His Private Pleasure

by Donna Kauffman

  “Oh no.”

  There was a pause, then a little sound of indignation. “What?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Oh no, that was definitely a something. You know Dylan, I thought you wanted me to stay.”

  “I did. Do. But—”

  “But what? Did you want me to stay hidden away, too? You know, I’m not here simply for your private pleasure.”

  “I know that.” Although his body leaped at the very idea. “It’s just that—”

  “If I’m going to be here, then I need to be part of the action. I’m no good at sitting still.”

  “That I understand, but that doesn’t mean you have to take charge of the whole town. You’ve been here less than a week.”

  She laughed. “What, afraid I’ll run for sheriff?”

  He laughed hoarsely, then said, “You’re not, are you?” He was only half kidding.

  “No. I’m not cut out for law enforcement. And I’m not running your town, although I have talked to several members of the city council and you know, you could really stand—”

  “Stop. Just stop. What are you doing talking to the city council?”

  “Avis was telling me about a slight zoning issue they were having with this one particular idea her ladies auxiliary had come up with for the festival.”

  “It’s next week. Isn’t it a little late for—”

  Liza just laughed. “Honey, it’s never too late.”

  Dylan let his forehead drop to the stack of folders on his desk. He thought about thumping it against them several times, but figured he was past beating any sense into himself. He blew out a long sigh. “When is Pearl and her posse getting back to town?”

  Liza snickered. “Probably not until ten or so tonight, Sheriff. Why?”

  “I just figured there had to be a silver lining to this whole situation somewhere. I’m out of here in another hour. Would you like to come up for some dinner?” He thought about offering her the option of going out somewhere, but he wasn’t up to sharing her with the town just yet. Not that she hadn’t shared plenty of herself with them already, apparently, but he figured they could both use a break from running the town. And he still had this urge to drag her to his cave.

  “Dinner sounds nice. As long as you promise to grill only the steaks and not me for getting involved.”

  “I’ll try.”

  “I’ll just distract you if you don’t.”

  Damn if that didn’t make him smile. “I’ll pick you up in an hour.”

  “I’ll pick you up,” she said. “Pearl is in the fed-mobile, so I’ve got my car. I’ve got to meet—”

  “I’ll pick you up. I have to keep my truck with me. Given our luck, I’ll be called out on something or another and I’m not riding to the scene in your little hot rod.” Besides which, she was not going to run this evening the way she’d apparently run everything and everyone else today.

  “Fine, fine, you can pick me up.” There was a pause, then she asked in a sultry little voice, “Will you let me play with your siren on the way home?”

  Dylan swallowed, his throat suddenly dry despite the grin threatening. “You’re already pushing enough buttons, don’t you think?”

  Her laugh was deep and throaty. “Oh, I haven’t even begun yet. And you’re the last one who can talk about being a button pusher.”

  His lips curved. “I’ll be there by six.”

  “Pick me up at the firehouse. I’ve got to talk with Tucker about getting approval for—”

  “Stop. I don’t even want to know. I’ll see you there at six, or before, if I can get out of here early.”

  “Don’t forget the handcuffs. It’s my turn tonight.”

  His body went from leaping at suggestive ideas to rock solid arousal, even as the dial tone hummed in his ear. But he was smiling as he clicked the receiver back onto the base and pushed his chair back. “Oh no,” he murmured, “you’ve done quite enough supervising today. Tonight you’re mine.”

  16

  LIZA PULLED INTO Dylan’s driveway behind him, careful to hide her satisfied smile when he glanced in his rearview mirror. It wouldn’t do to be too smug. “Try and control this evening, buster,” she murmured. Actually, she’d fully intended to ride up the mountain with him as planned, until he’d pulled into the firehouse. She already knew Tucker and Dylan were adversaries, of sorts, but it was almost comical watching Dylan trying not to care that Tucker was all but fawning over her. Liza had already set Tucker straight on her unavailable status earlier, so she’d known even before he sent her a private wink that he was merely giving Dylan a go. Still, it had been fun to watch.

  Fun and a little unsettling. Not because it worried her that Dylan was taking their fling too seriously. But because she rather liked the way he snorted and pawed at the ground, defending what he saw as his territory, figuratively speaking. Well, for the most part.

  What would it be like to have someone like Dylan trying to run roughshod over her all the time, telling her what was best for her, taming her wilder instincts? Well, not all her wild instincts, she thought with a private smile as she put the emergency brake on and climbed out of the car. She was pretty sure he enjoyed some of her wilder, more basic instincts. Only in private.

  She hummed under her breath, thinking it might be fun to shake up the town sheriff a bit, bring those wild instincts of his out in the open. It should annoy her the way he wanted to tuck her away, make her take some time for herself. As if he knew what was best for her. She could certainly determine when she wanted that time and how to spend it when she did.

  Of course, if she’d been all that good at it, she wouldn’t have closed up shop and headed into the desert. So maybe he did have a tiny point. And despite his bossy, domineering ways, she had to admit she enjoyed being with him. Even when he was at his most dominating. Sometimes especially when he was dominating, she thought, feeling her skin begin to heat up.

  He walked toward her and her gaze shifted to his waistband, where she knew he’d tucked those silver bracelets. She felt a tiny shudder of anticipation run through her at the idea of him taking charge of her the way he had the last time she was up here. But she carefully stoked that anticipation in another direction. Tuck her away he might, but tonight she was going to be in charge of whatever private pleasures he had in mind.

  Which was why she’d driven up herself. Best he learn right off that she wasn’t going to be a pushover where their relationship was concerned.

  Relationship. Another little thrill shot down her spine at the idea that she’d committed to spending several months in Canyon Springs. She intended to keep her commitment to Pearl, though she knew Pearl would be fine without her. And to Avis and her ladies club, who’d asked her to help them out with some organizational problems they were having. And then there was the emergency town council meeting tomorrow night that Tucker had told her about, where she should be able to address the auxiliary’s concerns, as well as some the Rotary Club had asked her about after hearing her suggestions to the ladies group.

  She hadn’t told Dylan about that last part yet. Not that she had to report to him, but since he was going to be at the meeting, she figured it might behoove her to give him a heads-up…that is, if she wanted to keep the opportunity open for some head from him later!

  That naughty little thought gave her a naughty little grin, which she kept as she strolled right up to him and slid her arms around his neck. No point in letting him get the upper hand. Or the lower one, she decided, and drew her tongue from the center of his chin up to his bottom lip, which she pulled into her mouth before he could do anything about it. He started to move back, so she inched her fingernails into his hair, raking them lightly over his scalp, and was rewarded with a deep groan. Which she naturally took full advantage of, sliding her tongue in his mouth, teasing his, until he forgot all about controlling anything and let her have her way with him.

  When he finally lifted his head, they were both a bit flushed and breathing heavily. �
�My, my, Sheriff Jackson,” she said, striving for casual playfulness, which was a challenge, considering that she wanted to throw him across the hood of her car and straddle him right then and there. “A girl would think you were starving for a bit of attention. You know, you don’t have to drag me all the way up here to have your way with me.”

  In retrospect, she probably shouldn’t have provoked him. Only he was so much fun when riled up. Fun, but dangerous when it came to upsetting her plans to dictate the direction this particular interlude would take.

  His smile was incredibly sexy. “Oh, but I am starving,” he all but purred. “Feels like I haven’t eaten in days.”

  Definitely dangerous.

  “And I don’t feel like sharing.”

  She slid her hands down his chest, preparing to move away and glide up the stairs to the deck in front of him, giving him a nice little view—or should she say, preview—of what she had in store for him. She’d dressed with great care. More for what she’d left off than for what she’d put on. After all, she’d come directly from meetings with both Avis’s ladies and Tucker. Liza wondered if Dylan would enjoy knowing that all the while she’d sat there, oh-so-stylishly dressed, beneath it all she was undressed, exclusively for him.

  But Dylan locked his hands around her wrists before she could slide around him. He pulled her palms from his chest and pushed them behind her back, which shoved her up tight against him, all her curves and needs tucking tightly against all of his. She tried not to let that little moan of wanton pleasure slip out, but it was damned impossible.

  His grin turned downright lethal. “I don’t think I can wait another moment to…sate my appetite.”

  Any thoughts she had of pushing him away in order to reestablish her control of the evening’s activities flew right out the window when he spun her around and pushed her up hard against the side of his truck. Still holding her hands, wedged now between her lower back and the warm metal of the side door, he lazily took a nip of her mouth, then dropped a wet kiss on the curve of her neck. Then, before she could counteract with some kisses of her own, he very slowly—very, very slowly—slid his body down hers until he was crouched in front of her.

  He looked up at her, then dropped a carnal kiss right at the juncture of her thighs, her silk skirt the only barrier…and far too much of one, she instantly decided.

  “Never tease a starving man,” he admonished, then nudged her skirt up with his nose, only to groan in deep appreciation at what he found. “But feel free to invite him in like this anytime you want.”

  She was saved from having to string even two words together when his oh-so-clever tongue slipped easily behind the tiny triangle of silk masquerading as panties. The delicate threads of elastic holding the ensemble together gave way easily to his teeth, letting the scrap of silk flutter to the ground as he turned his attentions to…sating his hunger.

  Liza learned that, out in the open air of the mountains, moans of pleasure echoed almost as loudly as shrieks of ecstasy. He let her hands go, though she didn’t move them. In fact, whatever concentration she was capable of was focused exclusively on staying upright under his incredible assault.

  He slid his palms beneath her skirt and cupped her buttocks, then slowly nudged her legs farther apart. It was almost as decadent a pose as he’d had her in that night on his kitchen counter, only somehow, despite the fact that she wore more clothing, she felt even more vulnerable. Feeling the night air caress her skin only intensified the slippery coolness of her silk shirt on the rest of her. She wanted to rip it off. No, she wanted him to rip it off, bare all of her to the mountain air…to him.

  She had no time to contemplate the wanton way her mind worked when it came to Dylan Jackson. He slid first one finger, then another, inside her, and she climaxed so abruptly it made her gasp in shock.

  “Damn,” she faintly heard him swear. Then he was standing, jerking at the snap of his jeans, pulling her thighs up over his hips. “I wasn’t going to… Not yet, but—”

  “Just do it, for God’s sake,” she all but growled, never needing anything as much as she needed to feel him fill her up right now. Every nerve ending was still clamoring from her release, and she knew the instant he pushed into her she would very likely—

  “Yes! Dear God, yes,” she panted as he thrust forward. Stars literally swam as she screamed over the edge again. She crossed her ankles behind his back and held on for dear life as he thrummed inside her, growling in release moments later.

  He buried his face in the damp curve of her neck. She tipped her head back and closed her eyes, grinning like an idiot. “I give up,” she murmured.

  “Give up what?” The words were muffled against her throat.

  “Ever trying to be in charge around you.”

  He lifted his head, chuckling. “Sweetheart, you drove me around like a new car just now.”

  She laughed. “Well, if that’s the case, the ride was a little bumpy, but boy, the jump from zero to sex will take your breath away.”

  It should have been awkward, pulling up pants and smoothing down skirts, all while standing in his driveway, for Christ sake. But instead it felt…fun. Sexy. Intimate. Maybe having their own private little pleasures wasn’t such a bad thing.

  “I brought the wine,” she said. “But it’s still in the car.” She shot him a sly grin. “I was so busy plotting your downfall, I forgot it. I guess I should have gotten you drunk first. Maybe I’d have had a shot at the upper hand for a change.”

  He snagged her arm lightly as she moved past him toward her car, and spun her gently back around and flush up against him. He did that far too smoothly, and she fit him far too well. “Hey.”

  “Hey, what?” she asked lightly. But her heart had started to pound. A different sort of thunder than it had moments ago in the heat of passion. It was the way he was looking at her now, when passions had been sated. If was far more…intimate than when he’d been deep inside her, driving her over the edge. She worked not to rub at the prickles of awareness that raced along her skin.

  “That was… What we just did…” He shook his head, his self-deprecating smile all the sexier for how endearing it was. “I didn’t plan that. Attacking you like that. I actually thought we might be civilized about things tonight. Nice dinner, followed by some wine. Then maybe I’d lure you to my bedroom, make slow, passionate love to you.” His grin widened. “You know, like real people, instead of the wild animal I seem to be whenever you get within three feet of me.”

  “Was I complaining?”

  “No. And I’m not, either.” He laughed. “What guy in his right mind would?” He tugged her closer, tipped her chin up, his smile fading. “I missed you these past couple of days,” he said quietly, and quite seriously.

  “Yeah?” She traced her fingertips across his cheek. “Me, too. Weird, huh?”

  His lips curved just a little. “Not so weird, maybe.”

  “Then you’re not mad? About Pearl staying here with me?”

  “Frustrated at times,” he said frankly, then dropped a devastatingly gentle kiss on her lips. “But it’s worth it knowing that you’re still close. That I get to do this.” He kissed her again, nudged her lips apart and sank into her. “This I could get used to,” he murmured, finishing with a light kiss to the tip of her nose.

  Liza’s heart shouldn’t have swelled, shouldn’t have stuttered, shouldn’t have tumbled. But it did. She shoved herself away from that dangerous emotional precipice and did what she always did—let her mouth race ahead of her heart. “Well, you might not be so thrilled when you hear my agenda for the next couple of days.”

  He winced despite trying to look brave and sincere, and she laughed right in his face. “Don’t worry, it’s just a town council meeting. How much trouble could I cause you?”

  He merely looked at her, then made her laugh again when he said, “I might just have to get a second set of handcuffs. I have a feeling they’re going to come in handy while we’re together.”

&nbs
p; Liza’s heart stumbled again. While we’re together. Meaning they wouldn’t always be?

  What, did you honestly think he was thinking long term? So he wanted to romance you a little instead of rutting like a wildebeest. Did you really think he envisioned wedding bells and diamond rings?

  No, she honestly didn’t. What terrified her was that, maybe, she had been. For a second, anyway. Good thing he’d brought her back to earth before she got too high. The fall hurt a lot less that way.

  She laughed, not caring that it sounded brittle even to her own ears, and extricated herself from his embrace. “I promise to behave if you promise to keep me unfettered this evening.” She moved past him more assuredly this time and scooped the wine bottle from the passenger seat of the car, carefully walking along the opposite side of his truck to ensure she made it to the deck stairs without being waylaid.

  She needed a few moments to regroup, that was all. She was here to have fun. And if she was enjoying the townspeople and getting involved with things besides the sheriff’s naked body, then she was damn well going to let herself get involved. Probably she and Dylan would burn out on each other at some point, anyway. If that point coincided with Pearl’s leaving to give testimony, then all the better. Liza would depart knowing she was better for having stayed in Canyon Springs.

  She felt Dylan climbing the stairs behind her, the heavy tread of his boots making more than the stairs vibrate. Yeah, she’d be better for having known him, for discovering that letting someone else take control every once in a while wasn’t the end of the world. In fact, it was kind of…liberating.

  “The menu is steak on the grill or pasta in the kitchen,” he said, topping the stairs and pausing.

  She sat the bottle on the small round table. “Well, I’m not sure I trust myself in your kitchen.” Truth was, she wasn’t very hungry at the moment. Too many things whirling around in her brain had an unsettling effect.