Wrangled and Tangled (25 page)

“No. But we are gonna set some ground rules.” He beamed a cocky smile. “Oh sugar, by the mutinous look on your face, you don’t like that one little bit, do you?”

“Like
you’re
a big rule follower, Renner Jackson.”

Still grinning, he kissed her. “Rule one—you don’t get to tell Daddy nothin’ about what goes on between us.”

Like that would pose a challenge since she and her father currently weren’t speaking. “Done. Is that it?”

Renner shook his head. “Rule two—same deal for the Split Rock employees. All of them. Complete discretion. Everyone knows your father gave me the financing for this place and I don’t wanna give anyone the chance to whisper that I’m with you for any reason besides I wanna be with you.”

“That’s sweet. But I so wanted you to nail me on a dining room table during breakfast,” she cooed.

“Smart-ass. But I do have a whole host of ideas on how we can christen your desk.”

She lightly bit his chin and let her tongue trace the indent near the tip. She recited, “Rule three—same goes for the guests. Rule four—same for the people in Muddy Gap. I get it. Now can we move on to the teaching me about sex part? Because I have lots of—”

He fused his mouth to hers, devastating her with a kiss that proved she had a lot to learn about having this man as her lover. When he pulled his lips away to peer into her eyes, she was so dizzy and wanting she couldn’t speak.

“I’ve figured out a way to shut you up,” he murmured.

She arched, rocking her hips into him. “Do that again. Please.”

“In a second. Two other things. What happens between us on a personal level won’t affect our business dealings.”

“So if you do something asinine regarding the Split Rock, and I demand an explanation, and we have a big blowup, you won’t use that as an excuse to withhold sex from me?”

“I oughta take offense to the word
asinine
. But I’m trying to stay focused even though you are nekkid.” His finger followed the curve of her neck to the hollow of her throat. “You’re so pretty right here. We haven’t been at each other’s throats nearly as much in the last month. Why is that?”

Because I might go broke trying to do my part to keep this place afloat and now I have loads of work to do strictly for cash. I don’t have time to dissect everything you do or obsess over potential mistakes.
“Umm . . . because we realized we have a common goal?”

“Maybe. But I’m glad we ain’t snapping at each other all the time.” Renner kissed her forehead. “Last thing, if we’re together, then there’s no one else. You wanna break it off with me, fine. Do it. But I won’t stand for cheating.”

She outlined the rugged angles of his face, committing to memory his bone structure. “How could any woman ever cheat on you? You’re so good looking. And you have this magnetism.” Her eyes searched his. “I’m jealous. You don’t know what it’s like to be shy. Or to be the least interesting person in the room.”

“Sweetheart, you’re so wrong. You’ve had my interest since the day you stepped your high heels at the Split Rock and glared at me from behind them sexy glasses.”

A blush stained her cheeks. “I’m not fishing for return compliments. I’m just . . . pretty stunned that you’re attracted to me at all.” She traced the twin slashes of his dark eyebrows. “We’re complete opposites.”

“In some ways. But in other ways”—Renner touched his lips to the hollow of her throat—“we fit together so well.”

He slid down her body. Placing a kiss on her breastbone. Her sternum. Her belly button. Then her bikini line. His eyes danced with mischief. “Ever had a man’s mouth down here?”

She shook her head.

He moved south until his face was level with her groin. He dragged his tongue from hipbone to hipbone. One. Twice. Three times.

Her belly muscles rippled, inside and out. “I—I . . .”

At the first swipe of his wet, soft, hot, determined tongue, Tierney decided she’d died and gone to heaven. He licked. Sucked. Tortured her with his mouth until her body nearly vibrated off the bed. Then he really unleashed all his oral tricks. She cried out when the vortex of pleasure dragged her in and spun her around, upside down, inside out, until she couldn’t breathe.

As she floated down from an orgasmic high, Renner was back on her. In her. Watching her eyes as he fucked her. Gauging her reaction to every little thing he did to her. Fast. Slow. Long. Shallow. Hard. Teasing. It didn’t take much for that thundering need to build again. Pulse hammering, hips slapping, sweat-slicked arms and legs fought for purchase on the slippery sheets as she detonated again.

As she came to, Renner stopped and pulled out quickly. He panted, “Dammit, no condom,” spilling his liquid heat on her belly.

Tierney never imagined the proof of his passion cooling on her skin would be such a turn-on. She arched, forcing their lower torsos to glide together in the sticky wetness.

“Sorry,” he murmured. “Won’t happen again.”

“I liked it. It was sexy.” She pressed her lips to his Adam’s apple. “Umm . . . is this where I tell you I take shots so I only get my period four times a year, but it also covers us for birth control, so you don’t have to pull out?”

He lifted his head. Smiled. Kissed her crazily. “Yes, this is the perfect time because I freakin’ hate condoms.”

“You do? But you’ve used them? You’re . . . safe?”

“I haven’t been with anyone for months, Tierney. And I’ve always been vigilant.”

“Good.” She studied him, debating on whether to say something possibly very dorky, or to let it go.

“What?”

“Thank you. This has been beyond what I ever expected. You were . . . this was perfect.”

He smooched her nose. “We’re just getting started. And I intend to give you a whole new definition for the term ‘all-nighter’.”

Tierney traced the shape of his smiling mouth. “I can’t wait. Let’s start now.”

Renner laughed. “Insatiable. I like that. But come on, let’s get cleaned up first.”

“Why can’t we stay here like this?”

“Because we’re sticky. Plus, I’m dying to see what crazy kinda shower curtain you picked for your bathroom.”

Chapter Twenty

W
hen Renner saw Tierney meandering toward him, he hid in the shadows. She carried a clipboard, absorbed in flipping through the pages. Each time she inserted the pen in her mouth and pursed her lips around it, his dick pulsed into his zipper.

He’d intended to stay away from her last night and allow her body recovery time. He hadn’t been rough the first night, but he’d been thorough. Very thorough. That good intention had been blown to hell when he’d found himself at her front door and Tierney pounced on him. Pawing at his clothes. Begging him to touch her everywhere in a husky female whisper that fired a primal need. He’d obliged her, since it was a total rush to be on the receiving end of such unbridled lust.

They hadn’t made it to her bedroom. Renner stripped her, pinned her to the floor and used his mouth to get her off. Driving her higher until she gasped his name as she exploded against his tongue. Then he’d stretched out, bringing her on top to ride him. She had no hesitation at trying whatever he suggested or he demanded. When he focused on her nipples, while manipulating her clit, another powerful climax rocked her, and he got off just watching the surprise of ecstasy on her face. As soon as he stopped coming, her mouth was all over him. Sucking his nipples, mapping every dip and hollow of his body—throat, chest, arms, rib cage, abs, hips, quads—all while verbally marveling at his musculature.

The woman made him feel like a sex god.

So it didn’t sit well that Tierney might be embarrassed to face him. Or worse—had regrets for her uninhibited response to him.

Lost in concentration, she didn’t notice him until he moved in, curling his hands around her hips. “Hey. Are you avoiding me, Miz Pratt?”

“Stop it,” she hissed. “Discretion. Remember? Someone might see us.”

“Fine.” He herded her into an alcove that housed a janitor’s supply closet. Since she’d worn her hair up, his mouth automatically zeroed in to taste that tempting nape. “God, you smell good. I haven’t seen you today.”

Tierney clutched the clipboard to her chest. “Well, I’ve seen you.”

He stopped kissing the section of her hairline above her ear. “When?”

“At the corrals. Almost getting your melon trounced by fifteen hundred pounds of pissed-off bull.”

“You saw that?”

“Yes. And after you were tossed on your butt, you hopped on the back of a bucking bronc without a saddle.”

“I was ridin’ bareback. Saddles are for saddle bronc ridin’.” His thumbs caressed the lower curve of her back. “You chewing me out? I didn’t get hurt.” He noticed her breathing had changed. “Tierney? How long did you watch me?”

“Long enough to get all . . . hot and bothered. Highly distracting seeing you strutting around in those chaps. Then I couldn’t tear my eyes away as you rode.” She shivered. “Such control. Such strength. Such determination. Such concentration. Reminded me of last night.”

A possessive growl broke free. He needed to stake his claim on her again. Right. Fucking. Now.

“I had to stay away from you today. I tried to focus on doing my job, but all I can think about is doing
you
. I’ve never been the type to go overboard on anything. I don’t overeat. I don’t overspend. But now that I know firsthand how intense a physical relationship with you is? All I can think about is going overboard on you. You and me naked. All that delicious friction of interlocking body parts as you’re kissing me stupid.”

“Jesus, Tierney, you want me to drag you into the janitor’s closet and fuck you like an animal?”

“I’d rather you fucked me like an animal in our office where the door locks.” She turned that liquid gaze on him and he couldn’t help but capture her mouth in a savage kiss. Finally, he released her lips and softly snarled, “Go. I’m right behind you.”

Renner remained in the alcove, despite the temptation to watch her ass sway in that swishy black skirt. He waited five excruciatingly long minutes before he strolled down the hallway.

No one lurked in the main lodge but he cautioned himself not to take the stairs at a dead run. Not to act like he’d rip into anyone who stood between him and the paradise that waited behind his office door. He’d reached the third tread when he heard, “Renner?”

Never fucking failed.

He turned to look at Janie. “What?”

“Do you have a minute? I have a couple of questions—”

“Can it wait?”

She eyed him suspiciously. “I guess. But what’s going on? You’re acting awful tense.”

“I’m tense because Tierney summoned me to the office.”

“Want me to go with you and run interference?”

Fuck no.
“Nah. I can handle it. Just keep everyone away.”

Renner didn’t wait for Janie’s response. He blew into the office. Shut the door. Locked it.

Tierney had pushed her chair aside and leaned over her desk.

Oh hell yeah. Welcome to his biggest fantasy. And she even wore those four-inch black and white polka-dotted stilettos.

He unbuckled his belt as he crossed the room. “Stay like that.” Then he was behind her, inserting his foot between hers, with a terse, “Spread ’em wider. If you don’t want this, say so now.”

“I want it. I want you. Makes me crazy how much I want you.”

His heart pounded. Every inch of his skin was stretched tight. He yanked his jeans and boxers down. Letting his fingers trace the backs of her thighs, past the sweet curve of her ass, he pulled aside that inconsequential thong and slid his index finger inside her. His brain registered wet, hot, ready. Renner flipped her skirt up. Spread her pussy open as he sited his cock and sank into her.

Tierney arched with a drawn-out, “Yes.” She squeezed her cunt muscles and threw her pelvis back.

That movement unleashed the beast. He wrapped his fingers around her hips and slammed into her. Hot as hell, seeing his cock disappearing into her pussy with his every powerful thrust. Next time he took her from behind he’d pull her butt cheeks apart, watching the rosebud of her ass clench as he fucked her.

He hammered into her, lost to everything but the sound of his flesh meeting hers. Of her heat and scent and need. Of her grunts competing with his.

“That feels... I’m so close.”

Renner changed the angle, allowing for deeper penetration.

“That’s it. Yes!”

Her voice had escalated with each word. Hopefully no one lingered outside the door because Tierney didn’t hold back when she started to come. And he’d never tell her to tone down her passion. Never. Made him cocky to know he was the only man who knew this passionate side of her. Her sexual greed and curiosity equaled his. Who would believe the brainiac city girl and the crude cowboy were so well matched?

One. Two. Three thrusts and she exploded. She didn’t scream; the noise was more of a wail, punctuated with
yes yes yes.
But it was loud. It was hot as sin.