“I’m back.” She paused, crossing her arms and legs as she leaned against the mirrored wall. The words seemed inadequate but she was so not prepared to have The Talk with Gabe.
“Gabe, I really am fine. You can go back to whatever you were doing. Thank you for the save.” Hope looked down and repressed a grimace, not liking the thought of him being at the club to top some chick. Or, even worse, being there with his submissive.
His boots filled her vision. Guess he wasn’t leaving as she’d wanted. His insistence on doing things his way hadn’t changed.
She trailed her eyes upward, enjoying the sight even as her heart and head warred over how damnably vulnerable this situation could leave her. And that damn scent, so purely Gabe. It had haunted her for weeks after she’d left and would do the same now that she’d smelled him again.
“Hope, what were you thinking, getting involved with those men?”
She flicked her attention to his face. His jaw was tight and lines of anger radiated from his eyes.
“With them? No. They decided in the hall that I was too uppity for a ‘slave’ and wanted to teach me a lesson.” She shuddered, too overwhelmed by the evening’s events to suppress it.
Gabe snorted. “Sounds like the Hope I knew, full of fire and rebellion.”
Her spine straightened at the frustration in his voice.
He turned, and she half hoped Gabe would leave. Instead, he grabbed a chair from against the mirror and plopped it in front of her. He straddled its hardwood seat, leaning his muscled forearms on the short metal back.
“Hey, don’t lay this shit on me. The jackass is a Super-Uber-Dom. Even called me ‘slave’. What a douche.”
“I see your mouth hasn’t improved at all,” he said. “I’m surprised your Dom hasn’t disciplined it out of you.”
Her eyes narrowed. “What Dom? I haven’t even been to a club in years, and you know how much I hate stupid Tops.” She scoffed. “Little boys playing king of the castle. It’s pathetic, really.” She jutted her chin at him. “And my mouth is more than fine, as you damn well recall.”
He smirked. “Oh, I haven’t forgotten that, baby. But you seem to have trouble recalling that all work and no play makes Hope a very stressed-out girl.”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but I’ve been just lovely.”
In a flash, he had her pressed against the mirror, one hand pinning her wrists against the cool surface. She’d not realized just how close he was sitting until that point.
Her heart kicked into overdrive and her mouth went dry. Wetness trickled from between her thighs. Damn him for knowing how to push her hot buttons.
“Don’t you lie to me, Hope O’Shea.” His voice held a familiar warning. “You need a good topping, I can see it in your eyes. And don’t get me started on what your hard nipples say you need, cara.”
Gabe had a big Italian family from his mother’s side, and that word had become his sole term of endearment for her. Damn him. He always managed to croon that word, his deep, rumbling voice caressing her heart into almost melting for him.
She struggled against his hands, wanting to hurt him, wanting to hold him. “You…you asshole, you have no right telling me what I need.”
He pressed his body to hers until she had no way of moving. His words tickled her sensitive earlobe. “You know I’m right. I can still read you.” He rubbed against her. “Can you read me?”
The thickness of his erection burned through her slacks, and even as her mind rebelled against it, arousal primed her body.
“So you have a cock. Big fucking deal.”
He nibbled her earlobe and laughed, the vibrations tingling through her body. “Nice try, pussycat. All growl, no claws because you want me too.”
Eyelids heavy, she fought against the tempting lust. “I made that mistake once. Never again. No more Doms, no more kink.”
His brow crinkled and he rubbed a hand across his chest as if he’d pulled a muscle or something. He lifted her from the floor, pulling her legs around his waist, opening her to him. She should have stopped him, but it felt so good after years of celibacy. “As I recall, it was far more than ‘once’. And it wasn’t all bad, cara.” He brushed his cheek against hers, the rough hairs of his goatee a sensual abrasion against her skin. “You left me with so many unanswered questions.”
She needed to find a way out of this, and soon, before lust hogtied her logic and she did something she’d really regret. That soothing blankness, of knowing she’d turned over all control to someone else, someone she trusted, beckoned her.
But she didn’t trust him anymore.
Hope pulled on every bit of anger toward Gabe that she could still muster at the moment. “Boo-fucking-hoo. Not my problem anymore.”
Though part of her wanted it to be. She’d come to terms with her role in the downfall of their budding relationship, learned from her mistakes, but that didn’t mean it would be wise to let him in again.
“Again with the language. Maybe you need something else to occupy your dirty mouth.”
He kissed her, their lips meeting as if it had been two minutes, not two years since their last kiss. His mouth, warm and wet, tasted of peppermint and that flavor uniquely Gabe’s. She’d been addicted to it once upon a time. They say just one taste can pull an addict back from abstinence and Hope couldn’t risk it. She tore her mouth away and struggled until he set her down and took a step back.
“That was bad, very bad. You had no right.” Pacing to clear her head and put some space between them, she walked the length of the mirror and back, feeling Gabe’s eyes on her the whole time.
He interrupted her whirring thoughts. “So Jax—you met him a few times, here actually—has invited me to go to Maison Domine this weekend. First month back in Cali, and he’s got me socializing once again.”
She froze and stared at him, thrown by the change of topic. But she shed her confusion when his words registered. “The Maison Domine? And yes, I remember Jaxon. And his Lara.”
He’d resumed his seat in the chair, looking casual and relaxed. But she recognized the tension in his eyes, the pupils dilated from lust.
“Yes, cara, that one.” Heat rippled through her at the nickname. “And I seem to be in a bit of a pickle.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. And I think you can help me. I’ll be helping you in return.”
Wary, she nodded for him to continue. He patted the back of the chair. “Come stand here and we can talk.”
Step by anxious step, she drew closer, feeling like Little Red Riding Hood. My, what a big cock you have.
“Tell me about this trade you have in mind.” She reached him and he wrapped his arms around her thighs, keeping her in close to him. With her heels, she managed to have a couple inches on his sitting form. Not much, and without them, he’d be within perfect kissing height.
“You’ve lost weight.” His voice sounded accusing. “I hope you’re taking care of yourself.”
She shrugged, knowing he wouldn’t be content with her explanation. Knowing him, he’d take her to the nearest smoothie place and make her drink a protein shake. His controlling, caring ways had driven her nuts even as they made her feel cherished.
Part of her knew this little interlude could tear through her hard-won centeredness, but that voice of responsibility was shouted down by her hormones. Though her relationship with Gabe had been a failure, the sex had always been spectacular.
She ran a hand through the stubble on his scalp. “Why’d you cut your hair? And where have you been the past two years?”
“I could ask you the same thing.”
She nailed him with a glare and refused to answer.
He rolled his eyes. “It kept falling into my face while I was working.”
He ignored her second question. Alrighty then. His hands traveled up and down her thighs, sensitizing her flesh. Her fingers, with a mind of their own, continued their tactile exploration of his scalp.
Having his
strong hands touch her again calmed her soul. Oh fuck.
Cowboy Casanova
Lorelei James
His rough touch makes her lose control...
Rough Riders, Book 12
In Sundance, Wyoming, you can’t throw a boot without hitting a McKay cowboy, so Ben McKay is used to fading into the background. Except on weekends, when he’s Bennett, imposing Dom at The Rawhide Club, surrounded by a bevy of female subs eager for the attention of his long…whip.
As for the curvy brunette eying him from across the room? He’ll eat his Stetson if she's the experienced Domme she claims to be. Bennett offers her a deal—he’ll let her call the shots for one night. But the next night he gets to prove to her how freeing it'll be when he takes the reins.
Ainsley Hamilton is amazed by how well Bennett read her every secret yearning during that one explosive weekend—and she's stunned when they come face to face in their everyday lives as rancher and new bank president. Now Ben’s urging her to explore her submissive side outside the club, and there’s something in his commanding gaze that makes it too easy to let him take control—of her desires and her pleasure.
Can Ben help Ainsley overcome her fear that a relationship built on dark sexual appetites won’t survive the light of day?
Warning: This book contains a lot of kinky sex. No, seriously, there's A LOT of kinky cowboy sex in this Rough Riders installment. You've been warned.
eBooks are not transferable.
They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
11821 Mason Montgomery Road Suite 4B
Cincinnati OH 45249
Cowboy Casanova
Copyright © 2011 by Lorelei James
ISBN: 978-1-60928-849-5
Edited by Lindsey Faber
Cover by Scott Carpenter
All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
First Samhain Publishing, Ltd. electronic publication: December 2011
www.samhainpublishing.com
Table of Contents
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
About the Author
Look for these titles by Lorelei James
Also Available from Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
About the Author
Look for these titles by Lorelei James
Also Available from Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
Copyright Page
Cowboy Casanova: Rough Riders, Book 12 Page 35