“You wanted me to prove I wanted to do you,” he said.
He had fine lines radiating out from the corners of his eyes and mouth. Up close, there was a ring of navy blue around his gray irises, and his lashes seemed very dark and thick. Her focus dropped to his mouth, homing in on his full bottom lip.
“I…I’m sorry?” she said, losing track of where they were in the conversation. If that was even what this was. It seemed to have turned into something else entirely.
He was standing so close, and her blood had turned thick and heavy…
“Do you still want me to prove it to you?” he asked.
The answer came from deep inside her, from a part of herself that didn’t play by the rules or worry about tomorrow. It wanted what it wanted—and right now, it wanted Tanner Harding.
“Yes.”
The words were barely out her mouth before she was pressed against the wall, Tanner’s body pinning her there as his mouth captured hers. He tasted like toothpaste and heat, and she gave a little moan as his tongue invaded her mouth. Her hands found his shoulders, gripping on to strong muscle as she angled her head to give him better access. He made an approving sound, then she felt him tug at the hem of her T-shirt. The first touch of his hand on her belly made her shiver, and when his palm smoothed up to cup her breast she forgot to breathe entirely.
“Fuck,” he said, his voice reverential as he learned her shape with palm and fingers, his thumb sweeping across her nipple and bringing it to sudden, fierce life.
She felt as though someone had set fire to her from within—everything burned and throbbed, and the need to have his weight on her, to have him inside her, was suddenly her sole purpose in life. She slid her hands over his belly and around to his back, slipping them beneath the elastic of his tracksuit pants. She smoothed her hands over his firm ass, reveling in his powerful musculature. He muttered something against her mouth before yanking her top up and lowering his head to her breasts. She dropped her head back as he laved her nipple through the lace of her bra before nudging the material out of the way and sucking the tight peak into the heat of his mouth.
She almost came on the spot as he sucked hard, then bit her gently. Her panties were wet with need, her hips pressing greedily into his.
God, he felt so amazing. His body was granite hard beneath her hands, every fiber of his being focused on exploring her, pleasuring her.
He switched his attention to her other breast, licking it until she was trembling with anticipation.
“Please, Tanner, please,” she begged.
She didn’t even know what she was asking for, but Tanner did, his hand finding the front of her jeans and slipping the stud free with a quick flick. She sucked in a breath as he tugged her fly down and then slid his hand into her panties. The feel of his fingers gliding over her mound and between her legs made her pull his hips even closer. He stilled when he discovered how wet and hot she was for him, a full-body shiver passing through him like a body quake.
“Jesus, Evie.”
And then suddenly she was on the bed on her back, and Tanner was looming over her, pushing her jeans down her hips. She helped with eager hands, kicking herself free even as she spread her thighs wide to accept his weight. Somehow he’d managed to shed his own clothes, and she pulled him back down over her, pressing kisses to his neck and chest, her hands roving his body. She could feel his cock nudging between her legs, the pressure driving her crazy. Never in her life had she felt so desperate, so greedy and mindless with desire, and when he replaced his cock with his hand she almost flew off the bed.
Panting, her hips lifting instinctively, she welcomed his touch as he stroked her, magically finding the place she needed him the most.
“Yes. God. Please,” she begged, so close to coming she was on the verge of confused tears.
“Easy, baby,” he soothed, and she heard the crinkle of a foil packet.
Then his cock was at her entrance, pressing inside her as he stroked her clit with clever fingers. Her climax hit her like an avalanche, bowing her back, robbing her breath. She clutched at his shoulders, her whole body pulsing around his invasion.
He crushed her mouth with his, swallowing her wordless pleasure sounds. And then he started to stroke into her, hard and thick, and the pressure was so perfect, so essential, that Evie felt herself climbing again.
Wrapping her legs around his hips, she met him thrust for thrust, their mouths locked in a never-ending kiss. He slid a hand between them to find her again and just like that she was gone. This time she felt him tense with her, and he broke their kiss, pressing his face into her hair. He shuddered into her, his whole body trembling with intensity.
He rolled onto the bed beside her afterward and she lay there panting, her body flushed and warm and wet, utterly stunned by what had just happened.
“Talk to me, Evie,” Tanner said, and she realized he’d pushed himself up onto one elbow and was watching her with a concerned frown.
“I don’t know if I remember English anymore.” She sounded dazed. She felt dazed. “I feel like I’ve never had sex before. That was… I don’t have words.”
Too late she realized she probably sounded gauche in the extreme, but when she snuck a look at Tanner he was smiling and looking pretty pleased with himself. She reached out and gave him a little shove, which somehow turned into a caress of his rounded pec muscle.
“Don’t look too smug. I was responsible for at least fifty percent of the awesomeness,” she said.
“God, yes. More than fifty,” he said, and she inhaled sharply as he leaned over and pulled her nipple into his mouth, one of his big hands wrapping around her breast to plump it and hold it in place while he ravaged her.
And just like that, the achy throb of desire started up again between her thighs.
Unbelievable. This man was like a match to her tinder—and she totally wanted to go up in flames again.
Letting her head fall back, she gave herself over to pleasure.
Chapter Eight
He couldn’t get enough of her breasts. Soft and plump, they fit perfectly into the palms of his hands, her pale pink nipples hardening into twin buds as he divided his attention between them. He loved the taste of Evie’s skin, and the way she forgot to breathe when he found a sweet spot, and he especially loved the sounds she made as he worked her body.
He was pretty sure she had no idea how vocal she was being, either, which somehow made it hotter for him, her moans and breathy utterances going straight to his cock.
He’d spent enough time trying not to notice her body that being able to lay hands on her felt like a gift from the gods. Her skin was warm and smooth, her hips gently curved, her legs finely muscled and strong. The hair between her legs was a dark blonde, a neat, alluring little thatch he was desperate to explore more fully.
Pressing kisses to the underside of her breasts, he slid down the bed. He explored her rib cage, and the dip where her stomach began. Her belly muscles trembled beneath his assault, her hips moving restlessly. But when he slid lower still, her hands found his shoulders.
“Come back up here.”
“I like it down here,” he said, his lips still pressed to her skin.
“But—”
He glanced up to find she was biting her lower lip.
“You don’t like it?” he asked.
He’d met a few women over the years who found oral play too intense. Everybody was different.
She frowned, and it was clear to him she was struggling with something. Then intuition came to the rescue.
“You’ve never done it before?” he guessed.
“Not really.”
“Sweetheart,” he said. A woman as sensitive, as responsive, as Evie… It was practically a crime against nature to deny her one of life’s singular pleasures.
“Lie back,” he instructed.
The worried little frown remained between her eyebrows. He reached up and rested his fingers on her sternum, gently urging her onto her back.
> “Trust me,” he said, and after a few seconds she nodded and allowed him to push her back onto the bed.
“Okay.”
He returned his attention to the lightly tanned stomach in front him, leaning close to press a kiss to the space between her belly button and the first silky strands of her pubic hair. He smoothed his hand over her hip, then down to her thigh. Ever so gently, he eased her legs apart.
He could feel how wound up she was, excitement and uncertainty vibrating beneath her skin. She had no idea what was coming, how much pleasure he was about to give her.
“Relax, baby,” he soothed, slipping his thumb into her folds and slicking it along the seam of her intimate flesh until he found the stiff little bud of her clit. Her hips gave a satisfying jerk and he smiled to himself as she widened her thighs.
Her reaction hardened his cock even more, but he pushed his own desire to the side. This was all about Evie, nothing else.
He repeated the move with his thumb, rubbing slick circles around her clit at the top of each stroke.
“You like that?” he asked.
“Feels so good,” she murmured, her voice husky with need.
He leaned forward, using his thumb to part her, and followed the same path with his tongue.
“Oooh.”
Evie’s body jerked as though she’d been shocked and he made sure he had a good grip on her hips before pulling her clit into his mouth. Her moan was loud and long, her hands coming down to grasp his shoulders before sliding into his hair. He half expected her to push him away, but instead she clutched him to her, her hips circling, his name on her lips as he pleasured her with his mouth.
Fuck, yeah. He loved hearing her make those sounds, loved knowing he was the one making her feel so good.
She was already tensing, her climax building, and he deliberately pulled back, using both fingers and mouth to tease her lips and circle her entrance. She was mindless by then, begging him to make her come, and he slid a couple of fingers inside her and started in on her again.
She came on a sob, her back arching off the bed, her hips shuddering beneath his grip as he held her in place and wrung every last spasm of pleasure from her.
She was panting when he was done, eyes closed, cheeks and chest flushed pink with desire, thighs spread wide. He’d never seen a sexier, more decadent, more beautiful sight in his life.
He kissed her inner thigh, then her hip, then drew himself up so he was lying beside her. He was hard, ready to go again, but her pleasure had been more than enough for him. If his heart gave out right now, he’d die a happy, contented man.
“So…you’re definitely a professional bull rider? Because you could totally make a living at that,” she said after a short silence.
“If I got to kiss your pretty pussy every day, I’d seriously consider a career change.”
She turned her head to look at him, her gaze still distant and dazed. Then he saw his words hit home as her eyes creased at the corners and her mouth curved into a smile.
“That is the sweetest, dirtiest thing I ever heard anyone say,” she said.
“Sweetheart, you need to get out more,” he said.
Which made her laugh, which made him slide his arm beneath her neck so that her head came to rest on his chest, her body curling against his. Normally, he wasn’t big on the touchy-feely stuff after sex, mostly because it seemed to always lead to expectations that weren’t going to go anywhere.
With Evie, it felt natural to hold her close. Her body felt good against his own, and he liked feeling the steady thump-thump of her heart where their bodies pressed together.
“I guess this means my apology is accepted,” she said after a short silence.
“God, no. I’m still mortally offended. It’s going to take a lot more than a few hours in bed with a goddess to soothe my trauma.”
She levered herself up on an elbow so she could see his face. “A goddess? Really?”
She was clearly tickled by the idea and he reached out to touch a strand of her silky hair, watching it slide through his fingers.
“All that stuff Jensen said to you yesterday? He’s an idiot. I’ve been trying to keep my hands off you since I met you,” he said truthfully.
She studied his face, and it killed him to see the uncertainty in her eyes. How could she not know how appealing and sexy she was? It seemed crazy to him. Then her gaze shifted to his chest, then further south, and he watched her expression shift as she registered his still-erect cock.
“Is that… Do you want to…?”
Did he want to? She was priceless.
“No,” he said, rolling on top of her and using his knee to nudge both of hers apart.
She laughed. “Okay, so that was probably a stupid question.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” he said.
Then he stroked a hand down her body and neither of them said anything very coherent for a while.
*
Evie lay on sex-rumpled sheets, surrounded by the smell of Tanner, and tried to get the goofy smile off her face. Any second now he was going to finish in the shower and she didn’t want him to come out and see her lying here grinning like a loon.
It was bloody hard, though, when her body was still humming with satisfaction. Tanner had made her come so many times she’d lost count.
She hadn’t even thought that was possible.
Not that her previous lovers had been inadequate or unenthusiastic or anything like that. It had been lovely with Troy, she was pretty sure, although most of the details of that night were a little blurry. Her boyfriends before him had been attentive and generous, too.
It was just that none of them had got her off the way Tanner had. She didn’t know what it was. His accent. His ridiculous body, all sinew and steel and hard-won muscle. His big, calloused hands. Maybe it was the way he looked at her, as though he wanted to eat her up.
She snickered to herself as she remembered he literally had. He’d devoured her as though she was the juiciest, most delicious thing he’d ever tasted, and just the memory of what his mouth and tongue had done to her was enough to make her wet and needy all over again.
The sound of the shower stopping had her reaching for the sheet tangled at her feet and she’d just pulled it over her breasts when Tanner entered, a towel slung low on his hips.
He looked so divine, standing there with damp skin and slicked-back hair, for a moment all she could do was stare. Then he turned to grab something from his case and she saw the bruise on his left hip, just visible above the edge of the towel.
“What happened to your hip? Are you okay?” she asked, sitting up straighter.
He glanced over his shoulder at her, and she could see he was amused by her concern. “Landed on my hip last night. No big deal.”
“It looks sore. I didn’t hurt you when we were… I didn’t hurt you, did I?” she asked. She’d been pretty greedy and grabby in the heat of the moment—so greedy and grabby she hadn’t even registered his bruise until now, in fact.
Talk about blinded by lust.
“It looks worse than it is. Couple of days, it’ll be gone.”
He was so dismissive, she decided she had to take him at his word. He probably suffered injuries all the time, given how demanding bull riding was.
“I’ve got an appointment with the sports medicine team to get some work done on my shoulder,” he said as dropped his towel and reached for a pair of boxer briefs.
She had to stop herself from giving him a standing ovation as his glorious ass was revealed—along with the rest.
God, that body.
He reached for one of the remaining pairs of Wrangler jeans neatly stacked in his case.
“Darlin’, you keep staring at me like that and I’m going to miss my appointment,” he said.
“You’re the one walking around being gorgeous and sexy. I’m only human,” she responded.
His mouth curled up at the corner, and he shot her an amused glance. The expression in his eyes
did something to her chest, making it both tight and warm at the same time.
Just as well you’re heading for Santa Fe tomorrow, young lady, the cynic in her mind said.
She swatted the warning away. She wasn’t stupid. She knew exactly what this thing was between her and Tanner—a good time for a short time. Tomorrow, he’d pack up his truck and head home to Current Creek, Colorado, and she’d embark on a too-long bus trip to Santa Fe. There would be no reason for them to ever see each other again. She lived on the other side of the world, and he spent most of his year on the road, staring death in the eye every time he climbed onto the back of a bull.
This was a holiday fling. Or, more accurately, a one-night stand, even though it had happened in the daytime.
“You got any plans for the day?” he asked, closing the fly on his jeans and snapping the stud. She watched, fascinated, as he fed his belt through the loops and fastened his broad, gold buckle. Then she understood what she was looking at.
“Is that… Is that an AEBR World Title buckle?” she asked.
He glanced down as though he had to remind himself what he was wearing. “Sure.”
“When did you win?” she asked.
“Couple years ago now.”
“So you’re really good?”
“I do okay,” he said.
She remembered him saying the same thing when they were talking about his career yesterday in the pool. It occurred to her that she hadn’t once heard him big-note himself or brag or try to puff himself up in her eyes. Tanner Harding knew exactly who he was and what he was worth, and he didn’t need to prove it to anyone.
“I warned you about looking at me like that,” he said, his gaze smoky with speculation.
“Sorry,” she said, although she wasn’t entirely sure she was. An idea occurred to her, and she opened her mouth to give voice it, then closed it again because she wasn’t sure if she was about to overstep the mark or not.
“What?” he asked, shrugging into a shirt and buttoning it with quick, dexterous fingers.
She knew exactly how skilled those fingers were, despite their work-hardened callouses.
“Would it be weird if I came to watch you ride tonight? It seems kind of a waste to come all this way and not see a single cowboy ride a bull.”
Tanner (American Extreme Bull Riders Tour Book 1) Page 9
