by Vella, Wendy
Buzz squeezed into the middle of the ring of sweaty players and licked faces.
“So I’m guessing we don’t actually talk tactics in a time-out?” Dylan asked Piper, who was standing beside him.
“No, we never have. They usually just discuss what’s to eat after.”
Her face was red, arms damp with sweat. He couldn’t stop his eyes running over her.
“Stop it,” she hissed softly. “My cousins are here.”
“I can’t help it.”
“Try harder.”
“If I got any harder I wouldn’t be able to walk,” Dylan muttered as play started again. The woman was a walking sex goddess, and the harder he tried to ignore whatever the hell this was between them, the more he wanted her.
“Focus, Howard.” He only just caught the ball that Jack delivered before it hit him in the face.
“Focus,” he muttered. On the game, not the woman.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
They won, and Jack and Luke crowed all the way home. The Peasants, who were actually good guys, came back for chili cheese dogs and beer too, which meant plenty of smelly, sweaty men in the house. Piper had enjoyed the game, even if Dylan Howard had been there. The man could play, and seeing that big body of his glistening with sweat hadn’t done a lot to subdue this raging need she had for him.
Joe ordered him to the main house to eat chili cheese dogs and drink beer with the rest of them. Dylan tried to refuse politely, but eventually gave in, and was now currently showering at Joe’s. The Peasants were using the three bathrooms at the main house, and Luke and Jack had gone with Fin to shower at his place. The stables, apparently, were too cold for them.
“You’re soft,” Piper told them as they got in Fin’s car to leave.
“Fin has underfloor heating.”
“You two are the city boys,” Piper sneered. “Don’t be long, or the Peasants, Jack, Dylan, and I will have eaten all the chili dogs!”
Fin’s tires spun as he took off down the drive.
She had to admit her original opinion of Dylan was changing. She’d thought him a cold, stuck-up man when first they’d met, but that was changing... he was changing. Exposure to Ryker and its people was warming Dylan Howard up. She’d watched him interact with her cousins and Fin, and it looked like he’d always been one of them. He’d come into the café a few times too, and each time he’d brought a sister. The Howard siblings seemed to be bonding. It was slow, Piper was sure, but starting to happen.
“Hey, Mom.”
“How’s my baby?”
Jess Trainer hugged Piper close, like she always did, even if they’d only seen each other an hour ago. The rock of the Trainer family, her mother was still fit and strong, although she wore a few more lines on her face now. As usual her long gray hair was piled on top of her head in a messy bun.
For years, there were just two of them, and it had been hard on her mom working long hours and trying to control a teenager who’d been bent on self-destruction.
“Good, but sweaty. I’ll head to the stables for a shower so everyone else can wash up here. Jack and Luke have gone with Fin, and Dylan Howard is with Joe.”
“Dylan Howard? I thought he’d be gone by now?”
“No. I think he’s stayed because his dad’s still in hospital. Joe told me something wasn’t healing right so they’re keeping him in,” Piper said, kissing her mom’s cheek. She ran up the stairs to her room to collect a change of clothes. Jumping in her car minutes later, she drove to the stables. They always left plenty of supplies here for when they had guests, and truth be known this was the best shower on the property, just a lot colder if no one had turned on the heating in the bunk rooms.
“But as I’m tougher than my cousins, I can handle it,” Piper said, getting out and running into the stables.
“Hello, horsies,” she called, heading up the stairs to the bunk room her cousins had decided would be good to sleep any workers they used. Currently no one was in residence so she had the place to herself. Another positive. Not that she minded sharing a house with her family... but sometimes a girl wanted her space.
The bathroom was big enough to have a vanity, shower stall, and bench seat to put things on. Dumping her bag, Piper turned the water on and began to strip. It was cold now, and especially so as she was sweaty, but the room soon filled with steam. Piper had just removed her bra and panties when the door to the bathroom opened.
“I’m in here!” Piper grabbed a towel and held it in front of her.
It kept opening, and there in the doorway was Dylan.
“I-I won’t be long.”
His eyes started at the hair she’d released, then moved down to her face and continued on, and she felt every place they landed. Her body started to hum and heat pooled in places it shouldn’t. Suddenly she was no longer cold.
“Dylan.” The word came out like a moan. Horrified, Piper cleared her throat. “You should leave.”
His eyes rose from her legs to her face again.
“I know.”
Instead he moved inside and closed the door behind him, locking it. Holding her eyes, he walked closer, stopping when he was inches away.
“Christ, I know that would be the sensible thing to do,” he rasped. “But I lost my ability to be sensible when I saw all your lovely skin, and only a towel covering the other luscious parts.”
His blue eyes moved to her mouth, and Piper fought the urge to lick her lips.
“You’re beautiful.” He lifted a hand, wrapped it around the back of her head, and using his thumb he tilted her chin to the exact right angle. His lips when they touched hers were cool, but had her hot in seconds. It was a kiss of ruthless urgency. A kiss that stripped her resistance and urged her to take what he offered.
“If you tell me to go I will, but if not, let me share your shower.” He breathed the words against her lips.
Piper’s head spun with the scent of Dylan. Her stomach clenched at the thought of his hands on her, and what they would do to each other in that shower.
She couldn’t speak; instead she reached for the hem of his sweatshirt. Raising it, he took over and tore it off, He then stripped off the rest of his clothes with more haste than care.
Piper had slept with a few men, two if she was honest, and both she had respected, and yes, cared for. She knew this man would be different. The carnal need inside her had to be snuffed out, and to do that they had to do this... she had no name for it, this inferno that was building inside her as she ran her eyes over his big, solid body.
“Y-you need to work out more.” She touched his stomach, placing her hand flat on the solid surface and stroking him lightly. The muscles ran down the front, then on the sides forming a V downward. She traced the line of hair to his groin. The breath hissed from his throat as she continued down his thigh, the muscles clenching as she touched.
“I’ve wanted your touch since I saw you that day in the diner.” His hand was in her hair, urging her lips to meet his again. What followed was explosive and left them both panting. Piper was soon pressed to hard, naked flesh. She felt his need for her, ached to feel him inside her.
He lifted her into his arms, then opened the shower door and walked them inside. Lowering her down his body, he adjusted the jets and temperature.
“Only this once,” Piper managed to say.
“Once won’t be enough,” he rasped.
He backed her into the wall, raising her hands above her head, and kissed her. Long and hot, his tongue tangled with hers, and Piper gripped his fingers hard as they tormented each other. She met his every move and countered.
“How long do we have?” He looked at her through the steam, hair wet and plastered to his head. Hot and sexy, she thought. Dangerous.
“N-not long,” Piper managed. “They’ll come looking soon.”
His lips moved down her body, finding her breast, stopping to feast on it. Piper couldn’t hold back another moan as an arrow of desire spiked through her.
“T
his time is to slake the need, next time—”
“No.” Piper shook her head. “Don’t talk of more than this.”
He looked up at her, but said nothing further, and for that she was grateful because this was already too much. Any more and she’d give him anything he asked for. Any promise he wanted to extract from her at that moment, she would likely concede.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Dylan looked at the woman before him. Her hair was jet black now it was wet, eyes half closed, and he felt it again, that fierce kick to his gut he’d never experienced before.
“I need time to worship these.” He leaned in to run his tongue down the slope of her breast, then took the nipple into his mouth.
“Lord, that’s so good.”
An understatement as far as Dylan was concerned. It was fucking amazing, so he did it again and again until she was breathing hard. Her hand fisted in his hair and held his mouth right where she wanted it..., which happened to be exactly where he wanted it too.
He lavished precious seconds on her breasts, biting down softly on the hard twin peaks before soothing them with his tongue.
Water rained down on his back, steam heated the small space, and Dylan lost every thought but one. Piper, and the need to please her.
“Dylan.” She tugged his hair hard, but he ignored it and dropped to his knees. There would be more than this one time, but if there wasn’t he wanted to taste her... all of her.
Gripping her thighs, he leaned in and licked the wet folds between. Her knees buckled, so he placed a hand on her stomach and held her there while he continued the subtle torture. She was responsive; each lick drew a sweet moan, her hips soon thrusting forward as she urged him to take more of her, give her more.
Dylan found that hard bud and licked, and sucked. He felt Piper’s tension, felt that she was close.
“Let go.”
“Don’t order me... oh shit!” She erupted, shuddering into her climax as he thrust two fingers inside her.
He couldn’t find a smile as he stood; all he could think about was being inside her. Feeling her encasing him.
“Lift a leg and wrap it around me.”
She did as he asked. Dylan cupped her face, pushing damp tangles of hair off her cheeks, then he kissed her as he eased inside.
This time they both moaned.
“I knew you would feel this good,” Dylan said, sliding out of her and in again. “So good.”
Gripping her other thigh, he boosted her up his body and took it deeper. With her back pressed to the wall he thrust in and out, hard and fast. He couldn’t take it easy, couldn’t wait; he needed her, had since he’d arrived in Ryker.
“You better come for me, Piper, because I’m close.”
Her head was back on the wall, eyes closed. They opened slowly and impaled him with a sexy look.
“Do your job and I will.”
He lowered his head and sank his teeth into her nipple. She shuddered, and he thrust harder; he was rewarded with her climax. Dylan followed, it hit him hard, leaving him drained.
She hung in his arms, her head on his shoulders as they regrouped. He had to force himself to lower her legs to the floor. Force himself to let her go. The need to stay here until the shower ran cold was strong. Dylan wanted to keep her in his arms kissing her softly, and telling her... what?
Christ.
“I’ll wash, then head to the house,” he said, his voice sounding harsh to his ears.
“Okay.” She didn’t look at him as he released her.
“I’ll just wash,” Dylan said again, the words sounding stupid, but he had nothing else.
He got the soap and quickly scrubbed himself, then threw some shampoo in his hair, getting it in his eyes as he washed it out.
“Shit that stings!”
“That happens when you hurry.”
She stood in the corner watching him, beautiful body slick with water, eyes solemn.
“Piper—”
“It’s okay, Dylan. We scratched the itch, now you need to get up to the house before they come looking for me.”
“Sure, but this... I mean I’m here a while longer and—”
“It’s done, Dylan.”
Inside him he knew that was for the best, but he wasn’t feeling sane, or his usual rational self. In fact, he felt crazy, his head all over the place.
“It’s not.” He sounded gruff.
She didn’t speak again, so he got out and dressed in the clothes Joe had given him when he’d gone to his place to shower and found it occupied by his wife soaking in the bath. Joe told him to head down here while he took the second shower.
“So I’ll see you up at the house.”
“Sure.” The words came from behind a wall of steam, her face now hidden from him.
Letting himself out the door, he made his way down the stairs and got in his car. He should just leave, but Joe knew he was here and would want to know why he hadn’t turned up for the after-match chili dogs and beer.
“This is what happens when you let people into your life,” Dylan muttered as he turned into the drive that led to the main house. “Things get complicated.”
The Trainers would take him apart if they knew what he’d been up to in that shower with their cousin, and he couldn’t blame them, even though they were two consenting adults.
What he’d just experienced had moved him, he couldn’t explain it any other way. And after, he’d behaved like a jackass... again.
He’d walked into the bathroom knowing she was in there. Something about Piper made him irrational, another side to his nature he hadn’t known existed. Seeing her standing there covering her lovely body with a towel had eradicated the one small streak of sanity he had left where she was concerned.
Pulling up outside the house Piper lived in, he studied the place. Joe’s wife’s family had once lived here, but he’d never been inside. From memory the Joneses had been an odd family that didn’t mix much with the other Ryker locals.
Getting out, he pushed aside a vision of Piper naked and wet and took the stairs up. He knocked on the door and waited; when no one came he let himself inside.
The smells of food and hum of voices led him through the house. It was nice, homely, he thought. Lived in as a home should be.
Everyone was seated around a huge table in the kitchen when he arrived.
“Where’s Piper?” Jack Trainer fired at him. All eyes turned his way, even those of the Pissants, who all held beers.
Dylan managed a shrug, then said, “She was talking to the horses when I got there, so I took the first shower.”
“Don’t tell me we have to wait for her to eat, Aunt Jess,” Luke complained.
“No, I’ll be sure to save her some, I know how long it takes for her to clean up.”
“Amen,” Joe muttered, reaching for a chili dog from the platter Mr. Goldhirsh had just placed on the table.
“Dylan Howard, how are you?”
He held out a hand as the matriarch of the Trainer family greeted him. Dylan hadn’t known her before he was sent away but the one time Joe mentioned her, he’d had good things to say.
“I’m good thanks, Ms. Trainer. I’m just sorry that I left so much trouble behind the day I drove out of Ryker Falls.”
She swatted his arm.
“Don’t you worry about any of that. We all have growing to do, boy, and from what I hear you’ve done just fine. Now you go on and eat before those heathens clean the plate.”
He found the only spare seat between Joe and Fin, and reached for a chili cheese dog. A beer was placed in front of him by Mr. Goldhirsh. Dylan sat and listened to the smack talk between the Trainers, Fin, and the Pissants.
“We had you from tip off. It’s a mindset thing, Jed. Top two inches is what counts,” Joe said to the captain of the Pissants.
“Your mind is a blank canvas, bud, don’t try tell me different.”
He possibly would have enjoyed it more had he not just had sex with the cousin of three of
the men, but for all that the chili cheese dog was damn fine, his body felt good after the game and the sex, and the hell of it was he wanted more.
The sex and the basketball, plus there was this friendship thing he could get used to. He’d never been the kind to hang with a pack of men in New York, but he could get used to it with these guys... except Jack, who was still glaring at him.
Dylan was experiencing all kinds of things since returning to Ryker, and male bonding was a big part of it. Going back to New York would change all that, and life would resume its normal course. Why he found that thought depressing he had no idea. Dylan had a great and fulfilling life... didn’t he?
“There better be a chili cheese dog for me.”
Piper strolled into the kitchen and suddenly he was wired, his body humming, memories running through his head like an erotic PowerPoint presentation, reliving every second of what they’d just shared in that shower.
“Hope I didn’t use all the water,” Dylan said.
“Nope, I had plenty.” She placed a smacking kiss on her mom’s cheek, then Mr. Goldhirsh’s before going to the fridge and pulling out a beer.
“How’s the horses?” Jack asked.
Dylan knew he suspected there was something going on between him and Piper, just not what. Chemistry, definitely, a whole shit ton of it to be exact.
“They’re good. I spent some time with them and looked at Rae’s fetlock. That’s why he got the jump on me, took my place in the shower.”
“Hey!” Dylan feigned surprise. “Not my fault you were dallying.”
“Dallying? Really, dude. Who the hell says dallying these days?” Luke looked at him.
“Me.”
Piper sat across from him in a seat that had magically appeared as two of the Pissants had separated to fit her in. Buzz moved in and took the small space between her and the next chair. An amazing feat really for a dog his size.
“Don’t feed him.”
“Just a little bit. Jeez, Joe, look at those eyes,” Piper said.
“He’s fat, and getting fatter because this entire town thinks it’s okay to give him his favorite biscuits every day.”
