“Let me help you with your skirt,” he said, pumped that she looked so totally disheveled and that it had been at his hands.
“How come I’m practically naked and all you have to put on is a shirt?”
He leaned close to her and pressed his lips to her shoulder. “You couldn’t wait.”
The dreamy look in her eyes only added to the euphoric feeling swirling around inside of him. It had been a long dry spell between women, but that wasn’t at the heart of what he was feeling. She was.
Emily lifted her hopelessly stretched out shirt, and he wondered if it would shrink back when she washed it. “Do you want mine?” he scooped his shirt off the floor and handed it to her.
She reached out to take it from him, brushing her knuckles against the back of his hand. He felt the jolt shoot straight up his arm.
Emily must have felt it too, her eyes widened as she slipped her arms into the sleeves. “You’re positively lethal,” she rasped, buttoning the shirt before scooting to the edge of the bar.
“Wait,” he cautioned, “you don’t want to scrape that lovely bottom on the edge of the bar.”
She grinned and held her arms out to him. “Lovely?”
“Yeah,” he scooped her up and held tight before letting her slide down the long hard length of him, setting her on her feet. His stomach rumbled breaking the spell she’d cast over him.
She laughed. “Come on, I’ll rustle up some breakfast.”
Half an hour later, he’d decimated the better part of a pound of bacon and a half a dozen scrambled eggs. Emily lost count of the slices of jelly toast he consumed along with about a gallon of coffee. Finally, the dark-haired hunk pushed back from the table and sighed. “I was hungry.”
She couldn’t keep from giggling. “I never would have guessed from the way you plowed through that meal.” Tilting her head to one side, she asked, “Do you always eat like that?”
“Naw.” He grinned and lifted his coffee mug to his lips. “I usually have steak with my eggs.”
“If I hadn’t been out to the ranch, I’d think you were kidding.”
He swallowed the mouthful of coffee and set the mug down. “When you get up before dawn to tend to the cattle and horses, you have to eat enough to keep your body going until about noon.”
She was beyond tired and achy in places that were just getting the hang of being used and abused… in a good way… again. “I’m going to bed.”
Tyler stood when she did.
“Em,” he said, “there’s a couple of things I need to tell you.”
“I’m too tired to talk now, Tyler.” She really was. Besides if she rested up, she could take him up on his offer to let her be on top. “Talk and walk, babe.” She spun on her heel and walked toward her bedroom, glancing at Jolene’s closed door and the muffled sounds coming from behind it. Sounded like Jolene and Jake were getting along just fine.
“Emily, can you just give me a couple of minutes to get my head together?”
“I fed you.”
He sighed. “Appreciate it, ma’am,” he said, “but I need to you tell you something important.”
It was her turn to sigh. “All right, but I wasn’t kidding, you talk while you walk. I’m going to bed and it’s in there.”
He chuckled. “Yes, ma’am.”
“And quit calling me ma’am all the damn time,” she grumbled. “Makes me feel old.”
“All right, darlin’.”
How could she resist this man? “I’m halfway to that bed, and once I get there, I’m closing my eyes, so you’d best be getting whatever needs saying, said.”
He spun her around and into his arms. “I love the hell out of you, Emily Langley.” He locked lips with her and proceeded to kiss every last thought out of her head.
***
When he came up for air, she locked her fingers behind his head and pulled him to within a breath from her mouth. “I don’t mind hearing you say it again, but you don’t need to for my sake. I love you too.”
“Why are we standing?” he asked, tugging her into her bedroom, tumbling her onto the bed. “When we could talk just as easily lying down?” He nipped her bottom lip and used her surprise to his advantage, delving deep, tangling his tongue with hers.
Instead of dragging her closer, he pulled back and cupped her face in his hands. “Do you know what scared me the most, Em?”
She shook her head, not wanting to break the spell of the moment.
“The thought of telling you how I felt and having you tell me you just love me for the sex and wouldn’t want me if you knew I came with a broken down ranch and two ornery brothers.”
She grinned, placed her hands on top of his, and confessed. “Well, I really love your talented lips and hips,” she teased. When his brows furrowed over his dark expressive eyes, she laughed out loud. “I’d be crazy not to,” she said. Before he could interrupt, she added, “It works both ways, Tyler. I’m a partner in a business that deals with pleasure—not just any man would be secure enough to get involved with me.” When he stared at her, she smiled. “I’m crazy in love with you, and you can lasso me any time you like, cowboy.”
His grin was lethal. Shifting his hands, pinning her arms at her sides, he smiled down at her, melting her heart. “Prepare to be hog-tied, ma’am.”
Chapter 22
The sound of a door being shut and muffled laughter woke her. She looked up. Tyler was awake and smiling down at her. Reaching out, she wrapped her arms around her man and slid them down to his amazingly taut backside, pulling him up to where she ached for him.
“Miss me?” Tyler bent to press his lips to hers.
She shifted until she was beneath him. “Mmmm.” She wrapped her legs around his waist and poured everything she was feeling into her kiss.
“You’re insatiable,” he murmured, kissing a path of fire from her lips along the line of her jaw to a spot just beneath her ear. He nipped the skin then soothed it with a kiss.
“Are you complaining already?” Lord, she hoped he wasn’t. She hadn’t been this turned on since… she paused to think, but he was kissing her bare shoulder, and her mind went blank.
“Condom?” His rasped question broke through the haze of ecstasy enveloping her.
“Don’t you have any more?”
“No,” he groaned, taking her breast in his mouth. He suckled, pulling a moan from down deep inside of her. He shifted and poised above the other one long enough to say, “I didn’t think we’d have enough time for more.”
He latched on to her other breast and what she was about to say ended up an incoherent gurgle low in her throat.
He drew her in and drove her up over the edge with his talented tongue and marvelous mouth. Drawing back, his eyes burned her with the dark, dangerous emotions swirling in their depths. “I was wrong.”
When she could draw in enough air to speak, she mumbled, “There’s a box in the bathroom.”
Tyler was up and off the bed before she could finish.
“Where?” he demanded looking over his shoulder, pulling on his jeans.
“The closet.”
He bumped into something solid. Jake. Hell. He saw that his friend had the box in his hand and felt the growl forming in his own throat. He swallowed it and asked, “Is the box full?”
Jake stared at Tyler, then down at the box. When he looked back up he drawled, “Yeah.”
They grinned at one another, knowing the Langley women hadn’t had the need or opportunity to open the box of condoms they kept in their bathroom, right next to the tampons, Midol, and Band-Aids.
“Pleasure pack?” Tyler’s gut clenched. Man, it was a twelve pack of lubricated condoms, some ribbed, some twisted. “You gonna share?” Tyler knew he’d fight Jake for half if he had to.
Jake’s eyes glazed over.
He probably just noticed he was holding a box of the variety selection.
“I probably don’t have the stamina to use all of these before I go to work this morning,” Jake
admitted before tearing the box open like a kid on Christmas morning.
Tyler cupped his hands beneath the box to catch the ones that fell out. “Thanks,” he said, turning around to sprint down the hallway.
“Hold on, lover boy.” Jake had him by the shoulder. “We each get two three-packs.”
Tyler looked down at the foil packets in his hands, then back up at Jake. “Sorry.” He counted then tossed a pack at Jake before heading back into Emily’s bedroom.
***
“What kept you?”
Tyler lifted his hand high, like a warrior returning from battle with the defeated enemy’s sword.
Emily’s heart skipped a beat when he lowered his hand, ripped off one foil packet, tossed the rest aside, and proceeded to open the packet with his teeth.
His gaze locked with hers. He shucked his jeans and sheathed himself before she’d managed to unbutton his shirt.
Stepping out of his jeans, he asked, “Have I told you how good you look in my shirt?”
He knelt on the bed, straddling her. Awed by the beauty of his musculature, she ran her hands along the breadth of his shoulders. Testing the elasticity and tensile strength of his muscles, she trailed her fingers slowly down to his glutes.
She smiled up at him. “And you have a seriously stellar set of abs and butt muscles.”
He grinned, settling himself between her thighs. “I usually just use them for sitting.”
“Not last night,” she whispered, urging him forward, pulling her knees up so he could go deep, right where she wanted him.
Words failed her as he pulled out, then plunged all the way to her core. He pulled out again slowly, dragging out her pleasure, until she thought she’d explode. She’d never been insatiable before, hadn’t known she could feel this way.
“Tyler, please,” she begged.
“Tell me what you want, Emily.”
“You,” she rasped. “I want you.”
Like the flick of a light switch, Tyler stepped up the pace, plunging into her over and over until she went blind right before she splintered apart in his arms.
When she resurfaced, she heard him grumbling, “I think you just killed me.”
“A big strong cowboy like you?” Her words belied the way she felt. Emily didn’t think she could keep this pace up. Sore in places well used, somewhere just this side of exhausted, she moaned, “Even my fingernails are tired.”
Tyler’s answering chuckle cleared her head the rest of the way. Realizing that what she’d just said sounded ridiculous, she added, “Well, if they had muscles they’d be tired.”
He laughed harder.
She smacked him in the shoulder.
“You are some piece of work, Emily Langley.” He bent his head to press his mouth to hers. When he came up for air, he angled her chin so he could watch her eyes. “You think we can use up all of these condoms before I have to head back to the ranch?”
Tugging on his neck, she brought his mouth back down to where she could nip his bottom lip. She soothed it with the tip of her tongue then traced the rim of his mouth before molding her mouth to his.
She nipped his chin and grinned. “I’m game, but I probably won’t be able to walk straight for a week.”
His brown eyes smoldered with passion. He bent his head and traced his tongue along the tendon behind her ear before pressing his lips to one of her guaranteed trigger spots. Going with the flow, she tilted her head to give him better access.
“I’ll make it worth your while.”
***
Tyler’s cell phone woke them. “Damn.” He flipped it open. “This better be good.”
He wiped the sleep from his eyes and shifted Emily so she was leaning against him. Tired didn’t begin to describe what he was feeling right now, but it was a really good tired… a loose and sated kind of tired. Leaning down, he kissed her bare shoulder. “Are you sure?” Tyler shifted upright, jarring Emily. He soothed her with his free hand then slid his hand down to grab a hold of hers. Fingers entwined, he listened to the rest of what his brother had to say.
Flipping his phone closed he told her, “We have a buyer for Widowmaker.” Pulling Emily back into his arms, he rested his chin on the top of her head. “You’re a smart woman, Emily, and just because I haven’t come right out to explain our financial situation over at the Circle G, I’m sure you know it’s pretty bleak.”
She nodded, waiting for him to continue.
“With O’Malley wanting to buy that bull, we could put a little more down on the feed bill; add that to what I’m bringing home from here, and we’ll have the mortgage payment and start chipping away at the mountain of debt we still owe.” His sigh was heartfelt. “Once we get a big enough chunk of the mortgage paid, I can quit this job and never have to go out onto that stage again.”
He felt Emily stiffen next to him. “I’m not giving up what we have, darlin’, so don’t worry your pretty little head about that.” Leaning closer, intending to capture her lips, he was surprised when she reared back and put a hand to the middle of his chest.
“What’s wrong with working for Jolene and me?”
“Aside from the obvious?” He raked his fingers through his hair. Hell, his brain wasn’t fully functioning yet; he could feel the gray cells misfiring from a seriously amazing bout of lovemaking with the gorgeous redhead glaring up at him.
Her eyes narrowed to slits of amber fire, but it wasn’t passion fired in his direction; it was temper, pure and simple. “Maybe you’d better just say it plain out, Tyler, because I’m not sure I want to speculate and get angry with you for the wrong reasons.”
“What the hell?”
“OK, so you don’t like working for Jolene and me,” she said, holding up one slim finger. “What else?”
“It’s not that, Em, and you know it.” A wave of uneasiness crept slowly up from his toes. “I don’t like standing out on stage in front of those women.”
“I thought you liked all of the attention.”
He snorted. “You thought wrong.”
“But you don’t look angry like you did that first night you stripped on stage.”
“There you go,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. “That one word in a nutshell.”
Her eyes shot from angry to molten. “But you never said anything about it to me.”
His temper simmered, and he put a lid on it. He didn’t want to be angry with Emily. Hell, he wanted to kiss her sweet lips, even if they were spitting venom at him right now. “Jolene knows how I feel.” He paused thinking back to that first day. “She interviewed me.”
Emily shook her head. “Why didn’t you tell me how you feel?”
“I thought it was obvious.”
“Not to me.”
Tyler drew her close again and pressed his lips to her hair, breathing in the faint scent of some kind of citrus. No matter how many times he’d been close to Emily, she always smelled good enough to eat. His gut clenched remembering how luscious she’d tasted last night. “I don’t want to fight with you.”
“You brought it up”—she squirmed out of his hold—“and we need to finish this.”
Drawing in a deep breath, Tyler concentrated on distancing himself from his libido. “I think you and Jolene are the strongest, most resilient women I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting.”
Tears welled up in Emily’s eyes. She blinked them away before he could comment on them. “Nice to know, but not the point.”
He struggled with the simmering temper he thought he’d capped off. Finally, he decided there was no nice way to say it. Best get it said. “I hate stripping in front of that crowd of women.” His gut clenched. “God, Em. They make me feel like a piece of meat hanging in the butcher’s window.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “The Lucky Star is the kind of place I’d never go or want my woman to go.”
“Do you have another woman?” she rasped, and he turned toward her again.
“Are you serious or just trying to piss me off?�
�
“If I’m your woman, then you’d better take a good look at who I am and where I work, because I like running The Lucky Star with Jolene and the girls, and I have no intention of quitting.”
He opened his mouth to speak, but the glare she leveled at him had him chewing on his words and swallowing them.
“Not for you, the town council, or any of the precious societies that have been banging down our door demanding that we close them and reopen as an old-time saloon.”
She folded her arms beneath her breasts, but he didn’t think she plumped them up to purposefully distract him. “You finished?”
“No,” she ground out. “If you feel that strongly about this job, then how can you love me, knowing where I work and that I don’t intend to stop?”
“It’s not the same,” he matched her anger and raised her one. “You’re not up on that damned circle of wood, strutting your stuff and stripping yourself bare.”
“You wear briefs,” she bit out, “you don’t strip down to your birthday suit.” She scooted to the edge of the bed and stood with her hands on her hips. “Are you telling me that you wouldn’t be here with me right now if the tables were turned and you and your brothers owned a strip joint, and I was your headliner, shucking my clothes for all the men in town?”
Sharp pointed knives sliced his gut to shreds, and he lost the tenuous hold on his temper. “Damn it, woman, it’s not the same and you know it!”
Tears welled up and spilled over. “It is,” she whispered. “Why can’t you see that?”
Undone, he reached for her, she stepped back, reaching for the shirt he’d left on the floor. Buttoning it up to the throat, she hugged herself as if she were cold.
“I don’t want to fight with you.”
“So you’d be with me if the tables were turned, and I was the one stripping for money?”
He couldn’t speak. What could he say that wouldn’t make her madder? Hell… could he tell her the truth right now? He didn’t know how he felt; he needed time to think about it.
“I think you’d better go.” She held the door open and waited.
“Don’t you want to hear what I have to say?” he ground out, reaching for his jeans, picking them up off the floor.
Tyler Page 24
