfare and were hidden in the shadows of the motel outbuildings.
Pine trees towered above them. Moonlight was conspicuously absent.
Colby twirled Channing around, pressing her back against a metal shed as he devoured her with his lips, teeth, and tongue. His hands squeezed her breasts, his thumbs rasped over her hardened nipples, his knee separated her legs and he ground his brawny thigh into her crotch.
His lips slid to her ear. “I can’t wait. I’ve wanted you all goddamn day.
‘Bout killed me to walk away from you earlier, leavin’ you with them. I can’t think but for wantin’ you. Right here, right now, Chan. Darlin’, say yes. I’m dyin’ to feel you around me.”
“Yes. Yes. Please, Colby.”
“Wrap your legs over my hips.” He lifted her off the ground. “Have I told you how much I love this naughty little skirt? Mmm-mmm. Gotta
’preciate this easy access.” His thumb swept the damp cotton of her panties, and then wiggled under the elastic leg band. Finding her already hot and slick, he groaned. “Shug, you heat up as fast as my woodstove.
Makes me a crazy man that my touch makes you so wet.”
Frantic from his sexy admission, Channing tugged on his championship belt buckle. The zipper slid down fine, but the
skintight Wranglers were a problem. “Maybe you should start wearing skirts too, cowboy, because there ain’t nothing easy about getting these jeans off.
Did you borrow a pair from Dwight Yoakam? Damn, these things are really snug.”
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Colby laughed. “More snug in some places than others.”
“It’s not funny! Help me.”
“Hang on.” He set her down, hooked his thumbs in the belt loops and yanked. Stiff denim and the soft flannel boxers slid down to his knees.
He picked her back up and practically threw her against the building.
That supremely hot, long male flesh teased her belly, trailing a bead of pre-come above her navel. She arched, wanting that hardness buried deep in her molten core. Now.
“Stop bouncin’ around.” Colby peeled her T-shirt and bra up and feasted on her nipples. “God, I love your tits.” He sucked powerfully enough to leave a mark. “I want to spend hours—”
“Not hours and especially not now. Geez, afterward you can play with them until they fall off, but right now, fuck me, Colby. Just bend your knees and slide it in deep.”
“You sure have a dirty mouth. It’s one of the things I like best about you. Well, besides this.”
He shifted his hips, hunkered down to a shallow squat, and just like that, he filled her in one mighty stroke. He caught her whimper in a tongue-tangling kiss.
The potent sensation of his cock thrusting inside her, sleek and thick and hot, made her forget her first foray into exhibitionism and everything besides satiating her sexual greed for this man.
He fucked her slowly, steadily and seamlessly. The jagged line of pubic hair above his cock abraded her clit, creating friction so profoundly delicious she couldn’t concentrate on their kiss and she had to break it off.
Channing gasped for breath. Her mind spun and her head fell back against the cool metal, giving Colby total access to her neck. Like a heat-seeking missile, he zeroed in on the sweet spot; his moist lips left a tingle on her skin that burned hotter with every flicker of his scorching tongue.
“Oh, God, like that, don’t change a thing.”
“Not even like this?” On the upstroke he canted his pelvis slightly and that extra concentrated pressure did the trick.
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Her pussy clenched, that liquid pulsing began slowly, picked up speed like a runaway semi-truck, faster and faster and faster and then roared through her as she shattered.
Colby shifted again, grinding side to side as his teeth nipped the cord straining in her arched neck. “Come on, darlin’, take me with you this time. Bear down, bring me deep as you can.” As he pressed her knees out, she countered by squeezing her interior muscles.
“Goddamn. Yeah. That’s it, Chan, hang tight.” He didn’t plunge faster, he just let her pulsing body coax the orgasm from him, pulling him deeper as they rocked together with sweet intensity.
Spent, a single satisfied shiver traveled through him and she felt it as deeply as if her own body had generated it. With his face nestled against her collarbone, his labored exhalations cooled her dampened skin.
He muttered, “Shit.”
“What?”
“No condom.”
“Oh shit,” she said.
“Yeah.” He angled back to look at her, apparently not caring that his hat was completely cockeyed. “Bad timing, huh?”
“Maybe not.” She dipped her head and studied the alabaster snaps on his shirt.
“What?” He tipped her chin back up. “Darlin’, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing, really. Okay, I mean, there is something, it’s not wrong per se. I have a confession to make and I don’t want you to get mad at me.”
His eyes narrowed. “What?”
She blurted, “I’m on the pill. You probably figured out I don’t have much sexual experience and I’ve heard such horror stories about the STDs floating around out there that I wanted to make sure that I was always protected on all fronts. And damn. I’m sorry. After what happened with Jared, it just seemed safer to keep that information to myself.”
“Ssh, darlin’, stop babblin’. You don’t have to be defensive with me, all right? Believe it or not, I understand. And if it’ll ease your mind, I ain’t 98
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been with a woman without wearing a condom since I was a green lad of about sixteen.”
“So you’re not mad?”
“Hell no.”
Channing closed her eyes. “Good. Thank you.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
He shifted his hips, and a stream of moisture trickled down as he eased his spent cock out of her tender body. “When it’s just you and me, can we skip the rubbers? ‘Cause I sure like really feelin’ you—just you—
bare against me. There ain’t nothing like it in the world.”
She rubbed her cheek along his. “Sure. Speaking of you and me…where am I sleeping tonight?”
“Maybe the question oughta be where do you want to sleep tonight?”
“With you.” She felt him smile against her cheek.
“Good answer. We’re bunkin’ in the horse trailer. You need anything from the motel room before we hit the hay?”
“Just my toothbrush now that we’ve got that pesky condom issue cleared up.”
Colby chuckled and pressed a soft kiss on her forehead. “You sore?”
“A little.”
“Mmm. Have we really only been together a coupla days?”
She stiffened up. “Yes. Why? Is time dragging?”
“No. On the road, time usually drags like an old dog. But it seems like you’ve always been around. I’m glad you’re here, darlin’.”
Probably not the first time he’d said such sugared words, but she’d take it since it was the first time anyone had ever uttered them to her.
She grinned. “Me too, cowboy.”
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Chapter Nine
Colby was up early the next morning. As much as he wanted to start his day off with a bang and loll in bed with Channing, he knew she was sore. With good reason. He couldn’t get enough of her.
He kissed her exposed nipple, grinning when she purred and snuggled into him. Damn distracting woman.
Fortified with free coffee from the motel lobby, he knocked on the door to the room. “It’s Colby. Open the damn door.”
A click of the slide latch moving and then Trevor swung open the door. “Hey. What’s up?”
Colby peered over Trevor’s bare shoulder at the rumpled bed.
“Where’s Edgard?”
“Shower. He’ll be out in a minute. Before you ask, he’s already checked on the horses this morning.” Trevor yawned. “Where’s Channing?”
“Sleepin’ in the horse trailer.”
“Is she okay?”
“She is now.” Colby sipped his coffee and flopped in the chair by the windows. He told Trevor what’d gone down the previous night. “So, I don’t want her goin’ nowhere alone. She snuck off for that rowdy bar down the street and some greasy trucker was sniffin’ around.”
“You set him straight?”
“Damn right.”
“Did you get everything straightened out with her?”
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Colby grinned. “Damn right. Why you think she’s sleepin’ like a baby?”
Trevor high-fived him. “Goddamn, Colby. If there was a woman alive who could change my wicked ways and make me want to settle down, it’d be her.”
“Amen, brother. But you’d have to fight me for her. So you understand why I want us all to keep a better eye on her.”
“Keep an eye on who?” Edgard said as he cracked open the bathroom door.
>
Colby relayed the scene from the bar.
It was a typical morning. They talked rodeo. Advice was offered and taken. Aches and pains were detailed. When Trevor and Edgard began to argue strategy, Colby made his getaway. He refilled his coffee and stopped to chat with a couple of young bull riders from Utah before he went to check on Channing.
In the horse trailer, Channing sat slumped over the table, naked, listlessly stirring her half-eaten bowl of Raisin Bran.
He ran a hand down her bare back. “You okay?” he asked as he sprawled in the chair next to her.
“Tired. Damn virile man,” she grumbled.
“Was that a complaint?”
“No. But when you said we should officially ‘break in’ the bed in this horse trailer, I didn’t think you meant literally break the damn bed. I think I have bruises on my back and butt from the mattress springs.”
“You bring out the beast in me, darlin’, what can I say?”
“Say you have a coffee maker hidden around here someplace.”
“Sorry. We don’t.”
Channing groaned.
“But I will let you have some of my coffee.” He grabbed a Styrofoam cup and poured half his lukewarm coffee into it. Then he slid it next to her cereal bowl.
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“Thank you.” She downed it in one swallow. “The next time we pass a Wal-Mart I’m jumping out. I don’t care if we’ve got the horse trailer fully loaded and the governor aboard. I’m buying a coffee pot and a jumbo can of coffee. I’m not fit for human company without my daily infusion of vitamin caffeine.”
“Missin’ Starbucks, are you?”
She shot him a dirty look. “Are you serious? Their coffee tastes like strained dog shit. Plus, who’s dumb enough to pay four bucks for a cup of burned coffee?”
“Lots of folks, apparently. Them damn stores are everywhere. You’d think those people were drinkin’ liquid gold, they’re so obsessed with havin’ that same brand every morning.”
“Not me. They’re a bunch of sheep. Give me a plain old cup of joe—
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