Rode Hard, Put Up Wet (17 page)

124

www.samhainpublishing.com

Rode Hard, Put Up Wet

“Back off, or I’ll be forced to show
you
how the bucket of rocky mountain oysters in the cooler came to be earlier this morning.”

“Ouch.”

Clem waved her down and Macie headed to the cash register. She chatted with Clem, ignoring Velma and Carter’s whispers and laughter. Only after Velma had taken Carter’s order and disappeared into the kitchen, did she return to the counter where Carter sat, watching her like a hawk.

“Are you really mad at me?” he asked quietly.

She fiddled with the water pitcher. “No.”

“Good. So. When do you get off?”

Whenever I think of you.

Dammit. Her stupid hormones were a menace. No. This stupid man was a menace to her normally well-behaved hormones.

“Macie?”

She refocused. “Umm. In about an hour.”

“Cool. I’ll hang around and wait for you.”

“Don’t bother. I’m sure you have plenty of other things to do.”

His eyes narrowed. “You
are
mad.”

Before she could deny it, Velma burst through the swinging doors holding a gigantic ice cream concoction decorated with whipped cream and two cherries. “Here’s your root beer float, hon.”

“Thanks.”

“Extra whipped cream, just like you asked.”

Carter smirked at Macie. “You know how much I like sweet, thick cream.”

Heat flashed between her legs. Bad, bad hormones.

No. Bad, bad man.

“This is pure artistry, Miz Velma. Mmm. Mmm.”

“You would know.” Velma cocked her head at Macie. “Carter here is an artist.”

“So he says.”

The spoon stopped halfway to Carter’s mouth. His blue eyes went as cold as the ice cream in his float. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

www.samhainpublishing.com 125

Lorelei James

Macie addressed her comments to Velma. “He tells me he’s an artist, and says he’s

‘working’ but the truth is, I’ve never seen a damn thing he’s supposedly created.” She shrugged. “So I’m just wondering if his whole ‘I’m an artist line’ is just that.” Macie locked her gaze to Carter’s. “A line. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have onions to chop.”

She half-expected Carter to sneak in after her offering all sorts of sweet-talkin’

excuses, or for Velma to butt in, but no one bothered her. The knife thwacked into the acrylic cutting board, cleaving the onion in two. Her tears fell unchecked until she swiped them away with her shirtsleeve. Stupid onions always made her cry.

What she’d said to Carter was true and it bugged the crap out of her that he hadn’t shown her a single thing he’d drawn or molded or carved. Him calling her his beautiful muse in that sexy, low voice of his while he fucked her unconscious didn’t count. It didn’t count when he whispered promises about immortalizing her likeness in clay either.

She wanted to see actual, physical proof. Of something.

Macie frowned. Was that why he’d freaked out when he caught her in his studio?

Because he didn’t want her to find out he wasn’t working? Maybe he was blocked. She’d heard artists got blocked just like writers. Maybe that’s why he claimed he needed a muse. She’d be even more skeptical of his motives if she hadn’t seen the stunning portrait Carter created of Gemma’s husband.

But he’d drawn that one years ago. What had he been doing recently?

Irritating the hell out of her damn hormones.

She put the situation out of her mind as she cleaned up and changed clothes. When she returned up front, she wasn’t surprised Carter wasn’t waiting for her, but his absence did cause her a tiny pang of disappointment.

Velma said, “You ready to go?”

“Yeah.”

Before Velma hit the lights, she said, “He left something for you on the counter.”

“What?”

“Take a look.”

Macie spied a cheap placemat on the spot where Carter had eaten. She picked it up and stared in disbelief.

It was a pencil drawing of her. A close-up. Specifically of her brooding, in the diner’s kitchen, her face half hidden in shadow as she gazed longingly at something beyond the white edge of the paper.

126

www.samhainpublishing.com

Rode Hard, Put Up Wet

Her eyes met Velma’s. “Do I really look like this?”

“Like what, sweetheart?”

Lost.

Velma shuffled over and peered at the drawing. “Well, you do look sad in this picture. But you’ve been kinda mopin’ around the last week, so I think it’s a pretty accurate depiction of your mood. No denyin’ the man has talent. That’s for damn sure.”

She looked at Macie and smiled. “No denyin’ the man also has it bad for you.”

“But—”

“No buts. Swallow your pride, squirt. He might’ve hurt your feelin’s over something this week, but remember:
He
came lookin’ for
you
tonight.” Velma patted her cheek.

“Make sure the door is locked when you leave, eh?”

Macie rolled up the picture and carefully inserted it in a cardboard paper towel tube so it wouldn’t get crushed in her backpack. She slammed the back door and rounded the side of the brick building, her guilty footsteps loud in the gravel and the muted night air.

She was so lost in thought that she didn’t notice him until she’d reached her vehicle.

Carter lounged against the passenger door, his cowboy hat pushed back off his forehead. His arms were folded over his broad chest; his legs were crossed at his ankles.

If she hadn’t focused on his eyes, she’d bristle at his defensive posture. But there wasn’t a defensive, macho, self-righteous glint there—just wariness.

Or was it hope?

What if was she projecting what was in her eyes into his?

Did it matter?

No.

“He came lookin’ for you tonight.”

She set her backpack on the ground and launched herself at him before she ruined the moment with what-ifs.

www.samhainpublishing.com 127

Lorelei James

Carter caught her with a grunt that morphed into a laugh after she squeezed him tight and knocked his hat off.

“Hey, hey. What’s all this?”

She scattered kisses on his face. “My way of saying I missed you, dumbass.”

“Ah. By all means, darlin’, keep up with the sweet-talkin’. I’m hopin’ it’ll lead to dirty talk.”

“Thanks for drawing me that picture. Sorry I was a jerk.”

“Apology accepted. Just so you know…I have been workin’. Time got away from me and before I knew it, I realized I hadn’t seen the real you in a week.”

She pulled back to look at him. “The real me?”

“I’ve been paintin’ pictures of you. But retouching you on canvas ain’t nothin’ like touchin’ you in the flesh.” His frustrated growl was a balm to her pride. “Jesus, Macie, enough talkin’. Kiss me already.”

Her mouth trapped his. She forced her tongue between his warm lips and poured herself into him. A hot, drawn-out opened-mouthed kiss that left her wet with need, and had him grinding his hard cock into the soft notch between her thighs.

“The things you do to me make me think of all the nasty things I wanna do to you.”

Carter scraped his teeth down her throat. “I ain’t feelin’ very gentlemanly. I want to fuck you right fuckin’ now. I don’t think I can wait until we find the closest bed.” He growled,

“How daring are you feelin’?”

“Not very. But you make me want to be daring.”

“That’s music to my ears.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Ever done it on the hood of a car?”

128

www.samhainpublishing.com

Rode Hard, Put Up Wet

She’d never done it
in
a car. She imagined hot metal on her back; hot man on her front. Whoo-ee. She could be down with that. “Do you have a condom?”

“Sweet darlin’, I’ve got a whole pocketful.”

Chills broke out across every inch of her flesh as he nibbled her neck. She moaned.

Loudly. “Like that, do you?”

“Yes. Your mouth feels like liquid fire.”

“Funny. That’s the way my cock feels too.”

Laughing, Macie pushed away. “You gonna take off your pants before the crotch catches fire? Before you get in my car?”

“Oh, so Miz Daring decides we’re doin’ this
in
the car, as opposed to against it?”

“Yep.”

“Works for me.” Carter kept his eyes on hers as he kicked off his boots and shucked off his Wranglers. His cock bobbed against his bellybutton and he grinned at her wide-eyed expression. “Commando all the way for you, darlin’. Your turn. Strip.”

Macie had changed out of her ugly polyester uniform before clocking out, but she hoped her skin didn’t reek like grease. In a flash her denim shorts and her panties were at her feet and her T-shirt dangled from the hood.

“Bra too.”

“Nope. You still have your shirt on.”

Carter tugged and the pearl snaps gave way, showing just a sliver of his golden flesh from his collar to where the hem brushed his balls.

“Enough.”

He lifted a brow. “Enough? I thought you wanted me to take it off?”

“Well, I don’t want to make it too easy for you.”

“Easy?”

“I think I wanna test you, see how good you are at removing my bra in the dark, in the car, while I’m bouncing on your lap. You might get a little flustered.”

“You issuin’ me a challenge?”

“Yep.”

“What do I get if I pass your challenge?”

Just say it.
Be daring
. But it sounded too crude, a little slutty, and a lot naughty in her head no matter how she phrased it.

www.samhainpublishing.com 129

Lorelei James

“Macie? What do I get?”

“Whatever you want.”

Carter’s eyes narrowed. “We’re talkin’ whatever I want sexually, right?”

“Yep.”

“What if I want something you ain’t never given another man?”

“Then it would be yours to take.”

The air between them turned thick with need.

“Remember you said that. Get in the fuckin’ car, before I throw you on the goddamn ground and fuck you in the gravel and weeds.”

“We’ve already done that once.”

He growled.

“Slip on a condom, cowboy, slide your fine butt in the seat and wait for me. I need to get something out of the back.”

“What?”

“You’ll see.”

Crickets chirped in the darkness but she scarcely heard them over the blood rushing in her ears. The weight of the car shifted as Carter climbed inside. Macie grabbed the case from under the seat and skirted the front end. She hesitated when she saw the raw, hungry look on Carter’s face through the windshield.

“Don’t make me come out there and get you,” he warned.

Before she lost her nerve, she crawled on his lap. As she set the case on the driver’s seat, her knee smacked into his groin.

He sucked in a sharp breath. Then, “Jesus-Christ-Almighty-Oh-holy-mother-of-god-oh-fuck-oh-shit-oh-
goddamn
that hurts.”

“Oh, sorry sorry sorry. I’m didn’t mean to.”

“I know.”

“Sorry, Carter, oh, what can I do?”

“Give me a sec, okay?”

“Sorry.”

He expelled a slow breath.

“Are you okay?”

130

www.samhainpublishing.com

Rode Hard, Put Up Wet

“Normally I’d say after rackin’ me you need to get on your knees and kiss my poor abused boys and make ’em all better, but there ain’t enough room in here for you to do

’em justice.”

“Will you take a rain check?”

“Hell yeah.” Carter nestled her soft thighs along the outside of his muscular legs.

“Gimme this mouth.” His talented lips toyed with hers as he danced his callused fingertips up and down her spine.

Then he really kissed her. A full body kiss. A carnal thrusting of his tongue, his mouth gliding back and forth to find the best angle to take the soul kiss even deeper.

Wetter. Hotter. His hips pressed up, his cock searching for her feminine heat. Nimble fingers unhooked her bra and tugged the satiny straps down her arms.

Hey. Wait a minute.

Macie eased back to look at him. Glare at him really.

An extremely cocky grin spread across his sexy face.

“Don’t challenge me, darlin’, you can’t win.” He fastened his teeth to the spot on her neck that made her melt. “I know what I want. I’ll let you think on when you’re prepared to give it up to me, ’cause I won it fair and square. But for now…tell me what’s in the box.”

Her hands were flat against his chest, her fingers flexing into the rippling muscles.

God. He was so strong. So smooth. So perfect. She leaned forward, buried her nose against his collarbone and inhaled. “You smell so damn good. All the time. Your scent drives me out of my freakin’ mind. I want to lick every bulge and vein and line from your neck on down to your hipbones. And then I want to do it all over again so I can double-check that I didn’t miss any good spots.”

“Macie—”

“Let me touch you, Carter, please.”

The heat in the car made his pecs slick with sweat. The constant stroking of her thumbs over his nipples made the tips rock hard. His belly muscles quivered beneath her fingertips.

But Carter wasn’t about to be distracted. He thrust a hand through her hair and tugged her head back so he could peer in her eyes. “You can suck and lick me to your heart’s content later. Right now I wanna know: What’s in the goddamn box?”

She nipped his chin. “You taste like whipped cream here.”

www.samhainpublishing.com 131

Lorelei James

“Macie,” he warned.

“Fine. My vibrator.”

He froze. “You have a vibrator?”

“Yep.”

“Why?”

“Because I’ve never been able to count on a man for anything, so I take care of
all
matters myself.”

“You keep your vibrator in the car?”

“It’s safer than keeping it in my dad’s camper where he could find it. Plus, it’s portable. Which is handy for us right about now. So, do you want to use it on me? Or should I use it on you first?”

“Christ Almighty. I may not survive you.”

“Toughen up, tough guy. Or are you scared? I thought you were daring?”