Gunslinger

by Angi Morgan

  “Let’s go,” he whispered when she unbuttoned his fly.

  “What’s wrong with here?” Her fingers drew circles on his abs.

  “Kylie.” He shook his head, then caught the look in her eyes.

  It was back, the fright that he’d seen when her shirt came off.

  “I like it right here,” she whispered trying to sink to her knees.

  He slid his hands to her elbows, stopping her. “I’m not treating our first time together like we’re teenagers looking for a fast thrill in a game room. We’re not only too old for that, we deserve better.”

  Dusting her hands like she was done, she hurried away. “Fine. This is all I have, Bryce. All I can do.”

  He touched her shoulder and she stopped. Did she want him to change her mind? Show her how much he cared about her? “If it were me... If our positions were reversed, and I was the one with scars. What would you do right now, Kylie? Would you let me run away? Continue to be afraid?”

  She covered her face. “I am afraid.”

  He could barely hear her. He asked just as quietly, “Of me?”

  “Strangely enough, no. But yes, maybe of you most of all.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  Kylie faced him, cupping his cheeks, using a thumb to entice his lips—whether that was her intention or not.

  “You’ve been looking for Sissy. I’ve seen that desire before from the men who admired her beauty. I’m afraid that you’ll be—”

  “Be what?”

  “Disappointed, Bryce. You’re going to be disappointed and never look at me like that again.” She gulped, holding back tears.

  He pulled her in close again, this time for comfort. He wanted to tell her it wasn’t true, but something told him to just be quiet. Let her cry. He hated that she was afraid, but there was a kernel of hope buried in there...

  She not only wanted him...she didn’t want him to just go away after they made love?

  He wanted that, too. He wanted a relationship. And she was wrong—Sissy had been a young girl of the world. He was falling for the woman from a small town.

  Kylie was warm against his chest. Tiny but not frail. Crying, but catching her breath. He was glad to hold her and wait, trying to form the words he wanted to say.

  “Sweetheart, I’m not the person you’re afraid of. I have no intention of walking away from you anytime soon. Believe me when I tell you that I have a pretty good imagination about what you look like, and yeah, I saw a lot of your modeling career photos. But none of that will ever compare to the real thing. You have to trust me a little.”

  “I do, but—I don’t know how to get past this.”

  “Hell, you don’t want me to see anything? Just blindfold me.” He was joking. She knew he was joking, right?

  When he saw the relief on her face, he knew he shouldn’t be joking. It was the solution she needed and might be a little fun at the same time. No, this was serious.

  “It’ll probably kill me, but we’ll move at whatever pace you need. Hands wherever you want them.” He splayed them, stuck them behind his back, then extended his right. “Deal?”

  “Deal.” She took it and shook, but quickly grasped his face and kissed him.

  And kept kissing him until her hands were moving up his back and it was as though their foreplay hadn’t been interrupted. He wanted the first time to be special, but he’d never forget this woman or what was about to happen.

  “Dish towel or necktie?” he asked when she nibbled on his neck.

  “Tie, I think I’ll get a better knot.”

  “Good.”

  As tall as she was she still weighed nothing. He picked her up and bolted up the stairs. He bounced her onto the king bed and pulled dress ties from the closet. Kylie had the comforter and top sheet thrown to the side. She was sitting on her knees in the middle, plumping pillows.

  He gave her a choice of two ties he never wore. She pulled the one decorated with four-leaf clovers, sliding it across his palm.

  Yeah, he felt pretty darn lucky already.

  “You know you don’t have to do this, Bryce.”

  “Believe me. That’s no longer an option. I’ll be right back.”

  The package of condoms had been in the cabinet for a while. He took two, just in case, and dropped them on the nightstand next to the bed.

  “Feeling ambitious?” she asked moving to the edge.

  “More like prepared.”

  “So how does this work?” She pulled the tie from one hand to the other.

  A simple gesture that was anything other than innocent. It fired his imagination. On any other day he could keep his pants on to hold himself back. This one he had to dig deep to find the strength.

  All he could do was swallow hard and shrug. “You’re running the show.”

  A split-second look of uncertainty, then the playful Kylie stood and draped the tie around his neck. “I guess I am.”

  His body thrummed as she slowly ran her hands over his skin again, making him tense each time she dropped a finger down the edge of his jeans. The button was already undone. Just when he thought she’d forgotten about blindfolding him, she backed up and gestured for him to turn around.

  Anticipation had his heart racing and pumping the blood through his body until he was almost jittery. And she’d done nothing but touch him. The tie slid to his back, looped around his neck. He closed his eyes, hearing the bed move.

  Kylie positioned his blindfold, pulling it tight against his eyelids. She must have been standing on the bed because her lips and teeth tugged at the skin on the back of his neck and across his shoulders.

  She didn’t ask if it was too snug. It didn’t matter if it was. He couldn’t object or she might lose her nerve. He wouldn’t. He wanted her, wanted them together. But more than that, he wanted to give her the confidence to live again.

  And making love was part of living.

  There was more rustling behind him. The dark surrounding him was absolute. He turned his head, but could only imagine that Kylie was removing her clothes.

  “Time to get rid of that denim you’re wearing.” She patted his butt like a teammate.

  “You’re not going to help?”

  “I think you can manage that in the dark. But here.”

  Reaching around him, the back of her cooled fingers dipped against his skin, holding his jeans at the top of his zipper. Before he could fully suck in his surprised breath, she’d playfully outlined his erection, then unzipped.

  Those same knuckles stroked him again through the last layer of cotton. He reached for the jeans at his hips and she slapped his hands away.

  “I changed my mind. This is temptingly fun.”

  “Or cruel.”

  “It was your idea. Want me to stop?” She stroked him again, slower this time.

  He was breathing through his teeth. He couldn’t help it. He shook his head and felt his jaw popping as the intense pleasure of her touch tightened every muscle in his body...every muscle.

  She tugged the jeans down...one side, then the other. Back and forth a couple of times until they could slide down his legs. He was grateful to step out of them and wished she’d tugged his last bit of clothing along with them.

  She slowly spun him around and checked the blindfold. It was still tight. He didn’t know what to do with his hands, so he laced his fingers together and rested them on top of his head.

  Kylie giggled.

  “Having fun?” he asked.

  “Not that I would want them or anything, but I imagined handcuffs for a second. I mean...you are standing like you’re under arrest.”

  “Search away.”

  Vulnerable and uncertain—understatements for the way he felt. The darkness changed his expectations. He listened, trying to picture what she was doing based on the sound. He concentrated on her movements and anticipated every touch. He was still caught off guard when the bed moved and he was suddenly propelled to his back.

  “You’ll have to scoot to the
middle on your own.”

  He did.

  “I kind of like your hands where they are.” Her nails created a trail of sensation down his side and across his belly, their tips skirted under the elastic. Teasing yet again.

  He took a pillow from above his head and gripped it with both of his hands. His concentration was split between the delicious trace of provocativeness and keeping his word to only do what she wanted, when she said so.

  The light skimming across his skin with fingers and lips and bra silk had him bringing the pillow on top of his face. It lasted the barest of moments as Kylie extended her body over his and uncovered him.

  Kissing. Nipping. Fully. Sensually. Completely. He was running out of ways to think about it. He was running out of the willpower to hold back.

  “Honey, if you don’t let me touch you soon...”

  “Patience,” she whispered tugging on his earlobe with her teeth.

  He concentrated on her breasts rubbing across his chest, still covered by their satin cage. His fingers contracted as he envisioned them in his hands. Kylie’s mouth substituted for her nipples. She pulled back and he went with her, rising off the bed as she sat across his lap.

  He groaned with the pressure. The knowledge that at some point he’d be surrounded by her had him dropping like a hard rock back to the mattress. Groaning yet again.

  “Kylie.” He was breathing hard as though he’d run a marathon and they hadn’t really begun yet. “Sweetheart, you...are you doing okay?”

  As far as he could tell she was fine. He wanted more right then. He swallowed hard, grabbing the sheets under his hands as she tugged his underwear down his legs. He couldn’t see but felt himself come to attention.

  So aware of everything around him, he heard the cloth hit the carpet. Heard the short intake of breath as Kylie saw him for the first time. Felt the hesitation in her fingers as she explored more of his body.

  Bryce was at his limit. Her tentative kiss was his undoing.

  He must have died at that point, because he was definitely in heaven.

  * * *

  KYLIE WAS ENJOYING the small bit of torture she was putting Bryce through. But there was only so much she could manage without torturing herself.

  Her desire had been almost unmanageable when they’d had all their clothes on. Now that his were off... He was such a gorgeous man. The sunburn from the weekend before had turned brown. The pale color from his waist down might have been comical if he wasn’t so...impressive.

  No. There wasn’t anything funny about the way he made her want him. All he had to do was lie there and her body trembled.

  Aching for him was the easy part.

  Was it fair to keep him blindfolded? Literally in the dark where her body was concerned. She leaned forward to remove the lucky tie. Her bra skimmed his chest and another genuine groan escaped from Bryce. She wanted to release him, have him take a turn torturing her with touches and kisses and exploration.

  But she just couldn’t.

  Instead, she used the silk of her underwear, sliding against him until his head shook side to side.

  “Dammit, Kylie. Please let me touch you.” One of his hands twisted the pillow into a ball, the other twisted in the sheet at their sides. “I’m being honest, sweetheart. This is getting hard.”

  A burst of laughter escaped. “I am so sorry.”

  He moaned. “Great balls of fire, I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.” His ab muscles tightened as he chuckled when she laughed more. “Shoot, I didn’t mean that either.”

  “It’s my fault. I know I’m not supposed to laugh.”

  “Why the hell not?”

  “Well, won’t it sort of deflate your ego?”

  “Honey, there’s nothing deflating there.” He flexed under her.

  He was right...nothing was deflating. She kissed him with all her confidence restored. She turned to her side, tugging him on top of her. She was ready. She had to give him a chance.

  “Okay.”

  “Okay I can take the blindfold off, okay?” His hand went to push it away.

  Both her hands grabbed his, stopping him in time. “No. I meant that I was ready.”

  “You might be, but I haven’t had my turn yet.” He switched to his side, then to his knees. “It’s your call, but don’t you want me to take a turn?”

  “You would have to...touch me.”

  “That you can count on.” His hand skimmed from her stomach to the top of her bra. “You’re still dressed?”

  Straddling her, he tugged a little on her panties, replicating what she’d done to him. Shouldn’t he put a pleasurable end to the need building even higher? Of course he could...but he wasn’t.

  He touched her like a blind man. Exploring every crevice of one leg and then the other without stirring what was between. Purposefully ignoring her and using his light coating of facial hair to tickle her behind her knees...and then farther.

  When he latched on to her hips, his fingertips were so close to one of the scars she thought he glided across it. He touched her intimately, thoroughly, and suddenly she didn’t care where he’d touched before.

  “Relax, hon, breathe,” he whispered.

  Had she forgotten to breathe? She certainly hadn’t forgotten to feel. Every infinitesimal brush where their skin met was on fire and ready to explode. Breathing she could handle if he would just take her...

  Never completing the thought, she fell into a moment of tense nothingness. And then again. She felt like crying for mercy until she realized his hand was on her scar.

  The torn flesh was numb to her. No feeling had ever come back. She was both breathing hard from where Bryce had taken her moments ago and holding her breath because of what he’d say.

  “Kylie? Is there a chance?” He touched the lucky clover tie. “Trust me.”

  Whether he really said those words right then or they echoed in her mind from earlier, she didn’t know. But she did. She wanted to trust him with all of her and that meant letting him see the scars.

  If he was repulsed so be it. But in her heart she knew Bryce was different. There was something in the way he looked into her eyes and understood.

  Scooting away from him, she saw his shoulders droop in apparent defeat. He couldn’t see that she was heading to him to remove his blindfold. He jerked in surprise when her hands touched his handsome face.

  Once she’d pushed the tie onto his forehead, his eyes started to blink. She put her palm across them, keeping them closed before he could focus. They were face-to-face, knee to knee on his giant bed.

  He took her hand in his, and kept his eyelids closed hiding the cinnamon brown beneath, but not the attention he gave her or his patience.

  “You don’t have to be afraid to take this next step or to go the distance with me, Kylie.” He cupped his chin with her hand and leaned into it, then kissed her palm. “I won’t let you down. Promise.”

  It was time to share the last bit of herself.

  “Open your eyes.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Bryce opened his eyes and Kylie turned on her left side. It was easier to hide. At least until he made a move to really look. She hadn’t paid attention that the bedroom lights had been on, suddenly wishing she’d turned the brighter ones off.

  No regrets now. She’d enjoyed looking at Bryce’s body. She couldn’t deny that most of her life had been around beautiful people and she knew how to appreciate the contours of his body.

  She looked up at him, attempting not to be in a rush. Yet, her heart raced and the heat of his stare made her flush.

  He gently nudged her to her back. “I imagined your bra as red.”

  “I don’t own anything red. I hate that color.”

  “I’ll remember that. The pink is sexy. Did the underwear match?”

  She nodded, biting her lower lip. His grin disappeared when he noticed the healed wound above her hip. His fingers traced it. And like before, she felt his fingertip around the edge but not the actual scar.<
br />
  “Where are the others?”

  She pointed under her arm. “The jagged rip had never been repaired correctly.”

  “Why?”

  “I didn’t hang around the hospital longer than I had to. Especially after they pulled the protective detail. When it happened there wasn’t time and when there was time, there was no money for a plastic surgeon.”

  He stretched out along her left, pulling her into the curve of his body. She felt so protected it hurt to realize how much she’d longed for it. He caressed both scars. Seriously caressed.

  Over the years, she’d never imagined getting close to someone again. Never dreamed that she’d be intimate. Wondering how a lover would react had always been intertwined with her horrified repulsion.

  “Your body was made for me to make love to it.” Bryce spread his large hand across her tummy, then up again to her breast.

  He teased the flesh at the edge of the satin. Feathery light caresses back and forth from her ear to thigh. Touches that almost said more, teasing her as much as she had him.

  Propped on one elbow, he got her excited with one hand. She relaxed into his body and let him push the strap down over her shoulder. His lips and teeth nipped on her skin and then closer and closer to the flesh she wanted him to devour.

  Bryce kissed until only skin was between them. Somehow the protection of her bra was gone as he twirled her nipple under his tongue. His movements had been subtle and delicate, then he moved on top of her, cupping both of her breasts into his hands.

  His fingers found her last secret, the one she could hide under the bright pink satin. The most horrific reminder of all... He paused only for a second—if that long—raising himself on one arm and forcing her to meet his eyes.

  “I’ve wanted to tell you this since I first met you in Hico.” He dramatically paused, no smile, his brown eyes darting to every inch of her face. “You’re too beautiful for words.”

  Kylie threw her arms around his neck, pulling him to her so their lips met. Their hips meshed together and they rocked in a frenzy. Bryce remembered the condom. She watched while his hands shook a little adjusting it into place.