Taking Catie: The Temptation Saga: Book Three (10 page)

Catie’s breath caught, and she continued to move up and down on Chad, until she felt the still new contractions begin deep within her body.

“Oh, Chad!” she cried.

Chad let her nipple slide from his mouth. “That’s it, sugar. Come. Come for me. Come all over me.” He thrust upward, into her, filling her. “Ah, yeah. That’s it.”

Catie collapsed on Chad’s chest, his mat of hair slick with perspiration. Her ear slid over his heart, and its beat thumped against her, quick, in synchrony with hers.

Oh, how I love this man
.

“Stay with me, sugar.”

“Hmmm?”

“Stay. Spend the night with me. Please.”

Warmth radiated through her. “Really?”

“I don’t ask a lot of women to stay, Catie. I can’t promise you anything beyond tomorrow, but I want you to be here in the morning.”

Catie’s lips curved against Chad’s hard chest, and she nodded.

“Okay, Chad. I’ll stay.”

C
atie woke
up in Chad’s arms. A dream come true.

“Hey, sugar.” He nuzzled her neck.

“The parade, Chad. I have to ride in the parade.”

“Mmm. Later, baby.” He trailed moist, sucking kisses over her neck, her chest, her nipples. “You’re so sweet.”

“But I need to shower, and get my outfit. It’s at home.”

Chad chuckled, a rumble against the sensitive skin of Catie’s breasts. “You already had an outfit? Just assumed you’d win?”

“Angie’s idea.”

She shuddered. His mouth was so firm, so demanding, and it felt so good on her flesh.

“I’m not surprised.” He sucked a nipple between his lips.

Catie closed her eyes, her head flinging backward.

“Delicious,” Chad said against her skin.

“The parade—”

“Fuck the parade,” he rasped against her skin. “Better yet, I’m going to fuck you.”

He reached between her legs and slid his long fingers through her folds. “Mmm. Always wet, sugar. Always wet for me.”

Of course she was. Her body was in a perpetual state of heat around him. This couldn’t be normal, could it? Even his crude words turned her on.

“Chad.”

“Yeah, baby, say my name. I love that.”

“I wasn’t—”

“Say it again. I love the way it rolls off your tongue.”

“Chad.”

“Yeah, just like that.”

He slid one long finger inside her, and she sighed. Her whole body blazed. So good.

“I’m going to make you come, sugar.” He slid down her body, leaving wet kisses as he went.

She shivered and quaked beneath his talented hands and mouth.

“I’m going to make you come so hard that you cream all over my face, and then I’m going to stuff my hard cock inside you so deep, bury myself in that sweetness.”

Catie gasped as his mouth descended to her most private place.

To hell with the parade.

N
o big surprise
. Catie was late to the parade. But only by a few minutes. She wouldn’t let Chad drive her either. She felt it wouldn’t make the right statement for her to be seen with one of the judges the day after the competition had ended.

Chad had agreed, though a little too quickly for Catie’s taste. She knew he wasn’t serious about her. Heck, had he ever been serious about any woman? Nope. And she wasn’t about to be the first. Rationally, she knew this. But a little part of her hoped she’d be the one to land the unattainable Chad McCray.

But they weren’t in love. At least he wasn’t.

They weren’t even dating. They were sleeping together. On his schedule. When
he
wanted it. And she wanted him so much she was willing to go along.

Was she completely blind?

No, she knew who and what he was. Still, she loved him.

“Come on, Catie,” Judy Williamson called, “we need you and Ladybird over here. You’ll be leading the parade.”

Ladybird was curried and saddled and ready to go, so Catie led her in the direction from which Judy’s voice had come. The Bakersville High School marching band was lining up, the band director yelling. The pom-pom girls were giggling and pointing at cute boys.

Catie rolled her eyes. She’d never been a pom-pom. Nope, never one for that high school stuff. Of course with her clumsiness, she’d have fallen off the pyramid anyway. She’d been content to be the bookworm, the A student, the girl who preferred the company of horses to two-legged creatures.

Unless the two-legged creature’s name was Chad McCray.

God, was she back to him again? Would her thoughts ever be free of him?

She shook her head and sighed. Not as long as she kept sleeping with him, they wouldn’t. She knew something else as well.

She’d continue sleeping with him. For as long as he’d have her.

She mounted Ladybird and took her place at the head of the parade with the grand marshal, who happened to be Dallas McCray.

“Hey there, rodeo queen,” Dallas said, his dark eyes crinkling at the corners. He was handsome, no doubt. He and Zach resembled each other. They looked like their mother, Laurie, who’d had the jet-black hair. Chad looked more like their late father, Jason McCray, whose hair had been dark, but a shade or two shy of black. Jason’s had never grayed. Even when he’d passed on ten years ago at the age of seventy, his hair was still that warm dark brown, like Chad’s. Dallas had been graying for years, and now Zach had started. It worked on them. But not Chad. Course he was younger, but Catie secretly hoped he’d remain gray-free forever. She loved the walnut warmth of his hair color. The way it felt when she ran her fingers through its silkiness. How it whispered against her thighs when his head was between her legs.

Did she really taste like raspberries?

“You gonna answer me?”

She jerked in the saddle. “What?”

Dallas chuckled. “You were a million miles away, rodeo queen.”

Her cheeks warmed. Good thing he couldn’t read her mind. She was having some very lascivious thoughts about his baby brother. “I’m sorry, Dallas. What did you ask?”

“I asked whether you had any big plans after the parade. Annie and I are having some people over. We just threw it together this morning.”

“Oh. I…uh…” Chad hadn’t said anything about getting together with her. Likely he’d be at his brother’s house. “No, no, I don’t have any plans.”

“Then stop by. Annie’d love for you to be there.”

“Sure, I’d love to.”

“Great. Just come by after the parade. It’s a pretty casual affair. Annie ordered up barbecue from Dixon’s this morning.”

“Mmm. Sounds yummy.”

“You seen Chad this morning?”

Catie’s pulse jumpstarted, and she hoped the warmth that she knew reddened her looked like nothing more than summer heat. She cleared her throat. “No, I haven’t.”

“Okay. I need to tell him about our shindig.” He tipped his Stetson and trotted off on his gray gelding. “See you later. I’m off. Judy’ll tell you when to go.”

“Okay. Thanks, Dallas.”

Behind her, the band was tuning up. Among the discord and din of voices, Catie heard Amber trot up next to her.

“Hey there,” the other woman said.

“Amber. Hi!” Catie was genuinely glad to see her. “Are you in the parade, too?”

“Yeah, they asked me. I’m supposed to ride up here with you.”

“That’s great. I’ve been gone for a while, but I’m glad they’re letting the first runner-up ride. That’s awesome.”

“Didn’t they do it before?”

“Honestly, I never paid much attention. The last parade I attended was five years ago.” She laughed. “I always paid more attention the horses than the people riding them.”

Amber laughed, and her smile seemed genuine. Maybe they would be friends.

Judy motioned for them to go, and Catie and Amber trotted along behind a few floats. Amber was incredibly good at this. She waved and smiled and didn’t look out of place at all in her first runner-up sash. Catie felt like a fish out of water. Amber definitely should have won the contest. She might not be the horsewoman Catie was, but she had the poise thing down. Catie was glad she didn’t have to walk in the parade. She’d likely trip over someone’s banana peel or something.

C
had didn’t like it
. He didn’t like it one bit. That skunk Joe Bradley was hanging all over Catie. Why was he at Dallas’s anyway?

Annie. That’s right. He and Annie were friends. He’d taken her out on a date when she and Dallas were broken up. Or before they got together. Or whatever. Chad never could keep it straight. His brother had been an idiot. He’d let Annie go.

Course who was Chad to talk? Was he just as much of an idiot when it came to Catie?

He sure didn’t want anything serious. Or so he thought.

Still, he responded to her in a way different from any woman he’d known. What was it about her? She was beautiful, but Chad had known lots of beautiful women.

She was so damn young, though. Why in hell couldn’t he keep his hands to himself around her?

She was flirting with Joe, damn her. As if he, Chad, weren’t even here. It was his brother’s house, for God’s sake. Of course he was here, and Catie should be with him.

But he’d leave her be. She was the rodeo queen. Everyone wanted to talk to her, congratulate her. That’s probably all it was. That’s why Joe was hanging around her. He and all those other young men.

Hell, Joe was four years older than Chad!

Enough was enough.

His long strides carried him straight toward Catie and her male harem.

“Hey, Chad,” Joe said. “Come to join the party?”

“Come to take away the queen,” Chad said. “C’mon, Catie.”

“What?” Catie looked at him suspiciously. “Terry was in the middle of a story, Chad. Why don’t you join us?”

“I don’t think so.” He grabbed her arm. “We need to chat.”

“We do?”

“Yeah. Excuse us, will you fellas?”

“Uh, sure,” Joe said, nodding to the others. “But don’t keep her away too long.”

“What is this all about?” Catie demanded, as Chad pulled her into the house and down a long hallway to Dallas’s office. He shut the door and turned the deadbolt.

“Joe’s not your type.”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“I don’t have a type, Chad. And it doesn’t matter anyway. I’m not interested in Joe.”

“He’s sure interested in you.”

“He’s old enough to be my daddy, Chad!”

“He’s only four years older than I am, sugar."

“Okay, my young daddy. Jesus.”

“He wasn’t lookin’ at you like a daddy looks at his little girl.”

“This is stupid.” Catie shrugged loose from his grasp. “I want to get back to the party.”

“You like being queen for day, huh?”

“Queen for the year, Chad McCray. I’m queen for a year. And hell yeah, I’m beginning to like it. I’ve never gotten this much attention from…”

Her cheeks pinked. Damn, she was adorable as all get out.

“From men, sugar? You’ve never had this much attention from men?”

“No,” she said flatly. “No, I have not. And frankly, Chad, it’s flattering and I like it. So if you’ll excuse me—”

He clamped his mouth on hers so hard he thought for sure he’d bruised his lips. She resisted at first, but his persistence paid off, and she sighed and opened to him. He swept his tongue into her mouth, tasting her lips, her teeth, the inside of her cheeks. He hadn’t a clue what she’d been drinking, but damn it, she tasted like raspberries. Again. He groaned. Why couldn’t he get enough of her?

As though it had a mind of its own, one of his hands began to unsnap her white western shirt. The shirt was fitted—the same one she’d worn in the parade, and it clung to the swell of her finely shaped breasts and had made him hard all freaking day.

She shied away.

“Nuh-uh, sugar,” he whispered. “You’re not getting away from me.”

She pushed against his chest, but he held her in his grasp.

“I want you.” He ripped all the snaps open with one fell swoop.

“You just had me last night.” Catie pushed against his chest.

“Well, I want you again now.”

“No, Chad. Not like this. Not in your brother’s house, with the whole town outside.”

Chad chuckled, nipping her ear. “I remember a party once. At your house. And you would have been damn happy to do this with the whole damn town within earshot.”

Chad’s arousal tightened even more, if that were possible, as he thought of the gazebo on the Bay ranch, and that night four years earlier when Catie had begged him to make love to her. He had resisted, but he still dreamed of that night. Even though he’d had her several times now, the memories of that evening still inflamed his passions. Would he always be inflamed around Catie Bay?

Catie pushed him away, and her strength startled him.

“I was a kid then, Chad, as you reminded me that night. I no longer want to make love in front of the whole damn town.”

“Fine then.” He took her hand. “We’ll go back to my place.”

“No again,” she said.

Chad gasped in surprise. “What?”

“You heard me.”

He shook his head. “Unbelievable.”

“What’s so unbelievable about it? We had some good times. You made it clear that’s all I could ever expect from you. I enjoyed myself. You did your…job well.”

“My job? What the fuck?”

“Yeah. Your job of taking my virginity.”

“Now you hold on, sugar. That’s not fair.”

“It’s not? Well, here’s some news, Chad McCray. I got what I wanted. I got you to take my virginity. I wanted it. I got it. I’m done.”

Chad shook his head, flabbergasted. Was he hearing her right? “You’re kidding.”

“Nope.” Catie shook her head with vehemence. “I want you. I don’t deny it. But I'm no longer satisfied to come to your bed just when you’re in the mood. You have a decision to make, Chad. I’m not going to be your call girl any longer.”

“Call girl?” Did she really think he thought of her that way? “I’ve never paid for sex in my life, and I ain’t gonna start now, sugar.”

“Good. You don’t have to. There’s a whole ranch full of beautiful women out back, Chad. One of them’s bound to strike your fancy. And I’m sure she’ll offer it up for free. But this little filly’s done.”

She snapped up her shirt, fluffed her hair, walked toward the door, and turned the deadbolt.

“Catie,” he said, but she was already gone.

C
atie stood
in the powder room, splashing cold water over her face.

She had done the right thing. Chad wasn’t serious about her, and she couldn’t keep sleeping with him. Oh, she wanted to, and only a day ago, she had been determined to keep it up. But talking to the other men had made her realize that maybe, just maybe, there was a man out there who would care for her. Would offer her more than just sex when he was horny.

She was worth more, damn it. And she intended to have it.

A tear trickled down her cheek.

Too bad she only wanted it from one man, and he was the one who would never give it to her.