Tyler

by C. H. Admirand

  A few minutes later, she walked to the front door. “I’ll be right back, Jo,” she called out.

  “Wait for me,” her cousin called out hurrying to catch up.

  They linked arms and walked toward the bank, chatting about their meeting earlier in the week and the results they’d had so far. There was no question that Mavis Beeton was definitely on their side, ready, willing, and able to lend the businesswomen in town a hand and lead the way toward keeping Pleasure and its heritage intact, while Tyler had agreed to round up the ranchers.

  “So Mavis is ready to ride to the rescue?”

  “Absolutely,” Em said. “She’s ticked at Frank Emerson, calling him high-handed and arrogant.” Emily paused. “And a couple of things that’d make you blush.”

  “I’m glad she’s on our side.”

  Once their money was safe in the night depository, they headed back toward the bar. They’d walked two and a half blocks when they noticed two tall men walking toward them. The light from the street lamp made it impossible to make out their faces, but the loose-limbed stride of the one and the purposeful stride of the other had them relaxing. “Looks like we were gone too long,” Jolene whispered. “Here comes the search party.”

  “Ladies,” Tyler tipped his Stetson and set it back on his head. Emily was close enough to see his expression change right before he asked, “What took so long?” Tyler’s gaze met Jake’s over the heads of the women. “Redheads are barrelful of trouble.”

  “But worth every minute of it,” Jake added.

  “Absolutely,” Tyler agreed. He reached for Emily, and in that moment, holding Emily against his heart, he realized that nothing mattered… not the ranch, not his brothers… nothing. Because he realized that’s what he’d be without Emily… nothing.

  Emily sighed and snuggled closer, her delectable body rubbing against Tyler’s worn jeans, stirring things best left alone until later to full attention. Tyler bent down and whispered, “You can’t move now, or else everyone’s gonna know how bad I want to get you naked.”

  Her low and sensual chuckle amplified the want that filled him to bursting every time he was near her. “Come on, sweet thing,” he rasped, pressing his lips to her temple. She shivered, and he knew it had just as much to do with burning up the sheets as it did branding themselves on each other’s hearts. It was in that instant that Tyler realized the real reason he’d never let Emily go. He loved every bit of her… temper, redhead, and all. She was everything to him. All he had to do was convince her that she loved him enough to take him, lock, stock, broken down ranch, and all.

  They walked back to the bar, and once everyone was inside, Tyler locked the door behind them and walked down the darkened hallway to where Emily stood waiting for him. He was amazed that he no longer thought the mirrors or red velvet benches odd. The place had grown on him. He hadn’t been working at The Lucky Star all that long, but long enough to put a dent in the mortgage and he was finally starting to chip away at the feed bill too.

  “Hey, sweet thing.” He walked over to where she stood and pulled her into his arms. Once he had her there, he knew it wouldn’t be enough. Not tonight.

  “Mmmm…” he pressed his lips to the top of her curls and breathed in the scent that was uniquely Emily. “You ready to go upstairs?”

  Emily leaned against him. “Not yet, but I think Jolene’s done in.”

  He lifted his head and asked Jake, “You taking her upstairs?”

  Jake nodded. “I’m taking Jolene to bed.”

  Emily’s head shot up. “Did you mean that the way it sounded?”

  Jake grinned at her. “Yes, ma’am,” he said before his smile faded. “You have a problem with that?”

  Emily snuggled closer to Tyler and answered, “I think you’re just what my hardheaded cousin needs. You planning on doing something to change my mind about that?”

  Jake scooped the tired woman into his arms. “No, ma’am.”

  Tyler laughed. “Go on, get a head start, we’ll be busy down here for a while.”

  Emily shivered in his arms.

  He rasped, “Real busy.”

  Alone, he eased his hold on her so he could watch her eyes. Grandpa always said the mouth might lie, but the eyes never would.

  He placed a hand to the curve of her backside and pulled her hard up against his erection. His mouth covered hers, and he let himself feast. When he finally came up for air, he said, “You’re like a drug. Each time I touch you or taste you, I want you more. I’m acting like a teenager… a walking, talking, raging hard-on. I can’t get enough of you, and I can’t wait to be inside of you.”

  “You sound worried. Wanting me shouldn’t be a reason to worry, Tyler.”

  He clamped down on his libido and found the control he thought was just out of reach. Shaking his head to clear the lust from it, he realized he needed to explain. He wanted her to understand. “I’ve messed up before, Emily. By being too focused on the ranch and making ends meet. It’s a demanding lifestyle even when times are going good. I’m not exactly relationship material… I know… I’ve been told that before.”

  Emily stared up at him and eased back until she was an arm’s distance away from him. “I understand hard work and the endless hours. Since moving out to Texas, we haven’t had time for much other than keeping the business afloat, and dodging the Preservation Society and those other groups hounding us for money.”

  “Em, I’ve failed in the past and it scares me that I might this time too.” He held his breath waiting for her reply. Would she throw his ex in his face? Would she decide he wasn’t worth the time or effort? She said she loved him… shouldn’t that mean she would stick by him?

  Grasping his hand in hers, she smiled and said, “I know you said you wouldn’t ask me about my past lovers, and I appreciate that you haven’t, but I have to confess that I haven’t been able to make a relationship work yet. I’m scared that you’ll walk.”

  “Away from you?” He shook his head, awed by the fact that the perfect woman for him didn’t realize just how perfect she was. “I’d have to be deaf, dumb, and blind to walk away from the best damn thing that ever happened to me.”

  She squeezed his hands and brought them to her lips. “We’re a pair, aren’t we?”

  His heart felt lighter, having shared his greatest fear with her. He tugged on her arm until she tumbled against him. “I’m sticking, Em.”

  “Thank God.”

  “Does that mean you are too?” He needed to hear her say it. It wasn’t enough that she loved him. She had to like him and accept him for who and what he was; the Circle G was part and parcel of that.

  “It’s a no-brainer, Tyler,” she said, pressing her lips to where his heart beat a steady rhythm. She looked up at him and must have seen the worry on his face because she asked, “Don’t you believe me?”

  His heart lurched and he hugged her tightly to him. “Yeah. I do, but I was thinking that I don’t have a lot to offer you what with the way we’re struggling to keep our heads above water out at the ranch.”

  She shook her head. “Is that what’s worrying you?” Emily laughed. “I’m not exactly a high maintenance kind of woman, you know.”

  He nodded. “If you say so.”

  She laughed harder. “Was it all of those diamonds and jewels that I keep asking you for or the demands that you constantly take me out somewhere and spend oodles of money on me?”

  He felt his lips lifting. The chuckle caught him by surprise. “Well, there is that.”

  She smacked him on the shoulder. “You’re not thinking with the brains the good Lord gave you, if you think I’m attracted to you because of what you have or don’t have… it’s who you are in here”—Emily tapped her pointer finger against his heart—“and up there,” she said, pointing to his head, “that count.”

  His sigh of relief was loud enough for her to hear, but he didn’t care. She loved him—him—and she’d take him just the way he was, ornery brothers and demanding ranch include
d. “I guess it’s because the ranch means so much to me and is such a huge part of me that I was worried you wouldn’t accept either of us if we were too much trouble.”

  “I already told you that I thought there was something really magical about your ranch. I meant it, Tyler, but even if you didn’t have a penny in your pocket and only the shirt on your back, I’d still be in love with you.”

  He nodded, and she placed her hand over his heart again. “I mean that, Tyler Garahan.”

  “Same goes, Emily Langley.” He dipped his head down so he could capture her lips and seal his words with a kiss. Confident and feeling better than he had for a while, he asked, “Would you dance on the bar for me?”

  Her laugh eased the rest of his worry. “There was a whole lot of José involved,” she said, “and I don’t know that I want to drink that much again anytime soon.”

  He rubbed his hands up and down her arms. “So you only dance on the bar if you’re drunk?”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “You really want me to get up there and dance?”

  His heart stuttered. “I can’t get the image of you up there in all your lace-covered glory, arms spread, singing your heart out from my mind.”

  “I don’t remember singing.”

  “Jake said he would never forget the way you and Jolene looked up there with your—”

  “Our what?”

  “Hell, I really should have punched him.”

  “Whatever for?”

  “He saw what I didn’t, and I don’t like sharing.”

  She frowned, and he wished he knew what she was thinking but didn’t want to ask. Hell, for a man who didn’t like to talk much, he used up his share of words for the week. “I’m talked out, Em,” he confessed.

  “Why don’t you shut up and kiss me?”

  Chapter 21

  Emily’s heart stumbled in her breast as Tyler’s lips pressed against hers. Lord, the man could kiss. Her knees wobbled and her legs went limp as he plundered.

  Nibbling and licking a path from just beneath her ear along the tendon in her throat to the edge of her scoop-necked top, his tongue skimmed there for a moment before slipping under to sample her. She pushed her worry aside. There wasn’t any reason to worry that Tyler was jealous of the fact that Jake had apparently seen her and Jolene in their underwear dancing on the bar. Tyler stripped in front of dozens of women every night.

  He lifted his head and the heat in his eyes seared her. “You don’t have to dance on the bar if you don’t want to.” He reached out and grabbed a hold of her shoulders. “We could always use the bar for leverage while I take my time tasting you.”

  He swirled his tongue across her shoulder, flicking it along the length of her collarbone. When he reached the hollow of her throat, he pressed his lips to the wildly beating pulse point and then let the tip of his tongue slip up to her chin. Nipping it, he pressed his lips to the sensitized skin before sliding his tongue back down to the base of her throat.

  “Tyler,” she sighed, then she heard someone moan. It could have been her… maybe it was him. She didn’t know or care. “I need you to touch me,” she rasped.

  “Tell me where, Em,” he groaned as he slipped her shirt off and the straps of her bra down over her shoulders. Dipping his head down, he let his tongue glide along the edge of her bra, flicking it under the lacy edge, tormenting her. “You taste like heaven,” he murmured, continuing his torturous path along the edge of her bra, teasing her nipples one at a time. “Will you let me look at you, Em?”

  “Aren’t you already looking at me?”

  He laid his forehead against the top of her head and strained against the need to ravage. Once he had himself under control, he said, “I’ve never just looked at you. Will you let me?”

  Her eyes widened as he reached for her. Her bra straps made it a challenge, but she slipped first one arm and then the other free, until her bounteous breasts were bared for him.

  “My God, Emily,” he whispered. “You’re so beautiful.” He hesitated before reaching out his hand to brush the back of it against her nipples. They hardened to peaks of perfection. The seducer became the seduced. “I’ve got to taste you.”

  She didn’t say a word but didn’t try to stop him. He flicked his tongue out to taste and was rewarded. Sweet and creamy with berry-tart perfection. “You’re killing me.”

  “But I’m not doing anything.”

  “You beauty slays me, and the way you taste keeps me up nights when I should be sleeping.”

  “You’re not alone, Tyler. When you’re not with me, all I can think of is the next time we can be together. I really miss you when you’re not in my bed.”

  He grinned, lifted her up onto the sleek ebony bar, climbed up on the bar, and knelt in front of her, getting lost in the glorious depths of her whiskey-colored eyes. His heart stumbled, and his gut felt like he’d been head-butted by an angry bull. He swooped down and captured her lips in a tongue-tangling kiss. “I fall asleep thinking of you, and you’re the first thing on my mind when I wake up.”

  Before she could respond, he kissed her again. Remembering the sensitive spot on her neck, just below her ear, he nipped the skin there, then pressed his lips to the spot to soothe it.

  “Mmmm.”

  “Feel good?” He knew it did but wanted her to be open with him and tell him what was in her heart and on her mind.

  “Yes,” she hissed. He nipped her collarbone and dipped his head lower to tease first one nipple, then the other. When she was writhing beneath him, he drew her left breast into his mouth and suckled her.

  She was bucking beneath him before he switched to her right breast and lavished it with the same tender attention. Emily gripped his head, holding him to her breast, but he wanted to taste more.

  “I want to see if you’re as sweet as I remember… right here.” He slid a finger between her breasts down to her belly button.

  He watched her eyes and knew she wanted him to. “Say it, Em.”

  “Please?”

  “Close enough,” he rasped, baring the rest of her to his eyes and then his lips, letting his tongue follow the path his fingertip had traced. Dipping his tongue into her belly button, he breathed in her scent. Womanly, a hint of lavender mixed with sandalwood, his aftershave. Hell, he wasn’t done branding her with his scent yet.

  “Let me taste you again, Em. I can’t get enough of you.” He slipped his hands beneath her curvy backside and lifted it up, waiting for her permission.

  Amber fire scorched him, but he didn’t let go. Now that he’d sipped, he needed to taste the very essence of Emily Langley again. He leaned down and blew a breath across the triangle of red curls guarding what he wanted her to yield to him. “Emily,” he drawled out her name and dipped a finger inside of her.

  She moaned out his name, long and low. He slipped another in and began to play her body, until she gasped out, “Yes, Tyler, now. Please?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he grinned and lifted her to his mouth, plunging his tongue into her warm wet depths. It was his turn to moan. She tasted just like he remembered: heaven. He licked and sucked, nipping and tasting, until he was full to bursting, and she was writhing mindlessly beneath him, lifting her hips up off the bar letting him taste her more deeply.

  “I’ll be back for more later,” he promised. “Maybe not just yet, but definitely soon.” He leaned back on his knees, his boots scraping along the top of the bar as he reached into his pocket for a condom.

  He ripped the top of the foil packet and pulled the latex out, but she stopped him. “Let me.”

  With a gentleness that had his heart tripping in his chest, she covered him from tip to base. Reaching up, she pulled him home and drove them both over the edge to insanity.

  “Mmmm,” she murmured a little while later. “What time is it?”

  Emily’s soft voice brought him back to earth. His back ached like a son-of-a-bitch and his knees felt raw, but when he opened his eyes, her face was the first thing he saw. He
ll, he couldn’t complain.

  “Hey, sweet thing,” he whispered, kissing her luscious lips. “Why can’t I get enough of you, Miss Langley?”

  “I don’t know, Mr. Garahan,” she said, “but I’m having the same problem.

  “How did we end up on the bar?” he dragged his gaze away from her and looked around them.

  Her eyes were alight with mischief. “It seemed like a good idea at the time. I’m just grateful the bar’s a lot stronger than I thought it’d be.”

  He wished he didn’t feel like he’d just been trampled by Widowmaker. He had the will, just not the stamina to go another round without eating. “You wore me out, woman. The body’s willing but weak… maybe if you feed me first.”

  She drew circles on his pecs with her fingertips. The movement was making him crazy. “I mean it,” he tried to sound stern, but she didn’t stop. He grabbed hold of her hand, and she sighed. “All right, Tyler,” she said. “What’ll it be?”

  “Got a side of beef you could fry up?”

  She threw her arms around his neck and pulled him close. “I think I have a quarter of a buffalo in the freezer,” she teased. Pressing her lips to his, she slipped her tongue inside to tangle with his. His mind fogged up and his dick sprang to attention. “If you feed me first with a side of aspirin, you can be on top.”

  Emily’s wary look told him she either hadn’t had a very patient lover before, or she wasn’t used to talking about what she wanted her lover to do. Either way, he was going to get her to ride him later.

  “You’ll like it,” he promised.

  He eased out of her, rocked by how hollow he felt without that physical connection to her. “We’d better get you dressed.” But he got hot all over again, fingering what was left of her lace thong underwear.

  He slipped down off the bar, shifted himself back inside his jeans and started retrieving her clothes. Her shirt was hooked over the back of a barstool. He didn’t have a clue where her bra had ended up. He’d find it later.