BootsandPromises

by MylaJackson

  Boots and Promises

  by Myla Jackson

  Copyright © 2012, Myla Jackson. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  Editor: Layla Chase

  Cover artist: Myla Jackson

  This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogues in this book are of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Boots and Promises

  Ella Lang stood in the bedroom doorway of her tiny Manhattan apartment, staring at the man she loved more than life.

  Jesse James O’Brien lay spread out naked across the sheets. Six feet three inches of muscled cowboy, his feet hanging over the end of the double bed, the most gorgeous specimen of masculinity a woman could ever hope for.

  The night had been grueling at the theater. Nothing had gone right. Stage props hadn’t cooperated. Ella had not one, but three, wardrobe malfunctions and missed one of her cues.

  Her focus hadn’t been on her performance, so much as on this man, this fish-out-of-water cowboy who had no business moving to New York just because she had.

  Hindsight being twenty-twenty, Ella knew she should never have let him come. He belonged in Texas on the Rockin’ O Ranch with his father and brothers and sister, not cooped up in a postage-stamp apartment, searching for work in a city that preferred celebrities over honest, hard-working cowboys.

  God, he looked so peaceful, lying sprawled across the bed.

  Ella didn’t want to wake him. Instead, she eased around the corner of the bed and entered the tiny bathroom, peeled off her clothes and showered away the residual stage makeup and hairspray that was as much a part of a performer’s life as her voice and acting. She towel-dried her hair and debated slipping into a nightgown or just sleeping naked like Jesse. After only a moment’s hesitation, her pussy growing warm and wet, she opted for naked. She hung the towel on the towel bar and turned to switch off the light. At that moment, she noticed the blue jeans hanging on a hook on the back of the bathroom door.

  Jesse’s jeans.

  She lifted them down and hugged them to her chest, the scent of Jesse and denim reminding her of Texas and the home she’d left to follow her dreams. Visions of wide-open spaces and fields of fresh green hay came to mind, kicking her in the gut with a truckload of homesickness. Refusing to give into the ready tears building in her eyes, Ella folded the jeans over her arm, intent on hanging them in the closet in the bedroom.

  Something dropped from one of the pockets and bounced off her foot, causing her to glance down. On the floor beside her lay a tiny box.

  Heart thumping, Ella bent to retrieve it, her knees nearly giving way as she realized what it was. The little blue package with a pretty white bow had bold black letters spelling Tiffany & Co written in neat script across the top.

  Ella’s heartbeat skittered to a halt and her hand shook so badly she dropped the box again. This time, as she lifted it, she couldn’t resist. She had to see what was inside. She pressed an ear to the door. No sounds emanated from the other side as Jesse slept on.

  After slipping the bow off the edge, she removed the box lid. Inside was a black ring box. She lifted it from the blue packaging and pushed open the lid. Nestled against midnight-black velvet was a breathtakingly beautiful, marquis-shaped diamond on a simple white-gold band.

  Her breath caught, joy filling her heart so full her chest hurt.

  Jesse was going to ask her to marry him. As the reality and enormity of what he was about to do sank in, she sat down hard on the floor, the tiles cool against her naked bottom. The cold against her skin spread quickly, shadowing the initial joy.

  Ella had waited so long for Jesse to ask her to marry him. Before she landed a significant role on Broadway, she wouldn’t have thought twice about giving up all her dreams to get hitched and stay in Texas, raising horses and babies. Now…she had too much invested in NYC. She couldn’t go back. Not yet. Part of her would regret not fulfilling her life’s ambitions, always wondering if she’d made the right decision, never seeing her name, Ella Lang, on a playbill or in neon lights across a marquee.

  If this ring was what she thought it was, Jesse was going to ask her to marry him. And he'd probably insist on staying in this metropolis that, as far as Ella could tell, had been nothing but a disappointment to the Texas cowboy.

  Ella closed the box and held it to her aching breast. She now knew what she had to do. She couldn’t let Jesse make this big of a mistake. She loved him too much to let him sacrifice all his own dreams and desires just to be with her. He deserved to find someone who would happily live on the ranch and help him raise cows and horses...and babies.

  She gulped, swallowing back a wave of longing so strong it nearly made her moan.

  Jesse needed a woman who didn't long for a career in the performance arts and had to live in a metropolis the size of New York City or Los Angeles to fulfill her dream.

  Her heart breaking into a million pieces, Ella tucked the ring box back in his jeans and hung them exactly the way she’d found them on the back of the door. Her chest hurt so badly she could barely breathe past her constricted vocal chords.

  Careful not to disturb Jesse, she slipped into bedroom and onto the bed, wanting only to get as close to him as possible.

  As she lay on her side, facing away from the man she cared so much about, she fought back tears. Ella didn’t want him to see them. Didn’t want him to know how much she would hurt to say what she had to say.

  He rolled over, his body spooning hers, warming her backside.

  Ella wanted so badly to turn toward him and hold him, make love to him, have him drive deep inside her. He was her soul-mate, her love, her entire life. She couldn’t imagine loving any other man. Ever. Nor could she imagine life without him.

  But she had to.

  Jesse had given up everything he’d loved to follow her to New York, claiming he could make the situation work. He was smart, hard-working and educated, but, as far as Ella could gather, no matter how many doors he’d knocked on in the big Apple, he had yet to find work that suited him.

  But then what work was there in NYC for a man born, bred and raised a cowboy from a long line of ranchers in West Texas? The man had cattle and horses in his blood. He loved the wide-open spaces and working with animals.

  Yet, when Ella had chosen to follow her dream to perform on Broadway, he’d followed.

  Tears welled and a giant lump formed in her throat, making breathing difficult . Had she been too selfish? All her life she’d trained to be a performer—dance classes, acting lessons, a degree in drama from Julliard. She’d worked too hard to give up her dream. Now that she’d gotten her break, she had to take advantage while she was still young and pretty enough to make an impression on a casting director.

  Jesse had been a very supportive lover. He’d driven her to the airport when she’d left for NYC for weeks at a time, suffering through her disappointments and the endless auditions, even coming along on several occasions.

  Now that Ella was realizing her dream, Jesse had chosen to join her in NYC permanently. He couldn’t live without her, he’d sai
d.

  But Ella knew Jesse. For two months he hadn’t said a word about Texas, his horse, Paddy, or his close-knit family. He’d claimed being on his own would be a refreshing break , without his brothers and sister constantly interfering in his life. NYC would be an adventure.

  While Ella spent her days practicing for the show, her nights performing, Jesse was left on his own to find work, clean the apartment or watch television. He’d never faltered in his commitment to be with her, never said anything about his disappointment on the employment front. As far as Ella could tell, he hadn't found anything, but he'd spend every day out of the apartment. Working on his plan, he'd insisted.

  God, she loved him…

  That’s why she couldn’t marry him, couldn’t even let him ask. She’d be too tempted to say yes. He’d never be happy in a city, away from his family and his beloved ranch and horses. Texas was as much a part of him as breathing.

  Ella had her work, the stage, everything she’d worked for.

  Jesse’s hand slipped up over her hip to cup one of her breasts and he stirred against her, his cock nudging her bottom. “Hey darlin’,” he said in his slow southern drawl that melted Ella every time he spoke. “Whatcha thinkin’?”

  She swallowed the lump knotting in her throat. “How much I wanted you to wake up and make love to me.”

  His chuckle rumbled in his chest, vibrating against her back, his breath stirring the tendrils of hair on the back of Ella's neck. “Hmmm. I don’t know if I have it in me,” he said.

  Ella scooted backward, fitting his shaft into the crease between her butt cheeks. “I think you have the right equipment for the job. I suppose you don’t have the right motivation.”

  His fingers squeezed the tip of her nipple. “What kind of motivation do you propose?”

  She grabbed a condom from the ready stash on her nightstand, rolled over to straddle him and planted her knees on either side of his hips. “Is this more inspiring?”

  Jesse smiled up at Ella, as she tore open the packet and removed the rubber.

  With her hands poised to slip the condom down over his stiff, hard member, she couldn’t help thinking this might be the last time, and her heart clenched.

  Jesse caught her hands. “Darlin’, I’ve been thinking…we need to talk.”

  Ella laughed, the sound more of a sob. She couldn’t let him declare his love one more time. The pain would be more than she could bear. “Don’t talk, just love me.” She shook off his grip, slid her ass down his legs and took his long, thick length into her mouth. Cupping his balls, she massaged them between her fingers.

  His eyes closed and he breathed deeply, his chest rising and falling, his hips lifting beneath her, pressing deeper until he bumped against the back of her throat. “Really, Ella, we should talk.”

  She worked his scrotum, her fingers squeezing, releasing. Her mouth slid up his cock, her tongue swirling around the head, catching the bulbous rim. Ella stuck the tip of her tongue in the hole, tasting his pre-come, her own body awash with heat. “You really want to talk when we could fuck?” she said around his hard dick.

  “Baby, you know I can’t resist when you talk dirty.”

  “Then ride me, cowboy.” Her throat tightened but she forced the words past the lump. “Ride me like there’s no tomorrow.”

  He bucked beneath her, shoving back into her mouth, his hips driving upward, over and over.

  She could feel his body tensing, his cock increasing in size and thickness until the shaft was so hard, it had to hurt.

  Then he pulled Ella off, laying her down beside him. "You first."

  "No, it's okay, really," she protested, afraid she'd lose control of her emotions if he was too nice. "I love it when you come first."

  He pressed a finger to her lips and replaced it with his mouth, his tongue thrusting inside, swirling around hers while his hands cupped her face, holding her as if she was something precious.

  Jesse always made Ella feel like the center of his universe. She swallowed a wave of tears lumping in her throat.

  His mouth shifted off her lips and slid over her chin, maneuvering a path downward along the long line of her neck, stopping to test her pulse at the base of her throat.

  Without too much pause, he continued to her distended nipples, taking one between his teeth, biting down gently, tugging at the turgid peak until Ella's back arched off the bed, pushing more of her breast into his mouth.

  He leaned to the side, a hand slipping over her ribs, past her bellybutton to the thatch of hair covering her pussy.

  Ella's belly tightened, her thighs twitching, her core aching for more of Jesse. "Please," she begged.

  "Please what?" he asked, his breath blowing over her dampened nipple.

  "Enough foreplay, fuck me already."

  He shook his head, his fingers stroking the curly hairs at the apex of her thighs like a man would stroke the fur of a kitten. "Patience, little one." He bent to take the other nipple between his lips, sucking it fully into his mouth, pulling hard as his fingers slipped between her slick folds.

  Ella raised her knees, digging her heels into the mattress, sharp tingling sensations starting in her toes and spreading upward.

  He knew what she liked—slow steady strokes, his fingers dipping lower, pushing into her pussy for the lubricating moisture of her juices. Then he slid back to the nubbin of skin that contained a myriad of nerve endings, each twitching, firing off electric pulses.

  Ella reached down to cup his hand, shoving it lower to push his fingers deep into her cunt. She writhed beneath him, soon too frustrated with the fingers and eager for his full, thick cock.

  "Fuck me now, cowboy," she cried, squirming beneath him, her fingers threading through his hair, pulling him upward.

  He held his ground, refusing to rise to her demand. "Not until you're there."

  "I'm so close, so very close." And she wanted that most intimate of connections, with him driving deep inside her, filling all the places that would soon be empty. A sob rose up her throat, threatening to chill her arousal.

  "Then you only need a little more of this." With the tip of his finger drenched in her come, he flicked her clit, starting slow and building up speed until the tingling in her toes became all-consuming explosions of her senses throughout her body.

  Her back arched off the bed. Ella grabbed his hand and held it still as she catapulted over the edge, her body jerking with the orgasm’s intensity.

  He took the condom from her nerveless fingers, slipped it over his dick in a quick, sure movement, one he'd done so many times before in the months they'd been living together.

  Heat continued to surge low in her belly, her pussy drenched in lubricating come.

  Jesse rose to his knees, turned her over and brought her up on all fours and then plunged in, riding her like a bronco buster at a rodeo, slapping her ass just the way she liked. He stiffened, his hands on her hips gripping so hard, his fingers dug into her flesh. One final thrust and he pulled free. "Oh God, Ella, I don't think I'll ever get enough of you," he said on a sigh.

  He collapsed on the bed, his arms wrapping around her.

  Ella snuggled close, drinking in the beauty of him, the strength and kindness, the raw sexual machine. She wanted to remember every detail.

  For a few long minutes, they lay in each other's arms, body heat cooling, breathing returning to normal.

  Ella relaxed against him, pushing to the back of her mind that their time together was limited.

  Jesse smoothed a strand of hair out of her face. "Ella, we need to talk."

  "Did you hear from home today?" she asked, hoping to sidetrack him from asking her the question, postponing it long enough for her to convince him to go back to Texas.

  He smiled. "Talked to Gabe, today."

  "How're your brothers and sister?"

  "Missing us, but fine."

  Her heart skipped several beats as she contemplated her next words. "Jesse, that brings up a good point."

  "Ye
s, it does," he agreed.

  Ella gulped air and jumped in. "Good. Then you agree, you should go home."

  "What?" He leaned back enough to stare into her eyes. "Where did that thought come from?"

  "I've been thinking..."

  Jesse smiled. "Female thinking?"

  She shrugged. He liked to tease her about some of her ideas, especially when it came to reading his mind. Which she could rarely do. "I work a lot and we rarely see each other. Plus, you've been here for two months and have yet to find any job that suits you." She touched a hand to the side of his face, her breath tight in her chest. "It's not fair for me to want to keep you here. Texas is your home."

  He captured her hand in his and turned up her palm, pressing a kiss inside. "I want to be here with you. I've been working on something. I'm sure it'll come through soon. Just you wait and see." He gave her a half-smile, his eyes twinkling. "I love you, Ella."

  She closed her eyes, knowing what she had to do and that task wasn't going to be easy. Not when she loved him so much. "Jesse, I need to concentrate on my work. If I want to make it as a performer, I can't be tied down, worrying about someone else. I need to be free to come and go, without concern for another person. I can't do that with you here. You need to go home." She forced out the words with as much conviction as she could instill without breaking down and sobbing.

  Jesse's brows furrowed. "Are you telling me that what we have between us means nothing to you?"

  She could see the hurt in his chocolate brown eyes and hated herself for lying to him, even if doing so was for his own good. Ella shook her head, tears welling in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She had to keep up the pretense long enough to convince Jesse he wasn't wanted in New York City anymore. "I'll always love you, but now just isn't the right time for us. I have to work long hours, you can't find work and, you said so yourself, your family misses you. I want you to go back to Texas where you belong. You should leave tomorrow."

  "I thought I belonged with you.” A broad fingertip brushed hair over her ear. “The job situation will work itself out. I'll find something sooner than you think."