Gentling the Cowboy (9 page)

Feeling a bit like a fish gasping for air, Sarah opened and closed her mouth a few times as she sought the words to express this overwhelming rush of sensation. He smiled briefly down at her and claimed her lips in a kiss that erased the desire to speak. He trailed hot kisses across her jaw, down her neck, and back to the sensitive skin behind her ear. He murmured against her cheek, “My little blonde angel, don’t worry, you’ll figure it out. I’ll even show you what you could be doing with those shy hands of yours.”

Realizing they were still buried in her pockets, Sarah felt instantly self-conscious and went rigid with embarrassment.
I have to be the least sexy . . .

He set her back a step, but held her as she swayed a bit and shook her head. “If you want to go, I’ll help you find a room in town. Your horse can remain here until you’re ready. But if you stay tonight, you won’t sleep in the guest room.” A slow sexy smile stretched his lips. “You likely won’t sleep at all.” His hand slipped beneath her hair and cupped the back of her head, tipping it ever so slightly upward, offering her kiss-swollen mouth to him again. “Your choice.”

A faint voice of reason attempted to be heard.
He could be dangerous. He showed no remorse about reading my private writings. What else would he do without remorse?

I should leave.

And spend the rest of my life wondering what it would have been like?

She looked into those guarded cowboy eyes and weighed common sense against temptation.

Say yes.

He’d never been a man who needed to ask, but he feared he might beg if she refused his offer. Nature had been kind to him in some ways. Female companionship had always been readily available to him. At the height of his career he’d made the “World’s Sexiest” lists in gossip magazines and had enjoyed the benefits of that title for a time. So many women, their names and faces blurred and faded in the years since.

When that life had come to a crashing halt, there had still been offers, but none of them had ever shaken him the way Sarah did with one look. He’d meant every word he’d said to her.

I want her.

Now.

I want to push her to her knees and feel those soft lips on my cock. Right here. Right now. That hot little tongue needs to circle me, inviting me to fuck her mouth. And I will. I’ll bury my hands in her long blonde curls and hold her head there while I go deeper and deeper. I’ll show her just how to suck while I thrust and she’ll open her mouth wider for me. When I come, I want to feel her eagerly swallowing as she cups my balls, begging for more.

I want to lift her up, taste myself on her lips and fuck her mouth with my tongue while my hands rip away that pretty little blouse and those jeans that are molded to every sweet curve. I want to sink my fingers into her—into that tight little angel pussy. I’ll show her what her clit was made for and love her wetness on my hand. I’ll take those tits in my mouth and tease them until all she can do is cry for more. When she’s begging for it, I’ll lay her down and taste that honey. Because that’s how she’d be—sweet and fresh on my tongue. I won’t stop licking and sucking until she comes in my mouth.

Again and again.

Then I’ll raise myself up, sink just my tip into her, feel those wet lower lips welcome me as her mouth had . . .

It was then he realized she was talking, had been for some time. He shifted uncomfortably and attempted to focus on what she was saying.

“Do you know what I mean?” she asked impatiently.

He shook his head and smiled.
Not one damn bit.
Then he waited. One thing he knew about women was if they made a point they thought needed saying, they’d say it again.

She put both hands on those adorable hips, hips his lips were itching to kiss. “This isn’t funny.”

“No, ma’am,” he said with mock solemnness.

“You can’t proposition me and then just stand there smiling like it’s a joke.”

“Do I look like I’m joking?” he asked. The heat of her gaze dropped to his bulging jeans, making his boner jerk and strain for freedom. “I’ll admit I’m finding it hard to concentrate on anything but getting you up to my room and showing you just how serious I am.”

“Oh,” she said and was silent for a blissful moment before she continued, “I was going over the pros and cons involved . . .” Her words trailed off as her eyes riveted to the front of his jeans.

He pulled her against him again, closing his eyes for a second as a wave of pleasure swept through him. “Give yourself to me, Sarah, just for one day. Let me show you how good it can be.” He brushed his lips softly over hers.

When she hesitated, he gave in to a desire he couldn’t contain and lost himself in kissing her. He couldn’t get enough. He reached down, lifted her up and settled her legs around his waist, turning so her back rested against one side of the round pen as his hands ran over every inch of her.

A glimmer of sanity stopped him before he tore off her clothes.
Not here. Not like this.

He eased her back to the ground and rested his forehead against hers as they shared a shaky breath.

Take your time.

Savor this.

Because nothing good lasts.

She took his face in both of her hands and searched his eyes for a long moment. A shy smile lit her face. “Okay.”

He buried a shaking hand in her hair and lay her head on his chest, not caring that she could likely hear the wild beating of his heart.

She said yes.

Over her head he saw David leaning against the side of the barn watching them. With a circular motion of one hand, his manager directed Tony’s attention to the area around him. In every doorway and every open space, there seemed to be a slack-jawed ranch hand doing just what David was: watching them.

I’ll fucking kill them.

As if his thought had boomed through the ranch, there was an instant flurry of action as all but David rushed back to their work. David shrugged and with a flip of his thumb suggested Tony move the action somewhere more private.

He’s right.

This is not the place for what I want to do.
But he knew of a nice, secluded area nearby. “Would you like to saddle up and go for a ride?”

Eyes wide, Sarah asked, “What do you mean?”

What else could he mean? “Get your horse and let’s go somewhere private.”

“Now?”

He smiled. “Do you have better plans?” It was hard to look down into those trusting eyes of hers and not feel a bit guilty. By his standards, she was still an innocent. Whatever life Sarah had lived up in Rhode Island, it hadn’t taught her to protect herself. A better man would walk away and let her learn about her sexuality with someone who intended to marry her.

He leaned down and kissed her lips hungrily.

Luckily, I gave up on being a good man a long time ago.

Sitting deep in his saddle, Tony adjusted his hat to shade his eyes and began to question the wisdom of his idea. The palomino beneath him had been chosen at random. All the gentled horses were pretty much the same to him. They went through the same program, and he had high expectations for their behavior and responsiveness.

Sarah was not sitting as calmly. Her horse was excited and refusing to stand still for her. She circled him. He tossed his head and danced sideways in the other direction. Snort. Stomp. She circled him again.

“You sure you want to ride him without a bit?” Tony inquired calmly.

“I don’t like bits,” she replied and circled him again. “Once we get going, he’ll be fine. He’s just excited to be somewhere new.”

Tony held his tongue. He wasn’t interested in giving her riding lessons, at least not this kind. He asked his horse to move off and Sarah came up to ride at his side, then passed him. She pulled back on the reins a bit and her horse tossed his head in protest. Those little hooves flew beneath him even though his forward speed did not increase.

She leaned forward and whispered something to the horse, who instantly dropped down to a walk so the horses were side by side. She looked up, caught Tony watching her, and the most beautiful blush spread across her cheeks. “I told him that if he doesn’t settle down, I am going to get his bit out of my trailer. Sometimes all I have to do is say it.”

“You think he understands that?”

“It worked, didn’t it?” She patted the Paso Fino’s neck. “We understand each other. He likes to stomp around and pretend he’s a tough guy, but underneath all that he’s a marshmallow and he loves me. We don’t need a bit.” A hint of his opinion must have shown in his expression because she pursed her lips angrily and said, “You don’t agree?”

He explained rather than defended his opinion. “You’re attributing human emotions to an animal.”

“You don’t think a horse can love someone?” she challenged with a toss of her head.

Her question knocked on a door he’d slammed shut and wasn’t about to reopen now. Instead, he fell back on his father’s wisdom. “They’ll bond with anyone who cares for them, but don’t fool yourself into thinking you couldn’t be easily replaced by anyone else with hay and a brush.”

Those large brown eyes studied him for a few quiet moments. When she spoke, her tone was surprisingly kind. “You’re wrong, and I feel sorry for you. There are many things I don’t know, but I do know my horse. And I think it’s sad that you train so many and you don’t know yours.”

“Believe that if it makes you feel better,” he said, stung by the criticism and, worse, the pity. An instant later he regretted not holding his tongue. He hadn’t invited her out here to argue over ridiculous topics.

Horses were animals.

Plain and simple.

Like most men they were driven by two basic needs: food and sex. Women needed to believe that both species were more complicated than that, but that didn’t change the facts.

She turned away from him and they rode in silence along the fence and onto a dirt road that led to one of his open pastures. The land sloped a bit, allowing a view of a huge open space that ended in a lightly wooded area. With a flash of a smile, Sarah said, “I’ll race you to the tree line.” and off she went in a flat-out gallop, her hair coming loose and flying in the wind behind her as she leaned forward and urged her horse on.

It took Tony only a second or two to follow suit. He flicked his reins back, cracking his gelding on the rump, and they were off after her. He had the advantage of riding a larger horse with a longer stride, but she had covered quite a distance during his short period of indecision. He kicked in his heels and felt a rush of adrenaline. Unused to leather snapping on his flank or the surge of energy from the man riding him, his horse gave an excited buck before lowering his head and giving chase.

A sense of freedom washed through him as he and his horse flew across the open field. He vaguely remembered a time, long ago, when he’d ridden for the sheer pleasure of it. Back then it hadn’t been about working them or training them. It had been simply this. This exhilaration.

When did I stop feeling this—feeling anything?

They were closing the distance and would have overtaken Sarah when she came to a sudden stop at the first tree.

“I win,” she proclaimed with a huge grin, circling her Paso Fino in triumph like she’d just won the Nationals.

Adrenaline still pumping, Tony brought his horse to a sliding halt beside them. He hopped down, letting the reins drop with the confidence of a man who had trained all of his horses to ground tie. He reached up and, without a word, lifted Sarah out of her saddle and slid her down the front of him, holding her against him, stopping only when her toes reached the top of his boots. She tilted her head to look at him.

He bent his head to taste her sweet lips. She wrapped her arms around his neck and met him halfway. He led and she followed, opening her lips eagerly for him. She was every bit as hot and sweet as he remembered, so he took instead of asked.

He couldn’t get enough of her. He ran his hands over every part he could reach and his mouth explored all of her bare skin until he needed more of her—all of her.

He reached down and unsnapped her jeans, continuing his sensual assault as he did.

She arched against him, momentarily pressing his hands between them as he slid her zipper down. When he began to ease them over her hips, she froze.

“Trust me,” he whispered and began to kiss her neck as he undressed her. He hooked his thumbs beneath the elastic of her cotton panties so he could remove them at the same time as her jeans. With a shift of his weight, he held her to him even as he pulled the jeans the rest of the way off, easing her sneakers off at the same time. Her blouse hung just to the curve of her ass.
That delicious ass.
He ran a hand over the soft bareness of it and pressed her wet pussy against the front of his straining jeans. Her head fell back in abandon, exposing more of her neck to his attentive mouth.

Nature offered him a delightful option. The tree just behind them had two low thick branches just the right height for what he had in mind. He carried her to it and lifted her onto the lower branch. “Open your legs for me,” he commanded softly and threw his hat to the ground behind him.

She sat there at first, her legs still together, on a branch about the height of his shoulder. She held on to the branch just above her head and looked down at him nervously. “I’ve never . . .”

He eased her legs apart, positioning her calves over his shoulders and savoring the view for a moment. She was perfection—wet, quivering perfection—and he couldn’t wait to sink his tongue into her. “Then let me show you.”

He waited until she nodded slightly and closed her eyes, then gave in and held her ass in place with both hands while he parted her lower lips with his tongue. She shook at his first intimate lap and he felt a resounding echo of pleasure course through him.

This was not a task to rush.