Impact (19 page)

Conner laughed for the first time in what felt like forever. “Will do. Later.”

“Good luck.”

Conner ended the call and began to strategize.

Chapter Eleven

Jessica sat in her living room with her parents and two of her brothers, waiting for Conner to arrive. She couldn’t help but feel as if he was walking into a firing squad. She’d told them she wasn’t angry at him and he was worried because she hadn’t called, but they thought it was a little crazy he’d driven all the way from Dallas to track her down. They obviously didn’t know Conner. The thought put a hint of a smile on her face.

When he’d called earlier he’d sounded as if he wanted to be with her for more than a fling, and the thought made her want to hope so badly, but she was afraid to let herself. He’d made it clear to her in the beginning he couldn’t live the lifestyle he wanted while he was on the tour and didn’t intend to settle down until after his riding days were over. So what did that mean for them? She knew he wouldn’t truly be happy if he was denying such a big part of who he was. He’d end up resenting her because she’d be a constant reminder of what he wanted but didn’t think he could have.

She heard the crunch of gravel on the driveway and looked up. He was here. Forcing herself to remain seated, she watched as the door opened and her brother Evan strode in instead. “Hey.” He looked around. “What’re y’all doing in here?”

“Waiting for Jess’ boyfriend,” Travis explained. “Where’ve you been?”

“I got restless so I went to check on those minerals we ordered. Junie said they should arrive by midweek. Why are we waiting on Conner? He’s coming here?”

“Yes,” Jessica answered. “He called a couple hours ago and said he was on his way. You must’ve been out in the barn when he called.”

“Must’ve been,” Evan agreed. “I’ll go wash up and be right back to join in the interrogation.” He winked at Jessica and moved into the kitchen.

A moment later the gravel crunched again and then a knock sounded at the door. Her daddy rose from his recliner and opened it. “You must be Conner. Come on in, son. We’ve been expecting you.”

“Thank you, sir.” Conner removed his hat and shook hands with her father. He looked nervous and Jessica wondered what was going on inside his head. She glanced around. It did look like an interrogation. Or an inquisition.

Her father moved into the room and stood by her mother’s chair. “This is my wife, Rita.”

Conner nodded and gave her one of his patented smiles. “Ma’am.”

Her mother grinned back, and Jessica had to hold in a chuckle. Apparently he’d already charmed her mother, but then again, her mama had always loved the cowboys—she’d married one, after all, and all her sons had taken after him. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Conner.”

Her father continued with the introductions. “My oldest, Travis, and my youngest, Nathan. We call him Nate.” Her brothers stood to their full height—neither of whom matched Conner’s—and Conner shook hands with each, looking them in the eye. Jessica was never prouder of him than in this moment of meeting her family. “That’s Evan lurking in the doorway over there.” Her father jerked his head toward the kitchen where Evan was leaning on the doorframe. Conner acknowledged him with a nod, and then turned to her, smiling at her almost shyly. Daddy cleared his throat. “And you know my
only
daughter, Jessica.”

His last sentence held a clear warning, and Jessica sent her father a reproachful glare. “Daddy, really.” She rose from the couch and came around the coffee table. Putting her arms around Conner’s neck, she reached up on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. “Are you hungry? We’ve got dinner waiting in the oven if my family is done staring you down.”

Conner smiled at her, looking relieved. His hand came up to rest on her waist, squeezing briefly. “Starving.”

Her parents led the way into the kitchen and Jessica and her mother began setting out the meal while her brothers grilled Conner about being a bull rider now and his plans for the future. Of course they also inquired not so subtly about their relationship. Her father sat back and allowed Travis and Nate to take the lead, while Evan also stayed silent and observed. When everything was on the table, they sat down. Jessica caught Conner’s hand under the table and gave it a reassuring pat.

He responded with a quick wink and began to eat as if he hadn’t seen food for days, complimenting her mother on her cooking until she blushed like a schoolgirl. When she protested her cooking was nothing special, Conner reminded her of the fare he was used to—arena food, truck stops and diners. Laughing, her mother accepted his praise and began to quiz him on his favorite foods. If Jessica knew her mother, there was a care package in Conner’s near future.

Once dinner was over Conner tried to help clean up, but Evan shooed him away, suggesting Jessica take Conner on a tour of the outbuildings. They began to walk around the main areas, and though it had gotten dark by then, the motion-detector lights on the front of many of the buildings guided them from one to the other. When they reached the third building, which Jessica told him was the storage shed for the feed for the cattle, Conner shut the door behind them and didn’t turn on the lights. Pulling her to him, he muttered, “Finally,” and lowered his head to hers, taking immediate possession of her mouth.

She melted into him, her body flaring to life. His tongue pushed into her mouth and she gladly accepted it, sucking him in farther to encourage him to explore her depths. He moaned and lifted her up to fit her pelvis to his groin, pushing the bulge of his cock between the juncture of her thighs. She rubbed up and down his body, eliciting another moan. “I missed you so much,” she whispered on his lips.

“Don’t leave me again,” he replied, his voice breaking, before his mouth dragged down her neck.

“I won’t. I was just so shocked, so upset…”

“You should’ve come and talked to me, darlin’,” he told her. “I had to hear about your suspension from someone else. You were already gone. I felt helpless. Then you didn’t pick up your phone and I got worried.”

Tears began to stream down her face. “I’m sorry.”

He gently brushed away her tears with his thumbs. “Shhhh, I’m not trying to make you feel guilty, I’m trying to explain myself. I don’t ever wanna feel that way again. I can’t.”

“So what
do
you want, Conner?” She held her breath, afraid of what he would say.

“I want you. I wanna figure out a way we can be together. Right now I don’t know exactly how that’s gonna work but there’s no way in hell I’m gonna let you go.” He cupped her face and Jessica could feel his hands trembling. “I’m in love with you, Jessie girl.”

She gasped. He couldn’t mean it. She shook her head.

“Yes. I’m in love with you.” She saw his face silhouetted in the moonlight coming through the windows. His expression was dead serious. What if he really did love her? What if it was possible?

“But what does that mean? What if the tour fires me?”

“Then we’ll figure something else out. I own a ranch too, you know. It’s not nearly as big as this one, but it’s there and it’s profitable. When your brothers were grilling me about my future it occurred to me my future is my ranch, and if I have to quit bull riding, I’ll start ranching full time a little sooner than I expected. It’ll all work out.”

“You sound so calm right now, Conner, but you love riding bulls. You love the tour. If you retire because of me you’ll resent me, and I don’t want that.”

“I do love riding bulls, but I’ve already made my fair share of money—enough to have bought my ranch and give me a comfortable cushion to keep it going for a while even if it wasn’t showing a profit. I don’t
need
to stay on tour. I was still riding because there wasn’t a better alternative. Maybe there is now.”

“I want to believe you. You don’t know how much.”

“Are you gonna doubt your Dom? Question him?” His voice was silky and she closed her eyes. It wasn’t fair to use her natural submissiveness against her. “Am I gonna have to paddle your ass for not believing me?”

“Conner, don’t do this to me, don’t use your pull over me to get what you want. It isn’t fair.”

“You’re right, it’s not, and I apologize. But I’m still gonna spank you for leavin’ like you did, and I think you’re gonna spend some quality time with my cock in your mouth to show me how sorry you are for worrying me.”

Her breath caught and all she could think about was taking him into her mouth, tasting him. She missed it. She wanted to please him, to show him how much he meant to her.

“Tell me you believe me. Tell me you believe I love you,” he rasped, his teeth scraping her lobe.

“I believe you.” She caught his head in her hands and gave him a short, hard kiss. “I love you too.”

“I was hoping you’d say that,” he answered, his voice husky. Drawing her to him, he groaned. “I wanna be inside you so bad. I wanna make love to you until you can’t walk.”

“I know, and we can leave tomorrow, but tonight I have to stay in the house. My parents are kind of traditional. There’s a reason none of my brothers live in the house.” She brushed a kiss over his lips, but it quickly turned heated.

“Fuck. I need to stop or I’ll be ripping your clothes off in about ten seconds. My cock feels like it’s about to strangle me.” She cupped him through his jeans and he hissed. “Baby…” Dropping to her knees, she reached for his belt. “What the fuck do you think you’re doin’?”

“Helping you relieve the ache.”

He tried to pull her back up but she resisted. “If one of your brothers or your father catches us I’ll be skinned alive.” She had his belt undone and had worked the zipper of his jeans down. He let out a violent string of curses when she reached inside and stroked his engorged cock. “If you wanna suck me that badly, do it. Now,” he ordered. “Don’t tease me. Take me—all of me, Jessie girl. I wanna feel my dick in your throat. I wanna fuck your mouth.” He was speaking through clenched teeth by this time as she worked his jeans and briefs down over his tight ass and thighs. “I want you to remember who you belong to. Suck my cock, Jess. Now.”

She took a firm hold on his shaft with one hand and guided him to her mouth. Swallowing him as far as she could, she heard him emit a tortured moan. His back arched and his cock pushed farther in. She concentrated on not gagging, breathing through her nose as he invaded her throat. “Fuck, I’ve missed having you on my cock, sugar.” She drew him back out and sucked hard on just the head. “Yeah, just like that,” he encouraged her.

“Deep throat me again, darlin’, I want you to take my whole cock.” He grabbed her head and pushed her down until her nose met the coarse hairs of his groin. Holding her there, he growled, “Fuck yes, keep me in your throat. Accept my cock.” He held her for a bit more and then released her. “Suck me hard and fast, baby. I’m close and I can’t wait to come down your throat.”

She lapped at the slit and the sensitive underside and he snarled. A little while later he began to swell. “Get ready. I want you to swallow every damn drop. You hear me?” He came with a series of low grunts, sending stream after stream of hot, salty cum into her waiting mouth. She took it as best she could until finally he pulled away, his breathing labored. “What the fuck did you do to me?” he whispered.

She rose and wiped off her jeans, hoping the evidence of her being on her knees wasn’t too obvious when she went back to the house. She’d just straightened when he grabbed her and gave her a searing kiss. He must’ve been able to taste himself in her mouth, but he didn’t seem to care as he plunged his tongue inside and ravaged her depths. Tilting her head to his liking, he deepened the kiss further and her pussy clenched in need. It wouldn’t take much to get her off given her current state of arousal.

He began to reach for her jeans, but she stepped back. Much as it pained her, they had already been outside a long time and she didn’t want to arouse even more suspicion. “We’d better not.”

“Are you sure, baby?”

“Yeah, I don’t want to give my dad a reason to come out here with a shotgun.”

“Ouch.” Reaching down to straighten his clothes, he said, “You know, one thing you’re definitely gonna do as my sub is suck my cock. A lot.” She could hear the smile in his voice and she rolled her eyes in the dark.

“Oh you think so?”

“I know so.”

“And what if I refuse?”

“I’ll spank your ass. I won’t let you come either.”

“Hmmm, that last part would suck,” she teased him.

He laughed. “So you want me to spank your ass?”

“Sometimes.”

“There’s a difference between an erotic spanking and a punishment spanking, you know.”

“I’ve heard that, yes.”

“What I gave you before was an erotic spanking. I pushed you a little to see if you could achieve sub space, but it wasn’t as hard or as long as a punishment spanking would be.”

She shivered as she imagined such a spanking. She remembered the spanking he was referring to—the pain of his hand and the damn paddle, and how the first few strokes with his belt had been white-hot pain before she’d dropped into sub space. If a punishment spanking was longer and harder she’d be a sore, sobbing mess by the time he was done.

“Refuse to suck my cock and you’ll get a punishment spanking, guaranteed.”