Not My 1st Rodeo

by Donna Alward

  “Oh!” Karen gasped as she simultaneously grabbed for the towel, took a step back and almost fell into the pool.

  Mack grabbed her and hauled her up, then he stepped in front of her. She had the towel, which was the important thing here if kids were about. No one else needed to know she was mostly nude underneath it, right?

  He started to chuckle at the thought, but her eyes widened in panic. This was exactly why he still had his boots on. He turned to the newcomers—a husband and wife and a young boy, maybe five. “Howdy, folks. The water’s great. We were just leaving, so you’ve got the whole thing to yourself.” He aimed that mostly at the kid, because the mom was giving him and Karen a disapproving look and the dad looked like he was going to bust a gut laughing.

  “Yeah!” the kid shouted and flung himself into the water with a huge splash.

  With the kid’s attention elsewhere, Mack pulled Karen forward. He paused long enough to scoop up the red dress and her shoes while she snagged her little purse and they got the hell out of there.

  Which meant he was now walking through the halls of a hotel with a woman wearing little more than a towel.

  He was not an exhibitionist really—but there was something exciting, something forbidden, about this whole thing. Only he knew she didn’t have a swimsuit on underneath that towel. Only he knew what she looked like in the water.

  God, he’d never been so hard in his life.

  “This way,” she said in a breathy, nervous voice, walking swiftly down the hall. They made it to the elevators without seeing anyone else, thank heavens. Karen pressed the button and the door opened up immediately. Mack let her get in first and then he stood in front of her until the door was shut. “What floor?”

  “Three,” she said and then exhaled heavily. “That was close.”

  The gears of the elevator groaned and they slowly began to ascend, one of those slow elevators that might take two minutes to get three floors.

  He could do a lot in two minutes.

  She opened her mouth to say something else, but he kissed her before she got the chance. This time, he didn’t go for simple or sweet. He swept his tongue into her mouth and pinned her body against the wall of the elevator with his and let her feel what she did to him.

  He’d never done anything more than kiss in an elevator, but right now—thinking about her little red panties, all wet between her legs from the pool? He slid one hand up under the towel and felt the wet fabric with the tips of his fingers.

  “Oh, Mack,” she moaned against his skin when he trailed kisses down her chin to her bare neck, her bare shoulders. Droplets of water still clung to her smooth skin, and he kissed them away. She held the towel tightly, but she reached up with her free hand and grabbed the back of his neck. “I like a little biting,” she whispered in his ear. “Just a little pressure.”

  Biting? As long as this didn’t get all vampire on him…he skimmed his teeth along the top of her shoulder before biting down—not hard, not enough to break skin. Just a little pressure, like she’d said. At the same time, he felt something small and round and hard beneath her panties and he pushed against it with the tip of his index finger.

  Karen’s body bucked against his as she gasped.

  “Good?” he asked, kissing the spot where his teeth had left a faint red mark.

  She clutched at his shirt, breathing hard as he made a little circle over her clit. “Oh, God…”

  The elevator lurched to a stop, jolting them against each other. Damn—they were still technically in public. He barely managed to get himself back under control by the time the doors opened. “Okay?” he asked as she stood there, her eyes closed and her chest heaving. At least she still had the towel up, right?

  “Room 323,” was all she said.

  He stuck his head out and did a perimeter check. The hallway was empty, so he took her by the hand and led her toward the room. Walking was a bit of a challenge at this point, because every single movement made him feel like he was going to die the best kind of death. Blood pounded through every single part of his body—his ears were ringing, his dick was throbbing. All he could think about was getting her behind a closed door where no one and nothing would interrupt them this time.

  Oh, yeah. He was going to enjoy this.

  Chapter Four

  Karen fumbled the key card out of her purse. She could barely see straight after the way Mack had touched her in the elevator. Hell, even just the way he’d been watching her in the pool…

  How long had it been since a man had looked at her with that kind of unbridled lust in his eyes? Like she was the only woman in the world and he could hardly wait to make her his?

  Years. Not just the years since the divorce had been finalized, but years before that. Yes, Roger had once looked at her like that, back when they’d first started dating. But it’d lost some of its charm when she’d caught him looking at anything with two legs and breasts that way.

  She’d spent the first part of her marriage trying so hard to get Roger to look at her like Mack did—as if he not only couldn’t live without her, like he wasn’t going to make it another ten minutes. She’d waxed and worn skimpy things in public and suggested sex in the kitchen or the car or any place where she thought she might be able to prove that she was enough for Roger.

  But it hadn’t. All that desperate wildness had never left her feeling desirable—or all that satisfied. Roger had been a selfish narcissist—the thought of giving her what she wanted, what she needed, just never crossed his mind.

  Shivering, she fumbled with the key card. “Here,” Mack said in a low drawl, “let me get that.” He pressed against her back, reached around her waist and took the key card from her.

  She saw that his hand was shaking.

  And she liked that—that moment of weakness, that physical proof that she had made him literally sit up and take notice of her. Despite all the things she’d tried to use to capture Roger’s wandering eye, she had never done anything as crazy as to strip down to her undies and swim for a man.

  She almost felt like…like the girl she’d been back before she’d fallen under Roger’s spell and lost years of her life to his cheating ways. Wild and carefree and ready for anything.

  Ready for Mack.

  He got the card in and the door open and then he was gently pushing her through it. The card fell to the ground and, the moment he kicked the door shut behind them, so did her towel.

  “God, Karen,” he said, cupping her breasts in his hands and pulling her back into him as he leaned against the closed door. His beard prickled against her skin—so, so good. “You about killed me down there—so damn beautiful.”

  She could feel his erection pressing against her lower back, long and hard and hot and for her. Just for her. She didn’t have to share him and she didn’t have to worry about holding him. Tonight, he was hers and she was his.

  He was stroking the undersides of her breasts, heightening her awareness of them, of the way he touched her skin. He watched her as he moved his hands against her, resting his chin on her shoulder as his gaze followed the trail of his fingertips up to her nipples.

  She shivered again at the touch, both erotic and sweet. “Cold?” he murmured against her skin.

  “Not really. Just…” he rolled her right nipple between his thumb and forefinger. “Don’t stop,” she moaned. “Don’t stop, Mack.”

  “Mmm.” He did it again, this time pulling the sensitive tip with just the right amount of pressure. “Good?”

  She had to grab hold of something to keep her knees from buckling, so she latched onto his forearms. “More,” she gasped.

  He let go of her left breast and wrapped his arm around her waist. “Yes, ma’am.” Then—oh, God, then—he bit down on that spot where her shoulder met her neck and pinched her nipple. The pressure was just right. Just…right…

  “Mack,”
she groaned, grinding her hips back against his erection.

  “Let me do this for you,” he whispered as he kissed her neck, right under her ear. “I want to know I can still do this.”

  He slipped the hand that was around her waist lower, down over the thong she’d specifically bought for just this occasion, down to where her clit was still throbbing from where he’d touched her earlier.

  She was whimpering, she realized—whimpering for his touch.

  “Do you like that?” he growled in her ear. “Do you like it when I touch you like this?”

  He brushed his fingertips over her clit as he pulled on her nipple and skimmed his teeth over her neck. She opened her mouth to tell him exactly how much she liked it, but no noise came out. She managed a feeble nod.

  “I need more than that to go on, darlin’,” he drawled. “You’ve got to let me know when it’s good.”

  And he pressed. He pressed down on the hood of her clit and her hips moved all by themselves as she clung to him. “Oh, yes, yes, yes,” she hissed as he began to move in those small circles again, rubbing her clit.

  Mack worked her in silence, with a single-minded determination that she was going to come and come right now. “Oh, God,” she whispered as the orgasm began to build, the pressure on the inside of her body matching the pressure he was applying to the outside. “Oh, God, Mack.”

  “Yeah, like that. You’re so damn beautiful,” he growled and then bit down again.

  Karen came apart in his arms. Everything about her stiffened and then exploded like a tightly wound spring being freed. All she could do was ride his hand.

  Mack caught her as she sagged against him and held her close. “So beautiful,” he murmured as he kissed her neck again.

  “Oh, Mack,” she gasped, trying to get her eyes to focus again. “Oh, that was wonderful.”

  “Not too hard?” he asked, tracing his lips over the warmed part of her neck where he’d been nibbling.

  “Just right.” She let him carry her weight as her body relaxed. “Wow. Just…wow.”

  He chuckled behind her. “That’s a relief. I was afraid…maybe I’d forgotten how.”

  A little part of her heart broke for him. Her marriage and divorce—well, Roger had been an asshole, but she’d thrown her lot in with him. She’d been culpable. But Mack had lost his wife and had spent the last six or seven years alone.

  This night had started out about her getting over that final hurdle that Roger had thrown up in her life, reclaiming sex as something fun and enjoyable, as something she was worthy of having. That’s what she’d been trying to get back with all those failed dates and hadn’t. Not until she’d met Mack Tucker.

  But now? This wasn’t about only her, not anymore. This was about a lonely man who’d almost forgotten how.

  She was going to do her damnedest to help him remember. She could give him that.

  So she pivoted in his arms. He let her, but skimmed his hands over her body until he was cupping her butt. “I never knew how much I liked these little panties.” He grinned down at her as he traced his thumbs along the lace.

  “I picked them out just for you,” she whispered as she kissed along his jaw. His beard pricked at her skin, warming her up.

  She decided that he had on way too much clothing. He still had on his hat, for crying out loud. “What do you like?” she asked as she pulled the bolo tie down and slipped it and the hat off.

  “You,” he said. “I like you.”

  She laughed at that and hugged him. “That was a sweet thing to say.” Then she grabbed his belt buckle. “But we’re past the point of sweetness.”

  Mack froze as Karen undid his belt buckle. He was still flying high off the climax he’d given her. It’d been freaking years, but he hadn’t forgotten how to pleasure a woman, how to make her whimper and moan and shake in his arms. It was a damn good boost for his ego that he could do that for this sensual woman—that it was wonderful and she’d been practically speechless, all just from him touching her.

  He hadn’t lost it. Or maybe he had just forgotten it for a while. But now? Now he had it back. Big time.

  “What are you doing?” he asked as the button on his pants gave. Because she hadn’t started on his shirt or gotten his sports coat off or any of that.

  “Your turn,” she murmured as she kneeled before him. The buttons on his fly went next. “Tell me what you like.”

  “Karen,” he said, panic beginning to rise up. He was already primed, hard and close. If she went down on him…he wouldn’t make it. It’d be over before it started. “You don’t have to do that.”

  She looked up at him, her eyes wide and luminous in the dim light of the room. “We have all night, Mack.” She shoved his pants down a little and stroked his dick through his boxer briefs. “This is just the beginning.”

  He wouldn’t have thought it possible, but the idea excited him even more. It’d been decades since he’d been able to really take his time in bed. When the boys had come along, he and Sue had transitioned to quicker, quieter sex with less foreplay and more sleep.

  But he and Karen really did have all night long. The idea was mind-boggling.

  “Let me do this for you,” she whispered as she pulled his briefs down. His dick sprang free and, against his will, Mack moaned.

  “Yes, like that,” she murmured as she took him in hand and began to stroke—up, down, up. “My God, Mack. Look at you.”

  “Rather look—” he sucked in air, “—at you,” he finally got out as she leaned forward and kissed his tip.

  He jerked against her lips, his body more than willing to follow this all the way through.

  Karen looked up at him through her thick lashes. “Then look at me,” she told him as she took him in her mouth, all warm wetness surrounding him, moving her hands rhythmically over his shaft.

  Mack shuddered. It was a lot. Too much. He didn’t want to lose it like an eager boy again but—but—

  She kept her gaze on his eyes as she swirled her tongue around his tip. He wanted her to stop and he wanted her to keep right on going, right on doing that—

  She slipped her other hand lower and cupped his balls, which pulled a low groan out of him. “Jesus,” he ground out. He couldn’t focus on holding back, couldn’t focus on anything but the way she was licking him and sucking him and stroking him. Taking him as he pumped into her mouth.

  Then he felt the edge of her teeth rough up against his dick—not a bite, no, but the pressure… “Jesus,” he groaned again. He flattened his hands against the door to try and hold himself up.

  She moved her hands in counterpoint to her lips, her mouth, and he was not going to make it. “I’m going to come,” he managed to say, because even though he wasn’t able to think, to control anything but the way his body was screaming to empty into hers, he knew he had to give her fair warning. It was the last gasp of his self-control.

  Her mouth relinquished its hold on him and she kissed his thigh, but she kept her hands stroking him, kept pumping until the climax spurted out of him.

  “Oh…” he moaned at the release, at the way she slowed down but didn’t let go until he was finished.

  And he was drained. Yeah, he’d been taking care of himself for a long time, but this…this went far beyond jerking off in the shower. This was everything.

  “Mack,” she said, still on her knees in front of him, still wearing nothing but that little red lace thong, “I don’t think you’ve forgotten anything.”

  He grabbed her underneath her arms and hauled her up into his chest.

  “Good?” she asked. He could feel her lips curved against his neck in a smile.

  “Yeah. Yeah, I think you could say that. We’ve got all night, right?” Because as erotic and sexy as she was, he wasn’t as young as he once was. He was going to need a little recovery time.

  “We even
have part of the morning. At least until checkout.”

  He grinned. He could think of a few ways to pass the time until he was ready to go again. “Ladies first,” he said, motioning to the bathroom.

  While she was getting cleaned up, he kicked out of his boots, his socks and his jacket. But then he paused. Should he strip the rest of the way? Or not? It felt weird to just be waiting for her naked, but it also felt weird to wait for her dressed. He wasn’t a big fan of nudity—but she’d been mostly nude for a while now, and he didn’t like that the clothing situation was so unbalanced, especially not since she’d already seen his dick.

  Sucked his dick.

  Mack sagged back against the door, his head in his hands. This wasn’t like him. He’d gone years and years without doing anything as impulsive as meeting a strange woman and going up to her hotel room for the night. But in a moment of weakness…

  In a panic, he almost grabbed his socks and his boots and bailed. He wasn’t sure he could face her, not after what he’d done to her and she’d done to him. He wasn’t all that sure he could go into that bathroom in a few minutes and face himself in the mirror.

  He heard the sink shut off. Forcibly, he pulled himself together. This was fine. Okay, at the very least. Sue had wanted him to go on with his life. His sons wanted the same. And if that meant knowing another woman intimately, then…

  The bathroom door opened and Karen stood in the doorway, backlit by the lights over the sink. Her gaze flicked over him, no doubt taking in the removal of the boots and jacket. The part of Mack’s brain that wasn’t paralyzed by guilt was happy to note that she still had on her panties.

  But the only thing she said was, “Your turn,” as she stepped out of his way. As she passed him, she reached up and trailed a hand over his jaw.

  And that…helped. At the very least, it quieted down the guilt and doubt that were trying to take hold of him and focused his attention on her.