Hell for Leather

by Beth Williamson

  He tasted her with one small swipe of his tongue, and a shudder of longing wracked him from head to foot. When she made no protest, he licked her from top to bottom, savoring the musky flavor. As he nibbled on her nubbin of pleasure, she ground her heels into the mattress.

  “Sweet Jesus,” she breathed.

  “Not quite.” He spread her nether lips wide, licking and sucking while his thumb slid in and out from her tight, hot channel. She writhed beneath him, never breaking contact between them. Cade continued his sensual assault, even as his own body screamed for hers.

  “Oh God, Cade, it feels too good. I’m going to, going to, ahhhhhhh.” Her hips lifted off the mattress as he lapped at her surrender, absorbing every drop of her orgasm until she lay back on the bed in a boneless heap.

  “Like it?” He held up his thumb. “You are like the nectar of the gods.” As he licked her taste from his skin, her eyes widened, watching his every move.

  Cade didn’t know what possessed him, but he held his thumb by her lips, and her little pink tongue darted out to taste herself. His dick jumped when she did it again. She was a combination of natural sex and sweet abandon, all his for the taking.

  “Undress.” Her gaze raked him up and down, coming to rest on his burgeoning trousers. “Before you hurt yourself.”

  Cade choked out a laugh. “Too late.”

  She sat up and released her hair from its braid. The long brown strands cascaded like warm molasses ready for his touch. He couldn’t resist the urge to touch it, to feel its silky texture on his fingers, its cool waves raising goose bumps on his arms.

  “I can’t wait to feel this on me when we make love.” He didn’t know where the words came from. He’d never made love in his life, nor had he expected to. He opened his mouth and suddenly his intentions didn’t mean shit. When they came together, they’d be making love.

  “Then you’d best hurry in getting those clothes off.” She grinned from the bed, looking like an experienced vixen.

  Cade almost fell on his head yanking his trousers off, but within seconds he was naked and sliding into the narrow bed with her. When Sabrina’s supple body finally pressed up against his, he groaned with the sweet pleasure of it.

  “Oh God, you feel good.” He pushed his hard cock into her soft belly, eager for more but trying to enjoy the sensation at the same time.

  “You feel hard.” She chuckled against his neck, then bit him gently. “Please, Cade, give me more.”

  He was afraid that after he got started he wouldn’t give her more than five minutes, but he couldn’t wait any longer. She lifted her knee, and he positioned himself at her moist entrance. Cade pressed his forehead against hers. Their breaths mingled and as he breathed her in, he entered her slowly.

  Bliss, absolute bliss enveloped him, a sensation he’d never experienced before or dared hope to. His breath caught in his throat and he forced himself to swallow. After he got a smidge of air back in his lungs, he could move.

  Sweet heat grew with his thrusts, spreading through him. His mouth found hers and they fused together, their tongues mimicking what the lower half of their bodies did. He plucked at her nipple, teasing the tender bud into diamond hardness.

  “God, Cade, it feels amazing.”

  He managed a strangled chuckle. “I think I might have died and gone to heaven.”

  She nipped at his neck, sucking and licking at the skin. “Mm, we’ll have to do this again later.”

  Just the thought of being with her again made his dick harder. He couldn’t hold on much longer, and he wanted to bring her with him. Something inside him insisted on it. He abandoned her plump breast to pull up her knee, exposing an even more wonderful treasure. She gasped and tugged at his shoulder.

  Cade held onto his sanity by a slim thread. He dipped his finger down to rub her nubbin of pleasure while his strokes grew deeper and faster. As the tingling in his balls signaled his release, he captured her mouth. Her hot channel tightened around him, drawing him into a spiral of ecstasy that washed over, through and around him.

  He tried to shout her name, but nothing came out but a groan. Cade plunged into her, riding the wave of the most powerful moment he’d ever had. Ragged breathing and the crackling from the fireplace were the only sounds in the room.

  Sabrina traced his jaw with her finger. He pressed her palm into his cheek, reveling in the softness of her skin and the connection between them. Cade knew he was in trouble, deep trouble with Sabrina. He was falling hard and fast for the woman in his arms.

  ———

  The morning dawned gray and bleak, exactly the mood that struck Cade when he opened his eyes. What the hell had he been thinking to bring Sabrina alone to his cabin? And why the hell had she agreed? She lay beside him on the narrow bed, her soft breath warming his cool skin.

  Jesus, he was in a whole mountain of shit.

  As quietly as he could, he eased out from beside her and yanked on his clothes in the frigid air. After stoking the embers in the fireplace and the potbelly stove, he pulled on his boots and went outside in search of some sanity.

  Small snowflakes fell from the sky, nothing heavy yet, but it was definitely starting to accumulate on the ground. The air had the bite of a storm, if he was any judge. No doubt it would last the day. The question was, would he?

  He stomped over to the woodpile, which was dwindling fast. What he ought to do is put Sabrina’s butt on her horse and take her back to Eustace immediately. As far as anyone would know, she came out to help him with the wild child and returned to her bed unharmed.

  Cade snorted and contemplated hitting himself on the head with one of the logs. Perhaps the hard wood could make a dent in his pitiful brain. He picked up an armful and turned to head back to the cabin. A figure stood at the corner of the house, and it was way too short to be Sabrina.

  “Bernice?” He stepped toward her and she disappeared in a flash.

  Cade dropped the wood and sprinted for the front of the cabin, nearly tripping on the logs as they tumbled on the ground. By the time he made it to the front door, she was gone. That damn kid was leading him in circles and he was tired of it. Sick and damn tired. He needed to get her sorry butt out of the woods and into town.

  “What are you doing?”

  Cade whirled around into a crouch, his hand reaching for a gun. If he’d had one, Sabrina would be dead. She stared at him with wide eyes, sporting tousled hair and his blanket. No doubt Sabrina’s extremely sharp brain already concluded he was no miner or mountain man.

  “Don’t sneak up on me like that,” he snapped as he straightened up.

  Her bewildered expression now added hurt to it. Wonderful. Maybe he could find a few puppies to kick too.

  “Sorry, I just don’t like people to come up behind me. Old habits.” He ignored any feelings of guilt that tried to creep up and headed for the fallen logs instead.

  Sabrina didn’t go back into the cabin nor did she make any move toward him. Cade was aware of every second she stared at him. It felt like sharp sticks poking his back. When he picked up all the fallen wood, he turned back to the cabin.

  “Who are you?”

  He hoped she wouldn’t ask, and the question hit him hard. “Cade Brody.”

  “The way you say your name tells me it hasn’t been on your tongue long. Don’t treat me like a fool. I know there’s a secret hiding behind those dark eyes of yours and I’m guessing it has something to do with the phantom guns you reached for.” She jumped in front of the doorway, blocking his path. “I’m going to ask you one more time, who are you?”

  “I’m nobody, a dead man who wants nothing but to be left alone.” He gritted his teeth, determined not to yell at her anymore and trying to keep his secrets to himself.

  “You want me to leave?” Her gaze was shuttered, hidden behind the cloud of dark hair.

  “That’s not what I said.” Cade wanted to turn tail and get the hell out of there himself. The day had started out worse than he imagined.

&nb
sp; Of course he could still feel her beneath him, the softness of her skin, the swipe of her tongue on his neck. Hell, he was arguing with her and about to make a tent in his pants just thinking about her.

  “You said you wanted to be left alone.”

  “I meant I want folks to just accept that I’m not social-like or friendly. I came here to be alone.” He tripped over his own words, unsure of what exactly he was trying to say.

  “For a man who wants to be left alone, you sure do spend a lot of time in town. Where were you before you came to New Mexico?” She was like a stubborn mule.

  Cade was through being polite so he pushed past her and into the cabin, Sabrina right on his heels. “Nowhere. I was born a month ago.”

  She took his arm. “Why can’t you trust me?”

  “I only trust but a few people in this world and none of them are you.” It sounded so harsh, but he needed for Sabrina to let the conversation go. That way was nothing but trouble for both of them.

  Cade dumped the wood on the ground, waiting for the firestorm to commence. She’d either accept what he said or continue dogging him. Hopefully she’d choose the former and do both of them a favor.

  “I saw the girl.” He gestured toward the door, annoyed to see a tremble in his hand.

  “When?” Sabrina sounded business-like, no longer the sultry siren of the night before. By telling her he didn’t trust her, he’d thrown their closeness back in her face like she was nothing but a two-bit harlot.

  Cade hated himself at that moment. It took every smidge of his self-control not to simply ride away and disappear again.

  “Just before you came out. She was standing in front of the cabin. Little bit of a thing too, not much bigger than Clara.” Cade’s voice was thick with what he figured were emotions, but he swallowed them down.

  “Then let me get dressed so we can go find her.” Sabrina headed for the fallen clothes.

  Cade listened to the rustle of the fabric and his imagination took the low road, thinking of how she looked without all the geegaws women put on. She was, to be blunt, the sexiest woman he’d ever laid eyes on, and he’d just intentionally hurt her. He knew he was a bastard, had hurt many people throughout his life, but treating Sabrina so badly stung, a lot. She didn’t deserve the shit he gave her, and he hoped she would learn a lesson and move on.

  It was either that or risk more than getting hurt. Cade wasn’t about to let it happen. He was meant to be alone and that was that.

  “All right, Cade, let’s go.” She was already walking out the door, braiding her hair with crisp movements. Good, she needed to be angry.

  He followed her out the door, sure he’d never felt so bad in his life. What was it about Sabrina that made him feel? He didn’t want to feel anything, much less guilt, remorse and whatever the hell else ran around inside him. The snowflakes landed on his face, icy kisses to go with his cold, black heart.

  “Look, there was enough snow on the ground for her tracks to stick.” Sabrina pointed to small indentations in the brown grass. Hell, Cade hadn’t even seen them much less picked them out as the girl’s tracks.

  Good thing he didn’t try to work as a tracker.

  “Can you follow them?” He peered toward the woods, certain the little shit was watching them and laughing.

  “Yes, I can. I learned how to hunt and track when I was younger.” She was just full of surprises.

  “So you can handle a gun too?”

  She glared at him over her shoulder, her blue gaze colder than the snow on his face. “Don’t doubt it.”

  Cade should have kept his mouth shut, should have let the conversation end right there. He didn’t.

  “Who taught a woman how to hunt and track?” He knew the answer before he asked, yet the question popped out of his mouth anyway.

  “If I wasn’t so angry with you for being so stupid, I might slap you.” She stopped to look at a broken twig and suspicious moss on a rock. “It just so happens my husband was an avid hunter. He taught me…a lot.”

  The implication couldn’t have been any clearer if she’d kicked him in the balls. Jesus, was he really that stupid? Cade clenched his fists, nails digging into the skin as Sabrina verbally smacked him around.

  “She’s in the trees.” Sabrina met his gaze. “Don’t look up.” She rolled her eyes as he instinctively raised his head.

  “Why the hell not?” His head spun from the changes in subject. The woman was talking in circles.

  “So she doesn’t know we’ve figured out where her hiding place is.” Sabrina spoke as if Cade were a two-year-old child.

  “Fine then. Now what?” He folded his arms across his chest, annoyed, aroused and confused.

  “We lure her down.” She reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a paper sack. He knew what it was even before the familiar white and red stripes appeared in her hand. “She used to like peppermints. I’m hoping she still does.”

  “I like peppermints, but you didn’t give me any even though I asked you to get them.” Now he was starting to sound like a two-year-old child.

  “Bernice?” Sabrina ignored him and meandered into the pine trees, the peppermints clearly visible in her hand. “It’s Mrs. Edmonds. Do you remember me?”

  Mrs. Edmonds. Cade snorted. Sabrina glared at him again.

  “Could you act like an adult for five minutes?” she snapped.

  Cade mimicked her under his breath, but then stopped pouting. What the hell was wrong with him? He’d woken up determined to be an adult and send Sabrina back to Eustace. Instead, he was in the woods, again, chasing the wild child, again. He didn’t care about Bernice, or whatever her name was. He didn’t care about anyone really, especially himself.

  Yet he kept walking along behind the woman who’d spun him in circles, in search of the girl who’d driven him crazy.

  If it wasn’t so pitiful, he’d probably laugh.

  “You know, I think a man is entitled to his secrets, but once he’s been between a woman’s legs, she’s entitled to hear them.” Sabrina did nothing but surprise him, constantly.

  “Why don’t you tell me what you really think?” Cade had the urge to spank her.

  She laughed, a husky chuckle that sent a shiver up his spine, as she ignored his anger completely. Sabrina was skilled at many things, not the least of which was keeping him on the edge of insanity.

  “Don’t ever expect me to feed you a spoonful of sugar, Cade.” She stopped at a particularly big pine.

  “What are—?” he started to say.

  She shushed him and made a chopping sound with her hand. Cade opened his mouth to tell her not to treat him like a child anymore when a small shadow dropped out of the tree. Good thing his instincts were still razor sharp. He ran after her, so close now he could see it was a girl, one who had kept him hopping for weeks. No longer.

  Within a minute, he’d caught up to the black-clad girl and tackled her. Fortunately the pine needles on the ground cushioned them as they fell. She tried to scramble away but Cade was twice as big. What he didn’t expect was Sabrina to smack him on the back of the head.

  “Get off her, you big oaf. You’re going to hurt her.”

  The girl beneath him struggled like a wildcat.

  “If I let her up, she’s going to run.” He grunted when one of her heels connected with his ass.

  “Bernice, it’s okay. We’re not going to hurt you. Mr. Brody is going to let you go.” Sabrina yanked on his hair, bringing tears to his eyes.

  Cade cursed and rolled on his back, just missing a hard-as-nails kick by the little wild thing on the ground. Between the two of them he was surprised he wasn’t unconscious and drooling yet.

  As soon as she was free, the girl stood up swinging, and her hard little fist connected with Cade’s cheek. He took hold of her arm, stopping the second hit.

  “Let me go or I’ll pound you.” Her high-pitched threat would have been funny if his face hadn’t been throbbing.

  “Stop it, both of you.” Sabr
ina, to his ever-loving surprise, grabbed hold of the girl by the collar and had her under control in seconds. “We are here to help you, not harm you.” She frowned at Cade. “And you, this isn’t a saloon where you can start a fight with anyone who makes you angry.”

  “I didn’t start it.” Cade stood up and dusted off the dirt and pine needles from his trousers. “She started it a long time ago.” He got the first thorough look at the girl who’d been plaguing him.

  Bernice was not what he expected. Honestly, he’d thought she’d be a dirty, cross-eyed waif with buck teeth and critters living on her skin. Whoever her crazy pa was, he was lucky enough to make a child beautiful enough to hurt Cade’s eyes. She had moonlight-colored hair, the lightest it could be without actually being white. Her eyes were the same shade as the moss on the rock Sabrina had been looking it, a deep, rich green. A heart-shaped face and skin the color of cream all came together to form trouble with a capital T.

  No wonder the girl hid out in the woods. Every man in town over the age of sixteen would be after her like a hound scenting a bitch. Jesus, he’d never been so shocked by someone before.

  “What are you staring at, fool?” The spell was broken when the girl opened her bow-shaped lips.

  “A little shit who thought it was funny to throw turnips at me and scare folks.” He pointed a finger at her. “I should paddle your ass.”

  She stuck her little chin in the air. “Just you go ahead and try it, gunslinger.”

  Cade’s stomach dropped to his knees. “What did you call me?”

  “I ain’t as dumb as I look. I know what a gunslinger looks like and acts like. You are a gunslinger.” She glanced at Sabrina, then at the peppermints still in the woman’s hand. “I remember you. You work at the store in Eustace.”

  Sabrina held out the peppermints with a smile. “Yes, I sure do.”

  After the girl snatched the peppermints, she slowly backed away from both of them. Cade was trying to figure out how to answer the girl’s accusations. Bernice wasn’t even a woman yet and already well on her way to being a manipulative female.