Untamed Cowboy

by Maisey Yates

  Their relationship was still a standoff half the time, like Dallas was trying to push him away. But he didn’t seem to have that problem with Kaylee. Didn’t seem to have that need to set her at a distance.

  And Kaylee, for her part, understood the kid well. She helped Bennett understand him, which was another point in the column of not trying to do things alone.

  But then, he had never tried to do it without Kaylee. She had been the first person he called, and for good reason.

  They all loaded up in the truck and Bennett drove them back to his place.

  “You can have a reprieve from chores,” he said to his son.

  And yeah, he had ulterior motives. Ulterior motives that didn’t put him in the running for World’s Best Dad. But he supposed not knowing about his son for fifteen years had killed those chances already.

  “Thanks,” Dallas said. “Feeling guilty about all the child labor?”

  “Not at all,” Bennett said, “but I thought you might be tired.”

  “Not especially, but I’m willing to go inside and play Xbox instead of clean out stalls.”

  “Well, whatever works.”

  Dallas went into the house, leaving Bennett and Kaylee alone outside.

  “Why don’t we go check on the horses?” Bennett asked.

  Kaylee nodded, her expression halting. She clearly knew he had ulterior motives too. But she followed him to the barn, which must mean she didn’t mind them. She was silent while Bennett tended to the horses, twisting her hands in front of her as though she were feeling a bit nervous.

  He wondered if she was.

  For his part, there were no nerves. There was just a growing, expanding need in his gut. One that was starting to blot out all the complicated thoughts from earlier. And that was what he wanted to pursue. That was what he wanted to chase. Because all that other stuff was complicated and confronting. Needing people. Talking to his father. Dealing with all this past garbage that he simply didn’t want to deal with.

  He didn’t know why he felt so desperate, why he felt scraped raw all the way down to his bones. Everything had gone well. There was nothing to fight against. Nothing to insulate himself against. There was just...acceptance. Of his father’s love. Of the way his siblings had accepted Dallas as their nephew so quickly.

  And then there was Kaylee. Who was always everything he needed, and had been that and more lately.

  He needed her now. Needed her to simplify everything. Her touch, her kiss. It would. He knew it. Because weirdly, it was the only thing that made sense from the past few weeks.

  Maybe because it didn’t have reasoning involved. Because there was no plan in it. Because there was nothing except want, and his wants had been nowhere near any of the recent events in his life.

  He hadn’t wanted to break up with Olivia. He hadn’t wanted a son. He hadn’t wanted to open up all the mistakes he made in the past in front of his family and confess them. Hadn’t wanted to admit there was a time when he’d lost control.

  And yet he had to.

  And none of that was for him. Not really. But this was. She was. And he suddenly needed her more than air.

  The horses were fed, and everything else could wait.

  “Staring at you all night and not being able to touch you has been torture,” he said, his voice rough.

  Her head snapped around, shock visible in her green eyes. “Me?”

  “Yes, you. You’re a damned problem, Kaylee Capshaw.”

  “I’m a problem?” She looked delighted by that information, and not at all abashed.

  “A pretty one.”

  And then, without talking, he pressed her back up against the door of the barn, his chest pressed against her small, perfectly formed breasts as he consumed her mouth like he was a starving man. He was. For more than just sex. For this release, this escape. For a kind of satisfaction that would blot out all the things that had come before.

  Maybe that made him a jerk. Using his best friend like this. But maybe that was also the only reason he could do this. Because she was Kaylee. Because she had always been something different. Something special. This small bit of connection he allowed himself to have.

  And right now... She was more than escape. She tasted like salvation. All soft and slick and hot.

  And he could see her now. The lights were on in the barn, and when he pulled away from her mouth to trail kisses down her neck, he could see the way that pale skin flushed. How aroused she was, evidenced by the way that skin bloomed with red, the way her pupils dilated. The way her breath made her breasts rise and fall in small, choppy motions.

  He was going to see her naked. He had to.

  “Should we talk about this?” she asked breathlessly as he trailed kisses to the edge of the collar of her shirt.

  “I don’t want to talk. We’ve talked enough, don’t you think?” he asked, echoing what she had said to him last night.

  They’d had years of talking. Years and years of it. And years of not doing this. Suddenly, this was all he wanted.

  And that didn’t feel like reducing her, or their connection. It felt like growing it. Maybe that was his dick talking, it was entirely possible. But whatever, it made sense.

  “I want to see you,” he said. “Like I said earlier. I have to know.”

  “You’re obsessed with colors,” she said softly, fingertips fluttering down to his chest, tracing a line all the way down to the waistband of his jeans.

  Desire kicked in him like a horse, his body getting hard.

  “All the colors of Kaylee,” he agreed. “Your hair, your skin. Do you know what I like?”

  “No,” she said, the word hushed.

  “I like the way you’re flushed all red right now. I like how I can see that you’re turned on. I’ve never seen you turned on before, Kay. Not really. Do you know how hot it is to know what that looks like?”

  “Probably about as hot as I find it to see you turned on,” she said, looking down at the bulge in the front of his pants meaningfully.

  “Good thing it works for both of us. Can’t imagine what it would be like if this only went one way.”

  She looked down, biting her lip, and he gripped her chin, tilting her face back up so he could look at her.

  “Yeah,” she said softly. “Good thing.”

  He pressed his fingertips to the hem of her top, pushing them beneath, dragging the calloused tips over her soft skin. He was rough and work scarred, hazards of the job. But Kaylee did the same work, and somehow managed to be silk over muscle. Soft over strong. He had always focused on that strength in her, because it was something he prized in her as a friend. He hadn’t let himself marvel at her femininity. At just how perfect all that skin was. He was doing it now.

  He pushed her top all the way up over her head, and threw it down onto the floor, then he leaned in, kissing her jaw as he reached around to unhook her bra.

  Lust hit him like a slug in the gut as he took in the sight of those perfect bare breasts. With the lovely, tight pink tips. They were just the right size to hold in his hands, to suck into his mouth. He had done it before, but not when he could see her. Not when he could see this. He was drunk on it. On her.

  And suddenly...

  He didn’t want her to be his port in the storm.

  He wanted to be hers.

  Everything she’d said to him earlier flooded back. Washed over him. The way she’d looked when he’d come over and helped her move that ridiculous hutch, and how she’d been reluctant to take anything from him.

  The first night they’d been together, she’d gone down on him.

  Not now.

  Now, he was going to give to her. And he was going to make damn sure she liked it.

  He gripped her hips, kissing a line down to her collarbone, to that sweet, vulnerable curve just above her nipple, and the
n he sucked her in deep, gratified when she gasped and grabbed hold of his hair.

  “That’s right,” he murmured against her skin, “you like that, don’t you?”

  “Yes,” she said.

  “To think. All this time I didn’t know my best friend had such sensitive nipples.”

  “Doesn’t come up in polite conversation,” she gasped.

  “Then we need to have less polite conversations.”

  He reached down then, undoing her belt buckle, unbuttoning her jeans and drawing the zipper down slowly. Then he got on his knees in front of her, gripping the fabric of her jeans and her panties and pulling both down her legs, shoving them to the side and leaving himself eye level with those curls he had made declarations about earlier in the day.

  She was beautiful. More beautiful than he had imagined she might be. He wanted... He wanted her. With such ferocity it jarred him. Wanted to taste her deeper than he thought possible, wanted to sink inside of her and lose himself completely. Wanted to forget that there was anything outside of this barn, outside of the two of them.

  Life would be simpler if it could just be this.

  Or at least, it would feel better. A hell of a lot better.

  He tightened his hold on her hips, moving his hands around slightly to cup her ass. She was lean, and she was toned, his Kaylee, but there was more to grab on to of her backside. It was softer than the rest of her. And he liked that. He liked it a lot.

  He leaned forward, inhaling deeply before sliding his tongue through her folds, moving his hand up to part those lips so that he could examine her the way that he wanted to. She was everything. Everything he had wanted her to be. Everything he had needed her to be. And then some.

  He didn’t think he could match that. He hoped he could do even half of that for her now. Even if it was only sex. Only pleasure.

  While he tasted her he was never not fully aware that it was Kaylee. His Kaylee. Naked and wet beneath his mouth, making small noises of pleasure as he flicked his tongue over her clit. As he pushed his fingers inside of her and dragged another release from her beautiful core. As her pleasure coated his mouth, his finger.

  He had never gotten quite so much pleasure from lavishing attention on a woman. Because no woman had ever mattered quite this much. He cared about Kaylee. And each sound she made wasn’t just one of pleasure. It was Kaylee feeling good. Kaylee feeling beautiful. Feeling wanted.

  All the things he’d always wanted for her, but now he was the one giving them to her. He had given her that feeling of being wanted as best he could as a friend. But this was more. She let him be more. Do more.

  And selfish or not, she was beautiful, and he had his face buried between her legs. And that was pleasure all on its own. It had him hard as iron, ready to explode.

  After her climax he kept on at it, teasing her with his tongue, his fingers, until she begged him to stop. But he didn’t stop.

  “Bennett,” she gasped, “I can’t... I can’t.”

  “You sure as hell can,” he growled, gripping her hips and pinning her firmly against the wall so that she couldn’t move. “Because I’m not done. And don’t you worry about whether or not you can come, I’ve got all the time in the world. And I’m just enjoying sucking on your pretty clit.”

  And just like that, she came apart around his fingers again. Gasping and sobbing, twisting, as if she was trying to get away from him. But he held her steady against his mouth, stroking his tongue over her a few more times before rising to his feet.

  She was panting, sweat beaded between her pretty breasts, her hair hanging lank and disheveled around her.

  He was struck dumb. Seeing her like this. His friend, wilted with desire against the wall because of him.

  “You take off your clothes next,” she said, seeming to find some strength, pushing herself away from the wall by an inch or so. “I didn’t get to see you either.”

  “I think I can handle that.”

  He pulled his T-shirt over his head, gratified by the expression of open hunger in her eyes as she regarded him. Then he began to work his belt buckle and she eyed him with pure avarice, her gaze never leaving him as he undid his zipper and consigned his clothes to the barn floor along with hers.

  He collected a condom from his wallet and tore it open, rolling it on slowly as she watched. He felt her gaze on his body like a physical touch. He took pains to protect them both, his body aching with need for her.

  Then he closed the distance between them, working his fingers through her hair, cupping the back of her head and kissing her fiercely as he brought her back up against the wall. She flexed her hips against him and he gripped her thigh with one hand, lifting her leg and draping it over his hip as he positioned himself at her slick entrance and thrust in deep.

  She gasped, her eyes fluttering closed, her head falling back, and those delicate, familiar lips parted gently.

  He withdrew slowly, before thrusting back in, watching as that lovely, familiar face responded to him being inside of her.

  Kaylee.

  There was no denying this was happening. No convenient cover of darkness to blunt it all. Last night, it had felt strange and muted, hot as hell, for sure. But there had been some protection in it. None now. It sliced into him deep. Now, it was all her turning him on. Not sex, not a female touch. But Kaylee. Only and always Kaylee.

  He lost himself in the rhythm they established together, in the breathy sighs she made as her arousal began to amp up again. In the way her tight, wet body tightened itself around him.

  If he died in this moment, he would die a damned happy man, that was for sure. With Kaylee’s fingernails digging into his shoulders, her legs wrapped around his waist as he pounded them both into oblivion.

  Wyatt was right. Not seeing her like this before... It had been an effort on his part. And now that he had dropped his guard, now that he had given up on seeing her as anything other than this...his friend who was beautiful. His friend who he wanted, he couldn’t imagine ever not wanting her.

  That was need. And need terrified the hell out of him. Need was something he had tried so very hard not to feel. But it was sweet right now. Sweet as hell. In a very literal sense. All fire and brimstone and torture, but also something he couldn’t stop. Something he couldn’t quit. An addiction, one so good he never wanted to be clean.

  He wanted to be dirty. With her.

  Pleasure gathered at the base of his spine, electric and undeniable. It was like fire building inside of him. One that was going to rage out of control at any moment. One that might consume him completely. That need again. That thing he had known would be a raging, destructive thing. And it was. It was. But he was ready to jump feetfirst into it.

  He lost his hold on his control, letting go completely, igniting and bringing Kaylee along with him.

  If they were going to burn, at least they were burning together.

  They clung to each other, his orgasm taking them over completely, a feral growl on his lips as he let it all go completely.

  He kissed her one last time, pulling them away from the wall and walking her over to a cabinet on the far end of the barn. He opened up the cabinet and with one arm pulled out a couple of blankets, clutching them and Kaylee to his chest and heading into one of the empty stalls. He tossed the blankets down onto the ground.

  “Gotta put you down for a second, sweetheart,” he said.

  He did, and she stood there, looking at him, one arm beneath her breasts, her hand gripping her other arm just above the elbow. She looked...lost and a little bit vulnerable, and he wasn’t used to Kaylee looking that way. It had been like that after the first time they were together, and he had completely messed it up. He wasn’t going to do that this time.

  He didn’t want to disappoint her. He never wanted to be responsible for the kind of pain he’d seen on her face earlier today. For the pain h
e’d heard in her voice when she’d told him that story about her past.

  He wanted more. More than just a quick turn up against the wall.

  He spread a blanket out over the clean shavings on the floor of the stall that would provide them with some cushion, then he picked her back up, laying her down on the flannel.

  “Cozy,” she said as he unfolded the other blanket and unfurled it over the top of her, letting it catch air as it drifted down over her curves.

  “It’ll do,” he said, getting beneath the blanket with her and pulling her up against him.

  They could hear the horses in their stalls, making small noises and shuffling around. Suddenly, Kaylee snickered against his shoulder.

  “What?”

  “I was just thinking... This is pretty fitting for us. Considering our lives are bonded over the fact that we take care of animals. But the only thing that’s missing is Beatrix Leighton coming in with a box of raccoons.”

  “It was only one raccoon,” he said. “And if she came in now, she wouldn’t get any help from me.”

  Kaylee looked mock horrified. “But what about your oath to protect and serve?”

  “I didn’t take an oath for raccoons.”

  “You’re unfeeling, Bennett Dodge.”

  “I feel plenty,” he said, slipping his hand between her legs and stroking her until she tried to wiggle away, then gave in, going pliant under his touch.

  “That’s not what I meant,” she protested.

  “I have more condoms in my wallet,” he said.

  “Well, that is handy. It’s almost as if you were planning this.”

  “I was,” he said unrepentantly.

  “Good. I was hoping you would say that.”

  He kissed her again, drawing her curves up against his body. It felt right. She felt right.

  And the plan right now was to do this until it stopped feeling right.

  As plans went, it wasn’t the best one. But if it meant having Kaylee in his arms, then it was the plan he was going to go with.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  WHEN KAYLEE WOKE UP, the sun was just starting to bleed into her consciousness. Rose gold and gentle. It was filtering through the slats on the stall, from the small opens in the barn door.