by Cathryn Fox
“I was thinking,” she murmured, and wet her lips.
“About what?” he managed to get out as pleasure forked through him.
She stepped closer, her hands never leaving his cock as she rubbed her hard nipples against his chest. “This time, I want to make you scream for me.”
A groan caught in his throat. Truthfully, he loved that she cared about his pleasure, and that she wasn’t simply out to take what she could from the cowboy, the way things normally went down on the ranch. But Julia wasn’t like those other women, and Coop wasn’t a man to take without giving first.
And oh how he planned to give…
He gripped her shoulders, and in a move that seemed to surprise and excite her, he turned her around and braced her hands on the wall. Then he put his mouth close to her ear and said, “Don’t move.” He heard her breath catch as he slid his hands around her waist to cup both her breasts. “Because in my world, sweetheart, the woman screams first.”
As he played with her nipples, he pressed his engorged cock against the small of her back, desperately needing to apply a bit of pressure to help ease the tension. He slipped one hand between her legs until he found her clit. Christ, he loved that she was all wet, swollen, and ready to play.
He stroked her, and she went wild in his arms. Wanton and wicked, she wiggled her ass against his erection, and he nearly abandoned his plan to please her first.
Instead, he slapped her soft, round backside and said, “Stop it.”
But naughty little filly that she was, she didn’t. She gyrated against him, and the moans in her throat thickened his cock almost painfully.
“You’re asking for it,” he said. “Keep it up, and I’m going to lose it, and I promised you that I’d take it slow this time.”
“Maybe I don’t want it slow,” she murmured over her shoulder.
Her words, and the desperation behind them, told him so much—she was as needy as he was. Foreign emotions pressed against his heart, knowing she wanted him as badly as he wanted her. She glanced over her shoulder to see him, and when their gazes met, a new intimacy rose between them, one that went deeper than anything he’d ever felt before.
“Julia…” he whispered, and when he caught the emotions in her eyes, he carefully spun her around to face him.
Her fingers tightened on his shoulders, and his flesh burned wherever she touched. “I want you to lose it, Coop,” she murmured, impatience lacing her voice as her body began to visibly quake. “Right here in the shower.” She went up on her tiptoes and brushed her sex over his erection. “Please.”
Sweet Jesus.
Hungering to claim every inch of her, his mind began spinning, but he knew he wanted so much more than just her body. He reached outside the shower, grabbed a condom from the vanity, and quickly sheathed himself. Then he slipped his hands around Julia’s ass and lifted her off the floor. He pulled her high onto his waist and slowly began to lower her onto his cock.
“Oh, God, yes,” she cried out when he breached her tight opening.
He adjusted his grip and pulled her down hard, dropping her onto his throbbing cock and driving in so deep, she began to claw at his flesh.
He took two measured steps across the tile floor. As he slammed her back against the shower stall, some small, coherent part of his brain warned he was hurting her. “Julia,” he said as he struggled for some semblance of control.
She wrapped her legs tighter around his waist.
“Please, Coop. I want you to take me the way you need to.”
Fuck. His chest tightened with the way she trusted, the way she gave herself over to him. Air left his lungs in a whoosh. He forgot how to breathe. Warmth streaked through him as he stared at her, taking in the deep-seated need in her eyes. When he began to grow light-headed, he opened his mouth and sucked in a sharp breath.
Her eyes glimmered with dark sensuality, and the unbridled want in her voice when she said, “Fuck me hard, Coop,” fragmented his thoughts.
His cock throbbed. There was no fighting back the raging lust weaving its way through his bloodstream. With her back nailed to the wall, he began pounding into her like a junkie in need of a fix.
He’d never needed quite like this before.
As he slid deeper and deeper into her slick core, he sank into her warm, wet mouth, savoring the taste of her on his tongue. She began moving urgently over his body, seeking, yearning, demanding more.
While he might be a selfish bastard going at her like some wild, rutting animal, he wasn’t about to release until she climaxed for him first. But damned if he wasn’t having a hell of a time hanging on.
With her body crushed to his and his cock buried inside her, Julia ran her fingers through his wet hair. “Coop,” she cried out. “It’s good. So good. Never this good…”
“Same,” he groaned, but lost all track of thought when she rotated her hips, sinuously brushing her pelvis over his. She cried out his name, and a moment later, he felt a shudder move through her. Her response drove him to the brink.
“Oh fuck, Julia,” he growled and shifted his stance for harder thrusts. He pushed deeper, and when she tightened around his cock, he let go.
He stayed inside her and held her tight. He couldn’t bring himself to let her go, was unwilling to break the connection happening between them. But when the water turned cold, he shut off the nozzle, wrapped her in a towel, and carried her to his bed. He pulled back the covers and climbed in with her.
The sex had left him shaken to his core. His heart swelled as he fell deeper in love.
Deeper in love?
Holy Hell, he loved her! He rolled onto his side and drew her close, needing her in his arms, his bed, his life.
“I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
Her smile was soft, and when he touched her flesh, trailing his hand over her arm, it occurred to him how warm and welcoming she was. How she felt like forever. Her hand moved to his chest, and he found solace in the heat of her fingers.
“Maybe a little.”
She was so sweet. He swallowed and put his hand between her legs, lightly brushing his finger over her, soothing her sex. “Baby, I never meant to hurt you.”
“But it’s a good hurt.”
Tenderness rushed through him. “Hurt is hurt.” He covered her with a sheet, slid off the bed, and hurried to the bathroom. He grabbed a washcloth and ran it under the warm water.
“This will help.” Her eyes dropped from his to the cloth as he sat beside her on the bed and drew down the sheet. “Open for me.”
She spread her legs, and he placed the warm cloth on her sex. Her eyes widened and her mouth formed a little O.
“Feel better?” he asked.
She nodded as he tended to her, desperate to take care of the girl he’d fallen for all over again and intended to keep forever.
Chapter Seven
Julia stretched out on her bed and glanced at the gorgeous man asleep beside her. Here it was, five glorious days since the plane had first deposited her on the ranch, and she couldn’t deny that she was having the best time of her life. They’d spent their days riding the trails, picnicking, hanging out with his friends at the saloon, and making love in the sun—not to mention all the naughty things they did in his private pond—and she didn’t even mind the day they spent doing chores. In fact, she quite enjoyed it. Working with her hands allowed her to shelve her worries and forget about real life for a while—and that this fantasy would soon come to an end.
The truth was, she’d decided to gift herself with a week of relaxation and had no desire to think about real life. Nope, she wasn’t going to delve into his personal life at all. Not that he wanted to share that side of himself anyway. This was about casual sex and nothing else, and she was determined to spend her time enjoying life on the ranch and all the sex Coop had to offer. No questions asked.
By God, the man got to her in so many ways. But it was temporary.
It wasn’t like a relationship could work. Not only was
he into wild, carefree women, but he lived here, and she lived halfway across the country.
Julia gave a hard shake of her head and berated herself for dreaming about something more permanent. For one, it was her sister Coop had invited to the ranch, and two, she was pretending to be something she wasn’t. But she couldn’t deny that she enjoyed playing the part of a wild and wicked woman. How would she ever go back to dull and drab Julia?
Warm morning sun fell over the bed as Coop rolled onto his side, pulling the blankets with him. She smiled, and since they’d made love well into the wee hours of the morning, she decided to let him sleep while she went to the pond for an early-morning swim.
She made a move to climb from the bed, but his arm darted out to stop her.
“Going somewhere?” he asked.
Taking in his rumpled, sleepy state, which made him look so damn sexy, Julia laughed and fell back onto the bed with him. “I was going to take a swim because I thought you were asleep.”
“You thought wrong.” His smile was devilish, full of mischief. “Now come here.”
He pulled her on top of him, and they exchanged a long, heated look before he gave her a kiss full of passion. As he took her mouth, he stole her breath, and her heart missed a beat. She’d just lectured herself on keeping this sexual, but when he kissed her like that, she had no idea how she was ever going to walk away when this was over. He inched back, and when she met his glance, the warmth in his gaze and the ache of desire in the depth of his eyes filled her with longing. She craved so much more from him.
Despite a long night of lovemaking, she wanted him again. As if he could read her thoughts, he grabbed a condom from the night table and rolled it on.
Not wanting to think about what this man was doing to her, or how hard she’d fallen for him, she sat up and straddled him, conveying without words what she wanted. With a sexy grin on his face, Coop touched her leg. Heat rippled over her sex when he began a lazy journey up her thigh. When he reached her hips, he lifted her up off him, and then settled her back down on his hard cock.
She took in a breath, and her whole body trembled as she let it out. The pleasure was intense, glorious, and so deeply intimate she found it difficult to keep her emotions in check. “Coop,” she cried out as he filled her, quivering as his cock reached deep.
He brushed his thumb over her, and turbulent eyes full of heat met hers. “I know, Julia. Believe me, I know.”
With that, they began moving together, their hands touching each other all over, like neither could get enough. His muscles rippled as pressure built inside her, and there was more going on here than just sex. At least for her.
He was everything she wanted, everything she craved. She pinched her eyes shut and berated herself, because this was supposed to be just about sex, and when she stopped pretending, Coop would be bored with the real Julia.
“Julia,” Coop murmured, powering his hips upward. He took her slowly, like he was savoring every second. “Look at me.”
When she opened her eyes, he slipped his hand around her head and drew her mouth to his. The thumb on his other hand moved between her legs, brushing over her clit as he kissed her softly and with such passion she began burning from the inside out.
As her body began trembling, Coop used slow, easy thrusts, pushing her higher and higher while he dragged his thumb over her sensitive bundle of nerves. Unlike their frantic lovemaking sessions, this was sensual, unhurried, and tender, but every bit as potent.
Her muscles clenched, and she was free-falling without a net. As she tumbled into climax, they both cried out in ecstasy, falling over the precipice at the same time.
A long time later, when she finally came back down to earth, she collapsed on top of him, and he circled his hands around her waist to hold her tight. She listened to his heartbeat, and as it pounded in his chest, she wondered how she’d ever be able go back to the way things were before this incredible week.
When her legs started to grow numb, she rolled off him, and he packaged her against his body. She savored every minute while she still could. A soft, contented noise sounded in his throat, and when she glanced up, Coop gave her a lethargic smile and lazily ran his thumb up and down her arm.
“You’re kind of rocking my world,” he murmured, before dropping a gentle kiss onto her forehead.
In need of a distraction—before she did something crazy like tell him how she felt—she began tracing the outline of his face.
He gave a rough moan of pleasure. “Christ, if you keep touching me like that, I’m going to pin you down and take you again, and I know you’re too sore for that.”
“Oh,” she said as a thrill moved through her. She loved how she affected him—how he affected her—but in two short days, when the plane came to collect her, she’d never see him again.
She ran her finger over his crooked nose, and even though this week was supposed to be about casual sex—not about her getting to know him on a deeper level—curiosity finally got the better of her and she asked, “How did you break your nose?”
But as soon as the words left her mouth, everything between them changed. Coop went silent and cast his eyes down in deep thought. As his bliss disappeared, his body tensed, and he gripped her hand to still her exploration. He angled his head toward the window, away from her view, and once again she couldn’t help but wonder about his secrets.
He didn’t answer her, and while the lawyer in her was used to getting answers, and she was never passive in the courtroom, she was a bit hesitant to pry with him. Getting personal wasn’t in her best interest.
“I know this week was about sex, and just having fun, so I get that you don’t want to delve into your personal business.” She shrugged, trying to make light of things, despite the rawness in her throat. She stole a quick glance at the clock and continued to ramble on. “Soon enough I’ll be heading back to the real world and leaving this fantasy behind.” She gave him a smile and plucked at the bedding, like she did this sort of thing all the time. “It was good while it lasted, though, wasn’t it?”
…
It was good while it lasted?
He swallowed against the tightness in his throat. How could she still not see what she meant to him? Her plane left in two days, and if he couldn’t convince her that it was her he’d wanted all along, he was damn well going to lose her. No fucking way would he let that happen. She was the one and only girl for him, and he damn well planned to fight for her until her eyes were wide open and she saw this for what it was. Love. He grabbed a fistful of hair and tugged, blood pounding through his veins. He needed to do something, and he needed to do it now. Never had he felt like he had more on the line.
“Coop?” she said. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, come on.” He jumped from the bed and pulled her up with him. If he wanted her to trust him, to see that he wanted more than just sex, then he’d have to give more in return. That meant letting her get a glimpse into his life and opening up about his mother, no matter how painful it was to talk about it. He probably should have told her a long time ago he was a sports doctor, and that he usually only traveled to the ranch on weekends, but kept his mouth shut knowing it would lead to questions he wasn’t ready to answer. But it was that silence that was standing in the way of her seeing his real intentions. An uneasy feeling tightened his gut. When he opened up, would she be angry that he kept so much from her? Would she leave and never look back? Shit.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
This week had been about her, but now maybe it was time to be about him. “For a ride.” After a shower, they dressed and made their way outside. She kept casting curious glances his way, but he remained tight-lipped. Twenty minutes later they were in one of the ranch’s pickup trucks.
He felt her eyes on him and turned to see her looking at him with curiosity. “What are you up to?”
“What?” he said, laughing. A pickup truck came his way, and he waved to the driver as it passed. “I just thought w
e’d go get a beaver tail.”
“A beaver tail?”
“You do know what a beaver tail is, don’t you?” he teased.
“Of course I do. I am Canadian.”
“I’ve been craving a peanut butter and banana tail.” He cast her another glance as he drove along the back road to town. “You like them, right?”
“Fried pastry topped with all sorts of candy. What’s not to like? I guess I just never thought of you as a beaver tail kind of guy.”
“Not manly?” he questioned, giving her a half-cocked smile.
“How could it not be manly?” She laughed. “Every big strong guy I know eats peanut butter and banana pastry.”
“You think I’m big and strong.”
“Oh, my, God,” she said, laughing as she rolled her eyes.
He grinned. “What’s your favorite?”
“I’m kind of partial to the cinnamon and sugar.” She looked out her window. “I can’t believe there is a actually a franchise out here in the middle of nowhere.”
“There’s a town nearby, lots of shops and stores.”
“Oh?” Her eyes lit, and she probed, “Do you go often?”
“Not anymore. I don’t really have time, but I spent a lot of time there as a kid.”
Her brow crinkled. “You did?”
He waved a hand toward the pastures as they drove past. “I grew up around here.”
Her head jerked back. “You did? When did you move east?”
“Middle school.”
“I guess I just thought you’d always lived there.”
“Nope.” He drove a few more miles and then pulled off the road. He rolled the windows down, and a warm breeze scented with horses and hay drifted through the cab of the truck. “See that house?” he said, pointing to an old ranch in the distance. She nodded and he explained, “That’s where I grew up.”
She sat up, intrigued, and stuck her head out the window. “Really?”
“Yep.” He pointed to the corner room. “That was my bedroom. And you see that tree house?” He pointed to the big old maple at the side of the house.
