by Em Petrova
He cupped her breasts and raised her nipples to his lips. Soft brushing of lips first and then wet pulls of his mouth that made her knees buckle. He held her up, licking back and forth between her nipples like he was trying to eat two ice cream cones.
Groans emitted from her throat, and she worked at the buttons of his shirt until it hung open. She eased her hands inside, over a lightly-furred chest. The pecs were rounded with muscle, his six-pack abs evident under her fingers.
“Take it off me.” His quiet command sent need rippling all over her. Her pussy was dripping wet.
She removed his shirt but before she could let it drop to the floor, he took it from her. In a blink, he had the cloth twisted into a rope and her wrists bound before her.
She looked up at him in surprise. “Aiden.”
“I play dirty and I won’t pretend to do otherwise. Tell me if you can’t handle it now, Amaryllis.”
Her heart fluttered. Played dirty? As in, domination? It seemed that way.
She’d never had anything but vanilla sex, and this side of Aiden definitely hadn’t entered her fantasies of the previous night. But now… she couldn’t think of anything but letting him take control.
With her breaths rushing out in harsh pants, she felt herself nod. He probably couldn’t even see her. “I can handle it,” she whispered.
An animalistic noise sounded in his throat. She leaned into him, and he moved her bound arms to circle his neck. As he slammed his mouth over hers, he worked open her jeans. She tensed as his fingertips brushed the top of her mound. She kept her curls trim, but maybe he liked his women bare.
His growl told her otherwise. “Fuck, I wish I could see you. All of you.”
“You’re wondering if the rug matches the curtains,” she said faintly.
His chest rumbled in a laugh. “Crossed my mind. I’ll find out later.” He pushed her jeans and panties down her hips and cupped her pussy.
In the faint light, his face was carved from granite. She went on tiptoe and pressed light kisses along his chiseled jaw. He moaned and stroked a fingertip over the seam of her pussy, dragging through her juices and spreading them over her swollen bud.
As his mouth enveloped hers in a deep, sucking kiss, he strummed her clit. Over and over, using his whole hand to massage her folds and stimulate absolutely every bit of her sex.
Cream flooded his fingers. “Oh God, Aiden.”
“Knew you’d be wet for me.”
“Well, I knew you’d be hard for me.”
“I’m going to fuck you so hard, you’ll be wet thinking about it tomorrow.” He doubled the efforts of his fingers.
She bit into his lower lip, and he bit back. She rocked into his hand, and he pinched her nipples with his other. Need spiked. Her core began to pulsate so hard that it rattled her. She forgot where they were and that she shouldn’t be letting her colleague touch her this way. Thinking she only needed release.
Now.
From this beautiful, stubborn, straight-laced lawman with the mysterious pain behind his eyes.
“Come for me, doll. Come now.” His demand burrowed deep in her psyche. She came.
On demand.
Waves washed over her, shaking her until he supported her fully as he fingered her through her first orgasm in his arms.
Before she’d come down entirely, he pulled out his fingers and trailed the wetness over her lips. She moaned at the newness of the action.
“Taste yourself. Taste how much you want me.” He poised his fingertips at her lips, and she parted to let her tongue slide over them.
Sweet juices hit her tongue, and then Aiden’s tongue filled her mouth too, swirling over his wet fingers and her tongue simultaneously. She couldn’t take it anymore—she needed to touch him.
“Untie me. I need to feel you.”
“No. I’m in the driver’s seat.” He pulled her bound arms over his head and knelt to remove her boots and the rest of her clothes.
* * * * *
With the flavors of Amaryllis’s release on his tongue, he had no idea how he was holding it together. The need to claim her roughly, the way he craved, was a hot coal in his groin.
Somehow, he managed not to tear any of her garments while stripping her. He kicked off his own clothes and resisted pulling his belt through the loops of his jeans, but damn, he itched to fold the leather on his palm.
Oh, he’d feel her ass under his belt, all right. But not yet.
She stood before him in full glory, and whoooeee, he didn’t know how long he’d last. Just looking at her made him five hip thrusts away from blowing his load.
Her eyes were hazy with passion, her skin blotchy in places where he might have gone too rough with her. She was easily marked. He’d have to remember that.
Letting his gaze dip over her breasts to her belly to the triangle of short curls covering her treasure was all the look-don’t-touch he was willing to do.
But she was looking her fill.
“Your tattoos are beautiful.”
He flexed his shoulders, feeling his skin was suddenly too tight. Every day of his life he was faced with wearing the images that had made him so proud, but he’d failed the forces and his country. At least that was how they painted the picture after his insubordination.
A chill or maybe emotion made Amaryllis shiver, her dainty toes curled into the tile floor. It wasn’t the most romantic place he’d ever taken a woman, but he couldn’t wait another moment. He stepped up to her. The warmth of her body combined with his to create an inferno.
He raised her bound wrists and placed them around his neck. Looking down into her eyes, his voice found a brand-new gruffness. “You’re fucking beautiful.”
Her eyelashes swept over her cheeks as she cast her gaze downward. When she looked up into his eyes again, hers were smoldering with a need so enormous that it was like a fist-punch.
“I want you,” she whispered.
He stilled, feeling like someone had just thrown a bucket of ice water over him. “Damn. I don’t carry condoms.” He had no need for them. It wasn’t as if he had heated encounters like this. When he took a woman, it was always planned.
“I’m clean,” he said.
At the same time, she said, “I’m on the pill.”
The smile they shared ratcheted up his desire for Amaryllis. Her smile, the twinkle in her eyes, her damn beauty stunned him. Stopped his heart.
“Guess there’s no reason to hold back, Roshannon.”
He leaned close. “Say my name.”
“Aiden.” The word came out as a breath.
He lifted her, and she wrapped her thighs around him, anchoring her heels above his buttocks. With a growl of hunger, he took her lips.
One smooth shove and he was balls deep. Home.
A gasping cry left her. He swallowed the sound and angled his head to plunge his tongue deeper into her sweet mouth. She was soaking for him, liquid heat engulfing and stealing his goddamned mind.
He rocked his hips back, withdrawing. She shimmied down on his cock again. Holy hell, he’d never had a woman take what she wanted in the first minute they’d been joined. But Amaryllis was strong, independent and still sexy as hell. Even if she was breaking his rules and not giving him all the control, it felt too fucking good to stop her.
He cupped her backside, the cheeks overflowing his hands perfectly, as he ground his hips again. Such a spankable ass.
Her pussy tightened around him, and he hissed with ecstasy on the withdrawal. “You need a good fucking, don’t you, baby?” he whispered hotly against her lips.
“No. I need a great fucking.”
He smiled against her mouth and felt hers twist upward too. “Guess I’d better make it a fucking fantastic fucking.”
“Less talk, more action.” She jerked her heels, yanking him against her. The head of his cock was burrowed deep inside her warm, slick heat. His balls tightened. He caught her hair in his fist and drew her head back to suck on the spot where her pulse throbbe
d. Under his tongue, it tripped faster.
He churned his hips and she writhed in his arms. Need claimed his mind, and he stopped thinking. Sensation drove him faster, harder. She cried out and he dipped his head to capture one nipple between his teeth. Biting down as gently as he could when he was this far gone.
She squeezed his length tight with her inner muscles and then she was coming, shaking apart.
One look at the bliss on her face and he was shooting jet after jet deep into her pussy. His roar echoed off the walls, and her sweet rasping cries tore through him.
He wasn’t done with her. Not remotely.
Chapter Nine
Amaryllis didn’t know if she was on a high or had hit a new low. Contrary to Aiden’s beliefs, she did have a code of rules. And she’d tossed out every one she’d ever made to protect herself.
No sleeping with people she worked with.
Well, that was blown to hell, wasn’t it?
She wiggled in the driver’s seat, feeling the aftereffects of him being inside her. Stretching her.
On their way back to Crossroads, he’d asked her to stop at the mini-mart so he could run in and grab something. She had a sneaking suspicion it could be condoms. But why bother now? His release still leaked from her to wet her panties.
Eyes trained on the front of the mini-mart, she started ticking off all the reasons why this affair was a terrible idea. There were plenty, starting with compromising their working relationship and ending with her going home to Texas.
No good could come out of this.
Through the glass doors of the store, she could see Aiden standing at the counter, turned away from her, his hat moving slightly as he nodded at something the clerk said. They stood there for another long minute, and Amaryllis wondered what they could be discussing. Maybe the size of condoms he’d purchased.
A half-snort, half-giggle escaped her, and she shook her head at herself. Aiden Roshannon definitely lived up to the old saying about the bigger the cowboy boots, the bigger the—
He walked out of the store, a white bag in hand and two bottled waters tucked between the fingers of his other. When he jumped into the truck, he eyed her. “Tell me this truck is just a passing fancy of yours to get under my skin.”
She put it in reverse and twisted to see while backing up. “Nope. Get used to it.”
“Tomorrow I drive.”
She straightened out the wheel and drove forward. “We’ll take turns. What’s in the bag? Is that hot dogs I smell?”
His brows shot upward. “Hot dogs? Woman, that is an insult to this part of the country. These aren’t just hot dogs. They’re triple cheese chili dogs with all the fixin’s.”
“Sounds like a fantastic meal to eat on the road.”
He opened the bag and delved in. Coming out with a foil-wrapped dog cradled in one hand as if it was the Holy Grail. He held it out to her. “Can you drive this monster and still eat?”
“Give me that.” She snagged it from his fingers and tore open the foil. The scents of peppers, nacho cheese and chili hit her. “Is this some kind of test? See if Amaryllis’s stomach is as cast iron as her personality?”
He chuckled and bit off a chunk of his own. “Sure, if you’re up to the challenge.”
She eyed him. “Are you serious?”
“Nah, I just wanted a chili dog. And you know my rule of never passing a spot to get food.”
She nibbled at the bun, her mind working away from what she and Aiden had done and on to what they’d discovered in the grocery store.
Aiden polished off his first hot dog and crinkled the paper in his fist. He reached into the bag again. “You know I’m not going to let you off the hook for breaking into that building.”
She swung her gaze his way, heat creeping into her cheeks, to her horror. “I’m not going to apologize to anybody for anything I do on a case. Everyone knows I have unconventional ways of bagging criminals. Latchaw knew it when he asked me to come to Wyoming.”
“Lucky for you that window went right back in. Almost as if you’ve done that before and you knew it would.”
She stared at the road and took a huge mouth full of chili dog to avoid answering.
“Seriously, Amaryllis. I won’t stand for that again.” He cracked open a bottled water and held it out to her.
She set the hot dog on the console between them and grabbed the water. “Won’t stand for it? Am I under your control now?”
His dark stare sent a pulse of need straight between her legs. That look said she was—at least when it came to sex. His shirt was slightly wrinkled from being twisted and knotted around her wrists, which only made the man look more fucking hot and rugged as hell.
“We gotta play by the rules, Amaryllis.”
“Is fucking me while on a lead by the rules?” she threw back at him.
He gulped too much water and had to clear his throat hard.
“Did you write that detail in your little notebook, Roshannon?”
“Now that you mention it, I should.” He got out his notebook and pen. What he wrote was anybody’s guess—she was focusing on her chili dog. Maybe she’d have bad enough breath that he wouldn’t want to kiss her again.
After a minute, he slipped the book back into his breast pocket. She held out her hand with the crumpled foil of her hot dog on her palm. He plucked it up and dropped it back into the bag.
“I’ll take the other one now.”
He laughed. “You sure your stomach’s up to it?”
“You don’t know a lot about me, Roshannon. But I’ll tell you one. My momma always said I could go out and graze with the cows and not have a hint of stomach trouble. Now hand over that dog.”
* * * * *
Aiden tossed his notebook down on the coffee table in his living room. The surface was littered with clutter—bills and junk mail as well as receipts for feed he’d purchased and had sent to Eagle Crest to help out with the expenses. Judd was strapped for cash since he’d lost his ass in the divorce, and Aiden could afford to pick up a bit more of the slack for his brother.
Aiden sank to the sagging sofa and stared into space.
After returning to the office to discuss their findings with Latchaw, Aiden had spent some time trying to combine the clues in his head. On the surface, it seemed like two separate crimes, but he and Amaryllis believed the killings and thefts were all connected. If not stemming from one man then by a group of them who all worked together.
Amaryllis had hijacked a computer and spent the entire afternoon doing research. She’d found the cattle brand that had been seared over Owens’ wasn’t registered anywhere. It was new, fabricated to throw off suspicion.
He stared at his notebook with no new entries to tell him what was going on with the crimes. And it sure didn’t tell him what to do about this ache inside—the one he had for a feisty little strawberry blonde with the constitution of a US Marine.
Hell, if she’d been given the order to fire upon that bunker, she probably could have done it. Far as he could tell, she didn’t hesitate on anything ever. Eat one of Crossroads’ mini-mart death dogs? Hand it over. Remove a windowpane and climb through the window without knowing the danger on the other side? Hell yeah.
Buck against his cock to find her release? Oh fuck yes.
He sat back on the couch and threaded his fingers through his hair, but all he felt was Amaryllis’s silky strands. The bright locks that intrigued the hell out of him. He wanted to see it twisted in his fist as he marked her ass with his palm prints.
He threw a glance at the clock on the wall. It was well past eleven. Would she be sleeping?
Did he care? She wasn’t the only person who could run with her urges.
He stood and jammed his hat back on his head. He cast a look around his lonely living room. The sagging furniture and clutter didn’t require attention. All he had to do was walk out and lock the door behind him.
Five minutes later, he stood at Amaryllis’s door. The B&B owner had let him
in with a wink that was probably relief that Aiden wasn’t here for her daughter.
He rapped lightly on the wooden door. Inside, he heard a rustling sound. Was she throwing on clothes? No need.
When she opened the door, she was fully dressed, sans boots and hat. Her hair floating loose and her eyes bright. “Aiden.” His name came out as a breath. “What are you doing here?”
“Can I come in?” He met her gaze.
Her lips parted. “Is that a good idea?”
“Depends on how quiet you can be while I rock your world, Amaryllis. Now make your choice.”
She threw a look past him and then stepped back to let him pass into her room. She hurried to close the door and lock it. Then she leaned against it as if in need of the support. His own body felt mighty jelly-like, so he understood.
They stared at each other for a long heartbeat. Suddenly, she lunged into his arms at the same moment he scooped her up. Their mouths collided with a primal need. His cock stiffened in a blink and she practically shimmied up him like a pole.
He lifted her under her ass and broke from the kiss long enough to say, “I’m takin’ you in a bed this time.”
“And after that?” She worked at his buttons while pressing nipping bites to his throat.
“After that, we have some options.” The bed was piled with pillows and quilts, and a silky robe lay across the foot. He threw her down and crawled atop her.
She stared up at him, chest heaving. “What options?”
“Well,” he drawled, leaning back enough to peel the top over her head. Her breasts rose up, cradled in black silk bra cups. His mouth dried out, and somehow he managed to get out the rest of his sentence. “There’s the shower.”
“Mmm.” She arched enough to let him slide his hands underneath her and unclasp her bra.
“The sofa.”
“How boring.” She bit his lower lip hard enough to sting.
Growling, he saw spots for a moment before throttling back the powerful lust inside him again. He had to take this slow.
“It won’t be boring when you’re bound hand and foot, on your knees, taking the leather of my belt across your round ass.”
Her eyes widened and she sucked in a sharp breath. He studied her eyes. Was she aroused or frightened to death?