by Myla Jackson
“Used to,” she whispered. Her body trembled beneath his touch.
Gabe suspected it wasn’t so much from his touch as it was from some emotion she was feeling. “Why don’t you ride anymore?”
She shrugged, one hand rising to brush at something on her cheek.
His finger freed the knot and he turned her in his arms. “Are you crying?”
Her lips pulled into a tight line as a single tear trickled down her cheek. “No, of course not.”
Gabe tipped her chin and studied her face, his head shaking. “Liar.” His thumb caught the tear, brushing it away. “Why don’t you ride anymore?”
“I was fired from my last job as a horse trainer.”
“You?” He leaned back, frowning. “You’re one of the hardest working women in this place.”
“Didn’t get along with the owner’s son.” She leaned her forehead into his chest. “All I ever wanted to do was take care of the horses. Now, the closest I can get to a horse is the mechanical one in the other room. God, I miss the real ones.”
Gabe tightened his fingers around her arms, dragging her against his chest. He smoothed a hand down her long, silky hair, fighting the desire to thread his fingers through the tresses. “I take it the boss’s son was a jerk?”
She dipped her head in a single nod. “Yeah. The worst part is that I was fool enough to think he really loved me. But I never quite measured up.” Isabella smiled up at him. “That’s the past, though. It was nice of you to listen.”
Her lips were rosy and full. Totally kissable.
“If you ever need someone to listen, I’m all ears.” Before he could stop himself, he slid his thumb across her bottom lip and followed it with a gentle butterfly kiss.
Isabella slid her hands up around his neck, urging him closer.
With her permission granted, Gabe claimed her, his tongue sliding past her teeth to thrust inside her warm, wet mouth. He slipped his hands down her naked back, dragging the strings of the bikini top with them.
She leaned her naked breasts into his shirt, setting his body on fire.
Gabe dug his fingers beneath the elastic band of her bikini bottom and cupped her ass, lifting her until her legs wrapped around his waist. “Just tell me to stop and I will.”
She crossed her ankles behind him and rubbed her crotch over the ridge beneath his fly.
Gabe moaned into her mouth, reaching one-handed between them to loosen the button at his waistband and unzip.
His cock sprang free, nudging against the fabric of her bikini.
She shifted, dragging the material to the side so that his penis nudged against her opening. “Ride me, cowboy,” she whispered.
He reached into his back pocket and yanked out his wallet. “Will you do the honors?” He shook it open.
Isabella located the foil packet he had tucked in with his money. He couldn’t believe he was here, holding her so close, about to make love to her in the back of the bar with a crowd of people on the other side of the curtain.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this. I must be insane. Something about riding that mechanical horse made me…”
He pressed a kiss to her lips. “Hot?”
“Wickedly horny.” She ripped the packet open and tossed the foil over her shoulder, her fingers clutching the rubber.
Gabe shoved his wallet into his back pocket and held Isabella far enough away from him so that she could roll the rubber down over his dick, her fingers lingering to fondle his balls.
Blood pumping, his cock throbbing, Gabe could barely wait to thrust inside her, to feel her warm, slick channel contract around him.
“Just so you know, I didn’t come back here for a quick fuck.”
“I know.” Her body quivered, gooseflesh rising on her arms. “But that’s what I want. Are you afraid someone will catch us?”
“Hell yes.”
“Me too. And it’s making me hotter.” She kissed him hard. “Quick, before someone does.”
Her words only made his cock swell more, the pressure so much, he feared he’d explode before he consummated their little tryst. “But what about you? This will be too fast. I want you to come too.”
Ignoring his concern, she adjusted her thong, slipping it even further to the side, and lowered herself until her pussy kissed the head of his penis. “Hurry,” she entreated, her arms wrapping around his neck.
The urgency in her voice reverberated through his body and he thrust up inside her.
She clamped her legs around his waist, her heels digging into his buttocks. Isabella threw back her head and rode him, nails digging into his shoulders.
Every unusual noise made Gabe jump and thrust deeper, his nerves on edge, his body burning from the intimate connection and the danger. The naughtiness of their deed struck him, rocketing him over the edge, his orgasm shaking him to his very core. Thrusting one last time, he held her down on him, his cock as deep as he could get, throbbing, spilling his seed into the protective contraceptive.
When he could breathe again, he dragged in a deep steadying breath. “Now, let me return the favor.”
She ran her fingers through his hair, her legs tightening one more time before she unlocked her ankles from around his waist. “We don’t have time.”
He shook his head, reason pulling back on the reins of his lust. “But I want to get you there.” He wanted her to be as aroused and ready as he was. “I want to pleasure you.” He backed her against a vanity table, setting her bottom on the edge and withdrawing from her slick warmth. “Let me make you as hot as you make me.” Gabe found her center, swirling his fingers around the juicy entrance. God, she was wet. He slipped one finger inside and dragged her juices upward, partying her folds to find the slender nubbin nestled between. He touched her there, flicking her clit, then he dropped to his knees, his mouth replacing his fingers. He sucked on her clit, his tongue tapped and teased, licking and flicking. “Don’t you want this?” he whispered, blowing a warm stream of air across her damp pussy. “Can you feel it? Let me take you to the edge and make you come.”
Her body stiffened.
He knew she’d withdrawn before he ever looked up into her eyes.
Her breath caught and held and she pressed her hands against his shoulders. “No. I can’t.” She gulped and looked away. “We shouldn’t.” Isabella shoved against him and dropped to her feet. “I don’t know what came over me. I should get back to work. I’m on duty. This shouldn’t be happening.”
“I thought you liked it.” Gabe rose, reflecting back through all he’d said, searching for whatever it was that had hit her Off switch. “Did I say something wrong?”
“No, no.” She shook her head, ducking around him, searching the hooks on the wall for her cutoffs and tank top. “It’s me. You really shouldn’t be back here. Employees only, like I said. If Greta Sue finds you…” She pulled the tank top over her naked breasts and the denim shorts up over the bikini bottom. When she faced him, she frowned. “Just go.”
Mentally scratching his head, Gabe removed the condom, zipped his fly, left the backstage area and returned to the bar. What had he said or done to make Isabella do a complete about-face? He thought they’d connected…not just got it on.
He returned to the table and sat between his brothers, confused, frustrated and once again uncomfortable in his jeans.
“Where have you been?” Tanner asked him.
“Bathroom, like I said. Too much beer,” he muttered, his mood turning sour the more he sat there.
“Something making you sick? You look a little pale. Too many fried jalapeños?” Sean chuckled. “I don’t see how you can stand to eat those.”
Gabe didn’t contradict his younger brother. He hadn’t had a single one of the fried jalapeños Tanner had ordered. If anything, his gut hurt from the punch he’d received when Isabella had gone cold on him after he’d made love to her. And damn it, he hadn’t done what he’d gone back there to do in the first place. He hadn’t asked her out on a date. Well, h
ell. She probably thought he was a class-A jerk.
He’d be in the Ugly Stick Saloon every night that week if that was what it took to get Isabella to agree to go out with him. She felt right in his arms. Isabella Severs could be the one and Gabe meant to find out. Once he set his mind to something, he pursued it until it was his. And Gabe O’Brien had set his mind on Isabella.
Isabella hefted the heavy plastic tub filled with empty mugs and trays onto the bar. She was ready to get out of the saloon and home to her own apartment where she could finally sit back and go over everything that had happened that night, in particular, what had happened between her and Gabe O’Brien. Holy crap, she’d made love to him in the back of the saloon when she was supposed to be working. So much for swearing off men.
“That’s all the mugs and trash.” Isabella wiped her hands against her cutoffs. “Need help washing up?”
Libby, the bartender, smiled, her hands in sudsy water up to her elbows. “No, I’m just about done. Why don’t you head home?”
“I think I will. I’m exhausted and my feet are killing me.” And my pussy is raw and throbbing, ready for another go at the oldest O’Brien.
“Isabella, you got a moment?” Audrey’s voice floated out of the tiny storage room she’d converted into an office a month ago.
Isabella suppressed a groan, pushed her lusty thoughts aside and stepped into Audrey’s office, collapsing into the beat-up, cracked leather chair on the opposite side of an equally worn desk. “What’s up?”
Audrey tapped her pencil to a paper in front of her, biting down on the corner of her bottom lip. “I have a problem I think you can help me with, if you’re willing.” She glanced up, her tired eyes wide and hopeful.
“Shoot.” Audrey had done so much for her, offering her a job and a room until she could get on her feet and afford her own apartment.
“Tonight I got a request for a bachelor’s party for next week. I’ve been wanting to have the wood floors in this place stripped and waxed, but can never quite find enough spare cash to make it happen.”
Isabella shrugged. “What’s that got to do with me?”
“The man who asked to throw the party is willing to pay just about anything since it’s such short notice and I think we can make enough off this one party to do the floors with some cash to spare. He even put down a thousand dollar deposit.”
“Wow.” Isabella leaned forward, ready to stand. “I think you should go for it.”
“I can’t.” Audrey cringed. “He had one condition.”
Isabella sank back into her seat. Audrey almost never beat around the bush. “What condition?”
“He wants you to be the stripper at the party.”
Isabella popped out of her chair. “No.”
Audrey smiled. “I told him you wouldn’t, but that I would ask anyway.”
“I’m not a dancer and I’d just look like a fool taking off my clothes. Besides, men don’t think I’m sexy.”
“Honey, did you see the reactions of the crowd tonight when you were riding the mechanical horse?” Audrey grinned. “You were all sex and sass. Every one of those men wanted you.”
“They were drunk.”
“Isabella, you’ve got all the right equipment, they wouldn’t be disappointed with that.”
“Even if I had the right look, I’m not a dancer. I’m a cowgirl who’s used to taking care of horses, not men.” Isabella strode to the door, hoping to end the conversation.
Audrey called out after her, “He’ll pay you five hundred dollars a dance.”
Isabella stopped, her hands braced on the doorframe. Five hundred dollars a dance would go a long way toward earning the money she needed to buy Sundance.
“You could earn a lot of money in one night,” Audrey added, dangling the carrot.
Isabella shouldn’t even consider stripping to earn the money to buy Sundance. Her body wasn’t a sexual treat like Lacey’s. Her breasts were too small and her hips too slim. She didn’t have a curvy ass like Kendall. Then why was she considering it? A trickle of excitement mixed with trepidation shivered across her skin. “Where will the bachelor party be?” Isabella turned toward her boss. “Not that I’ve agreed yet.”
Audrey grinned. “Here. And you’d have access to all the costumes and equipment if you decide to do the mechanical horse again.”
Still unwilling to commit, Isabella’s eyes narrowed. “Would I have to take off all my clothes?”
Audrey shook her head. “Only as much as you feel comfortable with. The bikini and chaps tonight had the crowd more than appreciative.”
A bikini was doable without going all naked. The emotional side of Isabella’s brains was telling her to say no. “What if the men get too…touchy?” And discover she wasn’t so sexy, or that she didn’t have big boobs.
“I can have Greta Sue or one of the Gray Wolf brothers stick around to make sure nothing happens that you don’t want to happen.”
With all her concerns addressed, Isabella couldn’t resist the temptation of the money. The deal was too good to pass up. Owning Sundance suddenly looked more achievable. “Five hundred dollars a dance?” Isabella’s internal calculator started adding. “Is there a limit to the number of dances?”
“He said up to three dances. You have the opportunity to make fifteen hundred in one night. And that doesn’t include any tips the men might throw your way. Where else can you make that kind of money?”
Nowhere. She really didn’t have a choice if she wanted to buy Sundance anytime soon. With a deep breath, she dove in. “I’ll do it.”
Audrey smiled. “Thank God. This will mean a lot of money for you and the Ugly Stick. I can probably even have the exterior of the building painted with the money we’ll make.”
Isabella held up a finger. “One thing.”
Audrey’s grin slipped. “What?”
“Whose bachelor party is it?”
“Jesse O’Brien. His father, owner of the Rockin’ O Ranch, is footing the bill. With over ten thousand acres and a herd the size of my hometown, I think he can afford it.”
Isabella sucked in a sharp breath, her heart plummeting to the bottom of her belly. “The O’Briens?”
“That’s right.” Audrey glanced down at her ledger. “You know them?”
“Only from when they come into the saloon,” she lied. She knew more about Gabe after tonight than she’d known the whole time he’d been frequenting the Ugly Stick. But Audrey didn’t have to know what they’d done backstage.
“They’re nice men, and all of them handsome.” Audrey tapped her pencil to her bottom lip and glanced up. “If I wasn’t happy with Jackson, I’d be looking for some fun with any one of the O’Brien boys—hell, maybe all of them—including their father. He’s a firecracker and still good-looking. Must be closing in on sixty by now.”
Audrey’s words faded to the recesses of Isabella’s mind as she gathered her purse and truck keys. Too wound up to go home to bed, she wandered back into the bar.
Libby had finished cleaning and left while Isabella and Audrey had been discussing business. With nothing but the exit lights glowing over the front door and a couple soft lights shining down over the stage and the bar, the saloon was eerily quiet. The mechanical horse stood to the side of the stage—the beast that had started everything. If not for it, Isabella would still be scrambling for a way to earn money fast. Now she had the opportunity she needed. Owning Sundance wasn’t just a dream anymore.
Pushing aside her misgivings and self-doubts, she allowed a surge of joy to fill her chest. She wrapped her arms around her middle and squealed like a young girl.
“Anyone still in here?” Audrey switched the light on over the dance floor. “Oh, Isabella, it’s you. Anything wrong?”
“Nothing. I was just thinking.”
“About the offer?”
Isabella nodded. “I’ll need to practice more to get ready.”
“They won’t care how you dance. As long as there’s lots of skin, they’
ll be happy.” Audrey’s lips twisted. “Trust me. I know.”
“With as much as they’re willing to spend, I want them to get their money’s worth.” Isabella chewed on her bottom lip. “You think I’ll do okay?”
“Honey, the way you rode that mechanical horse had them all panting like dogs. You’ll do fine. But if you’d like some extra time to practice, you can use the saloon when it’s closed. Hold on just a minute.” Audrey ducked into her office and was back in seconds. She tossed a shiny metal object toward Isabella. “Now you have a key. Just lock up afterward.”
Isabella’s chest couldn’t get any tighter. To have a boss who gave you a key to her saloon was a level of trust she’d never had. “Thanks, Audrey. You won’t regret it. I’ll be careful to lock up.”
Audrey laid a hand on her arm. “I know you will. Good night, honey. Don’t stay too late. I need you for tomorrow night. It’s Girls’ Night Out and we have male strippers coming. The place will be packed.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be here.”
Audrey left the light on over the dance floor and exited through the back entrance.
Isabella was alone, the silence soothing, the empty dance floor her stage with no one to watch or laugh at her. She dug into her purse for some dollar bills and fed the juke box, selecting songs she thought might work for her three dances.
When the first one came on, she closed her eyes and swayed to the music, letting it fill her senses and take her away to a quiet place where she could loosen up and forget she trained horses. She was a woman with sexual needs and desires.
The fact that the O’Briens had asked for her specifically reverberated through her thoughts. All three of the young men had attempted to make a pass at her that night and many nights before that. But for the first time in a long time, she’d allowed herself to feel something besides terror. Alone on the dance floor, she gave in, letting that feeling blossom.
Even now, her body trembled, her belly tightening, her pussy clenching, a rush of juices warming her channel, still tender from Gabe’s lovemaking.