by Abbie Adams
"Horses?" She looked up from under her brand-new sunglasses, then looked around her, at the blue, white tipped waves crashing on the shore, and her bag, lying in the sand next to her chaise.
She looked up at the tall man again and read his name tag. Her heart slowed when she read the name Roberto and not Jorge. She shook her head. Damn, there had to be something in the water or in the beverages she was drinking. She'd evidently fallen asleep again and this dream had been in full techno-color and had included stereo surround sound. Sitting up, she realized that her body was slick and had a moment of disgust at being even slightly aroused by such a perverted dream before the scent of coconut reminded her that she'd coated herself in tanning oil. God, she really had to chill with the daydreaming in public. Shaking her head to release the last bit of that horrible fantasy, she managed to speak. "I'm sorry, um, I must have fallen asleep."
"Señorita, you need to meet your guide, sí?"
She lifted her sunglasses as if that would help her understand him better. "I'm sorry?"
She was actually impressed that he didn't just fling up his hands and ask if she even spoke her own native tongue. Instead, he took a deep breath, gave her yet another smile and spoke slowly. "I believed you signed up to ride horses?" She almost giggled when he appeared to be considering lifting his arms and prancing or perhaps adding a 'neigh' to his question. Deciding she'd been enough trouble she smiled and nodded.
"Horses, yes, I signed up earlier today."
"Sí, sí. Good. The taxi is here to take you to the stables. But, um, you don't look ready."
"Is it two o'clock already?" Sunny reached for her bag and slid on her flip-flops. "Oh my."
"Sí, señorita, the taxi is waiting by the office. You can go to your room and ready yourself, then come? I'll tell the taxi driver you'll come?" Roberto gestured with his hand toward the building and the office while offering his assistance.
Sunny couldn't believe she had whiled away the whole afternoon. She hated the thought that she'd allowed a very naughty fantasy to cause others to have to wait for her. It was rude and she hated to be rude.
"No, no, I'll just go now. I have shoes and clothes in my bag. Gracias, Roberto."
Chapter Six
"Are you out of your freaking mind?"
Sunny stood between the two men but it was almost as if she wasn't there. Her short stature allowed the conversation to take place over her head. Still, she was beginning to feel a bit dizzy from turning her head back and forth to follow the conversation. Just like that little ball that used to bounce from word to word that ran along the bottom of a TV screen to encourage you to sing-along, her ponytail swung with every change of speaker. It was also rather confusing as their voices not only sounded the same, except for the colors of the hats on their heads and the pattern of their shirts, the men were identical twins. Not only twins—tall, muscular and extremely good-looking twins. She was also beginning to feel more than a little uncomfortable knowing she was the cause of what threatened to turn brother against brother.
"Look, I don't want to cause a problem…" she began only to be interrupted.
"What's the big deal? I said I'd take care of her." The man in the light colored Stetson said for the second time.
His brother wore a black hat that shaded his face. Despite the shadow, Sunny could feel his eyes dropping to look her over from the top of her blonde head to the tips of her pink toenails peeking out from her flip-flops. He shook his head, and looked past her to the other man. "It's stupid, that's what the big deal is." He turned to stomp away, giving Sunny a great view of his Levi 501's. He might be as pissed as a bull in front of a waving red flag, but man, he was fine.
He turned back toward them again. "Not to mention it's dangerous. That is why we have brochures that explain the requirements." He gave Sunny another look. "And those instructions are written in plain English as well as Spanish so there are absolutely no excuses for her to show up unprepared. It's a liability issue, Jesse, and this will be on your head if that little ditz gets herself killed."
"Hey! I'm not a…"
As if she hadn't spoken, black hat continued, "I wonder just how anxious you'd be to break every damn rule we have if she were wearing more than that ridiculous bikini."
Sunny was about to point out that if she were wearing something else, this conversation wouldn't have even begun when he gave her yet another sweep of his eyes.
His gaze finally met hers, his eyebrow lifting before he looked at his brother and gave his exit line. "Of course, I guess that explains it. Evidently all of your blood has drained out of the head on your shoulders to run directly to the one between your legs." Ignoring Sunny's gasp, he stomped away again, pockets melded to the curved ass of his faded denim jeans. Damn.
"I-I really didn't mean to cause another civil war," Sunny attempted, her joke sounding flat even to her own ears. "Look, your brother is right. I know I'm not dressed properly for riding. If you'll just call a taxi for me, I'll go back to the resort." She gave him an apologetic look. "I'll still pay whatever price it would have been for the ride."
"Don't be silly and don't worry about Jake. He'll get over it. I promise I'll keep you safe." The blond haired cowboy, answering to the name Jesse, reassured Sunny with a wink and a drawl that had the bottoms of her bathing suit dampening yet again. She was pretty sure it wasn't from the ninety-degree weather, either.
When Roberto had led her through the hotel, she'd asked to stop at the desk. After being assured that her passport was safely locked away, she'd followed him outside. She'd had a moment of panic at seeing the blue car. It had taken his asking if she was okay for her to pull herself out of her previous fantasy and realize this was not the same car. Assuring him that she was fine, she'd climbed into the cab, managing to give him a little wave. He'd shaken his head but had returned the wave. God, he probably thought she was as ditzy as Jake did.
She had slipped her beach cover-up over her bikini in the cab. But, it seemed that Jake, and the brochure she had picked up but not read, clearly indicated that proper horseback riding attire included jeans and boots. No, her flip-flops and cover-up definitely did not cut it. But Jesse appeared more than willing to forgive her attire and assist her in seeing some of the rarer sites of the Mexican countryside.
"If you're sure," Sunny said after he'd insisted yet again that Jake was just being his usual over-protective self.
"I'm positive. I'll give you a great tour." He'd tipped his hat and given her a killer smile, and she didn't have the heart to turn away. Perhaps he was being so accommodating because she was the only one around. It didn't seem that the stables were too busy. It had been a bit of a drive to find them; which was probably why it wasn't on the resort's websites. Sunny had been surprised to find two Americans running the stable but she certainly wasn't disappointed. After that rather strange daydream involving uncaring swarthy men, having two identical men who could easily play the part of the handsome, if not quite wholesome, boys next door would add a bit of variety to her daydreaming this week.
As Jesse lifted her onto the horse, she blushed as her bare thighs settled against the warmed saddle. The distinct scent of leather had her mind flying back to a thin strip of leather that Mateo had pulled from his belt loops. Glancing down, she saw that Jesse's belt was brown with a large buckle. Her face heated a bit more when her eyes drifted a short distance south and the bulge behind his zipper became evident.
"Sunny?"
"Uh, what?" she asked, her eyes flying back up to see his grin, his eyebrow raised. She discovered yet another way to tell the brothers apart. Just in case they were together sans hats and clothing, all she'd need do was watch their eyebrows. Jake lifted his left brow in that sexy way that had her breath catch in her throat; Jesse lifted his right.
"I asked you to put your foot in the stirrup. I need to adjust them for your height," Jesse said, wrapping his hand around her ankle.
"Oh, right." She allowed him to guide her foot into the stirrup and
watched as he adjusted it, raising it several inches before securing the buckle and moving to adjust the other stirrup.
"Okay, make sure to keep pressure on the flat of your foot. You don't want your leg sliding through and getting stuck." She nodded and it didn't take much to imagine Jake telling him that such caution would not be as necessary if she were wearing the proper footwear. A boot's heel would help assure her foot stayed in place.
"Ready?"
"I think so," she answered and then shook Jake's displeasure aside. She'd been looking forward to riding since the day she and Tiffany had started making plans for their vacation. Determined to enjoy the day, she gave him a smile. "Yes, I'm ready. Lead the way, cowboy, and I'll follow."
"My pleasure, little lady." He mounted his horse and glanced over his shoulder, his teeth flashing in a dazzling smile. With a gentle nudge of her heels against the horse's side, they were off. It didn't take her long to discover that her horse needed no real guidance. He plodded along behind Jesse's horse as if he'd done this a thousand times before and she figured he probably had. The only way the ride could be better was if she were riding along the beach, and turning to ask her Daddy if they could stop and play in the surf. No, not play, lie together and…
"Oh!" She squealed and her hand grabbed the pommel of the saddle.
"Yeah, pretty cool, huh?"
"Whoa, easy boy," she said, calming the horse who'd shied a bit and when she turned her attention to the huge iguana that Jesse was pointing at, she understood her horse had been startled and was glad that Jesse hadn't noticed.
"Hey, you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine," she said. "Wow, that's amazing!" And it was. The iguana was a gazillion times larger than the green lizards that darted around her garden back home.
"It looks like something right out of Jurassic Park," she exclaimed as the reptile's long tail whipped from side to side before it disappeared in the foliage.
Jesse's laugh caused her to smile. "He might look huge but he'd be nothing more than a tiny snack for any dinosaur." They continued their ride as he explained that the jungle was full of the long, scaly animals. "They've grown accustomed to tourists and I'm betting if you look closely around the pool or the edge of the trees at your resort, you'll spot a dozen in a day."
Despite Jesse's chatter, it was hard not to let her thoughts wander off while riding out on the dusty trails. She used the time wisely, memorizing every detail of that yummy man riding with her and was glad that he couldn't see her red face when she found her thoughts wondering how it would feel to be sandwiched between Jesse and his brother. It didn't take much to imagine offering herself as a little snack for the incredibly handsome twins.
There wasn't much that compared to a trail ride on a good horse. Sunny had never had a horse, but she'd gone to 4H (so what if it was only a year). She'd always been fascinated by horses and riding. One of her friend's family had horses and so she'd been able to learn about them and ride when she had time. She hadn't even minded that she 'paid' for those free rides by mucking out stalls, cleaning and trimming the horses' hooves and filling buckets with feed and water. Every time she climbed into the saddle, she forgot all about the chores she'd done in barter for an hour or two of feeling a powerful beast between her thighs. It was a peaceful and refreshing pastime.
Riding again today reminded her that she actually loved being outside. Back home, she tended to forget to do outdoor things. All too often she curled up inside with a book either seated with her feet tucked up in her favorite easy chair or soaking in a bubble bath as she turned page after page. She even had a solution for those days where no book was able to hold her interest. Creating her own stories and daydreaming about a certain man had filled countless hours. Of course, he always found his way back into her thoughts, always in that special, starring role.
He really shouldn't spend so much time wandering around in her head, bossing her around, threatening to whup her butt… especially when there was no chance in hell that those threats would ever come to fruition. Shaking her head to clear it, she glanced again at Jesse and smiled. By random coincidence, or perhaps a reward for being such a good girl and forcing herself not to drift into yet another fantasy, the cowboy in front of her had the same muscular physique, same sexy ass, and same large hands as her perfect fantasy man.
In those chic flicks she loved to watch, the love sick girl would compare every man to her long lost love and find the new one lacking. Nobody could ever fill the place of her one true love!
But Trent wasn't hers to bemoan the loss of. He'd never been hers and probably had never given her a single romantic thought. She was nothing more than his kid-sister's friend. He probably still thought of her as a child, or worse, even a sister. Of course, she had firsthand knowledge that he spanked his sister and she'd fantasized a million times that he'd actually spanked her that day as well. Perhaps if he had taken her across his knees, perhaps if she hadn't been such a big chicken and run away, she wouldn't be the way she was. Was escaping that single spanking for eavesdropping the reason why she could never forget him? Was this her karma for abandoning her very best friend after witnessing her spanking? No, she knew that Tiffany didn't fault her for running. That one day could not possibly explain why she was the way she was years later.
She was a freak—that was why. Who else daydreamed about being spanked, or being kidnapped? Who else but a seriously ditzy woman immediately began to daydream about being the center of a twin sandwich not a half-hour after meeting a set of twins? Or worse… daydreamed about a Daddy—a Daddy who was also her lover. A Daddy who made sex made even more incredibly satisfying when he flipped her over his lap and gave her a very hot bottom before ordering her to spread her legs and lift up her naughty bottom so that he could claim her again. A Daddy who could simply give her a look, lift an eyebrow and have her insides filling with butterflies and her panties filling with moisture. Forget ditzy, she was far beyond ditzy. She had to be the strangest, most twisted woman on the face of the planet. Her feelings were all so contradictory. It was all so confusing.
Once she'd dreamed that she was being rocked to sleep by her daddy, not her real daddy, she couldn't remember her real father. In the dream, her Daddy sang 'You Are My Sunshine' while he rocked her. That was the song her mom used to sing to her when she was really little. Sunny could never tell who the man was but she knew him deep in her soul. She imagined him to be Trent. The Daddy in the dream, knew her inside and out. He was happy to take care of his little girl, but he was also willing to punish her if she'd been naughty. There was a depth to the dream Daddy that didn't come from the dream. It didn't play out in any understandable part of the fantasy. It was something she just knew way down deep inside of her. Something her very soul seemed to need, to crave.
How in the world could she be so messed up? Had she had some traumatic event in her childhood that she'd blocked out somehow? That happened in movies all the time. How could it be considered normal to constantly dream about being spanked and then taken and taken hard—not on her terms but on the terms of a man she wanted to be both her lover and her Daddy? Maybe she had mental issues and needed a shrink. Would he turn to her in disgust and diagnose her as a nymphomaniac? Hell, maybe what she needed was a lobotomy.
"Are you okay, Miss Sunny?"
The sound of her name startled her. And then she felt his hand on hers, taking the reins. Jesse had ridden closer to her. The rough seam of his jean pants rubbed against her bare leg. The horses moved closer still and jarred her from her thoughts.
"Move your foot back, honey." Looking down, she realized that her leg had slipped completely through the stirrup and her yellow flip-flop was no longer dangling from her toes. When she met the worried gaze of the hunky cowboy, guilt and embarrassment heated her face.
"I'm fine. I'm sorry. I-I didn't even realize…"
"It's my fault. Jake was right, it was stupid of me to think flip-flops were okay," Jesse said, "Good thing the horses were just walking so no big dea
l." For some reason, his easy forgiveness didn't strike her as being what she deserved or what she needed. If her horse had startled again or, God forbid, taken off while she was so unaware, she could have been hurt and Jesse would have to live with his brother saying 'I told you so'. She had no doubt that after giving his brother that taunt, he'd then turn to her and without a single word, flip her across the nearest rail and order her to lower her ridiculous bikini bottoms. She'd have no choice but to obey as she needed the punishment to clear the guilt.
He'd tell her to count each of the strokes he planned on giving her with the belt he'd whipped free of his jeans. No matter how determined she was to obey and accept her deserved whipping, she knew she'd be wailing out each number, begging him to stop, promising to be good before another stroke landed, forcing another number from her lips.
Would he then pull her up and hold her in his arms while she cried out her remorse. Would he be the sort of man who would press a kiss on top of her head and tell her she was forgiven? Would he then take her hand, lead her into his house and into his bedroom to prove that even though she had been foolish and very naughty, she was still loved? Feeling a pat on her leg, she turned her attention back to the twin who was physically there and not some figure in her head.
"Hello, Sunny? Jesus, do you always drift off when someone is trying to talk to you?" Jesse said, drawing her attention from her fantasy.
"Um, sorry," she said lamely, squirming a bit in the saddle and barely catching the gasp that wanted to escape. Her foray into fantasy hadn't helped the flood of moisture into her skimpy bikini bottoms. She just prayed Jesse remained unware of that humiliating fact. "I guess I did drift. I seem to be doing that a lot lately. What were you saying?"
Jesse shook his head, his easy-going demeanor seemed to be slipping away as easily as her mind had. "Don't worry about it. It's the sun. I'm sure it's hotter here than you are used to. We'll take a turn off and get back to the barn quicker. Here," he said after he'd reached into his saddle pack and pulled out a water bottle, "drink some water it will help. The short cut is cooler, it's in the shade."
