He curled her against his chest and kissed her forehead. “Please, take a deep breath. This isn’t good for you.”Finally, she managed to breathe deeply; then she swallowed back tears. “I found blood.”Oh, Jesus Christ. His stomach went into a free fall. “Did you go to the emergency room?”Again, she shook her head. “I was afraid we’d have to wait too long. I called my new obstetrician. She agreed to meet me at her office before hours, so Tyler took me there, waited while the doctor examined me.”And he’d missed all of this. Luc stroked her shoulder, pressed another kiss to her forehead. Not only had he missed it; he’d heaped more shit on her.Why the fuck hadn’t he listened instead of letting his jealousy do the talking?“Are you okay?” Luc was almost afraid to ask the question. “What did she say?”“That it’s not uncommon to spot if you’re on your feet too much or under too much stress.”Without a doubt, Alyssa suffered from both.“The baby is okay. But she told me to rest. Sleep. I co
Luc understood that feeling well.“In retrospect, I shouldn’t have been surprised by Joshua’s behavior. All the signs were there.”“My God, you shouldn’t have had to know the signs at that age. You told your parents, right?”Her body wilted then, as if she had no more fight. “I told my mother.”Biting back the urge to prompt her, Luc waited while she closed her eyes, gathered her courage.“She didn’t believe me.”“What the hell? Certainly she could see . . . There was evidence.”Alyssa shook her head. “I was stupid. I panicked and cleaned up. Today, I’d have marched myself down to the hospital and demanded a rape kit and prosecuted the son of a bitch. But at fifteen, all I could think about was ‘getting caught.’“The day after it happened, Joshua was vile to me at school, told everyone he’d nailed me. He called me his convenient pussy and said he was going to get more that night. I was terrified.”Just when Luc thought this prick couldn’t get any lower, Alyssa revealed another fact ab
Slowly, Luc began to push inside her. He stopped, retreated, eased in again—a soft glide, a slow dance. As always, she burned him. Luc squeezed his eyes shut, focusing on making this tender for her, making this good.With every inch he submerged into the scalding clasp of her body, she seared him, especially when Alyssa braced her feet on the mattress and raised her hips up to meet him.“Luc. Yes! ”Damn it. With two words, she nearly unraveled his self-control. She felt so good that it hurt, boiled his blood. As need rocketed, he began to sweat. Luc tried to breathe deep, re-engage his brain. But he needed her touch, needed to know that despite all that had happened today, she was still his.Luc drew back, then thrust forward to the hilt. “You feel so perfect around me. I want to make you feel good, too.”Alyssa didn’t reply, just pressed her mouth to his for a slow, blistering kiss. He tasted her need, her healing. As difficult as hearing about Joshua had been for him, Luc would do
Biting her lip, she held in a cry of panic. There was every chance that the zealot would kill Tyler no matter what, but maybe she could buy Tyler enough time to get the two of them out of here. Right now, it was her best hope. She couldn’t sneak out, even if the squeaky door let her, and leave Tyler to die.Slowly, she pushed the door open. Predictably, the creaking alerted Primpton to her presence. He whipped his gaze around. The gun followed.The councilman stood near the back door. Tyler was lodged just in the open doorway, flat on his back, his entire body boneless and lax. Was he passed out? Had Primpton hit him on the head? Drugged him?Not two feet away, Hunter lay on the floor, blood pooling under a bullet wound in his shoulder. The red puddle seeped across the floor, spreading across the blue T-shirt that stretched across his wide chest.Fear gripped her throat, choked her. Dear God, she’d always known Primpton was whacked, but a murderer? He’d truly come here to kill, and sh
Alyssa gasped, shock blanching her with a chill. “Were we . . . ?”“Oh, yeah. The look on your face . . .” Tyler looked away. “Luc know how much you love him?”She pressed her lips together. Damn, Tyler was perceptive. And no one had ever accused him of beating around the bush. “No. It’s that obvious?”He scoffed in answer. “That you’re wearing your heart on your sleeve? Yes.”Great. She sighed. “I don’t know if he feels the same.”“I don’t know, either. He wants you. Bad.” Tyler shrugged. “I think there’s more there, but I’m not the expert on guys’ feelings.”“Used to being the heartbreaker, not the heartbroken?”A sheepish smile crept across his mouth. “Something like that.”“I have a feeling that, deep down, you’re a really bad boy.”“Knock, knock.”Alyssa turned to the sound of the female voice coming from the doorway. Kimber. She was very nice, but Alyssa looked at the younger woman with her auburn hair pulled away from her sweet oval face in a wholesome ponytail and tensed. Luc’
Had she just lumped him into the same category as Joshua? Fuck if that didn’t make his stomach clench and roll. “Alyssa—”“I should have asked more questions about your reasons for marrying me.” Her tone was a verbal lash to her own psyche, and hearing it damn near killed him. “I knew you’d proposed because of the baby. Deep down, I’d hoped that you cared for me, but . . . I never imagined that you actually married me believing the baby wasn’t yours.”Luc closed his eyes as his world imploded. Someone had told her his secret, his shame. Someone had given her the information and let her draw the worst conclusions. Since only two people knew, and Deke would never spill, he knew exactly who had revealed the truth.Kimber he’d deal with later. Now he had to talk to Alyssa, make her understand that his reasons for being married—staying married—had everything to do with her, not just the baby.“I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you about my . . . condition. The fact the baby likely isn’t mine do
“I know you’re hurting now, but there are things to be thankful for. You’ll find the love of your show again once you’re in a better place emotionally. You have your friends and family, a great house, a lot of talent. You have your health.”His health. Luc laughed bitterly. He had more than that.“Dr. Kimjin called me this morning.”Deke entered the room and stood behind his wife’s chair, a casual hand on her shoulder. “Is he the doctor who tested you last week in L.A.?”Luc nodded. The man’s words still rang in his ears.“And?”“In his words, me impregnating Alyssa isn’t virtually impossible. He classified it as challenging but not impossible at all. Apparently, in the last nine years, my body healed some on its own and my sperm count increased enough to make my chances of impregnating someone much greater. He was still surprised we’d managed it without fertility drugs or surgical intervention. But he affirmed what I’d already figured out: It’s entirely possible the baby is mine. In
She screamed.LUC pulled up in front of the house he had shared with Alyssa. Parked. Stared. She’d beat him home, based on the softly glowing lamp in the living room. Damn. Would she even answer the door at this time of night?During the long drive, he questioned himself a hundred times, his thoughts an endless loop of logic that always drew him back to one conclusion: He had to talk to her face-to-face, try to reconcile with her again. He wasn’t letting Alyssa go without a fight. Somehow, he had to make her believe that he loved her and would never do anything to betray her trust again.Armed with his conviction, he turned off the car, stepped out to the still night and chilly November wind. His palms were sweating as he approached the door.A faint feminine scream of terror burst across the night. The sound seared its way down his spine. It wasn’t the TV. It was real and human—and familiar.Alyssa!Running to the door, he grabbed the knob and wrenched it. But it was firmly locked.“
“The camera showed you that?”“Ava. I don’t need to look through a viewfinder to see you’re upset.”Damn intuitive man.“The camera is off. Talk to me.”“My grandfather commissioned a necklace for my sixteenth birthday. A tiny beautiful Swarovski crystal rose with a gold stem artfully twisted into an ‘A’. The one time I didn’t take it off before I jumped into the ocean? I lost it. I don’t know if the chain broke or what, but I was devastated because it happened about a month after he died.”“Aw, sugar, I’m so sorry.”Evidently Chase had enough taping. He returned the camera to the case and faced forward, wiggling to get comfortable.“Before you nod off, tell me why we’re backtracking. You planned a route through Montana and now we’re back in Cornhusker territory.”He rolled his eyes. “South Dakota is not Cornhusker territory. The reason I’m not goin’ to the event in Billings is because Ryan told me a former PBR bull rider who switched to the PRCA circuit will be competing. I don’t wan
He’d known the second he touched her he was done for. Ava needed him in a way no other woman ever had. He was a different man when he was with her, regardless if they were naked. So maybe that’s why he couldn’t freakin’ wait to get naked with her again, day after day after day.Seemed to take forever to check-in. He ditched the bags in the corner of the room. In the mirror above the sink, he saw Ava flop on the bed and heave a huge sigh.“Before you get too comfy, maybe you oughta see if you got the door shut.”She popped to her feet and resituated her skirt as she crossed the room, those fucking sexy little pleats teasing the back of her legs.When he’d gotten a look at her outfit this morning—short plaid skirt, plain white blouse, black ballet shoes—his cock had been hard all day as his head conjured up bad-schoolgirl-needing-a-spanking scenarios.Ava tested the door by pushing on it. “I don’t know why you were worried it wasn’t shut—”“Lock it.” He put his mouth below her ear and p
He stirred, moaning as his cock hardened. Lengthened.When Ava started sliding his shaft over her tongue, his hand landed on her head.Immediately it snapped back and Chase scrambled upright. “Ava? What the devil are you doin’?” He inhaled a sharp breath through his teeth when she tongued the tip. “Hell. I thought it was a dream.”She pulled off his shaft long enough to say, “Nope. I want to make this buff body to squirm.” She licked him like a lollipop.“Oh, I’ve no doubt you can make me squirm. You probably could get me to beg.” He brushed her hair back from where it’d fallen in her face. “But—”Again, Ava eased off and met his gaze in the near darkness. “But nothing. You don’t get to direct this.”If she thought he’d lovingly pet her, agree, and murmur encouragement, she was mistaken. Chase’s big hands were on her face, gripping her jaw. “Yes, I do.”His answer turned her panties damp. As did his explicit command, “On the floor. On your knees.”As Ava moved, so did Chase. He perche
She loved his reaction to the scrape of her teeth, the sucking kisses, the feather light placement of her lips in random spots on his neck. Goose bumps spread across his arms and up his nape. He shifted on the bed, not thrashing, but wiggling enough she knew he liked what she was doing to him. She reveled in this immense power of worshipping rather than being worshipped.Ava immersed herself in him. The scent of his skin. The tangy taste of his sweat. The way his muscles strained beneath her tongue. She kissed, licked and nibbled her way down the center of his throat, from his square jaw to his breastbone. And could she get a halleluiah that he had chest hair? Talk about manly, masculine goodness. She rubbed her face over the dark patch of hair, breathing him in, listening to the pounding of his heart, warmed by the heat from his skin, and knowing his body’s response to her was echoed in her body.Bracing herself on all fours above him, she watched his face as she tongued his nipple.
She pushed her hips back, meeting his every hard thrust with a soft grunt. The fringe on his chaps swung forward, the leather connecting with her skin.Even as his cock plunged into her fully, even as his balls drew up, aching for release, even as his legs shook and sweat coated his skin, he planned for the next time he fucked her. The next hundred times.Chase closed his eyes; his hands yanking her body back to meet his escalating thrusts. Faster, harder, deeper, the only words echoed in his head as primal need roared. Impossible to hold off his orgasm, no matter how much he wanted to prolong the sensation of sinking into her soft, wet, flesh.He threw back his head, groaning as his cock emptied in hot pulses. Groaning louder when he felt Ava’s pussy contracting around his dick as she came again.Heart thumping, mouth dry, lungs lacking air, Chase fell forward onto Ava’s back, bracing himself on his hands. Although this rendezvous was supposed to’ve been a dare, a fun, wild slap and
“Who are you?” Douchebag demanded.“The guy tellin’ you to get the hell outta my room.”The douchebag looked at Ava. “I thought you said this was your room.”“Hey, fuckface, eyes on me, not her.” When douchebag turned, Chase stabbed his finger at the clothes by the bed. “You’re done. Grab your shit and get gone.”“Nuh-uh.” Douchebag gestured to Ava. “I get gone when she tells me to, not you, little man.”Ava said not one word.Chase’s anger hit the boiling point. Instead of yelling, his voice dropped lethally low. “Get. The. Fuck. Out.”“Or what? You gonna throw me out?” Douchebag sneered. “You’ll have to eat your spinach and grow some first.”Faking calmness he didn’t feel, Chase scooped up the man’s belongings, opened the door and dumped the pile onto the walkway.“What is wrong with you?” Douchebag loomed over Chase.“You have fifteen seconds to get out of my room and out of my face or I will beat you bloody. You’re not the first asshole who’s tried to take me on, believing a short
That vague comment got his back up. Was she trying to get rid of him? Just to be ornery, he said, “I hadn’t planned on goin’ anywhere today. Thought I’d stick around the room and rest up. Hang out with you, my friend.”Panic darted through her eyes. “Oh. Obviously since you’re paying for half the room that’s your prerogative. But I was hoping…”“Hoping for what?”“To have a few hours of quiet time so I can get your rides separated from the other footage.”Quiet time his ass. She wanted nookie time. And he’d be goddamned if he’d just fucking walk away and make it easy on her to bang a total stranger in his hotel room. “I’m not exactly loud, Ava.”“I know, Chase, but I need quiet. Complete silence. No TV. No talking. No cell phone conversations. No fighting.”The sneaky-ass woman knew that lying on his bed, counting the flaws in the ceiling tile for hours would drive him bonkers. But the idea of any man, in here—the private space Chase shared with Ava—touching her, kissing her, fucking
Ava nodded. “I’m new to the world of rodeo. He agreed to show me the inside scoop. That’s all.”“Dollface, that surely ain’t all. Not even close. The man has it bad for you.”Not bad enough to act on it.“I seen how he’s been lookin’ at you.”“And how’s that?”“Like you’re a hot, sweet fried Twinkie and he’d like to lick you up one side and down the other before devouring you completely.”“Except the man seems to be on a sugar-free diet,” she said wryly.Taz chuckled. “Maybe. But I reckon he’s just trying to keep from gorging himself.”“Such an overactive imagination, Taz.”“I try. Better to be one of them colorful characters folks talk about than an average Joe.”The conversation drifted to Ryan. Upcoming rodeos they’d all be attending. Other events. Then Taz took off, leaving Ava alone. It was enough to give a girl a complex about men.Right. She already had enough complexes, although she doubted anyone would look at her and believe that.A guy paused behind the barstool on Ava’s ri
“I’ve gotten up early to work out. I met this rookie kid last week. After I rode, he cornered me, calling me out as Chase McKay.” He smiled sheepishly. “The little shit promised to keep my secret if I gave him bull ridin’ pointers.”“Which you did.”“Not that he listened to me. Kid is such a greenhorn. And stubborn? He won’t turn his foot out, refuses to wear a helmet, won’t consider a trying a different wrap. So I gave up talking to him about bull ridin’ and we watched the slack competition. What did you do—” his knuckles grazed her breasts as he reached for the lanyard around her neck “—besides craft fake press passes?”“I had my assistant whip them up. Realistic, don’t you think? I needed access behind the chutes so I can video you from a closer angle. It’s made a huge difference. You won’t believe the footage I got today.”His rough-skinned hand enclosed hers. “Ava. We need to talk.”The lanky, shaggy-haired young rider inserted himself between Chase and Ava. “Man, that ride was e