Red Hot and BOOM! A Sizzling Hot Collection of Stories from the Red Hot Authors

by Randi Alexander

  Their fingers knitted together, hers being engulfed by his, and she wrapped her hand around his firm bicep to keep him close. Jesus, she was almost thirty-years-old and she was still clinging to JT like she was twenty. Then again, the last time they were together she acted like a giddy teenager. If nothing else JT Long made her feel the invincibility of youth.

  Outside the door to her room JT placed his hands on her hips and commenced with laying butterfly kisses along the nape of her neck. It made focusing on the key card very taxing. Instead of inserting the key she curled her hand around his head and held him in the crook of her neck. He didn’t protest in the least. In fact his left hand slid across her stomach and deftly unbuttoned her jeans.

  “JT,” she moaned.

  “You have the key,” he growled and ground his swollen shaft against her hip. “I’ll take you in front of God and everyone. I’m not ashamed.”

  “Ah hem,” Ron coughed and Betsy jumped a mile.

  “Oh my God, Ron, this isn’t...” she turned her back to Ron and fumbled to redo her jeans. “Seriously, I just... did we have something to do this early?”

  Betsy smoothed her hair back and finally looked at Ron who stood dumbfounded in a t-shirt and jean shorts.

  “Conference call. You know, team meeting to discuss the day’s stories.”

  “That’s now?”

  “I’ve been calling you for the last half hour. It’s in fifteen minutes.”

  “Frick.” She turned to JT, inserted her key in the door, and opened to her room.

  “I’ve got to do this. It’s my job.”

  “Lunch? I can have Sunshine feed and water the horses.”

  “There’s a pulled pork stand at the edge of the fairgrounds.”

  “You want me to get it to go?” he asked as his eyebrows raised.

  “Yes.” She smiled knowing full well where his mind and probably sore manhood was implying.

  “You still drink Hillbilly Piss?”

  “It keeps me going.”

  “I’ll see you in a few hours.” He leaned down and kissed the corner of her lips and she felt herself melt against the door.

  With JT gone, she headed into her room to grab her notes. Ron was hot on her trail.

  “Yesterday wasn’t a random guy huh. That the ex?”

  “What was the first clue?”

  “He’s a good looking guy.”

  “Yes.”

  “Has a job.”

  “Yes Dad,” she replied sarcastically. Then reality hit. “Sadly.”

  “Are you sure about what you’re doing?”

  Betsy flopped in the chair next to the table in her room. Was she sure? Hell no. With JT it was all instinct. She never thought when it came to him—she reacted. Or her body reacted. Ron pulled out the other chair and looked at her across the table.

  “You believe in soul mates?”

  “When I was with my wife I didn’t, but once she passed I felt as if I’d lost a part of me. She saw me as half of her. I never did until she was gone. My kids try to tell me they’d be fine if I found someone. They’d like it because then they wouldn’t have to worry about me. What they don’t see is a person can’t just step in and fill a void like that.”

  “The first day I met JT I felt a rush. No other guy made me feel that instantly. I know I should have tried, but when you’ve experienced a love like that why settle.”

  “What really happened last time?”

  Betsy flashed to an arena in west Texas five years ago.

  ‘Bets I need to be on the road and that’s not fair to you. Sunshine needs me right now and I can’t do the distant thing. Especially to my wife.’

  Her heart was pounding in her chest as a lump in her throat made it hard to breathe, let alone speak. The night before she’d been lying naked in his arms and they’d talked about a ranch he’d seen thirty minutes outside of El Paso. She hadn’t wanted to stay in the market, but she would if it meant being with JT. They’d talked about kids, horses, and even when they could get married. What had happened in twelve hours to change his mind? He was going to quit, even though she said he didn’t have to. Not all together.

  ‘Are you saying we’re done?’

  ‘I’m saying, lets take a break during this season and we’ll see where Sunshine is. If he’s where he needs to be then maybe we can talk about something more, just not right now.’

  After his truck was out of view she called her agent and told him to send her as far from Texas as he could.

  “We’d been together for a little more than a year, I second guessed every moment with him. Our relationship was on track, then it just ended.”

  “What makes you think it won’t happen again?”

  “I don’t. On Sunday he’s done and on to the next town. All I know is when I’m with him I feel happy and safe. It’s... I feel whole.”

  Ron reached across the table and covered her hand with his. “Then I hope it works out better this time. And if he tries to leave without you I’ll slash his tires.”

  “Deal.”

  During the conference call everything was covered. Betsy assured the news team she wouldn’t have a cowboy pulling rope tricks with her, but the news director asked her to see if he’d do it again. It’d gotten a great response. Damn JT and his games. That’s okay. He could do whatever he wanted for the next two nights.

  Ron left and Betsy pulled up some pictures she’d transferred to her tablet. They were of her and JT. The memories rushed and she couldn’t help praying for the smiles in the pictures to return to her permanently.

  When JT knocked on her door she leapt and opened it with the same zeal she had five years ago. He stood with two Styrofoam containers and a smile. Her fingers curled around his shirt and she pulled him into the room. He ended up having to place the food on the dresser because of Betsy’s sudden superhuman strength.

  JT was in her grasp and she wasn’t letting him go. Not this time.

  *****

  JT fell on top of Betsy as they both crashed to the bed.

  “What happened?”

  “You were a hit.”

  “A hit?”

  “Would you be willing to do rope tricks for all my broadcasts?”

  “How many shows we talkin’ about?”

  “Five, Six and Ten... I’m usually on at about twenty after the hour.”

  “That’s a lot of tricks.”

  “Well,” Betsy teased as she bit down on her bottom lip. “If you don’t have the capabilities—”

  “I could show you a few right now.”

  “Still tryin’ to tie me up huh?”

  “I might need to.” He smiled as he nestled in between her legs. “You have priors for disappearing on me.”

  “Only when you push me away. You say you’ll return and I’ll always be where you left me.”

  “Today is a great example of that.”

  His fingers stroked the soft auburn highlights that had come loose from her braid. He’d forgotten how delicate Betsy felt when she truly gave herself to him. Today she had. He could see in her cornflower blue eyes that she was taking a chance on him again. She may not have forgiven him, but she was giving him an opportunity to prove he’d become a man.

  His lips found hers and they fell into a kiss that should have been familiar yet was new and fresh. A new start with a woman who could bring him to his knees. Grinding against her core, he didn’t want to rush, but his cock cried out for release. It demanded he found a way inside her warmth, but this wasn’t the back of his truck between stops. This was a room where he had time to savor the woman he’d missed more than his ability to breathe.

  With a pop of her top button he saw the lightly tanned skin of her chest. Each pop gave him access to another inch of her skin. His lips found her collarbone as he licked his way to her sternum so her full breasts pressed against his cheeks. Keeping his hands on her hips he gripped tightly to keep from ripping off every inch of clothing. Her hand curled around his head and led it to her lef
t breast. Using his nose he inched the lacy fabric from her mound and found the hardened nipple perked and ready for his lips.

  The moan she released from the contact vibrated down her whole body and urged JT on.

  “Wait,” she sighed. “No, I can’t.”

  “Can’t what?” JT said as he released her nipple.

  “Oh God... what am I doing?” she asked as she pulled herself up to the top of the bed and snapped her shirt shut.

  Hormones raced through JT and slammed against his brain, giving him an instant headache.

  “You pulled me, Bets.”

  “I know. I’m sorry. I can’t do this.”

  “Okay.” JT rolled to the side of the bed and put his feet on the floor. “Is there a reason? Is it the ballplayer?”

  Betsy buried her head in her hands as her knees curled up to meet them.

  “I didn’t come here to sleep with you.”

  “Didn’t you?” her mumbled voice asked.

  “No, it’s never been about that with you. Not sayin’ I don’t like it and would love to revisit that part of our relationship, but it’s not what I miss most.”

  “What do you miss most?” she asked as her head popped up.

  “You’re gonna think I’m stupid.”

  “Now you have to tell me.”

  JT ran his hand over his head and plopped back on the bed. The ceiling was popcorn coated and had a few water stains on it. As he drummed his fingers on his chest he steadied himself, more from the memories and the way they warmed his whole body.

  “You still get nervous and laugh until you cry?”

  “I haven’t in awhile.”

  “That’s too bad because it’s adorable. I ‘member when you were fightin’ with a mustard container and ended up squirtin’ Sunshine right before he had to ride. He fell back, stepped on a shovel and it smacked him dead between the eyes.”

  “I felt so bad.”

  “I know, but he didn’t, he thought you were laughing at him. It took me three days to explain you’d accidentally hit me in the family jewels and practically hyperventilated because you felt so bad.”

  “Has he remembered that ride yet?”

  “No, still lost in a concussion induced fog.”

  “He won,” she stifled a laugh. “I should have done it more often.”

  Her eyes crinkled up as her face flushed bright pink. She was going to do it again. Laugh until she cried. Betsy couldn’t hurt a fly and accidentally hurting someone physically or personally would bring her to hysterics. He could see the tears starting to form in her eyes.

  Leaping up on his knees he took her hands in his.

  “Why did you really stop?”

  “Because I want you so bad.” She wiped a tear aside. “I thought I’d never see you again. Even if I did I had so much hate and venom eating away at me... it took one look to suppress it. How pathetic am I?”

  “Not at all. You hid it well.”

  “As well as I did when I wanted to know your name?”

  “You had to put Sunshine in his place. I didn’t mind one bit.”

  “He does think he’s God’s gift too much.”

  “He’s been humbled as of late.”

  “Really?”

  “The Buckle Bunnies are getting older.”

  “Are they now?”

  “The ones that go after him,” JT said as he released her hand and got up to get the food he’d brought. “How ‘bout we eat and talk? I heard that’s what grown folk do.”

  They sat at Betsy’s table and she told him about the Twin Cities. What she’d learned and how her parents refused to come up except for in June or September. The rest of the year it was either too hot or too cold.

  “It gets that hot in the summer?” he asked as he wiped his mouth with a napkin. His erection had finally gone down to half mast so he could at least adjust in the seat without sending pain up his spine.

  “Humidity. It ups the heat index. Just like the wind chill in the winter. It may only be negative five, but it feels like negative forty when the wind hits you.”

  “Only negative five? You’ve become a true Northerner.”

  “My accent shows up occasionally, but I have passed the true Minnesotan test.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I grill with snow falling around me.”

  “You grilled?”

  “I’m from Texas. I had to show these Yankees what barb-b-q is supposed to taste like.”

  “I’m glad you have friends.”

  “I have Ron.”

  “Ron?”

  “My cameraman. The man charged with killing you if you break my heart again.”

  “Guess I’ll have to talk to Sunshine.”

  “Why?”

  “You’re not the only one who can have their heart broken.”

  Chapter Five

  Betsy stilled at JT’s confession. Had he really had his heart broken? How was that her fault? He left her. Although he did say he wanted to give it time. His daddy’s ranch was close enough to El Paso he’d be back; it was her who’d ran. Was he planning on sowing his wild oats and coming home to find the girl he left behind?

  “I have an interview with Danny for the five o’clock news. I probably should get to the fairgrounds.”

  “It’s only three.”

  “I need to do my make-up—”

  “You look beautiful without it,” JT whispered as he cupped her cheek in her hand.

  “HD cameras,” her voice trembled as she closed her eyes. “They find every flaw.”

  “There aren’t flaws to find.” JT leaned in and lightly caressed her lips.

  “JT,” she pleaded, but she didn’t know what for.

  “Betsy.” His lips brushed against hers. “Glad we know who we’re kissing.”

  “You’re still a corny fool.”

  “And you’re still the only woman I’ll ever love.”

  Betsy opened her lips and accepted JT’s tongue. He stroked against hers as he scooped her up in his arms and brought her to the bed. Cradled in his arms she wrapped hers around his neck. Instead of laying her on the bed he sat with her on his lap. Holding her close to his chest she smelled the same cologne every man in his family wore. A classic, rugged, musk scent that set her hormones into a frenzy. She loved the tradition and spirit of it. Her fingers played with his ear as he nibbled along her neck.

  JT’s right hand slid down her back to her hip. She loved the feel of his hand there. She fell back with hooded eyes looking at him. Really looked. He was serious. His dimples were hidden with his smile. With a stroke of his thumb against her cheek Betsy relented. She’d rather have the pain of him leaving than the pain of never having him in her arms again.

  “Make love to me,” she implored him. “Be mine for the rest of the rodeo.”

  “What if I want more?”

  “No promises you can’t keep. Give me thirty-six hours of being mine.”

  JT lifted her off his lap and had her stand up in front of him. His fingers nimbly undid her snaps and then his hands trailed her shirt as it fell down her arms. The brush of his calloused hands against the soft skin of her arms made gooseflesh cover her back. His lips kissed in between her breasts, then trailed down her stomach until he came to her belly button. He mouthed his way around her abdomen like a snake slithering around the soft sand of the desert.

  She placed her hands on his head and let the roughness of his hair scratch her hands. Betsy wanted his shirt off, she needed to feel his warm skin and corded muscles of his back and arms. Her hands travelled down his neck and around the collar of his shirt. JT didn’t stop his lips and tongue’s exploration of her stomach as she pulled at his shirt and repeated the action of removing it. For a moment he stilled as he tightened his arms around her back and pressed the side of his face against her belly. His fingers drew little circles on her back.

  “You sure about this Bets? I know it’s not like we’ve never done this, but somehow it seems different.”

&nb
sp; “God JT, you know this is why I love you. All the other cowboys tried to get me drunk or thought they could give some killer line to get me in bed. Not you. You thought about me.”

  “That’s my job. You know, hero and all.”

  Betsy took JT’s face in her hands and kissed him. They fell back on the bed and she straddled his lean hips. His hands found the top button of her jeans which popped open with ease. The slow touches became heated and rushed as they fell into a memory so sweet neither could recall the years lost. With both sets of jeans discarded to the floor JT’s hand surrounded Betsy’s ankle, then slid up her calf. He tickled the back of her knee as he kissed the inside of it. When he licked her inner thigh she fell back on her pillow.

  Oh yeah, she was so screwed.

  He kissed her hip and bit her panties, removing them with a deft of skill he must have acquired in her absence. Anytime he’d tried it before he ended up fumbling. Then again, he wasn’t rushing this time. This time he seemed to be savoring her scent, flavor, and feel. His body engulfed her and his fingers delved inside.

  First two, then three and his thumb circled her clit. Rotating in unison with his strokes caused her legs to widen. He kissed her, then bit her bottom lip. The sharp sting made her clench his fingers. Her hands didn’t know where to go because she wanted to feel every inch of him.

  Her mouth became a hungry animal as she found his neck and bit at his shoulder. He rolled and pulled her on top of him.

  “Damn.”

  “What?” Betsy panted.

  “I have condoms in the pants.”

  Betsy looked at the pile on the floor and stretched to grab JT’s pants.

  “Multiple huh?”

  “It’s only three.”

  “Well, I do have to work at five,” Betsy said with a glint in her eye.

  JT growled as he held her to him again. He tugged at the binder holding back her braid. His fingers tangled trying to undo the restrained hair. With a yank he pulled her neck back and trailed kisses from the notch of her neck to right behind her ear.

  “Don’t worry Bets, I’ll make sure you’re taken care of. You’re the only thing that matters right now.”

  “Prove it.”

  JT’s hand found Betsy’s still holding the condoms. Tearing off one of the foil packets he moved her up so she was on his firm abs and reached behind to sheath himself. Once done he placed both of his hands on her hips and lifted her as if she weighed nothing and speared her on his hardness.