Kissin' Tell: Rough Riders, Book 13 (23 page)

“That didn’t give Deck the right to cheat on you,” Tell said hotly. “For Christsake, you’d lost your brother, you were forced to move, your parents split up. He shoulda been takin’ care of you.”

“Thanks. Evidently my dad didn’t see it that way since he took Deck’s side. When I talked to him last week, he basically defended his actions and Deck’s by telling me nothing is as cut and dried as it looks. He doesn’t understand why I don’t just drive over to his place and we can hug it out.”

Neither said anything for a few minutes.

Then Tell stood and held out his hand. “I wanna show you something.”

“Is this more of your forced fun?”

“Yep and there’s gonna come a day when you don’t dread that word, sweetness.”

Georgia allowed him to lead her down the steps and around the corner of the trailer. A two-person hammock was set up on the rise of a small hill. The ground was rocky and rough—no soft, pampered grass here—and she sucked in a breath when something jabbed the bottom of her foot.

Tell lifted her into his arms, carrying her the rest of the way.

As much as she liked being held against his warm, hard chest, she couldn’t help but snicker. “Is this where you call me a tenderfoot?”

He grunted with exaggeration. “I’m stoically bearing the pain for you, little lady, ’cause that’s what us cowboy types do.” He set her down and stretched on the hammock before extending a hand to her.

It wobbled, but she found a balance point, which placed her right on top of Tell, luckily for her.

She sighed. “It’s the perfect temperature.”

“I crash out here in the summer when it’s too hot to sleep inside.”

“Don’t you get eaten alive by bugs?”

“Nah. I must not be sweet enough.”

“I think you’re plenty sweet.” She kissed his pectoral and snuggled into his side.

Tell shifted to tangle their legs together.

All the turmoil from the last few hours faded, and a feeling of contentment filled her as he trailed his rough fingertips over her skin.

After a bit, Tell said, “So what’s the craziest, riskiest thing you’ve ever done?”

“Nothing.”

“Come on, there’s gotta be something.”

“I’ve always done what was expected of me. Either by my parents or by my boss.” Rather than dissect her boring choices, she posed the same question to him. “What’s the craziest, riskiest thing you’ve ever done, wild man McKay?”

He continued stroking the underside of her arm from her wrist to her armpit. “I was tired of bein’ the poor McKay relation. So I took all my money, except for fifty bucks, and entered a poker tournament. I was either gonna go big or go home broke.”

“So what happened?”

“It paid off. I won first place. So I banked half of what I’d won, and used the other half to enter another tournament the next weekend.”

“And?”

Tell chuckled. “I had a winning streak that lasted an entire year. Made a really good chunk of change. Dalton was my partner in crime, so to speak, so we won enough to buy more land to add to our part of the McKay ranch.”

Georgia raised her head from his chest and looked at him. “Good for you. But now that you’ve told me, a game of strip poker ain’t in the cards for us.”

“You’d win. I’d get you half-nekkid and I’d start thinkin’ raunchy thoughts…”

She smiled. “I like your raunchy mind.”

“And sweetness, you ain’t seen the raunchiest parts.” He nipped the top of her ear. “Yet.”

“Are you still sandbagging tournaments?”

“Once in a while. Dalton is still goin’ strong. That runner’s high after winnin’ big is dangerous stuff. But it ain’t like he’s blowing money left and right. We are each other’s checks and balances system, so it didn’t happen to either of us, because we saw so many guys who fell prey to that mindset. Always wanting that next big win. Quarter of a million dollars one week; then they’d lose it all the following week. We treated gambling like a business. Only playing one type of game. Only entering events where the buy-in was high because the payout was high.”

She stared at him, fascinated again by another facet of this man. “I’ve never heard you talk about this.”

“That’s because me’n Dalton keep it to ourselves. Brandt knows we won some money because he’s on the land deed. Our cousin Ben knows because we tried to do a business deal with him a year and a half ago, but it fell through. But no one in my family knows and that’s the way we wanna keep it.”

“I won’t breathe a word, I promise.” She sighed. “I’m boring compared to you. You have this secret life and—”

Tell stopped her protest with a kiss.

After he released her mouth, she rested the side of her face on his chest. He nuzzled the top of her head and continued his caresses on her arm.

A soft breeze blew. Between the sway of the hammock, the comforting beat of Tell’s heart beneath her ear, and the chirping crickets, Georgia could’ve easily fallen asleep. Being with him like this settled every ragged nerve inside her.

“You up for more ice cream?” he murmured a little while later. “Because one bowl doesn’t count as wallowing.”

“Sure. But I am pretty comfy right now.”

“I could tell, bein’s you were snoring.”

“Maybe I did doze off. But I’m blaming you. You’re so easy to be with.”

“I don’t know whether I oughta take that as a compliment or not,” he grumbled.

Georgia pecked his pouting lips. “Fine. I’ll eat another bowl of ice cream if it’ll make you happy. How do we get out of this contraption?”

“Straddle me.”

She sighed. “Nice try, Mr. Insatiable.”

He grinned and lightly tapped her ass. “I’m serious. You bein’ on my center of gravity will stabilize us.”

“Okay. But if I feel your dick get hard, I can’t be held accountable for attacking you.” She balanced one hand on his shoulder and threw her other leg over his pelvis.

“Too late. I’m always hard around you. Hang on.” Gripping her hips, Tell twisted and the hammock swung upward as he dropped both feet to the ground. Then he stood, sliding his hands down to cup her ass as he carried her into the house.

“You don’t have to carry me everywhere,” she said halfheartedly.

“I like it. You’re pocket-size.” He laughed when she drummed her heels into his butt. “Besides, you ain’t wearin’ pants. It’s the least I could do.”

Tell set her on a kitchen chair. Looking at him now, she understood Mr. Sweet and Funny had taken a powder, leaving Mr. Intense in charge.

“I’m gonna want that shirt back now.”

Her heart rate sped up and a tingle of anticipation rolled through her.

“Also, I don’t want you dripping ice cream on your panties, so you’d better take them off too.”

Once she stood naked before him, he offered a wolfish grin. “I’ll be feeding you. My way. If you don’t stay still, well, darlin’, I’m gonna be forced to tie you up.”

Her midsection went hot and tight. And wet, a little further south.

“Understood?”

She nodded.

“Good. Now sit in the chair so I can reach all parts of you while I dish up.”

What the heck did he mean
so I can reach all parts of you
? Georgia slid her naked, flabby ass to the edge of the seat. But being short, it put her head and her neck at a weird angle. She’d been so busy trying to get herself situated that she hadn’t noticed Tell stood not two feet away, holding a bowl.

He frowned. “That ain’t gonna work. Hop up on the table.”

Although it was still warm in the house, the table surface was cool on her butt. Her legs dangled over the edge and she braced her hands behind her.

When she saw the flour sack dishtowel in Tell’s hand, she said, “What’s that for?” with just a little trepidation.

“To keep your arms outta my way. ’Cause I have the feeling this is gonna make you a little jumpy.”

Georgia didn’t fidget as he bound her, but her body was hyperaware of his. Then he ran his fingertips up the outside of her arms, over her shoulders, stopping to cup her face in his hands.

“Ready for your ice cream?”

“Umm. Yeah.”

“Open up.”

She closed her eyes after he spooned in the first bite of butterscotch ripple. The creamy goodness slid down her throat.

“Huh-uh. Eyes on me.”

She gazed at him as he slipped the spoon into her mouth. As soon as she swallowed, Tell’s lips were on hers; his tongue was diving into her mouth. The shock of his warm tongue against her cold one, the sweet taste of the ice cream and the familiar taste of Tell had her moaning. She wanted to curl her hand around the back of his neck, holding him in place as she lapped up every bit of this new taste combo, but her hands were out of commission. So when Tell broke the kiss, she whimpered.

“Take another bite before it melts.” He fed her three bites, hungrily watching her mouth as she licked her lips. After the next spoonful, he kissed her again. Talk about melting. Hot and cold. Sweet and intense.

Keeping his lust-filled blue eyes on hers, he held the spoon at chin level. He tipped the spoon to the side and ice cream dribbled on her breast, sliding down the center of her chest.

She gasped.

“Oops. Looks like I’ll be havin’ a taste too.” His tongue started at the bottom of the drip and he slowly licked up, savoring her ice-cream-flavored skin.

With the way Tell stood between her thighs, he had to know how wet this was making her.

The next pass, he used the end of the spoon to paint her lips with ice cream. Then he licked and nibbled, teasing her endlessly with mouth-on-mouth action, but denying her a full-blown kiss.

Talk about erotic. He’d feed her a bite. Then he’d hold the spoon just out of her reach and angle it, so the thick droplets never landed in the same place on her body twice. And only once on her nipple.

But he cleaned off every last speck of melted ice cream. Suckling to the point that she started to shake. Inside. Outside.

Georgia was damn close to begging.

And he knew it.

Then he hooked his foot around the chair, bringing it to the table, sitting so close her crotch was right in his face.

Her entire body flushed at the intense way he stared at the most intimate part of her.

“Goddamn, you look so pretty like this.” He traced her slit from the top of her pubic bone down to her entrance. “Judging by how wet you are, you must really like ice cream.”

“Tell. Please.”

He looked up at her, desire burning in his eyes. “Oh. Sorry. I’m bein’ selfish. Did you want another bite?”

She shook her head.

“Then you don’t mind if I finish it off?”

Dear God. She would not survive this. Would. Not. Survive.

Georgia was helpless to do anything but watch as Tell used one hand to pull back the skin surrounding her clit. Then he took the spoon out of the ice cream dish and placed the cold metal directly on that swollen flesh.

Her body jerked and she yelled, “Sweet Jesus, that’s cold!”

“Really? Huh. Imagine that. Lemme warm it up for you.” He removed the spoon and placed his mouth over the spot.

His hot, wet, sucking mouth.

But he only sucked briefly. He switched it up and licked her pussy as if he were eating an ice cream cone. One long lap after another. Then he nuzzled the inside of her thigh…and again reached for the spoon.

“Oh. No.”

“Oh.
Yes
. ’Cause you don’t know how much I love me some sweet, sticky cream.” Tell coated the back of the spoon with more melted butterscotch swirl. Except this time, he squeezed her nipple as he placed the spoon on her clit.

Georgia bowed back as if he’d attached jumper cables to her body. Every pulse point screamed for release. Even her toes were twitchy. Her mind was focused on one thing:
must come
.

Tell left the spoon in place, rubbing the curve over the sensitive nub until the metal warmed from her body heat.

This was torture.

“Georgia. Look at me.”

Her gaze winged to his. He exposed her swollen clitoris. He lowered the spoon, tilting it so the drop of ice cream landed right on her clit.

This time, she screamed. One more drop and she’d explode.

And like he’d read her mind, he poised the spoon higher above her sex. When he tipped it, the droplet hung in the air, falling in slow motion. When that icy drop connected with her hot button, she started to come.

Then Tell’s hot mouth was there, sucking on her ice-cream-cooled clit. Tonguing her through an orgasm of epic proportions. When the powerful climax ended, she floated down to the table like a butterfly.

Her butterfly haze didn’t last long.

Tell pulled her up by her shoulders and put his mouth on her ear. “I need to fuck you, Georgia. Given how hard I am, it’s gonna be short.

But not sweet.

He flipped her over on her belly. Something soft and nubby kept her hips from digging into the edge of the table. With her hands bound and her feet unable to touch the floor, Georgia was completely at Tell’s mercy.