Kansas Nights [Kansas Heat 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (2 page)

Back then Marion had been excited about moving into a house with air-conditioning and a bathroom with real tile in it. Money changed life, so did privilege. She’d known that even at eighteen. What Marion hadn’t realized was that it didn’t necessarily make life better. Of course it didn’t make it worse, either.

As bored as she was with her life, Marion could at least use her money to afford a few thrills. That’s what Will had been, a way to pretend like she wasn’t a sixty-year-old grandmom. Dennis never treated her like one of those. Now, there was a man who hadn’t changed much over the years.

Just as good looking as ever, Dennis was also as rough and dirty as he’d been as juvenile. Sex with him was always hot and hard and oftentimes degrading. Marion knew it was wrong to like it that way, but she couldn’t deny that she did. That was the real secret.

Even if the world found out about her and Will or the pills and sex they shared, Marion could cope. People finding out what Dennis knew…Marion shuddered, unable to even think of what would happen. The backlash would probably be worse than going to prison.

Risks were supposed to come with the possibilities of rewards, but Marion didn’t have anything to gain this time. She did, though, have everything to lose.

Monday, August 25
^th

“A beer, and another round for the tourist.”

“Not a problem, Kat.” The bartender snatched up the twenty that slid his way and, with a wink at Jack, moved off to fill the order. Jack Daniels didn’t return the big man’s smile or bother to glance in the direction of the woman who had just slid onto the barstool next to him.

“Aren’t you going to say thanks?”

Tired of the female fan club he seemed to attract every time he came into this rinky-dink town and not at all interested in putting up with the forward advances of a woman who referred to all the guards protecting Amanda as “delicious pieces of meat”, Jack still tried to be as polite as he could muster as he set his finished drink down.

“I’m not looking for company tonight, but thanks.”

True to her forward nature, Kathy Coben didn’t take that pointed hint and back off. The woman just laughed, a deep-throated, almost-lusty sound. “Maybe not company, but how about a little gossip? Isn’t that something you’re looking for, Mr. Daniels? A little information?”

Jack stiffened at the insinuation in her tone, uncertain if Kathy was playing a game or honestly knew something she shouldn’t. Catching her amused gaze in the speckled wave of the mirror behind the bar, he glared back a silent warning, but it didn’t ease the smirk from her lips.

“I’m not one to listen to idle rumors.”

“Oh.” Straightening up like a prissy blue-hair, Kathy turned her chin up and away from him. “Shame. I guess I’ll go tell Larry, from
The Holler
, what I learned about Will McKinney.”

She paused, letting that sink in. It did. The very thought of her talking with a newspaper reporter filled Jack’s gut with a dread that had his whole body tensing. It didn’t matter what she knew or didn’t, Kathy Coben knew how to cause trouble. That was the last thing Jack needed more of.

“Larry always likes a little gossip for his column.” Kathy fluffed her hair and glanced around the bar. “Oh, and look. He’s here tonight.”

Blackmail hadn’t been listed as one of Kathy Coben’s crimes, but it fit the rest of the list. Jack didn’t tend to take kindly to criminals, much less ones who were trying to shake him down. Turning slowly on his stool, Jack had the perfect set down to send the irritating woman away, only the words disappeared on him the moment his eyes locked on her.

“Damn.”

“Damn?” Kathy cocked her head as confusion tightened her features. “Damn what, Mr. Daniels?”

Lord, but she was cute—almost fucking adorable with those rosy cheeks and twinkling brown eyes. Then there were those lips, full and arched and beckoning all sorts of dirty deeds. She looked just like the plain, boring picture he’d seen in her file, but flushed and animated with life, the woman before him could have stopped traffic in her little yellow sundress.

“You’re getting damn close to annoying me.”

That was the blunt truth. He’d been without a woman for the last four months. It didn’t matter that every time he came into town Jack had women volunteering left and right to ease his itches. With his investigation at a dead end and Amanda Johnson’s life in constant jeopardy, he couldn’t afford the time or waste the attention it took to even get involved in a one-night fling.

Not that he’d exactly been disappointed, given Humble’s meager offerings when it came to a nicely turned leg or a well-stacked rack. Kathy had more than that to offer. The little woman knew how to breathe deep enough to keep any man distracted by the sight of her breasts heaving against the thin cotton of her dress. As if that didn’t make a man’s cock swell, she’d even perfected a soft, sexy tone that had his balls sweating with the sudden need to be sucked.

“Well then maybe I’ll take my interests elsewhere.”

Slipping off her stool, Kathy left Jack glowering at her ass as it sashayed its way across the room toward where Larry sat in the back. Scrawny and kind of geeky, Larry Harold was Humble’s one and only reporter. He wrote for The Holler, which he also owned and printed and delivered. It only came out once a week, on Sunday’s with coupons.

While Larry didn’t represent much of a threat, Jack still couldn’t risk the chance that Kathy might actually know something. Not that Jack suspected Kathy knew anything more than the way to her bedroom, but as a good friend of Amanda Johnson’s, she theoretically could know something valuable.

If not, then he could at least console himself by making Kathy scream, and beg. Some part of Jack really wanted to hear her beg. Then he’d fuck the crap out of her. He’d make that ass bounce so hard for so long she’d be wobbling around for days.

Jack saluted that vow and downed the rest of his scotch. Smacking the glass back on the counter, he shoved back his stool and went after the bright splash of yellow now snuggled into the side of some weenie. He’d punish her for that later right along with making him chase after her and threatening him with another man.

Hell, he might punish her right here and now if she didn’t stop rubbing those tits against Larry’s arms. Jack might like to share, but only on his terms. Kathy had to see him coming, which meant that smile she beamed so adoringly up at the blushing Larry could only be for Jack’s benefit. Like he’d ever be jealous of a toothpick. He could snap the fucker in two without working up a sweat.

It certainly didn’t take any effort to yank Kathy back to her feet. Coming up to side of the table, he latched onto her soft arm and pulled her right off her lush ass. Without so much as bothering to explain himself, he turned and started marching away with her in tow. Stubborn woman that she was, though, Kathy held on to the edge of the table, refusing to let him drag her off.

Jack could have forced the issue, but then he’d probably have to have a moment with the ranch hands casting narrowed glances in their direction. He knew they weren’t fans of his any more than the woman grunting as she clung to the edge of the booth.

“Was there something you wanted, Mr. Daniels?” Kathy managed to grind those words out as she tensed against his strength.

“Yeah, a word.” He wouldn’t give her the dignity of calling her Miss anything. He’d read her file, her thick, didn’t-belong-to-any-proper-law-abiding-female file.

“Well, I believe you just had one.” Kathy forced a smile as her knuckles went white under the strain. While she clearly did not intend to let go, the table itself gave and slowly, bit by bit, started grinding across the floor.

“Now I want another.”

Jack eased up his hold for a second before jerking hard and causing Kathy to come stumbling into his side. Before the little woman could try and escape him again, he settled an arm over her shoulders and bound her to him.

“Besides”—he shot a warning glare at the man still sitting in the booth, looking unsure of what to do—“Larry doesn’t mind. Do you?”

“I…no…it’s…”

“Save it, Larry,” Kathy cut across his stammers, showing her true colors with her sharp tone. “He’s just being obnoxious because he thinks all those muscles give him the right to boss the rest of us around. Don’t worry. I’ll catch up with you later.”

Now there was the woman who’d told Amanda the next time she came out to the ranch, she’d bring a rope and round up a few thick heads. Jack had Kathy on tape telling her friend she wanted at least three good studs so she could glow as bright as Amanda. She probably thought that had been a private conversation. It hadn’t been.

“You know, Mr. Daniels, your pick-up technique needs some work.” Not bothering to struggle as he escorted her back toward the bar, Kathy still managed to preen with the kind of irritated arrogance that made sure Jack knew she thought she was better than him in that moment. “I guess you can’t be blamed, though, as good looking as you are. I’m sure no woman ever bothered to teach you any manners.”

“And trust me, honey, you ain’t going to. Now sit.” Jack pulled out a stool and waited.

The beginnings of a smile tugged at the corners of Kathy’s lips, as she glanced from him to the seat. Her hesitation left him feeling strangely awkward and Jack could feel his ears flare with a blush, an occurrence that hadn’t happened in over twenty years.

The amusement shining in her gaze didn’t ease his embarrassment, but only added to it. Even as Jack felt his cheeks bloom with heat, Kathy stepped in close to bathe him in her sweet, alluring scent. The tantalizing perfume matched the husky dip her tone took. “I wouldn’t dream of trying to teach you anything, Mr. Daniels,” Kathy assured him, pouting her lips with enough of an invitation to have Jack growling as he fought back the urge to give in to temptation and dip his head...or maybe she could dip hers. Jack’s fingers curled into a fist, aching to twine through Kathy’s silky tresses and force her down onto her knees. Then—

“I wouldn’t waste my time, though.” Heaving a deep, dramatic sigh, Kathy stepped back to cast him a clearly forced frown. “I suggest you not bother wasting yours because trust me,
honey
, I’m even harder to tame than you.”

Jack couldn’t remember one time that a woman had had the audacity to walk away from him. That didn’t stop Kathy from doing it twice in less than ten minutes. He didn’t know how it was he got stuck chasing after her
again
.

Catching up with her by the exit, he managed to slap the door closed before she even got it halfway open. Leaving his arm resting on the metal surface, he caged her in with his body, making sure she stayed put this time.

“I thought you had something you wanted to tell me about Will McKinney.”

“Maybe I changed my mind.” Kathy smiled politely, batting her eyes dramatically as she cast him a coy look over her shoulder. “Or maybe I just realized you weren’t the man I thought you were.”

There it was again, the subtle accusation Jack couldn’t leave alone. “And what kind of man was that?”

“One that wanted to get the hell out of this town,” Kathy answered bluntly, but with a little too much of a smirk to be trusted. “Everybody knows that won’t happen until the money Will stole is found.”

“Everybody knows that?”

“It’s a small town, Mr. Daniels. If somebody knows something, everybody knows it.”

Jack couldn’t help but take that comment as a thinly veiled threat. He responded in kind, his muscles stiffening as his tone deepened into its own warning growl. “I’m starting to get annoyed again, Miss Coben.”

“Did I blink and miss the second when you weren’t?”

Battling the urge to snatch her up and teach her a few manners, Jack took a calming breath and forced his fingers to uncurl from their fists. He’d never lost his control in the field and never lost it with a woman, but damn if Kathy Coben didn’t test his strength. Worse, the woman knew it, too.

“Oh, did I upset the big, bad man?” Kathy cooed in a girly voice clearly meant to challenge his manhood yet again.

“Trust me, darling, you’ll know when I’m upset.”

“And trust me, Mr. Daniels, it wasn’t my intention to arouse your temper.” Kathy matched that breathless whisper with a wicked smile that had Jack going tense in all the wrong kinds of ways. “However, it seems your foul mood is a permanent disposition. What a shame.”

With that dismissal, Kathy reached out and slid her fingertips right up under his shirt, tickling his side in an unexpected move that had Jack rearing back. She took instant advantage to slip out the door and left him looking like an idiot.

Growling as the heat in his ears spread across his cheeks, Jack slammed through the door and stormed after Kathy, who was
click-clacking
her way down the sidewalk on those ridiculous three-inch heels. By the end of the night that’s all she’d be wearing.

Hypnotized by the sway and bounce of her luscious ass, Jack decided then and there he’d definitely strip her down to nothing but those heels and make her strut for him. For a second he completely forgot about catching up to her as his mind played out that fantasy, imagining just how good it would feel to walk right up behind her, bend her over, and pump his aching erection deep into the warm, tight heaven of her ass.

Without thought, his body reacted, and only at the last second did he manage to stop himself from grabbing her from behind. Not yet but soon, he wouldn’t have to hesitate.

Keeping himself in check, Jack went the safe route to bring her to a stop and simply settled his hands down over her shoulders, pressing down with enough force to hold her still. His own feet didn’t hesitate until he’d stepped in close behind her, ensuring she could not only feel the heat but also the full-length hardness of his cock as his hips brushed against hers.

“Let’s get one thing straight, darling, I don’t like being toyed with.” Keeping his tone low and his words hard, Jack leaned down to growl directly in her ear. “Or teased, and I get outright mad when my time is wasted. You got something you want to tell me, then tell me.”