Her gaze zoomed to the flowers on the table and then back to him. “What are those for?”“They’re not given out of guilt, if that’s what you’re thinkin’.”She frowned. “Why would I think that?”Was India really going to play dumb? “I heard you and Cat talkin’. Brought to mind Ma tellin’ me when I was a kid that eavesdroppers never hear anything good about themselves. Guess she was right. But then again, I didn’t exactly hear you leaping to my defense, Indy, when Cat started in on my character—both past and present.” He looked at her with a mix of misery and anger. “I expected more from the woman I’m dating.”“How was I supposed to respond? Anything I said would’ve been the wrong thing.”“Some of the things she said were an outright lie. Any positive response about me or our relationship would’ve been better than the flip crack that we’re just havin’ fun and you weren’t pickin’ out wedding announcements.”“Aren’t we just having fun? Dating for kicks? Nothing serious, right? Especially s
India winced.“You wanna tell me what’s going on?”“Domini didn’t tell you?” After India talked to Bert, she’d called Domini. Usually India relied on Skylar for personal problems, but she was dealing with two sick babies and an equipment breakdown at the factory. The last thing Skylar needed was more stress.So India had sobbed on Domini’s shoulder for half the damn night. In addition to being a great listener, Domini gave practical advice. Which was why India had allowed a cooling off period before she set about making things right…only to realize Colt had all but disappeared.“No, I haven’t talked to Domini, besides when she swings by to refill my coffee. She’s been a little busy around here.”“Why? Did Cat take off again?”“Huh-uh. Cat got fired.”“What! When?”Cam beckoned her closer. “You didn’t hear this from me. But after Domini’s, ah, talk with you the other night, she was furious.She got Macie and Velma on a conference call and gave them what-for. Said she was sick of coveri
“Indy said that? To Ma?”“Yep. Caro was a little stunned. She was even more stunned when India said she agreed with Cam, that we’re all a bunch of idiots and hypocrites. Demanding you change and when you do, not believing that you have.” His dad picked up a rock and threw it in the pond. “I’ll admit that accusation threw me for a loop.”“Why?”“’Cause it’s true. ’Cause we’ve all been pretty selfish for years.And yeah, I’m includin’ myself in that group. It pisses me off I was so busy judgin’ you, that I didn’t see what was happenin’ right in my own damn family. Saw your brothers had followed my lead and were wrongly judgin’ you too. It took Cam to bring it to a head.” He scowled. “Although, now that I think back, Keely mentioned something along those same lines, what’s the point in changin’ if no one believes you can.” He shot Colt a sidelong glance. “I’ll admit she was right. To you. Be no livin’ with that girl if I admit it to her.”Colt smiled.“Son, I’m just gonna say this flat o
“Yeah? Anyway, I wanted to give you something tangible, so I brought you a bag of tokens from the pizza place in Moorcroft where we had our first date.”“As a token of your affection?”“Pretty pun-tastic, huh?” She gave him a small head butt. “See?I knew you’d get it. You know me so well, Colt. Better than anyone ever has.”“Same goes. So you have to know my meeting with Ginger Paulson—”India put her fingers over his lips. “You don’t have to explain. I was a jerk. I trust you. Period.”He nipped her fingertips. “I’m gonna tell you anyway. Her son Hayden is Buck’s little buddy. Hayden wanted to do something special for Buck, and Ginger thought I could give them some ideas.”“That’s all?”“Yep. So now—”“Now you need to listen,” India blurted. “First, I’m sorry. For not defending you, for acting like a lump of shit when Cat spewed all those horrible things about you. I lashed out at you when I should’ve lashed out at her. It’ll never happen again and I’ll beat the living shit out of a
New Series: Chapter One“Get your goddamn hands off my wife.”Quinn McKay was in a rage. A red rage. An aneurysm-inducing rage. A going-postal rage.And the worst part? His wife, his helpmate, his lover, his partner, his…everything—goddammit, Libby was his everything—didn’t give two shits about his foul mood.Not. Two. Hot. Shits.Which enraged him further.“Walk it off, Quinn,” Libby McKay tossed over her shoulder, letting the young buck lead her deeper into the crowd on the dance floor. The last thing Quinn saw was the sassy head shake of her sassy new hairdo.“I’m gonna fuckin’ kill him. See how goddamn happy his hands are after I break ’em off at the wrists.”“Jesus, Q, will you sit the hell down? People are starin’ at you.”“Let ’em look.”His brother Ben hissed, “Screw that. Get your dumb ass back to the table or I’m leavin’ and you can hoof it home.”“Be worth it to punch that sonuvabitch in the face.”“I ain’t bailin’ you outta jail neither.”Quinn scowled, reluctantly followi
“I wish you were my teacher, Mrs. McKay,” she announced before flouncing away.I wish I had a little girl just like you.Libby briefly squeezed her eyes shut. Don’t go there. She had enough issues and failures to deal with, thank you very much, starting with the demise of her marriage to Quinn McKay.Damn stubborn man. What would spur him into action? To get across this wasn’t a game? This was their life hanging in the balance.Quinn hadn’t balked at her demand of a trial separation. He’d taken it in stride and blithely continued his day-to-day life on the ranch, content to hole up in the horse trailer until she “came to her senses”.Three months had gone by and they were at an impasse.It didn’t help Libby hadn’t spoken directly to her husband in that time frame. Her involvement with their ranching operation made their lack of daily communication a real dilemma. Being the efficient sort, she’d created a schedule for ranch business and bill paying, and for personal issues, such as whe
Dishes washed, counters cleaned, he had nothing to do but wait. He’d gotten used to his own company in the evenings in recent months. Didn’t mean he liked it.After turning the burner to simmer, Quinn snuck upstairs and stood in the doorway to their bedroom.The same faded wedding ring quilt adorned the brass bed. The usual explosion of pillows were piled at the head and the extra wool blanket dangled off the foot.The room smelled the same, Libby’s cherry-almond hand lotion and a hint of wood from the cedar-lined closet. If Quinn peeled back the bedcovers, he’d catch a whiff of Libby’s apple shampoo and the underlying musky-sweet fragrance of just Libby.He stared mindlessly, trying to remember the last time he and Libby had made love in that bed. In the months prior to their separation, they may as well have been sleeping in separate rooms.A memory came to him, leaving him as breathless and embarrassed as he’d been at the time. Missing his wife, feeling adrift and lonely, Quinn had
“What? Drivin’ you crazy?”“No. Acting so unlike you.”“Because, you don’t believe I can change, so it’s up to me to convince you otherwise.”Her smile dimmed. “But what if it doesn’t change anything?”“What if it does?” he countered.Silence.Might as well get it all out in the open. “It hasn’t always been like this between us. We were good together, weren’t we?”“Quinn—”“Has every year of our marriage been pure hell for you, Libby?”“God. No. Not even close.” Libby started to say something else but snapped her mouth shut, choosing instead to fiddle with the lace edging on the placemat.“Good to know.” Quinn stood. He ached to stay, but he’d left her enough to mull over for one night.On the porch, he paused to absorb the beauty of the place they called home. Dusk had fallen, turning the sky purple-gray and dusting the tree line in the distance with fluffy pink clouds. A brisk breeze rattled the bird feeders. The dark, ripe scent of wet earth filled his lungs. It seemed as if he’d t
He growled at the visual feast before him. Ava bound, at his mercy.Chase rocked his hips faster, driving his cock against that pliant skin, pinching her nipples in time to his thrusts. When his balls lifted, his hands fell away and almost told her to open up and swallow him to the root. But he stopped.Too soon. Not about you. About her. She needs this.Ava whimpered at the loss of contact.He caressed her cheek as he leaned forward to grab his supplies off the nightstand. “You’re beautiful. Incredible. Christ, Ava, you undo me.”She twisted in her bonds. “I want—”He placed his fingers over her lips. “In time. Now hold still.” He scooted back until he straddled her pelvis. Holding open the old-fashioned, spring-loaded wooden clothespins, he simultaneously attached them to her nipples.When she arched and emitted a surprised cry, he murmured, “Seems you have some feeling there after all.” He hopped off the end of the bed. Tapped her ankles. “Spread your legs for me. Wider. Nope wider
“Thanks.” Ava sat up and drank all the water. “So I crashed for over twelve hours. Guess I missed the rodeo last night. How’d you do?”Chase wore a stoic expression.“What? Did you have like a ninety-nine point ride or something?”He snorted.“Seriously. What happened?” Her gaze swept over him. “Did you get hurt?”“Nothin’ happened, Ava. I didn’t compete last night.”“What? Why not?”“Do you really think I’d just leave you here alone when you were so goddamn sick?”She froze.Chase grabbed her hand and rubbed her knuckles against the razor stubble on his cheeks. “I was freaked out about you. I wasn’t exactly sure what to do. I’m not…well, I don’t have much experience taking care of sick people. My first response has always been to get the hell away, so I sort of winged it.” A sheepish smile curled the corners of his mouth. “You don’t look too worse for the wear.”“I can’t believe you didn’t compete last night.”“There are more important things in life than bull ridin’.”This tough man
“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