Cocky: A Cowboy Stepbrother Romance (6 page)

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The UTV’s motor idled, purring as Jay took his hand off the wheel, and the other off my knee. My skin felt cold where his touch had been, and I was already mourning the loss of his body heat. He jumped off the UTV, moving around it to grab a particularly large branch from the ground in front of us. I hadn’t even seen it beneath the blanket of thick grass and fallen leaves.

“Good eye.”

Jay snorted out his laughter at my words, the muscles in his back rippling as he hoisted the branch and tossed it to the side of the path.

“What can I say? I’m always watching.”

And it was just like Jay to always be able to make something so innocent sound so dirty. As he climbed back into the driver’s seat, I could feel his eyes sliding over me, taking in every inch of me, from my ponytail to my cutoff shorts to my baggy t-shirt.

Even in those comfortable clothes, Jay was looking at me like I was the most sinful, scrumptious thing he had ever laid eyes on. With a wink, he put his foot back on the gas and we were lurching forward again.

The sun was starting to creep up along the horizon, painting everything in sweeps of brassy gold and pale blue. The temperature was already rising. It felt like it had gone up several degrees just in the time we were stopped to move the branch and didn’t have the breeze from motion to cool our skin.

There was a definite distracting sheen to Jay’s tanned shoulders, making the pinup girl tattooed on his arm shine in the morning light. She was wearing a cowboy hat and boots, and not much else. I could still remember the way Caroline had raised hell when she saw it for the first time.

Jay had just laughed and waved her off, saying, ‘I’m a grown man, and a grown man has needs, Mama.’ Now I knew all about those needs, firsthand.

Back in motion, and we were heading to the thickest parts of the undergrowth. Here was where the trees were entwined so tightly that sunlight had to work to get through, sending shots of bright light down onto the forest floor like spots from a disco ball. If we were to slow down, I knew I would be able to see motes of dust dancing in the sunlight.

We had been riding for a while now, and I was starting to feel the ache building in the backs of my thighs and between my shoulder blades from where I had been holding on tight, muscles rigid to keep me from bouncing and jostling too hard on the ride.

Jay turned to look at me, long and thoughtfully. “You ready to stop and take a break?” It was like he was reading my mind. Rather than try to shout over the sound of the motor, I just nodded. Yes, I was absolutely ready for a break.

Jay pointed out in front of us, and I had to squint for a moment to see what he was pointing at. A break in the trees. I nodded again, and he gunned the motor, whooping as we lurched forward.

The sunlight exploded around us as we broke the tree line, the bumpy ground and thick underbrush giving way to grass that had been mowed down recently, and blue skies as far as the eye could see. It was breathtaking, the difference a couple of feet could make.

Jay let the UTV skid to a halt in the middle of the grass, killing the motor. His hand brushed against my thigh again for a moment, using it as leverage to lift himself up and out of the seat with a dramatic groan. With a whistle, Jay moved to the bed of the UTV and grabbed the big black duffel bag, slinging it over his shoulder.

“Come on, girl. Let’s stretch our legs.”

It seemed like every time we talked, Jay was telling me to ‘come on’. Like he was always trying to boss me around, or coerce me into something. He was lucky he was so cute, that was for damn sure. I unhooked my seat belt and slipped out of the UTV, giving a groan of my own as I laced my fingers over my head and stretched backwards, my spine popping. It was amazing how something so simple could feel so good.

“What do you have planned, anyway? Acting like some kind of evil mastermind or something.” I was teasing, mostly. But my curiosity was starting to get the better of me. Was Jay’s threat back in the kitchen an empty one?

Jay laughed, dropping the bag into the grass. He knelt down next to it, tugging the zipper open in one long pull. I held my breath as he tossed back the flap and I saw…a blanket? Sure enough, it was a fuzzy gray blanket that was kept in the linen closet for when people slept over. It was a big, old blanket that had worn thin in places, but it was comfortable.

He laid it out over the grass, smoothing out the edges. Thankfully, the wind wasn’t blowing too hard and the blanket was able to sit against the ground without the edges being tugged up by the breeze. “Come on, sit. Take a load off.” Jay plopped down onto the blanket, patting the spot next to him.

Another stretch, this one forward so that I could wrap my arms around my knees and feel my lower back lengthen before I moved to the blanket and dropped down next to Jay, sitting cross-legged. I turned my face up to the sky, letting my eyes fall closed as my skin was warmed by the sun. I felt at peace, at ease. Life was good.

“You ever make plans?”

I cracked an eye open as Jay spoke. He was toying with one of the frayed edges of the blanket, rolling it between his fingers.

“Like a ten-year plan. I heard on TV somewhere that if you make a ten-year plan, you’re like seventy percent more likely to achieve your goals than somebody who didn’t write any of it down. It’s supposed to help you visualize it or something.”

Slowly, his gaze rolled up from the blanket across my knees and up along the line of my body with idle lingering, before his eyes met mine. “So do you got a ten-year plan or something?”

I was distracted, briefly, by the idea that Jay had gotten a couple of pieces of information mixed up. I’d heard that writing down goals could help with achieving them, but I hadn’t heard anything about a ten-year plan. Nor had I ever thought that far in advance.

I was the type of person to worry about every little thing. If I thought further ahead than a couple of weeks, I would give myself a panic attack. There were too many variables, too many things that could go wrong. It scared me to think about all the ways I could screw up my life. I gave a little shake of my head. No, I didn’t have a ten-year plan.

“I do.” This felt like it had all been a setup. Jay trying to find a way to work his own plans into the conversation and unsure how to. “I’m going to save up, buy my own farm. Work with poultry or something. Dairy. It don’t matter, so long as it’s mine.”

Setting up a brand-new farm was a huge, expensive endeavor. Getting someone to sell you a farm that was already up and running was almost as hard. Jay was going to have his work cut out for him.

“A whole bunch of land, and maybe a little pond. I could stock it with catfish. Go fishing whenever I wanted. Not have to answer to nobody.”

Jay’s ten-year plan wasn’t all that well thought out, from what I could tell. But I could see the allure of it. The call of freedom. Being your own boss and having no one else to answer to. I moved to lie back against the blanket, hooking my arms behind my head to rest more comfortably. It was easier to talk this way, staring up at the fat, fluffy clouds ambling across the sky.

“A wife? A yard full of dogs?” Those were all things I wanted. A happy life with someone, being in love and sharing that love. I had always been an animal person. Maybe my ten-year plan could include a couple of dogs.

“Naw, man. I don’t need no piece of paper to tell me who I love.” At the corner of my vision, Jay shifted and lay down, our elbows brushing against each other. “You don’t need to get anybody else involved, if you’re committed to somebody. All you got to do is make sure they know how you feel. That they know you’re the only one in the world for them.”

I could feel my heart starting to pound in my chest, and my throat was growing tight. It seemed so obvious, when he said it like that. But I was afraid to look over, afraid to be wrong.

But I did. And what I saw staring back at me was a rugged face gone soft around the edges with affection. Jay rolled over onto his side, tucking a strand of dark hair behind my ear. “You know what I’m saying, girl?”

I couldn’t seem to get my tongue to work. I nodded, cheeks flushing with emotion. All those thoughts, all those feelings I had been trying to escape for so long were rushing back to me. The most perfect guy in the world was looking down at me, telling me just how much I meant to him. It was like a dream come true. It made me want to pinch myself, just to be sure.

Rather than try to find the words, which had never been my strong suit, I let my actions do the talking. I reached up, hooking my arm around the back of Jay’s neck so that I could pull him down close, until our lips were just touching. It was a chaste thing, our kiss, soft and sweet.

I wanted him to know that I felt the same way, that I cared just as much as he did. I loved Jay, and I wanted to be with him, no matter the consequences. It could be us against the world, and I didn’t care so long as we were together.

“I have a ten-year plan now.” My voice was barely a whisper, breathed out against his lips. Jay sighed, and it sounded like
yeah?
“To be with you.”

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There was a shift in his breathing, and Jay’s lips pressed down more intently against mine. The kiss was becoming heavier, and longer. Not wanting to deny him, I let my lips part beneath the pressure and was rewarded with his tongue darting into my mouth, sweeping across the roof and tasting every inch of me and my kiss.

Warmth was starting to grow in the pit of my stomach, and Jay was blowing on those embers, fanning those tiny flames as they grew and became hotter under his insatiable touch.

I moaned, arching up off of the blanket and tightening my hold against the back of his neck. The last thing I wanted was for Jay to pull away, to break this kiss and end this moment. I wanted it to go on forever, the two of us wrapped in a loving embrace beneath a wide-open blue sky, warmed by our desire and the growing heat of the summer sun.

The blanket was soft against my legs, just like Jay’s hand was soft against my side as he palmed his way up to cup my breast. Just like that, my breathing was picking up, pleasure running in stormy waves down my spine.

I wanted him like this, slow and easy and honest out in the middle of nowhere. This didn’t feel anything like our quick tryst in the barn. This was two people making a conscious choice to be together, to give in to their desires and let them run wild.

I hooked my leg against the back of Jay’s denim-clad one, and the next time I arched upwards at his touch, I felt the growing hardness in his jeans as our hips brushed teasingly against each other.

His groan rumbled through my skin, taking up residence in my bones. It was a sound that made me feel wild, and it made me feel free.

But I wanted more. I wanted Jay to want me so badly that he couldn’t stop those sounds. I wanted to make him feel so good that instead of making soft sounds against the hollow of my throat, he was howling at the moon in pleasure. I wanted to wrest the rest of that control away from him and watch him come undone beneath my fingers.

His fingers clutched and squeezed at the soft skin of my breast, this time with the added layer of the bra between us. But it only added more pleasure to it as the smooth fabric rubbed incessantly against my nipple, sending pinpricks of feeling all the way down to my toes.

I grabbed Jay’s hand and he allowed me to tug it away with a brow raised in question. In silent answer, I took his hand and shoved it beneath the hem of my t-shirt. I wanted to feel the heat of his skin against my own.

The rough calluses of his hardworking fingers caught and dragged against my skin, a delicious contrast to how gently he was touching me. Jay smoothed his hand up and down along my side, feathering touches against the swell of my hip and letting his knuckles drag along my ribs.

Now he was the one teasing me. But I couldn’t push my ego to the side enough to beg. I could feel the words building behind my teeth, so I clamped them shut to keep it in place. I wasn’t going to give in, not this easily. Jay was going to have to work for it.

His thumb slid over the padded fabric of my bra, making the touch seem so much less. But it still felt divine, the pressure of the pad of his thumb working teasingly over my nipple. His other hand slipped beneath my shirt as I rolled back onto my back, giving him better access to touch me.

I laid my head back against the woolly blanket, my throat bared as I watched him through heavy-lidded eyes. How had Jay figured me out so quickly? Were my desires so obvious? Or was it just that he knew me so well, that he was learning to play my body like a beloved instrument?

I didn’t care. All I wanted was for him to keep touching me.

Jay nudged my legs apart with a knee, moving so that he was hovering over me. I spread my legs as far as I could, a moan breaking past my lips as he lowered his weight on top of me, the hard line of his erection nestling against the hollow of my hip. I arched as best I could while being pinned beneath his weight, trying to get more friction, more touch, just more of
Jay
.

“You like that?” His voice was a hot puff of air against my ear, and I couldn’t stop my shudder. But I didn’t answer. As loving and as sweet as this was, I knew the game was still on. I had teased Jay to the point of breaking and left him hanging. This was his revenge.

All I could do was hope that if I kept my mouth shut and didn’t give in, maybe he would keep going. Because the last thing in the world I wanted was for him to stop.

His laughter tickled against the crook of my neck, shaking another moan out of me. My neck was my weak spot, and Jay had figured that out very quickly. He started in on the skin at the juncture of my neck and shoulder, working across it with big, wet kisses.

I could feel the teasing brush of the tip of his tongue with each open-mouthed kiss and it was driving me wild. Just when I thought I couldn’t take it anymore, when I could feel the
please
sitting heavy on the tip of my tongue, he sunk his teeth into my shoulder, pleasure and pain twisting into a sinful dance inside of me.

“Oh god!” The exclamation was loud, loud enough to startle some birds from the trees, their flapping wings dotting against the bright blue sky as my eyes snapped open. Jay’s fingers tightened against my breasts, nails a sharp counterpoint as he squeezed hard enough to take my breath away.

I never would have thought of myself as the type of girl to like it rough, but Jay was proving me wrong. Very wrong. I lifted my head up off the blanket, watching him with dark eyes. Jay knew exactly what he was doing to me. I could see it in the smug look written all across his face.

“Take your shirt off.” It wasn’t a request. I groaned at the loss of his hands against my breasts and his lips against my neck, and found myself struggling to sit up, to try and get my shirt off as fast as possible. I wanted him touching me again, as quickly as possible.

In the moment my vision was obscured by the faded black of my t-shirt, Jay moved away from me and over to the UTV. I wondered briefly, deliciously, if he had a camera. Would I recognize the woman on the screen, if he were to record right now? This wanton sex kitten who was begging with her eyes?

But it was no camera that Jay grabbed. It was the coarse bundle of thick rope, which he had wrapped around his hands as he walked back over to the blanket, eyes dark and filled with purpose.

“Sit up on your knees.”

Swallowing around the nervous lump in my throat, I did as Jay commanded. There was something freeing in him giving orders. It felt like it was cutting away all the nervous thoughts and what ifs that seemed to fill my mind most of the time.

“Hands behind your back.”

Obliging, I put my wrists together behind my back. The rope was rough against my skin, scratchy where Jay looped it around, pulling it into a knot that fit snugly against my wrists.

“Try and get out of it.” I could feel my heart pounding so hard that it almost hurt. I gave a delicate tug of my wrists, and was rewarded with a sharp slap on my ass that made me cry out.

“I said, try and get out of it.” Jay’s voice wasn’t much more than a growl. Panting now, I pulled and shook and yanked against my bonds, but they didn’t give an inch. If anything, it felt like they tightened.

“Good girl.”

Jay purred the words against my ear, his big hand reaching down to palm and knead at my ass where he had just slapped it. The skin still stung, but being handled so roughly was going straight to my pussy, making me wetter by the minute. I leaned back against him, letting my head rest against Jay’s shoulder. He reached around, grabbing my breasts through the fabric of my bra.

“Now you’re gonna do everything I say. Everything. And if you don’t…” His hand moved suddenly, slapping down hard against my breast. Pain and pleasure shot through me as I cried out. “You understand me?”

“Yes.” The word slipped from my lips, unbidden. I wanted to please him. I wanted to feel good. Already, I could feel my worries and fears slipping away. The world had narrowed down to this moment, to the sunshine against my bare skin and the smell of the grass in my nose. All that mattered was Jay, and doing exactly as he asked.

In reward for my newfound obedience, Jay tugged down the fabric of my bra, leaving the underwire in place so that my tits sat up nice and perky but were still naked to the summer breeze.

“Good girl. But next time I ask, you better tell me ‘yes sir,’ do you hear me?”

I nodded eagerly, tacking on a breathy ‘yes sir’ just so that he knew I was listening. Jay took my nipples in between his fingers, twisting and rolling them. I let my eyes close and rested my head back against his shoulder. I almost didn’t want to see what he was going to do next. I wanted to be surprised as the pleasure washed over me.

“Now you know I gotta punish you for last night, don’t you?”

I shook my head a little, starting to protest. Jay’s hand came down again, hard against the other breast. Now I had matching red marks spreading across the skin as I mewled, but I kept my mouth shut.

“You don’t ever get off your knees for me, unless I give you permission, you hear me? You got one job in this world, Callie. And that job is to make your man feel good. You gonna make me feel good?”

“Yes sir.”