ShakenandStirred

by M. A. Ellis

  “Contemporary, huh?”

  He saw a flash of unease in her eyes a moment before she turned back around and focused all her attention on her drink.

  “Well, I don’t have the body for that Texan-cheerleader costume you probably keep in your saddlebag for occasions such as these.”

  “You’re right about that.”

  She snapped her head around, eyes flashing with anger and just a tiny bit of hurt. He was pleased he had her undivided attention, that her emerald eyes focused solely on him.

  “Your body’s perfect for me, sugar. I like my women like my horses—long sturdy legs, great teeth and willing to let me ride them ‘til they drop.”

  Her eyes darkened and he knew he had once again mastered saying the right thing. In this case, it was the god’s honest truth.

  “Gee, Satan. I bet you say that to all the girls.”

  He reached out and covered her hand with his, forcing her to meet his gaze.

  “Actually, Susanne, I don’t.”

  Chapter Two

  “Yeeee-haaaaw!”

  Susanne jumped, the boisterous call that sounded directly behind her startling her to the point that she pulled her hand from Trey’s grasp.

  “Trey. Miss,” the cowboy said, nodding at each of them as he continued to spin a large lasso in front of him. He reached down and pulled a length of twine from the large ring attached to his belt loop and gave it to Susanne. “We’re goin’ to be teaching y’all how to tie ‘em right after the performance. So you’ll have mini-lassos as souvenirs.”

  Susanne watched him effortlessly move the spinning rope up and down, to the front and then to the back of his body. Cheers erupted from across the room and Susanne glanced in that direction to see another rope worker jumping inside and back out of the lasso he brandished. The man beside them took a few steps away from the bar and mirrored the other man’s efforts, adding a little more flair of his own.

  “Can you do that?” Susanne asked.

  “Absolutely,” Trey said in a firm tone.

  “Just as good?”

  “Better.”

  “Reeeeally?”

  “Really.”

  “Now who’s playing the one-word answer game?” Susanne shot him a sideways glance and frowned when she met his gaze. “You’re not even watching him.”

  “I don’t have to,” he replied in a confident tone. “I’m a rope master. You’d be surprised how proficient I am. I’ve got knots for every occasion.”

  He took her hand and traced a tiny circle around the tip of her thumb, the single motion sending a jolt of lust coiling through her body.

  “Some are basic. Slip knots. Square knots. Others are designed to tighten with opposing force, which is what you use for calves.”

  He pulled the twine from her grasp and she watched his long fingers move with slow precision as he worked with the cord.

  “When anything is flipped onto its back and its limbs are bound, it’s going to struggle,” he said, voice dropping to a husky whisper. “At least at first.”

  Susanne looked up, directly into his intense gaze, and the breath she’d been holding escaped in a rush. The tiny throb at the juncture of her thighs began to pound in earnest. She could tell his hands were moving but she couldn’t draw her gaze away from his face.

  “Of course there’s other rope work that allows for easy release.” He looped the rope over her wrists and drew it snug before Susanne realized what was happening. He guided her hands upward until they were at chest level and offered her a slow, sexy smile. “See this little half moon?”

  Susanne looked down to where he was wiggling a piece of cord back and forth with his little finger. He traced the twine over and over and over and Susanne shifted in her seat. The whole series of events was beginning to be a bit much. Heat flooded her body as he hooked his finger through the loop.

  “Freedom is only a little tug away.” He gave a quick yank and the knot slid loose and the length of cord fell into her lap.

  She stared at it as the seconds ticked by and the pounding in her ears intensified.

  This is not good, Susie. The voice in her head was sorely lacking in conviction. Intuition told her that sex with him would be remarkably good. Thoroughly satisfying. Terribly wrong for a woman intent on focusing on the prize at hand.

  Which prize are we talking about because I’m thinking he’s pretty trophy worthy?

  His gaze drifted to her lips and then slowly lowered to her chest. With any other man she’d have been incensed at the blatant public perusal. With any other man her nipples wouldn’t have hardened into aching little nubs.

  “Come to my room, sugar.”

  The realization that she wanted to go with him was shocking, that she wanted him to do illicit things to her body was frightening. He wrapped his warm hands around her trembling fingers and squeezed gently.

  “I’ll be a gentleman. I swear. No nude, post-lovemaking photos or texting the other guys,” he teased. “You have my word.”

  “Maybe I don’t want a gentleman,” she blurted.

  His gaze raked her features, studying her for a long time before he stood up so quickly the stool rocked on two legs. He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket with an urgency that had Susanne’s desire fanning and quickly tossed a twenty on the bar.

  “I can do that too, sugar. Whatever you want. Just come with me,” he said, throwing back the remainder of his drink. “Now.”

  Susanne slid her feet to the floor and slowly stood, making sure her shaking legs would actually hold her upright. She was about to embark on a journey she had never taken. Sex with a total stranger. The idea made her mind and her body a little unsteady. She slid her purse over her shoulder and prayed her voice wouldn’t waver.

  “No,” she said loudly, pleased when she caught the attention of more than a few of the people surrounding them. She waited for the look of consternation to crease his brow and then whispered. “Give me ten minutes, Tex. Then you come to me.”

  * * * * *

  Real smooth. Just sashay out of the bar like I’m a pro of the one-night fling. Susanne sat on the arm of the couch, sexual frustration vying with utter embarrassment as she chastised herself.

  “So much for ‘you come to me’, dumbass!”

  Less than fifteen minutes prior, as she made her exit she had felt a surge of womanly confidence like nothing she had ever known, secure in the fact that the most attractive man in the room wanted her. She had smiled the entire elevator ride to the penthouse level. She had found herself whistling Happy Trails while quickly freshening up. It wasn’t until she was squatting in front of the bar to see what offerings might be found that she realized her colossal blunder.

  She glanced at the phone, wondering if she should call the operator and ask for his room since she had totally neglected to tell him her suite number.

  Maybe I can get Robert to call for me.

  The suite’s butler had been a godsend more than once over the past days. Tonight, just as every other, the man had asked her if there was any further assistance he could provide before she retired. She had asked for a bucket of ice.

  He’d be back any second. She was a little uncomfortable with the whole “you rang” principle but she was seriously considering adding a second nighttime request. The light chiming of the doorbell echoed through the room and she hurried to let the butler in.

  Ask him to make the call.

  Susanne made her way across the marble foyer and quickly opened the door.

  “Thanks so much, Robert, but I have one more favor—”

  “Who the hell is Robert?”

  Susanne’s heart kicked into double time when she saw her cowboy standing before her. He held a fifth of Jack in one hand and a bowl of whipped-cream-topped blackberries in the other.

  She stared at him, her astonishment quickly turning into pure feminine anticipation.

  “You found me,” she said in a surprised voice.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he replied with
an amused grin, moving his body forward, forcing her to take a few steps backward so he could enter her room.

  “But I forgot to give you my room number.”

  “Darlin’, I can find a missing longhorn in a three-hundred-acre pasture. What would have you thinking I couldn’t find you?”

  “Well, I didn’t leave a trail of trampled grass and fresh cow poop.”

  He pushed the bowl of fruit in her direction and offered another of his hearty laughs.

  “True. I had something more noticeable and a lot less odiferous to follow—the floor the elevator stopped at and the distinct triangle and dot pattern those sexy heels left in that thick carpet. I hope to hell you’re not planning on taking those off anytime soon.”

  She took the crystal container from his hand, doing a double take as something slid from his shoulder into the crook of his arm. “Is that a—”

  “Drapery cord. Didn’t want to waste time heading back to my room for some real rope, which would be too rough and abrasive for your sweet skin anyhow.”

  Before she could comment, he wrapped his free hand around her waist and pulled her against his body, covering her mouth with his for a series of slow, lingering kisses that left her dizzy.

  “Watch the berries. We’re gonna need those later,” he warned.

  She quickly set the bowl on the foyer table.

  “We are?” she asked, taking the bottle from his hand and setting it beside the fruit. “Are you going to serve them to me, wearing nothing but your Stetson and boots?”

  “It’s not a Stetson, it’s a Resistol, and if that’s what turns you on, sugar, absolutely.” He ran his hands down her back and firmly grabbed her ass cheeks, massaging the full globes as he nestled his hips between her thighs.

  She gasped as the bulge of firm, denim-clad flesh rubbed against her triangle of aching flesh. “You’re already hard!”

  “I’ve been this way since you let me lasso your wrists downstairs.”

  Susanne shifted against him, all but purring at the delicious sensation. It had been so long since she had been wrapped in a pair of strong arms. “You’re lying. There’s no way you walked through that lounge with a raging hard-on.”

  “I sure did. Why do you think we wear these big-ass hats? It’s not just to protect us from the sun, sugar. They come in handy when totally hot women all but beg us to hogtie them and have our way with them.”

  “I never said that.”

  “So, I went to the trouble of ruining the window treatments at each end of the hallway for nothing?” He slid his palms lower and slowly hiked up the hem of her skirt until he could skim the back of her thighs with his work-worn palms.

  “I never said that either.”

  “Well, what are you saying?” he asked, reaching over and snagging a plump blackberry, dragging it through the whipped cream before popping it into his mouth.

  Susanne stared at the tiny drop of cream that clung to his mustache.

  “You’re not some psycho hayseed, are you?” She leaned forward and kissed the cream away. “Because I’ve really never done anything like this before.”

  “No, Susanne. I’m not a psycho. And you haven’t done anything like what? Kissed a man with such sweetness that his dick is threatening to go off before he can make you scream with delight?”

  “Oh my god, Lu—”

  “Trey, sugar. Call me Trey. Yelling ‘oh god’ one moment and ‘oh Lucifer’ the next might be a bit confusing for the powers that be.”

  He dipped another berry and brought it to her mouth, rubbing along the crease of her lips until she opened her mouth and took the plump fruit from his fingers.

  “Trey,” she said after she swallowed.

  “I like that, sugar.” He pulled the bottom of her silky tank top from the waistband of her skirt with a smoothness that confirmed it might be her first X-rated rodeo but it wasn’t his. She lifted her arms and he pulled the fabric upward and over her head. “Say it again.”

  “Trey.” She whispered the word as his mouth claimed hers once again and this time it wasn’t a gentle caress. It was rough. He teased the sensitive skin on the underside of her lower lip before gently thrusting the tip of his tongue between her teeth. Over and over. A little deeper each time until he was caressing the roof of her mouth in unison with the rocking of his hips against her throbbing pussy.

  He shifted his knee to the inside of her thigh and pushed her leg open as his hands continued to caress her ass in concentric circles, each swipe bringing his fingers closer to the center of her drenched panties.

  “You’re so hot,” he whispered, pressing forward to reach her fully.

  His fingertips skimmed each side of her engorged vulva and a little whimper escaped her lips.

  “Shhhh. Easy now. We’ve got all night.”

  “Not really. Security checks at midnight. No sleepovers allowed.”

  He rubbed her a little more firmly, tracing her fabric-covered slit from clit to anus, never quite reaching either. She thought she had picked up on his tempo and shifted quickly, forcing his finger against her aching nub. Unabashedly, she rotated her hips, working herself closer to orgasm, the fact that it wasn’t her own hand bringing her to the peak making the sensation all the hotter.

  “Screw security,” he rasped, turning sideways to work his belt buckle open one-handedly. “The way you respond, I’m staying all night. That’s it, sugar. Work those hips for me. I want you to come all over my fingers.”

  Susanne closed her eyes and concentrated on his words instead of her own wantonness. She’d never been adept at dropping her inhibitions. Until now. She heard the sound of his zipper being lowered and tried not to peek. His chest vibrated against her arm, an indication she hadn’t been even remotely covert.

  “Go ahead and look, Susanne. See how hard you’ve made me.”

  She opened her eyes fully and gazed at his cock—above average in length and thickness. The head was broad and flushed. She watched him work his hand up and down the shaft, the erotic sight forcing her to move faster.

  “That’s it, baby. The sooner you come, the sooner I can bury myself in your sweet pussy.”

  Susanne suddenly didn’t want to wait to feel him. She was on the brink of exploding but she wanted to go with him.

  “I want you now,” she moaned, halting the movement of her hips.

  “Don’t you stop,” he ordered in a tight voice, his breath tickling her ear. “You’re first, sugar. That’s the way it works.”

  “Not in my world.” She tried to laugh but he chose that moment to shift his hand so his palm was cupping her mound, purposely not touching her clit.

  “Move,” he ordered.

  “No. I want you inside me.”

  His hand disappeared and she thought he was about to capitulate. With one spin she found her palms and breasts pressed against the wall and her hips pulled backward, the heels of her shoes pressed against the blunted tips of his boots.

  “You are going to come, Miss Susanne. Right now.”

  He yanked her panties to one side, the sound of rent fabric spurring her desire. His fingers brushed her clit and she bit her lip to keep from moaning. His strength should have been frightening but she found his power aphrodisiacal.

  “I can smell how excited you are,” he said before nipping at her earlobe. “How’re you going to taste?”

  His other hand returned to her mons, holding her throbbing flesh for endless seconds before he slid a solitary finger into her wetness and then out again. Using her own arousal for lube, he touched her clit once more and Susanne rocked back against his thighs.

  He circled her sensitive nub with a slightly increasing pressure that rocketed her back to the edge.

  “Was it better over the panties?”

  He couldn’t actually expect her to answer, could he? All the moisture seemed to have left her mouth. Her lips were dry, her throat suddenly parched from her rapid open-mouthed breathing.

  “Tell me,” he ordered, thrusting his rigid
cock against the fullness of her ass.

  “U-under,” she panted.

  “So you like it just like this?”

  He was asking her what she liked. What she wanted. No one had ever asked. They had fumbled and blundered but never inquired.

  Tell him how you want it.

  “Faster,” she cried.

  He ignored her plea and pulled his finger a hairsbreadth away.

  “So the next time we make love and I want you to come first, you’re not going to argue?”

  Next time? She heard him suck his finger into his mouth and hurried to answer. “No. I won’t argue.”

  “Promise?”

  “Yes. I promise.” She shifted her hips, cursing when his stance held her legs apart. She wanted the throbbing to stop. She wanted to come so badly. “Please. It aches.”

  “I know, sugar.” He brought his hand back to her swollen nub and used his thumb to buff it with a precision that had her gritting her teeth as her body started to shake.

  “You ready for me to make all that aching go away?” he asked in a voice that sounded far, far away.

  “Yes,” she cried out as the first wave washed over her. “Yes, yes, yes.”

  Trey wanted to give her more than a few seconds to regain her senses but the wetness seeping out of her pussy and the tiny little moans that were still coming from her mouth were his undoing. Three steps and he could have her holding on to the hallway table, her skirt pulled up over her lush ass and his dick buried deep inside her. But this first time, he’d let her choose.

  “I always want to hear ‘yes’ from you, Susanne. No more ‘nos’.” He leaned into her, covering her more fully. “I want you, sugar. Right now.”

  He gently ran his fingers through her pubic hair, amazed at the amount of wetness that clung to her curls, and gave a little tug.

  “Okay,” she said, her ragged breathing beginning to slow.

  She pushed her back against his chest and he stood but didn’t let her go until she forced her hands between their bodies and quickly unzipped her skirt. He moved one foot, so she could bring her legs together. She shimmied her hips from side to side and he curled his fingers to keep from touching her smooth skin. He watched the fabric hit the floor. Her panties followed and then all sound seemed to cease as she stepped forward and braced herself straight-armed against the wall. It was a pose he knew he wasn’t likely to forget. Not anytime soon. It screamed “take me”.