12-Alarm Cowboys (21 page)

That was the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question. What was she doing in here with him?

“I probably need to get Billy and go,” Sunny said, reaching for the door again, but Austin’s fingers closed around her wrist like a vise.

“No, what you
should
do is tell me what the hell happened to make you feel so damned insecure. You are a fucking knockout—smart, gorgeous and capable. The hottest woman I’ve met in a lot of years.” Austin’s hot eyes streaked down her body to her toes. “It just doesn’t make sense to me.”

The hottest woman he’d met in years?

Austin McBride must’ve been isolated out here at this ranch in the boonies for those years, because Sunny knew that wasn’t true. She was a too tall, a gangly tomboy who intimidated men most of the time. Since she’d been back in Glanville, the intimidation was intentional to make sure they kept their distance. She hadn’t been ready to let a man close to her again.

Now that she’d taken the leap though, Austin was right, she was acting crazy. Because she had so damned much to worry about these days everything was magnified.

“I’m sorry,” Sunny said, casting her gaze to his feet. The damned man even had perfect feet. Every toe was smooth and even, the bones and tendons led to lightly furred, perfectly formed ankles and muscular calves. “I am insecure about a lot of things. I have a lot on my mind too, and applying for the Chief’s job is just making it worse. Worrying about my ability to do the job is making me twice as determined to prove myself. But I really need that job for me and for Billy. I want him to have the opportunities I didn’t have, because I had a single mother and an absent father.” Sunny huffed a breath.

His index finger hooked under her chin to tip it up, and Sunny gasped. Austin stepped closer to her to hold her gaze. “You’re going to tell me what Billy’s daddy did to you to make you feel like you do. That’s what this is all about right? It must’ve been bad, if it’s still affecting you.” His eyebrows lifted for a second then slammed down over his suddenly angry eyes. “He’s not in your life anymore is he?”

“Now who’s questioning whose morals?” Sunny asked shortly. “Jason hasn’t been in my life for five years and thank goodness for that.”

“He doesn’t even come around to see Billy?” Austin asked hotly.

“He wanted nothing to do with Billy. Told me it was my problem. I doubt he even knows where we are, and I like it that way. Our final confrontation at the station in Carrolton was bad. It’s why I lost my job there.”

“Well that kid isn’t a
problem
,” Austin growled, his face a rain-wrapped thundercloud. “He’s a good kid—smart as a whip and that guy is a
loser
!”

The passion in Austin’s defensive words plucked a chord deep inside her, and Sunny had to force words past the knot in her throat. “I agree, and Billy is lucky Jason isn’t in his life. He wouldn’t be the kid he is if Jason was around.”

“Then why in the hell are you still letting that bastard live rent free in your beautiful head?” he asked with a huffed breath.

“I’m trying to evict him.” Sunny blew out a breath too.

“Don’t try—just
do
it.” Austin jerked her to him and held her, rocking her gently in his embrace and Sunny soaked up his comfort like a dry sponge. That’s what she’d felt like for a very long time now, dried out. But this man was quickly filling her back up again, and then some.

Gorgeous, beautiful, hot?
Either Austin was damned good at sweet talking a woman out of her pants, better than Jason even, or he was sincere, in which case, if he kept that up, she might just overflow. With a kiss to her wet hair, he pushed her away from him.

“Now, where were we before we had our visitor?” He smiled and put a thoughtful finger to his jaw. “Oh yeah—bath gel.” With a broad grin, he bent to pick up the bottle from the floor.

Sunny smiled too, and her shoulders relaxed, but her relaxed state was short lived when Austin stood again and turned her toward the wall. Sliding his palms down her arms, he took her hands and placed her palms against the cool tile wall.

Leaning close to her ear he growled, “Keep those right there, no matter what, okay? I want to explore that perfect body of yours. Those legs alone could take me a week, so be patient.”

Austin shoved her wet hair aside and his hot breath ignited her skin before he suctioned his mouth to her neck in a hot open-mouthed kiss. Sunny sucked in a lungful of the steamy air that wasn’t nearly as hot as her insides. Austin licked his way down to her collarbone and she groaned. Sliding his foot between her ankles, he forced her legs apart, then used his knee between her thighs to add more space. “A little wider, Sunshine. I need plenty of room to work.”

After dropping a kiss on her shoulder, his stepped back and Sunny’s back felt cold. Her nipples hardened in anticipation of what he’d do when he touched her again. Cotton candy filled her nostrils as she dragged in quick, steamy breaths when Austin’s slick, warm palms pressed into her back. He made slow, languorous circles with the heels of his hands moving outward to her shoulders and Sunny’s body went limp. Locking her elbows, she arched her back into his touch to increase the pressure.

Nothing had ever felt so good as he stopped at her shoulders to rub them, digging his thumbs into the tight muscles there. He worked his strong fingers through her flesh back toward her spine, unknotting every muscle up to her nape. By the time he reached her hairline, Sunny’s bones felt liquid. When he started down her spine, she rested her forehead on the cool tile, enjoyed the feeling of his hands on her body, as he repeated the steps of his sensuous massage, dragging moans from her when he found a particularly tender spot all the way down to her lower back, where he paused and she stopped breathing.

Those strong, talented fingers kneaded her ass cheeks and Sunny’s breath escaped on a shuddering sigh as tension inched up inside of her again. He traced a slow, enflaming line under her cheeks then gripped her thighs, his thumbs very near where she needed him most. Her flesh quivered and her inner muscles pulsated with quick needy contractions. Arching her back, she lifted her ass toward his touch, hoping he’d take the hint.

But he didn’t, his hands left her and her body deflated. Austin’s slightly furred forearm brushed her shoulder, as he reached for something on the soap caddy again. Sunny craned her neck back to see what he had in his hand but couldn’t see. A quick, wet stinging slap set her right ass cheek on fire and she tensed as it pulsed.

“What the
hell
?” Sunny shrieked indignantly, going rigid as she anticipated another strike from his big hand. Why the hell was that warm pulse, the dull throb left behind, pleasurable? Her damned body was practically vibrating for more.

Austin laughed, his hand glided over her cheek kneading her again, feeling entirely too luxurious and exciting with the water and bath gel lubricating his touch.

“I told you to keep your hands on the wall, Sunshine.”

He had, hadn’t he?

That sexy voice of his rumbled through her, the sensual reprimand in his tone elicited a shiver that zipped down her spine to sizzle between her legs. And Sunny just realized her arms were now at her sides. Hell, her body was so limp she felt like sinking to the floor of the shower. But she really, really wanted to see what he had in store for her next.

This kind of foreplay was something she’d never experienced, but she damned sure wanted more of it. “I’m sorry,” she whimpered.

His kneading stopped, and he leaned in close to her ear. “Add
sir
to that, Sunshine, and I’ll be a happy man.”

Sir? Was he out of his ever loving mind?
But Sunny felt like he wouldn’t continue until he got it, so she sucked up her slight outrage, along with a shallow breath.

“I’m sorry,
sir
,” Sunny said, her voice low and growly too.

Austin’s hand tapped her ass this time and Sunny sucked in a sharp breath but there was no sting. Disappointment flowed through her, and grew when his heat moved away from her back, but then a moan shot to her lips when something rough raked down the center of her spine to her butt.

“What
is
that?” she hissed, her throat tight, her body tense.

Austin started another track on the right side of her spine and Sunny lost her breath as it scraped her raw, leaving her nerves in a frenzy as it passed over her skin.

“It’s a loofah,” he informed, sliding the rough ball of what felt like razor wire over her hip, and up her side. In an irritating sweep of his hand, he slid the loofah around to the front and Sunny’s stomach contracted hard. “Feel good?” he asked with a laugh.

“
Good
?” she croaked, her skin feeling alive as he leaned into her back to make slow irritating circles over her midsection.

It didn’t feel good, but it didn’t exactly feel bad either.

With every pass of the rough ball over her electrified skin, her body buzzed brighter, her need grew. Sunny pinched her knees together. God he wouldn’t go there, would he? If he did, she would probably end up on the floor. Instead of going down, Austin’s hand zipped up her body, dragging the loofah. When he reached the underside of her breast and made a slow teasing sweep with the rough cloth, Sunny tensed and her nipple went rigid. God, that would probably be worse than if he put it between her legs, she thought, grinding her teeth to keep from moaning.

“I want to hear you scream again, Sunny.” Austin’s breath rasped near her ear as his left hand slid down her body to find her heat. A shiver rocked her when he found his target. Sunny locked her knees and put her forehead against the tile as she fought to keep her hands flat on the wall. “I want you to come hard, so I can taste it on your body.”

I want. I want. The control thing again he was so good at. But damn, he was lighting her body up like a football field on a Friday night. Sunny was not about to get argumentative, because she wanted too. So damned bad right at the minute. And she knew this abrasive, sexy control-freak could give her what she needed. If she played his game.

Austin’s breath became short and agitated as his fingers worked the heavy bundle of nerves at the top her thighs in lazy circles and her inner walls clenched and released. He pressed his thick erection to the crease of her ass and groaned. Sunny arched her back, wishing he’d just slide between her legs. Wanting him to do that so bad she could taste it.

His hips moved and his hardness slid between her cheeks as he increased the pressure of his touch, swept the loofah in maddening passes under her breast, raking the bottom of her right nipple but not going over it. Tension didn’t rise in her with each round he made on her clit, with each pass under her breast, it shot up to her throat to choke her.

Sunny could focus on nothing but the two places he was touching her. The loofah became unbearable. Her right nipple hurt it was so hard, hurting more with each irritating motion he served up. Frustration built to mix with the amazing waves of pleasure washing up from her lower body. The heat in her body ratcheted up, the waves of pleasure moved upward, but only to her midsection. The irritation continued, and Sunny fought to drag the pleasure higher, embrace it so she could come, but she couldn’t with the irritation of the loofah.

“Make me come,” she begged, her voice barely a whisper.

“Rephrase, and I will.” His deep voice rumbled through her, and Sunny shivered.

Add sir to that, Sunshine
. “Make me come,
sir
,” she moaned, dragging out the last word, because she could take much more of this sensual torture.

Austin’s breath hitched, his fingers pinched her clit as his right hand raked the loofah over her nipple. Sunny’s body shook, she screamed, his arm banded around her middle as she screamed louder. Her teeth chattered and she screamed until her voice disappeared, as her insides turned to molten fire which was extinguished by the tidal wave of her incredible release. He held her until the tremors ceased, then kissed her cheek before moving away. Sunny locked her knees, but wasn’t sure that was going to hold. Her legs felt like damned noodles, and she felt as high on endorphins as she’d been on pot that night at the fire.

“Push back from the wall a little,” he murmured, his voice deep and sexy as it echoed off of the ceramic walls and inside her head. This man evidently had a plan, and he was going to take his sweet time carrying it out.

Sunny inched her heels back, giving him room, and his hands slid up her wet thighs causing all kinds of delicious havoc inside her body. He leaned forward and his hot breath brushed her wetness. Her muscles clenched and Sunny’s knees faltered, but Austin’s hands gripped her knees to prop her up.

“Easy baby—hold steady,” he said, and she felt his smile against her most private flesh, as he leaned in again. He inhaled deeply before she felt the rasp of his tongue as it made a quick flick across her throbbing clit. A tremor rocked her and her hands slid down the wall as her body melted toward the floor. Austin’s fingers dug in to keep her upright. He turned his face, and his laugh vibrated up her left thigh to her folds.

“You’re going to have to be stronger than that, sugar. I have a long way to go yet.” he murmured against her skin, then opened his mouth to suction it against her inner thigh. He sucked hard, his tongue flicked against her skin, and Sunny clenched her muscles tight to fight wilting to the floor.

“This is torture,” she groaned weakly, her fingers curling into her palms to make fists on the wall.

“For me too, but the sweetest, most delicious torture there is,” he whispered hotly, very near her aching clit. For long seconds, all she felt was his warm, uneven breaths against the bud and it became unbearable. His hands finally moved to spread her, and Sunny’s muscles clenched when he leaned forward, but he didn’t touch her clit. He leaned in farther between her legs to lay the flat of his tongue on her sensitive flesh and drag it through her folds.

His long throaty murmur that accompanied the lick danced along her flesh to sizzle at her clit, then his tongue briefly dipped inside her body. Sunny’s entire body vibrated with need.