by Elle Thorpe
He sobered. “Am I stepping on any toes by inviting you here tonight? I realized I kind of ambushed you earlier today, and I didn’t even ask if there was a guy…”
I shook my head quickly. “No. No guy. What about you? You must have girls throwing themselves at you.”
“Some,” he admitted. “But none I’ve ever wanted to catch.” He eyed me like there was more to his statement than just the words he’d spoken aloud.
My breath hitched. “What exactly does that mean?”
He inched closer and extracted the wine glass from my hand. “It means that every time I’ve even thought about dating someone, I compare them to you. And then I start thinking about how different my life could be right now, if instead of running off to join the rodeo, I’d just stayed.”
The air punched from the room. “You mean, if you’d stayed…for me?”
His gaze flickered all over my face, from the tendrils of hair falling from my temples, across the freckles on my nose, and finally, to my lips. “You already had your two questions. It’s my turn.”
My pulse thrummed. “Oh, now you’re a stickler for the rules?” I fought to keep my tone light and joking, when really, I was dying on the inside. The anticipation was killing me slowly, one question at a time. I cleared my throat, but my words still came out breathy. “Then ask.”
Our gazes collided. His hand snaked to the back of my neck, and he pulled me closer so his lips hovered just over mine. “I don’t think I want to ask anymore. I think I’m just going to do it.”
Then he put his mouth on mine.
Suddenly it was like the last four years disappeared. There was no hurt, no confusion, no missing him.
It was just me and him, and a soul-deep connection that had me fisting my fingers into his shirt. Our lips parted, our tongues sliding together as he speared his fingers into my hair, holding me tight to him.
Holy hell, Nate could kiss. He moved with the same confidence he had on the back of the bull, taking control and owning it, branding me with his touch, and taking me higher with every stroke of his fingertips.
“Is it my turn for a question?” I asked between hot presses of his mouth.
But he kissed me again and then shook his head. “No, still mine.”
More kisses that made my head spin and my thighs clench together. I moved away, needing to breathe before I imploded. “Are you serious? How many questions do you get?”
His grin became cocky. “You just asked two more. So now it’s definitely my turn.”
I snorted on a laugh. “You don’t play fair.”
He pretended to think on that for a moment, then nodded. “You’re right, I don’t.” He swept my hair to one side and leaned in, kissing the side of my neck. He trailed his tongue up toward my ear, circling it, then whispered. “I don’t want to play fair with you, Hallie. Fair would mean you reciprocate whatever I do to you, right?”
I switched our positions and kissed his neck, my lips brushing over the dark blond stubble along his jaw. “Sure. I’m all for reciprocation.” I darted my tongue out, tasting his skin and was rewarded with his fingers drawing me closer.
But then he pulled back. “But what if I’m too impatient? What if I just want to press you back into this couch and show you exactly how much I don’t just want to be your friend? You gonna stop me?”
I grinned against his lips. “Fair is overrated anyway.”
That was all the permission he needed. His palms skated down my arms, and over my thighs while he grinned wickedly at me.
“Nate…”
He yanked my legs, hauling my ass out from beneath me so I landed flat on my back on the couch. I barely even had time to laugh before he was rearing over me. “This is very unfriend-like,” I whispered. As if on autopilot, my legs parted so he could kneel between them, and I hooked one over his waist, drawing him down so he was laid on top of me.
“Every time we sat here during senior year, is that what you were thinking about doing?”
I grinned at him. “Maybe. You regretting all those nights of video games now? How many nights did we sit here playing PlayStation?”
He buried his face in the spot where my neck met my shoulder and inhaled deeply. “You see now why it was me who was the idiot? So dumb.” He sucked the sensitive skin of my neck, and tingles roared through my body.
I slanted my head, giving him better access. “So be smart now, then.”
He pushed aside the neck of my top, placing hot, open-mouthed kisses across my collarbone, licking and nipping my skin as he went. He supported his weight on one forearm, but the other traced down the side of my breast, over the indent of my waist, and stopped at the flare of my hip. His fingers slipped beneath the fabric of my shirt, lifting it, until he brushed over the lacy cup of my bra. His lips found mine once more, and he kissed me soft and slow, drugging kisses that spun the room. When his hand cupped my breast, thumb flicking over my nipple, it was the most natural thing in the world to push him up so I could get my shirt off. I fisted his, too, urging him to get it over his head, suddenly desperate to see what I’d been missing all these years.
“Wow,” I whispered as our shirts hit the floor.
My gaze tracked over his bronze skin, the muscles rippling beneath in his effort not to completely crush me with his weight. His body was sculpted perfection. I ran my fingers from his pecs to the ridges of his abs, to the V lines that ran either side of his low-belted jeans. He groaned as I got to his waistband. I paused there, running my fingers along the smooth planes of his abs, taunting myself with what lay below, just as much as I was taunting him. His erection bulged from behind his fly, promising a very good time if I let it free.
Nate didn’t give me the chance. He grabbed my hands, pulling them up above my head and pinning them to the armrest. “Hold it. I said this wasn’t going to be fair, and I didn’t mean that I was going to be the one getting all the action.”
I pouted.
But he kissed me again. “Don’t let go.”
The heat in his eyes had me nodding, and I was rewarded with him sitting back on his knees so he could palm both my breasts. He pinched my nipples between his thumb and forefingers, and I arched off the couch like I’d been electrified. I pretty much had. It had been so long since anyone had caressed me like this, and it just wasn’t the same when I did it alone in my house. I had no one to hear me scream there, but there was also no one capable of making me scream in the first place.
Nate was different. I already knew it and I was still mostly clothed.
His gaze locked with mine, and then he slid my bra straps down my shoulders, drawing the cups of my bra lower too, freeing my breasts.
He sucked in a breath as I was bared to him, and pinched my nipples again.
I moaned, pushing up into his touch, wanting him to do it again.
“How long has it been since someone touched you like this, Hallie?” His fingers trailed absently across the swell of my breast.
“Too long.”
“You like this?” Another squeeze of my nipple.
“Is that another question?”
He chuckled. “Good point. It was a stupid question anyway, because I know what the answer is.”
He put his mouth to my breast and sucked the tip into his mouth, rolling it between his teeth. Forgetting my promise to hold on, I grabbed the back of his head, clutching him to me while I arched into him.
“Fuck,” he muttered against my skin. “I can’t wait to get between your legs if that’s how you respond when I suck your nipples.”
I groaned at the thought, and when he went straight for the button on my jeans, undoing them and slipping his fingers beneath, I moaned my encouragement.
His mouth alternated between my boobs, nipping and sucking, while his fingertip found my clit.
“Oh!” I cried out at the very first contact.
He rubbed it for a moment before dipping lower, plunging between my folds to gather my arousal. “You’re so wet, Hallie.”
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“Yeah, well, you made me wait four years,” I complained with a grin.
“I’ll make it worth it.”
I shivered at his promise, but then his tongue was delving inside my mouth again, driving me wild. I rotated my hips, encouraging him to work me harder, faster. His fingers slipped over my clit, making tiny circles that sent need coursing straight to my core.
“I need more,” I moaned. I went for his jeans again, but he wouldn’t let me, moving out of my way. Then he slid two fingers up inside me, and my eyes rolled back. “Oh my God.”
I shoved my jeans and panties down over my ass, just low enough to give him better access.
“You’re so hot like this, Hallie. Fuck me. I want to watch you come.”
He was going to get his wish. I couldn’t hold my orgasm back now if I tried. It built strong and fast, taking me higher than I could ever achieve alone. His fingers pumped inside me, hitting my G-spot perfectly with every thrust. His thumb worked my clit, and his gaze raked my body, taking in my every curve, the heat in his eyes plain for me to see.
He pinched my nipple again, harder this time, and my back arched straight off the couch.
“Nate!” I spiraled into oblivion. Pulses of light and sensation roared through my body as I clamped down on his fingers. “Oh!”
A throat clearing from somewhere near the front door froze us both in place.
“Oh is right. Oh my.”
11
Nate
Hallie yelped from beneath me and scrambled to get her jeans and underwear back up her legs.
I stuck my head up like a meerkat, peering over the back of the couch.
In the doorway, and elderly couple gaped at me, their mouths hanging open. “Nathaniel?”
I raised a hand in awkward greeting and scuttled off Hallie in order to stand up. “Mr. and Mrs. Shepherd! I didn’t realize you were here already! All the way from Australia and everything.”
I scooped to pick up Hallie’s shirt from the floor and tossed it at her. She’d gotten her pants done up and was now trying to get her tits back in her bra. Goddammit. I was so not ready for her to be all covered up again. I’d barely even started.
But Shep’s parents crashing the party put a very distinct end to the sexy times. My erection had shriveled the moment I’d heard Mrs. Shepherd’s voice, so at least I wasn’t now greeting her with a significant bulge behind my fly. I hurried to where they’d frozen in the hallway, crossing my arms over my chest self-consciously. Where the hell was my shirt? But I couldn’t worry about that now, I needed to distract them long enough that Hallie could get dressed. “So how was the flight? Long, I guess? Did you go to the hospital yet? Shep and Jasmine are doing so much better,” I babbled, trying to keep their focus on me.
Mrs. Shepherd grimaced at me and lowered her voice. “We’re so sorry, Nathaniel. We didn’t realize you had…company.”
Mr. Shepherd, who was too much like his son for his own good, winked at me. “Sounds like you were having a good time.” He turned to his wife. “Shame you never keep me company like that anymore.”
I laughed loudly to cover my mortification and prayed that Hallie hadn’t heard any of it.
“Nate, let them in. You’ve got them tied up in the doorway like a steer needing branding.” Hallie came up behind me, fully dressed and put together, though the blazing red in her cheeks and her dilated pupils gave away how embarrassed she was. Even still, she stood tall, holding her own, and stuck her hand out to Mrs. Shepherd. “I’m Hallie. Lovely to meet you.”
Mrs. Shepherd took her hand with a smile, but then it fell. Her gaze darted to me, her eyebrows pulling together in a frown. “Not the Hallie?”
I wanted to groan. I really liked Shep’s parents. I’d met them a few times over the years, and they’d even come to one of my rodeos, but right now, they were killing me. I’d just got Hallie past all that crap, and now they were bringing it up again.
Hallie’s confidence faltered, and she darted a look at me. “The Hallie?”
Mrs. Shepherd patted her hand. “Our son told us all about your little mishap after prom, but it appears you and Nate have made up now, so I guess that’s all water under the bridge. You’re a bigger woman than me, though, sweetheart. I don’t think I could have gotten past that one.”
I clapped my hands together, trying to divert their attention. If I hadn’t had manners drilled into me from an early age, I would have muzzled Mrs. Shepherd with a death stare. Instead, I forced a smile. “So, you’re staying here?”
“Of course. Where’s Molly?”
“With a friend.”
“Right, well, we’ll just take Shep and Jasmine’s room since you’re in the guest room.”
I frowned at that. “It’s my bedroom, not the guest room.”
The older woman waved a hand around at that. “Oh, Nathaniel. You never come back here. We’ve slept in that room more in the past four years than you have.”
She laughed, completely unaware of how those words ate at me. I knew I’d been away a lot, but bull riding was my job. I already felt guilty about how little I’d seen my sister, and now I felt even worse. But the woman just kept on going, digging my grave deeper.
“I guess you’ll be back off on tour now? When do you leave?”
Hallie stiffened beside me.
I didn’t want to answer, but everyone was staring at me. “Friday,” I admitted.
Hallie turned away, but I didn’t miss the bob in her throat as she swallowed hard. “I didn’t realize you’d already planned your return trip.”
I caught her hand. “I didn’t. Not exactly. It’s just when the tour starts again. I was going to extend it to take care of Molly—”
“No need for that now,” Mrs. Shepherd interrupted. “You’ve got your life to live, you can’t be hanging around here looking after a baby and her injured parents. We’ve got that handled.”
Mr. Shepherd patted me on the shoulder. “You need to get back out on tour. If you miss even a week, you’re going to lose your ranking. I’ve been following your rides, and you’re doing so well. We’re real proud of you.”
I had no idea what to say. Shep’s parents meant well, but they had no idea how badly they were throwing me under the bus right now. I could only imagine what Hallie was thinking. And it likely wasn’t anything good.
She sucked in a deep breath and smiled. “I’m going to get out of your hair. You should have some family time.”
“Hallie, no. Stay.” I reached out to grab her hand, but she shook me off.
“No, it’s fine. It’s getting late anyway, and the Shepherds are probably hungry.”
“Starving!” Shep’s dad boomed. “I’ve had nothing but plane food, then hospital food for the last two days. I’d kill for a proper meal.”
She smiled at him. “You’re in for a treat. Nate is a great cook.”
Shep’s parents filed into the kitchen, while Hallie let herself out into the night.
I ran to catch up with her. “Hey, are you okay?”
She smiled tightly, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Yeah, sure. Fine.”
I didn’t think she was, but I couldn’t force her to tell me the truth either. “Okay,” I said slowly. “If you’re sure. I’m really sorry about this. I wasn’t done.”
She lifted one shoulder then got inside her car. She put one hand on the door and looked up at me. “I guess you are now, though.”
She closed the door and started the engine before I could even protest.
12
Hallie
In a funk of my own creating, I got to work early the next day, needing the distraction from my own thoughts. I knew there’d be coffee in the main house. Addie always had a pot brewing for us, but I knew they’d all be asking how my night with Nate had gone and I just couldn’t think about that anymore. I found Frost out in the barn and was grateful he wasn’t the sort of guy who liked to chitchat.
He took one look at my face, though, and concern furrowed his brow
. “Do I need to kill him?”
I’d forgotten how perceptive Summer’s dad was. I guessed you got used to reading women when you had three daughters. “Not just yet. But I reserve the right to take you up on it at a date to be determined.” I gave him a half smile. “What needs doing?”
“All the usual morning routine, but then I’m going to need you in the training ring. You good to be my rope man?”
“Of course.” I smiled at the fact he hadn’t changed the job description just because I was a woman. I’d known nothing much about bull riding when I’d started hanging out around here to watch Nate, but now I knew all the terms. You needed somebody at the top of the bucking chute to help tighten the ropes around the bull’s middle. That was the rope man. And you needed someone else to pull the gates. Frost had taught me years ago how to perform both roles, and though I had no desire to get on the back of a bull myself, I was good for the support crew.
I busied myself with feeding and watering animals, mucking out stalls, cleaning hooves, and sweeping out the trailer. It was good, honest work, and the morning sun beat down on my back, soothing the stiffness in my muscles I hadn’t been able to shake since last night.
They’d locked up the moment I’d truly realized I was nothing more to Nate than a potential one-night stand. Of course, I’d tried to warn myself that he was only in it for a couple of days, but as soon as someone had said it out loud, something inside me had died.
It was only then I realized I’d been hiding a tiny flame of hope.
So stupid. I shoved aggressively at a pile of dirt I’d made at the back of the trailer, pushing it over the edge with a savage stab of my broom. Of course he was going back on tour. So what else could I be to him, other than a good time? Last night had been fun. I loved being in his company again. Then he’d kissed me, and everything had just ratcheted up a notch. It felt so natural and easy with him. He’d played my body like he knew it intimately. Like he knew me. And for a bit there, I’d lost my head to the fairy-tale dreams I’d been harboring for years.
