Dirty-Talking Cowboy

by Stacey Kennedy

  When he deepened the kiss, she gasped, breaking away. “Wait. What about the bonfire?”

  “We’ll go, I promise, but later.” He rubbed his bare cock against her slit, finding her wet and ready for him again. “You’ve just told me that you are mine.” She arched her back and moaned, and as he entered her again, he growled in her ear, “I want what’s mine.”

  Chapter 14

  An hour later, beyond satisfied, and wide awake now, Emma found herself being led by Shep toward a quaint, one-story log house not far from Shep’s place. Evergreen trees surrounded the front of the house and the porch light was on, showing off the stonework on either side of the red-painted front door. “Nash’s house?” She took a guess, sliding her gaze to Shep.

  He shook his head. “Chase.”

  Interesting. Emma studied the house again, reassessing. The fact that Chase could build himself a huge house but kept to a simple one said a lot about him. Emma couldn’t help but think that for men who grew up with money, the Blackshaw brothers all seemed to live with less materialism than some people she knew in New York City. Hell, she had known people who were mortgaged up to their eyeballs, with their credit cards maxed, all to keep up with the appearance they were wealthy. She liked that about River Rock. Money didn’t seem to matter as much there. Though all the same, she figured Blackshaw wasn’t only a good name in River Rock because of the wealth behind it, but more so because of the integrity of the family.

  Shep didn’t lead her up to the house; he went around back. The closer they got, the more the fiery scent of the bonfire drifted through the air. The darkness in the sky flickered with an orange hue, and when they finally made it to the backyard, she saw why. A huge bonfire burned brightly, with Adirondack chairs stationed around the fire pit.

  She recognized Chase and Nash sitting in these chairs, but she didn’t know the girl sitting on Nash’s lap, and she’d also never met the guy next to Chase. Though when her gaze continued right, she caught someone sitting next to the stranger and smiled. “Harper,” she called.

  Harper squeaked and was on her feet a second later, running toward her. “Yah! You’re finally here.” She threw her arms around Emma, giving a tight hug. When she leaned away, she said to Shep, “Thanks for the invite.”

  Emma glanced at Shep, not knowing he’d done that.

  He gave Emma a smile, kissed her forehead. “I’ll grab us some beers.” To Harper, he asked, “Do you need one?”

  She held up her cup. “I’m all about vodka and Coke tonight, but thanks anyway.”

  Shep gave her a nod then set those sexy eyes on Emma again, the side of his mouth arching before he headed toward his brothers.

  The man Emma didn’t know caught sight of him first and rose immediately. “Shep, it’s good to see you. How are things?”

  They exchanged a manly handshake-and-hug combo just as Harper said, “Lord, girl, you’ve got him caught up. Look at him making sure you’re all happy and stuff.”

  Emma stared after Shep. Sometimes the kindness in him was a bit disarming. His attention to the fine details was maybe the sweetest thing about him. “Oh, hush,” she said, waving Harper off, not wanting to have that conversation in front of Shep’s brothers. Still, she couldn’t help asking, “When did Shep invite you?”

  “He sent me a text about a half an hour ago.”

  “That was really sweet of him.” He must have texted her when Emma was in the bathroom.

  Harper nodded. “Believe me, I would not be here otherwise.” She gestured toward the guy sitting next to Chase, whose legs were stretched out, one foot resting on a rock by the fire, while he drank his beer. “That’s Brody, my brother, and spending time with me is not on his to-do list.”

  Emma studied Brody a little. He didn’t seem so scary or standoffish. His smile while he laughed with Chase seemed honest. From this distance, Emma couldn’t see his eye color, but his hair was a darker shade than Harper’s, or at least that was how the light from the fire made it look. “Well, I’m glad you’re here.”

  “Me too.” Harper grinned, sliding her arm into Emma’s, holding her close. “I didn’t want you to be the only girl here.”

  Emma gestured to Nash and to the girl on his lap, who was laughing at something he said. “I wouldn’t have been the only girl.”

  Harper snorted. “She doesn’t really count. She hasn’t said two words to me.”

  “Who is she?” Emma asked.

  “Oh, some college girl, I’m sure.” She gave Emma a look. “Nash likes his ladies.”

  “It appears the ladies like him too.”

  Harper nodded. “Except for Megan, of course. I’m pretty sure she’d rather eat a nail than even talk about Nash, let alone acknowledge that he’s a member of the opposite sex and totally hot as hell.”

  Good point. “I actually noticed that when I saw them together yesterday,” Emma replied. “What’s with those two?”

  “Don’t ask.” Harper shrugged. “I’ve never been able to understand them.” Maybe because Harper had her own complicated situation going on herself. Harper considered Nash, then added, “They’ve got this playful hatred thing going on.”

  “Maybe they actually secretly really want each other,” Emma offered.

  “Or they actually really want to kill each other,” Harper said, then grinned. “But I think they’re better off not together, because honestly, if they ever ended up together, it’d either end in lots of angry sex or one of them dead.”

  Emma laughed, but soon stopped when she heard something whining. She glanced toward the noise, squinting her eyes in the darkness, when a sudden yellow blur came barreling toward her, hitting her in the knees. She nearly toppled over, but a firm hand on her arm grabbed her just in time, and she noticed the blur was a yellow labrador retriever. At her feet, he cried like he’d been hurt. “Oh, God, is he okay?” she asked.

  “This is Gus,” Shep said, patting the dog on the head. “And yes, he’s fine. This is how he says hello.”

  “Oh, my.” The whining continued, his hard tail wagging, and Emma laughed, wrapping her arms around the thick dog. “He’s so cute.” He pushed against her, even harder this time. She gasped, nearly landing on her butt except for Shep grabbing her arm . . . again.

  “He also doesn’t know his size. Wait until you sit in a chair. He’ll sit right on top of you and think that’s perfectly acceptable.”

  “It would be perfectly acceptable.” Emma grabbed Gus’s face and kissed his nose. “You are so stinkin’ cute.”

  Obviously done with her, Gus gave Harper some love then took off running to Nash, who had begun kissing the girl on his lap in a completely inappropriate way for an audience.

  Emma turned to Shep and grinned.

  Shep sighed. “He’s young.”

  “Isn’t he two years older than me?” Emma asked.

  Shep nodded. “He is, but he’s Nash, and Nash is well . . . Nash.”

  Harper interjected, “What Nash is, is horny.”

  Shep nodded, giving a soft laugh. “That about sums it up.”

  Harper raised her glass to her mouth and finished off her drink, then turned the cup upside down. “All dry. I’ll be back.”

  Emma watched her heading off in the direction of the house’s back door then discovered a beer thrust in front of her.

  “Thanks,” she said to Shep, accepting the crisp bottle, obviously pulled from a cooler.

  She took a sip, glancing out at the fire again, noticing the country music playing through the speaker that was sitting on the beer cooler near Chase. “So, this is what you all do for fun, huh?”

  Shep finished his sip of beer, one hand stuffed in his pocket. “Not your type of fun?”

  “It is, actually, but it’s also different.” She paused, trying to form a picture in her mind. “To be honest, I can’t even imagine my old friends sitting around a fire like this, unless there were waiters bringing them cocktails.”

  “Different isn’t always bad.”

&
nbsp; Emma hadn’t really looked at it that way for a long time. She’d felt like she’d lost everything. Different had been the enemy. But now . . . “You’re right—different isn’t always bad.” Actually, neither situation was really better than the other. She loved the city, the energy of New York City, but she loved this too. She had never realized she fit into two completely different worlds so perfectly until now.

  Suddenly there was a bang as the door flew open, then Harper called, “Emma, come here, we’ve got shots.”

  Brody rose. “You don’t need shots, Harper.”

  Harper rolled her eyes. “Actually, yeah, I do. A couple of them, in fact.”

  First, Emma noticed that Nash and the girl were gone, probably to have sex somewhere after that kiss she’d seen. Her gaze then drifted over to Chase, who watched Harper closely, with a little smile curving his mouth. Proud of her for standing up to her brother, was he? She turned to Shep and said softly, “You should say something to him.”

  He glanced between Chase and Harper, clearly catching Emma’s drift, then gently shook his head. “It’s not my place.”

  “Maybe it should be,” she offered, then took his hand. “Now, come on, let’s get drunk.”

  He sighed. “I better not regret this tomorrow.”

  “Oh, you won’t.” She smiled.

  “And why is that?” He tugged her closer, no space between them now.

  “Because I get dirty when I get drunk.”

  She waggled her eyebrows, which quickly turned into a gasp and a laugh as he threw her over his shoulder and headed toward the door, slapping her ass. “Then hell yes, darlin’, it’s time to drink.”

  * * *

  Two shots and three beers later, Shep glided through the cool water stark naked, the moonlight casting a glow across the black water beneath the surface. He wasn’t exactly sure how the conversation began, all that he recalled was Harper asking Emma wide-eyed, “You’ve never skinny dipped before?” Then they were at the lake and he was naked and running off the dock, jumping into the crisp water with Brody’s warning about Harper, “Look at her and I’ll rip your eyeballs out,” still making him laugh. Of course, the warning wasn’t meant for him, more directed at Chase and Nash; it was amusing nonetheless. Shep was glad he didn’t have any sisters. He suspected if he ever had a daughter, he’d likely behave exactly like Brody.

  When Shep broke through the water, inhaling sharply, with the starry sky above him, he discovered Emma and Harper had remained closer to shore. Nash was to Shep’s left, his date long gone now, and Chase stationed to his right. Shep smiled, keeping his lips beneath the water, thinking about Brody’s warning. Which was likely the reason why Nash and Chase kept their distance from Harper. Brody had stayed back at the fire, waiting for his girlfriend to get off work to join them tonight, but no one wanted to chance that he’d show up and find them near her. Brody had a fierce temper.

  On shore, standing on a jagged rock, Gus gave a loud bark, looking into the water. Shep narrowed his eyes, trying to focus through the darkness, discovering a muskrat swimming through the water. “Ah, Nash, I think—” Gus dove into the water, swimming in the opposite direction after the muskrat.

  “For fuck’s sake,” Nash growled, then took off swimming after the dog. “Gus!”

  Chase laughed, treading the water. “It’s a sweet reward how much that dog does not listen to him.”

  “It is,” Shep agreed, moving his arms to stay afloat. His gaze returned to the women, whose heads weren’t bobbing, telling Shep they were likely standing atop a rock beneath the water. When he glanced back to Chase his brother was staring at Harper intently, with the same intense look that was always on his face around her. “Your eyeballs are in great peril at the moment,” Shep joked.

  Chase’s mouth twitched. “I’d like to see Brody try to touch my eyeballs.”

  Shep looked at Harper, who he caught glancing Chase’s way before quickly returning her attention to Emma. There was something sweet there between Harper and his brother, and had been for a long time now. What Emma had said earlier crossed his mind. “Nothing would stop me from dating the woman I wanted,” he told Chase.

  Chase didn’t even play like he didn’t understand. “Harper is a line I refuse to cross.”

  “Loyalty?” Shep asked.

  “In part,” Chase said.

  Shep understood Chase’s hesitation but wondered if his brother did need a push. “Brody might take a few shots at you at first, but in the end, he’d forgive you if you made her happy.”

  “It won’t happen.” Chase shook his head adamantly.

  Shep examined his brother, the moonlight on his face showing the longing in the depths of his eyes. When Harper had come home from culinary school in Denver a few months back, she’d grown up, and Chase had noticed. “What’s the other reason?”

  Chase gave a long-suffering sigh. “I refuse to be the reason she doesn’t follow her dreams.”

  Shep immediately understood. Even Brody had been on Harper’s case, or so Chase had told him. No one wanted her to move back to River Rock after she finished culinary school. They all thought her skills in the kitchen were wasted in River Rock. Shep disagreed. He liked having Harper around. She was spunky and fun. “Chase,” he said sternly, hoping to get his brother to see sense.

  “Leave it alone, Shep.” Chase swam off to the dock, and Shep watched as Harper turned and studied his every move. By the time he looked back at Chase, his brother was out of the water with a towel around his waist, heading back up to the house.

  “Shep.”

  His gaze fell to Emma, and she waved him over. He swam forward until he reached her, then he slid in behind her, wrapping his arms around her bare middle.

  “Is Chase okay?” Harper asked.

  Shep nodded. “He got cold.”

  Obviously, Harper didn’t believe that for a second. Her brows furrowed, and then she glanced at the dock where Chase had left. “I’m getting a little cold myself.” She turned to Emma again. “I’ll meet you back at the fire?”

  “Sure.” Emma smiled.

  When Harper swam off, Shep spun Emma in his arms, bringing all her attention to him and putting his back to Harper to give her privacy. Emma wrapped her arms around his neck, legs around his waist, while he knelt on the rock, keeping them under the water. With her close again, blood rushed to his cock, hardening him to steel, as if he hadn’t already had her twice tonight.

  Emma nibbled her lip and sighed.

  Shep chuckled. “What is it?”

  She cocked her head. “Do you think Chase will ever get over Harper being Brody’s little sister?”

  Shep shrugged. “I can’t say.”

  “Would you get past it?”

  He leaned in, bringing his mouth close to hers. “If you were my good friend’s sister, you mean?” At her nod, he told it to her straight. “Nothing, and I mean nothing, would stop me from having you. But Chase is his own man, and he’ll do what he wants, on his terms.”

  Emma laughed. “So, he’s just like his alpha, caveman brother, then?”

  Shep slid his hand along the small of her back and lowered his voice, knowing she sensually reacted to that tone. “A caveman, you say?”

  “Mm-hmm,” she all but purred, shifting her sex across his cock.

  “Shall I act like a caveman, bend you over that rock, and fuck you right here?” he murmured against her lip.

  “Yes, please.” She grinned.

  He swam them around the large rocks on the edge, taking her to a private area that Nash wouldn’t see when he came back with Gus.

  “Actually,” she said, when they reached that spot, “I have a better idea.” She gestured to the jagged rock behind him. “Go sit there.”

  “Is this when you get dirty?” He climbed up to sit on the rock, his hard cock standing straight up, the cool air tickling across his flesh.

  “Yes.” She closed in on him.

  Surprise fluttered over him at the lust in her expression. Ap
parently, a new side of her came out when she drank, a less inhibited side. He liked this side. A lot.

  Like she was a damn pro, she stepped between his thighs, never taking her eyes off him, attempting to own him for a moment. For right now, he let her.

  A sexy smile rose to her face as she took his cock into her hand. He groaned while she playfully held him then licked from the base of his dick all the way to the tip while watching him. His eyes shut when she slid her tongue around the tip, teasing him. He groaned when she began licking his shaft, following the bulging veins along the side, and he reopened his eyes to stroke her cheek.

  Christ, she looked perfect sucking him off.

  Soon, he lost sight of her pretty eyes again as she leaned over him, her damp hair falling over his thighs. A moan fell from his lips when she gently tickled her hands over him then dragged her tongue up his shaft and glanced at him again. For one second the moonlight displayed her playful eyes on him, teasing him, he was sure of that, before she took him deep into her mouth. He hissed, tossing his head back as she stroked him, squeezing him tight. Her lips dragged behind, her tongue a wet pleasure he became lost in. He grunted, his hands turned into fists when she held the base of his cock then slowly dragged her mouth off, rolling her tongue along the tip until she took him back between her lips and sucked her cheeks in around him.

  “Jesus Christ, Emma,” he growled.

  Her mouth popped off, those playful eyes returning to him. She tickled the tip again, smiling at him. Giving him a little of the dirty talk she had learned he liked, she asked, “Do you like the way I suck your cock?”

  “Yes.” He inhaled sharply, gritting his teeth. “Don’t stop.”

  His eyes closed again when she brought him deeper into her mouth, stroking him, slow and steady. It became too much; she drove him crazy. She placed her mouth right on the tip, sucking hard and pumping her hand up and down over his shaft. Every so often, she’d take him in fully, and he hissed against the pleasure. He couldn’t take his eyes off her bobbing head, working hard to make him come. Both hands stroked him now, giving him a tight, wet channel to fuck, and he was going to lose it. She stopped sucking him to watch him, while she pumped her hands up and down his shaft, intent to bring him to orgasm.