Beauty Shot (Hope Parish Novels Book 5)

by Dawson, Zoe

  “Deke,” she whispered, her mouth moving over my face, leaving a trail of frantic kisses. “Oh, Deke.” Her voice was soft, her words nearly inaudible.

  I sheathed myself with the condom. She was so ready, I knew it without even having to ask or touch her. When I entered her, she sighed in my ear, a sweet, shuddering sigh, as if at long last she, too, was coming home. She gloved me in her tight, hot, wonderful body, cradling and clamping down on me.

  My chest heaved, my knees buckling. It felt more fantastic than anything had ever felt in my life. Geezus, this is what I’d been missing?

  I thrust, and she clung to me. She was warm and loving and whispering in my ear—soft words, and my name over and over, like a litany of her most secret desires. Her breast were full and soft, pillowed against my chest, my hot hands on her bare bottom and hot between her legs, taking her higher and higher with each thrust of my driving hips.

  She was going to come for me. I could feel it in the tightening of her legs around my waist, in the arch in her back, in the clutch of her hands on my upper arms. She was reaching…reaching, her breath coming in short, ragged pants. When her release hit, it hit me like a riptide, dragging me under on a wave of intense, searing pleasure as she contracted around me. I jerked against her, deepening our contact, burying myself deep, and I came, endlessly, pouring into her, until I had no more.

  It was everything I’d fantasized and more.

  All I’d ever wanted. I found her mouth and took it with a long, lazy, devouring kiss, my heart racing like a freight train, my breath coming hard, the soft, lazy ripples of her orgasm playing over me like the sweetest torture.

  I cupped her bottom and pulled her close, away from the wall, then toed out of my boots and kicked off my jeans. Walking across the room, I eased her down onto the bed. Baring her shoulder, I pressed another kiss to her skin. Then I kissed her neck, and her cheek, and her eyebrows. She was beautiful, so beautiful, her body hot beneath mine, still pulsing with the pleasure we’d shared.

  Minnie stirred, and I quieted her with another kiss, stripping her shirt and bra off, aching at the sight of her beauty. “Shh,” I murmured, stroking her, long gentle sweeps from her waist and up over her breasts. “Don’t move. Not yet.”

  Her lashes rose, revealing the gaze of a slumberous, satisfied woman, and heat coiled in my groin.

  Ten minutes, I thought, leaning down over her, running my tongue over her skin, ten more minutes—or God, maybe five…or one—and I’d be ready to go again. I loved the way she smelled, the way she tasted. Her skin was so soft, silky, everything I’d ever dreamed it would be.

  “Shh.” I kept kissing her—and thinking, God, she came for me, effortlessly, like a wave coming to shore.

  I was sated, but still horny for her.

  And this was real, and I might be coming down from that fucking intense orgasm, but just thinking about it got me hard again. So damned hard.

  I put on a new condom, and pushed back inside her with a groan.

  Perfect. She was so perfect, so worth waiting for, like silk around me This time I took it slow, which in no way lessened the intensity. I pumped into her relentlessly, and she clutched me, digging into my skin, pulling my hair, which I loved.

  My God, my dick was so sensitive, so achingly hard, and when she came again, I just kept moving my hips, thrusting into her, increasing her pleasure with each stroke.

  I collapsed on my side when it was over. I kept one arm around her, holding her to me.

  “Bloody hell, are you sure this was your first time?”

  “Yeah,” I said, my voice hoarse and deep. “Hey, where are you going? I’m not done here. Give me some time.”

  “What?” she squeaked.

  I grinned like the cheeky devil she’d called me. “There are advantages to fucking a younger man.” I met and held her gaze. “Minnie,” I whispered her name, rolling on another condom and manhandling her onto her back, settling my semi-hard dick between her legs, and my mouth clamped over one of her distended, enticing nipples.

  Her eyes popped open on a groan, her dark lashes lifted, and the tightness in my chest got worse.

  “Fuck me,” I whispered.

  I was going down—hard. Plummeting out of the sky like a stone. Her eyes darkened as I sucked hard at her, my aching dick thickening, her mouth parting when I probed her, her legs restless as they came around my waist.

  “You show-off,” she breathed while I shoved into her, taking great pleasure at the catch in her voice.

  It wasn’t going to be enough. Nothing we did would ever be enough. No wonder I felt a little desperate. I was never going to get enough of her.

  Never.

  #

  Minnie

  “Was your pursuit of me all about losing your virginity?” I snuggled up all that hot muscle, but I was worried that now that his conquest of me was over I would be tossed aside. I should be happy about that, but I wasn’t.

  “No, that’s not what it was about, Minnie. I wanted you to be my first woman. For it to mean something.”

  “Deke, we’re worlds apart. I’m already working in my career—” I said, trying to make sure I got all my worries out in the open. Verity had said to be honest with him.

  “What if I was part of your world? Would that make a difference?”

  “I’m not sure. You’re young. You’ll have other women in your life. I just don’t want to mess us both up.”

  “You’re projecting. You already have me gone, and we’ve just started a relationship.”

  “We had sex, Deke.” I was trying to be realistic.

  “We have more than that.”

  I looked away, tried to pull away, but he slipped his arms around me. I felt panicked, scared, and I didn’t know why. Maybe I knew he was right.

  He pulled me across his body so that I was on top of him, the warmth of him, the feel of him so right.

  “Why don’t you give me a chance? Stop lumping me up with every other eighteen-year-old guy in the world and generalizing. I want to be with you. You make me happy. We have great chemistry, and I’m not just talking about being in bed together. I never put much stock in my looks, Minnie. They are only skin deep, like I said. I’m glad you find me pleasing, but I’m made up of more than skin and features. Would you want me to give up everything to stay in your world?”

  “No,” I said softly. “I wouldn’t want you to sacrifice everything you want for me. But I also am not willing to get involved with someone who I don’t think will be around even in three months.”

  “Who hurt you?”

  I stiffened. “Why are you asking me that?”

  “Because someone hurt you, and you’re carrying around that baggage instead of letting it go. It’s keeping you from trusting me, trusting your own instincts.”

  I wasn’t about to tell him that the only consideration I had was not to become my mother. I’d gone in the other direction and dated older men, but never someone I was deeply attached to. Deke was a revelation…and I realized one more thing, something that made my gut twist up like a pretzel. He wasn’t so easy to dismiss.

  Maybe I was worried that Deke had the potential to be the love of my life if I let this continue.

  I’d chosen all my other partners, but it had always been at a superficial level. It wasn’t that way with Deke. He’d chosen me, and I had been too weak to refuse.

  “I want to see you again.”

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea.” But no matter how I tried. I couldn’t move away from him. I suddenly realized I wasn’t going to be able to get these memories out of my mind.

  He pulled me against him and kissed my mouth so tenderly. I made a soft sound and clutched at him, overwhelmed. Wanting something that wouldn’t be good for me. He’d sneaked in beneath my armor somehow, and I felt helpless to stop the emotion that welled up in me.

  “There’s something here, whether you’ll admit it or not. I’ll continue with this Bespoke campaign for you, but I’m turning down an
y offers I might get for doing this permanently, even from you. The money is nice, but I always hated being objectified. It’s not for me.”

  “Deke, you continually impress the hell out of me. Anyone else your age would drop out of school and take this in a heartbeat.”

  “Maybe so. But I’m just not that guy. Think about seeing me again, Minnie. We’ll build the trust together, get back whatever you lost. But you have to be willing to give me a chance. Let me in.

  He’s already in, I admitted to myself. How was I ever going to get him out? It hurt, but I knew if I continued with him it would hurt ten times more. Wasn’t it better to cut it off now?

  “We’ll figure it out,” he murmured as I closed my eyes and drifted against him, losing my edge. I kissed his rough face and inhaled his delicious scent as he stroked his hand over my hair.

  #

  Emmie

  By the time Saturday rolled around, I was having second thoughts. It wasn’t that I wasn’t enjoying my time with Travis. Just the opposite, but the more I got to know him, the more nervous I became.

  He showed up at every morning class with my favorite macchiato, and later we’d meet for lunch. It was over those lunches that I learned about his wonderful wholesome life. His parents still married, still in love after twenty-five years of marriage, a stable home life with a loving family, a sister and younger brother. He’d gone to school, had friends, attended his prom. All the trappings of a normal, well-rounded guy.

  I’d experienced none of that.

  But the problem was I was hooked on him. Adored him. Wanted the kind of life a man like Travis could promise without having to worry about shadows from the past. We had such a good time. He was so funny, so darned cute and attentive. But when he plied me with questions, I sidestepped them…and I could tell he noticed, although he didn’t press me.

  We were just leaving campus when I spotted a Lincoln Town Car, a uniformed chauffer waiting at the rear passenger door.

  He waved the driver away and opened the door for me.

  “Why won’t you tell me where we’re going?”

  “It’s a surprise. But I think you’ll like it.”

  “If I’m with you, Travis, I will like it.”

  He blushed, which was one of the things I adored most about him.

  “It’s a two-hour trip. I will tell you we’re going to Long Island.”

  “If this is a two-hour trip, isn’t that kinda pricey? Too bad as freshmen we aren’t allowed to drive.”

  “I make this trip at least once a week, twice if I can manage it. I can’t stay away. So I’m not put out at all. It’s all good.”

  “Okay, if you’re sure.”

  “I’m sure.” He glanced over at me and noted the space between us. “It wouldn’t hurt my feelings, darlin’, if you scooted your sweet self closer to me.”

  “Are you hitting on me, cowboy?” I said, scooting over, and he grinned, putting his arm around me and hugging me close.

  As we left the city, I snuggled up to his solid warmth. The urban jungle was left behind, its skyscrapers receding as we got on the highway. Travis leaned over and said, “There’s no scenic route, darlin’, or I would take it. Just highway, but it will be worth it once we get there.”

  “I’ve never been out of the city.” I had been too busy trying to survive and doing whatever it took to stay safe.

  “You’ve never travelled?” He stroked his hand over my hair, then played with the ends.

  “No.” This was getting into dangerous territory. Territory I didn’t want to talk about. I was much happier talking about Travis’s life than my own.

  “How about your family? They never went anywhere?”

  “Doesn’t this highway go to the Hamptons?” I said and he stared at me a moment before letting it go. “Yes, it goes to the Hamptons, but the summer rush is long over, and it shouldn’t be crowded at all.”

  I didn’t want to hear his disappointment that I still wouldn’t open up. I wasn’t sure I could, and that was when my doubts started all over again. I didn’t want to hurt Travis. God, it would kill me to hurt him, but I wasn’t sure he could handle where I came from, what I’d done, who I had been. It was safer to stay away from anything that hinted at my past. “This might be highway, but the fall colors are beautiful.”

  “They are.” He picked up my hand, and I noticed again how large his were. Nails neatly trimmed, calluses on the palms.

  “What are these from?” I ran my finger over a thick one.

  “Ropin’ and ridin’,” he said, running the fingertips of his other hand over the back of mine. “Yours are so delicate, so soft. Look like a computer geek’s hands.”

  “Hey,” I said playfully. “You’d better watch out for computer geeks. We rule the world.”

  “I have no doubt about that, tough cookie.”

  Travis had no idea what tough was really about…well, at least my kind of tough. I suddenly missed Deke’s presence. He was a good buffer and kept the personal questions to a minimum. But I was being silly. Without intimacy, there couldn’t really be trust, which meant the issue wasn’t about spilling my guts to Travis, but whether or not I trusted him. “Did you see Deke today?”

  He shifted and then looked out the window. “I did briefly. He’s pretty busy with the modeling gig and keeping up with his classes. But I think he likes being close to Minnie.”

  “That’s her name?”

  “Yeah. He says it’s all so dumb. He just mugs for the camera and they take his picture.”

  “What you guys won’t do to impress a woman.”

  “Since I’m in the process of taking you all the way out here, I reckon I’ve got no room to talk,” he said smoothly.

  I nudged him with an elbow and he cracked a grin. “Oh, you’re trying to impress me, huh?”

  His blue eyes twinkled. “No hints.”

  I dug in his ribs and he laughed. “Hey, stop that,” he said with a catch in his voice, bucking when I dug in again, and I ended up sprawled across his lap. “Hey, I like this position,” he whispered.

  He dipped down and kissed me softly.

  “Travis,” I whispered back. “The driver.”

  His eyes narrowed and another grin made me grin back. His eyes danced. “Let him get his own girl,” he said.

  I giggled.

  “That was very close to a schoolgirl giggle.”

  “Was not,” I said, reaching up and pulling his head down.

  “Was, too,” he said before kissing me soundly this time.

  The car came to a stop and I popped up, looked around—and gasped. “A ranch?” I glanced at Travis, and his smug look made me laugh. I scrambled out of the car to find two weathered posts holding up a copper sign with running horses across it that read: Wild Horse Ranch.

  “I keep horses here. Working horses, so I can ride and rope when I want to. It wouldn’t be good to get rusty.”

  “Horses?” I said, taking a step back. “Are you expecting me to ride?”

  “Absolutely. Come on. You’ll love them.”

  The driver settled in to wait, and Travis led the way to a big weathered clapboard barn. The pungent odor of manure and the fragrant scent of hay lingered in the air. A dark-haired man waved to Travis and he waved back. He entered the barn and the sound of nickering came from one of the stalls on a row of stalls.

  “That’s Chico. He always knows when I’m in the barn. He’s like a dog, gets all excited whenever I show up.”

  “Exactly how many horses do you have here?”

  “Three. A cow pony for roping and two riding horses.”

  It was dawning on me that Travis wasn’t exactly poor. Long Island was one of the most upscale areas in the U.S., and it couldn’t have been cheap, not just to board horses here, but to actually transport them from Texas.

  “How did you get them here?”

  “Flew them. It’s tricky business. Something I normally don’t like doing, but Chico and the ladies normally travel like champs.”


  He slowed about halfway down the row. A large buckskin horse with a black mane had his head over the stall. In the stall next to him was a chocolate brown one with a slash of white on its forehead, and then in the next stall was a beautiful black and white one. I think they called those pintos. Chico whinnied loudly when he spied Travis. Travis broke into a wide grin and eagerly approached the animal. I hesitated. The largest animals I’d ever seen were rats, and I never had any interest in petting them.

  He stroked his hand over the horse’s face, then turned to find me hovering a ways away. He reached out his hand and my heart jerked. His face was open and warm, filled with pleasure, and I felt a rush of emotion at his expression. “Come here, Emmie. He won’t bite.” He affectionately scrubbed his knuckles gently over the center of the horse’s face. “Will you, boy?” Chico tossed his head and whinnied again. “He’s got very good manners. One of the best horses that ever lived. They’re all quarter horses, but Chico is a buckskin, characterized by his black mane, tail and lower legs.”

  I was transfixed by his reaction to the animal. This was love, and the lonely place in my heart longed to be filled with his kind of sweet affection.

  When I didn’t immediately approach, he left the horse and took my hand. “Trust me. He won’t hurt you.”

  As he drew me over to Chico, I wondered what the heck I had gotten myself into. How could Travis, wonderful Travis, care about me? I got a little scared thinking about how he would react to my past, started to worry that when he found out he might not handle it well. But the warmth of his hand in mine and his soothing voice settled me, put me at ease.

  He drew my hand to Chico’s nose and the horse snuffled me, the fine hair there tickling my hand. I laughed, somehow it was a laugh that sounded carefree.

  Travis watched me, and I realized this was important to him. Introducing me to Chico was like introducing me to his family. That made my heart jerk again. I tentatively touched the animal’s nose. “His nose…it’s like velvet,” I said.

  “Yeah, it’s really soft. Think you’d like to ride him?”