“I need to grab a few things at the store. Can I borrow your car keys?” With a frown, he agreed. “Could you be back by six? I need to put in an appearance at a restaurant downtown tonight.”With a nod and a gutful of relief, Kimber escaped the quiet house—too packed with memories for comfort—and drove.It didn’t take her long to pick up some supplies. Picking out the get well/I miss you card for her dad was easy. Securing a new cell phone didn’t take long, either.She called Logan and Hunter to check in, and they said Dad would be released day after tomorrow.She even had the opportunity to talk to him for a few short minutes.Ecstatic about his quickly recovering health, Kimber picked up the rest of the items on her mental list, trying to push away the reality of it all.Kimber returned to Luc’s house a little after five.Looking sinfully sexy with his long hair loose, charcoal slacks, and a long white linen shirt, he pressed a lingering kiss to her cheek. “I won’t be gone long. Can
“At least this makes so many things clear. You took up ménages after Heather’s death, didn’t you? Then if any woman got pregnant, you always had another man to blame.”She’d figured him out fast. Exactly. She was exactly—Wait!His gaze snapped over to Luc. “Maybe you’re the baby’s father. Maybe—”“I’d love to take responsibility for this.” Luc dropped to his knees in front of Kimber, lifted her T-shirt, and placed a gossamer kiss on her still-flat belly. Deke waited for the relief. And waited. But watching Luc’s reverence as he stroked a soft hand over Kimber’s stomach, he could only feel sick at the thought of his cousin creating life inside his woman. The possibility made him want to retch and break something at the same time.Then Luc stood and looked at him with not just sadness, but tragedy in his dark eyes. “But I can’t take responsibility, Deke. The baby can’t be mine.”“You fucked her, too. Both of us did.”“True.” Luc crossed the room and sat beside him, clapped a hand across
Damn, the man could flat out kiss. The finesse…wow. The way he raked his tongue across the roof of her mouth sent a shiver through her. Then he nibbled erotically on her lip. A tilt of his head later, and the kiss changed, deepened, as he swept through. He had full command of her mouth now, and she tingled, felt…taken. It would be easy to melt against him. But it would give him false hope.She pulled away. “I’ll be leaving in the morning.” Luc’s fingers tightened in her hair, and he looked like he wanted to argue.Instead, he gritted his teeth and released her. “Where will you go?”“I need to check in with my brothers. My dad should be coming home from the hospital soon, and they’ll bring him to Logan’s place when he’s released. They’ll need my help. My place isn’t too far from his, and my poor neglected apartment…Bet all my houseplants are dead.”“Will you leave me a number? I want to be with you. I want to be as involved as you’ll let me.”She smiled. “Sure. I have no doubt I’ll ne
“Damn it… What do you think? Is he guilty?”“Could go either way. But my gut…he didn’t set the bomb.”“So we could still have a psycho out there after Dad?”“Or after you. While you were in the swamp, we got a couple of phone calls on Dad’s cell, some guy asking where you were and how to find you. He always used private, untraceable numbers and never talked long. I never knew if he was a reporter or a criminal.”She frowned. Surely, he was overreacting. It had to be the press trying to get ahold of her and bite into the big juicy story of her and Jesse’s busted relationship, which seemed like a lifetime ago now…. She’d assumed about all the unavailable calls and mute voice mails on her cell phone were all members of the press, too.“I haven’t made any enemies.”“That you know of.”True. Kimber sighed. But unlikely. Had to be the pesky press not knowing when to leave a story alone. “Go with me to the hospital later today, just in case?”“Yeah. Let me know what time. Could I…” He hesita
“Why are you trying to make everything better between Kimber and me?” Deke turned his attention back to his cousin. “To make up for manipulating us? To get closer to the baby?”Luc closed his eyes. “I deserved that. I…influenced you both to get what I want. I thought it was in everyone’s best interest, not just mine. Now, I’m trying to talk some sense into you purely for your own good. Like you said a few days ago, I regard you as a brother. You should be happy. You deserve it after all this time and shit.”Deke swallowed. That was probably the nicest thing Luc could have said to him in that moment. He wanted to believe it. He almost did… “Thanks.”At one o’clock, Kimber sat on the patio of her favorite deli. The area was shaded by live oak trees and bordered a quiet side street, which would help with privacy.She plucked at the tank top wilting against her skin, hoping that the heat would ensure that if they were gawked at, it would be purely through windows in the deli’s cool interi
The footsteps entered her bedroom, paused, wandered around, then headed to the closet.As Kimber braced herself against the wall behind her walkin closet’s door, her hand came into contact with something solid, wooden. She smiled. And she was damn glad that she’d been on the apartment complex’s co-ed softball team.Wasn’t this shithead in for a surprise?Deke’s palms had sweated for the entire one hundred miles into Dallas. Nearly twenty-four hours after Kimber had dropped her bombshell, he was ready to talk to her. No, he had to talk to her. So he’d driven west, into the thick, inky night, with his insides jolting like he was hooked up to jumper cables.Luc had spoken a lot of truths. A dozen years ago, Deke had been guilty of many things. Having sex with an emotionally unstable girl. Thinking with the wrong head. Letting the abundance of Heather’s emotions—and her family’s—drown out his logic.What he hadn’t done, as his cousin and Kimber had pointed out, was forced Heather to swall
“Keep talking,” he told the old man. “Cal, isn’t it?”“Yes,” the old man said cautiously.“What do you mean, start over again?”He hesitated. “I’d better not say anymore without my lawyers.”Within three minutes, pandemonium erupted in the apartment. Police units stormed the place. Deke led the suspect out by his nape and prodded him forward with the barrel of his gun.After the police verified Deke’s credentials, they were cool. And he turned all his attention to the EMTs working on Kimber.He detailed the cut on her arm calmly. “Why the hell is she still unconscious?”“You family?”Oh, this shit. “I’m her…” Boyfriend? Fiancé? Father of her child? “She’s mine.”“Your wife?”“Not…yet.”“Sorry. No information given out to nonfamily members,” said one as they carried her out on a stretcher.Deke couldn’t resist touching her face, her shoulder, as they passed. He followed them out to the ambulance. “Let me ride with her.”“I’m sorry, sir. Family only.”Fuck family only! “Where are you ta
“He told me that Call had lost another star about a decade ago to marriage. He couldn’t name names, but he said the guy let a promising career fade away so he could play house with his new bride.”“The pansy-ass pop star was making excuses for his manager?”“No, just filling in the gaps.”Deke relaxed. Or tried to. “So…what? Call was going to off you so that Jesse wouldn’t be distracted by you anymore, could keep making his silly-ass CDs, and the old guy could rake in all that money?”“Cal’s getting old and apparently felt like he couldn’t lose his nest egg.” She shrugged. “Even though I’d turned Jesse down, Call was worried by Jesse’s pressroom antics and convinced he wasn’t letting go of me, so I guess Call figured it would be better to eliminate me before Jesse self-destructed.”“That’s twisted.” Luc shook his head as he walked to the other side of the bed and took her hand. “Hi, sweetheart.”Kimber looked at Luc and fresh tears tracked down her face. She turned her watery gaze to
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
“Of course they will. Are you by a computer? Sorry. Stupid question. Go to Faces of Rodeo dot com.”“I’m there. What is it?”“A new magazine I created,” she said with pride.“Seriously, Ava, this is your brainchild?” Computer keys clicked in the background. “The Check back for more details on the main page is vague.”“Which is perfect for my purposes. Anyone who checks it—and me—will believe this is a brand-spanking-new magazine, still working on a web presence. Ooh, now go to Behind the Chutes dot com.”“Why do you need two fake magazines? Why not just one?”“So I have options.”“You’re scaring me. You did all this?”“Yep. Thank God for cheap, quick and easy websites.”“Behind the Chutes—all the news and current standings of the stars of the PRCA. Now that is a great magazine tagline.”“Thank you.” Filled with nervous energy, Ava hopped off the bed. “So what do you say? Can you get these made up this afternoon and Fed Ex them to me by tomorrow?”“I should say no, but I haven’t heard
Wanting what you can’t have will only make this trip miserable. And this trip isn’t only about getting down and dirty with Chase McKay.Also true. Disgusted with herself for wallowing, she focused on the task at hand for today—finding a motel within their budget.Chase wandered to check out the contractor’s rough stock.Ava wasn’t content texting him; she called. “Hey, I found us a room. I actually comparison shopped. This place isn’t as nice as the first one I checked out, but it does have free Wi-Fi.”It amused the hell out of him that she sounded so damn proud of herself. “It’s less than a hundred bucks?”“Of course. Be nice if you had a little faith in me, Sundance. Anyway. I’m starved. I’ll probably try to find something healthy before I head to the rodeo grounds. Did you want me to pick you something up?”“If it’s healthy? Hell no. I noticed a couple of tempting treats as I wandered past the vendor stands.”“We are talking about food treats, right?” she said sharply.“Be nice if