Tame Horses Wild Hearts

by Alison Paige

“You can’t.” Clayton finally spared Joe a glance. “Hey. No horses in the office.”

  Joe threw a look over his shoulder in time to see Sunshine trying to pass her horse-sized body through the people-sized door. “Whoa. Whoa, girl. Back up.”

  He got her into the aisle again and asked from the office door, “Is there a trail?”

  “Barely.”

  “Give me a fuckin’ direction to head. Which way did she go?” Joe had grown up on the streets, survived on his wits. He’d found his way around every street, alley and abandoned building in the city. How hard could a bunch of trees be?

  Clayton narrowed his eyes on him. After a moment of obvious deliberation he sighed and pushed to his feet. “What do I care if you get lost out there or break your damn neck in a fall?”

  “Right.” Joe stepped out of the way when Clayton reached the door. He followed him out the stable entrance up the wide gravel drive to where it met the service road in front of the kids cabins and the mess hall.

  Clayton swung a finger toward the wall of forest. “That way. Between the mess hall and the boys cabin. See the break in the trees? That’s the trail.” Then he turned and walked back to the stables.

  Thunder crackled overhead, a rumbling warning as the sky darkened and winds tugged at the leaves. Joe steered Sunshine around a ten-foot-by-ten-foot patch of gnarled prickly bushes, weeds and other forest debris. He refused to dwell on how unnervingly familiar the patch looked.

  Everything looked the same. Trees. Weeds. Prickly patches. No matter which way he looked it was all the same. There was no trail. He was walking blind, over hills, around fallen trees, under low branches. Rushing out after Kate was a stupid move no matter how he cut it.

  Joe checked his watch. “Fifty-five minutes,” he mumbled to himself. He’d been looking for almost an hour, had even considered turning back and taking a different tactic, but hell if he knew which way was back.

  He ducked, but spindly twigs snagged in his hair as Sunshine cut too close to a tree. “Dammit.”

  Sunshine kept walking hanging her head to avoid any spindly twigs snagging her hair. Smart horse or dumb rider? The question vanished from his thoughts the moment the first raindrop plopped on his shoulder.

  Joe shot a look toward the sky. Trees towered overhead. Between them, in tiny swaths of clear space, he could see the boil of blue-black clouds and silvery streaks of rain. A cool drop hit his hand and another one hit his leg. It was raining harder above the canopy of trees. The leaves sheltered him. But that wouldn’t last.

  “Kate! Kate Mathers!” In case there were any other Kates wandering the woods. “Kate!”

  Sunshine’s head flinched each time Joe yelled. He could feel her body tensing beneath him. “Easy, girl.”

  Joe clucked to the horse, gave a gentle kick to her ribs and Sunshine walked on. But the rain was falling harder, faster, and within minutes Joe’s jeans were a dark blue, his shirt clinging to his shoulders and back.

  Sunshine’s furry skin twitched. Annoyed with the growing thrum of rain, her ears swiveled back, flattening against her head. Thunder rumbled overhead like the roll of a giant drum and Joe looked up in time to see a bolt of lightning lash across the sky.

  He shoved a hand through his sodden hair, blinking against the patter of rain, scanning the cluttered forest. There was something up ahead, a thousand yards, maybe more. Big, black.

  “Kate,” he yelled but he could barely hear himself over the loud hiss of rain rushing down through the leaves all around him.

  “C’mon, girl.” He jabbed his heels hard into Sunshine’s ribs at the very instant a white-hot lightning bolt blasted the ground to his right.

  Thunder exploded in his ears. Sunshine jerked faster than he could follow. He hit the ground hard. The air in his lungs crushed out of him on impact. Blind, deaf, skin tingling with the discharged electricity, he lay on his back, pain screaming through his head and body.

  He gasped only to have the rain shower down his throat. His lungs wouldn’t expand, his body still clenched tight. Joe rolled to his side, tried to will himself to calm, to breathe.

  “Joe, are you hurt? Ohmygod. Joe.” Kate’s voice sounded distant, like she was talking to him through a child’s tin-can phone. But a moment later he felt her knees at his back next to his shoulders, her hand on his arm.

  She rolled him over, his head on her lap, and he finally managed to open his eyes.

  “Gimme…a…sec.” Pins and needles tingled over his skin, even into his scalp. The metallic taste in his mouth—like chewing on tinfoil—was beginning to dissipate.

  “What are you doing out here?” She sounded closer now, still muffled, but watching her mouth helped.

  “Looking for you.”

  Kate’s thin brows pinched. He thought she was going to say something, but she just shook her head and scanned the forest. “Sunshine bolted. She’ll head back to the stables. God, you could’ve been killed,” she said, then mumbled, “Idiot.”

  “Right.” The ringing in his ears dimmed to a soft hum. “You too.”

  Her gaze snapped to his and he could tell she was wondering if he’d meant her being killed or being an idiot. He didn’t offer to solve the mystery.

  Joe grunted his way to a sitting position. His brain spun the moment it moved higher than his heart. The forest whirled by so fast he had to catch himself from falling back. Another flash of light streaked across the sky, lighting the black belly of the storm overhead. He cringed, a boom of thunder shaking the ground beneath him.

  He reached up and felt the knot forming at the back of his head. Not good for a severe head-injury survivor. He brought his hand around, glanced at his fingers for blood. None. Good. But he was soaked through, covered in dirt and forest debris without a clue how to get his bearings.

  “Anything broken?” Kate’s dark cinnamon braid was soaked black with rain, thin strands plastered over her forehead and down both sides of her face. Clear water formed tiny balls at the tips of her long lashes, dripping lazily to her cheeks when she blinked.

  Her powder-blue buttoned blouse had turned see-through, her white lacy bra a thin barrier of modesty. Her skin looked pale beneath the tint of blue, the cotton fabric molding over the large swells of her breasts forming snug against the pebble of her nipples.

  Goose bumps covered her bare arms, her hands cupped together in her lap. She was still kneeling, her long leather boots protecting her shins from the sodden ground, her knees dark with dirt and rain. She shivered, her chattering teeth trembling her cheeks.

  “You’re freezing.” He pushed up to his knees. A hard yank at his collar unsnapped the buttons of his new cowboy shirt in quick succession. He shrugged out of it, then wrapped it around her shoulders.

  “Thanks.”

  “It’s wet,” he said. “Better than nothing.”

  “I know.” Her attention dropped to his chest. His muscles tightened under her stare, his heart slugging a half beat faster. She licked her lips, her pink tongue swiping raindrops. She reached toward him, hesitating a few inches away, pointing.

  “Is that new?”

  Joe had to lift his left arm to see the dark bruise forming in a misshapen oval toward the back of his ribs. “Must’ve hit a rock.”

  “And that?”

  He followed her gesture to the thin line of scar tissue tracing his deltoid and pecs where his arm jointed to his chest. “Old. Car accident.”

  Most of his scars were from the accident. Ironically he’d had a nearly injury-free career before that day. He had the scar on his lip, another on the top of his head, hidden by hair, and one on his right side above his missing kidney. There were a few on his legs and one on his back, but the broken nose and the scar on his cheek were from a fight he’d had in prison—juvee.

  Kate pushed to her knees, her small hand drifting closer to the scar. Joe didn’t move. He watched her, the way her bottom lip caught between her teeth. She glanced at his eyes just before her fingers touched his flesh as though checking
for his permission. He didn’t grant or refuse her.

  Her touch was cold though it burned through him like fire. Joe clenched his jaw against the hot surge of blood flooding his veins, swelling his cock. He didn’t want to be affected by her, not like this, not now. He was pissed she’d behaved so irresponsibly, riding off into the woods alone.

  Besides, she’d been a bitch to him earlier. So the opposite sex disappointed her. Welcome to the fuckin’ club. Now she wanted to play doctor out in the woods in the middle of a storm? Not likely, dollface.

  Joe glanced at the sky, fighting the heat galloping through his body. The rain had let up, pattering through the leaves, sounding like popcorn nearly done. He hadn’t even noticed.

  Her cool fingers traced a chilly path to his shoulder, then fluttered to his face. He flinched before he realized she was reaching to brush a few wet strands of hair from his eyes. His balk had stopped her, so he brushed the hair away himself with a quick rake of his hand. Her green eyes followed the movement.

  She sat back on her heels, staring at him, seeing the body not the man. Joe knew that look, hungry, lustful. It made his gut clench and his muscles tight. As surely as if she’d reached out with her hand, his body tingled in the wake of her gaze traveling over him.

  Her eyes lowered, boldly admiring the bulge at his crotch. The openness of her stare sent the hum of arousal vibrating over his skin. His muscles pulled, jerking his cock, a quick involuntary movement beneath his jeans that brought a smile flickering across her face.

  She put her hand to her lips, the very tips of her fingers tracing the soft curve as though imagining the feel of his cock there. Joe’s chest squeezed at the thought. Emotions he couldn’t name flashed through her eyes before she flicked her gaze back to his.

  An expression of worry pulled her brows. She sighed and got to her feet, speaking as though her desire were a thing easily ignored. “Promise me you won’t do something this stupid again.”

  Joe blinked up at her, not having near the same control over his lust. “Come again?”

  “You could’ve been killed.”

  He stood, fighting off the dizzy spin of his brain. “You’re joking.”

  “You’re not a good enough rider to be out here alone. Honestly, you can’t expect me to rush in and save you every time your ego takes control of your brain.”

  “Save me?” Joe couldn’t decide if he should laugh or scream. Was she serious?

  Kate knotted her arms under her breasts, shifted her weight to one hip and hiked a brow. “You’re welcome.”

  Christ, she was serious. His hands fisted, itching to shake some sense into her or pull her close and kiss her senseless. The woman could drive a man to madness or murder.

  A ghost of a smile trembled at the corner of her lips and suddenly indecision vanished. He reached for her, his hands cupping her face pulling her to him so fast she gasped against his lips. He kissed her hard, drove her back to the thick tree trunk behind her. Kate’s mouth opened to his, welcoming the sweep of his tongue.

  Lord, he couldn’t breathe. Her smell, her taste, her feel, the whole of her engulfed him. Fresh and clean, summer rain mixed with sweet wildflowers, her scent filled his nose, swirled through his lungs.

  Her tongue stroked soft and warm against his, the flavor of mint and Kate an intoxicating taste. His fingers tunneled into the thick braid of her hair, fisted, held her captive. His arousal tightened his jeans, the urgent press made worse by the feather-light brush of her hands on his skin.

  Cool fingers traced his muscles, tickled over his nipples, shooting a tingling rush of sensation straight to his cock. His abs shuddered against the chilly sweep of her fingers, then tugged as they dipped beneath the waistband of his jeans.

  Her fingertips teased the very head of his cock, swollen, straining for release. He gasped, holding her back, his hands framing her face.

  “Kate.”

  “It’s okay. I want this.” She closed the small distance between them and pressed her lips to his, her body molding snug against him.

  Her damp shirt chilled against his chest, her breasts a quick flame of warmth beneath. She snaked an arm around his neck, the other under his arm, her palms cool and flat against his back. Joe’s hands dropped to her waist, fingers tightening around the waistband of her breeches, gathering the stretch material into his fists.

  Kate wriggled against him, brushing her thigh up the outside of his leg, grinding her sex against the straining bulge of his cock. He groaned into her mouth, his hips rocking forward on reflex. Heat sizzled through his veins, instinct, need, thrumming through his muscles. His body responded to hers, to the soft give of her flesh, the sweet smell, the addictive taste. Lord, he couldn’t stop. He wanted more.

  His hands opened on her hips, pushed her back, so she pressed hard against the tree. No escape. Their foreheads rested against each other, their breaths quick heated pants.

  “You’ll make me come in my jeans.”

  She smiled, lopsided, sexy. “Fight it.”

  His heart lurched, chest muscles snapped tight, squeezing the breath from his lungs. “Right.” He took her mouth, his hand cupping along her jaw.

  He drove his tongue into mouth, tasting the subtle flavor of her, then moved to her cheek. His lips traded kiss for nibble and back again until he reached her ear. He nipped her lobe. Kate’s body shuddered in his arms and pulled an answering quake through his.

  Joe rocked his hips into her, feeling the soft give of her body stroking the aching hardness of his cock. Need burned through every part of him, the drive to bury himself inside her too much to resist.

  His heart beat wild and frantic in his ears, his muscles so stiff he could barely breathe, barely stand. He slipped a hand down her neck, her skin soft and cool from the rain. His fingers worked the buttons of her blouse, his pulse quickening as each popped free.

  Seconds passed. Kate’s small fingers pressed between his belly and jeans, teasing the head of his sex, flittering over the fasteners of his jeans. Joe pushed the anticipation from his mind and slipped his hand beneath the damp fabric of her bra. The weight of her breast in his palm flooded a wash of heat through his body filling his cock, pinching against the confines of his jeans.

  “If you don’t get my cock free soon it may cause serious damage. Not good for either of us.”

  A flick of his wrist spilled the supple mound of her breast out of the cloth cup, her nipple hard against his palm. Kate hurried to undo the button then the zipper fly of his jeans. Puffs of her breath warmed against his chest, growing shallow, quicker, as he bent to take her breast into his mouth.

  Her rosy flesh wrinkled like a sweet raisin against his tongue, the urge to bite a near undeniable temptation. He flicked his tongue, swirling it around the hard little nub, teasing the skin. She tasted sweet, like honey clover, and the scent of her skin had him lightheaded, drunk. He drew her in, filling his mouth just as she freed his cock.

  Cool air washed over the heated flesh of his sex—made his breath catch. His muscles pulled tight, thighs trembling. His hand squeezed hard around her breast, pressing it to a fat supple point. He scraped his teeth over the erect little nipple, pinching and suckling.

  She moaned arching into his grip, her hands cool and hurried against his shaft. Her fingers toyed over his balls, the other hand choking around his cock.

  “Fuck, yesss…” His words hissed out of him, his hips following the stroke, heat shooting from his balls to head. Primal need took hold.

  “Enough. I want inside you.” He tugged and jerked at the hook of her breeches, then pulled the edges so the zipper ripped open. He didn’t know if he’d ruined them or not. He couldn’t find the mind to care.

  “Take these off,” he said.

  Kate’s chest rose and fell with ragged breaths, her mouth open, green eyes hazed. “I…” She swallowed, licked her lips. “Can’t. Boots.”

  Joe leaned back enough to glance at her feet. The damn knee-high riding boots were more than his brain
could tackle. Fuck it, he’d work around them. Just then her hand squeezed up quick to the tip of his cock rippling over the sensitive head and Joe forgot his name.

  “Christ…”

  She flicked her thumb over the tip, the flesh suddenly cool with the spread of his bead of come. Sweet pressure swelled inside him, building from the very depths of his body, swirling faster and faster with each strangling pump of her hand.

  “Kate…” His hips rocked even as he shoved and tugged at her breeches. “Stop. Shit.”

  Her pink panties bunched and rolled into the waistband of her pants. Joe couldn’t stop to care. He shoved hard, jerking the tight fabric down her soft cream-coffee thighs.

  Her flesh jiggled with his hard yanks and pushes, heating his already fiery need. His cock grew harder in her grip, swelling painfully thick. When the tight breeches reached her knees Joe grabbed her hips and spun her around.

  Kate gasped at the sudden move, her hands snagging the tree for balance. She was bare to him, round and soft. He pressed his hips into her ass, squeezing his cock between the warm plump cheeks.

  “Jeezus, that feels good,” he said, even as he fought to stop. He thrust forward, he couldn’t help it, her ass cheeks hugging around his cock as he slipped his hand around to her sex. His fingers pushed through the coarse damp hairs of her mons, found the lips of her pussy, parting them.

  “Oh, Kate. Fuck. You’re so wet.” He rocked in through the hug of her ass again, each stroke churning a fresh rush of tingles humming over his body, zinging through his balls.

  Her cream coated his finger. His finger spread her juice to her clit. He rubbed quick little circles over the swollen bud, flicked and pinched, feeling Kate’s body shudder beneath him.

  “Joe. Yes. Joe.” Her voice was breathy, her knees trembling, straining to spread wider against the tangle of breeches and panties at the top of her boots. Her hips thrust back, ramming her ass against his groin. Her cheeks went hot and slick, her orgasm pulsing through her, creaming her ass.

  God, he wanted to taste the hot juice he felt gushing over his fingers. His brain wouldn’t let the need escape. He knelt, spreading her cheeks with both hands and gazed at the beautiful pink folds of her flesh. Her cream glistened. The opening of her pussy pulsed, her orgasm still drizzling come through her folds. He licked her, the creamy heat trickling over his tongue, salty, deliciously feminine. He pushed into her, wanting to taste her from the inside.