He pushed himself up on his arms. For a moment, his gaze was fixed on his cock sliding in and out of her. Then he met her eyes. He grinned. So did she.
He slowed down, and laughed, his cheeks coloring as he shifted his gaze away. “I keep thinking I’m doing this wrong.”
“Why?” She slid her hands over his shoulders. “You’re doing just fine.” She licked her lips. “Does it feel good?”
He exhaled. “Feels amazing.”
“Then you’re not doing anything wrong. Just…don’t stop.”
He groaned softly, and he didn’t stop. Eyes closed, he started moving a little faster. “God…”
Dara’s head spun. What she’d watched on the screen tonight had been fake and rehearsed, but everything Matt did was real, and raw, even innocent in its own way. It had been too long since she’d been with a man who took his time, who was experiencing it instead of just scratching an itch.
As he picked up some more speed, he murmured, “This okay?”
“Uh-huh. Feels really good.” She didn’t even care if she came. It had been too long since she’d been in bed with someone who wasn’t driving her insane outside the bedroom, when sex had turned into a litmus test to see if they even liked each other anymore. There was no pressure now. No drama, no tension, no strings—just sex for the sake of having it and enjoying it.
He shuddered, his rhythm faltering for a couple of strokes. “You feel so good.”
“So do you.” She gently trailed her nails up his back, and he hissed softly, pressing against her nails as he rode her just a little bit faster.
He found her lips with his, and they kissed clumsily, breathlessly, until he broke the kiss with a moan and let his head fall beside hers as he thrust harder, his whole body tense and shaking, and Dara held him tight and rocked her hips as trembling turned to full-on, violent shuddering.
“Holy…shit.” He forced himself into her hard enough to knock her breath out of her lungs, and then he gasped as one more tremor went through him. Finally, he exhaled, slumping over her but holding himself up on his forearms.
She stroked his hair. “Told you it would last longer the second time.”
“Uh-huh.” He kissed the side of her neck. “You’re gonna spoil me, you know.”
Dara laughed. “How so?”
He lifted his head. “What am I gonna do when the sex isn’t this good?”
“You’re either going to show her what to do, or you’re going to find someone who knows what she’s doing.” She winked. “Don’t expect me to apologize for raising the bar.”
Matt chuckled. “Oh, I don’t. I know you.” He brushed his lips over hers. “You’re still spoiling me, though.”
“And don’t you forget it.”
He rolled his eyes. He withdrew and then dropped onto his back beside her. “For the record, the sounds you make are way hotter than the ones the porn star did.”
Snickering, she cuddled up beside him again. “Next time, I’ll try to make a duck face, but—”
“Yeah, don’t.” He laughed and kissed her temple as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Unless you want me to forget what I’m doing.”
“Hmm, no. I liked what you were doing.”
“Good. I liked it too.”
“So I noticed.”
She looked up at him, and they both laughed quietly. He kissed her softly, and then she rested her head on his shoulder and sighed as he absently ran his fingers up and down her arm. She could get used to this—lying beside a man who could laugh with her in bed, and who held her like it wasn’t a major imposition.
He wasn’t the only one who was going to get spoiled.
Chapter Thirteen
“Matt?”
Beth’s voice startled him, and he turned his head. “Huh?”
She’d stopped her horse beside his in the middle of the warmup arena, and was eyeing him. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Yeah.” He shook himself. “Why?”
“Um, because they just called your class.” She pointed a gloved hand at the main arena. “You’re third up, so you might want to get to the gate.”
“Shit!” He gathered his reins. “Right. Sorry. I’m—”
“You sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah, I’m good.” He turned Brandy and, with his sister beside him, headed toward the main arena. Tonight was barrel racing, and then later on, some roping. He wasn’t sure he had the concentration for roping, though—most of it was instinct now, but even more so than in barrel racing, seconds counted. Tenths of seconds counted. An instant of distraction could mean, at best, a pathetic score, and at worst, someone getting hurt.
And no matter how much he insisted to his sister that he was okay tonight, the truth was his mind was a million miles away. Or, more accurately, about a hundred feet away in the stands, a few rows from the front in a fold-down seat with a soda in her hand.
He rubbed a gloved hand over his face. He was used to everything about this place. The lights. The noise. The crowd.
But he wasn’t used to Dara Marley sitting up there in the stands anymore. Back when they were kids, she’d be cheering for him alongside everyone else, but it was different now. He tried to tell himself it was that new mercury vapor lighting they’d installed last year, that everyone looked different underneath that cool white glow, but that explanation wasn’t working. No amount of changes to the lighting would do a damned thing to make this better or worse now that he’d seen her the way he had the other night. He’d barely been able to find his footing since she’d come back into his life in the first place—now he was a wreck.
This isn’t getting weird, is it? Is this what she meant by getting weird?
From just outside the in-gate, he glanced up at the stands and watched her watching the current competitor. He swallowed. No, this wasn’t weird. It was something else, and he didn’t have the first clue what.
Brandy fidgeted beneath him, bringing his attention back to what he was supposed to be doing. He walked the mare in circles to keep her occupied until it was their turn. Every time the announcer called a number, Brandy grew even more restless—she knew how this worked, and she was quite literally chomping at the bit to get in there and run.
Well, at least one of them was focused tonight.
It was finally their turn, so he patted her neck and steered her toward the gate, and now he was as restless as she was. The barrels were up ahead of them like three bull’s-eyes, and he zeroed in on each of them. He curled and uncurled his toes inside his boots, but he carefully kept from nudging Brandy in the process. When she was ready to run, she was on a hair trigger; one tap of his heel, and she’d be off and running.
The second the gate opened, he touched her side, and Brandy took off, and the world was reduced to barrels, dirt and speed. They tore around the first barrel. The second. The third. Then Matt leaned forward so Brandy could run like hell, and they were out the gate again.
They’d barely stopped before the announcer’s voice echoed off the roof: “Number forty-eight takes the lead by a margin of point seven seconds.”
Matt pumped his fist and patted Brandy’s shoulder, especially since they’d just beaten Beth’s time for the night by a fraction of a second. That didn’t happen often.
“Nice!” Beth called out. She leaned over from her saddle and high-fived him. “You giving that mare Red Bull or something?”
He laughed, his heart pounding from adrenaline. “Of course. That’s it.” He was about to make a snarky comment about finally beating her, but then he glanced at the stands.
And there she was.
And his pulse was all over the place again.
He shook himself and tore his gaze away. What the hell was wrong with him? So they’d had sex. She was still Dara, they were still friends, and it didn’t have to change anything.
Now if
his cardiovascular system would just get that memo, he’d be in good shape.
Matt ultimately came away with second place in the men’s barrel racing. Ironically, on this rare occasion that he outran his sister, one of her students came out of nowhere and beat him. He was happy for the kid, though—he hadn’t seen someone that ecstatic over a blue ribbon in a long time, and especially after a run like that, it was well-deserved.
“Congrats,” he said as the winner rode out of the arena. “Keep riding like that, you’re gonna run out of room for those.” He gestured at the ribbon.
The kid grinned. “Thanks.”
Beth beamed as she rode beside Matt. “This one’s going to World if I have to threaten his parents.”
“Damn right he is,” Matt said.
The kid headed back toward the barn with his parents walking beside him, and judging by their smiles, it wouldn’t take much arm-twisting to convince them to let Beth take him and his horse to the world championships.
“You should see him on his jumper too,” Beth said. “That boy’s gonna be on the US Equestrian Team someday, I swear.”
“If he’s this good at, what, sixteen? Yeah, he will.”
“He’s fourteen, believe it or not.”
Matt whistled. “Wow.”
They headed toward the barn to give their horses a rest and some water. As they rode, Matt’s mind drifted back to the stands. That had been his default lately—whenever he didn’t have something to hold his focus, he went straight back to wherever he’d last seen Dara. He’d been a fucking wreck the day after they’d slept together. Nothing short of an alien invasion could’ve shifted his mind’s eye away from the image of her, naked and breathless, sitting over him on the couch and riding his cock.
He shivered. It was something new. He’d been a distracted idiot for a few days after the first time he’d made out with a girl in high school, so it only made sense that he’d be mentally short-circuiting after the other night. Except he’d been a horny seventeen-year-old back then. It was to be expected. A thirty-six-year-old man should’ve had a better grip on his own brain, even if it had taken him this long to finally lose his damned virginity. There was no reason for—
“Uh, Matt?”
He shook himself and turned, but realized Beth wasn’t beside him anymore. He twisted around in his saddle.
She and her horse had stopped, and she was looking at him like he’d lost his mind. Pointing to the right with a gloved hand, she said, “Stalls are this way.”
“Oh. Right.” He doubled back, and Brandy plodded along beside Beth’s horse.
“You sure you’re okay tonight?” Beth cocked her head. “You rode great, but Jesus, Matt. You’ve been somewhere else.”
“I’m fine.” He gestured dismissively. “I…” He hesitated. “I’m not sure I’ve got the focus for roping tonight.”
“I could’ve told you that.” She paused. “Is this about Dara?”
He stared at her. “What? Why would it be about her?”
“Because of what you told me recently? Over breakfast?”
“Oh. Right.” He cleared his throat. “Yeah, there’s… I mean, it’s a lot to think about. But no, tonight, I’m…”
She raised her eyebrow.
“I’m fine.”
There were just some things he couldn’t explain to his sister. Being distracted as hell by Dara, wanting so badly to take her home and take her to bed again, fell very firmly into that category.
“Okay.” She shrugged. “Do you want me to go back to the show office and scratch us from roping?”
“You don’t mind?”
“There’s always next weekend. And if you’re this distracted…”
Matt nodded. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be.” She stopped in front of their stalls, which were along the barn’s outside wall. She swung her leg over the saddle and dropped onto the dirt. “You mind putting him away for me?”
“Sure.” He dismounted and took her reins. “Thanks.”
“Don’t worry about it. Some of my students are riding pretty soon, so I’ll meet you down by the arena?”
“Sure.”
While she headed back to the office and the arena, Matt clipped a rope to Brandy’s halter. He untacked his sister’s horse and put him in his stall, then stripped Brandy and put her in hers. After he’d made sure they both had water, he brushed one, then the other.
As he came out of the tack room after cleaning off their bridles, Dara’s voice sent a jolt through him.
“Hey, cowboy.”
He turned around. She stood beside Brandy’s stall, hands in the pockets of her jeans.
“Hey.” He smiled, wondering if she could heart his heart pounding. That was silly. Of course she couldn’t. But as hard as it was thumping, he supposed it was a possibility that—get a grip, Coolidge. “Are you having a good time?”
She smiled, but there was something in her gaze that tightened his gut. “Yeah. Of course.”
Matt eyed her just like his sister had eyed him a few minutes earlier. “Dara…”
The smile fell, and she bit her lip.
He dusted his hands off on his jeans. “What’s up?”
She took a breath and met his gaze. “Uh, well, I didn’t want to bring this up before, but it’s been bugging me today.”
His stomach twisted. “Okay…”
She swallowed. “My mom knows. About the baby.”
Matt wasn’t even drinking anything, and he nearly choked. “I beg your pardon?”
“I didn’t tell her.” She gestured at her breasts. “These did.”
He blinked. “Come again?”
Dara laughed, a little color blooming in her cheeks. “They’re a bit, uh, bigger than they were when I moved back. Apparently she noticed.”
“Oh. And, what does she think?”
“Well, she’s not happy, and she’s suddenly decided I should reconcile with Jon.”
Matt gritted his teeth. “She’s aware of what an asshole he’s been to you, right?”
“Mmhmm. But in her mind, this changes everything.” Dara rolled her eyes. “Somehow, reconciling with an insecure cheating jerk is better than volunteering to be a single mom.” Her shoulders sagged. “I guess a baby needs a father more than I need my self-respect.”
“Jesus.” Matt exhaled sharply. “And I suppose you can’t tell her that the baby has a father.”
She winced, lowering her gaze. “I should have. I feel really awful about keeping it a secret.” She frowned and shifted her weight. “I’m not ashamed of you being the baby’s father. I just—”
“I know you’re not.” He fought the urge to put a reassuring hand on her arm. They were too out in the open for that right now. “There’s plenty of time between now and when the baby is born for us to tell people.”
“There is.” She ran a hand through her hair. Shaking her head, she sighed and met his eyes. “It’s so fucked up, if you think about it. You went above and beyond by donating in the first place, and you’re stepping up now when no one would hold it against you if you didn’t. And yet…”
“And yet our families have petty grudges they won’t let go of.”
“Yeah. And the minute my family knows, it’s going to get to your family. And with that will your mom is holding over your head…”
To hell with what people thought. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her gently. “Listen to me—the only people who need to know right now are you and me.”
She nodded. “But if those people didn’t matter, we could just tell them and let the chips fall wherever.” She lifted her head and met his eyes. “They do matter. That’s the problem.”
“Yeah, they do. I know.” He sighed and reached up to smooth her hair, but froze, remembering where they were.
She tensed, as if she’d
remembered too, and they both glanced around as they separated, pulling back to a more platonic distance. Immediately, he wanted to draw her back to him, but…not here.
“Anyway.” She waved a hand and cleared her throat. “I guess it’s just kind of been gnawing at me that my mother knew, but I couldn’t tell her the whole truth.”
“Give it time. We’ll all get there. And for the record, I know you’re not ashamed of what we’re doing. I understand completely.”
She smiled. “Thank you.”
“Hey, we’re in this together.”
“Yeah, we are.” The smile turned to a classic Dara Marley grin. “In more ways than one, I guess.”
He shivered. “We probably don’t need to tell anyone about that part.”
She laughed. “No, probably not. It can be our little secret.” With a wink, she added, “Our dirty little secret.”
Goose bumps prickled beneath his shirt. “You know, you’re not making it very easy to concentrate out there.” He nodded in the general direction of the arena.
“Who, me?” She batted her eyes. “So sorry.”
“I’m sure you are.”
“So does that mean you want to come to my place after Hanson’s Place tonight?”
He gulped. “Um.”
“Should I take that as a yes?”
Forget Hanson’s Place. Forget the rest of the rodeo. Let’s—
“I’ll take it as a yes.” She nodded toward the arena. “Come on. Let’s go watch the rest of the classes.”
Right. Because he was sure he’d be able to concentrate now.
They sat in the stands to watch a few of Beth’s students, as well as Beth competing in the reining division. All the while, Dara’s presence kept Matt’s head spinning, and although he wanted to cut out early and get the hell out of there, they couldn’t leave until Beth was finished because the horses still had to go home. He could wait.
And he had to admit, he got a charge out of sitting here, surrounded by all these people, with this little secret—this dirty little secret—between him and Dara. Despite the suspicions everyone had had about them when they were teenagers, not one person in these packed stands knew that tonight, he’d be in bed with Dara. He doubted there was a man in here who wouldn’t have jumped at the chance, but none of them had that chance tonight except for him. After going his entire adult life without being with a woman, never mind one as hot as her, he let himself indulge in a bit of smugness.
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