by Leah Braemel
“I’m gonna go check in, see if they’ve got any leads on Phil yet.” The sarcastic way he said her brother’s name had her breathing a sigh of relief. He was pissed off at Phil, not her. “You two have fun.”
He carried his plate to the dishwasher, then headed down the front hall without looking back.
Nikki rubbed her hands on her thighs. “I should see if I can catch Brett and get a lift into town.” She needed to buy a new mattress for a start. She couldn’t keep relying on other people’s charity, even Dillon’s. “I need to start replacing everything I lost. And I should talk to Ernie, see how much it’s going to cost to fix my truck.”
Instead of moving out of her way as she’d expected, Dillon stayed in place. “There’s no hurry for you to do that. The cops might get some of your stuff back, and then you’ll have wasted your money. As for your truck, Ernie’ll phone you with an estimate soon enough.”
“Okay, I guess. But you let me know if I get underfoot or anything, all right?”
“It’s not under my foot where I want you.” He cupped his fingers under her chin and lifted her face so she would look at him. Before she realized it, he was kissing her again. It didn’t start out with the heat she’d remembered from the night before; this one was soft, gentle. An exploration. But soon it strengthened as he took charge of the kiss, his tongue plundering her mouth.
By the time they broke off, they were both breathing heavily.
“You didn’t have to stop.” The huskiness in her voice surprised her. Fighting the fear skittering beneath her skin, she lifted his hand and placed it on her breast.
Even as his thumb stroked her nipple through the thin fabric of her tee, Dillon’s eyes searched hers. “I don’t want to push you. If you want to date for a while, I’m fine with that.”
Date? It was the reasonable thing to do. The proper thing. What society would expect. But they were both adults and damn it, who knew if she’d have another chance?
“Why don’t we just say all those times we worked on the fences or went riding together were dates? Besides, we both know what we were talking about when I invited you into my place last night.” She stroked a finger up his jaw and around the shell of his ear. When his breath hitched, she knew she’d won her point.
He tugged her closer, resuming their kiss. His hand slipped beneath her tee and cupped her breast; she was surprised to hear a moan filling the kitchen and realized it was her own.
It had been years since anyone—Wade—had touched her there. She shifted, pressing herself into his palm. Her breasts grew heavier as he played with her nipples. It was as if there was a direct connection between her breasts and her core, her pussy aching for attention, to be filled.
She slid one hand around his waist. The table thwarted her attempts to straddle him. Dillon shifted on the bench, pulling his hand back.
“Shit!” He broke off the kiss and clutched the elbow he’d just rammed into the edge of the table. “Goddamn, there’s not enough room here.”
With an impatient movement, he used his foot to push the table away. She squeaked when he lifted her to straddle his lap, and then stood. His growl and strengthened grip on her were his answer as he strode down the hall.
Wade had never carried her once in all the time they’d dated; not that she was too heavy, but he’d always been more of a wham-bam type of guy. Oh, she’d been thrilled the first time they’d made love. He’d made her feel so feminine. Pretty, even. He’d changed his stripes once they’d gotten married though, blaming her for everything that went wrong in his life. Like she was responsible for the plant closing and him getting laid off. Then again she had lost his baby. Not that he’d wanted it in the first place.
“Nik? Where’d you go?”
Dillon’s quiet question roused her from her memories and made her aware he’d stopped walking. She lifted her head from where she’d buried it against his neck and realized they were now in the middle of his bedroom.
Was she nuts? She was thinking about Wade when she had Dillon right here?
He relaxed his hold on her, letting her feet slide to the floor. “We don’t have to do this if you don’t want. I can wait.”
God, how many other guys would walk away without calling her a cock tease? Which made her decision to continue that much easier. She put her hands on either side of his head and tugged him down to her. “I want this. I want it a lot.”
She kissed him, her lips pressing hard against his, her tongue pushing into his mouth, tasting the coffee he’d just finished. Oh, she wanted it all right. She wanted it all.
For one second, maybe two, Dillon was still. She’d shocked him perhaps. Then he wrapped his hands in a length of her hair and took control of the kiss. They were both panting by the time they broke off. He grabbed the bottom of her tee and lifted it over her head in one swift movement. Her sweats pooled around her ankles seconds later.
She didn’t waste any time pulling his clothes from him either. Dillon’s work on the job hauling dirt and equipment had hardened and defined his muscles.
Dark hair covered his chest, thinning at his belly button to arrow down to his groin. As if she needed a roadmap to the bulge in his pants, thank you very much. She played with his nipples that puckered into hard little buds, then moved south and dragged his jeans from his hips. His cock sprang free, the head bulbous and heavy, a thick nest of black hair at its base. Before she could wrap her hand around his shaft, he backed her up until her legs hit the mattress. She lay back, allowing her legs to splay open on either side of his thighs.
His gaze trailed down her breasts, then stopped on her groin. “Oh, baby, your pretty pussy is glistening. You’re ready for me, aren’t you?”
Dillon slid one finger between her labia, then lifted it to his own mouth and sucked it deep into his mouth. Damned if she didn’t taste as sweet as she smelled. She stared up at him, her pupils full and dark, her lips swollen from kissing him. Down in the kitchen, he’d been tempted to sweep the dishes off the table and take her right there, but he hadn’t wanted to do that for their first time. That would be a fantasy he’d fulfill later. And oh, man, what a fantasy she’d become.
He dipped his head and caught her lips beneath his again, grinding his erection into her belly. Her hips wriggled against him, and she repeated the deep moan she’d made earlier that rumbled all the way through his chest and down to his dick.
She showed no hint of modesty, not trying to cover herself. In fact, her own gaze raked his length, devouring him.
His cock hardened more if it was possible. Her breasts were fuller than they had been last night, heavy in their arousal. Her hips curved the way he liked—he never did care for the feel of hip bones jutting into him like rocks.
He straddled her and played with her breasts, molding them with his palms. Indulging himself, he bent over, taking a nipple into his mouth. As he did, his cock rubbed along the silken skin of her belly. Damn. If he didn’t get control of himself, he was going to come all over her like a randy teenager.
Resting most of his weight on one elbow, he covered her body with his. Her breasts felt so fantastic mashed against his chest, her body cradling his cock like God had designed her just for him. When she tilted her head seeking his lips, he felt like he’d conquered the world.
Her hands moved over his chest, then slid to his back, cupping his ass, her hips grinding against him. The need she’d aroused when he’d woken up to find her playing with his dick reared its head and demanded he take action. Now.
His dick slid through her folds. He couldn’t wait to go down on her, taste her pussy again. But for now he needed to bury himself deep in her.
She whimpered, her body quivering beneath his as he rubbed the length of his shaft over her clit. “Condom?”
Shit, how had he forgotten protection? Murmuring for her to wait, he rolled off her and reached for the night table for a condom. She’d pushed herself up on her elbows, watching him tear open the package and roll the condom over his dick.<
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Realizing the moment was lost, he decided to indulge his earlier fantasy. He positioned her so her pussy was at the edge of the bed, then knelt between her thighs. Watching her face, he lowered his mouth to her folds, parting them with his tongue. Her essence burst over his tongue like a ripe peach, everything he’d imagined for the past year. He circled her clit, lapping on either side of it. Her eyes fluttered closed, her breathing hitching with each stroke he took.
When he captured the swollen bud with his mouth, her head fell back, exposing her long neck. Such a pity he couldn’t be up there as well, kissing its length, playing with her breasts at the same time.
He inserted two fingers into her pussy as he lashed her clit with his tongue. Her thighs trembled and clamped around his head as her body sucked his fingers deeper, her muscles milking them. He slipped a third finger beside the other two and stretched her tissues as he lightly bit at her quivering flesh. He drove her up to the edge, making her whimper as she begged for him to let her come. Easing off, he let her simmer for a while.
He filled his lungs with the lingering scent of his soap on her skin, combined with the musky smell of her arousal. He’d never be able to use that soap again without thinking of her spread out in front of him like this.
She made a breathy purr, reminding him once more of a cat, and her body heated beneath him. “You like me eating you, don’t you?”
Her inner muscles squeezed his fingers. So she liked him talking dirty, did she? “I love how slick you get for me, how your cunt gets all slippery. Once I’m done eating you, I’m going to fuck you hard and fast.” Her fingers dug into the bedding as she writhed beneath his mouth. “You’re so fucking tight. I can’t wait to get my dick inside you.”
His cock and balls aching, he tipped her over the precipice.
She cried out as her orgasm overtook her, her body arching up off the bed, her hips bucking against him. Shit, she is beautiful. He lapped at the juices that coated his fingers and dripped from her pussy in a slippery rush. Before her muscles stopped rippling, he withdrew his fingers and placed the head of his cock at her entrance.
Stabbing his arms into the mattress on either side of her body, he thrust into her, grunting as she squeezed and convulsed around him. A flame from within the sweetest body, the tightest pussy ever to singe him. Holding still, he stared at her face, at her unfocused eyes, her hair loosened from its braid, floating in wild streams over the sheet. If he never made love to her again, he’d remember her like this for the rest of his life.
Unable to hold off any longer, he pulled back then drove into her again. Her hands clutched the bedding, and with each stroke he pounded her further up the bed. Her body pulsed around him, her muscles gripping him tight against each withdrawal. Needing to give her the same pleasure he felt, he surged back in. She groaned, not in pain, but passion, her body shaking as her orgasm built again.
He slipped a hand between them. Finding her sensitive bud, he flicked it as he surged into her. She lifted her hips, wrapping her legs around his waist so his cock could stab even deeper into her body. Muscles, honed from years of riding, tightened around him. His cock felt like it was in heaven.
If he could have dragged in enough breath to speak, he would have whispered some pretty words he knew women liked to hear. Nik deserved more than the dirty words he’d given her. She deserved much more. And he was just the man to give her whatever she desired.
He pistoned his hips, unable to prevent himself from shouting as fire speared from the base of his spine, through his balls, and out of his cock. His shout changed to a roar as his balls emptied into the sweet tissues convulsing around him.
Chapter Four
Nikki couldn’t stop the sigh slipping from her as Dillon parked his truck in front of her home. Her now empty home. She couldn’t help comparing Dillon’s cleanly painted and shuttered house to hers, with its faded paint and sagging porch. The straight lines of Dillon’s bright red barn with its white trim only highlighted the way her battered and weather-worn shed leaned. From this angle, it looked like it was being held up by the rusted shell of a pickup Wade had abandoned beside it. While the Barnetts had never made her feel like white trash, right now she felt it more acutely than ever.
Why the hell was Dillon Barnett interested in her? Though he hadn’t said so, she had a feeling their lovemaking earlier had been just that. She hadn’t been a quick fuck to him; he’d made love to her. She couldn’t say why she thought that, but she did. Yet even if she’d misinterpreted him, if he dumped her tomorrow, she wouldn’t regret having slept with him.
Joy sang through her veins; her head spun in a thousand directions until she felt like a school girl experiencing her first crush. She would treasure the memory of the passion he’d shown her forever. Her brother may have ruined so much for her, yet in robbing her, he’d given her the greatest gift she could have received. He’d pushed her from behind the barriers she’d built and had given her a chance to find love.
Love. Whoa. Slow down. Dillon hasn’t said he loved you. And while you’ve known him for half your life, and he’s great, what do you know about love?
Another sigh slipped past her lips.
Dillon covered her hand with his. “Hey, it’ll be okay. The hock shops in the area have been alerted to look out for your stuff. And your insurance should cover whatever they can’t get back.”
“I don’t have any content insurance.” Staring at the ground, she scuffed the toe of her boot against a rock. Despite what Tiny had said the night before, she still wasn’t convinced it had been Phil. It could have been one of his friends. Maybe he’d been bragging about how he had the place alone to himself and they’d seized the opportunity to rob her while he was at the bar.
Except if it hadn’t been him, then where was he?
No, Phil had taken everything not nailed down. There was no use pretending he hadn’t.
Not wanting to think about it anymore, she turned her back on the house and headed to the barn. Merlin greeted them with his musical hee-haw as he trotted toward her.
With Dillon helping her, the work was finished faster than usual. Which was what she had hoped would happen when she’d agreed to let Phil come live with her. Instead of lightening her load, Phil had tripled it.
While Dillon finished filling the final water trough, she checked over the horses for any injuries they might have received while she was away, leaving Bashir to the end. “Hey, boy, how you doing?”
Slipping him a carrot she’d grabbed from Dillon’s fridge, she rubbed his velvety nose.
Dillon wrapped his arms around her from behind. “All done. Everyone’s fed, watered and out to pasture.”
“Thanks for the help.”
One of his hands stroked up the length of her side, stopping to cup the underside of her breast. She leaned against him and closed her eyes. Even though it was less than two hours since they’d last made love, her body needed him again. Her oversensitive breasts ached, not with pain but with pleasure. When he tugged on her nipple, she swore it was a switch to start her pussy pulsing.
Was there a place in the barn they could do it without getting straw in their butts?
Much to her body’s regret, he stopped and went back to simply holding her. “Brett phoned while I was cleaning the troughs.”
Wow. He could think straight. Given the erection pressing into her behind, she figured he’d be focused on only one thing, the way she was right now. Guess not.
“He says he forgot to remind you this morning to phone the credit bureaus and put a hold on your credit in case Phil tries anything. Oh, and he wants to know if you had a power-on password on your computer. If you did any online banking…”
Brett. Back in high school she’d been more interested in Brett than Dillon. There was something dark about him, some hidden secret that intrigued her. Her and half the girls in their class. So when he’d centered her out at Tater’s New Year’s Eve party, and they’d spent an entire evening kissing, it had shocked t
he heck out of her.
Kissing? Heck, they’d just about swallowed each other’s faces that night.
She leaned into Dillon’s embrace. “I kissed him once, you know. Back in high school.”
Dillon stiffened. Crap, her and her big mouth. What had made her admit that? What guy likes to hear about another guy kissing his lover? “It happened ten years ago, Dillon. There’s nothing between us anymore.”
“It doesn’t bother me.”
She rotated in his arms and flattened her hands on his chest. “No? Then why’d you tense up?”
His eyelids lowered as his gaze dropped to her chest. “Because you pressed your butt against me, and now I want you again.” He cupped her breast, thumbed her nipple. “Hell, Nik, all I’ve been able to think about this whole time is how I want to make love to you again.”
Really? He’d been thinking about her that whole time too? Her hand acted without consulting her brain by fumbling with Dillon’s zipper.
His eyebrows quirked up as she withdrew his cock from his pants. When her fingers curled around his shaft, his shoulders half fell against the wall and his hat fell to his feet.
Damn, he was so big, so ready for her. She sank onto her knees and buried her face in the thick nest of hair at its base. He hissed when her tongue darted out and licked it from bottom to top, swirling around the thick head.
“Baby, we can go up to your house, or in the truck if you want,” Dillon murmured, his voice rough. He batted Bashir away when the horse poked its head over the stall’s door and tried to eat his hair. “You don’t have to do this here in the barn.”
“I want you. Here. Now.” She didn’t want to give him the chance to rethink being with her. She didn’t want to rethink it herself. Her pussy ached, needing to be filled, so she shifted until her cleft rode her heel. Watching his expression carefully, wanting to learn what pleased him, she took the tip into her mouth and sucked lightly.
Staring down at her, he burrowed his hands into her hair, clamping them about her skull. “Take all of me, Nik. Suck it down.”