12-Alarm Cowboys (53 page)

She’d been tentative at first. Penny, the goat, had eyed Carly with suspicion and given a mournful bleat.

Now, Carly placed a bucket beneath her to catch the milk.

As he leaned against the barn, he hid a smile and chewed on the end of a piece of grass. He’d offered to show her how to milk a goat, but she’d refused, saying Mayra had explained it all, and she wasn’t stupid.

Carly didn’t look so sure now as she moved beside the goat. Her eyebrows were lowered in a fierce frown. Her lips were crimped into a stubborn line.

Maybe he wasn’t being fair watching as she worked her way through the process, but that was just her tough luck. He wasn’t budging.

They still hadn’t had their little talk. He’d let her milk the goat, then he’d draw her away to have a private conversation.

He needed to know she was all right after passing out in the hay field. More than that, he needed to hold her again. Last night, he’d been restless and horny, thinking about their time beside the stream. After tomorrow, she might disappear again, and he had to know whether any chance at all existed that she might agree to continue seeing him. He wasn’t ready to let her go.

Carly set aside
the cloth and gripped both teats. The fact she was holding a goat’s teats in her hands was bizarre enough. The fact she had to get milk out them kind-of grossed her out.

But she’d agreed to this chore, even though she was sure Jeremiah was silently laughing behind her back. Yes, she’d seen him standing there, muscled arms crossed over his broad chest and his cowboy hat tipped low.

Lord, he was sexy. He didn’t have do anything, didn’t have to speak. Just the sight of him did something to her. Reminded her of all the nasty things he’d done to her there beside the stream with his hands, his mouth…and his wicked, wicked tongue.

Last night, she’d been tempted half a dozen times to creep down the hallway to his bedroom, but didn’t want to seem too desperate. If she’d heard him knock on her door, she would have let him in, but he hadn’t.

Her fingers tightened, she squeezed. Nothing happened. She tried again, this time squeezing harder, but only made the goat bleat louder.

A soft chuckling came from beside her. “Are you giving up? I can show you how.”

Carly aimed a glare up at him. “Fine. Show me. The sooner I get this done—”

“I know. The sooner you can get the hell away from me.”

He said the words like the idea rankled with him. Were his feelings hurt? She frowned as he settled behind her, so close the heat of his skin warmed her back. “Put your hands on her teats.”

She really hated that word. Teats. Like it was more polite than tits. So why were her own nipples tightening? She gripped the
teats
as she had before, her thumb and forefinger holding the appendages close to the udder.

His arms encircled her, his hands closed over hers, his fingers aligning atop her fingers. “Squeezing at the top traps the milk in her teats.”

“I know that,” she muttered. “Show me something I don’t.”

“Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?” he asked, his mouth beside her ear.

She squirmed on the stool. “I slept great.”

“Funny,” he said, his voice dropping deeper. “I didn’t. I kept thinking about what happened. I kept wishing you’d slip into my bed. Why didn’t you?”

Carly grew warm. Her skin prickled into goose bumps. She should laugh and tell him she hadn’t thought about him at all. But she liked the way he felt, wrapped around her, his hands holding hers. Laughter would be a kind of rejection, and the last thing she wanted was to push him away. “You didn’t invite me,” she said, keeping her voice even.

He chuckled. “Didn’t think I had to. I apologize. Neither of us should have spent a restless night.” He cleared his throat. “Okay, the milk is trapped, now you have to coax it down the—”

“Teat,” she ground out, clamping her jaw tight.

“You don’t like that word?”

“It just sounds wrong. Especially the way Mayra said it with her accent.”

His laughter rocked his chest against her back, and she leaned against him to keep from toppling.

“You squeeze your fingers, one at time, moving down the
tit
,” he whispered.

A squirt of milk rang against the side the bucket.

Success
. Carly laughed and turned her face to Jeremiah’s. Her smile faded as she stared into his taut features. Her gaze went to his mouth, and he leaned toward her.

The goat bleated.

Carly jerked away. “We should milk her.”

“Quickly,” Jeremiah said, continuing to coach her with presses against her fingers.

The bucket filled, and the pungent scent of goat milk rose to surround them.

“Think that will do it,” he said, and then stood, helping her with a hand at her elbow. He dipped down to turn the goat’s head and push her out of the stanchion.

Penny trotted away, bleating as she rejoined her kids.

Jeremiah picked up the bucket, and then grabbed for Carly’s hand. “Let’s drop this with Mayra.”

She didn’t even try to tug away her hand. She liked the way his felt, surrounding hers, forcing her to follow.

Mayra was nowhere in sight when they entered the kitchen.

He set the bucket in the sink then moved through the kitchen doors to the living room, tossing his hat toward the sofa. Then he turned to head down a dark hallway. At the end, he opened the door of an office or a library, or maybe it was both.

Books lined the walls floor to ceiling, shelves even framing the windows. A large walnut desk dominated the center of the room. Deep leather sofas faced each other across a large leather ottoman.

Without speaking a word, he stood her in front of the ottoman and went to work, opening her shirt, and then unclasping her bra.

She liked his efficiency, so she let him strip her without lifting a finger to help.

When he slid both garments off her shoulders, he moved them only to her elbows, leaving her arms trapped at the elbows. Ignoring her raised brows, he sat on the ottoman and opened her belt and then her jeans. He smoothed them down to mid-thigh, then gripped her ass in both hands and forced her closer.

Hunching his shoulders, he lowered his head to kiss her mound. “I want this on my mouth, Carly,” he said, his voice roughening. “If you’re stripped of your jeans and boots, will you climb over me and sit on my face?”

A laugh shook her. “Jeremiah!”

He arched a brow. “Too crude?”

“I suppose not, since thinking about doing that is making me really, really hot.” She wagged her shoulders. “I’d take off my clothes, but I can’t.”

“Let me do it for you.”

He bent and lifted each boot while she balanced on a single foot, teetering. Once, he had to grab for her hips to make sure she didn’t fall. But at last, he had off both boots and smoothed her jeans down her legs, helping her as she stepped out of her clothes. Then he moved, sliding around until he faced away, then slowly lowered to his back, his face just beneath the apex of her thighs. “Straddle me, baby. I want it on my mouth.”

This time, she had no urge to laugh. Her need was too urgent. With her arms bound by her shirt, she climbed clumsily onto the stool and spread her knees.

Jeremiah scooted toward her, then under her. His fingers parted her folds, and then his tongue stroked her, licking her from the bottom of her folds all the way to her clit.

“Jesus,” she whispered.

“Name’s Jeremiah,” he said, then grunted and licked her again.

She gave a muffled laugh then groaned when he pushed his pointed tongue inside. She made a shallow dip, not wanting to lose his wonderful tongue, but she needed to move, needed to sway above him while he swirled inside her, the sensation so lush and decadent she let her head fall backward. She swayed, and then yelped as she fell backward, off the ottoman, landing on the plush Persian carpet.

‡

B
efore she could
pull in deep gulp of air, she saw Jeremiah jackknife upward then scramble to the floor. “Carly, are you okay? Fuck, I forgot you fainted this morning.” His hands roamed her body, searching for problems.

Carly couldn’t help it. She laughed. She lay naked, her arms still caught in her shirt, her legs splayed, and all she could do was laugh.

He sat back on his haunches, and the corners of his mouth twitched. “That didn’t work quite the way I thought it would.”

“You mean you didn’t mean for me to break my arms?”

His smile disappeared. “Let me get you free.” He reached for her, sat her on the carpet, and dragged her bra and shirt off her arms. Then he smoothed his hands over her arms as though to reassure himself she was unhurt.

“All better,” she whispered. “But now, I’m completely naked and horny.”

His grunt was followed by a sexy glance that trailed slowly down her body. “Since I’m responsible for your condition…”

She climbed over his lap, spreading her thighs to straddle him. “Now, if you’d had just a little foresight, you’d be snug inside me now.”

“Won’t take a minute,” he said, rubbing his cheek against hers.

“A minute’s too long.” She held tight to his shoulders.

Frowning, he opened his pants and raised just high enough he could shove them past his buttocks. Then he dug into his pocket and pulled out a condom. “If you don’t mind,” he said, his voice tight, his hands already tearing the plastic.

Glad he didn’t want to wait while she did the honors, she said, “Not at all.”

When he was cloaked, he ground his cock against her, riding her slit.

She dragged her hips forward and back, wetting him and warming herself. She made another glide, and he clamped his hands on her buttocks and lifted her.

His cock slid through her folds to her entrance, and he shoved her slowly down until he was seated deep inside. “Better?”

Carly drew a thin breath. “So much better,” she whispered. “I love the way you feel inside me.”

“I love the feel of your insides.”

She laughed and wrinkled her nose. “You really need to work on the sweet talk.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t even try,” he growled. “Don’t they say, actions speak louder than words?”

“They do,” she said, nodding solemnly. “So…
act
.”

He cupped her cheek and the back of her neck and kissed her, his tongue sliding into her mouth.

The taste was of her body. She sucked on it and groaned, grinding down on his cock, because she needed more than great kisses. She needed him to move. Her inner muscles tightened all around him.

On a guttural moan, he broke the kiss. “That feels…amazing.”

Concentrating, she did it again, liking the way his face hardened and his fingers bit into the flesh of her bottom. Again…

He leaned his forehead against hers. “You’re not letting me take this slow, are you?”

She snickered. “Cowboy, slow is overrated.”

With a single move, he held her body close and leaned over, forcing her to lie on the carpet.

She let her legs fall open at either side of his hips, surrendering everything. “Ride me, Jeremiah. Make me burn.”

His jaw clamped tight, and his nostrils flared a moment before he braced his weight on both hands and lowered like he was doing a pushup. Then his hips began thrusting—long, steady drives, over and over, filling her, leaving her, filling her again.

Her breaths deepened, and her eyelids dipped. She watched him through narrow slits, aiming downward through the small space between their bodies as his cock disappeared again and again. She loved the way they looked together—him fucking her, his hips dipping and angling to stroke her inner walls just right. She raised her legs higher. “I love fucking you.”

He snorted. “I’m the one doing all the work.”

“Do you mind that I’m lazy?”

He shook his head and gave a distracted grin. “No, I like being in control. You’re so hot and tight…
fuck
…” He pummeled her pussy faster. “Shouldn’t talk. You wreck my concentration.”

Her breaths came out in gasps. “Why do you need to think?”

“Don’t. Just want to make this last longer.”

And she understood. Or at least, she understood what it meant from her point of view. She didn’t want this day to end. She loved the way he was with her—gentle, like she was fragile, when he could think; rough, like now, when the pleasure blew away his caution.

He leaned on one hand and slipped the other beneath her ass, cupping her to raise her as he pounded harder.

Aiding him, she curved her body, giving him the angle he sought as he sank deeper. “I can feel you all the way inside me, stretching me,” she whispered, scratching his chest with her nails.

“Not gonna last much longer,” he ground out, then abruptly pulled free.

“Bastard,” she groaned and let her head fall against the floor.

He gripped her by the waist and turned her over, then snaked an arm beneath her belly and pulled her up until she rested on her hands and knees.

Carly tossed back her hair and glanced behind her, watching as he placed himself at her entrance again, gripped her hips, and drove forward. Intense pleasure rippled inside. She whipped around and dropped her head, whimpering as he moved forcefully inside her—so deep, so fast, the friction building inside made her burn.