Did she realize her hands were on his chest? Was she aware her fingers were fiddling with the buttons on his shirt?
Which was just the way it should be, back to Ashley needing him and Colton finding creative ways to make her pay.
“Let’s just say I’m going to up the ante,” Colton said, watching her fingers on his shirt.
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yes.”
“Like...?”
“Expect to pay me back in appropriately inappropriate ways.”
Ashley gasped, a pleasing, sexy sound.
Colton lifted her chin and licked across her lips. “Bring Jasmine out to the ranch tomorrow, and we can discuss this in more detail.”
Before Ash could go back to her friend, Colton added in a hoarse whisper, “And you can bet it’ll involve making you come so hard you won’t know up from down.”
* * *
“OH, MY GOD! It’s perfect!”
Ashley, Jasmine and Gloria were all congregated on the deck of the Silver Tree Guest ranch on Monday afternoon, gazing out at the spectacular view of the pond and forest with a backdrop of majestic peaks. Even the heavy gray storm clouds building to the west added to the dramatic landscape.
Jasmine held her arms wide as she took in the surroundings. “I have to have the wedding here. I just have to.”
Gloria waddled to her side, phone in hand. “Let me check the calendar. Okay?” She tapped into it. “We’ve got a few open weekends this summer, if that’s not too soon.” She showed the phone to Jasmine, and the two of them discussed dates.
Meanwhile, Ashley pretended not to be staring at the open barn door where she’d seen Colton disappear a few minutes ago. If this was all for pretend, why was it that the mere thought of him or the recollection of his last statement to her, you can bet it’ll involve making you come so hard you won’t know up from down, had her heart racing, her palms sweating and her clit throbbing.
Yes, her clit.
“Yes!” Jasmine gushed, as if privy to Ashley’s thoughts. “I think that’ll work.” She tugged on Ashley’s arm. “What do you think of August 7?”
She coughed. “Yeah. Sounds good.”
“You won’t be gone by then?”
Oh. Right. Weird how she hadn’t thought about her big plan of moving away. Of starting her new venture—a photo blog—since...when? All this stuff with Colton?
“Um...” Ash cleared her throat. “No, I’ll be here for the summer. Working.”
“Wonderful.” Gloria confirmed the date in her calendar, and when she was done, she said, “I know you’ve been staying at the Gold Dust in town, but if you’re interested, you can stay out here for the next few days and get a feel for the place. We can plan everything in that time. What do you think?”
“Oh, my God! That’s exactly what we’ll do.” She gave Ashley a happy, hopeful look. “And you’ll stay out here, too, right?”
Ash gulped. Stay out at the ranch? Dear God. Why did that thought please her so much? “Sure. I’d love to.”
“Great, I’ll go make up a couple of guest rooms while you two make yourselves at home.”
“We’ll only need one,” Jazz corrected as Gloria waddled toward the door to the house. “Ash will be staying with Colton, I’m sure.”
“Who will be staying with me?”
Really? The man himself had to be right there, on the other side of the deck, looking manly in his work clothes, his collar open, his sleeves rolled up, showing off all the deliciously ripped muscles and tendons in his forearms.
“Ashley, of course,” Jasmine said.
“You don’t have to work this week?” Colton asked, nudging his hat back. If not for the wicked gleam in his eyes, she would have been wondering if he was trying to get out of having an unwanted houseguest.
“Oh. Um. Just a couple of shifts at the flower shop. But, ah...”
“That’s right,” Jazz enthused. “I forgot you work at the flower shop, too.” She clapped her hands. “So, that’s where I’ll get the flowers. My God, Ash. Do you realize how easy you’re making this for me?”
Ashley gulped as her gaze met Colton’s. How ironic that Jasmine thought she was making it easy for her when Jasmine was the one making things a little too easy for her and Colton to finish what they’d started the other night.
“I’m going to go take some pictures to send to Parker,” Jazz said. “Then let’s head back to town to pick up our stuff.” She scurried off into the lodge, phone in hand.
“So now you’re staying out here?” Colton asked as he climbed the steps to the deck. “In my bunkhouse?”
“Looks like it.”
“Were you going to ask me if it was okay or just show up in my bed?”
She tilted her head to look up at him. “It was literally just decided the minute you walked up. I don’t have to stay with you if—”
He shut her up with a kiss, soft and sweet. “No. I want you in my bed, Ashley. We’ve got some unfinished business, you and I.”
His hot breath tickled her ear, and somehow her fingers had become tangled in between the buttons on his shirt, her fingertips grazing the warm skin of his chest, sending shivers from her hands up her arms and settling somewhere between her shoulder blades.
“You’re not going to run away this time, are you?”
“No. I owe you,” she said softly, thinking of the various ways she could pay him back. Another massage? A home-cooked meal? Something a little more...personal?
“You got that right.” Colton gazed down at her. “But I don’t want you there just because you owe me.”
She bunched his shirt up in her fists. “Why do you want me there?”
He lowered his lids and in a gruff voice said, “Because I need to see you come again.”
* * *
AFTER SPENDING THE weekend away, there were tons of chores to catch up on, particularly with all the new calves this spring. Colton and Curtis were out in the pasturelands when the rain that had threatened all day came, slanting down in sheets, which made everything take longer. By the time he got back to his side of the bunkhouse, it was too late to join the family in the main house for dinner, so he showered and grabbed a quick meal in his own kitchenette.
He’d no sooner done the washing up before there was a bold knock on his door. Swiping the grin from his face with the damp tea towel, he hung it on the hook by the sink and took his time making his way to the door. Nothing like building anticipation. Making the woman wait.
He opened the door, and there she was, wearing a trench coat and soaked through, gazing up at him through damp hair and beneath long lashes. Not shy—like she’d been at his trailer. Not disdainful—like she’d been at the bar.
Coy.
Her smile was that secret, sexy one he liked.
“Well, hiya, Ashley. What can I do for you?”
She placed a hand on his chest and pushed him aside so she could enter. “It’s not what you can do for me,” she said huskily over her shoulder. “Rather, what I can do for you.”
Whoa.
Who was this woman?
Colton couldn’t wait to find out. He closed the door behind her—and locked it—before leaning against it. Crossing one boot over the other, he also crossed his arms over his chest, waiting.
She stood in the middle of his sitting room, looking around before slowly turning. “I’m wet,” she said matter-of-factly.
“You are.”
“Do you mind if I take off my coat?”
“Please.” Colton waved a hand in her direction.
One side of her mouth tipped up as she slowly undid the ties at her waist. Then, without breaking eye contact, she undid her jacket, button by button, until there were no buttons left. She held the sides of her jacket together, only loosening
the top, revealing—quite splendidly—that all she was wearing underneath was lingerie.
Black, lacy lingerie.
She turned to the side, gazed coyly over her shoulder and loosened the jacket, letting it dip low, so that her back and the top of her ass were bared. The only thing covering her pale skin was the thin straps of her bra and the T at the back of her thong panties. She dropped the coat and stood there, back arched like a swimsuit model, biting her lip while she peered over her shoulder in her delicious undies and high-heeled black boots.
Holy mother of fuck.
“Do you want me to finish this here? Or in your bedroom?”
Colton’s mouth went dry. He didn’t bother to answer and instead moved toward her, hands itching to touch.
But when he was still a few steps away, she held out a hand to stop him.
“Nope. No touching. Not till I say so.”
Oh, baby.
Who the hell was this woman and what had she done with uptight Ashley Ozark?
Colton didn’t know. Didn’t care.
He brushed past her on his way to the bedroom. “Let’s finish this in here.”
“As you wish.”
11
ASHLEY WAS IMPRESSED with herself for how calm she sounded, considering her insides felt like a soda can that had been shaken up, fizzy and in need of release in a big, big way.
Pop my top, Colton Cross.
She shivered.
What the hell was she doing? It had all started on the drive back to town to gather her things when Ash had been pretending to listen to Jasmine jabbering on about wedding plans. Meanwhile, she’d secretly been thinking about Colton. Her relationship—or rather non-relationship, as it were—with the cowboy.
After dropping Jasmine off and agreeing to meet back at the ranch later that night in their own vehicles, she’d realized two things. The first thing was, she did not feel like she had one iota of control in this non-relationship. That had to change. Pronto. The second thing was—and this was the weird part because it directly contradicted the first part—she wanted to absolutely, completely and utterly lose control to Colton Cross.
How was that even possible?
She didn’t know.
All she knew was that she wanted Colton to touch her in ways she’d never let another man touch her. She wanted to respond to him like she’d never responded to another. She wanted Colton to do wicked and wonderful things to her until she lost it.
Like in the trailer.
The problem was she wanted all those things without losing herself to him. Which didn’t make sense. But then, nothing about what she and Colton were doing made sense.
So when the clouds that had threatened to let loose all day finally opened up into a soaking spring storm, she reminded herself to grab her rainproof trench coat...and an idea hit.
The striptease.
She’d obsessed about it the whole day of the party; in fact, she’d thought about it so much, she’d had the whole thing planned out, had even practiced in front of her bedroom mirror. How to move, how to smile, how to gaze wantonly from below half-closed lids. Yes, she had looked utterly ridiculous, batting her lashes at herself in the mirror. Until she’d closed her eyes and pretended her hands were Colton’s and it was him caressing her body, not her.
Ashley was certain that following through with the striptease would accomplish that weird paradox she was going for. Giving her control while simultaneously giving Colton leave to make her come apart again.
Of course, now that she was standing in Colton’s bunkhouse in her very best pair of underwear and a stolen pair of Brandi’s thigh-high boots, she was beginning to have her doubts.
“You coming?” his voice rumbled from the dark bedroom.
“You need an exercise in patience, mister,” she called with way more self-assurance than she felt.
Wasn’t that the key? Fake it until you make it, right?
His grumbling response made her smile.
See?
She was in control.
She moved across the room, wobbling only once in the high heels—thank God Colton didn’t see—and then propped herself up in the doorway, a hand on either side of the frame, striking a pose she’d practiced in the mirror, hoping it looked sexy and not stupid. By the expression on Colton’s face, she’d miraculously managed the first.
“Do you need music?” he asked. He was lying on his bed, his boots crossed at the ankles, his hands behind his head, all casual-like.
But the bulge at his crotch did not lie.
Shaking her head, she said, “No. Not unless you want it.”
“Nope.”
She glided into the room. Hard to do in the boots, but it was a small room, and she thought she’d pulled it off pretty well, coming to stand at the foot of his bed. Gazing directly into Colton’s eyes, Ashley ran a hand over her stomach, making back and forth passes just below her breasts. She’d practiced this maneuver, too, though at home, she’d imagined her hands were Colton’s, which was hard to do when she was watching said cowboy.
So she closed her eyes, trying to recapture the feeling she’d experienced at home, gliding her hand up over her breasts to her throat, her thumb running along her jawline before skirting her mouth. Parting her lips on the next pass, she licked her thumb, pretending it was Colton’s. The fact that Colton uttered harsh sounds of desire from so close by helped make her fantasy much more real.
“You are one sexy woman,” Colton rumbled.
God.
What had seemed so ridiculous in her bedroom now seemed incredibly...hot. She opened her eyes, daring to check Colton’s expression.
Intense and brooding.
He had one knee propped up, and, while his left hand was still behind his head, his right rested on his belt buckle.
Holding his gaze, Ash slid the tips of her fingers beneath the cup of her bra. Sweet mercy, her nipple was sensitive. She pinched and flinched from the crazy sensations that skittered across her chest and abdomen.
“How about I tell you what to do,” Colton suggested. He popped the oval buckle on his belt and moved it to the side.
“How about you lie there, watch the show and stay quiet?” Ashley responded. Was that really her voice? So low? So husky?
“Bossy.”
She squeezed her own breast, sucking in a breath because it felt so good, and she ran her other hand down her stomach, slipping down to stroke the front of her panties. “It’s not called a striptease for nothing.”
“Mmm.” Colton’s hand mimicked hers, stroking himself over the denim. “Whatever you say, boss-lady.”
“That’s right,” she said as she propped a boot up on the end of the bed, placing her hands on her calf and sliding them up the shiny surface, up past the tops to her thigh, using her short nails to gently abrade the exposed skin of her upper thigh before settling a hand between her legs.
“Just so you know, there will be payback for this.” His voice was gruff as he popped the buttons on his fly.
“Payback? How can there be payback for payment?”
“You’ll see.”
“Shh.” She rested a finger against her lips while the fingers of her other hand played with herself over the lacy material. “I said no talking.”
“Just want to be clear before you go too far.” The last button popped and he spread his fly wide open. “In case you’re thinking about bolting again.”
“I’m not going to bolt.” Just as he moved his hand down the front of his boxers to stroke himself, she slid hers down inside her panties. Her skin was completely smooth. Completely bare. She’d shaved it all, just for him, another thing she’d never done for a man. Though, as she stroked herself, she had to admit that she liked it, too.
Her pussy was soft and
wet, and she couldn’t wait for him to see her.
But not yet.
She dipped her fingers just inside, far enough to know how aroused she was, but not so far that she’d get carried away.
“Come here.” His voice was low and demanding. Her body responded to him immediately, leaning toward him as if she was a magnet and he was the North Pole. But Ashley wasn’t ready to give up control yet. Not by a long shot.
“I said no talking.” She wagged her finger at him, though he appeared hazy as she regarded him while still playing with her smooth self.
“And I said come here.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m going to lick your fingers.”
Her hand stilled as her body twitched involuntarily. Ashley did not respond, and neither did she allow herself to move around the bed to stand beside him, no matter how loud every single cell in her entire body screamed at her to do so, dying to experience the very thing he’d just said in that deep, commanding voice.
No.
She slowly drew her hand out from beneath the lace, languidly drawing those damp fingers up her body. Up, up, up until they circled her throat and jaw.
“Don’t you dare,” Colton growled.
Oh, yes. Yes she would dare.
First she licked her thumb.
Colton made a rumbling sound in response.
Then she circled her parted lips with her fingers.
Colton moaned.
Finally, she opened her mouth and sucked two fingers in, pulling them out only to draw them in again.
“You will pay for that.”
“Mmm.”
He grunted, and Ash reveled in the wonderful, delicious sensation of this unexpected power she exuded. She was driving Colton Cross to distraction by simply touching herself and denying him the opportunity to touch. It was intoxicating.
She withdrew her fingers and played with the bra strap on her shoulder. “The whole point of a striptease...” Ash whispered, flicking the left strap down, followed by the right, “is to tease.”
Colton replied with a string of pretty much every obscenity there was, and Ashley covered her smile of satisfaction by lowering her leg from the bed and turning her back on him. Reaching around behind her, she unclasped her bra and let it drop.
Wild Seduction Page 11