by Susan Meier
He turned her around, whisked her T-shirt over her head, and unsnapped a very sexy, very silky red bra. He groaned at the feel of it sliding across his fingertips, and groaned again when she turned in his arms, her breasts full and solid, nipples two tight buds.
Without a word, she lifted his shirt up his chest. Taller than she, he knew she wouldn’t get it any farther than she had, so he yanked it off, then put his hands on her butt and wrenched her to him, almost groaning again when those tight little nipples bumped into his chest.
“Shit.”
“Am I so bad?”
He shook his head, caught her gaze. And here it was. The hesitancy again. “You’re so damned perfect.” He drew in a breath, struggling for the air he needed to keep himself from ripping off her jeans and taking her hard and greedily. “How does anybody get so perfect?”
She laughed, her tension gone again. The easy sound rolled over him as she pressed her hands to his chest and smoothed them to his belly button and back up again. “Ask yourself. From where I’m standing you’re pretty damned perfect too.”
He thought he’d die from the pleasure of having her hands on him. If they didn’t increase the tempo he’d snap and lose control. So he undid her jeans, dipped his fingers under the waistband, and finally touched that perfect ass. Skin silky, muscles taut, her solid little behind filled his hands. Need roared through him and with one quick move, he puddled the jeans to the floor.
She fumbled with the belt of his pants but he brushed her hands aside. He undid the snap, yanked down the zipper, pushed his jeans to the floor, and released his erection. He didn’t think. He didn’t care. He gave her one quick tap that dropped her to the bed and crawled on behind her.
He slid one hand to her supple breast, while the other traveled down to the soft mound of hair between her legs. She was surprisingly wet and ready, and part of him nearly shoved open her thighs and rammed inside.
But this was Piper.
Pretty Piper.
The Piper he’d lusted after for weeks.
The woman who deserved better than a man’s lust.
The woman who hesitated for six long weeks before agreeing to this. He would not disappoint her.
So he took a breath. Then another. Then another.
He’d also waited long, long weeks to be at this place with her, and not only did she deserve a little time and attention, but he also wanted to touch and taste every inch of her.
The candle flickered in the darkness. As he kneaded her breast with his left hand, he ran the right along her behind, suddenly aware that this probably would be his one and only chance to touch her. He wanted to savor, but he also didn’t want her to regret this decision. So he slowed the pace, wove his tongue from her chest to her navel and back up again before he closed his mouth over her breast.
She groaned.
“That’s it, baby, tell me what you like.”
His hands slid under her so he could arrange her to take full advantage of her breasts, her belly.
“I don’t know a woman alive who doesn’t like what you just did.”
He paused. “What I did?”
“Yeah, what you did.”
He smiled against the warm pillow of her breast. “Say it.”
“What?”
He thought back to their conversation before the water battle—how she seemed shy, almost inexperienced for a woman who’d had two fiancés. It seemed farfetched that she’d be inexperienced, but maybe she was?
And maybe that’s what he needed to help her through so they could both enjoy the hell out of each other.
“Say it… Tell me what I did.”
“You sucked my nipple.”
He flicked his tongue against it. “Want me to do it again?”
She groaned. “Yes.”
“Say it.”
“Do it again.”
“Do what again?”
“Suck my nipple.”
Red-hot desire burst through him and he closed his mouth over her again. “Tell me everything you want.”
Her reply came out breathy and thready. “You don’t know?”
“Oh, I know. I just like hearing you tell me.”
…
Fierce need skyrocketed from her aching nipples to that spot in her body that had been begging for him. He pulled his mouth away from one breast and made love to the second, and she closed her eyes at the ecstasy that flowed through her.
She’d known he would be good. She’d known this would be good.
Then he softly said, “What else?”
Her breath hitched, “Seriously? You’re going to make me tell you?”
“I want to be sure you enjoy this.”
“Oh, trust me. I’m beyond enjoying.”
He slid up her body. Every inch of his torso glided along every inch of hers, setting fire to blistering hot skin. He nuzzled her neck, took her mouth in a kiss that rolled through her like a tornado, and the whole time his erection pressed, teased, tickled her. Where she wanted him, but not how she wanted him.
“Please…”
“Ah, now we’re getting somewhere. Please what?”
“You know.”
“Let’s pretend I don’t. Let’s pretend you’re a bad girl who knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to beg.”
Right at that moment she wouldn’t be afraid to beg, but the idea of her being a bad girl shuddered through her. “I’m not bad.”
“Oh, but you want to be naughty.”
She did. She seriously did. She wanted to be all those things she’d never even considered, all those things that had never ever popped into her brain when she was with other men.
And she suddenly realized this was what she’d been waiting for.
With one hand on his shoulder, she tipped Cade. “You want a bad girl?”
His throaty laugh was his reply.
She pressed her tongue to his shoulder, then slid it to his belly button. “I’ve never been a bad girl.”
“Well, darlin’, you’re doing just fine.”
She took him into her mouth on the word fine, and he groaned the way she’d groaned for him. “Oh, you like that?”
He shifted, giving her better access, and she took him farther, as her fingers explored his inner thighs.
He groaned again. She sucked harder and suddenly she was lifted and tossed to her back. His thigh spread her legs as his erection pounded into her aching sex.
She almost came at the feeling of his hardness opening her, filling her. But he didn’t give her long enough to think about it. He pulled out, shoved in, pulled out, shoved in, each time harder, each time taking her to a physical place she’d never been before. She felt wetter, tighter, fuller. Instincts began to kick in. Her legs rose to wrap around him, granting him better access.
“That’s right, baby. Just like that.”
His encouragement made her smile and she almost opened her eyes, but the feelings pouring through her were so delicious. The warmth, the tingles, the press of him against her wet walls overwhelmed her, until there was nowhere else for arousal to go and her muscles exploded in spasms of delight that stole her breath and had her screaming his name.
He laughed as wave after wave of sheer physical pleasure overtook her, and just when she thought she couldn’t feel any more, he exploded inside her. The pulsing against her sensitive walls set off another firestorm of delight and she called out his name again.
Then he collapsed against her and she raised her hands to his back.
His back.
In all the pleasure, she hadn’t touched or tasted even half of him.
He rolled off and might have said something, but she stopped his words with her mouth on his. She had never, ever, ever had sex like this. Never wanted somebody enough to say the words suck my nipple. Never enjoyed somebody so much that she came twice. Never been so curious about touching someone everywhere.
She wasn’t letting him get away until she’d done everything she wanted.
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“Tom Lashinsky was my first fiancé.”
After spending an hour curiously, greedily, tasting and touching each other, Cade wasn’t even slightly tired. He could go another round. But out of respect for her, he propped himself up on his elbow, looked down into her face. After everything they’d done, there really couldn’t be any secrets between them.
“I pretty much stayed away from men after that until Ronnie Nelson came along. Then I just sort of thought it was time to get married, have a family.” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “I made a big mistake.”
“Oh yeah?” He didn’t want to say it, but clearly Tom, and anybody who followed, weren’t such great shakes as lovers. She had a naivety about her greed that spoke of inexperience, even if that did translate into some very awesome moves that came from her curiosity.
She rolled over and leaned against his chest, her pretty breasts nestling against him as if they’d found home. “Don’t be smug.”
“I’m not smug. You were the dynamo.”
She laughed. “Actually, I was just curious.”
“Well, be curious with me any time you want.”
The air in the room suddenly thinned as she raised her head until she could meet his gaze.
She didn’t say anything, but she didn’t have to. A Hyatt and an O’Riley? She’d already told him this wouldn’t work. The feud might be over. His reputation might be mending. But there was still the matter of gossip. They might be able to run a grocery store together, but date? She was a runaway bride and he was a no-show groom. Good God, the old ladies would go breathless from speculation.
“Okay, fine. So don’t call me anytime you want to do this.”
She shook her head. “You think this is all about the town, the gossip? Maybe at one time it was. But, Cade, I like you. And once our year at the grocery store is over, you’re leaving town, buying a ranch, moving on.”
He ran his hand down her lean back. “Probably.”
“Uh, uh, uh. Don’t be using that suggestive, hopeful tone.”
“What? I’m not tricking you. The will says we have a whole year together. And eventually I will buy the ranch where I’m foreman.”
She sat up. “So you need the money from selling your share of O’Riley’s to get your ranch?”
He glanced away. “Kind of.”
She laughed. “Don’t be embarrassed! It’s normal commerce. I want to buy your share when our year is up.”
“Yeah, well, our year isn’t up yet, so don’t get carried away.”
“I like to be prepared and we’ve only got ten months left on our year.”
He grinned at her. “We could have lots of fun in ten months.”
She laughed and didn’t even snark at him for changing the subject. “You’re bad.”
“Well, we could.”
“Now, don’t get moody on me.”
“Man, you’re a hard ass.”
“I’m serious. I might have survived a lifetime of being gossiped about in this town, but I’ve never really had my heart broken. You could break my heart.”
“Not on purpose.”
She lifted herself even farther up his chest. “You are such a bad boy.”
He laughed. “I know. If it’s any consolation, it’s not you. You’re the kind of girl any man would want to settle down with. I’m just not the settling kind.”
She laughed. “No, duh.”
“I’m serious.” He took her by the shoulders and forced her gaze to his again. “In spite of everything that happened with Lonnie, it was actually my parents’ relationship that turned me off marriage. I’ve got some memories that pretty much guarantee I’ll never think committing to one person is a good idea.”
“So why’d you almost marry Lonnie?”
He sighed. “The relationship with Lonnie went from too-good-to-be-true to crappy in about six weeks, but by then she’d told me she was pregnant. And I wouldn’t desert a child. I was kind of young and stupid, so I didn’t ask questions. I just decided I was going to do a better job at parenting than my dad had done, and part of that meant getting myself into the same house as my child, so I could raise him.” He took a deep breath. “When I found out Hunter wasn’t mine, I was livid on Hunter’s behalf, but I also felt like I’d dodged a bullet. I joined the Marines and got a little crazy. Women love a guy with tattoos and an attitude.”
“Yeah, I totally get that.” She looked away, tracing the line of the dragon on his forearm. “Why settle down with one woman when you can have ten?”
“It’s more than that.” He nudged her until she looked him in the eye. “I learned pretty damned young what people can do to each other when they’re trapped in a bad relationship. Then Lonnie lying, trying to use me, cemented the fact that trust makes a person vulnerable. The closest I’ll come to committing is to my ranch. And I can only commit to that because it’s big and unforgiving. A challenge. It doesn’t tell me what to do. It pushes me to think. Plus, I have space. And as foreman I had power. Once I own it, nobody will ever again tell me what to do. Where to go. How to do things. I will finally have the freedom I’ve always wanted.”
…
Piper studied his eyes and saw the truth of what he was saying. Knowing what she did about his father beating him and his brothers, she even believed she understood why he felt as he did.
Because she understood it, she wouldn’t be foolish enough to discount it or diminish it. She also wouldn’t be foolish enough to think she was the woman who could change him. Or that something about being with her would heal his need for control, for freedom.
So she laughed. “Which is exactly why I refuse to let you break my heart.”
He grazed his hand down her ass. “Then go get a glass of water or juice or whatever you use to reboot your stamina, because if I only get one night, I’m making it count.”
Chapter Fourteen
Cade left her around midnight and returned to his grandfather’s house. Knowing his phone alarm was set, he fell asleep and woke the next morning feeling like a new man.
There was nothing like easing sexual frustration to bring back a guy’s energy and enthusiasm. He was so energetic and enthused that he was too antsy to stay in the office and look for his grandfather’s proof. So he stocked shelves and put out produce. Getting more and more nervous as the day went on. Especially when he realized Piper was supposed to come in at seven and he was supposed to come in at two. They’d gotten so wrapped up in each other the night before they forgot their own damned schedule.
So where was she? Was she hurt? Mad? Uncomfortable?
Women took things differently than men. It was supposed to be nothing but lust.
A few hours later, he grabbed the last orange from the crate at his feet, intending to stack it on a pyramid he’d created—to keep himself from going crazy with speculation about Piper—just as Piper tripped the trigger that opened the double glass door entrance and walked inside.
Today, she wore hip hugging jeans and a long, slim top that cruised her torso and showed off her boobs. Remembering some—if not all—of the things he’d done with that little body the night before, he mindlessly dropped the orange to the top of the pyramid and it rolled down, starting a small avalanche that tumbled a third of the oranges to the floor.
“Goddamn it.”
Close enough to have heard, Mrs. Orville Gentry gasped.
He winced as he chased after three wayward oranges rolling off in three different directions. “Sorry about that.”
She quirked an eyebrow. “Uh-hum.”
For the love of God, he’d been to war. He ran a ranch. He managed to get forty rowdy cowboys to listen when he gave an order. He should be allowed to say damn.
A pair of shiny black boots suddenly appeared in front of him.
“Scaring the old ladies with cursing now?”
His gaze rose from the tips of the black high heel boots, up the line of Piper’s blue-jean-covered legs, to the belt at her hips, to that slim top that
caressed all the skin he wanted to be licking right now.
“I should be allowed to say…”
She stooped and put her hand over his mouth. “Don’t!”
His tongue darted out to lick her palm. She yanked her hand away, her pretty green eyes growing huge and round. But she quickly composed herself, huffed out a noise of disgust, and headed for the office.
His eyes narrowed as she strode away from him. She hadn’t thought him disgusting when she was lying under him screaming his name. He didn’t like the way she could so easily pretend there was nothing between them, and she didn’t like him.
He knew she did.
He followed her to the office, walked inside, closed the door, and locked it.
She didn’t even look up from the computer. “That was gross.”
“If we were naked and I was running that tongue along your belly, you wouldn’t say that.”
“Nope, I probably wouldn’t.”
Her answer surprised him so much he groaned. “You’re killing me.”
For that, she did look up. “Sorry.”
“I think we’re making a mistake by not being lovers.”
…
She laughed and shook her head as she tried to get her attention back on the computer screen, but it was hard. He was sexy. He was gorgeous. He was fun in bed. He had totally revolutionized the way she looked at sex, and she had to turn him away. It didn’t seem fair.
“I told you. This isn’t about you. It’s about me.”
“That’s my line!”
“You are in a mood today, aren’t you?”
He walked behind the tall-back desk chair. Lifting her hair, he bent far enough that he could run his tongue along her neck.
“Working in a grocery store is dull. I’m bored.”
A thrill raced through her. “Oh, so I’m just going to be something to keep you from being bored?”
“No.”
“Too bad. That had a nice ring to it.”
He spun the chair around. “You have got to stop teasing me.”
“I’m not the one who came in and licked your neck.”
“I only do these things to get you to realize sex for fun can be, well…fun.”