by Kadie Scott
Autry paused with his hand on the door, not entirely sure he’d heard right, because Beth had whispered.
He swung around to face a woman whose cheeks had gone bright scarlet. “What?”
If anything, her face went redder. “Never mind. Stupid question.”
No chance in hell was he walking away after that, though. Suddenly the confidence he’d been searching for since earlier in her sisters’ shop flooded back—mojo restored.
Autry moved to stand directly in front of her, taking in the way she bravely looked him directly in the eyes, her own wide and ocean blue, while, at the same time, the pulse at the base of her neck was fluttering like crazy, her chest rising and falling with each sharp breath.
He should walk away. If he was honest, coming here to apologize had been a flimsy excuse in the first place. He had the bet with his dad, and Beth was someone he didn’t want to ruin. Still, something about her held him there, like gravity. He couldn’t make himself leave a second time.
I’m going to hell.
He gave his head a shake. “What is it about you, Beth Cooper?” he murmured.
Her lips parted, an invitation beckoning him. Autry wrapped his hands around her tiny waist, pulling her body flush against his, not bothering to hide the jut of his erection which had been a problem all damn night. “And to answer your question…”
He lowered his head until his lips hovered over hers, enough to feel the warmth, her minty breath feathering over his skin, but not quite touching.
“Yes,” he whispered. “I’m attracted to you.”
She whimpered as he touched his lips to hers. The charge he got just from that minimal contact pulsed through him.
“I want to kiss you,” he murmured against her lips.
She smiled against him. “I thought you were.”
He drew a delicate pattern on her hip with one finger and reveled in how she held her breath. “I mean really kiss you.”
She pulled back but only slightly, so she could look him in the eye. “I think I would like that.”
The sweet, innocent response was so Beth, and it got under his skin just a little bit more. He clenched his jaw, his fingers digging into the soft flesh at her waist. “I won’t want to stop at kissing.”
Beth’s dimples popped into full view and every sparkle in her eye asked him to join her in a little fun. “I won’t want you to.”
Autry’s threadbare control shredded at the combination of the words and her darn dimples. With a groan, he cupped the back of her head, threading his fingers through silky-fine hair, and claimed her mouth.
The minty taste of toothpaste and the sweeter underlying flavor that was just Beth swirled over his tongue as he tangled it with hers. Only Beth didn’t passively accept the kiss. No. She claimed him right back, giving as good as she got, making urgent noises in the back of her throat that were driving him wild. She wrapped her arms around his neck and dug her fingers into his short hair.
Autry trailed his lips over to her ear, where he teased the lobe, loving the shudder that ran through her at the contact.
“Damn, woman,” he whispered against her ear. “Where’d you learn to kiss like that?”
“I don’t know.” Her voice came out all breathy and panting, full of a need that echoed his own. “I think I only kiss you like that.”
Fuck.
The admission reached inside him to wrap around his heart, sending pure heat to every other part of him at the same time.
Sealing his mouth to hers again, Autry backed her up until he had her pinned against the door. She was so damn tiny, his hands practically touched around her waist. With a grunt, he picked her up, bringing her mouth level with his. That was better.
Immediately Beth wrapped her legs around him, wriggling to get closer while she held on tightly. Way better.
Holding her up with one hand, Autry trailed the other up the backside of one honey-smooth leg, paused to tease the edge of her loose pajama shorts before exploring further only to encounter a barrier. Panties under the shorts.
He grinned against her lips. “Liar.”
“What?” she sounded dazed, and damn if that didn’t have him even hotter.
“You’re not naked under here.”
“Oh.” She nipped at the edge of his jaw before soothing the spot with the tip of her tongue. “Maybe you can help me with that.”
Holy hell. The way he was throbbing against the zipper of his jeans was turning painful. Despite being lost in her, he still remembered the bet, not to mention his promise to Beth. His father’s disappointment—Beth’s too when she came to her senses—dragged at him.
What am I doing?
Only he couldn’t leave her all keyed-up either. It wouldn’t count if he helped her orgasm, would it? He could pull over on the way home to take care of his own needs. Right?
“Beth, look at me.” He put all the authority he could into his words, because he needed her to understand.
The woman wrapped around him, her soft breasts pressed against him, raised her head, her big blue eyes full of sex and need… and trust.
Holding on to the last inkling of his willpower, Autry took a deep breath. “I can’t sleep with you, but I want to make you come.”
Beth blinked. “What?”
“I made promises, honey. I can’t—” Autry cut himself off and shook his head. “I don’t want to walk away. I need you to know that.”
He teased the lacy edge of her panties, and Beth’s eyes fluttered shut as she bucked and chased the touch. “I don’t understand,” she whispered.
Autry swallowed. He should’ve waited. Doing the honorable thing sucked sometimes. “I’ll explain it all, but after. I promise. Do you want me?”
“Yes.” No hesitation.
“Do you want to come?”
“Duh.”
Autry grinned at the word. Of course, Beth would say something like that while still caught up in the whirlwind of her needs.
“Open your eyes.”
She did, and damned if he wasn’t about to come from that look alone—full on sensuality—he could drown in her eyes.
“Don’t look away,” he ordered. Hell, more of a plea. “I want to watch your face when you fall apart for me.”
At that, he slipped a finger underneath the elastic barrier of her panties to find her wet and waiting. Beth closed her eyes on a long moan as he slowly filled her with his fingers.
He paused. “Open your eyes, honey. Let me see how good I make you feel.”
She obeyed, pinning him with a gaze swimming in hunger. “I’m so close,” she moaned. As a reward, he rubbed his thumb over the sweet, swollen little bundle of nerves.
“Oh.”
Slowly, gritting his teeth against his own aching needs, Autry pumped his fingers in and out of her, stretching her, working her body, building the sensations layer by layer, and ignoring the now painful ache of his own.
Beth didn’t look away again, so far gone, he doubted she noticed the sounds of pleasure that poured from her pink, plump lips. The more her body fluttered against his, the faster he moved his hands, and the heavier her breathing got. She pumped her hips, as much as the way he had her pinned to the door would allow her.
“Honey, let go,” he whispered. He pressed into her clit with his thumb with a pressure meant to tip her over.
As though his words had let her loose, Beth clamped down hard on him and let out a long, shuddering moan as she rode his hand through her orgasm. He helped draw it out, pumping and pressing and rubbing until she slowed, going limp and languorous in his arms.
And every single second, she kept her eyes on his.
Finally, Beth dropped her head to his shoulder. “Wow,” she whispered.
His heart clenched at the word. Autry pulled his hand away to wrap both arms around her and carried her down the long hallway to the room he assumed was hers, his boots echoing off the wood flooring with each step. After toeing them off, he climbed on the bed and lay down with her,
pulling her into him, and something in his soul settled, despite how his body was still tight and hard.
“That was the sexiest thing I think I’ve ever seen,” he murmured into her soft hair.
Beth took a deep breath, then rolled over. Mischief turned her eyes a lighter shade of blue as she ran her hand over his chest and down his stomach. With effort, he stopped her before she went too far. “We can’t.”
A small frown puckered her brow. “I still don’t understand what you were saying to me earlier. What’s the problem?”
How to explain this without sounding like a total ass?
“First, I need you to know that I am dying with wanting you right now. Got it?”
She twisted her mouth, but in a way that told him she was hiding a smile. “Not really. I’m right here, willing and able, if you want to do something about that.”
Autry closed his eyes and groaned. “I made my dad a bet.”
She stiffened in his arms. “What kind of bet?” she asked slowly.
He opened his eyes to find her watching him with curiosity, but the trust, at least, still lingered. “That I wouldn’t sleep with any women for six months.”
“What?!” Beth jackknifed up in bed to stare at him. “Why the heck would your dad make that kind of bet?”
Autry sighed. “He wants proof that I can be serious, and I’m dead serious, when it comes to the ranch. That place is the best part about me.”
“No, it’s not.” She waved a hand, dismissing that without a second’s hesitation, and the part of him that always felt second best to his brothers and sister settled at the automatic show of faith in him.
“But,” she continued, “if you’re good at what you do, why would he care—”
“I think my mom is worried that I’ll end up either alone or with someone not good enough for her baby. My guess is, she’s the one who’s behind this.”
The confusion in Beth’s eyes softened. “And you agreed to this?”
Autry shrugged one shoulder. “I was already getting… tired… of being seen as a pretty face and a piece of ass. Women expected things from me that—” He cut off and shook his head. “Let’s just say that I’d already realized that I wanted… better. More. So, to me, it wasn’t a hard bet to make.”
Beth considered him for a long moment. Was she debating whether or not to believe him? “Good for you,” she finally said. “What do you get if you win?”
Autry released a silent breath, not entirely sure why her faith meant so damn much. But it did. “My parents will leave me the house. Cash lives in town with Holly. Jennings is almost done building his own house on the edge of the ranch. Carter will move in with Brian. Will and Rusty are only around half the year, and at her family’s place in Wyoming the rest. I’d let them stay with me, of course, but the house would be mine.”
For him and his family, whenever he had them. Not that he’d been looking that far out when he’d agreed to this.
“What about your parents?” she asked.
“They were already planning to move out. The Guthrie property nearby is for sale. I guess Mom’s always loved that house.”
“So… if you win, you get the house and your parents move out. What if you lose?”
“They still move out, but I pay them for their new house for them, and the house on the ranch stays in the names of all five of us kids.”
“Wow. All that just to abstain from sex for six months.”
Autry ran a finger down her arm, smiling when she shivered. “I’m starting to regret that, if it makes you feel better.”
She scooted back down to lay on her side, facing him, and idly traced her finger over his cheek, the rasp of his day-old scruff loud in the silence. “You do have a pretty face,” she teased.
“You, too.” Only he meant it.
She wrinkled her nose like she didn’t agree but didn’t comment. “I haven’t gotten a good look at the ass though. Would you mind?” She batted her eyes.
He laughed. “I should go before you give me ideas and make me lose the bet.”
Beth nibbled at her lip. “No sex for five more months?”
He nodded. “Minus time already served, so more like three to go now. No sex and no dating.”
She frowned. “What about what we just did?”
Yeah. Guilt about that was sure to grow after he left here. “Technically, you’re the only one who came, honey.” And he was still heavy and hard at her nearness, at the sweet almond-blossom scent of her.
Beth traced a finger over his chest. “So… As long as we’re not dating, and as long as we don’t—technically—have sex, then…”
Autry swallowed as need tugged hard at him. “What are you suggesting?”
Dimples winked at him. “I’d really like to see that backside. Maybe if we’re careful to do anything but. Just for tonight, and you leave before any sleeping happens. It won’t break the rules.”
Hell, yeah.
Except… He frowned. “What happened to me flirting making you uncomfortable?”
“I lied.” She stretched under his incredulous gaze like that wasn’t a big deal.
Did she seriously say that? “You—”
“Lied,” she said again. “I didn’t want to be like every other girl where you’re concerned.”
“There’s no chance of that,” he rumbled, rolling so he caged her beneath him. He shook his head in amazement as she twinkled happily up at him. “Beth Cooper. There’s no one like you.”
“That’s nice to hear.” She gave a self-satisfied smirk as she brushed a hand over his straining cock. “Now, let’s do something about that bulge in your pants.”
Chapter Nine
Beth sat at her desk, chewing on the end of her pencil, a habit unbroken since she was a student in this very school. Not a sexy one either, more like she left teeth marks up and down the soft wood, indenting the yellow paint. She stared out the wall of windows at the parking lot beyond, now mostly devoid of cars. School had ended and kids headed home.
Blue skies beckoned her outside, such a pleasant change after weeks of on-again, off-again rain and thunderstorms. Only she was supposed to be getting stuff done. She had to get her whiteboards set up with the next day’s instructions and notes. A stack of math tests that needed grading sat on the desk in front of her. Plus, she still needed to tidy up.
She might have fifth graders, who were the big kids on campus, but most of those munchkins were still figuring out what organized looked like. Even after walking them through the same pack-up procedure she’d done every day, all school year, chaos still managed to keep a tight hold. A glance around the groupings of student desks told her today wasn’t that bad.
She dropped her gaze to the papers and sighed. I’m obviously not going to finish this right now.
She called a last-minute play to prep the room then take her grading home. Not to watch West Wing though. Now she associated the show with what had happened with Autry, and she couldn’t see it without getting all hot and bothered.
Not that she wasn’t on the verge of hot and bothered pretty much nonstop since he showed up at her house and had done all sorts of naughty, dirty, wonderful things to her body. They’d agreed, no relationship, and she’d hustled him out of her house long before dawn, because she didn’t want the neighbors talking and it getting back to his dad. Beyond a single text, they hadn’t had any contact in over a week.
Ten endless, blah days during which Beth worried that Autry might have ruined her for all other men.
They hadn’t even had sex, and already he’d brought her more pleasure than any other previous boyfriends. More than that, though, he’d made her feel… special. Even that final text.
“I mean it, Elizabeth Cooper. No one like you.”
Only she couldn’t be that special. Not with the experience he had under his belt. Although, never once in their time together had she so much as thought of those other women, he’d been that focused on her. As though she were his center. No wonder th
e man was in demand.
Stop thinking about it and move on.
She pushed back from the desk, her chair giving its usual screech across the tile, and went to the whiteboard where she erased all of today’s notes. Grabbing her multicolored dry-erase markers, she started filling in the next day. Only, the red marker finally bit the dust, refusing to write all the letters clearly.
With a low grrrr, Beth stalked over to the tall cabinet where she kept all her supplies. The markers she’d put up on the highest shelf. Rather than bother with the step stool she kept in her room for various reasons, she went up on tiptoe to reach it, fumbling around because she couldn’t see quite where it was.
“Need some help?” The low rumble of Autry’s voice sounded directly behind her and made Beth jump. Only when she did, her hand smacked something on the shelf, knocking that something over. With a thump followed by a ploof, multicolored glitter dumped down over her head in a deluge of sparkles.
Beth dropped to her feet but didn’t turn around, needing to take a moment and curse the powers that be that seemed to land her in these situations the second a certain cowboy showed his face. Turning slowly, she found Autry staring at her with his lips clamped tight, probably holding in the gales of laughter he was bottling up. Though his eyes, more green today thanks to his dark green T-shirt, dared her to laugh with him. Glitter floated in the air between them, catching the sunlight and taunting her.
When she didn’t say anything, he cleared his throat. “Sorry if I startled you.”
He reached out and brushed off the top of her head. Beth had to close her eyes as more glitter cascaded over her face. Swatting away Autry’s hand, she bent forward and aggressively shook out her hair, using her hands to scrub. Then she straightened and went after her clothes brushing the glitter away.
“I look like Santa’s workshop exploded,” she grumbled.
“I think you look—”
She jerked her head up to eye him with a glare and tried not to acknowledge to herself how close he stood or how much she wanted to kiss him right now.
“Cute,” he finished. But she’d bet he was about to say something else.
