Heather Rainier (21 page)

“You feel so good, sweet Jayne. So hot, and soft, and wet. It’s hard to hold back.”

“Don’t, then.”

“Remember, don’t touch the tattoo. I’ve got you.” He lifted her ankles and rested them on his shoulders and wrapped his strong hands around her thighs. The benefit of the table was that it placed her at the perfect height for his thrusts. He pressed a kiss to her inner ankle, followed by a love bite as he fucked her. He slid his hands down to grasp her ass cheeks as he pumped his cock into her. She shifted her attention to the mirror and watched as her need to come spiraled higher and higher. His strokes were firm and rapid. The sound of their flesh smacking together was erotic over the beat of the music.

Over and over, his cock pumped in and out, driving her higher and higher until she couldn’t focus on the vision in the mirror. Tilting her head back, she closed her eyes, lost in the euphoria of the moment. He tilted her hips in his strong grasp and strummed her G-spot, drawing a howl from her as a blistering-hot orgasm seared her from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet. Her body went impossibly tense as she gripped the edge of the padded table beneath her and bucked against him as much as he would allow.

“Fuck, here it comes.” Seth held her tight as he thrust and then grew tense and silent, except for his rapid panting, as his steely, hard cock pulsed deep inside her. He slumped over her and she released her death grip on the table to stroke the dark hair from his forehead. When he opened his eyes and locked gazes with her, she smiled at him. He studied her for several silent moments, the emotions he normally hid so easily shining bright in his eyes. She didn’t think he purposely tried to keep her guessing about what he was thinking or feeling. It seemed more a habit. Whatever the reason, she could clearly see the languor stealing over his features as he caressed her cheek.

“I can’t get enough of you, baby.”

Her heart pounded with emotion as she recovered. She couldn’t get enough of him either. Couldn’t imagine her life without him now.

When they could both move again, he withdrew his cock and she almost moaned at the loss, tugging at him at the last second. He grinned at her even as a growl left his throat.

“I know, I don’t want to leave either, but we need to get you cleaned up. And me—I should be shot for doing that during a tattoo.”

“Broke a few rules, did we?” she asked with a giggle.

“Obliterated them is more like it. You bring out the animal in me.”

“Rawr.” She waggled her eyebrows at him suggestively, giggling as he shook his head and chuckled. He went to the sink and washed his hands then dampened several of the soft disposable towels he used while tattooing her and came back to the table. They were warm and soothing as he gently cleaned her tender parts and helped her to sit up for a moment.

Her body tingled all over as she leaned into his kiss. He drew her from the table and, to make her more comfortable, placed a towel on his stool for her to sit on while he cleaned the table and spread fresh paper over it. She sipped from his soda as he washed his hands again and pulled on a pair of fresh gloves.

“Ready to continue?”

“Yes, I’m very relaxed now.”

His sensual lips bowed in a grin as he looked her over with bedroom eyes. “Me too. We might be able to get done with the shading today. Do you still like the lettering we had planned?” He’d explained to her that the lettering would be small and she could shorten the passage if she wanted it bigger. He’d draw it with a marker first so he could change it if she wanted to.

“No. I want it exactly as you drew it. Can we start on the lettering if there’s time?”

“I’ll make time, if you can handle more.” He lifted the machine and turned it on. “Let’s see how far we get.”

* * * *

Seth couldn’t help but watch Jayne as she sat next to him on the couch at the Divine Creek Ranch the following Wednesday. Grace and her husbands had invited them over to enjoy a meal with them, Lily Cook and her husbands, Clay and Del, Jayne’s mom, and Seth’s sister, Lucy, who had indeed hit it off with Frieda.

When she strummed her fingers over her rib cage, Seth asked, “Itchy?”

Jayne grinned up at him sheepishly. “Like you would not believe, honey.”

“A few more days and we can do another session.” He smiled when a blush stole over her cheeks as she undoubtedly remembered their last session and the interlude on the table.

Frieda must’ve overheard because she said, “How is the tattoo coming, Jayne? I’ve been meaning to ask but I’ve been in and out, and coming and going so much.”

Jayne blushed at her mother’s word choice, and Grace and Lily both looked like they were fighting the urge to laugh, having twisted Frieda’s words in their pervy minds. He’d taken every opportunity that had presented itself for them to be alone together and had been “in and out” quite a bit too.

Seth answered for her. “A couple more sessions should see it finished. Of all the tattoos I’ve ever done, I think it’s my favorite.” Jayne blushed again as he stroked her upper arm with his fingertips.

He’d been braced for judgment from Frieda for being a tattoo artist and also for tattooing her daughter, but she surprised him, asking lots of questions. She’d even mentioned that she’d considered getting one in the past but hadn’t gone through with it.

Since the weekend before, Frieda had made the rounds, spending time with all her family members in the area, which gave him more time alone with Jayne. His sister had even gotten together with her one evening for a girls’ night out at The Dancing Pony. While he was talking with Frieda, he happened to catch Grace motioning at Jayne that she and Lily wanted to see the tattoo.

He turned to Del, who was sitting in one of the big overstuffed chairs with Lily perched in his lap. “So, did you ever find decent help out at the ranch? I ran into Lily one day last week and she told me that you’d had a run-in with one of the guys you’d hired.” Seth knew that Del had struggled along with his ranch, doing much of the work himself until hiring two ranch hands, only to have problems with one of them.

With consternation on his face, Del nodded. “I enjoy a drink or a beer as much as the next guy, but I’m not keeping someone on who needs rehab. I caught Roy sleeping off a drunk in one of the back pastures when he was supposed to be repairing a fence. Chris Potter and I had to do his share of the chores that day to get caught up. Driving my ranch truck in town when he was under the influence was the last straw. I wanted someone with more extensive experience than Roy had anyway. But things are looking up.”

“How so?”

“Angel and Joaquin introduced us to a friend of theirs who was in town a couple of weeks ago, from Lusty. He’s thinking about moving to this area. He was visiting with his current employers, Chase and Brian Benedict. Chris was pretty good friends with him when they were on the rodeo circuit together too.” Seth felt Jayne tense just a bit where she sat curled up to him, and he glanced down and saw the blush that stained her cheeks. He squeezed her reassuringly.

“Julián Alvarez?” At Del’s nod, Seth said, “We met him in The Dancing Pony. Seemed like a stand-up guy.” That was easy enough to say if he ignored the memory of the guy’s hand on Jayne’s ass and instead remembered the concern on his face for her when she’d passed out. It wasn’t necessary to share any of the specifics of how they’d met.

Jayne glanced up at him, and when he didn’t say anything else, he could feel the gratitude radiating off of her. If they knew any of the details of that night, none of the others mentioned anything.

Del said, “Julián has a lot of experience with ranch operations and would make a good lead man. He’s got to finish up the time he agreed to stay on at the Benedicts’ place first, and then decide if he wants to come to Divine. He’s got family in Lusty.”

Grace chuckled. “It’s not that far to Lusty.”

* * * *

After supper, Jayne helped Grace and the other ladies in the kitchen while the men all enjoyed a beer out on the back porch.

Standing beside Jayne, Grace said, “I’m dying to see this new tattoo. Any chance I could get a look—”

“
We
could get a look at it?” Lily asked as she reached between them to put the sponge back at the sink after wiping down the table.

Lucy piped up. “It’s gorgeous, y’all! I saw it the other day.”

Her mom pouted. “I know you’ve had more work done on it since the first time you showed me.” Jayne rolled her eyes at her pout as she nodded.

Grace glanced surreptitiously out the dining room window to check on the men, who were deep in conversation. “I was impressed when Seth said it was his favorite.”

“Why’s that?” Jayne knew he’d done many, many tattoos over the years but figured it was just because they’d bonded over it.

Lily nodded and pulled out her cell phone, tapped the screen, and began typing. “We thought he was just super-talented and looking for a place to hang his shingle when he came to Divine. We didn’t know he was world famous.”

Jayne’s eyebrows shot up, and she caught her jaw before it dropped in surprise. “He is?”

Grace nodded. Lily turned her phone so that the screen faced Jayne and scrolled through several pictures of tattoos. “He obviously doesn’t talk about it but he has clients that visit him from all over the world to have him do their body art. He wouldn’t think it’s a big deal, but, girls, we sport ink that was done by a world-renowned artist.”

“He’s so down-to-earth,” Jayne murmured.

Lucy quietly said, “Fame doesn’t mean much to him, the big dork.” Her words were teasing but Jayne heard the respect in her tone as well.

The tattoos that Lily continued to scroll through showed a wide variety of styles but all were magnificently done. There was one portrait tattoo on a man’s back that appeared three-dimensional at first glance. Lily handed her the phone and let her scan through the rest as the women talked. Among the pictures, she thought she saw a couple of celebrities.

“That’s what’s so wonderful about him. I think he moved here to get away from all of that,” Grace said as she glanced at the window again. She drew Jayne toward her office located in the back of the house as Frieda, Lucy, and Lily followed. “So you’ll show us?”

She’d already seen their tattoos, which Seth had also done, as well as several others at the July 4
^th
get-together, so she didn’t see any harm. Grace shut the door as Jayne unbuttoned her shirt. “It covers a lot of skin.”

“We’re not shy if you’re not,” Lucy replied as she took a seat in the chair at Grace’s desk. As some of the healing tattoo was revealed, Lucy whistled softly. “Whoa, dude, the shading makes a big difference. He worked you over good last Saturday.”

Honey, you have no idea.

Jayne didn’t think it was possible to be any redder in the cheeks than she was at Lucy’s word choice. Thankfully, in the lamplight no one seemed to notice. She slipped the shirt off and lowered the elastic waistband on her gauzy, flowing blue skirt. “It’s still healing, which is why it looks a little flaky in places.”

As she revealed the lower edge where the rose vine wrapped around her upper thigh, her mother’s lips formed an
O
and she said, “Wow. It’s beautiful.”

Her mom had been nothing but accepting of Seth since that initial grilling, and hearing those words from her filled Jayne with happiness. She didn’t have any illusions about her dad’s reaction though. He’d have a conniption once he found out that his baby had been tattooed. But it was her life and her body.

“Does it itch?” Lily asked as she leaned closer. “I know mine did.”

Patting an itching rib rather than scratching, Jayne giggled. “Like crazy, but Seth told me that’s normal.” She lifted her bra to show her mom the rose at the top of the design. Frieda asked Lily about her tattoo, and she quickly showed her the multicolored phoenix that decorated her abdomen.

Her mom sighed with what sounded like disappointment. “I wish I’d gotten a tattoo when I had the chance years ago. I wonder if Seth would do something for me. Maybe not
that
extensive. Does it hurt very much?” Her brows creased as she looked at her daughter.

“I won’t lie to you and say it doesn’t, but it’s worth it.”

Her mom brushed a knuckle over one of the roses on her rib cage. “He does very fine work. It’s so lifelike.” Glancing up at her, she softly asked, “He’s good to you too, I hope?”

Jayne felt tears prickle in her eyes and nodded. “Very good.”

“Hey, Grace, are these all book covers?” Lucy asked as she pointed to the stretched canvas prints decorating the walls around Grace’s desk.

Grace nodded with a grin as Lucy leaned closer to one and squinted at another one. “Caressa MacFarland. I love her books. Do you know her?”

Jayne and Lily snickered and glanced at Grace as she nodded. “You could say that.”

Lucy’s jaw dropped as she put two and two together and yelled, “No shit?” When she realized how loud she was being, she covered her mouth and whispered, “No shit, really?”

Frieda gasped at the same realization and clutched her breasts in a hilarious fan-girl gesture. “You wrote
The
Rancher’s
Lady
! You’re Caressa MacFarland!”