Dirty Player: A Rough Riders Novel (9 page)

“Yeah.”

That one word made me happier than it should have.

I opened the door to the barn, dropping her hand from mine to unlock the double doors and push them open. As we stepped inside, the unmistakable smell of horseshit and hay and dirt made her crinkle her nose.

But she said nothing. She walked forward, down the row to the last few stalls where the noises from the horses grew louder.

“That’s Winne,” I said as she stepped up to the first mare. If I was honest, she was my favorite horse. I’d bought her when she was two and she had been mishandled and skittish. It took forever to tame her and get her to trust anyone, but the results had been worth the work. 

Now she was kind and gentle, all brown and black. Shannon stepped closer to the door and Winne’s large eyes turned excited as she blinked at the newcomer.

She neigh, pulling her lips back, and Shannon yanked her hand back in surprise.

“It’s okay,” I murmured, speaking quietly to calm Winne. I reached down and took Shannon’s hand in mine and I held both of our palms out toward the horse. “She’ll sense if you’re nervous. Let her sniff you and she’ll let you pet her soon.”

“Okay.” Her voice trembled much like her fingers and I tightened my grip on her hand.

It only took a few seconds for Winne to register my scent and Shannon’s before she dipped her head, took a step closer, and turned her neck.

“There you go,” I whispered to the horse as much as to Shannon. “That’s a good girl.”

I laid my hand on Winne’s neck and held it there while Shannon gently began brushing her hand up and down the horse.

We were silent, the only sound coming from the other horses stepping on their hay, eager for their turn and snacks.

“Keep petting her. I’ll get her treats.”

I needed space. My heart was pumping faster than it should have been. Seeing Shannon in the barn, touching my horses—lovingly—an ache grew deep inside my gut.

Only an hour into a month-long agreement and I was already debating if I should end this as fast as I could. I should have known this would be her reaction. So far, she’d busted through every preconceived notion I had of her. What the fuck did I think was going to happen when I brought her in here?

I grabbed a couple handfuls of apples from the horses’ snack bin and walked back to Winne, holding an apple out to Shannon.

We’d feed them. Then we’d fuck.

And after eating dinner, fuck again.

“She’s so beautiful,” Shannon said when Winne reared back and gobbled the apple out of her hand. Shannon squealed as the horse’s lips grazed her palm.

“Don’t close your fingers—keep them straight out or she’ll eat those too.”

Shannon flashed me wide, disbelieving eyes, and I shrugged, juggling the remaining apples in my hands.

“Did you name her?”

“I did.”

Her lips pressed together. “It’s a pretty sweet name for a horse.”

“She was a rescue.” Why was I bothering to explain? After tonight there was no way in hell I was ever bringing her back to this place. She was already looking too comfortable and we hadn’t yet gone inside.

From now on, I was fucking her at the hotel.

“She hadn’t been taken care of and was hard to train. But since then, she’s been the gentlest horse I’ve ever had. She needed a name to match.”

I looked away when Shannon’s eyes went soft. She was thinking things about me that she shouldn’t.

I broke the moment and walked to Ralph’s stall. He was old, probably wouldn’t live much longer, but I’d had him since I was in high school. He was the first horse that was all mine and the reason I’d bought the damn land to begin with. After living without horses and space for so long, I couldn’t stop missing him.

There was something that was so freeing about getting on a horse at the end of a shitacular day, when every muscle ached to the bone and I’d royally fucked up at a game. Ralph had always understood what I needed.

Now, he was too old to ride too often, but I still made sure he got the exercise he needed. He’d lost the energy and pep he used to have and when I walked up to him, knowing Shannon was following me, he brushed his head against mine.

“Settle down, boy,” I said and handed him an apple. He took it slowly, knowing I’d give him an extra one. He always got two—because he was old and my first and I babied the shit out of him.

God, I had never realized how big of a pussy I became around my horses until I was taking care of them under Shannon’s soft and watchful gaze.

I rubbed him down, whispering words to him that I wouldn’t let her hear before I turned back and saw her walking to the stallion’s stall.

“Don’t get too close. He’s still nervous around new people.”

Hulk was a monster. Eighteen hands tall, all shiny black stallion. Beautiful and graceful and powerful as hell. He gave me the thrill these days that Ralph no longer could.

But he was also an asshole. To prove it, as Shannon stopped three feet back from his stall, he reared onto his hind legs and kicked at the door.

She jumped back, and I wrapped my hand around her back so she didn’t fall. 

“Told you. He can be an asshole.”

“Is that why you like him?” She looked up at me, smiling. “Remind you of someone?”

“Yes.” I didn’t grin, but it was true.

Hulk was the untamable. He’d never fully submit, and because of that I had to be careful with him. Only Lee—the caretaker who helped me with the horses during the season when I was busier and traveling—and I rode him.

My own father wasn’t allowed to ride him anymore.

I clicked my tongue with my teeth and walked toward Hulk. “Come here, boy.”

He shuffled back to the far end of the stall, not taking his eyes off Shannon. 

“It’s okay.”

He shook his head back and forth, disagreeing with me, and I couldn’t help but smile.

“He’s a stubborn prick, too.”

“Again,” Shannon mumbled. “Sounds familiar.”

When I flashed her a mock glare, she arched her brows, raised her shoulders. “I didn’t imply it was you, but if that’s how you took it…”

Her voice trailed off as I held out the apple to Hulk. “I’ve only had this guy a year. He’s still a bit wild.”

“And the one you were hugging?” She pointed her thumb back to Ralph without taking her eyes off me.

With that look, the question, and the fact that I was fucking introducing a woman to my horses, she ripped me wide open.

Bare and naked and vulnerable in the worst way. Something twisted in my gut.

“Ralph’s old. Mine from home and the reason I bought this place.”

“You love him.”

My lip curled at a corner. She was pushing, pressing too hard, without realizing it.

For a moment, my chest heaved from her knowing gaze. Like she’d finally figured out who I really was, deep down, where I hadn’t let anyone in since Serena.

Anger bubbled inside me at my own stupidity.

Raw, dirty fucking. Fulfilling fantasies. Burning out this insanely ridiculous attraction that had invaded me since the moment I saw her.

She was just pussy…hot and sexy pussy, but pussy I’d grow tired of nonetheless.

“I didn’t bring you here to meet my horses,” I finally said. 

I took a step toward her, licked my lips, and peered at her with wicked intent.

I had actually wanted her to meet them. What a fucking mistake that was. I should have just pulled her into my house and taken her to my bed, gotten rid of her like everyone else.

The barn was a fucking mistake I’d rectify.

“You didn’t?” Her breath hitched and her pulse fluttered at the base of her collarbone as I walked closer.

“No.” I put my hand around her waist and pulled her to me. My cock was already straining inside my board shorts, my balls thick and heavy, filled with need for her tight and wet cunt. “I brought you in here to fuck you.”

Chapter SEVEN

SHANNON

I gasped as his other hand hit my waist and he lifted me. On instinct, I gripped his shoulders and tightened my thighs around his hips. “What?”

“You heard me.”

He walked toward the front of the barn, and for a moment I thought he was leaving before he pushed a stall door open and continued walking until my back pressed against rough wood.

I quickly took in the small but clean space. “Oliver.”

My tone was questioning, something he silenced when he looked down at me before glancing at a spot above my head.

His intense expression shifted to something darker. Sexier and wicked.

My thighs trembled with expectation.

“Lift your hands.”

“What?” I tilted my head back to see a heavy, thick hook hanging from the wall.

“I want you to hold on to that hook so I can drop to my knees and lick your pussy I can fucking feel through our clothes until you shatter. Here. Inside this barn.” One of his brows arched. “That enough of an explanation for you?”

It was more than enough. My swimsuit bottoms grew wet as he talked. But I saw something else in his eyes as I pulled my fingers off his shoulders and did what I was told.

It wasn’t satisfaction with my obedience. It was the way he had so quickly closed himself off when I’d asked about the horses. He wasn’t the man I’d thought he was.

He wasn’t the man I’d read about in magazines, all arrogant and cocky and sexy as hell.

Sure, he was, but he was also more than that. For a moment, when he’d whispered to the horses and fed them and talked softly…hell, this whole house he lived in…this was who he really was.

Yet he hid it.

It was none of my business. I knew the agreement we’d made and I was okay with it, but I also knew that as hard as it’d now be for me to not fall for him, it would be equally hard for him to be vulnerable in front of me again.

He’d made that clear with the quick change in direction.

My fingers wrapped around the warm metal until I clung to it. With a hand on my stomach, Oliver pushed me against the wall, holding me steady until he dropped to his knees in front of me.

“Shit. I can smell you already,” he murmured, adjusting my legs so they dropped over his shoulders. With the height of the hook he’d hung me from, I was at the perfect level for him to do what he wanted.

He didn’t remove my clothes or my swimsuit bottoms.

Sliding his fingers over my clothed, hot, and swollen flesh, he pushed the gusset to the side and leaned in.

“Damn it.” I gasped as he licked me. “Shit.”

“Oh.” He pulled back and grinned up at me—that wicked, dirty smile. “If you scream you’ll scare the horses. So be quiet.”

I could barely suck in a breath before he dipped his head. His fingers dug into my hip, holding me steady while his other hand held me open and ready for him.

My entire body shook as soon as he touched me again. Giving me no time to prepare for it, he penetrated me…my pussy, my body. He was everywhere, deep inside me as his tongue worked in evil, soft circles, driving me crazy and burning with need to release as soon as he touched me.

But I’d been like that as soon as we’d arrived. Hell, as soon as we’d finished at Kolby’s I was already wanting him again. This attraction between us was something I’d never experienced. It was unexplainable, unavoidable.

“Oliver,” I mewled as he added fingers to his teasing and touching. It was too much—too much heat and too much friction as the rough wood at my back abraded my skin. 

I squeezed my eyes closed and everything besides the feel of him and the way my body began to tighten and pulse disappeared.

My thighs began to spasm on his shoulders as he held me pressed open. My fingers ached from clinging to the hook.

“Quiet,” he muttered against me. “You’re so fucking delicious. I could eat you all day, but you’re going to come soon, aren’t you?”

His fingers twisted inside me, pulled and pushed, pressed against the perfect spot, and I whimpered. 

“Yes,” I moaned and bit my lip to stop from screaming like he’d warned me. “Yes, I am. Please…”

“So fucking delicious.” He groaned before his mouth opened. And then the teasing was done.

He didn’t just lick and taste me, he
ate
me.

He devoured me, sucking on my clit and nibbling with his teeth. Pulling and feasting on me like he could never get enough.

The onslaught of sensations was too much—his fingers, his mouth, his tongue, and his teeth. The spasms hit my body out of nowhere and powerfully. My body shook from the pleasure, from the surprise of it. My orgasm coiled at my center and shot all the way to my toes and fingertips.

I shouted his name as I convulsed around him. My thighs tried to close around him, but he didn’t stop feasting until he’d pulled every wild shudder and quiver straight through me.

The horses neighed. The sound of one hitting its stall door surprised me and I yelped, pulling back and hitting my head against the wall.