Boots and Twisters (10 page)

“Are you hungry? Or would you prefer to cool off first?” Trent pulled his shirt on over the bandages, leaving it unbuttoned.

She pushed loose strands of her long straight hair back off her damp face. “Cool off.” Thinking the ride back to the barn on the back of ATV would do the trick, she climbed on, not really wanting to press her sweating body against his.

When he goosed the throttle, she was once again forced to hold on or fall off the back. He turned the vehicle and headed a different direction than the one from which they’d come.

“Where are we going?”

“To cool off,” he shouted over the engine.

That same feeling of dread and titillating anticipation filled her. This was going to be a very bad idea. With her hormones raging and her arms clinging to him, she tamped down a moment of panic. What if she couldn’t resist him?

Chapter Five

Trent raced across a pasture to a copse of trees in a valley and pulled to a stop beside a widening in the creek, the old swimming hole he and his brother spent the better part of each summer splashing around in.

He’d forgotten how clear the water was and how the trees leaned over to shade the area from the harsh sun.

Lucky climbed off the back and stared at the water, then closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, her lips lifting at the corners. “I don’t see how anyone could
not
like living here. It’s full of treasures. It’s beautiful, diverse and filled with everything a person could want. Wide, open fields and plentiful sources of water for the horses and cattle.”

Trent studied her. Her eyes were bright, face flushed with exertion and sunshine. “Do you always think in terms of what’s good for the animals?”

“I love working with ranch animals. I’ve done it my whole life.” She glanced over at him. “But it’s more than that. You have everything here. Fields for hay, wildflowers, the smell of honeysuckle, and sky for as far as you can see. What’s not to love?”

He looked again at what she saw. He hadn’t noticed the orange petals of the Indian blankets tipped in yellow, or the scent of honeysuckle clinging to the remnants of an old fence post. Nor had he remembered how clear the skies were in the summertime and the way the shade dappled the smooth surface of the water.

It took seeing it through Lucky’s eyes to remind him of the magic of the Texas landscape. All he’d remembered was how much he resented his father’s heavy hand raising him and how quickly he’d escaped as soon as he was old enough.

Yet here he was. Back on the ranch.

His jaw hardened. His plan was to stay only as long it took to convince Isaac to sell. Then he’d cut all ties with the home he’d never felt was a true home.

Now he was here with a woman who had made him hotter than the Texas sun. With a pool full of cool water in front of him, he wouldn’t mind taking their kiss a step further. But he wouldn’t push it, not when she worked for him. Still, he was hot, the pool was inviting and he wanted it. Trent reached for his belt buckle.

Lucky’s eyes widened. “What are you doing?”

“I don’t know about you, but I came to cool off. You can stand there and watch, or join me. And just so you know, this is what we do on the ranch. When we work hard in the heat, we come here to cool off. It has nothing to do with the fact you’re a female. As far as I’m concerned, you’re the ranch hand. Nothing more.” He toed off his boots. Enjoying her flustered expression and the way her eyes darted from the boots to where his hands worked the belt loose.

“But your bandages…” she argued.

“Will probably fall off and likely have to be replaced. Better yet…” He reached up and plucked all the little bandages off, stuffed them in his pocket and grinned. “Now you don’t have to worry that I’m polluting the pool with garbage.”

“You could get an infection.”

“The pool is spring-fed and that’s a chance I’m willing to take.” He unzipped his jeans and pushed them over his hips. He didn’t wear underwear and they slid right down his legs, his cock springing free.

Lucky spun, giving him her back, her breathing becoming labored. “You could have warned me.”

“It’s much more fun watching you blush. Again, you’re welcome to join me.”

“I knew that kiss was a mistake,” she muttered.

“So noted.” He stepped out of the jeans and laid them across a bush. Then he waded into the water up to his waist. “You don’t know what you’re missing.”

“I’ll wait on the four-wheeler.”

“Hey, loosen up. It’s only water and I promise not to touch you if you don’t want me to.”

She glanced over her shoulder at him. “Why should I trust you?”

He frowned. “Because when a Jameson gives his word, he doesn’t go back on it.” That was one of the lessons his father had drummed into him early on. A promise was a promise.

She turned and faced him. “Do you promise not to look?”

“If it makes you feel better, I’ll turn around while you strip.” He swished his hand in the water. “It really does feel good. And you can wash the dust and sweat off.”

Her gaze fixed on the water, her tongue sweeping out across her lips. “The water does look cool.”

“Feels even better.” He shook his head. “Suit yourself. I’m swimming away if you want to get in while my back is to you.” Trent turned and swam slowly to the far side of the pool.

Moments later, he heard a splash. When he twisted around, he noted her jeans and shirt lying on top of her boots, but he didn’t see her.

Then she surfaced, water streaming over her face and shoulders. She remained low in the water so her breasts were covered.

What she didn’t know was that the water was so clear, he could see the tips of them easily.

His member hardened and he fought to keep his promise and not touch her if she didn’t want him to. The challenge was to make her want him to. Cupping his hand, he splashed water her way.

“Hey!” She whacked the water, sending more his way. The fight ensued, Lucky giving as good as she got and exposing a lot more of her body in the process than she had probably thought.

Suddenly, she ducked beneath the surface.

He could see the outline of her body swimming beneath the shadow of a tree, and she disappeared. When she didn’t come up right away, Trent tensed. Had she gotten hung up in some roots or vines? He turned, looking for her, and was about to duck beneath the surface and start a search when something grabbed his ankle and dragged him under.

He went down. A hand pressed against the top of his head and he sank deeper, but not before he caught his attacker around the hips and pulled her with him.

They surfaced together, gasping for air.

“You promised not to touch me.” She braced her hands on his chest.

“All bets were off when you touched me first.” He held her clamped to his body, her breasts smashed against his chest, her clean fresh face dripping with water. She didn’t need makeup, she was naturally beautiful and deliciously wet, completely and undeniably desirable.

Trent was lost. He couldn’t let her go.

Lucky stilled, her breathing rapid, her gaze on his lips. Her tongue darted out to swipe across her mouth.

“You make me crazy when you do that,” he grumbled.

“Do what?”

He leaned in and swept his tongue where hers had been. “That.”

“Umm.” She cupped his face. “Let me get this straight. Did you mean this?” She tongued his lip, tracing the seam and then cocked her brows. “Or this?” Her mouth closed around his bottom lip and she sucked on it.

His cock hardened, nudging against her belly.

When she let go of his lips, he kissed her, his tongue sliding the length of hers, caressing, tasting and teasing. Then he released her mouth to skim the long length of her throat, angling toward one of those luscious breasts.

“Oh my.” Her breathing became more ragged as he captured a nipple between his teeth and nibbled gently. “This isn’t what I hired on for.”

“Consider it one of the benefits of the position.”

“I’m not that kind of girl,” she said.

“I never thought you were.” His breath warmed her damp skin.

Her fingers clutched his head, holding him against her while his mouth ravaged her areola.

A long, slim leg curled around the back of his thigh, skimming over his ass to hook around his waist.

“Just so you know,” she whispered, “I don’t normally have sex with my bosses. I’ve always been considered one of the guys.”

“Oh, honey, you’re anything but one of the guys.” He pulled her breast into his mouth and sucked hard.

Her back arched, pressing her deeper and her head lolled back. Skimming his buttocks, her other leg came up around his waist, her ankles locking behind him. “Damn, that feels good.”

“I have more skills.”

“I’m sure you do.” She moaned. “We shouldn’t do this. I have work to do.”

“It can wait.” He backed her to the rocky ledge at the side of the pool and hiked her bottom onto it, parting her legs so that he could position himself between them.

“Really, we should be going.” Her gaze dropped to where his cock jutted out in front of him as he stood up to his thighs in the water. She bit down on her lip. “Then again, it
is
lunchtime.”

“I’m hungry, how about you?” He stepped closer until his cock nudged her opening.

“Starving.” She gripped his hips and held him back. “But not too hungry to forget precautions.” Closing her eyes, she dragged in a ragged breath. “Please tell me you have something.”

He leaped out of the pool, grabbed for his jeans and fished in the back pocket for his wallet. “Damn!”

“What do you mean, ‘damn’?”

“I mean, damn!” He tossed his jeans to the ground and lowered himself into the pool, his face tense. “I didn’t bring my wallet. I usually don’t when I’m working on the ranch.”

“Damn,” she agreed. “Guess lunch is over.”

“Not so fast.” When she started to clamp her legs closed, he pressed her knees wide. “Just because I don’t have protection, doesn’t mean this is over.”

She shook her head. “It was a bad idea anyway. It’s going way too fast.”

“That’s okay, if both parties agree, right?” He slipped lower in the water, his fingers trailing along the insides of her thighs to her center. “Technically we wouldn’t be having sex. Or at least I wouldn’t be getting off. But that doesn’t mean you can’t.”

Her brow puckered as his finger dipped into her channel.

A quickly indrawn breath let him know he had her attention. “I could stop now…” He dragged his wet finger over her clitoris in a long, slow swipe that had her biting hard on her bottom lip. “…or not.”

She whimpered. “Don’t.”

He removed his finger from between her folds. “Don’t?”

Her hand closed around his and she slid his finger along that nubbin of her desire. “Don’t stop now.”

“Honey, that’s just the beginning.” He bent to apply his tongue where his fingers had been moments before.

Lucky leaned back on her hands, spreading her legs wider. Never before had she let a man do what Trent was doing to her in the open air. Never before had she been intimate with two men in less than forty-eight hours.

Maybe she’d been holding back too long. Perhaps all her troubles began with the fact she was so resistant to change she hadn’t been flexible enough to let go and see what happened.

With slow deliberate strokes, Trent took her with his tongue, dipping into her channel, swirling around in her juices and rising to her clit with tiny, potent flicks that set off a rush of heated sensations, winging through her system, knotting in her core.

She lay back, unable to support herself on her wobbling arms.

“Like that?”

“Yessss.”

A long lick from the bottom of her slit up to her tip of her nubbin had her crying out, her body writhing. “Please.”

“Please, what?”

“Please, don’t stop,” she screamed.

Trent attacked her, his tongue laying siege to her senses, sending her skyrocketing into the stratosphere, somewhere above the treetops, in the bright blue Texas sky. She floated with the clouds, her muscles drawn up tight, her mind bound for the moon.

When at a last she fell back to earth, she lay as limp as a wet rag, incapable of movement or coherent thought.

“Like that?” Trent stood, his cock resting between her legs, rubbing gently across her swollen clit.

He grabbed her hands and sat her up.

“I don’t have any bones,” she said, slumping against him, resting her face in the crook of his neck. Running a hand across his chest, she trailed it lower to the hard erection jutting above the water. “But what about you?”

“I can wait.”

“Does it hurt?” She circled his cock with her hand, running it down the base and back up to the tip.

He sucked in a deep breath on a hiss. “Not much.”

“Let me take care of it.” She slid her hand along his length.

“That’s okay. You don’t have to.”

She slipped from the ledge and dropped down, the cool water surrounding her, barely reducing the heat of her body. “But I want to.” Bending, she took his cock into her mouth. “Like this?” Her tongue snaked out and tapped the tip of his member.