Bound, Branded, & Brazen

by Jaci Burton

  She knocked on the bunkhouse door and waited. No answer, so she knocked again, and when he didn't answer, she crossed her arms and tapped her feet.

  She rapped again, harder this time. "Walker, open the door."

  Still no response. Irritation drove her to pound on the door. He was avoiding her and that pissed her off. "Open the damn door and be a man. I know you're in there, Walker."

  "Actually, I'm not."

  She yelped and whipped around.

  "Dammit, Walker, you scared the shit out of me."

  His lips curled as he unlocked the door and pushed it open. "It's your own fault for having a hissy fit on the doorstep."

  She followed him inside and shut the door. "I was not having a hissy fit. I never have hissy fits."

  "If you say so." He went to the fridge and grabbed a beer without bothering to offer her one.

  "There's plenty of beer over at the main house."

  He popped the top off the can and bypassed her to lean against the counter. "I know that. I just didn't feel like socializing. I'm going to finish this beer, then I'm going to take a shower." He pointed the beer can at her. "You could use one, too."

  She knew what she looked like, and it probably wasn't her finest moment. It was hard to attract the man you're hot for when you were covered in black ash, but he'd seen her looking a lot worse. She had him alone for the first time in ages and she intended to take advantage of that. "I could shower here," she said, grabbing the beer from his hand and taking a long swallow before handing it back to him.

  "Why would you do that when you have a shower at your house?" Was he truly that dense? She moved in, trapping him between her and the counter. She laid her hands on the tile counter, only a fraction of an inch separating her body from his, and inhaled the scent of smoke, and male. He frowned at her, but didn't push her away. That was a good start.

  She raised up on the toes of her boots, her lips next to his ear. Her breasts brushed his chest and she heard his harsh intake of breath. Bingo.

  "Maybe we could share the shower. I could wash your back and you could wash mine."

  She leaned back to gaze at his face. A flicker of heat sparked in his stormy eyes. They narrowed, his brow arched just a fraction of an inch as if he were considering the idea, and just the way he looked at her made her hot all over. Despite dirt, ash and whatever else was coating them, Jolene still wanted to get him naked and explore every part of his body. With her tongue.

  And when he grabbed the front of her shirt in his fist and hauled her up against him, she bit back a gasp, her heart pounding. His knuckles brushed her breasts and her nipples tightened.

  Yes, this was what she'd wanted from him for far too long. His body was steely muscle, and as he pulled her against him, she felt the hard evidence of his desire brush against her hip. She melted right then, everything that was female in her responding to all that was male about Walker. She automatically slid her hand down his body to reach for him . . .

  Right before he flipped her around so her back was to his chest and rudely pushed her toward the front door.

  "I've got no patience for your games tonight, Jolene. Go home and take a shower. A cold one."

  He shoved her out onto the porch and closed the door behind her.

  She flipped right around and turned the handle, chagrined to discover he'd locked the door.

  Son of a bitch.

  She stared at the door for a full minute, debating whether to knock. But she did have a little pride.

  The bastard. She owned everything on this land, including the goddamned bunkhouse. If he thought he could keep her out of the building, he was wrong.

  But her indignant march back to the house cooled off her anger. What was she going to do? Open the door, walk into the shower and force herself on his cock?

  As appealing as that idea was, she was going to have to go about this a different way, be more subtle.

  She was going to bring Walker Morgan to her. Because he wanted her, she'd felt it during the brief few seconds he'd held her against him. Oh, had she ever felt the evidence of his desire for her. Why he turned her out when it was evident they both wanted the same thing remained another one of those mysteries she was dying to uncover.

  But she was going to have him. It was just going to take a little longer than she thought.

  walker let the water spray over his head and slide down his body. The shower felt good, but it did nothing to cool the heat raging inside him.

  His gaze drifted down to his dick, which stood erect and throbbing as it had been ever since Jolene assaulted him in the kitchen, her sweet body pressed up against his.

  She could be in the shower with him right now, her full lips surrounding his cock, sucking him, squeezing him and bringing him the relief he needed so damn bad his balls ached. But oh no, he had to have scruples.

  Or fear, which was probably more likely.

  But he liked this job and intended to keep it, and screwing the boss was a sure ticket to the unemployment line. So as long as he worked at the Bar M, Jolene was going to be off limits, and he'd just have to get sex elsewhere.

  Or do it himself, which he wasn't in the mood for right now, not when his mind was on a woman with the face of an angel, eyes that changed color from blue to green to brown and everything mixed together, tits he was dying to touch and suck, legs he wanted wrapped around his waist, and a mouth begging to be kissed.

  He groaned and fisted his cock in his hands, unable to resist the visual of fucking Jolene up against the wall of the shower, pushing into her with force until she screamed and he came in huge gushes inside her. He tightened his hold around his shaft and palmed the wall of the shower, gritting his teeth as he pumped harder, just like he'd thrust inside Jolene's sweet pussy while she wrapped her leg around his hip and cried out, her pussy squeezing him when she came.

  "Fuck," he said, as streams of come shot out with his orgasm, leaving him weak, hot and not at all relieved.

  He finished his shower and grabbed a towel, realizing he wasn't going to be satisfied until he got laid, and got Jolene off his mind. The best way to do that was to get some other woman in his bed.

  Too bad there was no other woman he wanted but her.

  two

  "why aren't you over there making walker's life miserable?" Mason asked as he held up two fingers to Sandy, the bartender.

  It was Saturday night, and everyone had come to town to hit the bar to drink and play a little pool or dance.

  Jolene had come to put her plan into action. Said plan was none of her brother-in-law's business. She leaned against the bar and took a long swallow of her bottle of beer. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

  "Sure you do. Walker's been on your radar for a while now. Figured you'd have hog-tied him and dragged him off to your bed."

  "Mason." Valerie shoved an elbow into her husband's ribs and wedged in between him and Jolene. "Men are such crude pigs."

  "I know," Jolene said with a grin. "Aren't they great?"

  Valerie shook her head. "Only you would appreciate Mason's perverted sense of humor."

  Beers in hand, Mason kissed Valerie on the lips and wandered back toward the pool tables. "He's right, though," Valerie said. "It's pretty obvious to anyone who knows you that you've got your eye on Walker. So why haven't the two of you hooked up?"

  "He's avoiding me."

  "Avoiding you? Why?" Brea asked, sliding next to Valerie. "Because I can't imagine any red-hot-blooded cowboy turning you down."

  Jolene laughed. "Well, thanks, but I don't know why. We've been dancing around each other for a long damn time. And I know he's interested, but he just can't seem to pull the trigger. It's like I've got the plague or something."

  "Hmm." Valerie frowned. "Maybe he's been hurt by a woman in the past."

  "Please. I'm not asking him to marry me. I just want sex."

  Brea snorted. "Then there's no reason he'd turn you down, unless he's playing for the other side."

 
; "He's definitely not gay. He's been out with plenty of women since I've known him. Besides, I can get him hot, hard and ready to ride without even touching him."

  "Been that close, have you?" Valerie asked.

  "Close enough to know he likes women."

  "Then I don't get it," Brea said. "There's got to be some reason he's not stripping you down and licking you all over, then fucking you until you can't walk straight."

  Jolene just stared at Brea as if that hadn't really been her sister talking. She turned to Valerie, who was doing the same thing.

  "Well," Jolene said. "Rockin' hot sex and the love of a good man sure brought you out of your shell, didn't they?"

  Brea didn't even blush, just waggled her eyebrows.

  "And all this time Gage was right under my nose . . ."

  "Don't even think about it," Brea said, glaring at Jolene. "You won't have a hair left on that pretty head of yours."

  "Oooh, territorial, too." Jolene turned and winked at Valerie. "I think our sister is in love."

  "I think so, too," Valerie said. "You must have caught yourself a good one."

  Brea giggled. "He's everything I ever dreamed of and more." "Better than those books you always have your nose stuck in?" Jolene asked.

  "Much better. He's real, solid, with flaws and everything. And God, I love him."

  "Well, hell." Jolene wrapped her arms around Brea and hugged her. "You know how damn happy I am for you. So why are you hanging out with us?"

  "He's playing pool. He doesn't need to spend every second of his time with me."

  "Uh huh. And so is Mason. And they've been ignoring us long enough. Come on, little sister. It's time to wrangle our men into swinging us around on the dance floor." Valerie turned to Jolene. "If I were you I'd do the same with Walker."

  Jolene laid her beer bottle down. "Oh, I've got my own game plan in mind where Walker is concerned."

  Valerie shook her head. "Poor guy."

  Valerie and Brea headed off to recapture their men. Jolene sat at the bar for a while, nursing her beer and contemplating her course of action. Walker was playing pool and acting like she didn't exist. But she knew better. She saw him take a few glances at her when he thought she wasn't looking.

  She was always paying attention to Walker.

  What she hadn't been paying attention to was her own surroundings, and the tall hunk of gorgeous cowboy leaning against the bar next to her. Until she turned around and found him smiling down at her.

  Well, he was certainly pretty, with striking brown eyes, dark lashes, a rugged, unshaven jaw and muscles just about every-damn-where. She didn't recognize him, and since she knew every regular hand who worked at all the neighboring ranches, she figured him for one of the new temporary hires all the ranches had brought in for spring.

  "Am I stepping in somebody else's territory if I ask you to dance, honey?"

  And didn't that just fall right into her plan? She offered up her sweetest smile. "Nobody's claimed me yet, cowboy, so I'm all yours."

  He held out his hand. "Then every guy in this place must be blind, because you're sure the prettiest woman in here."

  Just what she liked--a man utterly full of shit.

  "I'm Luke," he said as he turned around and led her by the hand.

  "Jolene."

  She followed him out to the dance floor, which was crowded as hell, but fortunately, it was time for a slow dance. Which meant cowboy Luke jerked her into his arms and became an immediate octopus, his hands all over her as they twirled slow and easy around the floor.

  Jolene made sure to give him her undivided attention--or at least 95 percent of her attention. The other 5 percent was spent on Walker, who glanced up toward the bar and tracked his gaze to the dance floor, giving Jolene and her dance partner a decided scowl.

  And wasn't it perfect that Luke chose just the moment Walker was watching them to slide his hand down her back and grab a nice handful of both her ass cheeks.

  Judging from the murderous glare on his face, if Walker had a six-shooter in his hand, Luke would be a dead man about now.

  Yeee haw!

  who the hell was the son of a bitch with his hands all over Jolene?

  Gage elbowed Mason. "You know that guy?"

  Mason frowned. "What guy?"

  "I'm pretty sure he means the one with his hands on Jolene's ass. Out on the dance floor," Valerie said.

  "Oh." Mason searched the dance floor. "Don't recognize him." Mason turned to his wife. "He is kind of grabby, though. Want me to kill him?"

  "Maybe Walker should do that instead," Valerie suggested with a sly smile.

  Walker shrugged and grabbed his pool cue. "She's not my woman. No reason for me to get involved. If she wants some strange guy's hands roaming all over her, that's her business."

  Though he couldn't concentrate on his shot and he blew it, scratching and losing the game. Shit. That's what he got for paying more attention to Jolene's ass than playing pool.

  He let the next set of guys play and grabbed his beer, deciding not to look at the dance floor. But despite his resolve, his gaze drifted in that direction every few seconds, and for some reason he could easily spot Jolene in the thick crowd of dancers. Maybe it was her hair, loose tonight instead of in her usual pigtails, blond and wavy and trailing down her back, making him wish he could slide his hand down the length of it to see if it felt as soft as it looked.

  Or maybe it was the turquoise halter top with silver studs that bared her back and the tiny tattoo barely visible above the waist of her jeans. He didn't know what kind of tattoo it was, only that it was colorful and small enough that a man would have to be . . .

  Fuck. Getting a hard-on in the middle of a crowded bar would be the worst thing that could ever happen to him.

  "You know, if you don't want another guy touching her, you should go in there and stake your claim."

  Walker shrugged and sipped his beer, determined not to let anyone know, especially Mason, of his attraction to Jolene. "There's nothing to claim. Nothing going on between us."

  Mason laid a hand on his shoulder. "I'm not blind, idiot. You two have been dancing around each other for a couple years now. And Jolene doesn't exactly make a secret of the fact that she'd like to wrangle you into her bed."

  Shit. He turned to Mason. "She tell you that?"

  "Me? Oh, hell no. We don't talk about sex. But she tells her sister things, and Valerie tells me."

  "I've never touched Jolene."

  Mason laughed. "I'm not stopping you."

  "She's the boss. And you don't dip into the well where you work."

  "Hey, that's up to you. All I'm saying is that the two of you are distracted because of this attraction. The last thing I want to do is talk about your sex life, man. Handle it how you see fit."

  "Thanks, I will." And standing around watching Jolene dirty dance with some stranger was more torture than he cared to deal with. "I'm heading back to the ranch."

  jolene caught walker's exit out of the corner of her eye and sighed.

  Damn man.

  Okay, so this plan had crashed and burned.

  She turned her attention to Luke-of-the-wandering-hands, tilted her head back and smiled sweetly at him. "Honey, you have about two seconds to get your hands off my ass, or you'll be wearing your balls as earrings."

  Time for Plan B.

  around two in the morning, as jolene was checking cattle in one of the pastures, she still hadn't quite come up with what Plan B was going to be. Walker was proving to be more stubborn than she'd anticipated. She figured he'd see Luke-of-the-wandering-hands pawing her on the dance floor, his possessive cave-man instincts would kick in and he'd stomp over, jerk her away from Luke and kiss her senseless right on the spot.

  Ha! And she'd had the nerve to accuse Brea of living in fantasy-land with her books. Obviously it was Jolene who needed a good hard dose of reality, because she'd been way off base with that flight of imagination. Walker had looked all right, and then done . . . nothi
ng.

  Maybe he wasn't as interested in her as she'd originally thought. Or maybe he was, but figured she wasn't worth fighting over.

  Dammit. Why were men so hard to figure out? If he wanted her, what was so difficult about saying so, and then doing something about it? She was always straightforward about what she wanted. Was that a bad thing?

  Her horse spooked as another rider approached. She pulled up on the reins and calmed Paradise down, then turned in the direction of the approaching rider. Who the hell was out this time of night, especially this far from the main houses?

  She was surprised to see Walker coming up alongside her. And he was angry.

  "What the hell are you doing riding out here by yourself this late?"

  She arched a brow. "Not that it's any of your business, but I couldn't sleep so thought I'd take a ride."

  "This is one hell of a ride. What if you'd gotten bucked off and hurt?"

  She patted Paradise. "My horse never bucks."

  "She would if a snake slithered in front of her. Come on, Jolene, you were born and raised out here. You know it's not safe to ride alone at night, even on your own property."

  She lifted her chin. "Exactly. My own property. I can do whatever the hell I want, when I want. Besides, why do you even care, Walker?"

  He went silent then, the brim of his hat and the dark of the moonless night hiding his expression. "You shouldn't ride alone."

  "You said that already. And you're riding alone."

  "I saw your horse was gone and came out to find you. It's late. Thought something might have happened to you."

  "Awww, didn't know you cared."

  "I figure someone has to look out for you since you suck at taking care of yourself."

  "I've been taking care of myself for a long time. I'm a big girl and I know exactly what I'm doing."

  "Is that why you let some guy you don't know put his hands all over you at the bar last night?"

  So he did notice. And from the sound of his voice and the narrowing of his eyes, he wasn't at all happy about it. Perfect. "I haven't needed a father in years. In case you haven't noticed, I'm a grown woman capable of making my own decisions."

  He inched his horse next to hers and grabbed the reins away from her. "I'm well aware you're a woman. So was the drifter with his hands on your ass earlier."