So Tough to Tame

by Victoria Dahl

  She took more. Then more still when he pressed her down.

  His heart beat so hard it felt as if his cock was swelling in her mouth, growing thicker and heavier as she sucked him. His chest felt strange and tight as he watched her, her head working slowly up and down. He felt like growling, like snarling like an animal. He was rough and out of control as he tried not to force her to take more.

  “You like that, Charlie?” he growled. “You like doing that?”

  She hummed around him again, her eyes flashing up to meet his gaze. Fuck, it was too much. Too good. The eager way she took him. The sight of his wet shaft sliding from her lips. The insane, unimaginable pleasure every single time her mouth pulled at him.

  He wanted to come. He needed to. Just like this, her mouth around him and her approving sounds of pleasure. Oh, God. Yes. He needed that.

  But he remembered the dirty things she’d said earlier, and the way she’d teased and taunted him, and instead of urging her to take him faster, he fisted his hand in her hair and drew her off him.

  She watched him, panting, her lips wet and red from what she’d done. His heart thundered at the sight. He wanted to remember this forever. Sweet little Charlie, her eyes hot with lust, her mouth bruised from servicing him, her hair wrapped around his fist. Fuck, this was so wrong.

  He almost eased her back down. His body was screaming at him to do it. To slide his cock between her lips and growl at her to get him off. But he ignored the compulsion and tugged his pants back up. “The bedroom,” he said gruffly. When her eyes blazed, he knew he’d made the right choice.

  He followed her to the bedroom and said, “Take off your clothes.” It wasn’t quite natural for him, telling a woman what to do. But natural or not, his pulse thrilled at the way she did what he asked.

  Walker had his shirt and pants off within seconds, and he watched intently as she stripped for him. First her shirt, then her shoes and jeans. Then...everything. Until she was standing before him, long and lean and naked.

  “So...” He cupped his hand over her jaw, then let his fingertips slide down her arching neck, her delicate collarbone, until he plucked at her nipple. She gasped. “Do you like being a dirty girl, Charlie?”

  She smirked at him. “No.” God, she was such a tease. He realized now that she’d been teasing him the whole week, pretending not to want all of this as much as he did.

  “No? That’s odd considering what you said earlier tonight.”

  “Maybe I lied.”

  “Your mouth felt pretty naughty a few seconds ago.”

  She shrugged, one shoulder rising even as her nipple got harder beneath his touch. “Beginner’s luck, I suppose,” she said. He pinched her harder. Her cheekbones were flushed pink now. Her hands tightening to fists at her sides as her breath came faster.

  “Turn around.”

  She turned and he put one hand on the nape of her neck and slowly bent her down until she’d placed her hands flat on the bed. Walker moved to the dresser to grab a condom.

  Charlie was a fantasy, bent over, her ass pale and smooth and exposed to him. And she’d really said that, hadn’t she? That sometimes a girl wanted to be spanked. Sometimes she didn’t want to be treasured? And fuck... The light from the lamp made it clear she was wet for him. Her plump flesh glistened.

  Walker’s head pounded with rushing blood.

  He couldn’t do this.

  But he moved behind her and smoothed his hand over her ass. She looked small under his rough fingers. And so perfect and soft. He squeezed her. Hard. And then he slapped her.

  “Ah!” she cried out, her fingers digging into his bedspread. But she didn’t move. She didn’t say no. He made contact again, smacking her so hard his hand stung. But even as the mark of his hand flared to life on her pale skin, she pushed back toward him.

  “Charlie,” he whispered. “Tell me you like it.”

  She shook her head. He wanted to stop. It scared him. But his hands were shaking and not from fear. He slapped her again, then over and over, watching her skin turn red. She whimpered, her breath shaking from her throat.

  “Tell me you like it,” he groaned, but then he slipped his hand between her legs, and he didn’t have to ask again. She was hot and slick and she cried out when his fingers slid over her. “Oh, fuck, Charlie.”

  He reached for the condom and slid it on, then notched himself against her. He didn’t ease in this time. He wasn’t gentle. He just braced his hands on her hips and sank his cock deep.

  Charlie screamed, throwing her head back as he pushed mercilessly in. The heat of her body squeezed and pulled at his cock as he started to fuck her. Her arms buckled and she went to her elbows. “Yes,” he hissed as her hips tipped up for him. “God, yes. Touch yourself, Charlie. Do it.”

  He watched her slip a hand beneath her body and then she cried out and pushed back to meet his thrusts. He couldn’t quite catch his breath then. The air rushed out of him as if he were working too hard. As if her body had overwhelmed him.

  “Tell me you like it,” he growled one last time, his fingers digging into her hips.

  “Yes,” she answered. “Yes. Yes. Please.”

  “More,” he ordered.

  “I need it,” she sobbed. “Don’t stop. Please. I need you.”

  Adrenaline poured into his veins, ratcheting his pleasure to impossible heights. She met each of his thrusts with a little sob, working herself against him, trying to get off. Not quite believing it, even as he did it, Walker raised his hand to his mouth. He slid his thumb along his tongue, wetting it; then he slid it carefully between her ass cheeks and pressed in. Slowly.

  “Walker,” she moaned. “Oh, God. Oh, God.” But she didn’t pull away. She pushed back. Taking him inside her. “No,” she moaned. “No.” But she arched her back, taking his thumb deeper with a low moan.

  He thrust hard into her pussy, over and over, leaving his thumb buried deep inside her, making her feel him everywhere. Her moans became whimpers, and then eager cries, and finally she came for him, screaming, her body tightening around his cock, pulsing around his thumb. Her hoarse sobs filled the room, but a moment later, Walker’s ears were filled with his own rushing pulse as he fucked her harder. Harder. Until he buried himself deep with a desperate grunt of pleasure.

  Her body was still pulsing as he came, squeezing the come from him as he bowed into her.

  He slipped his thumb free. She cried out one last time. He held himself still, trying to draw the pleasure out for one more long, perfect moment. She shook beneath him. She shook from what he’d done to her.

  Oh, man. That had been too much. For him. And clearly too much for her. He felt guilty as he slowly slid free of her body.

  Charlie collapsed onto the bed in a pile of limp limbs.

  Walker retreated to the bathroom to toss the condom and clean up and try to figure out if there were right words to say after sex like that. He couldn’t think of anything, but he couldn’t just leave her there alone. She must be shaking harder than he was, so Walker snuck back into the bedroom.

  Easing down to lie on his side, he faced Charlie. “Hey,” he said, reaching out to slide the hair off her face. Her eyes were revealed first, a little dark and stunned. Then her cute nose. Then her mouth...which stretched into a grin.

  “Hey yourself,” she drawled.

  He blinked.

  “Damn, Walker. That was hot. Like...really crazy hot.”

  He blinked again.

  Charlie frowned. “Oh. Too weird for you?”

  He curled his hand behind her neck and leaned toward her pretty mouth. When he kissed her, she sighed into him. “Why do you have to be so fucking perfect, Charlie Allington?” he whispered.

  She sucked in a breath and shook her head. “Shut up.”

  “It’s true. That was...really crazy hot.”

  Her grin returned, and then she laughed. He pulled her tight against him and tucked her head under his chin. She snuggled against him like a kitten, and Walker’s hear
t twisted. This wasn’t good. He liked this girl. He respected her. He was a little in awe of her and always had been. Mix that up with insanely delicious sex, and Walker was in big trouble.

  Damn.

  “Maybe we should argue more often,” she said.

  He shook his head and stayed quiet. He didn’t want to talk about it, but as the silence settled over them, he knew he owed her more than that. “I didn’t mean to argue with you,” he said quietly. “I don’t want to. It’s just... Shit. My dad was always hard on me. He never believed in me. So I don’t want to talk about all the stuff I’m not doing, Charlie. I work. I’m great at what I do. I need that to be enough, at least for myself, even if no one else agrees.”

  Her fingers tickled his chest when she stroked him. “I’m sorry. I know how it can be when dads are shitty.”

  “My dad didn’t understand. He hated what was wrong with me, so I don’t like to talk about it. I don’t want to think about it. I’m done now. I’m not in school, I don’t have to deal with the struggle, and I’m not going back.”

  “But I do understand,” she pressed. But when he shook his head, she let it go. “All right.”

  “Thanks.”

  “I’m only agreeing to let it go so I can talk you into more sex.”

  “You really think that’s all it would take?” he asked, then laughed when she punched him. He found himself smiling against her hair, breathing in the scent of her. Yeah, this was bad. “Can you stay tonight?”

  She melted into him a tiny bit more. “Yeah. I’d like that. If I can sleep. It’s been a while since I spent the night in someone else’s bed.”

  He hadn’t realized he’d been tense about her answer until he heard it. When she agreed, he felt...surprised. Grateful. He would have been less shocked if she’d said, Nah, you know this isn’t like that, Walker. You’re not the kind of guy a girl cuddles with afterward.

  And maybe he wasn’t. Maybe he was what he’d always been. The good-time guy. The booty call. The man you cheated with, but never depended on. The man who was exactly what you needed, exactly when you needed it, but never more than that.

  He’d been all those things to other women, but for her...for her he could be something totally different, if only she’d ask for it. “You didn’t have a boyfriend in Tahoe?”

  Her eyes flashed up to his for a moment. “It ended a while ago. How about you? Did you have someone special before Nicole?”

  He noticed that she didn’t say “before me.”

  Charlie laughed when he didn’t respond. “Yeah. I figured.”

  Walker wanted to tell her she was wrong, but how could he? He’d had a few girlfriends in his life, but only a few. With the hours he worked, and the weeks he was gone, it wasn’t easy. And whatever way he interacted with other women seemed to qualify as flirting, even when he tried very hard not to flirt. His relationships had always been volatile and quickly over. So yeah...how could he assure her she was wrong when she wasn’t?

  “It’s okay,” she said, patting his shoulder. “I’m not very good at relationships. I’m better off being friends with a guy like you. I’m not even sure I really believe in love.”

  “You don’t believe in love?” he asked. Did she think he didn’t? That he didn’t want it?

  “Don’t worry. I’m not initiating a very special relationship talk.” Laughing, she leaned up to kiss him and then rolled onto her back. “You heard all the stories about my mom, I’m sure. They were all true. And lots more you didn’t hear about. My dad was just gone. Moved on. I haven’t seen a lot of good come out of love or whatever people think love is.”

  He wrapped his fingers around hers and stroked his thumb over her knuckles. “No?”

  “What about your parents? Were they good together?”

  “Oh, hell, I don’t know. They stayed together. They didn’t fight that often, which is a miracle considering my dad’s temper. Or maybe it was because of his temper. But I don’t know about the love part.”

  “Yeah,” she sighed. “Me, neither.”

  He squeezed her hand. “I think you’d be pretty easy to love, Charlie.”

  “Ha.” She laughed as if he’d been joking. “Look who’s talking. Every woman loves you, Walker.”

  He made himself chuckle. “Don’t believe everything you hear.”

  “All right.” She brought his hand up to her mouth and kissed it, and Walker’s heart did a strange turn in his chest. “I’ll only believe half. And you can tell me I’m special. And I’ll even believe it while we’re here in this room. Deal?”

  “Deal,” he answered. And he wished like hell he was only playing along.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  HE WAS WARM under her hand. Even warmer than she’d imagined. His chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm that made her heart hurt for reasons she couldn’t fathom.

  Charlie cuddled closer in the dark, and his arm tightened briefly around her, as if he knew she was there. But that was just his body’s memory, borne of the hundreds of times he’d held other women like this. She wouldn’t let it sneak inside her, the comfort of him. Of his heat and skin and smell and the way his mouth brushed over her hair when he held her.

  She pressed her lips to his shoulder. He was asleep. He’d never know.

  It was only 4:00 a.m. She should be sleeping, too, but she’d woken fifteen minutes before and her brain refused to stop working.

  She wanted so badly for him to look into the Ability Ranch. Her heart beat hard every time she thought about him with those kids. He probably thought anyone could do that, but Charlie knew the truth. She turned into a nervous mess around kids. They were just odd strangers who invaded your space and were unpredictable and came with different rules depending on age and size and brattiness. Sometimes they cried. Sometimes they yelled. Sometimes they stared at you as if they knew something you didn’t.

  God. They freaked her out. Walker had no idea what kind of gift he had.

  But if Walker’s dad had treated him badly because of the dyslexia, she understood why he wouldn’t want to deal with it. Why throwing himself back into the challenge of it would be too much.

  She should let it go, but Walker was so damn amazing. And his problems seemed so much easier to solve than hers. Charlie’s problems were legion and lingering and hard to even wrap her head around.

  Like that thing with Keith Taggert tonight. What the hell had that been?

  She eased off Walker’s arm and lay on her back to stare up at the ceiling. Someone’s porch light shone through the backyard trees and made shadows dance against the white room. It was a perfect, peaceful night in a wonderful man’s arms, and she was thinking about the Taggerts.

  Something about the situation—everything about the situation—niggled at her brain.

  The conversation with Dawn at the party had slipped a couple of puzzle pieces into place, but those pieces had dislodged others. Dawn’s behavior made much more sense now that Charlie knew Keith had been the one lobbying for her employment. But why would he really have wanted her?

  She came at a discount. That was one good reason. Charlie had taken a steep cut in pay from her last job. In fact, she’d be embarrassed to tell anyone about the package she’d accepted. But considering the resort’s budget, those numbers couldn’t be the sole motivator.

  So maybe his loyalty speech was the key. He’d scraped her off the bottom of the barrel, and now he thought she’d be a valuable, tireless advocate for his business. That could be it. It was a pretty solid theory. She was inclined to feel damn generous toward him.

  And maybe, just maybe, it was because of her brother. Sure, he hadn’t been the kind of big brother Walker clearly was. He hadn’t protected her in childhood. He hadn’t looked out for her. But maybe losing their father had changed something for him.

  She brushed her hand against Walker’s fingers and thought of the way he’d spoken of his brother. She couldn’t quite understand that kind of sibling love, but maybe she could have a part of that. Her bro
ther would never be her hero, but he could be something like a friend if she tried.

  She’d call him today. For sure. She wouldn’t forget this time.

  Charlie closed her eyes and told herself she could go back to sleep. She’d thought through all of her problems. There was nothing to be done right now. But her brain kept turning.

  Crap. She opened her eyes. There wasn’t going to be any more sleep for her tonight. And she couldn’t wake Walker this early. He didn’t sit behind a desk all day. He had real work to do.

  Before doing anything drastic, she looked at him. She could just make out his profile in the darkness. The black swirls of his messy hair stood out against the white pillow. He needed a haircut, but she was glad he hadn’t gotten it yet. She liked the way it made him look wild and vulnerable at the same time, like a careless little boy.

  She wanted to touch him. Wanted to wind her fingers into his hair and snuggle close and breathe in his scent. She wanted to wake him with her hands and her mouth until he covered her and filled her with his body. They could fall back to sleep together, limbs tangled and heartbeats keeping pace. In the morning, he’d tease her and kiss her and then she’d use his shampoo and smell him all day, as if she were still wrapped up in him.

  But that would be one of those memories that would hurt when he’d moved on to someone else. She’d see some cute girl sneaking out of his apartment in the morning. Someone prettier and smaller and younger, and Charlie would hate that girl and hate him and hate herself and all her memories.

  No. She couldn’t do that. Her last lover had made her feel like a fool. She never wanted that again.

  Charlie slipped out of bed and pulled on her clothes and made her escape. She meant to shower and go for a run, but as she dried her hair, she realized she had an opportunity. If she got into work before everyone else, she could check out those security tapes in private. If Keith had been trying to spy on someone, she wanted to know who it was. His wife? An employee? Someone else?