Manipulate

by Pam Godwin

  “Yeah, well, you’re the one with the brains.” He eyes me from within the shadow of his hat. “We’re all counting on you to improve the profit margins.”

  Only reason I have perfect grades in school is because I study hard. I’m a numbers guy. Accounting and finance. I’ll be ready to take over the books full-time when I graduate.

  Jarret, on the other hand…

  My brother leans his back against Conor’s as they play their instruments, laughing and swaying their hips. He says he’s going to be an international man of seduction when he grows up. Truth is, he’ll never give up the core part of cattle ranching. He was born to be a cowboy, riding and herding and working with his hands. I suppose there’s a lick of that in all of us.

  Conor changes the harmony and finds my eyes through the haze of campfire smoke. With a flirty smile, she strums the notes that make my blood thrum and my legs move. I don’t play an instrument, but I can carry a tune, and I love to sing this song to her.

  I rise to my feet and prowl toward her, mouthing the lyrics of Run by Matt Nathanson and Sugarland. She steps away from Jarret, and I slide up behind her, letting a twangy drawl thread through my voice while singing softly at her ear.

  She hums happily, plucking the strings and grinding her ass against me. I drop my hands to her hips and drag my nose along her neck.

  Good God, she smells pretty, like wildflowers and sweet cream frosting. I ache to sink my teeth into her. So I do, right in the soft part beneath her ear.

  With a moan, she warbles the female part of the vocals. Such an angelic voice. And oh-so seductive.

  I sing my lines next. Then we belt the chorus in unison, grinning and rolling our hips together.

  She sets her guitar aside while Lorne continues the harmony on his. With Jarret’s harmonica in the background, Conor and I slide into a slow, easy grind. I love the way the curve of her backside fits so perfectly against my groin. But I want her eyes, her lips. I want that ass in my hands.

  Spinning her around, chest to chest, mouth to mouth, I kiss her with lyrics, and she kisses me with smiles. Then the kissing takes over, the song forgotten.

  The synergy of our combined breaths heats my blood, and the round globes of her backside fill my hands. But I can’t bring our bodies close enough. I want to crawl inside her and never leave.

  Nightfall softens the ridge with shadows, chasing firelight across her features. She stares up at me, sighing with contentment. Relaxed and ready. It’s time.

  With a grip on her hand, I lead her toward the horses. She reaches for her guitar, and I tug her past it.

  “You won’t need that.” I lift her to straddle Barnabe, facing backward. Then I swing up onto the low-pommel roping saddle and hook her legs around my hips. “Won’t be needing these, either.” I slip off her boots and socks, toss them, and urge Barnabe toward the sloping trail.

  Lorne and Jarret continue to play, eyes down and deceptively alert. There’s only one way in and out of the ravine, and they’ll stay here as long as necessary to make sure no one sneaks up on us.

  Barnabe follows the steep trail through the trees, winding around the juts of rocky bluffs. He knows the way to my favorite spot, which frees my hands for more important things.

  Swaddled in privacy, I remove her shirt and tuck it under the saddle skirt. Her chest heaves, bulging her breasts over the cups of the bra. She frames my face with her hands.

  Her gaze pins me, and I can’t take mine off her. Communicating without words, locked in shared anticipation, we’re a single thundering heart of elation and jitters.

  “This is happening.” I can hardly breathe.

  Long thick lashes flicker over striking moonlit eyes. “Yeah.”

  Our mouths collide in a kiss of urgent necessity. I’m starved for her, for her familiar taste, the feel of her fat lips, and the comforting essence of her breath. She smells like home—my heart, my girl, my favorite scent in the whole world.

  She’s so painfully beautiful and kindhearted every guy in school wants to be with her. Yet she saved herself for me. She’s here, right now, with every intention of giving me one of the most significant things she can give. Because she’s mine.

  It’s humbling.

  And goddamn exciting.

  My pulse howls through my veins, and my hands tremble as I fumble with the clasp of her bra. And continue to fumble. Dammit, is the hook stuck?

  “Jake, I love you.” She nips at my lips, breathing heavily. “No matter how useless you are at removing a bra.”

  I’m flooded with nerves, shaking and laughing at myself. “Cut me some slack here.”

  “Never.” She reaches behind her and frees the clasp with a snap of her fingers.

  When the bra falls between us, my hands catch the soft weight of her breasts. The tautness of her nipples meets my thumbs, and my mouth waters.

  “I’m so hungry for you.” I band my arms around her and pull her tighter on my lap, feasting on her lips.

  “God, the way you kiss…” She rubs her tongue against mine, panting. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you’ve been practicing on someone else.”

  “You know better.” I grin against her mouth. “But I love your jealousy almost as much as your compliments. Keep going.”

  “You know how hot you are.” She teases a finger along my freshly shaved jaw. “Hotter than the Oklahoma sun. Sexy in all the right places.”

  “Yeah?” I grip her hips and rock against her, letting her clit feel how hard she makes me.

  She hums into my mouth. “I hate the way Sara Gilly looks at you in the cafeteria.” Her nails bite into my shoulders. “And when you walk down the hall, they all stare at your ass.”

  “Who?”

  “Courtney, Rosie, Shannon, Tina—”

  “Not true.” I know she’s right, but none of those girls compare to the one on my lap.

  “They all want a piece of you, and Lord knows there’s plenty to go around.” She pushes a hand between us and strokes the rigid shape of me through the jeans. “I can’t believe you’re going to put this inside me.”

  I search her face, but I already know I won’t find vulnerability there.

  My girl is sunshine, rawhide, and pure fight. Whether she’s herding cattle, playing guitar, or losing her virginity, she’s going to put on those square toes and wrangle the challenge with radiance and toughness.

  Barnabe arrives at the ravine, and I dismount. Conor moves to follow, but I pat her thigh, signaling her to stay. She’s barefoot, and I have some things to set up.

  A shallow creek gurgles between the steep cliffs, loud enough to drown out the crunch of gravel beneath my boots. It’s peaceful here, private and dark thanks to the canopy of trees.

  I remove a blanket bundle from the saddle and unroll it on a bald spot between the rock wall and a large tree.

  “What are you up to?” She leans across Barnabe’s back and props her chin on a curled hand.

  Unabashedly, gloriously, distractingly naked from the waist up, she watches me with a foxy smile. Definitely trying to kill me.

  “You’ll see.” I light a small lantern from the bundle.

  I waited until nightfall to discourage ranch hands from wandering this way, but there’s no way I’m having sex with her in the dark. I need to see every inch of her nudity and the beautiful look on her face when I push inside her.

  With the blanket spread in the ring of light, I return to her and lift her from the saddle. She clutches me tight in a cage of arms and legs, and her lips find mine with startling urgency.

  I sink into the kiss and weave a hand through her hair as I carry her toward the blanket. Given the tangled frenzy of our tongues, it feels like I’m carrying ten years of pent-up desire.

  She tastes and looks sinfully erotic, but there’s an alluring innocence about her. If she only knew all the depraved ways I’ve imagined defiling her body. I don’t want to go slow. I want to tear her open with ruthless thrusts. I want to hold her down and fuck her mout
h. I want to tie her up and fuck her ass. I want to take her places I can’t even let myself think about because it scares the hell out of me.

  I won’t hurt her, though. Not during our first time. But someday…

  Someday, she’ll tremble beneath me, so turned on and out of her mind she’ll beg me to punish her.

  We have our entire lives to work up to that, and I have endless patience.

  I lower her to the blanket and, without taking my gaze off hers, I remove my hat, shirt, and belt. Her hands fly to my zipper, stroking against my cock in her hurry to strip me.

  “Hold up, girl.” I pin her wrists above her head and lean over her. “Keep that up and this’ll be over in sixty seconds. I want it to last.”

  “I want you.” Her plump lips pout the husky words.

  With a groan, I settle my hips in the V of her thighs and cover her with my weight.

  “You want this.” I drive the length of my hard-on along the crotch of her shorts. “Feel it. Imagine it ripping you open.”

  I don’t expect her to be scared or overwhelmed. Maybe a little bit hesitant? But she’s not even that. She’s breathless and impatient, trying to work her hands free from my hold to get to me.

  “Let me touch you.” She arches her back, rubbing her beautiful tits against my chest. “Come on, Jake. Don’t make me wait.”

  She’s going to wait, because that’s what I want. To be in control, push her limits, and bend her to my will—it’s what I crave. But tonight, I’ll disguise my darker desires as sweet, playful teasing.

  I slide off her shorts and panties, exposing her nude form in the lantern’s soft glow. Fair skin, perky tits, slender hips, and an auburn triangle that leads to the wet seam of my destination—her flawless body deserves a lifetime of attention.

  The scent of her pussy intoxicates the air as I shower her with devotion. My fingers worship. My eyes invade. My mouth devours. By the time I’ve licked her from mouth to slit and back again, she’s writhing, drenched between her legs, and panting with full-body tremors.

  With my hands busy, I haven’t been able to stop her from grabbing and pulling at me. She wants to rush this, and I want to command every orchestrated second of it. I know the moment I crawl over her she’ll shove those greedy fingers into my pants and steal my control.

  But I have a solution for that, inspired by some taboo videos I sought out online. There’s something undeniably arousing about bondage. It touches me deeply, stirring secret, indecent thoughts like nothing else.

  Apparently, some women like to be restrained, and I get serious wood thinking about doing it. I know rope. I know knots. And I know Conor.

  Reaching for the last item from the bundle, I lift a coil of rope and unravel it with shaking hands. The thought of her trussed up and defenseless makes me want to blow my load.

  “What’re you gonna do with that?” She wings up an auburn eyebrow. “Wrangle me like a cow?”

  “Nah.” I jerk my chin at the solid tree trunk near her head. “See that tree? I’m going to tie your hands to it and fuck you till we both pass out.”

  I look her in the eyes as she examines my face up and down, side to side. Her gaze is restless, searching. She knows me, loves me, and it’s all there, open and unfiltered, in her flushed cheeks. She glows with arousal. And total, utter trust.

  “Give me your hands.” Just issuing the command makes my dick throb.

  She holds up her arms, her eye contact as captivating as her obedience.

  I lace her wrists together with swift movements. “I love you.”

  “Love you, too.” She purses her lips. “I’d love you a whole lot more if you were naked.”

  “I’ll give it to you when I’m ready.” I want her so badly I’m damn near punching a hole through my zipper. But I need her to beg for my cock before I pull it out.

  Unwinding the rope to the tree, I loop it around the trunk, tighten it, knot it, and give the binding a hard yank. On her back with her arms stretched overhead, her wrists are fettered together against the trunk. She’s not going anywhere.

  I edge back, rise to my full height, and stop breathing. Seeing her like this… My God, it’s morally wrong. Unholy as hell. And absurdly, wonderfully right.

  Arms bound and thighs spread, she’s all curves and forbidden crevices, flesh and trembling breaths, soft mounds and tight holes.

  Blood surges to my cock, and I stroke myself through the jeans. My muscles tense, fighting against the impulse to fall on her like an inexperienced boy.

  While I might be inexperienced, I’m not without discipline. I’ve had years to think about this, plan it, and make it good for her. But I wasn’t prepared for this…this feral, liberating reaction to the sight of her naked and tied up. It’s a compelling, possessive sense of power, flexing and stretching inside me like a pair of wings.

  “You’re beautiful.” Inadequate words for the image before me.

  “Please, Jake.” She plants her feet on the blanket and twists her wrists against the rope. “Stop teasing me. I need you with me. In me. Please, hurry.”

  Her begging balances me. My legs move on their own. My knees land between her thighs, and I yank down my zipper, rubbing and stroking my boner while trying to pull it out. Soothing the painful throb, halting the oncoming release, I don’t know what I’m doing beyond the mindless need to fill her.

  Her breathing accelerates as I blanket her body with mine. Desperation overrides control. My pulse skyrockets, locking my jaw and pounding my eardrums. I crush my mouth to hers, and the last shreds of my restraint evaporate.

  I sweep my tongue past her lips, seeking her depths, craving something I can’t name, aching for the hot wet of her mouth and the clenching grip of her cunt.

  “You’re shaking,” she breathes into the kiss.

  Mindless happiness vibrates my entire body. My dick’s in my hand, and I’m sliding the head along her slit. She’s bound and nude beneath me. I’m inhaling her sweet breath, seconds from experiencing the squeeze of her pussy. Of course, I’m fucking shaking. I’m hemorrhaging nerves and drunken desire.

  With a fumbling hand, I line myself up and find her eyes.

  At the edge of my periphery, her tongue touches her lip. Her chest heaves, jiggling her tits. Her thighs quiver around my hips. Oh, the things I want to command her to do…

  Finger your cunt. Choke on my cock. Bend over. Ass up. Take it. Beg me.

  The space between us narrows and closes. Our lips connect. My cock brushes against her dewy heat. My brain stops working. I’m in a zone. A skin on skin, mouth to mouth, carnal, reckless, crazed animal zone.

  Until I hear something.

  Movement beyond the trees.

  I go still, listening.

  Nothing.

  Did I imagine it?

  The air shifts near the trail, and I jerk my gaze to Barnabe. He doesn’t twitch.

  “What is it?” She follows my gaze.

  Water babbles through the rocky creek bed, splashing the ravine in noise.

  “Thought I heard something.” I return my attention to her warm, wet center.

  I only need to push, and I’ll finally be inside her.

  A crunching sound drifts from the trail.

  Footsteps? I grit my teeth, head tilted, and hold my breath.

  Barnabe flicks his tail. His ears. His neck.

  He senses something.

  My heart rate kicks up.

  “A coyote?” Her wide eyes scan the perimeter.

  “Shh.” I sit back on my heels and fight the zipper over my erection as my hearing tunes in to the dark.

  Silence.

  I don’t trust it and drag my abandoned shirt over Conor’s body. It’ll just take me a second to check it out. As I reach for the rope on her wrists, a twig snaps behind me.

  She gasps, and I swing around. My gaze collides with my brother’s through the trees.

  I jump to my feet and try to block his view of her body. “What the hell are—?”

  Jarret
stumbles into the clearing, hands clasped on his head, eyes stark, and mouth stuffed with something soft. A bandana? The chilling look on his face screams, Run, run, run!

  Confusion steals my breath. Shock paralyzes my limbs. Denial scrambles my brain.

  “Jake!” Conor kicks my leg as panic shrieks through her voice. “Untie me!”

  Quicker to react, she must’ve seen them before I did.

  Two men in ski masks. Swift, threatening strides. Shotguns ticking between everything that moves. Lorne emerges from the trail between them, hands behind his back and a gag in his mouth.

  “What the fuck?” My voice cracks, and my stomach bottoms out. “Lower your guns!”

  I have no weapons. Nothing to fight with but my hands.

  Conor doesn’t even have that.

  “Don’t move.” One of the masked men rushes forward, his rifle trained on my chest.

  I don’t recognize the voice and don’t waste time inspecting the eyes in the mask. I launch toward Conor, falling to my knees and diving for the knot on her wrists.

  Goddammit, it’ll take forever to untie her. Fuck fuck fuck!

  “Told you not to move.” Footsteps advance, kicking gravel and hardening my stomach.

  The second man ushers Jarret and Lorne closer, jabbing their backs with the barrel of the gun. They shout behind the gags and trip over rocks. There must’ve been a scuffle on the ridge, because neither are wearing their hats.

  “Hurry.” Conor scoots toward the tree, attempting to put slack on the rope.

  The wheezing sounds of her breaths reinforce my number one priority. I’m nothing if not her protector.

  “Don’t come any closer.” I tear at the knot, unable to loosen it. I made it too damn tight, and my sweaty hands keep slipping. “Just tell me what you want.”

  A boot rams into my side, shooting pain through my ribs and knocking me onto my back.

  “Help! Somebody, help!” She screams at the top of her lungs and fights the rope, causing the shirt to fall and expose her nudity.

  Motherfuckers are going to pay for that. Rage crashes through me as I roll back and grab her hips, desperate to cover her.