Jerk: A Bad Boy Romance (22 page)

And less clothes! I was still wearing pants.

Clay lavished way too much attention on my breasts while I writhed beneath him in absolute agony. He suckled and licked. He pinched my nipples. He rolled them between his fingers until they were so hard and sensitive my spine arched off the bed with every minute touch.

And only when I swore I was going to die did he move on. He kissed a fiery path down my stomach, hooked his fingers in the waist of my pants and pulled. I did everything in my power to hasten their removal.

At last, I was naked. All of my clothes were out of the way.

But not his.

Curling up, I reached for the waistband of his boxers but he gently pushed my shoulders down. “This is for you. Not me.”

“But I want—“

“Trust me.” Clay released my shoulders and sat back. His gaze meandered over my body, feeling like the brush of a feather. I quivered as mini-blazes ignited throughout my body. “You are so beautiful. Absolutely perfect. I could sit here and look at you all day.” He eased my knees apart with his hands and focused his attention there, between my legs. “Just look at you. So wet and ready for me.” He dragged a single finger along my slit and I shivered with the pleasure. “So fucking responsive.”

“Well, you’re doing your best to drive me crazy.”

“I’m glad to see it’s working.” He pushed two fingers inside my channel and my inner muscles clamped tight. A rush of liquid heat pulsed through me. I hooked my fingers, gripping fists full of smooth cotton sheet.

“Oh god!” I muttered.

“You whisper now, but you’ll be screaming soon.” Fucking me with one hand, he parted my swollen slit with the other, revealing my burning clit.

Ohhhh. He was going to...

His tongue flicked over my clit and I practically launched to the moon. My body temperature soared to at least two hundred degrees. Then he did it again. And again. And every nerve in my body tingled and zapped. Tension wound through my muscles, tugging them into tight knots. My thighs spread wider as my body careened toward a swift, throbbing release.

The heat was unbearable.

Hot.

Burning.

Couldn’t breathe.

A third finger!

Full. So fucking full!

His tongue danced over my clit.

I felt my climax building. It churned round and round like a hurricane. Getting stronger with every touch of his tongue.

“Come for me, baby girl,” he demanded. Those three fingers pumped in and out, feeling like a hard cock. “I want to eat every drop of your cum.”

My stomach muscles knotted. An electric jolt blasted through my body.

And then... kapow.

Ecstasy.

I quaked as wave upon wave of pure bliss blasted out from my center, making my entire body tingle. Still those fingers kept fucking, that tongue flicking up and down, up and down. The tingles amplified until once again I was soaring on the waves of a powerful climax. My entire body trembled and shook. My scalp buzzed. The soles of my feet tingled. Every tiny cell in between became electrified. The sensation was glorious. It took my breath away.

What felt like a lifetime later, I finally inhaled my first gulp of air and let it out in a long sigh. Little twitches, like aftershocks of a massive earthquake, shook me. Clay smiled as lay beside me and drew me into his arms.

And of course, I smiled back. Because at the moment I felt like I could soar to the stars.

Love. It was magical.

“I love you,” I whispered, basking in the warmth of his body heat.

“And I love you.” He kissed my forehead. “I have to go.”

“Go where?”

“Work. It’s almost ten o’clock.” He kissed one eyelid then the other.

“Ten at night?”

“No. You slept for almost sixteen hours.”

“Ohmygosh! I did?” I tried to jerk upright, but Clay held me in place.

“Where are you going?” he asked, chuckling.

Ooh. Good question. “I’m going...” Where was I going? I couldn’t go to the ranch. Not until the fire department was done with its investigation, though that would be soon. Still, until I got the go-head to return to the ranch, I didn’t have anywhere to go. Not really. But I didn’t want to lie in bed all day. A thought struck. “Where’s Emmy?”

“With her father.”

Okay, so I wouldn’t be taking care of a child. That was probably good. I knew less about the feeding and care of little people than I did cattle. And that wasn’t saying much. Did little kids her age still crap in their pants?

“Harper?” I asked.

“Sleeping, I think.” He stretched, all those delish muscles pulling taut. “As much as I would love to stay, I need to get a few things done. I won’t be long though.”

And as much as I would like Clay to stay with me, I couldn’t ask him to skip work. After all, he had a business to run. “Sure. I’ll be fine.”

He gave me a much-too-brief kiss. “After I dropped off Emmy I grabbed a few things at the market. Some instant coffee and some rabbit food. While I’m gone maybe you can make up a shopping list. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Will do. Don’t rush home on my account.”

“I won’t. I’ll rush on
my
account. Because I can’t wait to get back here so we can spend some time together.”

I couldn’t help grinning at that confession. Could a man be any sweeter? Seriously. “You mean, time where we’re both awake?”

“Awake, sure. But I wouldn’t mind if we were in bed.” He waggled his eyebrows.

I waggled mine too. “If you promise some more of what you did this morning, I’m game.”

“You bet.”

***

I
got to admire all six feet-something of him as he dressed for work. Then off he went. I showered before heading to the kitchen for coffee. Unfortunately, I was unpleasantly surprised when I discovered Clay had bought decaffeinated coffee.

Crap.

And his idea of “rabbit food”? A head of iceberg lettuce. That was it. I definitely needed to make up that shopping list. Pronto. Now. I could probably live on iceberg lettuce for a day, but I could
not
survive without my caffeine.

Thus, after grabbing one of his protein bars for breakfast, I began my search for a piece of paper and pencil to make up my list. My search started in the kitchen. But all the drawers and cabinets were paper and pencil-free. So I moved on, searching the side tables and credenza in the great room. At one point I hesitated, after locating some letters from his sister Carrie. This felt so wrong. I wasn’t the kind of girl who sifted through other people’s things. Sure, I doubted Clay would care. But still, I felt a little guilty. That was, until I reminded myself that Clay had told me to make the shopping list. Surely he would expect me to write it on something.

I moved on to one of the unused bedrooms. This room, like the rest of the house was furnished tastefully, the furnishings totally masculine. More a library than a bedroom, it had an entire wall covered floor-to-ceiling in bookcases. I gazed for a moment at the books, old hardcover volumes that had probably belonged to Clay’s parents. Then I checked out the rest of the furnishings. The table next to the bed looked like a small antique writing desk, with three shallow drawers running along the top. I pulled the center drawer open and discovered a stack of papers, printed on an attorney’s letterhead.

My gaze went to the top lines, where it said in big, bold letters:
Purchase Agreement. Silver Sage Ranch. Dawson, Wyoming.

P
urchase agreement.

There had to be some kind of mistake.

Clay wouldn’t do this to me.

He couldn’t!

He loved me.

My insides twisted. The pain. It felt like a blade ripping, tearing through me.

He fucking
loved
me! Nobody did something like this to someone they loved!

My hands trembled as I lifted the document and tried to focus on the black letters filling the page.

Purchase agreement.

It was a sales contract. For my ranch.
My
ranch.

How could he sell it to anyone? It belonged to me!

This had to be a mistake.

I flipped the pages. I couldn’t read a damn word. I was blinded. By shock. Confusion.

On the last page I saw a series of blank lines. No signatures. Did that mean the sale hadn’t gone through yet?

What the hell was I thinking?

How could a sale take place without my consent? As far as I knew I hadn’t lost the property. Not yet. The lawyer, Hardin, hadn’t contacted me. He would have told me if I’d lost the property, wouldn’t he?

Yes. Of course he would!

Or had he been trying to tell me I’d lost it when I met with him?

Shit! What had he said? I couldn’t remember.

“There you are!” Harper said, jerking me out of my coma. Reacting out of guilt, I smacked the drawer shut and stumbled backward. “What are you doing?”

“I was looking for a... for a...” Something wedged in my throat and I couldn’t spit out the rest of the words.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

“I...” That thing in my throat swelled to double the size. “I...” I wheezed and teetered.

My ranch.

Clay.

The contract.

What the fuck?

The world dimmed. Stars twinkled.

Harper rushed past me and yanked open the drawer. Then she grabbed my hand and led me from the room. “That fucking bastard!” she yelled as she dragged me down the hall and into my room. She kicked the door shut behind us and steered me to the bed.

I sat, tears spilling from my eyes. “It’s not what it looks like, right?”

“It looks like Clay sold your place.”

“But he can’t. It isn’t his to sell,” I reminded her...and myself.

“I don’t know.”

“This doesn’t make any sense.” I rubbed my head, trying to stimulate my brain. Think. Think. I needed to think.

What the hell was going on?

“Maybe it went to him after the fire?” she suggested.

“No. It didn’t. Not yet. I don’t think. I just met with the lawyer. He didn’t tell me I’d lost it...
yet
. At least... I don’t think he did. But even if I did, Clay wouldn’t sell it out from under me. He wouldn’t do that.”

Softly, she murmured, “It looks like he has.”

My stomach convulsed.

“I was thinking about taking a road trip,” Harper said as she surged to action. She yanked open my closet. I don’t know what she was looking for. Nothing was in there. Because all my stuff had been burned up in the fire. “How about we go on a road trip? You and me?”

“Road trip? Now?” I swallowed my breakfast for the third time. It didn’t taste any worse then than it did the first time.

“Yes, now.”

“But I need to find out what’s going on.”

“I say we take a little road trip and figure out what’s important first. There’s plenty of time for finding out about the ranch later.” Harper plopped next to me and grabbed my hand. “I mean, tell me if I’m wrong, but since you came to Wyoming, things have kind of sucked. Haven’t they?”

“Well, not everything. But...” I shrugged as I gently tugged my hand free. Harper had a point. Outside of a few very precious moments with Clay, things had been kind of sucky since I’d arrived in Dawson.

“You’ve been working your ass off, shoveling shit. When was the last time you had some fun? Some serious fun? Like we used to?”

“Um... Well, Clay and I...? We...”

“Clay and you have had a rocky relationship from the start. Maybe it isn’t meant to be.”

Not meant to be?

Of course we were!

Or...?

My ranch. He’d sold my ranch.

My head spun.

What the fuck did I know? Not much, evidently.

But a road trip? Now? This was the worst time to leave. I needed to talk to Clay. And Hardin. “You don’t know that,” I snapped. “You don’t know we’re not meant to be.”

“Maybe I don’t. But do
you
?” Harper pointed at my chest. “Can you say for sure you know you two are meant to be together?”

I sat there unable to tell her she was wrong. And that hurt more than anything.

Oh God, I
wasn’t
sure about me and Clay.

Or was I?

Fuck! I was so confused!

“I just got a call from a real estate agent in LA,” Harper said as she stood. “He sells multi-million dollar estates. He’s looking for someone to stage his properties for him.”

A chill swept through my body.

Harper? Moving to LA? No!

“You’re leaving?” I felt sick. I clapped my hands over my mouth. She couldn’t move to LA. How would I deal with all of this without her? She was the only person I knew I could trust right now.

She lifted her hands, palms out. “Nothing’s for sure. I haven’t given an answer yet. I’m just meeting with him to see how well we click.”

“You promised you’d stay here with me.” Shit, I sounded so fucking weak and whiny, even to my own ears. What kind of friend was I being for Harper?

“I know. And I will stay if you need me to. But this is an amazing opportunity, getting to work with one of the most successful agents in LA. Staging gorgeous homes. You never know where an opportunity like this could take me.”

Dammit. I’d be a total bitch to force her to stay in Wyoming. Now I didn’t even need her design expertise, not that I could ever have afforded her anyway. Nobody in these parts of the state could. Except for Clay.

I nodded. My heart sank. She was leaving. Harper was moving to California. “Yes, you have to go.”

Harper dropped to her knees in front of me. “Come with me.”

I stared down at my hands, cupped in my lap, hers resting on top.

Friends for life.

That was what we’d always said.

Years ago we’d planned our lives together. We’d had it all figured out. We’d marry brothers. Or best friends. And live somewhere warm and beautiful. Like California. Or Hawaii. And of course we’d be neighbors. I would find a job in a high school, as a social worker, helping young women plan their futures and break through barriers. And Harper would be a famous interior designer, her projects featured in every publication in print.

Nowhere in our plans had there been any thought of running a bankrupt ranch in the middle of nowhere. Or getting involved with a man who couldn’t seem to be honest with me.