Riding West (4 page)

Celia lifted to one elbow and blinked at the unfamiliar surroundings. The small space was neat and tidy, the plain rough table set with two plates and cups. There was already a pile of biscuits in a tin bowl. The sizzle of meat in a skillet made a soft, comforting sound.

She was entirely naked under the blankets, Celia realized with a jolt of memory. Her thighs, also, were slightly sticky. As the night before began to return in a small rush of erotic images, she blushed even though she was completely alone.

Parker West had done some fairly outrageous things to her body. Things she didn‘t imagine men and women ever did together. He‘d had his mouth between her legs, for heaven‘s sake, and acted as if he
liked
doing it.

He‘d put more than his mouth there. She remembered what it was like to be filled with his long, hard length, and a treacherous throb began in the very spot he‘d invaded so carnally.

God help her, she‘d liked it. Worse, he‘d known it too, for she‘d been vocal enough about her enjoyment.

It was a little humiliating.

But not enough to keep her from wanting to do it again.

The door swung open and he came inside, carrying the odor of pine and a breath of fresh mountain air. Dressed in his faded jeans, a patterned flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and hatless, he looked boyishly handsome with his carelessly combed hair and a grazing of dark whiskers on his jaw.

She tried to ignore the treacherous reaction she had to his presence. “Good morning.”

His smile always had the power to beguile and disarm, no more than a quick, almost shy curve of his well-shaped mouth. “Good morning. I hope you slept well.”

It was a polite thing to say, but ridiculous, as he certainly knew just how she‘d slept. Naked, curled against him, his arms loosely clasped around her waist as they shared the bed. “I slept just fine,” she told him, unaccountably chagrined. She pulled up the blanket to cover her bare breasts.

“Are you hungry?”

She was famished actually. They had never eaten supper the night before as they‘d been too busy doing other things. Celia nodded, watching him crouch to adjust the coffeepot on the coals in the fireplace.

“It‘s about ready,” he told her with a nod toward the table.

Glancing around, she looked for her clothes but saw nothing but the swept floor and plain, sparse furniture. “I wouldn‘t mind getting dressed,” she said pointedly. “Where are my clothes?”

“You don‘t need clothes.” His expression was perfectly bland.

Speechless for a moment, she stared at him.

“I like you naked,” he explained as if it were the most reasonable thing on earth he‘d obviously taken her clothes and put them somewhere. “Shall we sit up and eat?”

Celia sputtered, “You expect me to sit at the table nude and calmly eat with you?”

He winked, an uncharacteristic wicked grin surfacing again. “It‘s a little fantasy of mine.”

A part of her wanted to laugh, but a greater part of her wanted to strangle him. “Well, too bad. Parker, give me back my shift, at least.”

He shook his dark head. “Not right now. I make the rules, sweetheart, in case you haven‘t noticed. It never did get me anywhere to let you lead me around by the nose, so while we‘re here anyway, things are going to be as I like them.” His ebony brows lifted in open amusement. “And I like you naked. I like it a
lot
.”

He had to be the most infuriating, high-handed…outrageously handsome cowboy west of the Mississippi. Celia furiously watched him fill two plates with crisp bacon, steaming beans and biscuits, and had to admit the food smelled wonderful.

He looked wonderful, too. So tall and graceful in his quick, economic movements, the chiseled planes of his face and lean length of his body utterly masculine and entirely too attractive for her peace of mind.

Trying to eat with a blanket wrapped around her probably would be awkward and he‘d end up getting an eyeful anyway.

Perhaps it was best to just comply, she decided with an inner glimmer of an idea. He might just be sorry he‘d ever suggested this particular disgraceful notion.

When he set the plates on the table and gazed at her expectantly, an infuriatingly smug smile tugging at his mouth, Celia smiled right back. “I don‘t suppose there‘s much I can do about this…fantasy, is there?”

“Nope.”

“I am hungry,” she admitted, eyeing the steaming plates.

“It‘s not fancy but I‘m a decent cook.” Parker stood politely by the table, waiting for her.

“It smells good but I need to…” She wasn‘t sure exactly how to express what she needed, and that was to relieve herself and some water and a cloth would be welcome.

It was a little disconcerting to realize he understood perfectly. “I heated some water earlier,” he said in an off-hand voice. “It‘s in a bucket on the porch.”

“You don‘t expect me to go out there without anything on.”

He just lifted his brows. “Who‘s going to see?”

Fine. If he wanted to be that way, she could give it right back.

She let her lashes drift down a fraction as she eased the blanket over her breasts, slowly exposing them. Sliding her legs over the side of the bed, she stood and stretched a little in a deliberately provocative way that thrust out her breasts as she shook back her long, tangled hair.

When she walked the few steps to the door, she saw his gaze had darkened slightly and he certainly wasn‘t looking at her face.

Good
. If he was hoarding her clothes and making her walk outside naked, she was going to exact a little revenge.

True to his word, a bucket of warm water sat outside, and once she‘d availed herself of the nearby bushes, she washed quickly, the morning air warming but still cool and crisp. He was still inside, standing by the table when she went back in. She shivered a little because she had no clothes but he pretended not to notice.

At least she was pretty sure he pretended. He seemed a bit distracted.

She sat down, waiting for him to sink into the opposite chair. The table was small, and they were close enough to touch. Picking up her fork, she asked pleasantly, “Any other fantasies I need to be aware of?”

His gaze was fastened on her bare breasts, but flickered up to meet hers briefly. “When it comes to you, I have quite a few.”

The heat in his sky blue eyes made her feel that pleasurable pulse again between her legs. Celia took a small spoonful of beans and chewed and swallowed before she said dryly, “I‘m almost afraid to ask.”

“I think you‘ll find out soon enough.” He seemed to have forgotten he had a fork. The utensil sat by his plate as he watched her eat.

“That sounds interesting since last night wasn‘t too bad,” she said in a teasing tone, moving a little so her breasts swayed slightly. She might be fairly sheltered in some ways, but she did have three older brothers who occasionally made comments about women when they didn‘t know she could hear. Men seemed to have a fair fascination with a particular part of the female anatomy. Parker certainly seemed riveted on her chest at this moment.

“Aren‘t you going to eat?” she asked innocently before she took a bite of flaky biscuit. He hadn‘t lied about his cooking abilities. It was surprisingly light and delicious. “Or are you just going to sit there and let your food get cold while you stare at my tits?”

Looking startled, he growled, “Where did you hear that word?”

“Oh, come on, Parker. I have brothers and there are over a dozen hands on the ranch. I‘ve probably about heard it all here and there.”

“They should watch their mouths around you.”

“This from the man who is forcing me to eat breakfast naked?” She couldn‘t help it, she laughed.

He was good-natured enough he also laughed, his mouth curving ruefully. “Maybe this was a damned poor idea after all,” he muttered, and shifted a little in his chair.

“Are you…like
that
again?” Celia asked the question in mock sympathy.

What ever he was, Parker was not a fool. “I suppose you think it serves me right?”

“I sure do.” She took another bite of her biscuit, looking at him in open challenge. “The question is, what are you going to do about it?”

———

She was a little witch, that was all there was to it.

It wasn‘t like Parker didn‘t know she could be a tease—she‘d done it to him often enough before, but this time things were entirely different.

His gaze dropped involuntarily to the spectacular swell of her bare breasts. She truly had perfect tits—as she put it—beautifully shaped and full, with those delectable pink nipples that fit so well in his mouth. Parker didn‘t think he‘d ever seen anything quite so arousing. When she moved, even just to take a dainty bite of her food, the luscious weight of her flesh swayed in a slight quiver.

There was no doubt about it, his prick was at full attention and even though he‘d been darned hungry before, it paled beside the ravenous carnal hunger he felt right at this moment. All he wanted to do was to take her, and take her hard. He wanted to hear those small, sexy sounds she made as he plunged inside her warm, wet sex, and he wanted to feel her come all around him again.

For the past five years, he‘d longed for her so badly he couldn‘t sleep at night. Though he didn‘t think it possible, having had her, he needed her even more.

“What do you think I should do about it?” he asked in a voice that didn‘t even remotely sound like his own.

“You could fuck me again,” she said, her blond hair a glorious riot of disheveled curls around her bare, ivory shoulders, a glint of mischief in her dark blue eyes. “I‘d guess it‘s the obvious way to relieve your discomfort.”

Yeah, a wickedly gorgeous little witch who had definitely heard a few words not meant for her ears.

“Is that an invitation?” he asked.

“Do you need one?” Her mouth curved slightly. “You didn‘t seem to need one last night.”

He didn‘t. Unless the open challenge in her gaze and obvious peaked state of her delicately pink nipples was an invitation. She looked like she wanted it, and he was more than willing to give it to her.

Parker stood and scooped her out of the chair. Taking her back to the rumpled bed, he deposited her without ceremony and unfastened his pants to free his straining erection. Celia watched him shove his jeans down his hips. She said breathlessly, “Hurry.”

Oh God
.

He couldn‘t get out of his clothes fast enough. He heard the rattle of a button as it hit the floor when he pulled his shirt off, and it seemed forever to get his boots off his feet. Celia watched him with languorous invitation in her beautiful eyes and her glorious body was posed seductively, slim thighs slightly parted so he could see the promise of heaven. As he finally tossed his jeans aside, she deliberately and slowly spread her legs open in an unmistakable carnal signal of exactly what she wanted.

God in heaven, he could tell she was already wet and ready.

He covered her and with one smooth thrust, sheathed himself to the hilt inside her luscious wet heat.

When she cried out, he had one split second of fear he‘d hurt her, but then her legs wrapped around his waist and her nails lightly scored his back. She said breathlessly, “Oh, yes.”

He should at least kiss her, he thought as he began to move, but from the urgent lift of her hips and the grasp of her hands, he guessed she was more interested in speed than finesse. The night before he‘d taken care to make love to her as gently as he knew how and initiate her to sexual intercourse with a care for her innocence.

Right now, as she so saucily suggested, he simply fucked her.

His buttocks flexed as he thrust between her legs, his harsh breathing mingling with the soft sounds of her moans of enjoyment. The pleasure of being inside her was exquisite, and the soft friction of her tight nipples against his chest aroused him further. For someone who had been a virgin just the night before, Celia seemed to possess an innate sensuality. She knew just how far to lift her hips so he slid in as deep as possible, and the flush of enjoyment on her lovely face was unmistakable.

When it came to sex, she wasn‘t exactly quiet either, and he found it sexy as hell.

“Parker,” she moaned, her inner muscles tightening with perfect, tantalizing pressure around his surging cock.

“Come for me,” he urged, a faint sheen of sweat breaking out over his whole body. “I want to see you climax, sweetheart.”

Her throat arched back, and her eyes drifted shut, the lashes dark against the elegant curve of her cheekbones. Celia panted, “Ooh…I…can‘t…take…it.”

But she did take it. She took it hard for about another three deep strokes before she screamed and convulsed around his insistent penetration in open, abandoned release.

He climaxed in a violent rush of response, the pleasure so acute the entire world went blank. He ejaculated so hard his muscles shook as he emptied into her vagina. Parker buried his face in the fragrant silk of her tumbled hair and gasped, feeling small aftershocks of pulsing pleasure, only barely aware enough to keep his weight braced so he didn‘t crush the woman beneath him.

Tangled together in an intimate joining of damp skin and entwined limbs, they stayed that way without speaking for a few moments until Celia gave a small, soft laugh. It turned into genuine mirth, and Parker finally lifted his head and wryly raised his brows. “For your information, a man isn‘t flattered if a woman laughs at him after sex.”

Her slender fingers lifted to stroke his cheek and she shook her head. “I‘m not laughing at you, quite the contrary. I‘m laughing at my mother.”

“I‘d appreciate it if when we‘re in bed together that we not mention our parents.” Parker said it with a small grin, entranced with how beautiful she looked beneath him with her burnished gold hair and fragile features. Everything about her was feminine and alluring, and even though he‘d kidnapped her and dragged her up to the secluded cabin, he had the distinct feeling he was the one who was a prisoner. “For instance, I‘d take money on it your father would like to lynch me ‘long about now.”

Considering his cock was still buried deep inside her; that was undoubtedly true. In fact, if Gerald Evans saw them as they were in bed right now, Parker would be a dead man. Celia didn‘t deny it either. She said softly, “He likes you. My mother does, too. The reason I was laughing is because she took me aside a couple of days ago and gave me a pretty frank talk about what we just did. It was almost like she knew this was going to happen.”