Untamed (8 page)

Chapter Nine

Clint kicked off his boots, went into the kitchen for a beer and then walked out on the patio and took a seat by the pool. He pulled out his phone. No messages and no calls.

He’d called Lily a hundred times the last three weeks and had sent twice that many texts and still no response. Where the hell was she? And why wasn’t she answering?

He was sick with worry. Worry that Johnny B had found her. Worry that she was somewhere alone and broke with no one to turn to. Most of all, he was sick at the thought that she felt she had to leave.

Cam had tried to make him listen to reason. “Put yourself in her shoes, bro. If it was you, would you have done any different? She thought she was protecting us. You know Lily. She couldn’t live with the idea that she was putting either of us in danger.”

Maybe Cam was right, but that didn’t change the fact that it had ripped his heart out when she left. He’d hired a private detective to try to find her but so far the guy hadn’t turned up anything.

Clint leaned back and closed his eyes. A month ago the future had looked so good. He’d been able to envision a life like he’d dreamed of. A wife and kids, a ranch that was starting to thrive.

Now that all seemed like a fairy tale. Now there was only work and nights filled with loneliness.

He heard a vehicle in the driveway. Cam must be back from the store. They were pretty much out of everything and Cam was tired of takeout food so he’d gone for supplies.

Clint tilted up his beer for a long drink then closed his eyes again. His phone chimed to indicate an incoming text. He pulled it out and looked at it.

Can we talk?

It was Lily!

Where are you?
He texted in response.

Turn around.

Clint bolted up from his chair and turned. She stood on the opposite side of the patio, just inside the door.

“Where’ve you been?” he asked.

“Trying to make things right.” She walked over to him.

Now that he was standing face-to-face with her, now that he knew she was safe, all of the worry vanished and anger surfaced. “And making it right means letting me worry half to damn death that something had happened to you? You call that caring, Lil?”

Lily had expected him to be angry. She would have been if the situations were reversed. But she hadn’t expected to feel anger in return. She bit down on the urge to reply in kind, walked past him and went into the kitchen.

He entered as she was getting a beer from the refrigerator and slammed the door behind him.

“What the hell were you thinking?” His voice was angry enough to have her hackles rise. This wasn’t how she’d hoped it would go, but maybe she deserved no less.

“Excuse me?” She arched her eyebrows haughtily, knowing it would spur him on.

“You heard me. I didn’t need protecting. And you could have at least talked to me before you took off.”

“I had to take care of things myself.”

“By running away? And what if that Johnny B had found you? What were you going to do, set him on fire?”

“If necessary.”

“Smart, real smart.” The mocking tone of his voice jacked her anger higher. He deserved his anger but why the hell couldn’t he understand that she had been trying to protect him?

“Fuck you, Clint!”

He grinned at her and it wasn’t a friendly sort of expression. More like a predator closing in on its prey. “You don’t want to start up with me, sugar.”

“Fuck you.” Not much of a comeback, but at the moment it was all she had. His nearness was making her weak. She didn’t want to fight, but couldn’t seem to stop herself.

“You making that a formal offer, honey?” His tone was teasing, but there was nothing of a jest in his eyes.

Okay, this was getting out of hand and at the moment she couldn’t tell if he was offering a truce or just being mean and setting her up for a fall. Whatever the case, she wasn’t prepared, so she took the coward’s way and went for the door.

Clint grabbed her wrist to stop her.

“Let go of me,” she warned.

“Or?”

Lily hissed and raised her hand to hit him, only to have him catch her fist before it made contact. She tore free and backed away, stopping only when her backside bumped into the kitchen table.

Clint stalked over to her, putting his hands on the table on either side of her.

“Or?” he asked again.

“Move, Clint.”

“Or?” The heat was back in his eyes.

“Or we’re gonna have a big problem.”

“Oh we already have a problem, Lily.

“Do we?” Her eyes met his and held. “And what might that be?”

“This.”

At the same moment the word came from his lips, he reached behind her with his left arm and pulled her against him. Her breath came out in a small rush a moment before his lips closed on hers.

As Clint’s arm tightened around her, she pressed into him. It was a lusty battle of tongues and teeth, hands gripping and roving, bodies straining into one another. Clint growled in protest when she pushed back from him.

“Don’t stop now, honey.”

She shook her head and blew out her breath. She couldn’t play this game. Not with him. It was too costly and she couldn’t take the strain of it. “Clint, I came to explain.”

He cocked his head slightly to one side. “I’m listening.”

“Really?”

“I said I’m listening.”

“Okay.” She took a breath and steeled herself. “You affect me like a drug and right now there’s nothing I want more than to get you out of those clothes and inside me. But—”

She raised both hands and pressed them against his chest when he moved to pull her back to him. “But—I need you to know that I left because I didn’t want to bring any more trouble to you or Cam. When Cam got shot—”

“No one blamed you for that, Lil.” Some of the heat went out of his tone.

“But—” She kept the pressure on his chest, looking up at him. She couldn’t tell if he meant it. “But it was my fault. If it wasn’t for me, Eddie wouldn’t have brought those thugs—”

“Fuck Eddie. You’re not responsible for him. Don’t you think Cam and I know that? You didn’t make a deal with that loan shark and you didn’t bring him here. That was Eddie. Cam getting shot was his fault, not yours.”

“But I—”

“Lil, the only thing you screwed up on was walking away. I love you. Don’t you know that? And I’m in it for good or bad. I thought you were too. I thought you trusted me.”

“Oh my god, Clint, it had nothing to do with trust. I just didn’t want you to get hurt. I thought if—”

“You thought wrong, honey.”

Her eyes searched his for a long time. What she saw was him being honest with her, him forgiving her. And him wanting her.

She fisted his shirt in both hands and yanked him to her.

There was nothing gentle in his lips as they staked a claim on hers. Teeth nipped and tongues clashed. Breath came hard and fast. Clint gave no care to the damage to her clothing as he tugged and tore anything that barred him hands from her flesh. His hand moved between her legs to the wetness that clearly spelled her desire.

She was no less impatient as she stripped his shirt off then started on his jeans. By the time his Levi’s were bunched around his knees, he was past the point of caring about anything except sinking deep inside the liquid silk between her legs that was becoming wetter with each stroke of his fingers.

Lily tore free from his mouth as his fingers stroked faster inside her. Her fingers dug into the top of his shoulders, her breath a series of pants. She was so close.

“Let go, sugar.”

His lusty croon was all she needed to send her tumbling over the edge. Her sex clenched to the accompaniment of a low throaty moan she made no attempt to silence.

“In me,” she panted before the climax could subside.

The smile he flashed her was all the time it took for him to lift her up, supporting her with his hands firm on her ass. Lily wound her legs around him and in one fluid motion, he slid inside.

A quick “ahh” went along with the momentary flash of pain. It’d been a while and it took her body a few seconds to begin to adjust to the sensation of being so full.

A few seconds was all she allowed. Hanging on to his shoulders, she bucked against him, the motion driving him deeper. Clint’s breath hissed, his eyes locked on to hers and everything around them vanished.

She couldn’t explain it any other way. Not that it mattered. All that mattered was the feel of him inside her and the hard, driving rhythm of his body. She met him stroke for stroke, feeling sensation build to the point of madness.

“Now,” she groaned. “Please. Now, now, now.”

Almost before the last two words were out of her mouth, an orgasm ripped through her. Not blossomed, flowered or flowed. Nothing so tame could describe it. It ripped. Raw and primal, its force had her throwing back her head and screaming.

On and on, one wave after another pounded her. She welcomed it, wanted it and gave herself completely to it. When at last he slowed his pace, she lifted her head to look at him and was met with a look hot enough to have her tightening around him in anticipation.

Clint worked his feet out of his boots with her still wound around him, then stepped out of his jeans and carried her into the family room. Lily hung on as he sat down on the couch, the position impaling her fully on his erection.

She grinned and urged him onto his back. The moment he was supine, she braced her hands on his chest and started a rhythm of her own. Slow at first then faster as his eyes darkened and his hands tightened on her thighs.

Gone were thoughts of explanations. Now there was only him and the tension building inside both of them. She could feel him getting close and it drove her higher. She saw it in his eyes, and that shoved her over the edge. A free fall of overwhelming sensation claimed her as she rode out the storm. When at last reason returned, she lay down on him, feeling the rapid beat of his heart and the sweat-damp skin hot against her own.

Clint’s arms circled her, holding her tight despite the heat, his lips gently pressing against her forehead. For several minutes neither of them moved.

“Remember the first time?” he whispered.

She nodded and pulled back to look at him.

“It feels like the first time every time I love you, Lil.”

Lily sat up, slinging her hair back over her shoulders. Clint looked up at her, his hands moving to trace along the undersides of her breasts. “I took care of Johnny B, Clint.”

His face took on a worried look. “Took care of—Lil, tell me you didn’t set him on fire.”

“No,” she laughed. “It was a miracle, Clint. I went to the farm and found an old box of coins in the root cellar. You know, my dad always collected them.”

“Yes, I remember. He always used to say this nickel or this quarter is going to make us rich one day.”

“He was right.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes. I took the coins to a dealer and there was a 1913 Liberty Head V Nickel.”

“Which means?”

“It was worth over three million dollars.”

“You’re shitting me.”

“God’s honest truth.” She crossed her heart. “I paid off Johnny B and got a lawyer to arrange a quick divorce in Vegas.”

“Eddie agreed to that?”

“A half a million dollars was all the incentive he needed. I put the farm up for sale.”

“And?”

“And I’d like to invest here in your ranch. If you’ll let me.”

“Hmm, well, I don’t know. We might have a problem there.”

“Oh.” She felt her hopes start to crash.

“Yeah, see, I was thinking maybe instead of being an investor, you could be a partner.”

“As in Marsh and Ridenger?”

“No, more like Mrs. Marsh.”

Happiness bubbled up like sparkling light inside her. “And you don’t think me being Mrs. Marsh would be a bigger problem?”

“Oh yeah, much more.”

“More?” She ran her hands over the swell of his chest and down his abdomen to the point their bodies met. The tip of his penis peeked from beneath her, swelling to full erection before she even touched it.

“A whole lot more.”

“Well, then I guess we’re going to have to work on resolving that, aren’t we?”

His response was to pull her down to him. Just before their lips met, he smiled. “Oh yeah, we’re gonna work real hard on it.”

“Yeah?” She grinned, enjoying the easy banter.

“Yep. I’ve got you now, Lil, and I’m not ever letting go. I don’t give a hoot about your money. Spend it, stick it away, save it for our kids. I don’t care. Just promise me that you’ll never leave me. That you’ll say I do and mean it.”

“I do, Clint. Every moment of every day. I do.”

“Welcome home, honey.”

She met his kiss, feeling more than passion. Her dad had been right. His coins had made her rich. More importantly, they’d brought her home.