The only noise in the room consisted of their breathing, the soft squelch of his hand covered in lube, and the moist sounds from her fingers fucking her own pussy.
Alex had a feeling Connor had never had an audience while he jacked off, but she found it to be incredibly erotic. She couldn’t keep her eyes off the motion of his hand, up and down, squeezing as it went. It was like her own personal porn movie.
“Does it feel different when I’m inside you if I’m wearing this?”
“I don’t have a cock so I can’t tell you. Why don’t we find out?” She got up on all fours and kissed him hard. “Let’s put on your raincoat so you can fuck me from behind, cowboy.”
Connor grinned, still holding his dick, and rose up on his knees. She resisted the urge to suck him as she slid on the condom. He came up behind her and spread her knees a bit wider. The cool air hit the heat of her pussy and she closed her eyes, tingling with anticipation.
Instead of his dick, though, his tongue swiped her from her clit to her ass. Pleasure zinged through her and she moaned. Obviously this man knew what he was doing and she pushed her head into the pillow to enjoy it.
When he picked up the vibrator and turned it on, she buzzed nearly as much as it did. He slid it inside her, fucking her with the small blue buddy.
“Feel good?” He mimicked her question.
Alex found herself unable to answer as he continued to bathe her with his tongue. Long, slow licks made her tremble with need. With the vibrator sliding in and out, he began to eat her in earnest, his tongue wide and rough on her sensitive skin. Connor nibbled at her clit, the sensation like small fireworks on the hot button.
One finger teased her ass and she clenched hard around the vibrator in her pussy. When his teeth closed around her clit, she bucked against him, holding back an orgasm by strength of will. She wasn’t ready to come yet. He lapped at her, as her juices slid down her legs. His mouth left a trail of tingling pleasure with each lick.
“Come for me, baby.”
She wanted to say no, wanted to tell him she didn’t want to, but then he put his thumb inside her ass. Alex teetered on the edge of ecstasy, her eyes nearly rolling back in her head.
“I promise, you’ll come again.”
That was all she needed to hear, apparently. Her hands crept up to pinch her nipples hard. He increased the pace with the vibrator and sucked her clit hard, making it larger, making it tremble against his tongue. Then his teeth closed around her clit again and her body convulsed with the force of her orgasm. She screamed his name as wave after wave crashed over her. He continued to suck and nibble, prolonging her pleasure until she literally shook from it. The vibrator thumped as it hit the floor and she managed to pull in a breath.
Before she realized he’d stopped eating her, his cock was nudging her entrance and he plunged in. She moaned as her pussy welcomed him into its depths, clenching around him and holding on.
“You are so fucking tight.” His voice was almost guttural, raw with need.
Alex couldn’t have responded if she wanted to. Instead she pushed back against him and he understood her message. He pumped into her in short strokes, teasing her, teasing himself. She wanted him deeper, faster, harder, but he didn’t oblige her. He must be experimenting with the different sensations caused by the cock ring.
He did feel harder, more engorged, within her, or perhaps it was because she was so damn snug around him after his fantastic cunnilingus. His strokes began to pick up and he went deeper. His cock left a trail of heat between her folds, bringing to life the pleasure she had already experienced with his mouth.
Deep, deeper, deepest. Connor used her hips like an anchor, pulling her onto his staff, impaling her, fucking her silly. She forgot her name, almost forgot to breathe, as the sensations built upon one another. Her body was so in tune with his, she knew the moment he felt his orgasm beginning. It was as if a switch went off within her and Alex joined him on the journey.
“I’m gonna come, Alex.” He pulled out for a split second and nearly wept from the loss. She heard the cock ring hit the floor and then he was inside her again. “Now, baby, now,” he chanted as he pumped into her faster and faster.
“Now.”
As if on command, her body was rocked with another earth-shattering orgasm, this one more powerful than the last. Stars danced behind her closed lids as she clenched around his pulsing cock, pulling him deeper yet inside her. Pure, unearthly pleasure echoed inside her again and again until she was shaking so hard, she became a boneless heap, sliding down onto the mattress and bringing Connor with her.
He kissed the nape of her neck and rolled off, then yanked the covers up. As the warmth of the down comforter surrounded her, Alex snuggled up against him and closed her eyes. Alex was certain, in her sleepy state, that she’d found her mate.
CHAPTER EIGHT
C
onfusion drove her from her bed as the sun was just waking up. Her body ached from the mind-blowing sex of the night before. She didn’t even look at Connor as he lay snoring softly in the bed.
Alex hadn’t meant to take things so far, so fast, with Connor. She washed quickly, then pulled on some clothes as her mind continued to whirl with thoughts. She’d put herself in a position where she’d need to decide whether or not to pursue a relationship with him.
Of course, her body cried out with the very idea of not being with Connor anymore. She’d become addicted to him already; like a junkie needing regular doses of a drug, she had to have some. He slept on as she crept outside and headed for the barn.
Perhaps a ride would help her clear her head, get it out from inside her ass. She damn well liked Connor, a lot, and that should be the easy part. The ranch, the legal tangles and her father were these shadowy figures that lurked between them.
Her stomach clenched as the reality of the last words in her father’s will flitted through her memory. The ranch would be a guest ranch in perpetuity, and she had to stay for a year to get her share. Alex didn’t know if she would survive. She couldn’t bear to think of Finley’s being a guest ranch, yet she could hardly remember what it was like before.
Alex shook her head, trying to dislodge all the whirling thoughts from her head. She yanked her hair into a ponytail and didn’t worry about running into anyone. As she pulled down the cap on her head, she kept her eye on the damp path in front of her.
Thankfully the barn was empty and she saddled Rusty quickly. He was a bit sleepy-eyed but perked up when he saw her. After a few scratches behind the ear, she mounted him and took off for a midlevel trail. She needed a couple hours alone—her sanity depended on it.
She should have left a note for Connor but hadn’t known what to write. The cold air made everything seem clearer, and she realized she should have just woken him up and told him she was going for a ride. Alex had a tendency to make everything more complicated than it was. It was an annoying habit she had trouble breaking.
The trail led her far from the woods, across the meadow and deep into the heart of the property. The terrain was vaguely familiar but she didn’t know exactly where she was. Good thing the damn path was so well marked. If she wasn’t careful, she might get lost.
The NO TRESPASSING sign was the first clue she was close to leaving Finley property. There was a fence with a rather nasty wire, which appeared to be electrified, and a sign every six feet. She knew for a fact they hadn’t been there ten years ago.
Alex rode up closer and read the tiny letters at the bottom of the sign: HOWARD RANCH. Well, wasn’t that a nice, neighborly thing to do. James obviously protected what was his—with force, if need be. It didn’t surprise her, but it did disappoint her.
Although he’d tried to hit on her, and smooth-talk her into selling, she liked him. He was smart, funny and witty. But the fence and the signs told her there was much more beneath the surface of the handsome man. She’d suspected it, and here was evidence she’d been correct.
James Howard was a dangerous man.
“Good morning, beautiful.”
As if she’d conjured him from her thoughts, James was there on a stunning quarter horse—show quality; if she wasn’t mistaken. He smiled, but even at twenty feet away, Alex could feel the undercurrents of frustration and hunger.
“We both know I’m far from beautiful, but I’ll take the good morning and give it right back to you.” She couldn’t quite manage a smile but she figured her expression was at least pleasant.
“Of course you’re beautiful. Don’t put yourself down, Alex. You are not only beautiful; you’re sexy.” This time his grin had just a smidge of sincerity to it, delivered of course with boyish charm.
“What are you doing out here and what the hell is up with this fence?” Alex wasn’t one to be coy about asking a question. He had to know that from last night.
“I’m taking a ride, which is I assume what you are doing. As to the fence, well, the guests from Finley’s seemed to think the entire world was their oyster. They used to cross over into my land, sometimes scare the cattle, lowering their value after they ran for an hour; a couple calves even got trampled. I am protecting what’s mine from folks who have no business being out here.” James’s expression didn’t change but his voice grew harder and sharper as he spoke.
She understood protecting property, and that included the livestock, but the fence went beyond that. The damn thing was electrified, which could cause the death of a calf too, perhaps even a human. That fence was pure rage, which she concluded was fueled by frustration. James wanted the land she was on and he couldn’t get it.
“I meant to call you later and thank you for dinner.”
That surprised her. “I should thank you; after all, you paid and drove.”
He smiled. “That’s what a gentleman is supposed to do. Your generation has forgotten what etiquette is.”
“I won’t argue that point.” She agreed with him and even silently added that her generation had forgotten what manners were all about too. Alex had always found people her age tended to be annoying and vapid—James reminded her of the fact a man could be a gentleman. Perhaps that was why she liked him even though her instincts told her he was dangerous.
“I’m headed into Lobos later to pick up a few things and thought maybe you’d like to accompany me. Have lunch.”
Two meals in two days? Oh, Connor would be pissed, or beyond pissed, really; heading into the realm of furious. Alex did need to go into town and buy a pair of boots, though. Since she had no schedule to follow, she had plenty of time to go do some shopping and have lunch.
And find out what else James was up to.
“I planned on going into town myself, so if you happen to run into me, then so be it.” A white lie, since she hadn’t actually made the plans until that second, but effective.
His open expression closed a bit. “Of course. I was just thinking about saving the expense of the gas. Those pickups get lousy mileage.”
Alex figured she’d surprise the shit out of him when she drove up in the Camaro. It would be a gleeful, totally self-indulgent thing to do.
So, of course, she’d do it.
“Don’t worry about that. I might see you later, then?”
“I look forward to it.” James started to turn his horse. “Oh and by the way, Alex, don’t touch the fence. It’s electrified.” His smile was pure mischief and not in a good way.
“I’ll remember that. See you later, James.” Before he could respond, she kneed Rusty into action and trotted away.
Her mind was still full of questions upon questions when she returned to the barn. While she was hoping it would be empty, there was no such luck.
When she dismounted, Daniel was standing in front of her, eyeballing her as if she were one of the horses.
“What do you want, kid?”
“Mama says you’re my sister.”
“So?” Alex led Rusty into the barn, brushing past the little pint-size version of Claire. She didn’t need to deal with the nuisance right then. Her stress level was already too high.
“That means I’m your brother.”
Alex rolled her eyes as she unsaddled Rusty and set the gear on the sawhorse near the tack room. “Brilliant deduction.”
Daniel popped up in front of her, his blue eyes mirroring her own. She felt the world tilt a little as she confronted the male version of what she was “supposed” to be. Her father must’ve been over the moon when he was born.
“Well, your name is Finley and your eyes are blue. And you have the same butt chin as me.” He pointed to her face with one grimy finger.
Alex barked a laugh, surprising both of them. “Butt chin? What does that mean?”
“It’s got a crack in it, like a butt. Daddy had the butt chin too.” Daniel was a damn precocious boy.
Alex didn’t want to like him, and she sure as hell didn’t want to spend time with him, but she didn’t send him away. She walked Rusty to his stall and Daniel followed, chattering away.
“Are you gonna live here now? Mama says you are.” He took the blanket off Rusty and folded it like a pro.
“I don’t know yet.” Alex handed him the headstall. “Put this away, brat.”
“Connor calls me ‘brat.’ He says it means he loves me.” Daniel’s voice came from the tack room.
Alex shook her head. “I think Connor’s yanking your chain.”
A little black-haired head popped back into the stall door. “Yanking my chain? I don’t get it.”
“It means he’s messing with you. Calling somebody ‘brat’ does not mean you love them.” She rubbed Rusty down and checked his food and water.
When she turned to leave the stall, Daniel stood in the way, arms crossed over his chest and legs spread wide in a combat stance. His brows were drawn together in a fierce little scowl.
“You are wrong, big sister. Connor does love me even if you tell me he doesn’t. It’s not a very nice thing to say, you know.” He humphed loudly. “Mama says if you can’t say nothing nice, don’t say nothing at all.”