by Joya Ryan
Desperate to get some space from the woman who made his chest tight, he gave one last appreciative look down her body before walking over to the others. Just her presence made it hard—in every sense—to function. He wasn’t sure what he had just promised, but he was pretty sure he meant every word.
And that scared the shit out of him.
…
The evening air did little to cool Jenna’s hot skin. All night, she had been stealing looks at Colt from across the fire. The baseball cap he wore shadowed his face so perfectly that the firelight danced off his strong jaw, making all that blond stubble look like flecks of gold.
His eyes were like burning sapphires. Every time he tilted his gaze in her direction, Jenna had to check the urge once more to run her palms over her shoulders. She wasn’t cold. She was hot, but those stupid goose bumps wouldn’t go away.
“Bass, truth or dare?” Huck called across the fire to the attorney.
“Fuck off.”
Huck tsked. “We’re not playing that game right now.”
Jenna couldn’t help but laugh. Huck was carefree and didn’t give a crap about much of anything.
“You’re drunk. And we’re not in high school anymore,” Bass stated, but he grinned. Sebastian’s composed facade rarely faltered. Jenna identified with that. She also knew that while he might be intense, deep down, he was a rowdy country boy like the rest of them. Tonight, after a few beers and laughs, Jenna was happy to see the relaxed side of him.
“Okay, okay, okay! I’ll pick ‘truth’ for you.” Huck held up his hands, each holding a beer. “Bass, do you make the witnesses cry or scream when you question them?”
A devilish smile spread Sebastian’s handsome face. “Both.”
“Mmm-hmm.” Huck took a swig of beer. “But you always debrief them right?”
Now everyone laughed and Sebastian’s grin widened. “You can’t ‘debrief’ lingerie, you redneck.”
“Oh, I forgot, counselor, you just talk ’em out of their panties.”
Sebastian shrugged. “And when that fails you use your teeth.”
“Bass, you’re terrible!” Lily smiled.
“What are you talking about, terrible? Getting this guy in jeans with a beer is his best side!” Huck finished both of his own beers and went back to the cooler.
“Jesus, Huck. Who are you trying to outdrink?” Sebastian said.
Huck mumbled something unintelligible.
Jenna looked over at Colt, who was watching all this play out, just as she was. She’d like to think he was struggling with thoughts similar to her own. If he was, she sure as hell didn’t know it. He looked so calm, completely unaware of her.
But that’s what she wanted, right? Distance.
Why did she feel like scolding herself right now? She and Colt had shared something intimate. Special. She had been honest and told him how she felt and what she wanted. Problem was, how she felt and what she wanted were constantly conflicting.
There was no way she was going back on her word. In reality, she didn’t need the grief and mess that came with a relationship, especially in this town with that man—not that he was offering that in the first place. But she would let everything else go for tonight go and just be.
Her eyes skated over Colt again. Pausing on all the delicious parts. What he had said and how he had looked at her—like he really did want her to have everything. Like he understood a part of her no one else did. Because she could be herself with him.
“You trying to stare a hole through me there, sugar?” Colt called out at her.
Jenna frowned, her eyes remaining on his hard chest. “Your shirts…” She took a sip from her longneck. “They just fit you so nice.”
The simple cotton looked soft, stretching wonderfully over the hard planes of muscles in his chest and torso.
Jenna looked up and saw everyone staring at her. Panic rose. She wasn’t anywhere near drunk. The few beers she’d had made her buzzed enough to say what was on her mind. Apparently everyone took notice. She looked at Colt, silently begging for…anything. Anything to get her out of this moment and away from her verbal slipup.
“As long as we’re being nostalgic, how about a game of sardines?” he asked the group, breaking everyone’s attention off her, thank God.
“Ooh! I’ll be ‘it’!” Penny smiled.
“Aren’t you worried she’ll get herself lost?” Sebastian said to Ryder.
“Hey!” Penny piped in, “Ryder is my brother, not my keeper. I’d be more worried about you getting your uptight corporate ass lost out there.” Penny retorted, obviously tipsy.
Ryder laughed. “There’s that Diamond temper coming out.”
Penny’s eyes went wide at her brother’s comment and she threw a palm over her mouth. Normally a big ball of sweet sunshine, Penny’s little outburst appeared to take even her by shock.
Sebastian downed the rest of his drink, tossed the bottle in the fire and stepped closer to Penny. “Oh, it’s on now.”
“Great, Pen, you just had to go and challenge the most competitive one of us here.” Huck sighed, shaking his head.
“I never lose,” Sebastian said, as if affirming Huck’s statement.
“Well, we’re not in a courtroom, we’re on my turf. There’s no way you’ll be able to find me.” Penny gripped her hips and raised her chin in the air.
“Pretty big boast coming from something so small.” Sebastian was teasing her now, but Penny didn’t miss a beat.
“Care to make this interesting then?”
“Penny…” Ryder warned. She shushed her older brother and continued to stare daggers at Sebastian.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, if you are able to find me before anyone else does, and within thirty minutes, then I’ll cook you dinner for a week. You can come in to the restaurant after work and for seven days straight it’ll be waiting for you.”
Sebastian looked at Ryder as if gauging his reaction. Ryder was just watching with obvious amusement.
“And if I don’t find you in thirty minutes?”
“Then you owe me a favor. Anything I want, anytime.”
Jenna thought she heard Sebastian choke on his own spit. Huck clapped Sebastian’s shoulders and said, “As not your attorney, I’d advise you to go for it.”
“What?” Sebastian looked at Huck, who just jammed another cookie in his mouth.
“Her food is amazing, Bass.”
Sebastian eyed Penny. “Deal.”
With a squeal of delight, Penny ran off into the night, darting straight for the woods.
“Remind me what the hell ‘sardines’ is again?” Lily asked.
Huck threw his arm around Lily. “We gotta find Penny. Once we do, we stay there. Last one standing alone is it.”
Colt walked around the fire and came to stand next to Jenna. Her breath caught. She could smell the woodsy scent that was all him and had nothing to do with their current surroundings.
“On your marks!” Ryder called out loudly.
Huck and Lily tensed to run, Lily giggling.
“Get set.”
Jenna put her hands on her knees and readied to sprint in the direction Penny had just gone.
Colt leaned in and whispered in Jenna’s ear. “You still set on running from me, Miss Justice?”
She turned her face and met his eyes. “It’s not my fault if you can’t catch me,” she breathed.
“We’ll see about that.”
Jenna gasped when his hand landed heavy on her ass and gave it a squeeze.
“Go!” Ryder yelled.
Jenna didn’t focus on anyone else. She heard the word and took off. Sprinting as fast as she could, she quickly gained on the tree line. She didn’t chance looking back. She just ran. The grass crunched beneath her footfalls. The summer air cut across her bare thighs. She pumped her arms and ran faster, finally reaching the trees. She didn’t stop. Adrenaline was heavy in each intake of air. She felt alive. Anxious.
The
woods grew thicker. She could smell the lake and knew she was drawing closer to the banks. She stopped and turned to look back.
Blackness.
The moon was low and full, giving enough light through the canopy of oaks to see shadows.
A twig broke in the distance.
She took a step back. Her shoulder met a thick trunk. Her breaths were coming hard, but not from the run. From anticipation.
Branches rustled.
Whatever—whoever—was getting closer.
Her eyes darted around. She couldn’t make out a single soul. The crickets sang. The light breeze blew the smell of bark and night all around her.
There! Her eyes locked on a shadow in the distance and the footsteps that accompanied it got closer.
She placed her palms against the tree behind her. She couldn’t move. Could barely think.
Maybe Colt was right. Maybe she wanted to be caught.
Colt stepped into a beam of moonlight. He was heading straight for her.
Five yards and closing. Jenna gripped the tree. She was pinned by his presence.
Three yards.
His eyes blazed like blue fire. His expression was set with such intensity it could melt her skin.
At a few steps away, Colt gripped the bill of his hat and swung it around to the back of his head. And then he was on her. His mouth hungry, seeking, his body pushing against hers. She was caught between a big oak and a big man. Everything about him consumed her. He wound his fingers through her hair and plunged his tongue between her lips. She gasped and he swallowed her. All of her. Jenna felt her very soul being drawn out.
“You drive me crazy,” he breathed between hard kisses.
Jenna gripped his belt with both hands and pulled him closer. The movement forced her legs to part and cradle his hips between her thighs. He ground his hard shaft against her core.
“You’ve been ignoring me all night,” she groaned when he took that talented mouth and trailed it down her neck.
“I was afraid if I got too close to you, this would happen.” He thrust his hips, sliding his hard cock against her again. “I want you so much, it’s scary.”
He yanked down the front of her tank top and bra and wedged them beneath her bare breasts. He latched onto one of her nipples like a starving man.
She ran her hands up his back, beneath his shirt, massaging those hard shoulders.
His fingers worked quickly as he flipped the button on her shorts. She kicked them down her legs and off. He relinquished her breast and his hand slid down to cup her sex.
“Jesus Christ, JJ.” His fingers toyed with her bare flesh. “All night, you’ve been walking around with no panties on?”
She gave a little smile. He obviously liked that idea. She couldn’t make out much, but she was pretty sure he was on the brink of drooling.
His mouth was back on hers.
“Need you now,” he growled. She heard the clanking sound of his belt being unfastened, a rustle of fabric and a rip of foil. “Tell me you’re ready for me, because I can’t wait.”
She clung to his shoulders. “Yes, yes, Colt, now.”
He placed his cock at her entrance, gripped the back of her thighs, and surged into her.
“Oh, God!”
“Shhh,” he whispered against her lips. She could feel his smile. “We’re not the only ones in the woods, remember?”
Oh, crap. Jenna had completely forgotten about everyone else. She was too busy trying to get her hands on Colt and all his glory to think of much else. She was pretty sure she had run in a totally different direction than the others…
The idea that they could get caught, that someone might see? It didn’t terrify her the way she expected. In fact, it excited her. But that was what happened when she was around Colt—she stopped thinking and just felt.
“You like this, don’t you, baby?” He withdrew, then hammered back inside her. “Got a little exhibitionist in ya?” He kissed her, grinning against her mouth.
“I’ve got a little of you in me, actually.” She nipped his bottom lip.
He pulled away enough to look her in the face. “A little?” he said with amusement, then thrust hard again, causing Jenna to moan. Definitely more than a little. A lot more.
“God, you feel so good, Jenna. I want to be here forever.” There was a longing, a need in his voice that pulled at Jenna’s heart and, for a moment, she let the word “forever” sink in. It was a nice concept. Unrealistic. But nice.
He pulled all the way out, then buried himself again. She gritted her teeth to keep from crying out in ecstasy and scoured her nails down his back. “More, Colt.”
He hissed. “You asked for it, sugar.”
One arm came behind her and held her ass while the other remained locked on her thigh. He gently bit her neck and began pounding in and out. Hard. Fast. And there was nothing she could do other than stand there and take it. If she had been worried about Colt’s healing ribs, she wasn’t anymore. He didn’t even seem the least bit uncomfortable.
She squirmed, but his hold was like a vise. She was going to scream. To cry out and come so hard she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from yelling to the sky.
She bit down so hard on her tongue that she tasted blood.
She was right there, just about to come when—
Colt suddenly stopped.
She gasped, her hands on his back balling into fists. “What are you doing?”
Colt placed his palm over her mouth. That was when she heard it.
Footsteps.
Jenna’s eyes shot wide. Shit, shit, shit!
Colt looked down at her and the smirk that crossed his face was laced with such pure wickedness, it made her whole body tremble.
He couldn’t mean to…?
With one hand still on her thigh, he tugged her leg and moved that hard cock of his inside her. She tried to groan, but the palm on her mouth muffled any noise. He thrust his hips again and her whole body buzzed.
The footsteps sounded like they were getting closer.
Colt didn’t stop. He kept up the delicious torture. Long, hard, quiet thrusts—each one feeling deeper than the last. The pace was intense. The fierceness in each move drew her closer to the brink. He had her body pleading for more. She was spiraling to the edge and wanted to beg, to scream, to come.
He touched his forehead to hers. The pressure in Jenna built. Higher with every upward glide, intensifying with every sound of approaching movement.
Her skin caught fire and her body tensed so tight she thought she’d burst.
She was going to come. Right there, in the middle of the woods with God-knows-who nearby. An inferno surged through her. Hot and heavy, but blazing so fast she couldn’t keep up with it. Her back bowed off the tree and pushed into Colt’s chest. She was trapped. Her orgasm exploded beneath her skin and her whole body shook from the intensity.
She screamed in ecstasy, but Colt’s palm against her mouth tamped down the sound. He didn’t stop moving.
Colt’s lips were at her ear. “You feel so good,” he whispered, and when Jenna’s nails dug further into his shoulders, she felt a tremor race up his spine and his big body gently convulse. He buried his face in her hair as if trying to keep himself from yelling.
He came so hard Jenna felt every shattering pulse.
They stayed like that for a moment, quietly catching their breath.
Colt didn’t move other than to stare into her eyes. Still buried inside her, he simply stood in silence, slowly letting his hand fall from her mouth. Tucking a lock of hair that had come loose behind her ear, he continued to gaze at her.
Jenna was lost. Lost in her surroundings. Lost in those eyes that were beaming at her. Lost in Colt’s body.
And if it meant keeping him, she didn’t ever want to be found.
The footsteps started to fade. Thank God. It must have been one of the “sardine” players, and though they were all friends, Jenna wasn’t ready to get caught. Yet based on what just happened,
she wasn’t ready for it to end, either.
She glanced down, then looked back up at Colt. She was still wedged between his hard body and the oak. The look on his face made her wonder if he would ever let her go. If she wanted to be let go of.
He cupped her cheek and slowly shook his head. “I’m not ready to give this up.”
He twisted his hips and Jenna gasped. He was still semihard and, God, did he feel good. With Colt inside her, a part of her, she felt more complete than she ever had in her whole life. She felt like herself…only more.
More.
“Colt, I…”
He gave her a gentle kiss. “Lily tells me all the time that I’m stubborn.”
Jenna smirked. “No kidding?”
He nodded, his thumb trailing over her cheekbone. “When I want something, I get it.”
“Are you trying to tell me you’re bratty? Because I kind of knew that.”
Colt thrust his hips, his shaft hardening even more, and the jolt of pleasure made her gasp. Rendering her speechless, which was what he was going for, she was sure.
“Do you know what it would take for me to relinquish something my mind is set on?”
Jenna swallowed hard. The normally laid-back rodeo star was radiating intensity. Jenna felt trapped by a predator who was about to devour her. “A hot meal?”
Colt briefly smirked, but his eyes locked on hers, his fingers sifting through the curls by her hairline. “No. It would take a swift kick.”
Jenna remembered talking to Lily over the years about how Lily wished Colt would leave the circuit. “It would take a swift kick to get Colt to give up something he wanted,” she’d say. And if a one-ton bull hadn’t been able to do it, nothing would.
Colt let out a long breath, as if the idea of leaving the dark woods bothered him. Like he truly was “giving up” something. But that couldn’t be right. Colt didn’t do relationships. Not that Jenna had even had that conversation with him. But why did he look so pained?
His hand dropped from her face, and when he pulled away, Jenna understood loss. She wanted to throw herself back into his arms, soak up the warmth of him. She was ready to tackle him. To beg. If she didn’t regain her senses, someone would physically have to hold her back from clutching to him—
