“What now?” came her low purr.
Shain could tell she was still uncertain, but trusting enough to play along, which only heightened his intense craving.
“Turn around and face me,” Shain said firmly.
Lily did, her lips parted, her eyes dark. His gaze fell to her beautiful, upturned breasts. “Play with your breasts,” Shain said.
After a slight hesitation, Lily’s hands moved to cup the soft globes. She closed her eyes as her fingers found the pebbled tips.
“Open your eyes,” Shain growled. “I want to see your desire and I want you to see the effect you have on me.”
Lily’s gaze dropped to where Shain was palming his erection and her eyes widened. She licked her lips, then pinched and rolled her nipples, a moan escaping. “That’s it, my gilded Lily. Imagine my tongue on your breasts, sucking, moving from one to the other.”
Shain swore under his breath. He had to touch her. Had to feel her writhing beneath him. Shain placed a hand on her thigh and Lily gasped. “Don’t stop,” Shain said. “Feel yourself, Lily. Understand how perfect you are.”
She did and Shain was able to turn his attention to her creamy inner thigh. With her standing before him, her hands plucking at her nipples, Shain stroked her like a cat, moving his hand higher and higher until it brushed the soft strip of hair above her clit. Her knees nearly buckled but, with a sharp command, she stayed upright. Shain eased his fingers across her damp outer lips, his breath strained as he fought for control.
Lily moaned and Shain moved in closer until he could smell the freshness of her skin.. “Open your thighs wider for me, Lily.”
She did, her hands still circling her breast. “Shain…please…”
“Are you saying I’m not pleasing you?” Shain asked softly before he delved a finger up to the knuckle into her creamy slit.
Lily cried out and fell against Shain’s neck and chest. He held her up with one hand, the other still deep within her. With a steady rhythm, Shain thrust in and out. One finger, two…bending them to stimulate her red hot core.
“Oh,” Lily said breathlessly, her silky hair brushing Shain’s chest, sending tingles racing across his shoulders and into his already burning groin.
“Keep touching your tits, woman,” Shain said gruffly, his own need near choking him. “And tell me what else you want me to do.”
Lily gasped, her pelvis moving on his hand demandingly.
Shain increased the speed of his thrusts, feeling her close, knowing she was on the edge of climax.
“What else do you want me to do, Lily?”
She moaned and threw back her head, exposing the graceful lines of her neck and the sensitive hollow at its base.
With one hand on her ass, Shain lifted Lily a bit higher until his head was once again even with her tits. He blew across the red, puckered tips. “Tell me, Lily. What do you want?”
“Shain, damn it,” Lily stammered, moaning again as he flicked her clit. “I want you to fuck me, lick me, do whatever in the hell you want to with me, as long as you do it. As long as—Oh!”
Shain wrapped his mouth around one pink nipple, his tongue dancing across the hardened tip. He withdrew and Lily cried out again. “As long as what, Lily?”
Lily’s fingers found his head, pulling him toward her breast, but he resisted, his gaze finding hers. “As long as what?”
She gave a quiet sob, her lip quivering. “As long as you don’t break my heart, you big prick!” she finished with a shout.
Shain went still, his finger still deep inside her, his mouth next to her perfect tits. Her words echoed inside him. Does she mean them? Hurt and uncertainty lurked in her forest green eyes and Shain recognized a measure of fear. The vulnerability that comes from letting someone in. Giving them space in your life, in your heart.
Crap.
One minute his whole attention was focused on saving the ranch so he can get the hell out and back on the road and, in the next, his thoughts and feelings were so tangled up in a woman, it was all he could do to function.
Feeling a push at his chest, Shain looked up. “Get off,” Lily said and Shain realized she was on the verge of tears. “Damn it, let me go!”
“Lily,” Shain started, only to get a smack on his chest.
“I mean it!”
He released her and watched as she scrambled backward on the bed, her breath coming fast, her head low. “Where are my clothes?”
Shain took a deep breath as his gaze followed her every movement. “Lily…”
Her head snapped up. “Look, it’s no big deal if you don’t want me.” With a trembling hand she pushed hair away from her face. Trying to seem unconcerned. Trying to pretend she wasn’t feeling like someone had just punched her in the gut. “But why do you keep asking me things like that? First you dare me to stay, then disappear for four days, then you bring me to a place like this… What kind of game are you playing?”
Anger sparked, then simmered in Shain’s chest. “Games? You want to talk about games?” He leaned in and yanked Lily off the bed and onto her feet in front of him. Irritation mixed with desire and his own deep fear blurred his thoughts, skewing everything he’d always felt to be true. “How about you tell me what type of woman makes a bet to fuck the first man that ‘trips her trigger’?” Heat spread through Shain like wildfire. “What about that game, Miss Whitman?”
Lily’s mouth fell open and she froze. “Wh-what did you just say?”
Shain dropped his hands and crossed his arms. “You heard me.”
She spun, putting him at her back. Shain could imagine the thoughts going through her head but, damn it, the little minx deserved to be made accountable for her actions. If he hadn’t spoken to Nhya, then gotten the call from Lance less than an hour ago, he never would have known about the silly bet or the fact that Lily was, in fact, exactly who she said she was—a straight-laced museum curator with a nominal sex life and a passionate love for her job and family.
It was incredible, really, that she’d followed through on the wager and, from the tone of the e-mail Nhya had intercepted while snooping through Lily’s laptop, both Lily and her cousins seriously doubted she’d make any attempt at all.
But damned if she didn’t. Shain’s cock was still rock-hard as he stared at her gently curved back and long, kill-you-with-one-look, legs. Shain wasn’t certain if he should be pleased that she’d jumped into the bet with both feet or not.
Memories of their lovemaking wiped any doubt from his mind. Damn straight he was pleased…and doubly lucky that it was him she fell for.
Shit. Shain ran a hand through his hair, his entire body screaming with need and his heart tripping with feelings he hadn’t dealt with for a very long time. If ever. There was no doubt, bet or not, Shain Stevenson was head-over-heels for this gorgeous, generous and passionate woman. And it wasn’t just the sex. When he looked at her, it was as if he’d known her forever. Her smile. Her laugh.
Her spirit.
Shain sighed, accepting his grandmother’s wise words. While he’d known he could never completely escape those odd moments where time seemed to stand still, where he heard gentle voices giving direction, advising, being away from the ranch for extended periods of time had lessened them. It was one of the reasons he’d been so keen to leave. It had been…different, to not be haunted by things he didn’t understand, didn’t want to understand.
Unlike Nhya who’d embraced it. Treated it as their heritage. Not something to fear, but something to treasure. To cultivate.
So who was the true fake here? Shain’s gut twisted with guilt and a decision made. He stepped forward and placed a hand on Lily’s shoulder, the smooth texture of her skin sinking into his belly like a slow drink of Jack D. “Lily, damn it, talk to me.”
She shivered beneath his palm. “How—how could you possibly have found out about the bet?”
Shain shook his head. “It doesn’t matter.”
“It does!” Lily turned, her sumptuous bare chest rising an
d falling with the force of her breath. “There’s no way for you to know about that unless you talked to my cousins and they told you, which wouldn’t happen, or you—” Her deep green eyes widened, then narrowed. “My laptop!”
Shain frowned. This wasn’t going the way he’d planned at all. He should be the one pissed as hell.
Nostrils flaring, he stepped closer, giving her his most intimidating glare. “Stop it.”
Lily raised a fist and shook it. “Stop what? Being furious that you felt you had the right to go through my personal items? To snoop into my life where you had no business being?”
The strength of her words bounced off his chest and Shain was silent in the face of her distress. Her words were nearly the same ones he’d spoken earlier about his great-grandfather’s murderer. And as gorgeous as she was with her fist raised and her eyes blazing, it wasn’t really anger wafting off of Miss Whitman…it was hurt. Pain. Fear.
He knew her emotions for what they were, because he was feeling them too. They weren’t so different, really. Classy, smoothly perfect Lily Whitman and rough, scarred Shain Stevenson. At their hearts, they were the same. Both desperate for a deeper connection but terrified about finding it.
And had they found it?
Shain captured her small fist in his much larger hand, holding her there as their gazes locked. “Stop it, Lily. No more covering up. No more lies. It’s just you and me. “Tell me…” Shain paused, a tingling rushing through his gut all the way to the top of his head. He swallowed, feeling a glimmer of rightness, a foot at the crossroads, as his grandmother would say. There was no going back. “Tell me what you want. With us, Lily. What do you want?”
After a moment of frozen stillness, she started to tremble. From her gorgeous legs, past her flat belly and up to her flushed cheeks. But her eyes stayed locked with his. Searching. Trying to decide if she should step up to the crossroads, too…and cross over.
“Shain,” Lily murmured. “God help me… I want to be with you.” She shook her head, silky hair swishing around her face in glimmering waves of gold. “I don’t even know, really, exactly what that means. Being with you.” She looked up once more and Shain’s breath caught in his throat. She looked unreal, head tilted, her eyes wide, her barriers down. “You tell me, what does that mean, Shain?”
Shain tightened his grip on her fist and stepped in until she was directly beneath him, their clasped hands locked against his chest. “I’m not sure either, sugar, but I can’t imagine starting another morning where you’re not there to see it with me.” He lifted his other hand and brushed strands of gold behind her delicate ear. “You’re in my blood, woman. Last night all I could think about was you. Being with you. Loving you.” Shain grinned wolfishly. “Fucking you.”
Lily frowned.
He raised an eyebrow. “Honesty, remember?”
She sighed, a slight smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “Since we’re being honest, I spent the past four nights thinking of that, too. And how I was going to kill you the next time I saw you for abandoning me and Nhya like that.” She paused, then chewed her lower lip before blurting: “I thought you were messing around with some other woman!”
It had never occurred to Shain that Lily would be worried or even take the time to be jealous. The realization made his chest warm and his cock throb and he pulled her in closer, the fresh, sweet scent of her going straight to his head. “Darlin’, you had nothing to worry about. I spent every night in the saddle making sure those looters didn’t get a leg up on me or anywhere close to you girls. I was supposed to stay out there from day one.” Shain nuzzled her graceful neck, desire simmering in his belly like an over-fed furnace. Shain felt Lily relax into him, her high, firm breasts pressing against his chest, her legs tangled with his as they stood holding one another. “I knew it was a mistake to come back that morning. I couldn’t think of anything else but you, so I had to leave. Get out. Clear my head and focus on the ranch.”
“Did it work?” Lily asked softly.
Shain growled. “What do you think?”
He felt her smile against his chest and heat filled every pore of his body. “Fuck this,” Shain muttered as he swept Lily off her feet and into his arms. He tossed her gently onto the bed, following her down, pressing her into the mattress. “No more talk, woman. We’ve established parameters.” He dipped his head and caught Lily’s nipple between his teeth. She arched against him. One lick, then two before he blew cool air across the beaded tip. Shain looked up, every muscle in his body taut with longing—a soul-deep need. “I want all of you. You want all of me. Neither of us is sure where that will lead but we’re going to walk the path and find out, right?”
“Right,” Lily said breathlessly. “Now make love to me, Shain, before I lose my mind.”
Chapter Ten
Shain’s attention went back to her nipple, his teeth grazing the sensitive tip. Lily screamed, unable to control the wild need surging within her. His tongue felt rough, hot and magical as it wound around her areola, sucking, teasing until she thought she would lose her mind.
With her fingers digging into his forearms, Shain released the sensitive bud and leaned back, dark hair falling over his forehead. “I’ve never felt skin so soft.” He slid a hand beneath her upper thigh and lifted slightly. “That night in the bar, when I saw you hugging that bull between your long, beautiful legs, all I could think of was taking that delicate foot…” Shain ran his hand down the back of her leg, his eyes feasting on every inch. “And kissing your ankle.” Which he did, slowly, tenderly, in that soft spot on the inside of her foot. His eyes lifted, his lips next to her skin. “Then taking my tongue…” He flicked once, the cool of his tongue sending shivers all the way to Lily’s spine. “And running it up the back of those heart-stopping legs…”
Which Shain did with methodical, loving attention. Past the gentle swell of her calf, his hand holding her leg by the ankle, his head poised beneath it. He placed warm kisses behind her knee, then continued upward. His tongue painting spirals all the way to mid-thigh, where he paused. Lily’s breath fell out in ragged pants, her body quaking, her juices soaking the velvet folds of her slit.
“And here,” Shain whispered roughly. “Here is where I lick all the way up your ass cheek and bury my face into your hot pussy.” As good as his word, Shain’s head dipped back to the back of her leg, where he laved across the crest of her butt, stopping only when he was buried in her slick folds.
Lily cried out and bucked against his face, her hands digging into the bed. His tongue…Ohmygod… It darted in and out of her creamy hole and Lily felt the orgasm build like a tidal wave. The stubble on his checks rubbed against her sensitive lips and Lily gyrated against him, moans falling from her lips with abandon.
“Come for me,” Shain whispered against her and, with shocking force, Lily’s body complied. She screamed as her orgasm tore through her, her thighs vibrating on either side of Shain’s head, her heart slamming against her ribs.
For a moment, Lily literally saw stars. She sighed in pure contentment and fascination, each nerve in her body firing pleasure signals.
Lily felt warm hands under her hips and, a moment later, she was flipped onto her stomach then pulled up to her knees.
“Now,” came a deep rumble behind her ear. “We fuck.”
Lily drew in a startled breath, instantly burning with anticipation as Shain’s callused hands palmed her hips and drew her firmly back. She heard the telltale rip of foil, and loved him all the more for wanting to protect them both. Within seconds, the tip of his engorged cock stopped at her steamy entrance and she felt the warmth of his body as he bent low. His spice-and-leather scent enveloped her and she knew she would forever associate it with this powerful, beautiful man.
“Are you ready for me, Lily?” he whispered near her ear. His tongue snaked out and tickled the delicate outer rim and Lily shivered, her breasts tightening.
“I’ve been ready for you forever, cowboy. Give me all of—”
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Lily cried out as Shain yanked on her hips, driving his thick rod past her slick opening and deep into her core. There was no stopping this time. No giving her pause to adjust to his girth and length. With one hand on the top of her ass, the other gripping her slender hip, Shain thrust rhythmically, each shift driving him full force into her center. Panting, Lily flattened her upper body against the bed, allowing him greater access, her hands gripping the quilt, her thighs meeting his diving plunges.
“Beautiful,” she heard him growl as his hand caressed her ass, his testes bouncing against her slit.
Shain’s palm flattened against the lower curve of her back and he leaned forward while pulling back on her hips with the other. The penetration was deep and Lily shuddered as another orgasm rocked through her.
Moaning, her hands dug into the quilt until they hurt, her head spinning. Shain didn’t break his rhythm but she could hear his ragged breath, his deep murmurs of passion. Each plunge brought her closer to the edge once more but Lily had little time to be amazed. It felt too good. Too perfect. Too heavenly to analyze.
“Shain,” she whispered, the slapping sound and musky scent of their lovemaking only heightening the erotic sensations.
“Jesus, Lily,” Shain groaned. “You feel so goddamn perfect, I’m gonna explode, darlin’.”
Lily smiled at the almost pain-filled tone of his voice. “Then do it. Come inside me, Shain. I asked for all of you…are you going to deny me?”
With an animal growl, Shain pulled her hard against his groin, driving his cock all the way to the tip of her womb. Lily cried out and gasped as Shain plunged into her at near manic speed, each stroke finding her center, each thrust forcing wild sounds from her throat and lips.
Shain literally roared as his rod contracted within her and Lily felt her own body respond, clamping around his cock. It was all she could do to breathe as the sensations washed through her and, within seconds, she felt herself doing the unexpected—crying. Tears poured down her flushed cheeks and she drew in a shaky breath.
Hearts Are Wild Page 29
