Taken, Not Spurred (Lone Star Burn) (7 page)

Chapter Six

T
ony was already working with a dark sorrel gelding in one of the ranch’s large round pens by the time Sarah walked out of the barn with David. The horse was loose and walking in circles around him.

Sarah paused, and David stopped beside her. “It looks like he’s just exercising that horse in circles, but it is more than that, isn’t it?” she asked. David pushed his hat back a little from his forehead and rubbed his chin, also studying the scene before them instead of answering her. Tony stopped the horse with a shift of his body. He turned the horse on his haunches with a slight flick of his hand. The closer Sarah looked, the more communication she could see between the man and the horse. “He’s talking to him with his body, isn’t he?” she asked without realizing she had spoken aloud.

David nodded. “You could say that. Watch him here.”

Tony raised his arm above his head and the horse began to lope around him. He lowered his arm and the horse slowed to a jog.

“Amazing,” she whispered to herself.

“See how the horse never takes his eyes off Tony? Some call it joining up. Some call it becoming the alpha.”

“What does Tony call it?”

Rubbing his chin again, David answered in a slow Texan drawl, “He doesn’t talk about what he does.”

How sad.

“Will it bother him if we go closer so I can see better?”

A quick flash of a smile came and went on David’s face as if he might be enjoying a private joke. “Only one way to find out.”

They crossed the distance to the pen and stopped just a few feet shy of it. Tony turned briefly at the sound. Their eyes met in a clash of unexpected heat. The look he gave her burned with promises she couldn’t begin to interpret, so intense that she turned to see if it was meant for someone behind her.

Nope. Just me.

And David.

That look had better be meant for me and not him.

Sarah suppressed a nervous giggle.

Or it’ll seriously kill my cowboy fantasy.

When Tony turned back to the horse, his expression was angry. His movements were suddenly rigid and the horse turned fully toward him in confusion. He made some small hand motions, then used his voice to urge the horse on, but the horse began to back away as Tony’s temper soured. He raised his arm and issued a verbal command, which stopped the horse but didn’t seem to improve Tony’s mood. He lowered his arm and Sarah heard the echo of his swears.

She looked up at David, who was sporting a huge grin. Despite the growing heat of the day, Sarah’s hands turned cold from nerves and she tucked them into the front pockets of her jeans. “I should probably go.”

Adjusting his hat to shade his eyes more, David said, “No, ma’am, looks to me like you should accept his invitation and stay for a while.” With a nod of farewell, David left her standing there questioning his conclusion.

Really? What exactly gives you that idea?

Tony whipped off his hat and slapped it angrily against one leg as his eyes raked over her again, burning with a desire that sent an answering heat cascading through her.

Oh, that.

Horse forgotten, Tony never broke her gaze as he bent to exit between the metal rails of the pen. He held it until he was standing over her. Sarah looked up at him from beneath her lashes, not bold enough to meet the heat in his eyes head-on. She didn’t trust it to be real. Didn’t trust herself not to quash it somehow. Better to simply savor the idea of it before reality dashed it away.

His tone didn’t match the warmth of his gaze when he ground out, “I know why you’re here.”

Here? Like right here, mooning over you while you try to get some work done?
Sarah licked her bottom lip nervously and kept her eyes fixed on his chin. “Because my friends are unreliable and I have no sense of direction?” she asked helpfully.

He shook his head slowly, both of his hands going to her hips and pulling her closer, close enough for her stomach to brush lightly against the physical evidence of his desire. “Look at me,” he commanded softly.

She did and shivered at the intensity of emotion in his eyes. Whatever was between them was sinfully primal and everything she’d wished for but never experienced.

One of his hands came up and cupped her cheek, his thumb tracing her lips with a tenderness that was in direct contrast to the harsh set of his jaw. “I thought you were a reporter.”

His words made no sense. Sarah shook her head silently, giving herself over to the wonder of his touch, the feel of his arousal pushing against her. She opened her mouth to defend her reason for being there, but fell silent when his thumb took advantage of her open lips and softly caressed them more fully. Unable to control herself, she snuck a lick at the tip, and they both froze from the shock of the connection.

“I’m glad you’re not, because I want to taste every inch of you. I want you to beg to take my cock in your mouth and taste me. I can teach you everything you want to learn.” His husky declaration was voiced as his mouth descended toward hers.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Wait. Wait. Wait.

How does he know what I want to learn?

Taking a fast, shaky breath, Sarah asked, “Did you read my notebook?”

His lips replaced his hand on her jaw, lightly caressing their way to her ear. “Oh yes.”

Sarah wanted to tell him that he’d violated her privacy when his tongue flicked at the spot just behind her ear, and she moaned in pleasure instead. His other hand shifted from her hip to cup her ass and lift her more fully against him. Her nipples hardened and pushed at the material that separated them from the rock-hard chest rubbing against her.

I’ll tell him later.

Once again he was whispering in her ear. “I want to teach you to come until you can’t think, until you can’t move, until nothing else matters but having me deep inside you again.”

Okay
.

Adrenaline and desire swirled within Sarah. It’s one thing to fantasize about having that experience with a man you hardly know, and it’s another to receive the offer.
And o
h . . .
what an offer.

His lips hovered over hers, his green eyes dark with conflict. He growled, “No promises. No expectations. You leave when you want.”

“This is crazy,” she said in a hoarse whisper.

“No, this is what you came for,” he said, and his mouth closed over hers. His tongue pushed through her lips without invitation and swept hers into a heated dance. His hands pulled her tighter against him, shifting her ever so slightly back and forth against his evident arousal. Then he nipped the shell of her ear and growled seductively, “I could fuck you right here, in full view of everyone, and not care what any of them thought. That’s what you do to me. What do I do to you?”

Feeling a bit like a fish gasping for air, Sarah opened and closed her mouth a few times as she sought the words to express this overwhelming rush of sensation. He smiled briefly down at her and claimed her lips in a kiss that erased the desire to speak. He trailed hot kisses across her jaw, down her neck, and back to the sensitive skin behind her ear. He murmured against her cheek, “My little blonde angel, don’t worry, you’ll figure it out. I’ll even show you what you could be doing with those shy hands of yours.”

Realizing they were still buried in her pockets, Sarah felt instantly self-conscious and went rigid with embarrassment.
I have to be the least sex
y . . .

He eased her back a step, but held her as she swayed a bit and shook her head. “If you want to go, I’ll help you find a room in town. Your horse can remain here until you’re ready. He’ll be safe here and you can visit him as much as you like. But if you stay tonight, you won’t sleep in the guest room.” A slow sexy smile stretched his lips. “You likely won’t sleep at all.” His hand slipped beneath her hair and cupped the back of her head, tipping it ever so slightly upward, raising her kiss-swollen mouth toward him again. “Your choice.”

A faint voice of reason attempted to be heard.
He could be dangerous. He showed no remorse about reading my private writings. What else would he do without remorse?

I should leave.

And spend the rest of my life wondering what it would have been like?

She looked into those guarded cowboy eyes and weighed common sense against temptation.

Say yes.

He’d never been a man who had to ask, but he feared he might beg if she refused his offer. Nature had been kind to him in some ways. Female companionship had always been readily available to him. At the height of his career he’d made the “World’s Sexiest” lists in gossip magazines and had enjoyed the benefits of that title for a time. So many women, their names and faces blurred and faded in the years since.

When that life had come to a crashing halt, there had still been offers, but none of them had ever shaken him the way Sarah did with one look. He’d meant every word he’d said to her.

I want her.

Now.

I want to push her to her knees and feel those soft lips on my cock. Right here. Right now. That hot little tongue needs to circle me, inviting me to fuck her mouth. And I will. I’ll bury my hands in her long blonde curls and hold her head there while I go deeper and deeper. I’ll show her just how to suck while I thrust and she’ll open her mouth wider for me. When I come, I want to feel her eagerly swallowing as she cups my balls, begging for more.

I want to lift her up, taste myself on her lips, and fuck her mouth with my tongue while my hands rip away that pretty little blouse and those jeans that are molded to every sweet curve. I want to sink my fingers into her—into that tight little angel pussy. I’ll show her what her clit was made for and love her wetness on my hand. I’ll take those tits in my mouth and tease them until all she can do is cry for more. When she’s begging for it, I’ll lay her down and taste that honey. Because that’s how she’d be—sweet and fresh on my tongue. I won’t stop licking and sucking until she comes in my mouth.

Again and again.

Then I’ll raise myself up, sink just my tip into her, feel those wet lower lips welcome me as her mouth ha
d . . .

It was then he realized she was talking, had been for some time. He shifted uncomfortably and attempted to focus on what she was saying.

“Do you know what I mean?” she asked impatiently.

He shook his head and smiled.
Not one damn bit.
Then he waited. One thing he knew about women was if they made a point they thought needed saying, they’d say it again.

She put both hands on those adorable hips, hips his lips were itching to kiss. “This isn’t funny.”

“No, ma’am,” he said with mock solemnness.

“You can’t proposition me and then just stand there smiling like it’s a joke.”

“Do I look like I’m joking?” he asked. The heat of her gaze dropped to his bulging jeans, making his boner jerk and strain for freedom. “I’ll admit I’m finding it hard to concentrate on anything but getting you up to my room and showing you just how serious I am.”

“Oh,” she said, and was silent for a blissful moment before she continued, “I was going over the pros and cons involve
d . . .
” Her words trailed off as her eyes riveted on the front of his jeans.

He pulled her against him again, closing his eyes for a second as a wave of pleasure swept through him. “Give yourself to me, Sarah, just for one day. Let me show you how good it can be.” He brushed his lips softly over hers.

When she hesitated, he gave in to a desire he couldn’t contain and lost himself in kissing her. He couldn’t get enough. He reached down, lifted her up, and settled her legs around his waist, turning so her back rested against one side of the pen as his hands ran over every inch of her.

A glimmer of sanity stopped him before he tore off her clothes.
Not here. Not like this.

He eased her back to the ground and rested his forehead against hers as they shared a shaky breath.

Take your time.

Savor this.

Because nothing good lasts.

She took his face in both of her hands and searched his eyes for a long moment. A shy smile lit her face. “Okay.”

He buried a shaking hand in her hair and lay her head against his chest, not caring that she could likely hear the wild beating of his heart.

She said yes.

Over her head he saw David leaning against the side of the barn watching them. With a circular motion of one hand, his manager directed Tony’s attention to the area around him. In every doorway and every open space, there seemed to be a slack-jawed ranch hand doing just what David was: watching them.

I’ll fucking kill them.

As if his thought had boomed through the ranch, there was an instant flurry of action while all but David rushed back to their work. David shrugged and with a flip of his thumb suggested Tony move the action somewhere more private.

He’s right.

This is not the place for what I want to do.
But he knew of a nice, secluded area nearby. “Would you like to saddle up and go for a ride?”

Eyes wide, Sarah asked, “What do you mean?”

What else could he mean? “Get your horse and let’s go somewhere private.”

“Now?”

He smiled. “Do you have better plans?” It was hard to look down into those trusting eyes of hers and not feel a bit guilty. By his standards, she was still an innocent. Whatever life Sarah had lived up in Rhode Island, it hadn’t taught her to protect herself. A better man would walk away and let her learn about her sexuality with someone who intended to marry her.

He leaned down and kissed her lips hungrily.

Luckily, I gave up on being a good man a long time ago.

Chapter Seven

S
itting deep in his saddle, Tony adjusted his hat to shade his eyes and began to question the wisdom of his idea. The palomino beneath him had been chosen at random. All the gentled horses were pretty much the same to him. They went through the same program, and he had high expectations for their behavior and responsiveness.

Sarah was not sitting as calmly. Her horse was excited and refusing to stand still for her. He tossed his head and danced sideways in the other direction. Snort. Stomp.

“You sure you want to ride him without a bit?” Tony inquired calmly.

“I don’t like bits,” she replied. “Once we get going, he’ll be fine. He’s just excited to be somewhere new.”

Tony held his tongue. He wasn’t interested in giving her riding lessons, at least not this kind. He told his horse to move off and Sarah came up to ride at his side, then passed him. She pulled back on the reins a bit and her horse tossed his head in protest. Those little hooves flew beneath him even though his forward speed did not increase.

She leaned forward and whispered something to the horse, which instantly dropped down to a walk so the horses were side by side. She looked up, caught Tony watching her, and the most beautiful blush spread across her cheeks. “I told him that if he doesn’t settle down, I am going to get his bit out of my trailer. Sometimes all I have to do is say it.”

“You think he understands that?”

“It worked, didn’t it?” She patted the Paso Fino’s neck. “We understand each other. Scooter likes to stomp around and pretend he’s a tough guy, but underneath all that he’s a marshmallow and he loves me. We don’t need a bit.” A hint of his opinion must have shown in his expression, because she pursed her lips angrily and said, “You don’t agree?”

He explained rather than defended his opinion. “You’re attributing human emotions to an animal.”

“You don’t think a horse can love someone?” she challenged with a toss of her head.

Her question knocked on a door he’d slammed shut and wasn’t about to reopen now. Instead, he fell back on his father’s wisdom. “They’ll bond with anyone who cares for them, but don’t fool yourself into thinking you couldn’t be easily replaced by anyone else with hay and a brush.”

Those large brown eyes studied him for a few quiet moments. When she spoke, her tone was surprisingly kind. “You’re wrong, and I feel sorry for you. There are many things I don’t know, but I do know Scooter. And I think it’s sad that you train so many and you don’t know yours.”

“Believe that if it makes you feel better,” he said, stung by the criticism and, worse, the pity. An instant later he regretted not holding his tongue. He hadn’t invited her out here to argue over ridiculous topics.

Horses were animals.

Plain and simple.

Like most men they were driven by two basic needs: food and sex. Women needed to believe that both species were more complicated than that, but that didn’t change the facts.

She turned away from him and they rode in silence along the fence and onto a dirt road that led to one of his open pastures. The land sloped a bit, affording a view of a huge open space that ended in a lightly wooded area. With a flash of a smile, Sarah said, “I’ll race you to the tree line.” And off she went in a flat-out gallop, her hair coming loose and flying in the wind behind her as she leaned forward and urged her horse on.

It took Tony only a second or two to follow suit. He flicked his reins back, cracking his gelding on the rump, and they were off after her. He had the advantage of riding a larger horse with a longer stride, but she had covered quite a distance during his moments of indecision. He kicked in his heels and felt a rush of adrenaline. Unused to leather snapping on his flank or the surge of energy from the man riding him, his horse gave an excited buck before lowering his head and giving chase.

A sense of freedom washed through him as he and his horse flew across the open field. He vaguely remembered a time, long ago, when he’d ridden for the sheer pleasure of it. Back then it hadn’t been about working them or training them. It had been simply this. This exhilaration.

When did I stop feeling this—feeling anything?

They were closing the distance and would have overtaken Sarah when she came to a sudden stop at the first tree.

“I win,” she proclaimed with a huge grin, circling her Paso Fino in triumph like she’d just won the nationals.

Adrenaline still pumping, Tony brought his horse to a sliding halt beside them. He hopped down, letting the reins drop with the confidence of a man who had trained all his horses to ground tie. He reached up and, without a word, lifted Sarah out of her saddle and slid her down the front of him, holding her against him, stopping only when her toes reached the top of his boots. She tilted her head to look at him.

He bent his head to taste her sweet lips. She wrapped her arms around his neck and met him halfway. He led and she followed, opening her lips eagerly for him. She was every bit as hot and sweet as he remembered, so he took instead of asked.

He couldn’t get enough of her. He ran his hands over every part he could reach, and his mouth explored all her bare skin until he needed more of her—all of her.

He reached down and unsnapped her jeans, continuing his sensual assault as he did.

She arched against him, momentarily pressing his hands between them as he slid her zipper down. When he began to ease her jeans over her hips, she froze.

“Trust me,” he whispered, and began to kiss her neck as he undressed her. He hooked his thumbs beneath the elastic of her cotton panties so he could remove them at the same time as her jeans. Shifting his weight, he held her to him even as he pulled the jeans the rest of the way off, easing her sneakers off at the same time. Her blouse hung just to the curve of her ass.
That delicious ass.
He ran a hand over the soft bareness of it and pressed her wet pussy against the crotch of his straining jeans. Her head fell back in abandon, exposing more of her neck to his attentive mouth.

Nature offered him a delightful option. The tree just behind them had two low thick branches just the right height for what he had in mind. He carried her to it and lifted her onto the lower branch. “Open your legs for me,” he commanded softly, and threw his hat to the ground behind him.

She sat there at first, her legs still together, on a branch about the height of his shoulder. She held on to the branch just above her head and looked down at him nervously. “I’ve never . . .”

He eased her legs apart, positioning her calves over his shoulders and savoring the view for a moment. She was perfection—wet, quivering perfection—and he couldn’t wait to sink his tongue into her. “Then let me show you.”

He waited until she nodded slightly and closed her eyes, then gave in and held her ass in place with both hands while he parted her lower lips with his tongue. She shook at his first intimate lap and he felt a resounding echo of pleasure course through him.

This was not a task to rush.

He explored her with his tongue, seeking out and finding her excited nub. Once there he brought one hand around and used two fingers to open her more to him. He lightly blew on her and loved how she moaned in response. One of her hands was braced on the higher branch; the other was clenched on her thigh.

He took her hand in his and laid it over her blonde mound. “You are so beautiful. Feel how beautiful you are.” He pushed her middle finger between her wet lips and guided it to her clit. “Feel how much you like this.”

Holding on to the branch above her with one arm, she closed her eyes and moved her hand up and down in small jerky movements. He said, “Look at me.” She opened her eyes and he could tell that she wasn’t yet relaxed enough to fully enjoy herself. “Did you like my tongue on you?”

Shyly, she nodded.

“Then touch where you want me to lick. Rub what you want me to suck. Pump that finger inside yourself if that’s what you’d like to feel me do to you next, but don’t close your eyes. I want to see you fuck yourself. I want to share it with you.”

Beneath his hand, she began to move hers again. This time she started as he had, by circling her clit. Then she rubbed it. Awkwardness fell away and was replaced by a rhythm that had them both breathing heavily as her eyes burned with the intensity of her pleasure.

He knew exactly when she dipped her middle finger inside herself, and the act sent a sledgehammer of desire through his gut. He shifted the position of his hand so his finger could enter her as well. She gasped and her eyes widened, but she didn’t protest.

In unison, they pumped in and out, and he loved the wild look that entered her eyes when they did. He said, “Now taste your finger.”

She shook her head.

He stopped moving and took her hand in his. Her finger was wet with her juices. He licked it, never looking away from her shocked eyes. “You will and you’ll enjoy it, but I can wait.” He kissed both of her thighs and then sank his face back into her beautiful pussy and caressed her as deeply as his long tongue would allow. He rolled his tongue and used the thumb of one hand to stimulate her while he continued. He went deeper and deeper, withdrawing now and then to blow on her excited nub until she was writhing on the branch in ecstasy.

She tensed against him, then began to cry out, “Oh, God. Oh, God.” He held her securely as she started to shake and maintained his intimate invasion until she was shuddering beneath his hands and came in his mouth. Then he lapped at her swollen lips slowly, knowing how to gently soothe her.

When he stopped and looked up at her again, she smiled even as she blushed. “Now that’s what I call a prize for winning our race.”

He was beginning to understand that she used her humor as a shield. He didn’t ease up and let her. Instead, he nipped her thigh and growled, “I can’t wait to fuck you in my bed tonight.”

She gulped visibly. “I thought we’
d . . .
u
h . . .
I guess I just assumed that you’d want to do it right now instead.”

He shook his head. There was an intense pleasure in knowing that he’d been the first to bring her the ultimate pleasure, and that he’d guided her toward doing it for herself, but this was only the beginning of what he wanted to teach her. He helped her down from the tree, noting the red marks on her ass from the rough bark. Turning her around to inspect her, he said, “You should have said something if it was hurting you.”

She peered around to her backside, then smiled sheepishly. “I didn’t notice. It’s fine.”

He held up her underwear for her to step back into, loving how she braced herself with a hand on his shoulder as she did. “I’ll kiss it better tonight.” Next he held up her jeans and enjoyed refastening what he’d undone earlier.

Mine.

She stood there as he dressed her, in a flushed daze that tempted him to change his mind and take his own pleasure right then and there. He leaned down and stole one last kiss from those delightful rounded lips before setting her back from him. Her brown eyes widened with a mix of excitement and alarm. His pleasure could wait until there was no sign of the latter. Some men believed in pushing past resistance. That had never been his style. She would come to him boldly before the night was over.

With a nervous lick of her bottom lip, she asked, “What do we do now?”

He reached down and retrieved his hat from the ground, brushing it off on one thigh while noting the absence of one of their horses. “Looks like we chase down your damn fool horse.”

Sarah spun away from him to search the field. When she didn’t see him immediately, her whole demeanor changed. “Oh my God, he’s gone.” When she looked up at him, he was temporarily paralyzed by the real distress in her eyes. “I should have tied him to something. I wasn’t thinking. This is my fault. He has to be okay.” She gripped Tony’s arm, tears instantly cascading down her cheeks. His heart leapt into his throat. “We have to find him. You don’t understand. I can’t lose him,” she said desperately.

Her reaction was extreme, so extreme that Tony wondered if it was about more than just her missing horse—perhaps a past loss she felt responsible for. He understood the second option far too well to be comfortable with it.

If she’s broken, I’m not the man for her.

He wasn’t the rehabilitation type—not with horses, and certainly not with people.

Her past is none of my business. Even if I want to help her, I can’t. I don’t get involved—not anymore.

Yet he couldn’t look away from those pleading brown eyes.

He called to his horse, which instantly trotted over. He swung himself up into the saddle and reached a hand to Sarah, pulling her up behind him. She wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her damp face in his back. Had he been able to speak he would have told her that most likely her horse had headed back to the barn.

Find her damn horse and tell her to go.

Sex is only going to make this worse.

“Do you see him?” she asked urgently, her arms tightening around him.

He shook his head. He would have said something to comfort her, but her fear seared through years of numbness and unspoken words choked in his throat. Her emotion reached inside of him and pulled at what he’d long denied. Pulled at what haunted his nights and had driven him to this solitary life.

When he’d decided to invite her to stay for a bit, it had been because he enjoyed the idea of showing her how much pleasure she’d been missing. He’d chosen the pace. He’d been in control.

As they neared the barn, he didn’t see her horse as he’d expected to and hated the emotions that rushed in. It didn’t help that he felt her breasts pushing against his back with each shuddering breath she took. Something that normally would have turned him on instead revealed the depth of her fear and made him want to pull her into his arms and comfort her.

She’s here for a night of fun—maybe a week tops.

I don’t care about her or her damn horse.
He grunted at the falseness of his desperate claim.