Something About a Lawman

by Em Petrova

  When she revolved past him again, he snagged her around the waist and pulled her down across his knees, dangling facedown. She cried out in surprise and jerked her head around to glare at him.

  “What’s that for?”

  “Only way I can shut off your mind is when your ass is under my palm. The case can wait, Amaryllis. But we’re alone right now.”

  “I’ve never worked anything this big,” she protested. “It’s exciting. I want to—”

  Without warning, he brought the flat of his hand down on her ass. She broke off midsentence and hissed as the sting rang through her body.

  Her nipples went from slightly pinched with arousal to full hardness in a blink and a throb took up residence between her legs.

  “Now,” he caressed her ass cheek through her jeans, “do I need to swat you again or are you ready to settle down for bed?”

  She panted. “What case?”

  His deep chuckle spread over her, warming her from the inside out. “Good little sub. Now stand up here and undress for me.”

  Several heartbeats passed before she could make her legs do her bidding and hold her weight. She stood before Aiden and reached for her shirt buttons. As she worked down the line of buttons, his eyelids drooped over his smoldering stare. She dipped a glance at his groin and found the crotch of his jeans bulging. This submission thing came with a power of its own, and she was seriously tripping on it.

  Heart speeding faster, she removed her shirt and then her bra. Her boots and jeans followed, but she hesitated at her panties. Last time he’d wanted them on.

  “Aiden?”

  “Master,” he corrected.

  A shudder zipped through her. “Master. Do you want me to take them off?”

  “Yes.” The grittiness of his voice told her that he may not have all the control he liked tonight.

  She hooked her thumbs in the sides of her panties and stopped. He caught her stare and held it prisoner.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “What Judd said about you and Wes having the same taste in women. Was that what was going on in the hall while I was washing up for dinner?”

  His jaw shifted as if he ground his teeth, and a muscle flickered in the crease. His five o’clock shadow looked like a bruise in the long shadows in the room.

  “I don’t like to talk about it, let alone when I have a naked woman standing in front of me. But you need to hear it before my idiot brother tells you.”

  She tried to even out her breathing. “Tell me.”

  “Back when we were eighteen, I started seeing this girl and turned out she was seeing Wes too. He got this idea we could just share her.”

  Amaryllis’s eyebrows shot up. “You shared a woman with your cousin?”

  “Neither of us was serious about her. We were young and full of cum. It didn’t seem like a big deal. Wouldn’t be now except Wes had his eye on you and well, that isn’t happening.” His tone sounded like over my dead body.

  Or Wes’s.

  She let go of the breath she’d been holding. “Did you share her…”

  He seemed to understand the question she couldn’t put into words. “Not at the same time. Passed her between us mostly, but a few times we were all in the same room. Took turns.”

  Her nipples tightened at the sexual kinks her lover had experienced.

  “Does it turn you on, the thought of being shared?” He looked up at her from where he still sat on the bed, a guarded expression on his face but his eyes holding a vulnerability she’d never seen before in Aiden or any other Roshannon.

  She stepped up to stand between his knees. She wrapped her arms around his neck and brought his head to rest against her belly. “No. It turns me on that my lover has enough experience to pleasure me the way I need it.”

  A sound broke from him, and he rubbed his stubbled jaw over her belly. Goosebumps rippled over her skin, down to her thighs. With his hands, he stroked her skin in long passes, from waist to knees and back up again. When he cupped her breasts, she swayed backward to give him complete access.

  Then he pulled her down, pressing her under him as he claimed her mouth in a deep, sucking kiss. Warmth soon turned into a burning inferno. She wrapped her thighs around his hips, and he rocked his bulging cock into her bare pussy. The rough denim on her folds made her gasp, so he did it again.

  And again.

  Need spread through her so fast that she wasn’t prepared for the blinding orgasm that struck. A groan escaped him, and he captured her nipple in his mouth, sucking as waves of release pounded her.

  “Aiden…”

  “Master.”

  “Master, you make me feel so good. I want you.”

  In a blink, he was on his feet, stripping off all his clothes and approaching the bed again in his full, naked, muscled glory. She saw the Marine inside the velvet steel of his flesh and the Dom in the proud way his cock jutted against his six-pack abs. But in his eyes, she saw Aiden the man. The way he looked at her was almost as if…he loved her.

  She opened her arms to him and he came into her with one smooth glide. Fucking her with a slow insistence that drown out the memory of any other man she’d ever had before him. Aiden pinned her wrists in one of his hands above her head, hovering over her in a one-armed pushup that turned her on as much as his rigid cock gliding in and out of her.

  Drawing him closer with her thighs around his waist, she kissed him. The tangling of their tongues, the movements of their bodies, it was erotic as hell. And it meant so much more.

  On instinct, she bit into his lower lip. He jerked back to look into her eyes. With a growl only a true alpha male could make, he began to pound into her. Claiming her.

  * * * * *

  He’d started out with control. Held onto the precious fibers of it. Until that love bite. She’d broken the skin on his lip, the little hellcat, and she’d pay for it as soon as he got his mind back.

  Pleasure drove him deeper and deeper, his balls slapping her ass. As soon as he found his control again, he’d take that length of rope from under his bed and tie her up, ass in the air for his spanking.

  But three thrusts turned into four. Pretty soon he couldn’t stop. His mind blanked to anything but the hormones coursing through his veins and her sweet whimpers. He kissed them off her lips but soon he was silencing her cries with a hand over her mouth.

  Her eyes were hazed, her body clenching and releasing in a rhythm that sent him over the edge far too soon.

  He came hard with convulsive jerks of his hips as she tensed and squeezed around his cock, finding her own release.

  Seconds passed as he tried to see straight again, and she bit his palm.

  With a laugh, he removed his hand from her mouth and rolled, taking her with him. Tucking her close, smoothing his hands up and down her spine, still damp with the dew of their coupling.

  Fatigue was catching up to him, and holding her this way only made him feel lazier. Her breathing changed, grew slower. Having her here in his old bed at Eagle Crest felt so fucking right. Everything about her felt fucking right.

  “I’m not sharing you,” he murmured against her hair.

  Or letting you go back to Texas.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Amaryllis looked around her rented room in the B&B. She was lost, out of sorts, feeling like a weary traveler for the first time… well, ever.

  Being at Eagle Crest had reminded her how it felt to be connected to something, part of a bigger whole. That feeling of loss had probably driven her to apply for the loan to buy the small farm weeks ago. But even if she got it, some of the most beautiful, rich land she’d ever seen, she’d be alone on it.

  She tidied up the space, throwing all her laundry into a net bag. Today needed to be a laundry day, and she was almost looking forward to a mundane task. Since arriving in Crossroads, she practically hadn’t sat down.

  This case was definitely one of the biggest ones she’d ever dealt with. The people involved seemed to number in the range o
f a dozen. Cattle were stolen, taken to auctions in other counties, and hell, probably across state lines. Or they were being butchered for the cash. She turned these ideas over and over in her head and tried to attach the crimes to the names they knew and of those they’d arrested.

  After she had her room organized and the bag of laundry ready, she headed out. It was the Lord’s day and she hoped a small town like Crossroads had a coin laundry open on Sunday. She supposed she could ask the B&B owner to use the facility’s machines, but she needed to get out for a while.

  She opened the monster truck door and tossed the laundry up and in. As she settled behind the wheel, she giggled to think of Aiden’s view on her driving this truck. She had a feeling if she drove up to his place and asked him to test-drive the bed, he’d leap in and like the roominess well enough.

  Maybe she’d do just that. He seemed to prefer sex in a bed where he could control the environment right down to how much noise she made. But a romp in an unexpected place always made for a fun time.

  The truck alerted her that she was low on fuel, so she headed toward the main strip of Crossroads and the mini-mart. Seeing the storefront made her think of flirting with Aiden over a chili dog.

  Damn, she was worse off than she thought.

  Aiden consumed her mind and ruled her body. It wasn’t a good idea to let herself fall for him—she was going back to Texas after they made their arrests.

  And it could be too late. She didn’t want to leave Aiden, and surely that meant emotions were stirred up.

  She pulled up to a diesel pump, cut the engine and then hopped out. A couple other cars were getting gas and someone was parked next to the building, probably grabbing one of those chili dogs.

  As she reached high to connect the pump with the diesel tank opening, her mind roamed back to Aiden. Of seeing him with his family, smiling and carefree. At least when he wasn’t posturing over Wes looking her direction. Luckily, Wes hadn’t pushed and Aiden had gone back to his easier self after dinner.

  There didn’t seem to be any tension or hard feelings, and she was relieved. She didn’t want to be the cause of a family argument.

  She glanced up from the numbers flicking by on the pump screen, catching sight of a familiar back. She peered harder as the cowboy turned. That profile, the sharp nose and the way he wore his hat dipped low…

  She ripped the nozzle from the truck and shoved the gas cap on. Striding across the parking lot fast to reach the guy before he jumped in the car and she lost sight of him.

  Billy Owens.

  “Hey! Can I talk to you for a second?” she called.

  He shot her a glance, recognition spreading across his face rapid-fire. He yanked open the door of his car and leaped in. She didn’t wait to see if he stopped—he wasn’t going to.

  She ran to her truck and had it on the road, speeding after him down the highway. She had their guy, the man who was probably responsible for most of the thefts and killings around here, heading the operation.

  She thought of her cell phone in her back pocket and calling Aiden or the sheriff’s office, but Sundays were lazy, and she didn’t know if the secretary would even be there to answer a call.

  Just then Owens made a wild right turn onto a gravel road that sent his car fishtailing. Amaryllis didn’t hesitate. She knew how to drive big trucks and back roads were her Indy 500 track. She stomped on the gas. He didn’t slow, just zoomed on in a cloud of dust.

  She was higher than most of the dust Owens’ car put off, luckily. If she could get close enough, she could pass and then use her truck as a blockade.

  Her sidearm was in her handbag on the floor of the passenger’s seat. Out of reach. She hoped she wouldn’t need it. Going out to do laundry on a Sunday afternoon, she hadn’t thought she needed to strap it to her thigh.

  Her phone buzzed on her ass, and she lifted one cheek to pull it free. Her truck hit a patch of loose gravel and she spent a second biting her lip and skidding through it before she answered.

  “Long.”

  “Amaryllis. What the fuck is going on? I just got a call from the mini-mart that they had a pump and run. Description of the truck matches that damn monster truck of yours Another call just came in about a truck speeding through a slow zone at a high speed.”

  “Aiden, don’t give me any crap, okay? Yeah, it’s me. I’ve got Owens in my sights and he’s trying to race away.”

  A beat of silence had her wondering what the hell Aiden was thinking and not saying. The telling off she’d get would have to wait.

  “Can’t talk—I gotta stay alert.”

  “Don’t hang up! What’re your coordinates?”

  She cast a wild look around the sides of the roads. Not a sign in sight. She didn’t know these parts, and that was probably what Owens was counting on. He raced ahead of her, zigzagging as he took another turn at a high speed.

  “We seem to be winding through the mountains. Twisty road, gravel. Headed west.”

  * * * * *

  Aiden’s blood ran cold. He stared at Latchaw.

  Amaryllis was out there involved in a high-speed chase on one of the more treacherous roads leading out of Crossroads. He was too far away to give any help, and there was no way he’d catch them.

  Latchaw stared back. The two of them had been having coffee in Delaney’s when Latchaw had gotten a call about another ranch broken into, some farm implements stolen. On the heels of that was the call from the mini-mart and the speeding complaint.

  Fuck, Amaryllis.

  Could she even handle that monster truck on those roads?

  He ripped off his hat and shoved his fingers through his hair.

  “Let’s get a read on her phone, find out her location.” Latchaw grabbed his cell, nearly knocking over his coffee. They both stood and started outside.

  On the way past the cash register, Aiden said, “We’ll catch up the bill later.” The waitress nodded and they left.

  Aiden’s chest burned with the need to bellow his frustrations into the sky. And if he was honest, his fears too. He was damned scared. Amaryllis was a live wire when on the job—she didn’t think of consequences or anything but getting the criminal.

  What risks would she take?

  “Got her. Thank God for technology.” Latchaw stabbed his phone screen.

  Aiden’s cell rang, and he snapped it up. Waiting for Amaryllis’s sultry tones and hearing his twin brother’s confused the hell out of him. “What?” he barked.

  “Got a call from a guy who was run off the road by a big truck chasing a car on Mountainside. I’m about ten miles out. I’m going to engage.”

  Aiden’s heart throbbed hard against his chest wall. He looked to Latchaw. “She’s ten miles from Judd. He can intercept, but I can get there faster.”

  He took off for his truck while his brother’s voice projected through his cell. He ended the call and leaped behind the wheel.

  “Roshannon! You’re fifteen miles away. Judd’s closer!”

  He glanced at the sheriff. “I can get there faster.” He backed out like the hounds of hell were on his tail. Screeching out of the parking lot and tearing down the road. Amaryllis may be on the back road, but Aiden knew a cut off. It was bumpier, and he’d be lucky not to pop a tire. But that was the chance he had to take.

  What the hell was the woman thinking to chase down Owens without backup? Never does anything by the book. Her stubborn little ass deserves my whip.

  He passed the head of Mountainside, the road that twisted and turned its way around the mountain like a serpent lying under a rock. He spotted the thrown gravel and the tire tracks of Amaryllis’s truck. With a shake of his head, he put boot to pedal and sped past the road. A few miles away was a cutoff known as Devil’s Bend. In winter, you didn’t dare risk taking that road, but occasionally they’d rescue a stranded hunter there.

  Aiden took it now at breakneck speeds. Flying around corners so sharp they would cut through a man with lesser constitution. Or a man who wasn’t terrifie
d for the love of his life. If she managed not to wreck taking Mountainside at what—seventy miles per hour?—the only way to get Owens would be to face him down.

  The man was cornered and he knew how to be slippery. All men in these parts were armed.

  Damn. Aiden reminded himself it was Sunday but Amaryllis would still be packing heat too. The Lord said to rest, not be stupid.

  He gripped the wheel tighter going into a turn that would turn most people’s stomachs. His pulse hadn’t pounded this hard since that day overlooking the compound he was given direct order to fire upon. He couldn’t pull the trigger on that operation, but he damn well wasn’t backing down from this fight. Amaryllis’s life could be at stake.

  For a dizzying moment, he thought of ways this could end, even seeing the monster truck pitched off a ravine in a twisted, smoking mass of metal. He shook his head hard to clear it.

  “Keep your shit together, Roshannon.” He grabbed his phone to dial Amaryllis and found it without signal. Taking his eyes off the road for precious seconds meant one of his tires landed in a deep crater. The truck bottomed out, and he grunted at the impact. He gunned it and braced himself as the back tire trailed through the same hole.

  He didn’t hesitate to slam into the gas pedal again. His chest burned way more than it should. He’d only feel this sweat-drenching fear if one of his family members was in trouble—and that must mean Amaryllis meant a whole lot more to him.

  He swallowed hard around the lump in his throat. He fucking loved her. There was no “falling for her.” It was a done deal—he’d taken the plunge, head first.

  His phone vibrated that a bunch of missed calls were coming in now that he’d picked up service again. He didn’t look away from the road because now he was really in the thick of it. Switchbacks he couldn’t navigate fast enough. He had to get there, had to stop Owens before Amaryllis bit off more than she could chew alone.