by Susan Stoker
She sat up again and felt his thigh muscles shift as her weight pushed down on different places. His thighs were as hard as the cock in front of her, which just made her want him inside her more. So what was she waiting for?
She ran her fingernail along the underside of his erection. He was silky, but his veins stood out as the blood filled his cock to capacity. Moisture gathered between her legs, surprising her. She hadn’t even held him yet.
Not willing to question the unbelievable, she held his cock in her hand and stroked down once. With her other hand, she cupped his ball sac, gently rolling it in her hand. When she glanced at Hunter, she found his eyes closed. She much preferred that.
She scooted her hips closer, so he touched her mons. Unable to stop herself, she pressed his cock against her and rubbed the other side. A ripple across his abdomen was the only response that let her know he enjoyed it. The man’s control was just plain amazing.
She viewed it as a challenge, though he hadn’t said anything to make her think so. Lifting herself up, she pushed his erection forward with her hand, holding the tip and brought her opening to connect with the underside. Then she slid herself forward, brushing her clit over the ridge of his head. Zings of pleasure drove straight to her core and her sheath flooded.
She glided back and moved forward again, enjoying the tease to her pussy, the tingles to her clit and the sight of Hunter’s abdomen tensing and releasing with her movements. His hands gently held her hips, making her feel precious.
To have a man affect her in so many ways was unusual. Maybe she could have a second orgasm. Lifting herself higher, she positioned Hunter’s cock at her opening and waited.
He opened his eyes and looked at her, but didn’t say a word. Instead, his hand squeezed her waist lightly before releasing. It was the green light from him, whenever she was ready. Hell, he was too nice, too caring.
She broke his gaze and looked down at where they would link together. Slowly, she let him glide inside, his hard, full cock spreading her sheath as it moved deeper until she lowered herself to his hilt. She sat straight up, tilting her hips, but he hit her cervix and she leaned forward just a bit to release that pressure. The man was big and leaning forward was better.
With practiced skill, she began a slow movement up and down, loving the control she had as she angled herself different ways, feeling him push against her in numerous places. The hot pleasure that accompanied every downward movement built in her core. It was sex, hot, stimulating, raw…but it wasn’t raw.
Uncertainty filled her at the same time Hunter’s other hand clasped her waist and he pushed his hips up.
“Yessss.” The word slipped out as she leaned forward more and pressed her pelvis against him, the pubic hair around his cock brushing against her clit as he filled her with each back and downward motion she made. She panted as everything inside her prepared.
Hunter’s hand moved up to cup her neck. “Kiss me.”
She let him bring her down against his chest, her nipples pressed into his hard pectorals. She held back even as her pelvis ground against him. He didn’t tug at her.
He waited. Her call. Her decision. But it wasn’t. The connection between them was more than physical and he’d figured that out before her. She loved being held to him while they continued to thrust and move against each other. She wanted to be even closer, be a part of him.
Giving in to her need, she lowered her face and let her lips touch his. The kiss was passionate as he thrust his tongue into her mouth like his cock thrust between her legs. His hand on her neck held her there while his other wrapped around her back, pulling her tighter against him, like he wanted to crawl inside her.
She wanted him there.
Her clit charged and her sheath filled, her body tensed for her ecstasy. But she held back, her pulse pounding as she waited for him. She had to have him with her. She sucked at his tongue and wrapped her hands around his head, like she could pull him inside her.
Hunter’s mouth broke from hers. He grunted once before a yell split the air.
He triggered her orgasm, flooding her with his heat and spinning her world out of control.
She held tight, afraid to let go as elation burst through her like the sun’s rays coming over the horizon, blinding everything its beams touched. Hunter, the only solid thing in her universe as her body dissipated into the air in joy.
As her world slowed and her breathing became more regular instead of desperate pants for oxygen, she opened her eyes to find him staring at her, a slight grin on his face and pleasure in his eyes. The pink sky overhead bathed his skin, making him look flush…and happy?
He cupped her head and brought her lips to his for a sweet kiss.
She broke it and lay her head on his shoulder. It had been different. This, what they did, meant something. It wasn’t supposed to. It was sex. That’s all.
Hunter stroked her hair, the gesture intimate. “You’re incredible.”
Her? No, she wasn’t. She was good—no great—at sex. She didn’t qualify for “incredible.” That’s what lovers said to each other. She and Hunter were…. She searched for a word. Nothing fit.
Desperate to feel normal, she squeezed her sheath.
“Whoa, there. Let a man recover his breath at least.” Laughter was clearly in his voice.
She pulled away and sat up. This needed to stop, whatever it was. But even as she contemplated standing up, his hand came down on her waist again.
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
She glanced at him to find his brows lowered in concern.
“Nothing. Why?”
“You’re afraid.”
“I was just giving you a minute, like you asked.” She gave him her seductive smile. “But if you want to go again…” She winked for good measure.
He scowled. “Stop. There’s nothing wrong with feeling something when two people connect.”
She forced her eyes to widen. “Connect? Oh, you mean this?” She pointed to her crotch. “I think we both felt a lot, don’t you?”
He continued to frown, but disappointment came into his eyes. “No man is an island.”
“What?” Now he was going off the deep end.
“Never mind. We should head back. I need to talk to Mac before I start work.”
His hands left her waist, and she swallowed a moan of disappointment. What was wrong with her? This was what she wanted, for him to keep his distance. Wasn’t it?
She didn’t look at him, not willing to watch his face as she pulled away. She stood, effectively disconnecting them in more ways than one. Looking for her clothes, she found her shorts first and pulled them on, keeping her back to him.
She hadn’t even buttoned them when his arm came around her waist and his hand came over her mouth.
He whispered in her ear, “Shh, don’t move.”
What? If this was some scare tactic…
“Mountain lion.”
Oh, crap. She nodded to show she understood.
When he released her, he walked without a sound to his rifle. The man’s movements were as smooth as any cat she’d ever seen.
Hunter raised his rifle to something behind her, and she slowly turned her head in that direction. Her knees shook and threatened to buckle as she stared at the cat in the growing darkness, sitting on a small outcropping, no more than ten feet away and just above their heads. Fear that it would pounce on her was the only thing that kept her upright.
The shot rang out and a piece of stone split off from the outcropping just inches under the cat. It turned and leapt up the canyon wall.
“Fuck.” She dropped to the blanket, her hand over her heart as she gasped for breath.
Hunter crouched down and laid his hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay, he’s gone.”
She lunged against him, toppling him over, but he grasped her to him as she shook in his arms. She couldn’t help it. The animal was beautiful on television, but up close and personal was more than she could handle.
/> “It’s okay.” Hunter repeated his words as he rubbed her back with one hand.
Her mind knew that, but her body still needed to catch up. She held on tight, thanking her stars Hunter had thought to bring a gun, had been there, and held her now. What a wimp she was.
She pulled her head back to look at him. “You missed.”
He grinned. “No. I didn’t want to hurt him, just scare him. This is his home more than ours.”
“Oh. Then nice shot.” Her heart started to return to normal. “I wonder if Jorge knows we have a mountain lion nearby. I’ve never heard anyone mention one. I thought you brought the rifle for rattlesnakes.”
“I did.” He smirked. “I’ll tell Jorge and Wade. If a mountain lion has made his home nearby, they may want to close this trail and develop another.”
Feeling a bit more like herself, she finally let go of him. “Who’s to say? It could be a she?” She started to stand up when she noticed two things. He’d already donned his hat and he had a burr stuck on the bottom of his foot. “Wait, don’t move.”
He immediately looked behind him.
“No, nothing threatening. Let me see your foot.”
Hunter bent his foot to look at it himself.
“You’re such a man. Give it to me.” Despite his affronted look, he let her have his foot. With her long nails, she carefully extracted the burr and any leftover spikes. “That would have hurt.”
He pulled her toward him. “I didn’t know you cared.”
His kiss was invasive at first, as if he were mad, but it ended tenderly, once again making her uncomfortable. But before she said something stupid, he set her back.
“Better get dressed. We need to go. It’s getting too dark to be out here without a light.”
That she could understand and quickly pulled on her top, socks and cowboy boots. She picked up her crushed straw cowboy hat. “Guess I’m going to need another one of these. No doubt Lacey will take it out of my pay.” She tried to reshape the straw when she remembered her status with Poker Flat. “Then again, I won’t be around long enough for that.”
Hunter pulled her against him again. “Don’t say that. I’m going to find who’s doing this. That’s why I have to talk to Mac. She was doing some research and we need to compare notes to narrow down our suspect pool.”
She shrugged, not wanting him to know how much she was depending on his abilities. “I’m just preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.” She gave him a fake smile and stepped over to Elsa.
Hunter followed her over and gave her a hand up. Once situated comfortably in the saddle, she looked around for the lion. “Why didn’t the horses warn us?”
Hunter swung his leg over Romeo and pulled him around to face her. Fuck, the man was hot. She wished they could have sex all night.
“The breeze was blowing in the wrong direction. That mountain lion is smart. Now, the horses are skittish because of the gunshot. The sooner we get back the better.”
“Lead the way.” She waved her hand at him and he turned, walking Romeo down the trail.
Elsa followed the big quarter horse, in no hurry to investigate anything else after the excitement they’d had. Adriana felt the same way.
Chapter Eleven
‡
Hunter finished his first pass around the staff casitas, main building and guest casitas. He wanted to talk to Mac before he headed up to the garage.
He’d been late getting back with Adriana and then he had to explain the gunshot to Jorge, who met them on the trail, concerned for their welfare. That was pretty smart thinking on his part because there was almost no cell reception out there unless a person wanted to hike to the top of the ravine.
Now, he wanted to know what Mac had found. He strode across the fork in the dirt road and stood near the barn. He flashed the light from his phone a couple times and waited.
The door of the stable manager’s office closed behind him and he spun around.
Mac walked toward him. “So now you’re chasing mountain lions, too?”
He shook his head. “That was a little closer than I would have liked, but I’m glad everyone is aware. As long as he has plenty of rabbits and coyotes, we should be safe, but Jorge agreed we should keep the doors to the barn closed at night.”
“Ah, I was wondering why they were shut.” She glanced at the large barn doors before returning her gaze to him. “So I’m guessing you want to know what I found.”
He nodded. After this afternoon, he was glad he’d let Mac take over the investigation of the swingers forum. He probably would have thrown his laptop out the window halfway through it. He understood Adriana loved sex and had slept with a lot of people, but now that they had made love, though she was still fighting it, he didn’t want to know what people thought of her.
He still struggled with what it was they did have. It was more than just sex.
“I’ll tell you this, you don’t ever want to read those.” Mac shook her head. “What some people wrote about Adriana had my blood boiling. I think you’d be ready to kill.”
He didn’t deny his interest in Adriana. How could he when Mac had seen him sucking on Adriana’s neck the first time he’d kissed her and knew he’d been on the trail with her? “Were you able to find anyone who might hold a grudge against her?”
“There were a few posters that stood out. There was Dds4love, but I highly doubt it’s your Dom. The tone is like a woman whining or pouting.”
“That would be the sub. She was upset, but I don’t think she’s the type to do anything beyond complain unless her Dom tells her to, which he very well could.”
“Okay. The second one was PattiCake who is obviously the little blonde from the foursome. She posts every night, really late. Either she’s posting about what they are doing, have done, or what she’d like to do and Adriana is definitely someone she’d like to do.”
“I’ve been wondering about her. I’ll cross reference her with the guest list and locations. You said there was a third person speaking about Adriana?”
Mac laughed. “No, I said there were a few who stood out. There were over two hundred people talking about Adriana, but from what I read, it was only a couple dozen who’d actually slept with her.”
Hunter fisted his hands to control the anger that built fast. It was stupid, but he couldn’t help it. “So the third person is?”
“The third is Stud21.” She rolled her eyes. “I actually tracked names up to Stud153. Talk about not being creative or having big egos. Stud21 is pretty impressed with himself, but it sounds like Adriana wasn’t and didn’t accept his invitation. His posts are a bit like a stalker’s.”
“In what way?”
“He writes about what Adriana wore. When she went to the stock room. What time she closed the bar. He even mentioned what she had for lunch.”
Hunter opened his mouth, but Mac held up her hand.
“And yes, he has been here when the judge was here.”
He didn’t like the sound of that. “Has he been here this week?”
Mac nodded.
“Great, Stud21 doesn’t give me a lot to go on.”
“No, but we know he’s a swinger, and I can tell you from his posts, he’s married.”
Hunter relaxed. “That does help. We don’t get a lot of swingers. As soon as I’m off shift, I’ll cross reference those with what I’ve found and I should be able to track down who it is. Then I can gather the evidence I need to help Adriana press charges. Thank you.”
“Glad I could help.” Mac started to leave, but Hunter grasped her arm.
She broke through his grip and turned around, foot flying toward his groin.
He pulled his hips back just in time. “Shit, Mac, I wasn’t attacking you.”
She grimaced. “Sorry. Just instinct.”
That was a shit more than instinct, but he wasn’t going to ask. “If you ever need my help, all you have to do is ask.”
“Good to know.” She gave him a nod before heading towa
rd the Old West town.
He’d been skeptical when Kendra had hired Mac, but she’d just proved she was a good team player, not to mention physically able.
He strode back to the fork in the road to head for the garage. His mind whirred with possibilities. He was anxious to figure out who Stud21 was and find a photo of him. He would also check the guest casita lights from above and keep a closer eye on the foursome. And just to be sure he left no stone unturned, he’d cross reference all three in the Dom-Dom-sub relationship.
There was a new urgency in his investigations. At first, using his old skills had made him feel awake again, but now his gut said if he didn’t figure out who was behind all this, Adriana would be gone either because Kendra couldn’t afford to keep her around or more likely, Adriana would simply leave.
It had taken all he had to pretend he couldn’t see she was almost completely packed. The fact was, he didn’t want her to go.
*
Adriana reluctantly opened her eyes at the noise coming from her front door. “It figures.”
Throwing the covers off her nude body, she padded through the living room in her bare feet. Whoever was pounding on her door deserved to find her naked. She’d been having the best dream with Hunter, a sex swing, and nipple clips.
She pulled the door open fast. “What?”
Lacey stilled, her fist in midair. “We need to talk.”
She squinted at the sunlight streaming in behind Lacey. “What time is it?”
Lacey brushed by her. “It’s eleven. Now can you please throw something on? This is an emergency.”
Adriana closed the door. “Fine, fine. Only for you.” She walked into her bedroom and pulled a red silk robe off a hanger. She’d been thinking of giving it away, which is why it had escaped a box.
Tying it, she strode into the living room and headed straight to the kitchen. “Okay, talk while I make coffee.”
Lacey sat on one of the kitchen counter chairs. “I was balancing your checkbook.”
She measured out the coffee and dumped it in the maker. “Is it that time of the month already?”
“Yes, and there are some major discrepancies.”
