Laying Down the Law (9 page)

When she reached for his shoulders, he bent, kneading her back and buttocks as he mouthed her breasts.

Each sweet biting caress sent electricity darting toward her core. He knelt lower, rubbing the bristles on his cheek against her belly, making her tremble and moan. When he knelt lower still, she trained her eyes on the etched glass door and surrendered as he dove between her legs. He urged one thigh over his shoulder and rubbed his cheeks against her inner thighs before nuzzling upwards. Because she was expecting it, her body shuddered the moment before he actually touched her there, her pussy clenching.

His tongue pushed between her folds, slid into her entrance, and her calf tightened as it hugged his back. He petted her mound with his fingers then spread her folds and scraped a callused thumb across her swollen clit.

“Colt. Oh!”

His tongue withdrew, then feathered upward, tapping the hard little knot before swirling wetly over and over it. He slid his fingers inside her, pumping in and out of her hot channel.

Her hips moved forward and back, pushing her mound against his nose, urging him to stroke deeper. “Please, please,” she whispered.

Colt shrugged off her thigh and rose. His hands gripped her ass and slid her up the slippery tiles. She wrapped her legs around his waist, waited impatiently while he fit the thick head at the opening of her vagina.

Only then did he press into her, pushing upward, sliding her down then up the wall with the strength of his hard thrusts.

Water streamed like heavy rain atop their heads, beat their shoulders, dripped off their noses.

His eyelashes were starred with liquid, but he kept his eyes open, as did she. They locked glances, and she marveled that a man who looked so hard, his face tight and sharp-edged, could still hold onto his control to deliver the long, precise strokes she needed.

He broke apart her breaths, not with sharp thrusts, but with endless rolls of his hips, firm up-and-down lunges of his hands on her bottom to control the surging tension.

Up and down the slippery tiles, up and down his thickening cock. The friction inside her burned. The juicy sounds they made coming together and apart were louder than their straining breaths.

“Let go of my waist,” he growled.

She began to lower her legs, but he pressed closer, released her buttocks and hooked his arms beneath her thighs. Then the sensual movements quickened, sharpened.

Already so near, she let her head bump back against the tile and surrendered, letting him control everything, her limbs lax, her pussy convulsing, strong ripples traveling down to caress every sweet inch of the cock shoving up inside her.

“Colt…” Her mouth opened and her eyelids fluttered closed.

His knees dipped, and he came up harder, pulling her thighs to bounce her on his shaft. There was violence in his movements, a gentle rage that ripped away every last sense of self.

Zuri arched her back and screamed, rocking her legs within his hold, rubbing her breasts against his chest, needing to be closer, needing him deeper.

The moment and her body locked and held although Colt continued to plunge inside her. Her pussy clamped down, milking him with strong contractions she felt all along her channel to her gripping entrance. The scalding spurt of liquid flooding her now was him and her, a wave of their excitement so hot and pure that she wrapped her arms around him and held on with all her might, because she didn’t want to let it end. Didn’t want to leave his embrace.

But he was shaking, leaning into the tiles, his head sinking to her shoulder as he dragged in deep, shuddering breaths.

Zuri, eyes still closed, mouth still slack, rubbed his cheek as she fought to breathe enough air into her lungs so she wouldn’t pass out. “Best…pat-down…ever.”

Colt grunted, not letting her go, just rocking ever so slightly against her as the pulsing of his cock slowed. He kissed her neck, lifted his head and skimmed his mouth along her jaw. Then he angled his face to press his lips against hers.

When at last they both drew back, Zuri slowly opened her eyes. His blazed back with a look she’d never seen. One of feral possession. A look that filled an empty place inside her, because she’d always wanted to belong to this fierce, strong man. “I love you, Colt.”

His jaw tightened. He didn’t give her back the words, but he held her safe inside his embrace.

Chapter Nine

Colt glanced over at Zuri who sat her horse rather gingerly. He suppressed a self-satisfied grin, surprised at just how much the tenderness she felt pleased him in a very primal way.

Colt cast a trained eye around the rolling hills, looking for anything out of place. He’d wanted to treat her to an outing, but wasn’t taking any chances. To the south, he saw a rider, Eddie Sandoval, his horse halted on a rise.

Eddie raised a hand to let him know he’d keep watch. All the men were party to keeping Zuri safe now. Whatever Tommy had said had galvanized them. When he and Zuri had stepped out onto the porch after they’d showered, they’d been greeted by a pair of cowboys flanking both ends of the porch. At the barn, another armed man had stepped from the shadows to tip his hat.

Zuri had given him a glance filled with alarm, but he’d explained they were only there for protection, so that she could feel safe moving around. After that, they’d both firmly ignored their security detail.

At her next wince, Colt took pity on her. “Would you like to rest a bit before we head back?”

She glanced over, her eyebrows lowering into a scowl like she’d guessed he knew exactly what was bothering her, and she warned him not to say a word.

He pretended not to notice and tipped his chin to the live oak at the top of the next hill. “How about we stretch our legs and let the horses graze. There’s shade under the tree.”

She nudged her horse and led the way, her legs stiff from trying to hold herself off the saddle, which only meant each impact was sharp rather than a gentle roll.

He chuckled quietly, pleased with himself. Happy in way he hadn’t felt in a long time.

All because he’d had the most explosive sex of his life and expended all the pent-up anger and resentment he’d kept inside him all these years. He hadn’t known he’d been carrying it around for so long, not until it slid right off his shoulders. Zuri was back. He’d move heaven and earth to keep her now. Even proving to her she’d never find a more attentive lover.

They dismounted, and he took the saddlebags he’d filled with their lunch. They’d both been too late for breakfast, and his stomach was growling. She had to be starving too.

He spread a blanket on the buffalo grass under the tree, opened two chilled bottles of sparkling water and handed her one. Then he sat and patted the blanket beside him.

“I think I’ll stand for minute,” she muttered.

“Been a while since you rode?” he drawled, keeping his expression innocent.

Zuri turned away, but her shoulders shook. When she glanced back, a crooked grin stretched across her face. “You know darn well what my problem is. It’s all your fault.”

“You complainin’?”

“About the fact my lover wore me out?” She sighed and knelt on the blanket, before sitting gingerly on her bottom. “Not complainin’,” she said a wry note in her voice. “Just wonderin’ how I’m gonna get back up on that horse. Is it too far to walk home?”

He patted the rounded saddlebag. “I brought lunch. We can take our time. You can even take a nap if you need it.”

“It’s not fair. You should be just as raw.”

“I am,” he said quietly, a small smile tugging at his lips.

She huffed. “Think anyone else knows?”

“Anyone in a hundred yards of the house heard you scream.”

She groaned and hid her face. “Your brothers?”

“Congratulated me.”

“
No
.” She laughed and dropped her hands. Her cheeks were a fiery red. “I can’t believe they weren’t ready to dump me at the edge of town.”

“I told them everything. They’re the ones who set up the patrols. We’ll all keep you safe.”

“They believe me?”

“They’re…open to it,” he said, giving her a steady gaze.

Her cheeks billowed around a quick puffed breath. “So the guard works both ways.”

Colt nodded. “No one out. No one in.”

“You can’t do this for long. The FBI probably already suspects me of collusion because I disappeared.”

“They probably do. Let’s not worry about it. Not right now. Let me feed you.”

Zuri sat across from him, her eyes bright and wide, her mouth still red from his kisses. He wondered if she knew that her cheeks were raw from whisker burn, but he kept that to himself.

From the pack, he pulled out thick roast-beef sandwiches and two apples.

She took hers, unwrapped the plastic and then opened her sandwich, reset the lettuce, sliced tomato and onion before being satisfied.

“Don’t trust I know how you like it?”

“No, I always look. It’s just habit.”

They ate in silence. When he stowed away the plastic wrap and emptied bottles, they sat side-by-side, staring out over the green pastures and the highway in the distance.

“Think you can sit a saddle?”

“It’s a long way back. Too long to walk, huh?”

The whine in her voice had him grinning again. “I have an idea.”

He brought her horse beside his, tied a rope to its halter and the other end to his saddle horn. “He can follow us.” Then he mounted, scooted back as far as he could and then reached down and pulled her up in one fluid movement to sit sideways in front of him. He cradled her back in one arm. “Better?”

Her lips pouted. “They’ll laugh at me when we ride in like this.”

“They wouldn’t dare.”

“It’s kind of nice,” she said, settling against his body as he nudged his horse into motion.

They kept a slow, steady pace, Zuri asking him questions about the ranch and the cattle they passed until they neared the last hill before coming to the house.

A sharp report echoed in the distance. His horse halted, gave a heavy, snuffling snort, then began buckling beneath him.

Colt realized in an instant what had happened, kicked his boots free of the stirrups and dove for the ground, pulling Zuri with him as the horse fell the other way.

Zuri’s mare whinnied wildly, rearing on her hind legs and bucking against the rope.

Colt slipped the knot, turning her free to run, then pushed Zuri down to lie beside his horse, whose legs still twitched. He cautiously slipped his rifle from its scabbard and scanned the horizon around them.

“What was that?” Zuri asked, her voice hushed and small.

“A rifle.”

“Someone shot at your horse?”

“Someone shot at us.”

Her eyes grew round, all color leaching from her face.

Blood bubbled from Diego’s nostrils, but Colt couldn’t think about it. Not right now. He dug a hand into his shirt pocket, pulled out his satellite phone and hit the speed dial.

As soon as it connected, he barked, “Gabe, someone’s on the range just to the west of the house. He shot my horse.”

“Stay there. We’re comin’.” But already, he heard hooves pounding from the far hills.

Zuri was crying, her hands petting Diego’s nose trying to comfort the horse, but he was already gone, his breath shuddering out one last time.

Colt pressed his hand against the top of her head to keep her down and positioned himself to the outside, kneeling with his weapon as he continued to scan for whomever had done this.

“I’m so sorry,” she sobbed behind him.

“Not your fault,” he bit out, his body tense, kicking himself for putting them both at risk.

“He followed me. You know that’s what this is.”

“Yeah. Figured that out.”

“You believe me now?”

“I do, sweetheart. No good lawman would have taken that shot. Not and risk hurtin’ me too.”

The growl of engines sounded in distance. A truck and three motorized mules coming at a fast clip topped the hill and fanned out around them.

Gabe jumped out the passenger door of the truck before it stopped, then waved it and the other vehicles to move on. He hunkered down beside them. “They’ll check to see if anyone’s still out there.”

“He’s probably long gone. Plenty of places to hide,” Colt said, thinking of the miles of arroyos and brush.

“That was pretty damn bold,” Gabe said, gazing at Colt then Zuri whose tears were making muddy tracks down her cheeks. “Guess this means any more field trips are out. And it means you weren’t lyin’.”

Zuri’s tears came faster. “I’m so sorry about Diego.”

So was Colt. He’d had the horse since he was a teenager. “I am too. I just didn’t think Satterly would come onto the property. Not like this.”

“Sure he’s workin’ alone?” Gabe asked.

Zuri lifted her shoulder. “Only one man held up the bank.”

“He’s a cop,” Colt said. “I can’t see him trustin’ anyone else with his dirty business.”

The vehicles returned. Colt helped Zuri into the truck cab then stood on the side rail while Gabe leaped into the bed. Then all three vehicles took off across the pasture.