Gnome On The Range

by Jennifer Zane

  I nodded. My palms were sweating. My heart pounded in my ears. He was too close, in my circle.

  “I’ll call you later this week. Dinner again? This time at my house.”

  He didn’t give me an opportunity to answer. His lips found mine before I had a chance to say no. I’d never kissed a man with a mustache. It was odd, ticklish. Like kissing a man and a caterpillar at the same time. Definitely weird. His mouth was warm on mine, tender. It wasn’t a possessive kiss, surprisingly gentle considering his size, his dominating personality. I thought about how it must be hard to keep a mustache clean when you ate soup. Was it hot having a mustache? My mind wandered, clearly not into the kiss.

  I didn’t pull back, didn’t push him away either. Practice date. This was a practice kiss. Would I ever kiss another guy with a mustache? Was this my last mustache kiss? It was brief, no tongue. Pleasant. And pleasant wasn’t the word you wanted describing a kiss with a man. Unless it was your grandpa.

  I wanted the zing I’d discovered with Ty. When I kissed Ty I forgot everything, forgot even to breathe. Ty! The image of him popped into my head and made me pull back from Dex. I felt my stomach do a somersault with guilt at letting Dex kiss me. I wanted Ty’s mouth on mine. Only Ty’s.

  “I…I have to go,” I murmured, lost in my thoughts of that sexy fireman.

  Dex stepped back, let me get in my car and close my door. I let out a deep breath and drove off. I was definitely in over my head with Dex. He wanted to marry me and have mustache kisses the rest of my life. This was bad. Really bad. I had to figure my way out of this. But not tonight. I wanted Ty and I wanted him…now.

  ***

  An hour later, Ty knocked on my door and took in my outfit. His jaw tightened. He pushed past me and into the kitchen. “Russell Hosanski was at Gilly’s and said he saw you. With a man. Based on what you’re wearing, it must’ve been some date.”

  Oh crap. “Who is Russell Hosanski?” I asked. Damn small towns. Of course he’d find out. What had I been thinking? Unless Dex and I had a picnic in the woods, someone who knew me was bound to be around.

  “Works B shift at station two.”

  I followed him into the kitchen. “That doesn’t explain how he knows me.” My hands went to George the Gnome and fiddled with him, my finger running over the pointy hat.

  Ty rolled his eyes. “I told him the same thing. He finally admitted to being a customer of Goldilocks on occasion.”

  “Ah.” That clarified everything.

  He made a circular motion with his hand. “So, Gilly’s?”

  “Yes. Gilly’s.”

  He went to my fridge, pulled out a beer, popped the top and drank half of it in one swallow. He wore his fire uniform, although he must’ve dumped all the electronic paraphernalia off at home because his belt was gizmo free.

  “So who was this date?”

  “Drake Dexter. He has a horse ranch down by Ennis.”

  I wasn’t going to share the fact that he was the same man from the horse auction at the fair. Definitely a bad idea right now.

  We stared at each other. It was blatantly obvious Ty was jealous. His body was tense. He practically ground his teeth to dust when I’d said Dex’s name, making the guy real for him.

  This was so cool!

  I’d never been the kind of woman who made men jealous. Now I had two men interested in me. Dex wanted to marry me and make babies. He also wanted to take away my own free will and keep me naked all day. The only thing I knew for sure about Ty was that he cared about me, wanted me, and was not planning on taking over my life. The idea of being naked all day with him didn’t freak me out at all. In fact, it made me hot all over. Zing!

  “It must have been some date if you wore that,” Ty grunted his response. “Is he still here?” He looked over my shoulder toward the living room.

  Now it was my turn to overreact. I had planned to tell him I wanted to have sex with him right this very minute. Now, I just wanted to be pissy. “No, he’s not in there. The bedroom actually. You caught us just before he ripped my clothes off.”

  “Funny,” Ty said sarcastically. He ran a hand over his face.

  “You’re jealous because I went out to dinner with another man!” Okay, screw being pissy. I just wanted him. I fisted my hands at my sides ready to either punch him in the face to knock some sense into the man or pull him in for a kiss. I took a step closer. The nearer I got, the more turned on I became. Something about arguing made my adrenaline, and other juices, flow. Made me want to rip the uniform off his hot body.

  He felt enough for me to be jealous! It sounded kind of stupid, but it felt wonderful. Ty was being possessive and not in a creepy, chain-me-to-the-bed sort of way. My heart might burst with joy and excitement. Need. I’d never had that happen before. I felt like a teenager, but wiser.

  Ty’s feelings probably came from the genetic makeup of his ancestors, the caveman. He needed to beat his chest, stake his claim. Mine were newer to me. I just learned I had power over a guy, over Ty. Who needed a box of Goldie’s toys when I just needed confidence in myself to make it happen?

  “Hell, yeah, I’m jealous.” Ty shook his head. “I want you to go out with me, have my friends mention seeing you on my arm. Do I feel threatened you went out with another guy?” He shook his head. “There’s some reason why you did, I just don’t know what it is yet. I know enough about your past to know you’re not a cheater.” His eyes raked over me in my new dress.

  The light bulb went off. “Oh.” I smiled at him. A full wattage smile. “You’re jealous because I wore this,” I moved my hand in a sweeping gesture over my new dress, “for another guy. It bothers you I put effort into a date with someone else.”

  “You look really hot in that dress. But if the guy you were with needs that dress to get him interested, he’s not the guy for you.” He pointed his beer bottle at me. “You don’t need to wear that to turn me on.”

  I angled my head to the side. Looked at him. Really listened to his words. Goldie and Kelly had been right. I’d needed an update to my wardrobe. But they’d been wrong about part of it. I’d needed a makeover for me, not for Ty. Ty wanted me just as I was, uninspiring clothes and all.

  “I know.” All my doubts, my insecurities about getting close to a man were gone. Poof! Just like that. Knowing Ty liked me for me, not for a smokin’ dress, was all the help I needed to let go of that last little bit of insecurity.

  The slow burn for him had grown to forest fire proportions. I thought about what Kelly had said about answering the door naked.

  I took a deep breath. It had been years and now, it was Go time. With a man in uniform.

  “You know?” He looked confused. “Know what?”

  I slowly undid the top button at the front of my dress. Ty’s eyes dropped to watch my hands.

  “You’re the kind of guy who goes for a little…less.”

  He cleared his throat. “Less?”

  I undid the next button. “Less clothes.”

  He swallowed. “Less is good.”

  And the next until enough buttons were undone that I could slide the dress from my shoulders. Ty’s eyes stalled at my lace covered breasts when the dress dropped to the floor. I stood there in front of him in only my newly purchased red lace bra and panties and my strappy heels.

  “Holy shit,” Ty murmured.

  His eyes raked over me and I felt my nipples harden. I was unbelievably nervous under his scrutiny, but the look on his face got rid of that. Fast. I was starting to get to know Ty’s various expressions but this one was new. I recognized it as pure, unadulterated lust. Completely out in the open. No hiding it to keep me from chickening out.

  And it looked damn good on him.

  His pupils dilated to make his eyes even bluer. A muscle ticked in his jaw. The fingers of his free hand were clenched at his side. I took in the front of his pants. Hello! Ty had a Whopper Dong of his own.

  “You’re right. Less is fine with me,” he replied as he placed his beer bottl
e roughly on the counter, and then took the two steps that separated us. One finger lightly brushed over my breast above the red lace.

  I sucked in a breath. Fire! Fire!

  His hands moved up to tangle in my hair as he pulled me into a kiss that was all tongue. Worked for me.

  It sent a lightning bolt of need straight south. There was the zing again that had been missing when Dex had kissed me. This was the difference between Dex and Ty. Dex who? Once I felt the zing, there was no going back. And I intended to go all…the…way.

  I tasted beer, smelled it as well as soap and something I recognized as pure Ty. He slowly backed me up into the fridge and leaned into me. Ty’s hot body pressing into me from the front, cold steel against the skin on my back. I gasped at the shock.

  Ty spun us around until my butt was against the kitchen table. “Sorry,” he muttered between kisses. He grabbed my hips and lifted me up so I sat on top without breaking the kiss. His hands pushed my knees apart so his legs fit between mine. I felt open and exposed and oh so good.

  My hands moved to frantically work the buttons on his uniform shirt while his reached around behind and unhooked my bra. The straps caught at my elbows.

  He broke the kiss for his first glimpse of my breasts, to watch his hands cup them, his thumbs brush over the hard nipples. Then he traded his hands for his mouth, sucked on one nipple. Then the other.

  “Um.” I had a thought, but it was gone. He looked up at me through his lashes. The thought was back. “Remember when you told me that guy looked at me like I was a piece of meat?” He didn’t say anything, so I continued. “You have that look right now.”

  He gave a quick grin and with one yank he pulled my hips so they were at the edge of the table. I cried out in surprise. Another yank and my brand new lacy panties were a scrap on the floor.

  “So you’re saying I should have a taste?”

  “Um,” I said again as I leaned back on my elbow. His mouth moved lower, made a path with his tongue to my belly button while his hands pushed my knees wider.

  “Like this?”

  His mouth moved lower still and his tongue went for a ride up one side of me and down the other. HOLY CRAP! I hadn’t felt a Super Zing like that in…I couldn’t remember ever feeling a zing like that. My head fell back and I saw the red spaghetti sauce stain on the ceiling Zach made when he was two. I would never look at that mark in the same way again.

  “Oh my God!” The tips of my ears tingled. I took a few deep breaths trying to get enough oxygen to my brain so I didn’t pass out.

  I pulled on his ears and Ty came up for air. He had that crazy grin on his face.

  “I need you inside of me. Now!”

  Ty stood back up and I had to have my hands on him. I roughly spread his uniform shirt to reveal his chest, lightly matted with hair that tapered in a line down to his pants…and beyond. I ran my hands over his hot skin, reached around to his butt and pulled him into a kiss. I could feel the hair on his chest tickling my breasts, making my nipples ache. Much lower pulsed with need while my fingers fumbled with his belt buckle. I all but cried with frustration when I couldn’t get it open. Ty took over, undid the button and unzipped his pants in record time.

  I had to have him in my hands. I reached inside his boxers and pulled his erection out into my palm. He was big. Big enough to ruin me for all dildos in the future. I slid my hand gently up and down. Once, Twice. Now it was his turn to gasp.

  “Shit.” He pulled back out of reach of my hands. “This is going to be fast. And we’re going to do it here,” he told me as he pushed on my shoulders so I lay back on the table once again.

  I was naked, sprawled across my kitchen table with Ty’s fiery gaze raking over me. He’d been too far south to look at me before. He ran one palm from my neck, between my breasts, his long fingers brushing tauntingly over a nipple, past my navel and lower still. One finger, then two slid inside. Yes! I made some kind of sound in the back of my throat and my eyes rolled back in my head.

  Ty did some kind of come hither motion with his fingers. I arched my back into his touch. "Please," I begged.

  He fumbled with his pants and pulled a condom from his back pocket, his cell phone falling out and onto the floor. In seconds he was ready. In one thrust he was inside. I wrapped my legs around his waist, my ankles crossed behind his back. Ty was all the way in, his hips pressing my thighs wide. He stayed still and groaned.

  I didn’t consider myself an overly religious person and I never had a very close relationship with God. But I just shouted out His name a few times and hoped He wouldn’t start paying me a lot of attention right now.

  The feeling of Ty inside me, filling me, was…amazing.

  He started moving. Hard. Fast. In. Out.

  We worked the table across the room as he went harder, faster still. Keeping one hand on my hip, he used the other to touch me as he thrust deep.

  Three, two, one. Blast off!

  I saw rockets and fireworks and felt the whole parade.

  I’d never had an orgasm like this. Hell, I’d never had an orgasm with a man.

  Within moments, Ty yelled, “Fuck!” and gave one last thrust, deeper than ever. He smacked his palms on the table, his rough breath mingling with mine.

  I lost all thought besides how my body felt, savoring the last lingering aftershocks of pleasure. I couldn’t help but smile. After awhile, I opened my eyes. Ty too, had a very satisfied look on his face.

  “I think we just gave the neighbors quite a show,” I commented, looking out into the darkness.

  My kitchen table was placed directly in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows that faced the back yard. Now it was about two feet further to the left. “Good thing the Colonel’s out of town.”

  Ty chuckled as he pulled out. “Those gnomes, they’re checking out my ass.”

  I looked up at the counter. Yep, the gnomes had their beady eyes glued to Ty’s butt. Better thinking it’s his ass they were staring at than my….

  “Smart gnomes,” I told him.

  I sat up. Mortification could have swept in faster than the passion receded. I’d just had sex on my kitchen table, with the lights on. Anyone in the back yard would have had a live-action porno. But I didn’t care. At all. I’d just had the orgasm of all orgasms. To hell with everyone else.

  Goldie would be so proud!

  “That was—” I couldn’t finish. I wasn’t sure of the adjective that might work.

  “Fast,” Ty answered. He buttoned his pants but left his shirt undone. The look really worked for him. “But Sweetheart, we just got started.”

  “I don’t think my table can take anymore.”

  Ty grinned. “Good, because I want to try a bed next.”

  In one swift motion, Ty bent down, picked me up and threw me over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. I got a good view of my kitchen floor and his butt as he carried me out the back door. “Where are we going?” I shrieked.

  “My bed. I’ve got Goldie’s gift box of condoms and we’re going to use every one of them.”

  “I don’t have any clothes on, just my shoes!”

  “You won’t need any clothes. And don’t even think about taking the shoes off.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  “It took most of the night but we made a good dent in that box of condoms,” Ty said as he rolled onto his side to face me, one arm thrown over my waist. He grinned, obviously pleased with his male prowess. I was pleased with his male prowess, too.

  “That’s because you had me demonstrate the trick from the bachelorette party.” I pushed on his shoulder sleepily. “Several times.”

  A hand snaked up into my hair, one of Ty’s fingers wrapped around a curl. Pulled gently. “I love your hair.” He looked enthralled.

  “My hair?” I couldn’t have been more surprised. “I figured you for a breast man. Or a leg man.”

  “Definitely a breast man.” To prove his point he moved his hand down to the top of the sheet, lowering it just enough to ex
pose one. His fingertip circled my nipple ever so lightly. “Ever since that morning when you flashed me—”

  I threw a hand over my eyes and chuckled. “Don’t remind me.”

  He pulled my hand away, kissed my knuckles.

  “—I dreamed of seeing you naked, touching your breasts.” He looked at my hardening nipple like a boy opening a present from Santa. Mesmerized, obsessed. “Pink.”

  Who knew a man’s words could make you feel…wonderful. It was like a Band-aid to my wounded libido. I felt attractive, alluring. And that was very empowering.

  “But your hair, it drives me crazy.”

  I humphed. “It drives me crazy, too. I’m glad you like the one thing that’s the bane of my existence. It’s curly,” I grumbled, as I pulled on a curl, let it spring back.

  “Sexy.”

  “It’s messy and lacks style.”

  “Wild.”

  Wild. I would never have used that adjective to describe it, but if it floated Ty’s boat, it was okay by me.

  “Save my spot.” Ty climbed out of bed and went into the bathroom.

  It was just getting light, the early morning sun just coming through Ty’s bedroom window. I could now make out what I’d missed the night before. I hadn’t noticed his interior decorating skills at the time. I’d been too distracted by…other things. There was a bed, a big one, an oak dresser with a fichus plant on top, wicker laundry basket in the corner. The walls were a light tan, white trim. Rattan blinds on the windows. I hadn’t seen or touched the floor yet as Ty had dumped me straight into bed the night before and hadn’t let me up since. I rolled over now and saw refinished pine.

  “Why do you think I left you there?” Ty asked as he leaned against the bedroom doorway, naked. Very, very naked.

  I looked at him, confused. “Where?”

  “The damn bachelorette party. If you’re going to put a dick in your mouth in front of me, it’s going to be mine.”