Or maybe not.
“It was my fault,” he said quietly. “She got away from me. She wasn’t supposed to be up by the road.”
Cassidy looked up sharply, her breath catching.
“It was my fault,” he whispered.
Quietly, she stood and moved in behind him. When he didn’t shift away, she wrapped her arms around him and leaned her forehead against his back. “It was nobody’s fault. It was an accident.”
He let out a shuddering breath.
“Does Thunder make it worse?”
He shook his head. “Better.”
Peeking around his muscled form, she watched as her dog trotted happily down to the lake. Unlike his brother’s property, Rafer’s back yard was all about nature. Grass, trees and flowers filled the yard all the way down to the beach. A top-of-the-line fishing boat floated next to the dock, waiting for those who wanted to venture out farther. The boat was the only true extravagance she saw, but it fit him. Fit his character.
Which wasn’t so evil and foreboding after all.
“He’s a happy dog,” he said quietly.
She spread her hands wide on his stomach, loving the way the taut muscles quivered at her touch. She stroked him softly, gentling him. Soothing him.
“Let’s stop the feud, Rafer.”
“I don’t know if we can.”
“We can stop it between us.”
He sucked in a hard breath when she dipped her forefinger into his belly button. She pressed a kiss against the center of his shoulder blade and slowly stroked her hands downward. “We make better lovers than we do fighters.”
He grunted when she cupped her hands over the front of his jeans. “That we do.”
He started to turn, but she tightened her arms around him. “Let me do this.”
He stopped when she squeezed his erection gently. It was growing and hardening underneath her palms. She let her fingers dance across him, learning his shape and size. The tenderness between her legs pulsed.
She loved the feel of him inside her. She loved the feel of him under her fingertips nearly as much.
But this wasn’t about her.
Leaving one hand over his zipper, she slid the other upwards. He’d taken the lead every other time they’d made love. He was a force of nature when it came to sex—or maybe he just hadn’t wanted to give her the chance to say no.
She licked his spine. She wasn’t going to give him a chance either.
“Let me make you feel better,” she whispered.
Her fingers brushed across his chest, tracing the hard muscles and stopping when she found a nipple. She tweaked it, and he swore softly. His reaction nearly made her melt. To have this intense, powerful man as putty in her hands was so arousing, she got wet.
She rubbed her cheek against his back as she caressed his chest over and over again. His head dropped as she rubbed his cock harder. She got bolder, squeezing and dipping lower to caress his balls through the denim.
It wasn’t enough for either of them.
Using both hands, she went for the button of his jeans.
“What are you doing to me?” he rasped.
She kissed the back of his arm. “I’m just paying my dues, Long.”
He glanced over his shoulder at her. “You don’t owe me anything.”
“Then maybe I just want to be with you.”
The zipper let go easily, spreading and dipping all at once. Their gazes held as her hand slid inside. His hot cock filled her palm, and she pumped her fist around him.
His eyes closed as his hips bucked hard. “Cassidy.”
It was all the encouragement she needed.
Letting go, she grabbed at his jeans, tugging them down. He started to help her, but went stone still when her hands settled on his ass.
“Ah, Christ.” Reaching out, he braced himself against the doorjamb.
Cassidy was nearly out of her head with arousal as she dropped to her knees behind him. He was long and lean, his muscles not bulky but strong as steel. His ass was just the same, taut and molded. Gently, she scraped her fingernails over the firm globes. His glutes jumped, and she kissed them both in reward. She moved lower, licking the crease where ass met leg. His muscles clenched and didn’t turn loose.
It was the sexiest thing she’d ever seen.
She brushed her hands down his hamstrings, pushing the denim as she went. Finally, he stepped out of his jeans, naked as the day he was born.
But he was all grown up now.
She grazed her fingertips down his calves, circled his ankles, and started back up.
He was breathing hard. “I’ve got to touch you.”
“Not this time.” She stood. Hands shaking, she stripped out of his shirt and let it drop to the floor. When she stepped forward, his butt pressed against her stomach. Her pussy squeezed, the ache sharp and intense. She wrapped her arms around him, and her breasts pressed flat against the slab of muscles along his back. He was hot, his skin supple. Her nipples beaded hard, and she felt dampness drip onto her thighs. “This time is all about me touching you.”
His hips jerked as she palmed his thick cock once again. She was ready this time, her other hand braced low on his abdomen. Determinedly she pumped up and all the way down. “Like this?”
He was so big, she didn’t know if it was enough.
His growl told her otherwise. “Just like that.”
She rocked up onto her tiptoes and kissed the back of his neck.
Then she began experimenting.
He liked her touch. It didn’t seem to matter what she did, he asked for more. Soon the arm braced against the doorjamb was taking more and more of his weight. He leaned forward, panting hard, watching as she gave him a hand job.
Beads of sweat popped up on Cassidy’s forehead as she worked him. She’d felt like a wanton when she’d dipped her fingers between her own legs, but her wetness made her fingers slide more silkily on him. She caressed his abdomen, feeling the crisp tangle of his pubic hair. His balls were drawn up tight.
He groaned when she cupped them gently.
“I’m sorry. For everything.”
“Don’t,” he said. “Don’t be sorry. Be happy for this.”
He caught the hand toying with his balls and brought it to his heavy cock. It was straining upwards, hard and pulsing. She two-fisted him, pumping vigorously as she wrapped her entire body around him.
He was thrusting hard. Sweat gathered between their bodies, making their skin slide hotly.
Cassidy’s pussy was squeezing, searching…
She wrapped her leg around his hip, and his hand caught her thigh, holding her. She rocked against his leg as she brought him closer and closer to—
He let out a shout. His body bowed, and he ejaculated hard. The spray hit the glass window and covered her hands.
It was the most beautiful, erotic thing Cassidy had ever experienced. For her to have brought him to that point… She rocked harder against him, grinding against his leg. She was so close.
He suddenly reached back and caught her. He dragged her in front of him and lifted her. His thrust planted him all the way to his balls.
“Ah!” she cried, her body arching backwards.
He was still hard.
Yet as hot and thick as he was, he held himself planted deep. With a shudder, he buried his face into the crook of her neck and held her tightly. “You’re too good to be true. After all the bad will… all the hurt feelings…”
She wrapped her legs around his waist. God, she loved the feel of him inside her. And all around her. She pressed her breasts against his chest and slid her fingers through his dark hair. “On both sides.”
He lifted his head, and his look burned. “Do we even have a chance?”
Her breath caught. More. He was asking for more from her than a forbidden, one-night stand.
And she wanted to try.
She knew it with a certainty that was as fie
rce as it was sudden. Her arms clenched around him. He wasn’t the bad guy here. Nobody was. Misunderstandings and long-held grudges had gotten in the way. She wasn’t going to let something that stupid keep them apart.
Sinuously, she rolled her hips. The sensation made her groan. “Yes.”
They had one hell of a chance.
His fingers bit into her bottom. “Can we learn to trust each other?”
She looked at him through heavy-lidded eyes. Need was clawing at her. If she didn’t already trust him, he’d never be able to make her feel like this. She pumped against him again, this time a bit more urgently. A bit more desperately. “I think we’ve made a good start on that.”
His hips jumped once, but then held taut. “A Wilson and a Long?”
She kissed him, pressing her tongue deep and grinding her aching nipples against his hot chest. “A Wilson and a Long.”
Her fingers tugged at his hair and, suddenly, he was kissing her back. All that bucking and thrusting started again, only this time he was inside her. Cassidy held on, arching and twisting as pleasure coursed through her. She was slick from wanting, aching from denying herself. And he filled her so perfectly.
It didn’t take long.
He took her hard and deep. His thick cock pistoned inside her pussy, increasing the pressure and heat until her fingernails bit into his shoulders.
“Come for me, Cassidy. For me.”
She came with a silent scream. Her legs tightened around his waist, and her heels dug into his butt. Yet the orgasm just kept building, rolling through her like waves. When the furor finally passed, she sagged against him, falling into his arms.
When she opened her eyes, he was waiting for her. Waiting and watching…
“You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met,” he said hoarsely. “Inside and out.”
“Do you think we can start over?” she asked, her breath still ragged. Her touch gentled on his shoulders, softening the places where half-moons dented his skin. “Just be Rafer and Cassidy? Not a Long and a Wilson?”
“No.” His blue eyes flashed. “I’m not changing one thing about this.”
He kissed her firmly.
“You’re still who you are, and I’m who I am. The feud just doesn’t apply,” he said against her lips. “Not to you and me.”
The possibility thrilled her. Still… “Our families won’t like it.”
“I don’t care. Do you?”
With the way he held her, the choice wasn’t difficult. “No.”
Easing back, he leaned his shoulders against the wall. He took her weight easily, holding her as if she were the most precious thing in the world.
It was his smile, though, that caught Cassidy’s attention. She looked at it in wonder. Cupping her hands along his jaw, she traced his lips with her thumbs. If he’d looked at her like that the first day she’d come after Thunder, she would have stripped for him right then and there.
Thunder.
She glanced out the window. The sun was low on the horizon, sending diamond shards of light off the surface of the lake. Her dog was right there, swatting at the bright spots and jerking away in surprise when he got splattered.
She sighed. “We should bring him inside before he wanders off, and I need to get my clothes before fishermen like your brother see them.”
“No chance of that.”
She gestured to the lawn, embarrassed. Her tank top and shorts were spread a good fifteen feet apart, and her bra hung from a bush. She had no idea where her panties had gone.
Rafer cleared his throat. “I meant Thunder.”
She looked again to her dog and shook her head. “He’s gotten way too brave. I’m afraid he’ll wander out front.”
Her head snapped around, and she bit her lip. “Oh God. I’m sorry.”
Rafer gently pushed her hair back over her shoulder. “He won’t wander up to the road. Your invisible fence is working. It’s just a bit… uh, bigger.”
She looked at him in confusion. “What are you talking about?”
He actually looked sheepish. “In the interest of full disclosure, I might have expanded it.”
“To include your back yard? Rafer!”
He wrapped her tighter in his arms. “Well, hell. You got me all confused and worked up, but then you stopped coming by.”
“Because Thunder was staying put.”
His blue eyes turned soft. “I wanted to see you. I wanted to talk to you.”
“So you resorted to electronic deceit?”
“Well, you wouldn’t give me the time of day otherwise. You’d turn the other way whenever we ran into each other in town.”
“That’s because you were always glowering at me!”
“Not glowering.”
His eyes turned hot and sexy.
No, not glowering at all.
Cassidy felt him start to harden inside her once again. “You tricked me,” she said, trying not to give in too quickly.
“Maybe. Yeah. For a good cause.” He smiled again. “You might have been the enemy, but you were gorgeous. Call it strategic negotiations.”
“I think there are better words for it.”
He watched her carefully. “What are you going to do about it, Wilson?”
It was the smile that did her in. She took a deep breath, and they both shivered when her nipples brushed suggestively against his chest.
“Oh, Long,” she said softly. “There’s going to be hell to pay.”
His blue eye flared. “Promise?”
She ground her hips harder and pulled her enemy lover closer for a kiss. “Hell to pay.”
Thank you!
Thanks for reading Hell to Pay. I hope you enjoyed it.
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Interested in other Kimberly Dean books? Turn the page to read an excerpt from Fever, a hot short story about a woman consumed by a fever and the man who arrives to fight the flames.
Fever Excerpt
“Delia?”
A low voice seeped through the darkness. It nudged at Delia’s senses, urging her to wake. To listen. She fought the intrusion. She was so tired. Oh, so very tired and uncomfortable.
“Delia, are you okay?”
The voice was insistent. Smoky and intimate. The timbre was familiar, yet out of place. She pushed through the thick layers of drowsiness and tried to think.
It was just so hot. She kicked at the sheets tangled around her legs. Her pillow lay on the floor, and the comforter sat in a lump on the mattress beside her. Even the brush of the heavy fabric against her skin was too much. She pushed it away, trying to find some relief.
“Hey. Come on. Look at me.”
“Hot.” So hot. The heat was consuming her.
The mattress shifted, and the back of a hand gently touched her forehead. “Ah hell. You’re burning up.”
Delia squirmed restlessly and looked up at the man who’d appeared so suddenly in her bedroom. He hovered over her, big and dark. Shadows hid his features, but moonlight lit the hand that still brushed against her face. In the recesses of her mind, she knew she should be frightened—or at least surprised—but his presence comforted her. She didn’t want to be alone. Not while the fires of hell were ravaging her from
the inside out.
But why was he here?
He shouldn’t be here. Or should he? She vaguely remembered a promise to check on her.
It took too much energy to think. She pushed her hair away from her face and off her shoulder. Even it felt too oppressive. Her arm dropped to her side, and her hand bumped against a hard thigh.
The man. He was sitting close.
How had he gotten in again? Hadn’t she locked the door?
She couldn’t remember. Didn’t care.
She closed her eyes and started to drift away.
Callused fingertips patted her cheek. “No, no. Stay with me. Open those pretty green eyes.”
The firm tone made her obey. She rolled her head toward the voice and forced her eyelids open a slit. A light from the hallway shimmered around the silhouette of the man’s body. He moved so the light no longer glared in her eyes, and she could see him better.
Dark hair. Dark eyes. Concern knotting his brow.
He’d come.
Relief made her sag against the mattress. He’d know how to fight this. He always knew how to take charge.
“Make it better,” she begged.
His hand cupped her cheek, and a distinct curse passed through his lips. Quickly, he reached out and clicked on her bedside lamp. The glare of the light made her close her eyes tightly. “No,” she winced. “Too bright.”
“Sorry.” He turned the lamp down to its lowest setting. “Look at me, Delia. Please.”
She didn’t want to, but he asked so nicely.
“There you go.” His thumb swept across her cheekbone. “Ah, damn. Your eyes are glazed. Your pupils are dilated, and you’re way too warm. Why didn’t you call someone?”
“Sleeping...the medicine.”
“Medicine?” He nudged her when she began to nod off. “What did you take? Delia, this is important.”
“Mm.” She liked having him close, but the heat of their bodies was mingling. She wriggled away and covered her eyes with her hand. Too hot. Too bright.
Hell to Pay Page 4
