Chasing Trouble (4 page)

“Jenna,” he murmured, running his thumb along her lower lip.

“Colt.” Her palms slid to his back. “I need you inside of me.”

He knew the words “just for tonight” were still in play. Even if he only had a few hours of darkness, he would use all of it to surround JJ until she could no longer think—or walk.

He pressed a fleeting kiss to her lips. “Say it again.”

She gripped his shoulders. “Take me, Colt.”

“Anything you want, sugar. But you’re gonna have to hold on tight, because this rodeo is just getting started.”

Gazes locked, he slowly slid inside. Watched her brows rise and her breath catch as he buried himself in hot wet paradise.

“Damn, you’re so tight.”

He withdrew slightly, only to rock forward with more force, wedging himself deeper.

She gripped his ass, her fingernails sinking in like spurs. All Colt wanted to do in that moment was buck ferociously until she screamed his name.

…

Jenna could feel him throbbing inside her. Though she didn’t have much to compare it to, Colt’s cock had taken her by surprise. It was so long and thick that her jaw was still sore from taking him with her mouth. Though she was ready for him, her body weeping from the orgasm he’d already given her, it was still a tight fit.

And now she was spiraling out of control. Just when she thought she could handle him, he’d changed the game. Fast and hard, then soft and smooth. He was messing with her sanity. When he kissed her with slow tenderness, it tugged at her heart, while his intense urgency lit up every nerve ending. He was consuming her, inside and out. Yet she needed more.

He plunged into her over and over. The look in his eyes, the praise in his kiss—Jenna felt him all the way to her bones. She was in over her head, but it was too late now. And God help her, she didn’t want to go back.

Would she ever be the same after tonight? Probably not. But she’d have the memory, and hopefully that would be enough to keep her warm.

The sudden thought made her ribs shrink as though her beating heart was being smothered.

She clutched him tighter. Moving against him as he moved over her. She snared his bottom lip between her teeth and whispered, “More.”

“Ah, sugar.” Goose bumps broke out over his skin, as if his body were just pricked by her words. He ground his hips against her, then pulled almost all the way out. “I’m gonna make you regret that request and scream for my mercy.”

He slammed inside her, rocking the headboard against the wall.

And like he promised, she screamed.

But it was good. So wonderfully good. She felt stretched to her max and deliciously full. He wrapped an arm under her ass and yanked her up. With only her shoulders on the mattress, he thrust in and out, fucking her so hard her teeth clattered with each forceful blow. She reached back and gripped the shaking headboard, her orgasm rising quickly.

They were both panting. His hard chest and abs flexing with every twist of his sinful hips. A light sheen of sweat misted him.

He was working her over and all she could do was beg. “More! Please, Colt, more.”

He growled and, instead of continuing, pulled out all the way, lifted her ass even higher, and bent over to tongue her clit.

“Oh my God!” she screamed.

His biceps bulged as he held her captive against his ravenous tongue, licking the tiny bundle of nerves quickly, until the sparks of her climax began to intensify. In one swift move, he drew his mouth away, lowered her, then slammed back inside her core.

“Colt!” She screamed out as her orgasm roared through her.

Her bones shattered and her muscles boiled. It went on and on. She melted, but all she could do was hold on and pray that somehow he’d put her back together.

She felt Colt’s pleasure on the heels of her own. His strong body heaved and convulsed as his release took over. Riding them through their climax and taking them as far as they could go.

She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. Her limbs were like jelly. When Colt collapsed on top of her, his weight felt like the most necessary thing. The one thing she’d been missing her whole life.

After a few moments, he lifted his head to look at her. A self-satisfied grin stretched his face. “That was one wild ride, Miss Justice.”

His teasing words and playful nip on her chin made Jenna want to play back. “I must say, cowboy, I’m impressed. I was worried you could only handle eight seconds at a time.”

He growled and thrust his shaft inside her again. She gasped. Amusement was gone. He was hard? Still? How was that even possible? As if reading her mind, he kissed her lips and whispered, “You said one night, JJ.”

Colt wrapped his arms around her and lay on his back. He never took himself from the depths of her body and she was so grateful for that. She straddled him. He pushed his hips up and bounced her on his cock. She moaned, and when her palms landed on his chest, the slapping sound echoed off the walls.

“I hope you weren’t looking to sleep tonight, sugar, because I intend to ride this sexy little body of yours until the buzzer sounds at sunrise.”

Chapter Three

Colt glanced over his shoulder at the bedroom door and tugged his shirt on. He had to hurry if he had any chance of sneaking out of there.

“Shit,” he hissed, when a shot of pain sliced through his ribs from the movement. It had been a rough couple weeks. Between his run-in with JJ last weekend followed by a bad fall and fresh injury, Colt was not only getting cabin fever, but about ready to go nuts with the constant replay of his encounter with the sexy teacher.

Air. He needed air.

“What the hell are you doing? I told you to stay in bed.”

Damn it, he was caught trying to escape. Colt swatted his ball cap on his thigh, then put it on his head. “Woman, your fussing over me is appreciated but not necessary.”

Lily McCade put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot. Even though she was Colt’s baby sister and about as threatening as a hummingbird with her blue eyes and sunny hair, she had a mean streak that could scare even the toughest man.

“The doctor said you had three bruised ribs.” She held up that exact number of fingers as if Colt didn’t understand how to count. “The same three you injured last summer. You’re supposed to take the summer off and rest.
Rest
, Colt. I wish that damn bull would have kicked some sense into that thick skull of yours rather than using your chest as a Riverdance stage!”

Great. She was yelling now. Lily never spoke loudly in anger. But when she was anxious or terrified, her voice raised an octave.

“Exactly,” Colt defended. “Bruised ribs. Not broken. Few weeks tops and I’ll be one hundred percent.”

“It’s a reoccurring injury and this time you have to fully heal. I spoke with the doctor. Taking this summer off from the circuit is the best thing for you considering all you seem to do is hurt yourself out there.”

His sister had disliked Colt’s chosen profession from the beginning. It scared the hell out of her. And with good reason. This last go-around, he had come close, way too close, to getting his spleen stomped out by Big Sampson. And yeah, she had a point about the injuries. But that went with the job.

Lily naturally worried, and when the doc had told him to take a break, heal, and regain his composure, Lily loved that idea. It was beyond the bruised ribs, though they hurt like hell, it was taking a break from all of it. He’d been running hard and playing fast and maybe he did need a short vacation from the riding. He just didn’t think he’d be spending it in Diamond. But when Lily insisted Colt come stay the summer with her, and paired that with a pretty glare, a threatening tone, and a dash of guilt, he didn’t have much choice. No way in hell could he tell her no. Too bad no amount of rest and chicken soup would “right his composure.”

Shit, Colt hadn’t been feeling normal in over a week—ever since JJ had left him high and dry at sunrise.

This little accident wouldn’t have happened if his head had been in the right place. Instead he’d been thinking about a woman who was very specific about what she wanted from him. Normally, the notion of a one-nighter with no attachment would be ideal. So why couldn’t he get Jenna-Jayne Justice, with her sexy glasses and prim little skirts, out of his mind?

When Lily demanded he stay with her and her son Alex, Colt wasn’t as hesitant as he’d been in the past. He loved his family and friends. But while Diamond had a lot of good, there was a lot of shit Colt just wasn’t interested in dealing with. Like the fact that most people either whispered about him or winked at him.

He shook his head. He’d stayed a few days in the past, but the whole summer? A whole summer with his past thrown in his face and memories he couldn’t outrun? Where people either looked at him like some wild thing or playboy?

Apparently his drunken excursions when he was younger were still fresh in everyone’s mind. He had just lost his parents and didn’t handle it well. Trouble didn’t follow him, Colt created it. But he wasn’t the loose cannon he was back then, yet a lot of people still tiptoed around him. Except the women who looked at him like he was some damn carnival ride they were waiting to hop on. A thought that normally might thrill him. But there was only one woman currently in Diamond he was thinking about.

I wonder how JJ would look at me…

He grinned. Thinking of her tended to make him do that. That is, ever since last weekend. Maybe Diamond wouldn’t be so bad. He loved his nephew and his sister. But there was no way he could stay “under the radar” for three months. Between his few good buddies and the fact that Colt was already going nuts from the four surrounding walls, he would be out in town a lot more than in the past.

But he might get a shot at having JJ again. That was something.

“What’s it going to take for you to leave the rodeo and come home for good?” Lily’s voice was soft now. A tinge of guilt settled over him.

Colt couldn’t answer Lily’s question because the truth would break her. Never. He would never move home permanently. He was barely on board with staying the summer.

Though he visited Diamond and flew Lily and Alex to his place a couple times a year, it was still just them. The only three McCades left.

When their parents had died in a car crash Colt’s senior year, there’d just been too many memories in Diamond to stay. He was eighteen and he and his sister were suddenly alone. Colt was grateful Ryder and Penny’s mom, Mrs. Diamond, took Lily in for the remainder of her high school years. Truth be told, Colt had been useless to his sister and, to this day, he hated himself for it. He had been so consumed in his own grief and anger that he drank and fought and barely graduated. Once he did, he took off. Unable to stomach being in the same town he grew up in, the same town where he had his parents ripped away from him, any longer. The only time the pain let up was when he was away and riding. So he got out of Diamond and kept himself busy.

Another simple fact was that he wasn’t a permanent kind of guy. And he didn’t see that changing. Life was cruel and things, people, got stolen from you. Taken. The only things Colt would cling to were his sister and nephew. That was it. Getting attached to anything else was pointless.

He hugged his sister. “I’m here now. And I’m telling you, after a few days with a dirty cowboy in your house, you’ll be praying to get rid of me.”

She looked at him, her wide baby blues glossed with tears. “You’re here for the summer, Colt. No getting out of that. Even if I make you sleep on the porch, you’re staying until September.”

He whistled in a breath. Lily wasn’t kidding about making him sleep on the porch.

“Uncle Colt!” Alex bolted through the room, wearing a pair of blue swim trunks and matching goggles.

“Hey, partner!” He hefted up his nephew and went to swing him around, but winced when a fresh dose of pain surged through his ribs.

“Careful!” Lily shouted.

Alex gasped and gently hugged Colt’s neck. “Oh, yeah. Mama says to be careful with you. No roughhousing cuz you’re a…” He glanced back at Lily. “What did you call him, Mama? A delicate flower?”

Colt choked on his own spit and glared at Lily. “That’s right, honey. Uncle Colt has some owies and we need to be real gentle.”

Colt rolled his eyes and set Alex down, ruffling his hair. “I think your mama’s being melodramatic.”

Alex giggled. “Uncle Colt called you a melon, Mama.”

Everyone laughed and the tension eased. “Come on, we need to get you to swimming lessons.” Lily slung on her purse and brushed her hands down her pink scrubs.

“If you’ve got to get to work, I can take Alex.” Lily eyed him like he was a vase in the middle of the Daytona 500. “Christ, Lil, it’s the community pool. Down the road. I think I can handle it.”

“Watch your mouth.” She looked at her watch. “Well, I am running late and the main route to the hospital is under construction…you sure you’re okay?”

“You’re a good nurse, Lil. I promise I’m fine.”

“All right then. Just make sure you ice it more when you get home and remember, the best thing for you to heal are deep, soothing breaths.”

“Got it. Ice and breathe.” Colt clapped his hands together and turned his attention to Alex again. “Now let’s go, big guy.”

“Yes! Can we take your bull into town, Uncle Colt?”

He smiled, loving that his five-year-old nephew believed he rode a bull around town. “Let’s stick to the Chevy this time.”

…

Jenna helped the last kid out of the pool. “Great job today, everyone.”

She had just finished up with her first round of swimmers, and her ten o’clock class would be here in fifteen minutes. Jenna had already corralled a few other educators to pitch in. This year she had three volunteer teachers to help with Saturday swimming lessons. Which was three more than last year.

Taking on the extra responsibility would be beyond worth it and show the school board she was ready for the after-school program. The state had approved her petition for the grant, but left it up to the board to approve her running it. Which worried her.

Taking a deep breath, Jenna immersed herself under water. When she came back up, she was in the shadow of a man peering down at her, and she about swallowed all the pool water in shock.

“Well, well, well. I never took you for a water-baby…baby.” Colt stood near the edge of the pool and—did he just wink at her? She was two seconds away from grabbing his heel, yanking him into the water, and bolting for the nearest exit.

With the sun at his back, Jenna let her gaze linger, momentarily caught up in the tantalizing shadow of his muscled frame.

“Ah—I…what are you doing here?”

Lily had said Colt was coming to town and told her about his minor injury. But Jenna assumed it would be the usual “one night stay, no big deal” kind of thing and she wouldn’t even see him.

Colt’s smile widened when Alex called from behind him. “Hi, Miss Jenna!”

“I’m just dropping my nephew off for lessons.”

The bill of Colt’s baseball cap hid his eyes from the light, but Jenna felt that intense blue gaze rake over her, as if he were trying hard to peer through the water. She squirmed and suddenly the water felt colder. Or was it her skin that flushed hotter? “When will you be leaving?”

“I thought I’d hang around for a bit. Maybe monitor your breaststroke.”

“I meant town. When will you be leaving
town
?”

“Trying to get rid of me already?” He knelt, resting his forearm over his bent knee, his handsome face way too close to hers for comfort. “If memory serves, last week I couldn’t keep you away from me.”

She gasped and pulled herself up on the ledge, nearly knocking his nose with the top of her head. Too bad she didn’t. When she stood, dripping wet, to face him, she thought she heard him groan.

“May I speak to you in private please, Mr. McCade?”

…

Mr. McCade?
What was with all the formality? He followed JJ’s pensive glance around. Parents and kids were filtering in and out.

“You can do whatever you’d like in private with me,” he whispered.

Her lips pursed. Not the response he was going for. JJ turned to another woman in the pool. “Mary-Lou, I’ll be right back.”

The woman, obviously one of the other swimming instructors, nodded.

JJ stomped past Colt, grabbing a towel off a nearby bench and wrapping it around her waist. Damn shame. Her lush little ass in that red bathing suit made Colt instantly hard. He followed dumbly after her, only stumbling once…okay, twice.

My God, the woman was fine. He’d known this, but seeing her wet, with her skin shining in the sun, she was damn dangerous. All that hair—hair he’d tangled his fingers in—looked midnight black when drenched.

Weaving around the back of the office by the pool, and out of sight of all the onlookers, JJ threw open a door and beckoned Colt inside.

The supply closet. Nice.

He stepped in, shut the door and reached for her hips.

“You need to leave.”

“But we just got in here. We haven’t even tried out the blow-up raft yet.”

She didn’t smile, instead crossing her arms over her breasts. Her wet breasts. Her full, wet breasts.

He knew he was staring but couldn’t bring himself to care. Memories of tasting that plump flesh and—
goddammit
, what he would give to peel the top of her suit down and—

She snapped her fingers in front of his face. His gaze jerked up.

“Lily told me about your accident.”

“Ah, it’s nothing—”

“She also said it wasn’t serious. So I’m assuming you’ll be leaving town soon. Until then, I think it’s best we stay away from each other.”

Huh? Was she preemptively dumping him?

You have to be together to be dumped, idiot.
But shit, why was he even thinking that way? He and JJ weren’t an item. And he didn’t want that anyway. Which was why he hadn’t called her after that night. Technically, dialing six of the seven digits of her telephone number, then hanging up, didn’t count as “calling.”

Yep, he was fine. But he couldn’t be blamed if he just happened to run into her.

“Actually, I’m going to be in town for the whole summer.”

Her gray eyes shot wide; fear streaked across her face. “What! Why? School hasn’t even ended yet.”

“So?”

“So…the summer. That’s like…”

“Months.”

A look of defeat washed over her. “Months,” she breathed with an edge of horror.

What the hell was going on? She stood there like she was in shock. It was as though he’d just delivered her a death sentence. He leaned in, trailing his fingers along her waist. She smelled like sun and coconut sunscreen. Though she seemed conflicted, she didn’t retreat.

When he splayed his hands over her hips, the slinky wet material of her suit rubbed against his palms. Colt’s pants instantly got a hell of a lot tighter. He couldn’t help himself. He snagged her plump bottom lip between his. A sharp moan left her mouth and Colt felt it tickle all the way down his throat. She clutched the front of his T-shirt. He didn’t know if she was about to push him away or yank him closer. She didn’t seem to know either.

“I’ve been thinking of you, Jenna.” He kissed the side of her jaw. “Thinking of that night.” He trailed his lips to her chin. “Thinking of you, in my bed…”