Chompin' at the Bit (Horse Play Series Book 2)

by A. D. Ryan

  “Mmhmm,” Willow quipped. “I bet you were. Pretty hard to ride a horse when you can’t stop thinking about riding—”

  “Whoa!” I said, effectively cutting her off before she could say something that would tempt me to drown her—or myself. Everyone was laughing, and my face grew warmer. “I think that’s about enough out of you. You’ve made your point. My logic is flawed. Parties from here on out. Happy now?”

  “Elated,” she said through her laughter.

  “Kyle, I think I’m ready for another shot,” I grumbled, keeping my eyes on Willow. I could only hope the look I gave her conveyed just how much she’d pay for this.

  We had just finished our second round when Jensen’s hand found my thigh beneath the water, and he leaned over, pressing his lips to my shoulder and smirked. “I knew you were checking me out.”

  Things had instantly shifted to playful between us as I pushed him away from me. “Oh please. Like you weren’t doing the exact same thing,” I argued.

  “I check myself out every chance I get, so the odds are likely,” he said with a wink as he leaned forward to kiss me.

  What should have been an innocent sign of affection quickly escalated. The wine and tequila pumping through our veins plus the residual sexual tension from when we were in our room a little while ago, and I was swiftly overcome by my deeper desires. My fingers wove into Jensen’s hair as I pulled his face closer to mine, our tongues meeting between parted lips and sliding languidly against each other. It wasn’t until Kyle splashed us that I snapped out of it.

  “You two wanna be left alone?” he asked, eliciting laughs from the others. “’Cause, we can leave.”

  Warmth spread across my face, and I reached for my wine. “Don’t be ridiculous. We’re not animals.” A change of topic was needed, and fast. “So, what’s everyone up to this weekend? Jensen and I are flying up to Canada to attend the Masters.”

  “Seriously?” Lilah exclaimed. “That is so cool.”

  That seemed to take the heat off of Jensen and I losing our senses and making out like a couple of horny fifteen-year-olds. Soon, Willow was sharing her story of when she accompanied me to Spruce Meadows the year before when I was competing, capturing everyone’s attention. While it was odd to hear a second-hand account of the last time I competed, it was also strangely invigorating. Hearing her account of how graceful Halley and I were reminded me just how truly at home I was in the ring.

  “You miss it.” Jensen’s soft voice pulled me from my silent reverie.

  “Hmm?” I hummed, turning to him. “Oh, yeah, I guess I do. A little.” It was true; I did miss it, but I enjoyed running the ranch with my dad and teaching lessons again. I wasn’t sure if I could give it up. “I think a part of me will always miss it, but we have so much happening on the ranch right now, and I’m really enjoying how things are going.”

  Jensen nodded. “Okay, but you know if you wanted to go back, I’d support your decision, right?”

  Placing my right hand on Jensen’s cheek, I kissed him lightly. “I do.”

  As the night wore on, the wine and tequila bottles emptied. We were all pretty trashed, laughing at absolutely everything and nothing at the same time. It was just after midnight, and Bones had passed out on the porch after running around the yard for the last two hours. Willow and Brandon had retired an hour or so earlier—time kind of stopped making sense after my fifth glass of wine and a few more shooters. Kyle, Lilah, Jensen, and I stayed out a bit longer, exchanging dirty jokes. Okay, so maybe Kyle and Jensen exchanged dirty jokes while Lilah and I laughed or groaned or gagged—it depended on the joke, really.

  “So, there was a construction worker on the fifth floor of a building who needed a handsaw. He spots another worker on the ground floor and yells down to him, but he can’t hear him. So the worker on the fifth floor tries sign language,” Kyle said animatedly through his laughter while Jensen, Lilah, and I still tried to rein in our hysterics from Jensen’s last joke. “So, he pointed to his eye meaning ‘I’, pointed to his knee meaning ‘need’, then moved his hand back and forth in a hand saw motion. The man on the ground floor nods his head, pulls down his pants, whips out his cock and starts masturbating.” Kyle was definitely loaded, because he starts miming the act above the surface of the water as he continues. “Well, the worker on fifth floor gets so pissed off, he runs down to the ground floor and says, ‘What the fuck is your problem? I said I needed a handsaw!’ and the other guy says, ‘I knew that! I was just trying to tell you I’m coming!’”

  I should have known better than to take a sip of wine when I did, because the instant the punch line to the joke was out there, I choked and sputtered on it in a very unladylike manner. In an effort to keep from spitting any out, and potentially spraying those who might be in front of me, I quickly covered my mouth while Jensen, Lilah, and Kyle howled with laughter. I hoped it was at the joke and not because I was aspirating—though, it was extremely likely to be a combination of the two.

  “All right,” Lilah declared as I stopped coughing. “I think we’re going to turn in now. When Kyle tells that joke, I know he’s about ten minutes from passing out.”

  “Wait,” Kyle said, suddenly seeming confused and maybe a little bummed. “You’ve heard that joke before, babe?” The look on his face wasn’t unlike that of a sad panda. I giggled.

  Lilah smiled, placing her hand on his cheek. “Many, many times, honey. But it’s still just as funny.” That seemed to cheer Kyle up. “Come on, let’s head inside and give Jensen and Madi some time alone. They’ve been entertaining guests all night.”

  There was no disagreement from Kyle as he stood and took Lilah’s hand, helping her out of the hot tub before wrapping her towel around her. Bones lifted his head from his paws, his large ears perked forward as he watched them walk past him.

  “Doctor McCoy,” Kyle said, saluting the puzzled looking puppy as Lilah pulled his stumbling ass through the patio door, closing it behind them and leaving us alone.

  In an instant, Jensen’s hands found my thighs, and he pulled me toward him until I was straddling his lap. “I finally get you all to myself.”

  I sighed breathlessly when he started placing delicate kisses along my collarbone, letting my head fall back as his mouth moved across my throat and over the other shoulder. Slowly, I lowered my face and locked eyes with him as his fingers dug into my back, walking up my spine until they twisted into the tied strings of my bathing suit top. With one flick of his wrist, my top was undone and floating away from my breasts until he yanked it from between us and tossed it to the ground outside the hot tub.

  Our mouths collided in a frantic kiss as Jensen moved his right hand around to grope and caress the swell of my chest, pinching and teasing my nipple. Ripples of pleasure flowed through my body, descending lower and lower until they settled between my thighs, and I thrust my hips forward again, seeking out some kind of relief.

  Deep down, I knew what I really wanted was to get us both naked and have sex. Right there. In the hot tub. The rational side of my brain knew that we should probably take things inside; sex outside in a hot tub with our guests able to catch us at any moment seemed pretty risky. However, tequila had this tendency to bitch slap rationality into submission and my baser urges generally took the reins. So, instead of saying anything, Jensen and I continued to grope and paw at each other unabashedly.

  “This is the best birthday ever,” I whispered, allowing my fingers to tickle the nape of Jensen’s neck.

  He smiled against my skin. “Well, it’s not over yet, love,” he said, his gravelly voice vibrating through me until I rocked my hips against his. “Let me take care of you.”

  Chapter 23. Blackout

  Soft, sweat dampened skin, pressed and slid sensually against mine. Kisses alternated from soft and feather-like to hard and ravenous, while her teeth nipped the flesh of my neck as she moved above me.

  In … Out … In and fucking out… She continued to rock her hips above me, my orgasm quickl
y building as she increased her pace. The sounds she made were like music to my fucking ears as she broke her mouth away from my neck and moaned. Her body tensed above me, yet her movements were unrelenting as she continued to ride me at a steady pace.

  Moving my hands up, I grabbed her hips savagely, pulling her against me. She cried out in ecstasy, her hands slamming down onto my chest and her short nails biting into the skin as she began to shudder, her orgasm crashing through her like a tidal wave. It wasn’t long before I joined her, jerking my hips up off the bed until she collapsed on top of me, both of us completely spent …

  There was a soft groan beside me that pulled me from my deep sleep, the remnants of yet another sex dream hazy but still lingering in the depths of my mind. It was possible that the fog in my head was due to having just woken up, but the pounding was proof enough that I’d had too much to drink the night before. And the inability to remember crawling into bed at all only backed it up.

  Madison’s warm body shifted next to me, another groan coming from her as the blankets moved over me. Opening my eyes a sliver against the light filtering into the room, I saw her lying on her stomach with her pillow pulled over her head—probably in an attempt to keep the morning sunlight from making the headache she likely had even worse. While I couldn’t remember much, I did recall Madison having a head start on the tequila; there was no way she wasn’t hung over.

  “Baby?” I asked, cringing at how hoarse my voice sounded.

  “Hmmm?” Her response was muffled by the pillow over her head. Had it not been for the wrecking ball slamming around my skull, I would have laughed at how adorable she was.

  I looked over her at the alarm clock and groaned when I saw it was almost eleven. “How’s your head, love?”

  “Oh, God. It’s like Neil Peart in there beating the shit out of my brain,” she replied into her pillow, her muffled voice sounding a little raspy as well.

  “Who?” I queried, not quite understanding.

  “The drummer from Rush, obviously.”

  I chuckled, rolling over and pressing my lips to her bare shoulder before pushing myself off the bed. “I’ll go grab some Tylenol.” Her pillow moved, prompting me to believe she was nodding beneath it.

  It wasn’t until I crawled out of bed that I realized I was completely naked—which shouldn’t have shocked me considering how drunk I was. I crossed the room to our dresser so I could grab a pair of underwear, some jeans, and a shirt, and then locked myself in our bathroom to brush my teeth. After replacing my toothbrush, I ran my hands through my messy hair in an attempt to tame it and then down over my rough jaw. It had been years since I’d felt this trashed. Since college, probably.

  As soon as I opened the bedroom door, I could hear low voices in the kitchen that only grew louder the closer I got. In addition to that, I caught the smell of fresh coffee and inhaled deeply. A little energy seeped back into my body, and I quickened my pace, eager to cure my hangover.

  “Well! Good morning, sunshine!” Kyle boomed, causing my brain to throb painfully against the inside of my skull.

  As I entered the kitchen fully, I heard the tiny clicking of claws rush toward me, and soon Bones was right in front of me, jumping up on my legs. “Good morning, buddy,” I said, scratching his head before instructing him to get down so I could grab my coffee.

  “I hope you don’t mind,” Willow said warmly, looking up at me as I turned toward the coffee maker. “I figured he’d probably have to go out. I didn’t want him making a mess in your room. No one answered when I knocked on your door, so I just opened the door a smidge, and he came rushing out.”

  Nodding at her, I smiled. “No, I don’t mind. Thanks.”

  “Sleep well?” Kyle asked from his seat at the table with the others, his loud voice making my brain pulse again.

  Pressing the heel of my right hand to my temple, I groaned. “Uh, yeah. I think so. What the hell happened last night?” Upon looking at them again, I noticed that each of them had a fresh cup of coffee in front of them, and they were all smiling and staring intently as I moved toward the sweet, heavenly smell. It was almost like they were taking some kind of sick, sadistic pleasure in seeing someone suffer a hangover. How was it that Madison and I were the only ones who felt this way? They’d all had a lot to drink too … right?

  “You don’t remember?” Brandon inquired, the grin falling from his face.

  Opening the cupboard and grabbing two mugs and a glass, I wracked my brain. The smell of coffee surrounded me as I poured it into the two mugs, deciding to forego the cream and sugar just in case Madison’s stomach was as upset as mine.

  “Uh …” Flashes of everyone in the hot tub came and went … Laughing, shots, dirty jokes … “Fuck, how much did we drink last night?”

  Kyle laughed. “Dude, I had enough trouble remember-ing parts of last night, myself. Lilah had to fill in a few blanks for me this morning. I remember these two pansies heading off to bed and then your girlfriend goading me into another round of shots … And then? Nothin’.”

  Well, it was comforting to know it wasn’t just my memory of last night that seemed to be missing. I reached for the bottle of Tylenol, shaking two into my palm before taking them, and then I shook out two more and set them aside to take to Madison.

  “Is Madi up yet?” Brandon asked.

  “Well, she was semi-awake before I came out here. I’m just going to run this in to her. We’ll be right out, and I’ll make breakfast for everyone,” I offered, knowing that the only true cure for a hangover would be to rehydrate and feed our bodies. After picking up the pills, the glass of water, and Madison’s coffee, I padded down the hall. Bones was hot on my trail, and I laughed when he quickly passed me, pushing the door open with his nose.

  When I crossed the threshold, I found Madison sitting with her back against the headboard and the covers pulled up to her waist. She looked toward me and a faint smile spread across her incredibly pale face. “You’re up,” I whispered, moving to the bed and sitting in front of her before setting her coffee on the night table and handing her the pills and water.

  “Yeah. I had to use the washroom and brush my teeth. My mouth felt all fuzzy and gross.” A queasy look contorted her face before she popped the pills in her mouth and washed them down with some water. “Thanks. What happened last night?” Bones jumped up, placing his front paws on the bed next to Madison, and she acknowledged him with a smile and a quick pat on the head. “Seriously. I don’t remember much … and I woke up naked. Did we …?”

  While I’d hoped maybe she’d recall something, it wasn’t really a surprise that she didn’t—she definitely had more to drink than me or anyone else. “I’m going to assume we had a good time?”

  She laughed, her face instantly twisting into a pained expression since her head was likely still pounding. Slowly, she set the water down on the bedside table before grabbing the coffee cup, sighing as she inhaled the rich aroma. “You’re going to assume?” she asked before taking a small sip. She grimaced at the taste because she wasn’t used to taking it black; I knew it would be best given our current state.

  “Even Kyle says he can’t remember much after Willow and Brandon turned in. Said you even goaded him into another round of shots,” I told her, lying on my side across the foot of the bed.

  Madison’s brows pulled together. “Well that doesn’t sound like me. I must have been pretty wasted.” She took another sip from her mug before setting it next to her water. “Is everyone up?”

  “Yeah. Willow let Bones out while we were still sleeping.”

  Smiling again, Madison leaned down and kissed the top of Bones’ head since he was still up on his hind legs looking for attention. It was hilarious how his entire body moved as he wagged his tail excitedly. “Well that was awfully nice of Auntie Willow,” she cooed to him.

  “Oh, God. Are we those people?” I teased, pushing myself back up as I grabbed her lower leg gently. “Okay, get up. I’m making breakfast. And after, we should probably
clean up the backyard. If we can’t remember anything, I’m certain we were too drunk to even consider cleaning up before passing the fuck out.”

  “Ugh,” Madison complained, shifting to the side to stand up. “That doesn’t sound fun at all.”

  “Well, afterward, maybe you and the girls could go for a ride,” I suggested, pulling her into my arms and kissing her softly.

  Madison hummed in contentment against my lips. “Or,” she said, pulling back slightly to lock eyes. “We could all go.”

  Nodding contemplatively, I kissed the tip of her nose. “That sounds perfect. Come on,” I said, letting my hands fall to her ass and squeezing. I was sure everyone would agree that her idea was definitely better too. From what I had heard, Brandon knew how to ride, and I was pretty sure Kyle did too.

  Madison pulled out of my arms, smiling sweetly. “You go ahead. I’m just going to pull on some jeans and a T-shirt. These shorts might be a little too scandalous for breakfast.”

  “Well, I like ’em,” I assured her, letting my eyes rove over her body appreciatively.

  She arched an eyebrow and shoved me playfully. “Yeah, well, you’re kind of a perv, remember?”

  “I don’t seem to recall you complaining about that before now,” I countered with a smile as she rifled through her dresser.

  “Not complaining. I was merely stating a fact.”

  Laughing, I backed toward the door, watching as Madison slipped her thumbs into the waistband of her shorts. She shook her head, silently telling me that she wasn’t going to strip with me still in the room; she was such a tease—and I loved it.

  After leaving her again, I made my way to the kitchen where I dug around in the fridge for everything I would need for breakfast. After scrambling the eggs, milk, veggie ham and diced vegetables, I put them into a casserole dish and waited for the oven to preheat before I put it in to bake. While it cooked, I washed and diced some fruit for a fruit salad.