“Is it now?” I asked, chuckling. “I thought the whole most important thing was to stay on the horse for more than eight seconds and not get killed.” She laughed. “You think I am going to suck, don’t you?”
Her jaw dropped in surprise and I let my head fall back.
“No,” she sputtered.
“Yes, you do,” I said. “You think I’m going to be bad. What, are you worried about me? Afraid I’ll get hurt?”
She let go of my shirt, but I could see the color of her cheeks turn from the pale tan of her normal skin tone to a deep pink.
“Absolutely not,” she said. “No way.”
I was enjoying her pulling in on herself in embarrassment. It was like calling out a preteen for liking someone. She was so damned cute it was almost painful.
“Look at me,” I said, putting one finger under her chin and lifting it until our eyes met again. “I’m going to be just fine out there. I know how to handle myself on a horse. I have since I was about half your size. I’ve got more buckles and check stubs from riding these things than I can count. I’ll be fine. However, a good luck kiss could go a long way.”
There it was. The die had been cast. Now it was a matter of letting that tease sink in, and maybe later, revisiting the idea. That was my plan. Put the idea in her mind that I wouldn’t resist a kiss, and then see how willing she was later to find out how much she would resist the idea. What I didn’t count on though, was her grabbing my shirt again, pulling me down a little, and standing on her toes as she reached up and pressed her lips gently onto mine.
It felt simultaneously like only a few seconds as well as forever. The whole world stood still as far as I was concerned, and yet, it was all over far too fast. I could feel eyes on me from all around, the envy on their faces as I scanned past them when I looked around. I didn’t care. Her lips were soft and gentle, just like I imagined them to be. And she tasted like summertime and sweet tea. Her hair smelled like apple-picking and fresh rosemary.
She pulled away again and wished me luck, the smile never fading from her face as she walked away, presumably to find a place to watch. Suddenly, I wondered if making my move right then was the best idea in the world. How in the blue hell was I supposed to keep my head in the game when her lips reminded me of strawberries and whipped cream? How her body pressed against mine felt like a warm blanket on a cold fall morning. I wanted to wrap myself up in her and sleep for days. And to never let my lips stray far.
I sighed and tried to breathe deep. I had to focus. It had been a few weeks since I’d even been on a horse at all and longer since I’d been on anything that bucked. I heard the name of the rider in front of me being called to the line and knew I had to get into the game fast. It was showtime.
Dad was in the audience, but he was barely Dad anymore. Whatever was happening with him was in full force. Only Wade and Boone were in the stands with him. Cass was running the ranch in our absence, and the others were still in school. I was only sixteen and should have been in school too, but we all knew it was a formality. I wasn’t learning much of anything except how to hit on girls older than me.
They chose a fairly tame gelding for me, and I wasn’t happy about it. I wanted the challenge. I wanted the rush. I wanted the chance to win. I complained, but they just laughed at me. I was a kid. What was I going to do? But I knew it would hurt my scores. Who gave a crap if I stayed on for eight seconds if the horse barely tried to get me off?
As I got to the line, some kind of commotion was going on. The gelding I was supposed to ride was hurt. No one knew how, but it was limping. I felt bad for it and knew what was likely to happen to it now. I grabbed the promoter, who champed on his cigar and grumbled before turning to me. I told him I wanted to buy the horse. He told me a price. I counter-offered and he laughed.
“Sure, kid,” he said. “You stay on the stallion for eight seconds and I’ll give you the damn thing.”
It made me so mad to dismiss me like that. When I got to the gates, the men holding the stallion seemed apprehensive. They were worried I would get hurt. I was just a kid. Everyone thought I was just a kid. But I knew the horses I broke back on my own ranch. I was fine.
I looped my hand through the leather strap and leaned back. My boots were at shoulder height, my left arm up and out. Cocked and ready. I nodded at the gateman. He exchanged a look with one of the other cowboys and blew out a stream of air before opening the gates. The stallion took off.
And I rode that sonofabitch for eight seconds.
Dad was upset I got a horse out of the deal, but Wade took me aside to tell me he was proud of me. Wade didn’t like people, but he liked animals. He swore he’d help me take care of it. It’d be our horse. Mostly mine, but he’d help. It meant a lot to me that he would be proud of me.
Dad sure as hell never was anymore.
I’d never forget the promoter’s face when he gave me my prize money. What in the world was I going to do with a whole hundred dollars?
Just like every time I got on the back of a horse, I looked out into the stands. My eyes always gravitated first to the spot Dad liked to sit in. He had been gone a good bit now, but I did it every time anyway. It was like I hoped one day I’d see his ghost sitting out there. Maybe Mom would be with him. And they’d be their old selves.
He wasn’t out there that day though. Leah, however, was. A few rows back from where I had looked and a little to the right. She was sitting with Georgia and one of the other girls I didn’t quite recognize. The gateman barked something up at me. He was snickering. They gave me a stallion instead of a gelding. They wanted me bucked off fast and were willing to put me on the wildest thing in the corral. I didn’t mind. I was made for this.
I had always been made for this.
The ritual was always the same. Wrap the hand through the strap. Wrap the strap once or twice around the wrist. Loose enough that I could drop it on a buck if I needed to but tight enough to hold on when I got kicked back. I looked down at the gatemen.
“Let’s go,” I barked at him.
He snapped the gate open as fast as he could, and we were off.
My name was shouted over the loudspeakers, just like every time. The horse reared and bucked hard, just like every time. The crowd roared when I held on, moving with the bronco with every up and down. Just like every time.
I kept my top half straight, even when the horse damn near went vertical. The buzzer sounded for eight, and when I flew off, I didn’t even need to look at the scoreboard. I rode their toughest bronco like it was scripted. The crowd showed me their appreciation, and the surge of energy coursed through me like lightning. I pulled off my hat and waved it, soaking in the cheers. My thighs were sore, my muscles tight, and my chest swollen with pride and excitement.
And my lips still buzzed with the soft press of Leah’s pressed against mine.
Chapter 10
Leah
Colt was spectacular on his run. The stallion they gave him was one of the newer and more violent ones. No one had yet been able to hang on for eight seconds, and not only did Colt do it, but he made it look easy. I kept my eye on the press box area for the judges and could see how impressed they were. Based on the crowd, there was no contest. Colt was going to place first in a landslide, or there might end up being a riot.
I hopped up from my seat, making my way for the backstage area again. Colt would have exited out of the side gate and had to make his way around to the corral again, so I had a few seconds to get there when he did. As I walked in, so did he, and I ran up to him. Without thinking, I grabbed him by the shirt again, smashing my lips into his. His arms wrapped around me, and I wrapped mine around his neck. This time, the kiss was no good luck charm. I meant it.
The softness and gentleness of our first kiss was gone. There was a hunger, a desperation in this one. It was fierce and needy. My enthusiasm was being returned tenfold by him, and our tongues tangled together as he picked me up off my feet and pressed me against the wall.
&nbs
p; Suddenly, we realized where we were and broke apart enough to look around. There were only a few people back there with us, milling around, preparing to do something on their own, or crew members. No one seemed to have taken any notice of us, but at the same time, I couldn’t know that for sure. Who knew what eyes were watching carefully from around a corner?
“I have another competition in about forty-five minutes,” I whispered huskily.
“I only had the one ride,” he said.
We eyed each other for a moment, grins spreading across our faces.
“Trailer?” I asked.
“Trailer,” he said, and I giggled as he took my hand.
I felt like a teenager, rushing to find the first private place we could find. I wasn’t entirely sure we would make it all the way to my trailer. I just wanted my hands all over him, and to feel his lips on my body. My core was hot and buzzing and I could see the bulge in his jeans that left me with promises I intended on making him keep.
We ducked through the corral, trying not to bring too much attention to ourselves as we made our way past the horses and out of the arena proper. I kept looking over my shoulder to see if someone was watching as we began weaving our way past the vendor trucks and equipment trailers to get to the living ones. I silently cursed myself for liking having my trailer be parked fairly far away from the grounds. I enjoyed the little bit of solitude it gave me, and parking under the shade of trees during the summer gave me a place I could go sit outside and read during downtime. Now it just meant extra steps, extra time that I wouldn’t be able to be in his arms before I had to be back for my own competition.
I grabbed onto Colt’s wrist and pulled him to me, reaching up with my lips until I found his. Part of me wanted to strip him right there, in between two trailers that I assumed were likely empty anyway. He returned my kiss with the same zeal and passion I had, and his hands scooped under my ass. It had been a long time since I let a man touch me, and his firm, strong grip that was just recently keeping him held on to a bucking bronco was squeezing my round, plump backside like it was giving him life.
When our embrace was broken, we giggled like teenagers again and picked up the pace, weaving through trailers until we made our way to mine. I unlocked the door after fumbling with the keys, and when we were both inside, I slammed it shut and locked it.
I turned to him, and we locked lips again, but this time, our hands were everywhere. I slid them up and down his body and began working on the buttons of his shirt. I went low and he went high, working on the buttons of mine. I dragged him with me as I walked backward, our lips still searching for each other between panting breaths, and kicking off our boots as we made our way down the narrow trailer.
He had to duck a little to get through the door, and we collapsed onto the bed almost immediately. There wasn’t much room to walk in there, after all. As soon as we landed, his shirt flew open and I yanked it down over his shoulders. He let it slide off and I pulled at the bottom of his tank top, yanking it out from where it was tucked in his pants. He pulled it up and over his head and tossed it aside as well, and since he was on his back to do it, I took the opportunity to mount him.
I yanked my shirt off too, getting rid of the last two buttons faster than he could, and suddenly, I was sitting on him in just my bra, looking down at his chiseled chest and stomach. It sent a wave of excitement through me that was even more intense than before, just looking at his hard, sweaty body, and I reached out to run my fingers through the ridges of his muscles.
Curling down, I pressed my lips to his again, and he reached behind me to unhook my bra. I let it fall off me and sat up again, reveling in the groan that came from deep in his chest when he saw my round, heavy breasts. His hands slid up my sides and filled with them, my nipples resting in his palms while he kneaded into them. I could feel the hardness of his thick cock below me, pressing into his jeans, desperate to escape.
Suddenly, he sat up, crushing his mouth into mine and then moving his lips down my neck. I gasped as his tongue slid down the sensitive crook of my neck to my collarbone. He traced it from one side to the other before dipping his head lower. I arched backward, presenting more of my chest to him, and his tongue slid to my nipple, guiding it into his lips. I moaned as his warm, wet tongue caressed and teased the nipple to stand on end before he trailed his lips to the other side, repeating himself.
His fingers slid into my belt and opened it, unbuttoning it, and I stood on my knees to help him work it down my hips. Forcefully but gently, he wrapped me up in his arms, rolled me to my back, and pulled on the jeans until they slid off. The white cotton panties I wore underneath were soaked and he peeled them away with a grin on his face.
Then, I was bare in front of him. Naked and feeling as sexy in his gaze as I had ever felt. He worshiped me with his eyes, letting his fingertips trail my skin for a moment before slowly lowering his head between my thighs. I let one hand fill with his hair and the other bent at the elbow and reached above me to fill with the sheet of the bed. I bit my bottom lip as his hot breath brushed across my core, the anticipation driving me into madness.
He licked my lips slowly, circling around my entrance before sliding up through my folds. I cried out as he found my clit and he groaned as he tasted me. My body jerked as the sensation overwhelmed me, and one of his strong hands rested just below his mouth. A thick, powerful finger penetrated me, sliding in my pussy as his tongue teased the hood into opening. I pressed my thighs to the side of his head and bucked, and he rode me like one of the mares in the rodeo, moving with me, his tongue flickering, and his finger sliding slowly in and out of me, reaching deeper each time.
I could feel the tension building in my core as he pleasured me. Grunts of his own satisfaction only heightened the sensation. Suddenly, I felt the wave of an orgasm building, ebbing at the edges of my consciousness, threatening to throw me overboard into a fit of hysteria. My toes curled and his tongue swept faster, flicking at my clit as his fingers thrust into me over and over, the tips brushing against my upper wall.
My voice rose in high-pitched staccato yelps. Then, with an explosion of earth-shattering pleasure, I came. My body shook, my legs vibrating wildly as I yanked the sheet right off the bed and pulled it down over my face as I moaned loudly. He pressed his tongue into my clit and held his fingers there, letting me buck and writhe in his grip.
When I calmed, he kissed up my stomach, wetting my breasts again with his tongue before crushing his lips into mine again. I shifted so he rolled on his back and I mounted him again.
“My turn,” I said, and a grin spread widely across his face. The desire to satisfy him as he had done for me was intense and overwhelming and my body still buzzed with the intense afterglow of the orgasm.
I unbuckled his belt and yanked open his pants, letting my tongue trace the V-shape that led from his rippling muscular abdomen down to the tuft of hair above his cock. When his pants slid down to his knees, the boxers he wore came with it and his cock sprang out at me. It was massive and thick and I marveled at how huge it felt in my hand as I wrapped my fingers around the base and stroked him.
Ducking my head, I licked him from base to tip on the underside, getting a groan of intense pleasure from him. I swirled my tongue over the head, gathering up the sweet sticky fluid there before taking it into my mouth fully, letting him fill my cheeks with his thickness. One hand slid below him and gathered his balls, gently squeezing them as I tried to take as much of him into my mouth as I could.
He reached the back of my throat and I gagged but pressed on. I bobbed on him, stroking him as I did, and I felt his legs clenching below me. I knew the sensation for him was as overwhelming as it was for me, and he was close to a climax of his own. Bobbing faster, I was determined to make him explode, stroking him and squeezing him until his hand filled with my hair and his groans grew intense and wild.
Suddenly, he bucked under my grip, and his voice became a whisper.
“I’m going to come,” he said.
I only moaned in response and took him deeply into my mouth, stroking him faster until he did. His cry of pleasure was enough that I slid my fingers down to my clit, and with only the barest touch, I came with him. Stroking him slowly onto my tongue, I emptied him as I rubbed my clit until I came again as well.
Chapter 11
Colt
I looked over at the clock beside the bed and groaned.
“We don’t have much time,” I said. “Probably ought to get dressed again.”
“I know,” Leah said, elongating the O-sound for a long moment. “I just don’t want to.”
I laughed. “You’ve got some competitions to win,” I said.
“I already won one of them,” she said, grinning, and pulled herself up to press her lips to mine. “Still, I want that money. Let’s get going.”
She sat up and the sheet fell away, revealing her large, soft breasts. My cock twitched, and everything in me wanted to pull her back and have her ride me instead. I reached forward but was too late. She was already off the bed, her cute, perfectly round ass jiggling as she stepped back into her jeans. Reluctantly, I stood up and gathered my clothes as well.
Wearing only her jeans, Leah walked out of the bedroom and over to the sink, fixing her hair in the reflection. I put my clothes on slowly, watching her as her heavy breasts squeezed and bounced as she reached up to pull her hair into a tight ponytail. She caught me grinning at her and smiled, shaking her head slightly as she finished getting her hair together.
“Like the view?” she asked.
“One of the best I’ve ever had,” I said. “Though I can think of a few I could have later that might rival it.”
His Sexy Smile Page 6
