Badge and a Saddle (Heroes in the Saddle Book 2)

by Randi Alexander

  They rode through a small woods and came out in a clearing next to the creek.

  “This is beautiful.”

  He stopped the horse, helped her down, and followed her to the creek bank. “I come here a lot. To think.” He sat on his heels and tossed a pebble into the clear water. “How about you? You mentioned your dad.”

  Hadn’t he read her file? He must know everything there was to know about her. Was he just trying to make conversation? She squatted down next to him. “Mom died when I was born, and Dad and I lived close to the college where he worked. It was easy for me to choose academia as a career.”

  Rex looked at her, his dark eyes softer, somehow. “But stars? Why did you choose that field?”

  He’d opened up to her, now she wanted to let him into her life a little. “When I was old enough to understand that other kids had mommies, and I didn’t, Dad showed me a star through a huge university telescope. He’d purchased the naming rights through NASA and gave it the lovely tag, Iris O’Malley Cooper. My mother’s name.”

  “That’s a great story.”

  “It shaped the way I looked at the heavens. I think Dad hoped I’d follow in his footsteps, but the allure of all that mystery out there wasn’t something I could ignore.” She looked at the horizon, where sky met earth. How could she count the amazing things she’d seen, and those she had yet to discover?

  “A lot like my job, but without the weaponry.”

  Mina smiled. “Exactly. Once I talked Dad into getting me my own home telescope, I was a terror, begging him to bring home more books on astronomy, having him sneak me into classes that were ten years above my grade level, and even debating with professors on their theories.”

  “Yeah, I can see you doing that.” He stood and offered her his hand. She took it and he helped her up. Rex stepped a little closer, running his hand up her arm. “You’re not the sort of woman who would disagree silently.” One corner of his perfect mouth curved up.

  Everything inside her went gooey as she stared into his eyes and watched his gaze shift over her face, down to her chest, and back up. Just that flick of his gaze on her nipples tingled them into hard pebbles.

  He ran his hand down her arm to her hand, then squeezed it in his. “You’ll have to show me that planet sometime.”

  Warmth radiated from his touch all the way to her core, where it became a burning desire to kiss him again. Kiss him all over, hundreds of times. She swallowed. “Technically, it’s a star because they undergo nuclear reactions that burn hydrogen in their cores, whereas planets don’t.” Why in heaven had she said that?

  He smiled, the transformation on his face turning him instantly into the most handsome, sexiest human she’d ever seen. “Mina.” He tugged her close, wrapped his hand around the back of her neck, and pulled her in for a kiss.

  She sucked in a breath as his lips swept over hers, then his tongue teased one corner of her mouth. Her hands slid up his belly to his chest as she opened her mouth for him, inviting him in.

  His hand pressed at the curve of her lower back, bringing her tight into contact with the hard length behind his zipper. He kissed like he was hungry, starving, ravenous. Tasting her, teasing and licking her lips, then sucking her tongue into his mouth. He groaned.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck.

  He slid one hand under her sweatshirt and tank top, up the bare skin of her belly and over her ribs to find her breast, no bra, just skin tingling for his touch.

  “Aw, Doc.” He groaned the words against her lips. “Are you sure this is what you want?”

  Chapter Seven

  Rex knew he shouldn’t. He was the detective on her case, she was the woman in danger he should be protecting, not seducing. He wanted her though, and with both their lives hanging in mid-air, they needed the release of something this normal and human.

  That’s what he told himself. It was not that he was fascinated by her, inspired by her strength and intelligence, and aroused by her resilience. No, none of that. He was just here for sex, and he’d keep telling himself that until he believed it.

  His groin ached, his balls tightened, and the pulse of blood through his cock beat like the drums at a powwow.

  She kissed him back, like she was looking to touch his soul. Soft and gentle, then taking the lead and stealing what she wanted from him. After long minutes, Rex’s knees shook, and the ground seemed to move under him.

  He pulled back. “I brought a blanket.”

  She licked her lips, panting, her eyes unfocused, and darker blue than he’d ever seen them. “Let’s use it. I want you to take me, Rex.” Mina brushed the fingers of one hand down the front of his jeans, leaving no room for misinterpretation.

  Her touch sent a flash flood of lust to his brain, her words echoed in his head until all he wanted to do was take her down and… “Shit.” He slapped his back pocket.

  Her eyes opened wide. “Uh, you want me to spank you?”

  He chuckled. “No. Left my wallet back at the house.”

  She frowned.

  “Wallet with a condom in it.” He hadn’t planned on this. Or maybe he’d left the condom behind so this wouldn’t happen.

  “Oh.” She gave him a naughty smile. “Well, I know a few other ways we could—”

  He grabbed her hand and pulled her with him toward Merle. “Doctor, you’re too wicked for me to resist.”

  Her laugh, low and sensual, shot sprays of hot blood to every nerve in his body. He tugged the saddlebags from the horse and set it on the ground, then pulled out the thick blanket Bennet had sent with him out to the barn. Damn interfering old coot. Rex would have to thank him for this.

  They settled on a grassy clearing where the sun found spots to shine through the tree canopy, and quickly undressed each other, one piece of clothing at a time, peppering kisses on warm skin.

  Rex looked at her, tall and thin, but her slender form suited her. Her breasts were teardrop shaped, tipped with pink nipples, her waist curved femininely, and lower, her hips were softly rounded. Below, between her legs, the red hair of her trimmed mound drew him forward.

  He fell to his knees in front of her, his hands on her hips. “Pretty, Doctor. So very nice.” He kissed her softly there, nibbling and breathing deep to take in her musky sweet scent.

  She grabbed his shoulders and tipped her hips forward, pressing herself into his mouth. He loved that she wasn’t shy. This would be amazing. He snuck the tip of his tongue into her cleft and she melted.

  He laid her on the blanket, kissing her belly, her mound, then tipping his head to urge her thighs apart and take a long lick of her pussy.

  Mina cried out, startling a bird from a branch above them.

  He suckled her labia into his mouth, then the opposite side, doing the same, tasting sweet woman, so pure and slick, he could eat for hours. He wanted this to last, though, since there was no protection for him to use to slide his hard shaft into her perfect slit. Rex trailed kisses up her side to her breast, then latched on and sucked.

  “Rex.” She said his name with so much need, he wanted to please her a dozen times.

  Rolling onto his back, he took her with him, laying her on him, still loving on her breast.

  She straightened her arms, he lost contact with her nipple, and she looked down at him. “There’s something I’d love to try.” She bit her lip. “Will you let me lead today?”

  While it was against everything he’d been planning, for some reason, he would let her do whatever she wanted to him. “You’re in charge, Doc.” He spread his arms out to the side and laid his head back. “Tell me what you want me to do.”

  She sat up, her legs bent next to his sides, pressing her wet, hot core onto his stomach muscles. Reaching back, she gently stroked his cock. “I think you’ll be able to figure this out.” She stood and turned around, getting on all fours over him, her mouth at his cock.

  The sight of her tongue lapping at the top of his shaft, her red hair shining in the sunlight as she tipped her
head, fed the flames in his belly, shooting hot washes along his spine to his brain. Her breasts hung ripe and firm, jiggling with her movements, teasing him with their perfection.

  He had to get busy, or he’d be losing his fight to hold back. He focused on her. So sexy, her long, slim legs and round bottom, her pussy displayed before him like the perfect indulgence. That red hair of hers drew him in like nothing he’d experienced before. His hands slid up her thighs, his thumbs pressing into the soft inner skin.

  She moaned and shifted, sending her scent through the breeze to him. He needed a taste. Using his thumbs, he gently parted her pussy lips, loving the view of pink, soft flesh that pulsed a hard slam of desire down to his cock.

  Mina wrapped her hand around the base of his shaft and sucked harder, took him deeper, so deep, he felt the back of her throat.

  “Doc, oh jeez.”

  She eased off him, the suction intense. “I’ve come to believe…” She flicked her tongue on the spot at the base of his knob, sending his eyes rolling back. “That I just may have some super powers.”

  “You do. Out-of-this-world super powers.” Lifting his upper body, he gave her the attention she needed. He licked and sucked, nibbled and kissed, until every inch of her beautiful pussy was wet with her juices. He could picture it, pushing her down and sliding his shaft into her opening, hard and fast, and the vision made his balls tighten until they ached with the need to empty into her.

  He had to keep Mina safe, though. She deserved better than to have him lose control that way, and risk getting her pregnant. When he looked down at her mouth on him, her breasts wiggling seductively with her movements, he knew he wouldn’t be able to have her pussy, then pull out in time. He was right on the crest, ready to spin into climax.

  Pressing his face deep into her slick opening, he lapped from her clit to her channel, back and forth, again and again, giving her wide tongue thrusts up into her opening. In his hands, her body began to shake, her movements on his shaft growing faster and wilder.

  He pushed his nose into her opening, worked his tongue on her clit, and spread her wide to give her everything he could.

  In seconds, she jerked and cried out, her core warming as slick juices ran onto his face. God, this was heaven. She didn’t leave him out, though, and cupping his balls, she took him deep, way down her throat, holding him there and swallowing around him in an amazing motion that threw him up and over the wave.

  He went under, his brain disconnecting in a swirling vortex of deep seas, his body heated like it was dunked in boiling water. A burst and a flood of hot cum raced from his balls to his shaft. He cried a warning to her, but she kept him in her mouth, taking his cum and swallowing while pumping him with her hand, keeping him under a wash of heat.

  His mouth worked on her clit, his lips sucking, his tongue flicking, as she shivered and shimmied in his hands. Perfection. Holding her up as she collapsed, he felt himself easing back to consciousness, his body shivering as the last waves of his orgasm sloshed around inside him.

  Rex eased Mina down onto her side next to him, and she rested her head on his thigh, her hand still touching his shaft. A vision he would never forget.

  “You good, Mina?” He should have said something more romantic, but that was all that came out.

  “I’m good, Rex.” She palmed the base of his shaft softly. “You?”

  He let himself smile. “Good here, too.” Better than ever before, but he wasn’t going to throw that out there.

  “Rex.” She pushed herself up and swung around, laying her head on his outstretched arm, her leg and hip tight alongside his, her arm carelessly thrown over his belly as if she didn’t have the energy to do more.

  “Mina.” He moved just a few inches and kissed her temple, then lay back, his eyes closing as the sleepless night caught up with him.

  “I should tell you something.” She sighed.

  Man, he hated those words. How many women had started breaking it off with him using those very words? He wanted this moment with Mina to last, just a short time—keep reality from oozing in and destroying their connection. “Doc, just let me hold you a while longer. I’m still enjoying the aftermath of your super powers. Let’s just...for a minute…” He couldn’t stop himself from drifting off.

  ****

  Mina should wake him, tell him the whole story of the night she’d witnessed the murder, but the truth had waited this long, another hour or two wouldn’t hurt. She eased her head off his arm and rolled onto her side, propped up on her elbow. Handsome. She wanted to touch the strong, square pecs and run her hands along his abs. Down lower, a trail of dark hair led south to become a nest for his beautiful penis.

  Beautiful. That’s the only word she could come up with for the long, thick cock with a mushroom-shaped head. Would he be offended if she named it, and called it Beautiful whenever they…

  What was she thinking? That was long-term stuff, and this thing between them would be quick and done, a blip on the radar, then disappearing in a streak of light. Once he found out the truth she’d been keeping from him, there was no chance that he would forgive her. She’d be just another one of the women who’d disappointed him in his complicated life.

  Did she want more from him? Be honest with yourself. Yes. He had qualities she hadn’t found in other men, ones she’d unsuccessfully looked for in each of her boyfriends. And compared to this man, they were boys.

  She sat up and crossed her legs, pulled a blade of grass from the soft soil, and brought it to her nose. Fresh and untouched, not like the chemically-enhanced grass in the city. She looked around at the trees, the creek silently making its way downhill, and old Merle, off in the distance, one leg cocked, looking like he was asleep. Like a postcard, naptime for a cowboy and his horse.

  A smile came from deep inside Mina. The ranch would make a wonderful weekend retreat, halfway between Austin and Fort Worth, she’d meet Rex here Friday nights…

  No. It wouldn’t happen. She tossed the blade of grass. Looking back at him, she wished things had been different. She admired his slightly hooked nose, strong jaw, lips that only lost their tightness when he slept, or when he kissed.

  The sound of a shot rent the air.

  Mina gasped and reached to wake Rex, but he sat up, tipping his head.

  Another shot, followed by a third, from the direction of the ranch.

  He leapt to his feet as her heart jumped to light-speed. “What is it?”

  “Get dressed. Fast.” He already had his jeans on, and his boot in his hand. “Bennet is warning us.” He whistled loudly, and Merle’s head lifted, and the horse galloped toward them.

  “Should we call the sheriff?” She scrambled to dress, leaving her socks and underwear on the ground by the blanket and untouched picnic bag, next to his socks and underwear.

  “No service here.” Rex shoved the blanket in one side of the saddlebags, the food and their leftover clothes in the other, and jumped onto Merle’s back. He helped her up behind him. “Hold on tight.” Giving the horse a two-booted kick, he shouted, “Hee-yaa!”

  The horse went from zero to warp speed in seconds, and Mina could only hang on to Rex and squeeze the horse with her legs. The hundred questions she had would be whipped away from her mouth by the wind rushing by them.

  In minutes, he pulled up to a copse of trees on a sharp ridge. “Mina. Stay here.”

  “But I might be able—”

  “No. I won’t be able to work if I’m worried about you.” He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her from the horse.

  She landed on her feet. “But what if—”

  “Listen.” His black eyes held deadly seriousness. “You can see the ranch from the top of the rise, but stay low, and for God’s sake, do not scream, no matter what you see or hear.” His hand worked on the saddlebag laces.

  She nodded, sufficiently embarrassed by her last, and recorded, response to a dangerous situation.

  Rex handed her the saddlebag. “Eat something, use the blank
et to stay warm.” He touched the rifle. “I want to give you this, but I think I might need it.” He looked conflicted.

  “I’ll be okay. I know self-defense.”

  He huffed out a breath, and almost cracked a smile. “Great. That makes me feel better for abandoning you here.”

  She wanted to reassure him that she trusted his decision to leave her here, but she was starting to shake with fear, and had to clamp her teeth together to keep them from chattering.

  Turning, he pointed across the creek. “If I don’t come back for you in an hour, go across the creek, in about a half-mile, there’s a fence that runs the whole property.” He pointed left. “Go north until you see a gate with a dirt road cutting through it. Follow the road on the other side of the fence and you’ll get to Treven and Delta’s.”

  “An hour?” She rubbed her palms on her arms. “What do you think will happen down there?” Mina’s worry was for him, not herself.

  “I don’t know.” He stared into her eyes. “I’m going to protect you, Mina. Just promise me you will do exactly what I just told you. Promise you won’t do anything stupid that’ll get me killed.”

  Anything stupid like run down the hill to the ranch and give herself up so the killers would take her and leave Rex and Bennet alone? She’d seen what those men could do, and she had no delusions they would hesitate to kill all three of them, and make their bodies disappear forever. “I promise.”

  He turned and grabbed the reins. When she put her hand on his thigh, he looked down at her.

  “Thank you, Rex. Please be careful.”

  “I intend to, Doc.” He held her hand and looked into her eyes for a moment then kicked Merle into a run, up and over the ridge, disappearing down the other side.

  Mina hauled the saddlebag into the trees, creeping slowly, until she had a view of the ranch buildings. Nothing looked out of place, no vehicles, no movement. She set the blanket down, then leaned back against a tree, just at eye-level with the top of the ridge so if someone had binoculars down there, she wouldn’t be easy to spot.