by Em Petrova
“Get a room!” Wynonna called.
Laughing, Joy broke away. Ryder didn’t give her a second to think before he wrapped his fingers around her wrist and hauled her to his truck. Battered black with a crack in the windshield, it showed he was far from a man who flaunted himself.
He stuffed her into the passenger seat.
“Where are we going?” she asked the minute he jumped behind the wheel.
Through thick lashes, he gave her a smoldering glance. “Away from here. And don’t argue. I won’t listen.”
“I’ve missed you.”
Her quiet admission almost brought the truck to a halt. It rolled as slow as a snail riding the back of a turtle. He stared into her eyes, and there was no use in her pretending she hadn’t fallen in love with him.
She’d known it for a week.
Issuing a shaky breath, she said, “You’d better step on the gas if we’re going to get wherever we’re going today.”
The corner of his mouth tipped up and he stomped on the gas, leaving a cloud of light dust hanging over the campsite.
* * * * *
If he didn’t get Joy away—far away—from his family, he couldn’t account for what he’d do in front of them. He’d been this close to fucking her on the picnic table. Walking into camp and seeing her had torn away the last thread of his control.
“I didn’t know if you’d come,” he said, turning onto a road that would lead them deeper into the canyon. Red cliffs and dusky blue sky above them. Joy’s gray eyes burning with emotion that he dared not to hope meant more.
He’d take what he could and live in the moment.
“Wynonna and I ran into each other and she invited me to the campsite.”
He nodded. “Maybe my baby sister isn’t such a pain in the ass after all.”
Joy doubled her fist and punched him lightly on the biceps. “Are you saying she did you a favor in finding me since you weren’t going to look?”
He shot her a look. God, could she be any more gorgeous? He wanted to devour her starting with her swollen lips and ending between her legs. He ran his tongue over his lower lip and when she tracked the action, he groaned, low.
“I had all intentions of finding you, Princess. I was just taking care of business earlier or you’d already be hoarse from crying my name.”
She shivered, and he planted his hand on her upper thigh. A scant inch from her pussy. Body heat enveloped his fingertips, and his cock bulged painfully against his fly.
She wiggled down in the seat until the seam of her jeans met his fingers.
“Hell, Joy, I’m going to pull over and have you right here.”
“Good. I’ve been thinking of little else.”
Moaning, he caught sight of a small spot where he could pull off. The canyon park had a lot of visitors right now, but overall they were alone. It would have to do because he wasn’t waiting another minute.
He threw it in park so fast that the truck jerked forward. She fell into his arms, and he yanked her across the console and right into his lap. As soon as her round ass hit his groin, his lips were on hers.
Her flavors and scents sent him reeling out of control. He hadn’t felt so out of it since his first few times on the back of a bull. He clamped onto her hips and ground his cock into her.
“The truck bed,” she whispered between sweeping passes of her tongue through his mouth.
He nodded and reached for the door handle. They tumbled out, clutching each other to remain upright. He was afraid to let her go. He didn’t want her disappearing from his life again. He’d do anything, even tell her what was in his heart, to keep her with him.
She tangled herself around him like a boa constrictor as they made slow progress to the back of the truck. He popped the tailgate and lowered it. She scrambled up and in, shoving a drink cooler out of her path.
“Lucky you have all these sleeping bags here as cushion.” She whipped off her shirt, sending her dark hair flying around her breasts.
His cock expanded, and he couldn’t stand it another second. “I want you under me all night, but I can’t go slow. Not this time, Joy.”
Her eyes darkened a shade as they stripped each other with all haste. He stopped to lick her nipples but not for very long. He didn’t want to embarrass himself, and if he didn’t get inside her fast, then he would.
When she cupped his balls and drew him to lie between her splayed thighs, he thought he’d die a happy man.
“Fuck, condom.” He pushed onto his knees and dragged his jeans closer to rip one from his pocket and fumble it onto his erection. She stared up at him, her nipples hard pink points and her folds wet with desire.
“Hurry, Ryder.”
“I fucking love my name on your lips. Say it as I enter you.” With the condom in position, he poised his cock right at her drenched opening. His balls tightened with the need to blow.
“Ryder,” she gasped as he shoved his full length into her in one fast glide.
* * * * *
Need exploded in her, shooting spears of lust to each corner of her body. She cried out as he withdrew, kissing her slowly, deeply, and pushed back in with equal slowness.
Having her under him again was like a dream. And her admission that she’d missed him gave him a heady feeling of power. He could take on the meanest, baddest bull right now and come out with a record-book score.
Joy’s eyes glowed. “Ryder.”
He kissed her softly while jerking his hips in a slow rhythm that couldn’t last long. In another second he’d be galloping out of control.
He ran his hand over her breast, loving how her nipple hardened for him. Her inner walls gripped his cock tighter. A low groan escaped him.
“Wrap your legs around me. Let me in deeper.”
She did, and he slipped in another fraction.
“You’re driving me crazy,” she gasped.
“Do you need to come?”
“Yes. Ryder, please!”
He churned his hips. “Squeeze me tighter.”
“Oh God.” She clamped down on him so hard that it sent them both sailing over the edge. Her pulsations drove spurt after spurt from him. He continued to pump into her until he couldn’t even feel his feet anymore. He was numb except for his cock.
Gathering his wits, he kissed her. A long, wild kiss that made him instantly hard again.
She arched a brow, eyes glistening with laughter and happiness.
“A cowboy gets back up on his horse,” he rasped.
She cuffed him in the ear, making it ring, and they wrestled until he allowed her to mount him. She rubbed against his still-sheathed cock, her long hair trailing over his hands at her waist.
“I’ve never had sex in the back of a truck. This is hard on the knees,” she said.
He tugged a few articles of clothing up around his ears. “Come kneel here where it’s softer.”
They shared a heartbeat staring at each other. Then he urged her up until she straddled his face.
As soon as her sweet scents filled his head, he moaned.
“You’re…vocal.” She sucked in a gasp when he stroked his tongue over her slippery folds.
“Mmmm.” He curled his tongue around her clit, teasing it until it was a hard pearl. Her juices coated his tongue, and he wanted more. With another noise to prove she was right about how vocal he was, he delved his tongue deep into her channel. She threw her head back. Rolling her hips and grinding her pussy against his lips.
He zigzagged his tongue up the seam to her hard bud again. Opening his mouth wide and settling her firmly over his jaw so his stubble drove her wild in the right spot. She locked her fingers in his hair and screamed.
Who’s vocal now?
Good thing they were in the open with nobody around, because she was a wildcat. Taking what she needed from his lips and tongue until her arousal wet his face. He watched her expression shift as he whipped her into a frenzy. Passion flared inside him. He never wanted this to end. Somehow he was going
to convince her that she needed to give him a chance—in the open.
They weren’t exactly hiding but he wanted every camera recording the moment when he told the world, “This woman is mine.”
He sucked on her pussy as if it were a ripe fruit. She stiffened. Taking her nipples between his fingers, he pinched lightly.
“Harder!”
Oh so his little wildcat had a darker side. He issued another primal noise and squeezed her nipples just as her orgasm hit.
With each contraction around his tongue, his cock grew into harder steel. He wasn’t nearly finished with her.
* * * * *
“We have to get out of this truck bed soon.” Ryder kissed a line down Joy’s shoulder all the way to her elbow, raising goosebumps in his wake.
She curled into him. “Why?” If she had her way, she’d sleep here under the stars. Night had fallen, and that bite of hot dog she’d taken before Ryder had rudely removed it from her hand was long since worn off. Maybe he was just as hungry as she was.
He pushed his erection into her hip. “I’m out of condoms.”
“You only had two in your wallet?”
“Uh-huh.” He bit her shoulder lightly.
“You need a bigger wallet. Maybe a man purse.”
“That’ll go over well with the fans.” Amusement tinged his tone.
“As long as it matches your chaps, it’ll be the new trend.”
This time he did laugh. God, that rumbling sound did things to her insides. Melted, puddled, whatever she wanted to call it, he did it to her. She stared at the bright sliver of moon hanging low in the sky, soothed by the sound of the insects and frogs around them. In the daylight the canyon was a glory to behold but at night with a beautiful man in her arms?
She bit back the love words laying on her tongue. They still didn’t know each other that well. Or maybe they knew just enough. Either way, she couldn’t stop the wild horses of her emotions. The gates were opened.
“Can’t we stay here, though? We don’t have to make love.” A blush sounded in her voice. Make love sounded so naïve, but he didn’t comment on it.
“We can always get creative. But Princess, we’re going to have to figure out birth control if you’re my woman. I want you bareback more than anything.”
She twisted to look at him. His features set in total seriousness. She could say she wasn’t going to be his woman, but the thought made her too warm and filled her stomach with butterflies.
“I have some creative visions.” She wrapped her fingers around the base of his erection, pulling a moan from him.
“So do I.” He flattened his palm over her pussy, sending sparks through her core. She couldn’t get enough of him. When he placed his lips at her ear, she waited for dirty words. What she got instead made her start.
“Let’s stop pretending this isn’t a relationship. We both know it is.”
“Is…that what you want?”
“Hell yes. The idea of guys like Gonzales hitting on you because they don’t know you’re mine makes me want to punch shit.”
She’d laugh at his expressive choice of words if his hot alpha attitude wasn’t zinging her to another stratosphere. She drew his face down to rest on her breasts. He could probably hear her heart thumping out of her chest.
“There’s no reason to be jealous, you know. I haven’t felt this way about anybody before.” Her admission came out so quietly, it might have been lost under the chatter of the cicadas.
He heard, though. Raising his head, he pierced her with his dark, burning gaze. “Never?”
“No.”
His breath came out in a rush over her skin. “Me either. So now that we’ve got that ironed out, we just need to figure out the bit about your father hating cowboys and my very strong desire to keep you away from the cameras that plague me.”
“That’s a tall order. Maybe we should just run away.” She was only half kidding.
He picked up on it. “Canada’s a great place to rodeo.”
Too easily she pictured a life with him, traveling and enjoying each other. She loved this lifestyle as much as he did.
“You know I’m not that afraid of my father’s opinion. I just…” How to say she was unsure of her own feelings and how serious he actually was?
He stared into her eyes. “You feel these sparks?” His insinuating tone heralded his arousal even if his hard cock against her thigh hadn’t alerted her.
She rubbed against him nice and slow. Then she twisted her lips against his skin. Tasting salt and musk. Kissing and licking a path downward, she learned every swell of his pecs before heading for the treasure of his abs. A light dusting of hair trailed down the center, pointing toward the prize.
She flicked her eyes at him as she parted her lips over his swollen tip.
“Helllll.” He cradled her face and watched as she swallowed him. When he was seated in the back of her throat, he groaned as loud as an animal. Hot lust controlled her as she drew on his length.
She’d rarely performed this act in the past, but it was high time, and with this man. Since the moment she’d set eyes on him she’d wanted to eat him up. The camera didn’t lie when it came to Ryder. Oh no, he was just as yummy off-screen as on. More so.
“Slide your finger between your legs. Let me know how wet you are,” he urged.
She lapped a circle around his cock and ran her tongue down the underside. He grunted.
“Touch yourself,” he said again.
Easing her fingers between her thighs, she found exactly what she expected—soaking wet folds. Her clit straining. She traced the seam up and down, up and down, and then Ryder took hold of her wrist and drew her hand to his mouth.
Shock gripped her as he suckled her fingers right to the knuckles. She hollowed her cheeks and drew on him as they drove each other crazy.
“Again,” he rasped, releasing her hand.
She moved her fingers to her pussy again, wetter now. She let go of his cock and mouthed his sac, raising a louder groan from him. But when he had her fingers between his lips again, she couldn’t hold back another second.
Raising onto her knees, she twisted around to straddle his face.
“God, this ass.” His hot breath caressed her a heartbeat before he plunged his tongue deep.
She cried out and wiggled back for more even as she sucked him. The world blurred as pleasure stole her senses. Ryder’s scents flooded her brain, along with his noises and the feel of his hard body beneath her and his scorching wet tongue on her pussy.
When he sucked her clit into his mouth, she doubled her efforts to make him come. For some reason, a simultaneous explosion in the sixty-nine position seemed the best idea in the world.
He planted his hands on her hips and dragged her tighter to his face. She ground on him, taking everything she needed to reach that tall peak. His cock stiffened further, stretching deep into her throat. She swallowed automatically.
“Fuuuuck. I’m there, Princess. Can you swallow me?” He jerked his hips upward, his words and actions sending her off the cliff. Pressure burst in her core as her body shivered through wave after wave of her release. At the first pulsation, his first spurt hit the back of her throat.
They writhed together for a long minute before tumbling apart, each breathing heavily. She opened her eyes to see the blaze of stars smeared across the sky. “I’ll never forget this minute.”
He looped his arm around her calves and kissed her ankles. A squeal left her, and she wriggled from his grasp.
“Ticklish?” His rumble was something she wanted to hear every day for…well the rest of her life.
And that scared the hell out of her. She was no commitment-phobe but she had to make sure what she was feeling was real. She’d always believed her mother had fallen for the excitement a bull rider had to offer, but when it came down to it, she couldn’t put up with that sort of life.
Joy could. That wasn’t the trouble—she needed to ensure her feelings were as genuine as a hand
-tooled leather saddle. No cheap rhinestone love for her. No way.
“What happens when the sun comes up?” she asked quietly, her voice strange in the night.
He kissed her ankle again, more gently this time to keep from tickling her so much. “I take you back to camp with me and feed you some breakfast.”
For now, that was good enough.
* * * * *
The Calhouns were off their game today. Lane took sixth place. Ridge didn’t make it two hops on his bronc before he was tossed on his ass. He’d come out of the arena limping, which had caused a lot of tension in the family and crew. They all knew the risks and took them anyway, but they’d gotten away with few injuries this past year.
Ridge had his ankle braced on each side and a thick bandage immobilizing it. He glared at his leg as if sheer will would get him on another bronc later today.
“Take it easy, bro.” Ryder clapped him on the shoulder just as stomping sounded.
They looked at each other and said, “West,” at the same time.
As a kid, West had started his habit of clomping when angry after one of the goats had butted him into the dirt. He’d come in stomping-mad and had never stopped since.
Their brother’s head appeared around the curtain separating Ridge from the other patient cubicles in the makeshift triage area.
“Fucking rope snapped.” West practically yelled this.
Ryder’s eyes bulged. “What?” That was unheard of unless…
“Someone tampered with it. No other reason. You know I check my ropes twice before the tie-down.” In the tie-down roping, a cow was released from a chute and West took off after it on horseback. As soon as the lasso settled over the cow’s head, he leaped off and rushed to tie its legs together—one front and one back.
West swiped at a stack of magazines, sending them skidding onto the floor. “As soon as the rope got taut, it broke and the calf ran.”
They looked at each other.
“What could have happened to the rope? Just didn’t check it well enough?”
He was shaking his head before Ryder had finished speaking. “No way. I think someone cut it while I was in the chute.”
