“I can’t.”
“You can.” He nibbled on the insides of her smooth thighs. “You do this for me and I’ll fuck you so hard you’ll feel it for days.”
“I wanna feel it now.”
Her petulance made him smile. He teased and petted her pussy, making her think he was taking his time until she could take direct contact on her swollen bud.
Jonas had other plans. Dirty plans. Plans she’d love. Which was why he didn’t tell her those plans, he just enacted them.
He flipped her over on her belly and hiked her ass in the air. Tilting her hips to where he got an eyeful of both those tempting openings. He flattened his tongue and licked her slit. Slowly. Savoring the tasty mix of the sweet cream flowing from her and the salt of her sweat. When he reached that sweet little pucker, he painted it with his tongue.
“Oh God. Jonas. Please.”
He slapped her left butt cheek and then her right.
She went still.
His next two smacks were harder yet.
Then Ruby gave him the sign he’d sought; she slid her knees out wider.
The sound of his hand connecting with her flesh echoed back to him, spurring him not to hold back like when they were in her bedroom. He spanked her until every inch of her milk-pale cheeks was cherry red.
And hot. He trailed his fingers over her reddened skin, and she flinched from the contact of his stubbled cheeks scraping the sensitive spots.
There had been a time when he might’ve worried that he’d gone too far. But the insides of her thighs were wet from her arousal. She loved this.
She’d taught him how to toe that line between pleasure and pain. And he’d been a damn attentive student.
When Jonas snugged his groin against her heated backside, grinding the hair surrounding his cock against her abraded flesh as he stretched his body over hers, she let out the sexiest sound he’d ever heard. “Your ass looks so pretty marked up by my hands,” he panted in her ear.
“Please.”
“Obedient and needy is a good look on you, darlin’.” He breathed in the warm floral scent of her hair and exhaled against the damp curve of her shoulder. “Ready for your reward?”
Ruby made another wordless noise and tightened her leg muscles to try and keep them from shaking because she anticipated what came next.
He dug his fingers into her burning ass cheeks and spread her wide, lowering his head and spearing that rosette with his tongue. Lapping and licking and toying with that tight ring, jamming his tongue inside, then sliding down to treat her pussy to the same slavish devotion.
Jesus. He fucking loved this. Loved that she gave herself over to him with such trust. Loved she’d taught him all the wicked little raunchy sex tricks that turned her mindless with need.
When she started rocking her hips, he sensed she was close to detonating. He gave that dark, dirty, delicious part of her one last lick and layered his body across hers.
Except this time he grabbed a handful of her hair, forcing her head up.
“Scream for me,” he growled as he slammed into her to the hilt.
Ruby screamed.
He rode her with ferocity until she started to come.
Her cunt clamped down on his cock with such force he had to slow his thrusts. He’d never felt her spasms this deeply before. He rode the waves out with her, his pelvis keeping time with those pulses. When her interior muscles relaxed, he kicked up the pace. His greedy eyes taking everything in, the long lines of her body, the tangled mass of her hair, the rapid rise and fall of her shoulders.
His ass cheeks clenched with each wet slide out of her body. His hips thudded into her reddened backside with each hard thrust in. His breathing labored. Sweat coating his skin. Naked in body and soul.
Jonas had never felt more alive.
A tingling started in his tailbone and quickly rolled through him when his cock released his seed. The intense pleasure had his toes curling and his jaw tightening against roaring out like a beast.
When the blood stopped pounding in his ears and his focus returned, he pulled out and laid down beside her, wrapping her in his arms.
After they’d caught their breath, Ruby laughed softly.
“What?”
“You actually made me scream, Deputy. Another first.”
He kissed the back of her head. “I aim to please.”
“Mmm.” She squirmed away and rolled over to face him. “What now? We round up the horses and head back?”
“No.”
“But—”
“I fed you and fucked you and you think we’re done?” he said tightly. “Wrong. I wanna spend the day with you, Ruby. The whole day.” He swept her hair over her shoulder. “As much as I love makin’ you scream, there’s more we can do together than fuck.”
“Like?”
“Talkin’, dancin’, nappin’.”
She blinked at him. “Naked dancing.”
“Sure. Or we could put our clothes back on and dance barefoot in the grass.”
“You are a romantic, Jonas McKay.”
He put his mouth by her ear. “Shh. Don’t tell no one.”
“Your secret is safe with me.”
“Or we could also go swimming,” he offered.
“Where?”
“There’s a bend in the stream up a ways. It’s ain’t a lake, but it’s deep enough to sit in and cool off.” He cocked his head. “Ever been nekkid in a stream?”
“By myself? Yes. I lived in a mining camp in South Dakota, remember? How else was I supposed to get clean?”
Jonas leaned over and rubbed his lips across the dew gathered on her chest. “I could lick you clean.”
“Tempting as that is…I am sticky. I wouldn’t mind cooling off the sting in my ass.”
“Complaining about that, darlin’?”
“Never. It was…” Her eyes glazed over. “You give me what I need Jonas, without me having to ask.”
“I know. And you do the same for me. Let’s go.” He popped to his feet and held out his hand. “You wanna walk? Or you want me to carry you?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Is this where you call me a tenderfoot?”
He laughed. “I’m a damn tenderfoot. I figured I’d slip my boots on for the walk to the creek and kick them off once we got there.”
“In that case, I want you to carry me.” She sent him a mischievous look. “Piggyback.”
He crouched down, waggling his ass in her face. “Mount up, sweetheart.”
Ruby bit him on the butt hard enough that he’d be wearing her teeth marks for a few days before she launched herself onto his back with a whoop of joy.
It felt good to laugh with her. And splash around with her like they were a couple of kids.
It really felt good to sit on a flat, sun-warmed rock and just hold her as the breeze dried their river-cooled skin.
They returned to their picnic spot and shared the bottle of cider, which left them both drowsy. Once again, they curled up together and drifted off.
Upon awakening, Jonas made love to her slowly. Face to face. Eye to eye. Heart to heart.
Her deeply contented sigh and whispered, “I love it like this with you,” meant as much to him as her scream borne of passion.
After dressing, they ambled hand in hand through the meadow, taking the long way to retrieve the horses.
The sun had dropped behind the hills when they reached their parting point.
Neither one of them wanted to be the first to go.
Keeping her eyes on his, Ruby lifted the heart charm to her lips and kissed it. Then she spurred her horse away, leaving Jonas staring after her like a lovesick fool.
But he had no regrets. It’d been the best day of his life.
Chapter Sixteen
Silas did not want to attend the Sundance Fourth of July rodeo, let alone compete in it.
He would’ve preferred to spend the day at the ranch with Dinah. For the past several weeks she’d been staying with him one night ea
ch weekend and riding out one day a week to learn his routine. Seeing her three days out of seven—if he was lucky—had him questioning why he’d agreed to a longer engagement.
“Hurry up.”
He sent Jonas a dark look as he changed into something better than that dirty rag you call a shirt. Jesus, Joseph and Mary, his brother fussed over his appearance more than Dinah did.
“Stop glarin’ at me,” Jonas said. “Everyone in the county will be there today, which means you ain’t gonna embarrass your betrothed by showing up lookin’ like you just spent months on a dusty cattle drive.”
“Don’t make sense, Jonas, to get fancied up when we’re competing in bronc bustin’, team ropin’ and rope’n ride. I’ll be covered in dirt and shit anyway, except now I’ll be covered in dirt and shit wearin’ my best damn shirt.”
“Maybe the next time you’re in Robinette’s you oughta buy a couple of new shirts for yourself instead of another gift for Dinah.” Jonas’s gaze moved to the shelving alongside the cookstove that held the tea set, and the three new pans that dangled on hooks above the cookstove.
Good thing his snoopy brother didn’t know that Silas had also given Dinah a bottle of lilac perfume and the cameo choker that Henrikson paid him with last week instead of cash. “Says the man who spends all of his money to look dandy for the ladies that I ain’t never seen him with.”
“Bugger off. I don’t dress nice for the ladies. I dress nice because I’m a public figure.”
Silas snorted.
“Speaking of gifts, why in the devil haven’t you given Dinah that ring we had to make the special trip to Gillette for? You know that folks will be talkin’ about why she still ain’t wearin’ one.”
“I intend to make it special when I put it on her finger. Been so busy I haven’t come up with anything—”
“Romantic,” Jonas said and made kissing noises.
“At least I got a romantic side.”
Jonas’s eyebrow winged up. “Brother, the last person I’d show my romantic side to is you.” He walked over and tossed one of his new shirts on Silas’s bed. “Wear this.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s completely different from the one I’m wearin’.” The shirt Jonas had already buttoned up was navy blue, striped with light gray and red. “Don’t want anyone mistaking me for you and vice versa.”
“They wouldn’t anyway since you’ll be wearin’ your badge,” Silas shot back. But he did put on the shirt. It was nice. Simple. The pale blue color reminded him of Dinah’s eyes. The button-up, cotton fabric wasn’t too heavy for July or too flimsy that it’d bust out at the seams when he moved. “Thanks for the shirt.”
“You’re welcome. You can keep it.”
“Aww…see? There’s your romantic side.”
Jonas slipped on the leather vest Silas had given him for Christmas. The vest that matched the one Silas intended to wear, with the McKay cattle brand seared in the back.
His brother had made it clear he’d be willing to help out on the ranch whenever needed, but he wouldn’t hand in his badge to do so fulltime, so it touched Silas that Jonas was willing to wear the family brand in public.
“Hurry up, slowpoke.” Jonas pinned his badge onto the vest and headed for the door.
“Whoa. Didn’t you forget something?” Silas pointed to Jonas’s gun belt.
“No need for that today since I’m cowboyed up for the ranch rodeo.”
As if Silas needed the reminder.
Silas had never seen so many people in Sundance. Made him want to turn around and spur his horse for home.
But Jonas had an agenda, which didn’t even allow for them to stop so Silas could have a word with Dinah. They headed directly to the racetrack north of town where the horse races and ranch contests were being held. Horses and buggies lined the area with still more people.
“Christ. I didn’t know there were this many people livin’ in the entire state of Wyomin’,” Silas groused.
“This is a big event. People are here from Beulah, Hulett and Labelle. Guess the Spearfish baseball team is playing against Sundance this afternoon.”
“Are you goin’ to that?”
Jonas shrugged. “We’ll see. There’s other activities happening in town that might be more interesting.”
“Anything is more interestin’ than baseball,” Silas shot back. He’d given in to Henrikson’s request to do something “civilized” earlier in the week and accompanied the man to the Zane Hotel for lunch, and they’d attended a baseball game afterward. The kinda men who had time to take off from work during the day to play games obviously weren’t ranchers. While he understood Henrikson’s loneliness, Silas would’ve preferred spending time with Dinah rather than folks who had too much time to waste.
“Agreed.” Jonas pointed. “That’s where we’re supposed to be. The first round of horse racin’ has finished.”
Someone had created makeshift pens on one end of the dirt track. One pen held horses, most of which were bucking their displeasure, one held calves, and one farther away from the livestock pens held…sheep.
Jonas and Silas rode side by side until they reached two poles jammed in the ground with wire strung between them. A man Silas didn’t know waved at them enthusiastically.
“The McKay boys! We’re excited you’re participating in the ranchers competition this year.”
“We appreciate you thinkin’ of us,” Jonas said smoothly. “Allen, I don’t believe you’ve met my brother Silas. Silas, Allen here runs the Sawtooth Mine. But today, he’s head of the community games.”
Silas leaned over and offered his hand. “Pleasure to meet you, Allen.”
“Same here. We think the world of your brother.”
Doesn’t everyone.
“We’ve got you both signed up for the bronc bustin’ event, the team ropin’ event, the ride’n rope event, the horse skills event and the ropin’ challenge. Since contests like these ain’t nothin’ new to boys such as yourselves, ain’t no need to explain the rules, right?”
Jonas said “No” the same time Silas said, “What’re the sheep for?”
“Sheep ranchers have a separate competition. Course, there ain’t as many participants in that class. Shame, really, since the prize money is the same amount as for the other ranch contests.”
That caught his interest. “You don’t say. Can any man enter the sheep competitions?”
“Well, sure, I guess. The events don’t run concurrently. But most men stick to one or the other competition, not both.”
Silas grinned at him. “Well I ain’t most men, Allen, so sign me up.”
“No foolin’?”
“It’s all about givin’ the people a good show, ain’t it? I can’t think of nothin’ funnier than a cattle rancher tryin’ to wrangle sheep.”
Allen laughed. “You’ve got a point.” Then he looked at Jonas. “Sign you up too, Deputy?”
Before Jonas could say hell no, Silas answered, “Oh, we McKay boys do everything together. Of course the deputy that everyone thinks the world of is eager to participate for the good of the community he serves.”
Jonas said, “Jesus Christ,” under his breath.
“That is simply great. I’ll let ’em know. Now the first cattleman’s event is the horse handlin’ skills.” He pointed. “Other fellas are already down in the cattleman’s class since we’re about to get underway.”
Silas tipped his hat and reined his horse that direction.
Jonas trotted alongside him. “What in the hell is wrong with you? We don’t got any business fuckin’ around with the sheep ranchers.”
“Yes we do. Did you see who’s over there all cowboyed up? In the cattleman’s section.” He paused. “The West brothers.”
“Goddammit, Silas, then we really don’t need to tangle with them in the sheep class too.”
“Wrong. We’re gonna show them up in both classes.”
“What is wrong is this vendetta you and Zeke have goin’.”
“It’s in the past. I promised Dinah no more fightin’ with Zeke. Ever.” He smirked. “But she didn’t say a damn thing that I couldn’t compete with him on my turf.”
“Turf.” Jonas snorted. “Happy as I am that Dinah forced you into walkin’ away from that fucked-up feud you and West had goin’, what was it even about? I’d put my money on you giving up because you’d get tired of him kickin’ your ass.”
Silas had held this in for far too long. He’d told Dinah a portion of the issue between him and Zeke, but not all of it. Getting this off his chest would truly close this ugly chapter in his life. Fuming, Silas pulled his horse to a stop. “I’ll tell you what it’s about. Zeke ended up bein’ my boss at the railroad. He humiliated me every chance he could get. I took every bit of nastiness because I needed the railroad money to stabilize my ranch. During forced social time with him, I had to let him win when we played cards or else he’d punish me when we were at work. I put up with it for a damn year. Until one night we were at a saloon outside of Rockypoint. He’d been drinkin’ and made a comment to me about how I’d stolen his life—made no sense then, or now. He said now that he knew where I intended on puttin’ down roots, he’d do everything in his power to dig up those roots one at a time and kick the dirt in my face. He threatened to burn down my cabin. Rip apart my fences. Poison my cattle. Those things? I could laugh off to some degree.” His jaw tightened. “But when he said it’d be a shame if my law-abiding twin ended up on the wrong end of an ambush or a gunfight, I lost my head. I beat him near to death, Jonas.”
All the blood drained from Jonas’s face. “Christ, Silas. Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
“Because I was protecting you. West wound up in the hospital. I went to see him and he said if I ever laid a hand on him again or fought back when he tried to settle our blood debt…he’d kill you, not me.” Silas looked over to where the West brothers stood apart from the cattle ranchers. “So I never fought back. Not once. Even that hasn’t held him in check. He paid Dinah a visit when she was alone. He bought that section of land by mine with every intention of buildin’ a house there. No matter what I do—or don’t do—he’s gonna keep fuckin’ with me. I promised Dinah no more fightin’ with him. I intend to keep that promise. But this competition will drive home the point that I ain’t afraid of him.”
Silver-Tongued Devil Page 20