Slipping the hammer out of his belt loop once more, he tapped at the bottom of each hinge to unseat the pins and freed the door from its frame.
When he looked around, she was standing behind him, a frown creasing the soft skin between her eyes. “I’m sorry. I forgot what I came to ask you in the first place.” She blushed, and twirled a curl of her blonde hair around her finger. Definitely disturbed.
“Shoot,” he said, leaning the door against the side of the house.
“I was wondering if you’d help me bring in some of the heavier items from the U-haul trailer.”
“No problem.” He wiped his hands on his jeans and walked toward her.
She backed away hastily. “Oh, I didn’t mean right this minute.”
“No time like now.”
They met at the door that separated kitchen from living room, and she stood sideways to let him pass. He inhaled her scent, a heady mixture of lemon furniture polish and her, and tried not to notice when their chests met. The startled awareness that bloomed red in her cheeks had him hardening in an instant. Walking through the house, he was conscious of her shadowing his every step.
He stepped out onto the front porch, noting that she’d moved the trailer in front of the porch steps. “You’ll have to tell me where you want me to put everything.”
“Oh no! I didn’t mean for you to unpack it all by yourself.” She moved to unlock the trailer, but when she reached inside to grab a box, he gently placed his hands on her waist, eliciting a gasp from her. Picking her up, he deposited her back on the porch.
His hands burning from that quick contact, Daniel hefted the box high. Her waist had felt taut, the muscles strong. “I’ll let you know when I need your help,” he said, his voice husky. “You just point me in the right direction.”
A frown knitted her eyebrows, and her chin rose. “They’re all marked. That one says bedroom, so take it on back to my room. You know where it is.”
He gave her a sideways glance, careful not to let his face show his amusement at her irritation from his taking charge. “Yep, I’m not likely to ever forget that.”
Her face flamed red, and she stammered, “Well…well, I’ll just leave you to it then,” before she escaped.
Chuckling, he continued on to her bedroom. Katelyn Carter was mighty cute when she blushed. Fact was there wasn’t much about her that he didn’t find attractive. She was just the right size—she could rest her cheek right over his heart. She wasn’t too fat or too thin—just soft and sexy. Daniel had every intention of finding out just how soft and cushiony those womanly curves, above and below, would feel pressed to his body.
He knew instinctively the real pleasure would be getting to know the parts of Katelyn not visible to the eye.
Whistling to himself, he returned to the trailer again and again. Never a man to question the vagaries of fate, Daniel knew his life had forever changed the first moment he saw her. Tierney was a small town, and he knew most of the unattached women in a hundred-mile radius. None had ever made his heart skip a beat, or tempted him to wrap her in cotton wool and take every care off her slim, but capable, shoulders. There was something fragile and wounded in her expression that was at odds with the defiant tilt of her chin.
He wondered if she’d realized just how transparent her attire had been that morning…
*
Katelyn tried to ignore Daniel’s presence in her kitchen as she continued to labor, unpacking boxes throughout the afternoon. It was getting late when she heard the creak of the floorboards behind her.
He once again had his hat in his hands. “Ma’am, I’m finished. I’d like you to take a look at that door.”
She followed him back to the kitchen. The new screen door was in place, and he had painted the casing surrounding it to match the rest of the frame. He opened it and allowed the door to close shut again.
“It looks fine,” she said quickly, wanting to put more space between them. Standing so close with darkness encroaching around them created an intimacy that undermined her discipline. “How much do I owe you?”
“How about you just run a tab?”
Katelyn nodded, at a loss for anything else to say. He was doing it again—staring at her with that look that made her tremble inside. She touched her hair. “I know I must look a mess,” she said, and bit her lip. God, did I sound like I was begging for a compliment?
He raised his hand toward her face, slowly, as though letting her get used to the idea before his touch settled on her skin. His thumb smoothed over her chin, rubbing. “You’ve got a smudge here,” he said, his voice a low, sexy rumble that produced a prickling deep inside her pussy.
Good Lord, how could one simple touch make her want so much more? Her mouth parted around a tiny moan, and his thumb slid over her lower lip. Before she had a chance to think better of the idea, she slipped out her tongue and lapped the calloused pad, tasting salt, feeling the roughness that made her nipples tingle. She froze, shocked she’d been so bold.
Daniel’s chest rose, and his jaw tightened.
With her tongue still pressed against his pad, she waited with a fluttery dread for his reaction.
With his gaze locked with hers, he pressed his thumb slowly inside her mouth.
Now, what the hell was she supposed to do? The slight narrowing of his eyes held a hint of masculine challenge.
I should draw back. End this now. Instead, she closed her lips around his thumb and sucked it.
With a sharply drawn breath, he bored his gaze into hers. Slowly, he withdrew his finger. “Tell me you don’t want me to kiss you, Katelyn.”
He’d said the words—torn away the flimsy barrier between unspoken yearning and surrender. She shook her head. “I…can’t.”
His hands cupped her face, gentle and reverent, as he leaned closer. His breath was sweet and brushed her lips first, prompting her to open her mouth. When his mouth slid over hers, he murmured and closed his eyes.
Now, Katelyn had shared many kisses in her life. But Daniel’s tasted sweeter, made her feel cherished, even beautiful. His fingers threaded through her hair, and he pulled her head closer for a deeper joining.
She stood still, letting the sensation of his mouth, pressing and molding hers, draw heat like a small, smoldering ember into a flame that licked over the places he hadn’t yet touched—her breasts, her pussy…her heart.
He raised his head, dragging in a deep breath. “I should go.”
“Yes, you should,” she whispered, staring into his heated gaze. Katelyn stood at a crossroads, her destination hers alone to choose. Her body yearned for more of his soft caresses, but she wasn’t sure she was strong enough not to want more.
Contrary to what her mind was thinking, she lifted her hand and placed it on his chest, molding her palm to fit the curve of hard muscle that flexed as she caressed.
His body went rigid beneath her touch. “Be sure,” he rasped, his chest rising and falling faster.
Be sure? Katelyn wasn’t sure of anything except she needed to be touched, filled—by Daniel. She stepped closer, aligning herself, chest to hip with his body. In an instant, stinging delight drew her nipples into tighter, distended points. She swallowed and lifted her gaze to his. “This doesn’t mean a thing,” she said, her voice tight. “I don’t want you to tell me sweet lies, and this isn’t about forever.”
His nostrils flared, and his head dipped, his lips hovering above hers. “Katelyn, darlin’, who said anything about forever? What about just having fun?”
Chapter Three
‡
Torn between excitement and a dampening, perverse disappointment, Katelyn rose on her toes to close the distance between their mouths. This is what I want—all I want.
She believed the lie when his hands closed around her hips to hold her still while he pressed the ridge growing beneath his zipper into her belly. She rose higher, straining closer to his hardness.
He broke the kiss and pushed her away, his gaze burning. “Turn around and
face the wall.”
Katelyn’s eyes widened, but her body thrilled to the curtness of his tone. She thought she’d craved a softer, more romantic joining all these years, but the electric excitement, prickling every erogenous zone she possessed, said her body was delighted at his coarse command. With deliberate, breathless slowness, she turned away.
“Put your hands against the wall.” His voice was closer, stirring her hair.
Katelyn shivered and braced her hands against the wall, and then waited, her heart pounding so hard she heard her own heartbeat in her ears. The tips of her breasts pressed achingly against her bra. Moisture dampened the crotch of her panties.
She jerked when his hands gripped the notches of her hips and a leg slipped between hers. He nudged her feet, one at a time, until they were shoulder-width apart.
Her breaths were shallow, her excitement rising. Although fully clothed, every part of her was accessible, open for him to explore. Where will he start? Should I tell him where I need his touch next? Instead, she bit her lip.
Daniel’s hands slid around her belly and slipped beneath her T-shirt. The heat from his palms and the scrape of his calluses set her stomach quivering.
“Easy now,” he whispered, his body pressing closer to her back. His fingers found the clasp of her bra and opened it. The cups parted over her breasts, and in the next breath he held both mounds, squeezing her gently.
Katelyn moaned and pressed harder into his hands, gasping when he thumbed an aching nipple. Her head fell back against his shoulder, and his lips slid along her cheek to her jaw and neck as he massaged her breasts, kneading until she whimpered, weak with delight.
“Easy,” he repeated. One hand slid down her belly to the top of her shorts, and his fingers crept under the waistband, flattening against her stomach until he reached her curls.
His hand rubbed in drugging circles, until she thought she’d scream if he didn’t reach deeper. “Please, please, touch me,” she whispered.
“Yes, ma’am.” The snap opened, and the zipper rasped, and then his fingers slid inside her shorts to cover her sex. His fingers swirled in the wetness seeping from within her, and one long, thick finger slipped between her lips to push just an inch inside her pussy.
Katelyn’s whole body trembled, and her knees gave way. If not for the arm clamped around her belly, she’d have melted to the floor.
“Tell me what you want,” he said, his voice harsh now.
A question she’d never been asked and hadn’t the capability to answer, she was so carried away with the feelings swamping her body and mind. A strangled, “Inside me,” was all she could manage.
“Put your foot up on the box.”
“Box?” she parroted and looked down, surprised to see the wooden case with her silverware on the floor. She lifted a foot, and the distance and angle of her stance opened her further.
His fingers reached deeper into her clothing.
Katelyn sucked in a breath and her belly, dying by inches for him to touch the part of her that wept and clenched.
Fingers combed through the short curls, tugging gently, easing, then tugging harder, until her abdomen trembled again.
“Like that, do you?” he rumbled.
“Uhnnn,” she moaned, but she widened her legs again, inviting him deeper between her legs.
When at last his fingertips scraped her wet, outer labia, she arched, her hands leaving the wall in front to reach behind her. She needed an anchor, his body, to touch. She found his shoulders and neck and draped her body across his front, her bottom rubbing his erection.
One large, rough hand squeezed her breast harder, while the other delved deeper until he parted her and rubbed around her opening, rimming her vagina.
Katelyn’s pussy tingled and quivered, and her hips moved forward and back as she silently begged him to enter her.
Then his whole hand cupped her, warming her sex, two fingers sliding deep. Liquid gushed from inside her to coat the thick digits and seep beyond to soak his hand. “Katelyn,” he said, the word sounding like he’d dragged it from deep inside his chest. “You’re so damn wet. Do you know how much I want to taste you?”
Her heart pounded, her throat closing against a sudden rush of emotion. In all the years of her marriage, her husband’s voice had never held that note of anguished desire—for her. A sob escaped, and he murmured against her hair, the hand cuddling her breast released it, pulling out of her shirt. Gently, he angled her face upward and to the side. “I want to see you,” he whispered.
Her cheeks flushed hot, and her eyelids dipped. She felt drugged, surrounded, overwhelmed. Her heart beat in her ears to join the sound of her shallow breaths and the wet, succulent sounds below as he drew lush excitement from her body. Her channel convulsed as the moment built, pulsing, clenching around his fingers.
He twisted and stroked, deeper and deeper—three fingers filling her now.
Then a rising blackness overcame her. Her whole world exploded in sliding caresses and the pumping of her hips. She cried out, unable to hold the sound inside.
“That’s it, baby. God! You’re so beautiful.”
When she opened her eyes, his were closed tight, his nostrils flaring. She felt the ridge of his cock grinding into her bottom, and she knew pleasuring her had caused him pain. “Daniel?”
He opened his eyes and shook his head, drawing his hand from her panties. He turned her in his arms and held her, pressing her face to his shoulder. “Give me a minute,” he said, his voice gruff.
“Why?” She was ready. If he asked her to lie with him now, she would. She wanted more of his kisses. Wanted his cock to fill the empty space inside.
“Because this was for you—and I moved too damn fast.”
She grew still in his arms, barely breathing. “I don’t understand.” Part of her was elated that a strong, younger man wanted her so badly. Another part, not so ready and just plain scared, cried inside, No, no, no! She didn’t want him thinking this meant any more than it was—sweaty, consensual sex.
He hugged her close one more time, and then set her away, his gaze sliding from the shorts riding low on her hips. He drew in a deep breath. “I’d like to start next on the floorboards of the porch. Tomorrow,” he said quickly, like he expected her to object, and he wasn’t going to give her the chance.
While deep inside she felt a wail of denial rising in her throat, Katelyn relaxed. He’d given them both a reprieve—and her time to think about where she was willing to let this lead, without pressure or desire clouding her mind.
He stepped toward the front door, keeping his back to her. “You have several boards loose. A few might have to be replaced.” He glanced over his shoulder, a question in his gaze.
Katelyn nodded. She knew he was right—about the boards and about needing time. For such a young man, Daniel Bodine was pretty smart when it came to knowing how far he could push a woman.
She didn’t think she could take having him underfoot for long without doing something that might embarrass them both. “I’m not sure when I can afford more work…”
“It won’t cost much, and it shouldn’t take me long. How about I come in the afternoon and get started?”
He was so insistent she thought he must really need the job—or maybe he really did want to come back just to see her. Her heart melted a little. She lifted her chin. “All right, I’ll see you then.”
He walked out onto the porch and quickly loaded his tools, and then headed to his truck.
She didn’t relax until his long, powerful legs disappeared into the cab. He gave her a short wave, and she was startled to realize he knew she’d been watching him all along.
Katelyn uttered a curse word she’d only heard in R-rated movies, surprising herself into a giggle. “That man’s a terrible influence,” she murmured, refastening her shorts. Her gaze clung to the trail of dust rising in his wake. “It’s not like I want to give him the idea I’m interested in forever.”
Daniel gunned his engi
ne and let gravel spray behind him as he peeled out of her driveway. The look on her face when he’d been talking about the porch repairs had nearly done him in.
Her lips and eyes were glossy and soft from his lovemaking. Disappointment had dipped down the corners of her mouth when he’d turned to leave. Just the thought that he could be sinking into her wet, tight pussy right now had him hard as a post and groaning.
She’d come apart in his arms, shivering and moaning so sweetly, he’d wanted to lay her down on the gleaming wood floors and stretch his body over hers to absorb her ecstasy. He’d never felt more a man with her sweet cunt squeezing around his fingers and her hips jerking at every rasp of his thumb across her swollen little clit.
He brought his fingers to his mouth and inhaled the scent of her as he licked the salty-sweet flavor of her desire. Katelyn Carter could say this wasn’t about forever a hundred times, but her body sang an entirely different tune.
*
Katelyn felt as if she’d barely had time to blink and then the afternoon arrived, and she couldn’t help the excitement thrumming through her body. She’d been up before the sun, welcomed the A.C. repairman, and now had a large pot of coffee brewing when she heard Daniel’s pickup truck pull up to the house well before noon.
“Mornin’, ma’am,” he called out as his booted heels climbed the porch steps.
Katelyn found herself smiling and realized she was truly happy to see him. She opened the front screen door and called back, “I have coffee made, would you like a cup?”
His slow smile melted the hard knot of anticipation that had rested in her belly as she’d waited for his arrival.
“I could use a jolt of caffeine to get me started today,” he said, his rich molasses voice wrapping around her like a warm blanket. “Sure I’m not too early? I did say afternoon.”
“Not at all. I was anxious to get started myself.” She drew in a sharp breath and blushed. God, is every word coming out of my mouth going to sound like an innuendo? She rushed on, “The A.C.’s working now, so I’d like to be done with the outside work before the worst heat of the day hits.” She opened the screen door to allow him to pass. She didn’t realize she hadn’t left much room for him to enter until his chest rubbed against hers. “Coffee’s in the kitchen,” she said to him, suddenly breathless. To herself she thought, He’s going to think I did that on purpose!
Ride a Texas Cowboy Page 3
