Too Hot To Trot (#3, Cowboy Way) (8 page)

“Let me help you, angel…tell me what happened.”

“You can’t help me,” she mumbled against his skin, giving up on getting away, because she didn’t really want to anyway.  Zack smelled like cotton candy, and that comforted her more.  The last memory she had of her real father was when he took her to the county fair when she was five, and bought her some.  This was the first time she’d felt safe since then.

“That might be true, but I can listen.  I think if you get it all out that will help you.”

“You get your shrink degree at rodeo clown school?” she asked, and he laughed, but something broke loose inside of her.  Maybe he was right.  Strangely, Zack did seem to be a good listener, and the way things had been going lately, she was willing to try anything.  “My stepfather tried to rape me when I was fifteen.”

The air was thick between them for two long minutes, before Zack asked, “Did he succeed?”

“No…I told you he tried.” Heather swallowed hard.  Admitting this was giving this man leverage against her, but now that she started, she couldn’t stop.  “I put the butcher knife I kept by my bed into his side.”  Dead silence.  He said nothing, so she continued, “I think I might have killed him.  He was a cop, had his gun on the nightstand, so I didn’t check.  I just got the hell out of there.”

“He deserved to die,” Zack said angrily.  “I’d have used the knife in more creative places though.  Sliced his damned balls off and let him bleed to death.”

Heather would have too if she had the chance.  That Zack wasn’t judging her, wasn’t saying you could have brought this on yourself was surprising to her.  “I was just thankful to get away from him.  I ran like hell and didn’t look back.”

“Had he tried it on you before?  Is that why you had the knife?” Zack asked, his voice calm, but not disguising his anger.

Heather sighed, and swallowed down the bile that surged up to her throat.  “He’d been trying for six months.  Making comments, accidentally brushing up against me, or walking in on me in the bathroom, if I forgot to lock the door.”

“Did you tell your mother?” Zack asked.

“Oh yeah, I told her,” Heather replied with a harsh laugh.  “She told me I was sick and imagining things because my mind was always in the gutter.  Told me maybe I shouldn’t dress like I did and I wouldn’t have
those
problems.”  Heather hesitated, thought about it.  “Funny thing is, I never bought clothes.  I wore her castoffs.  She was a shopaholic, a hoarder and an alcoholic. You could barely walk into her room there were so many clothes on the floor.”

Zack squeezed her, kissed her hair, and butterflies fluttered in Heather’s chest.  “I’m so sorry you went through that, angel.”  And his voice said that was true.  No disgust or judgment.  Just sympathy—empathy.  Maybe she’d misjudged Zack Taylor too.  He was right, he was a good listener, didn’t seem to be throwing blame her way at all.  And he was being so damned sweet. 

I want to have sex with you, Heather, and until you deal with this, it can’t happen.  You’re letting that bastard win by closing yourself off.

Was that why he was being so sweet to her?  “What’s your angle, cowboy?  Are you doing this to have sex with me? Heather asked bluntly.

His body tensed.  “Doing what?” he asked sounding surprised.

“Being nice to me, listening to me,” she replied.

“No, ma’am.  I’m just trying to help you…sex isn’t even on the table yet.  You have a lot of baggage to unpack, baby.  That’s what I want to help you do,” he replied, and those butterflies became stronger inside her. 

“You’re a real cowboy aren’t you?” Heather asked, placing her hand over his heart. 

Regardless of his penchant for judging, being an ass sometimes, a true heart beat there.  A gentleman’s heart with compassion she never expected him to possess.  The legendary cowboy’s heart.  During her years with the rodeo, none of the cowboys she’d met possessed those qualities spoken only in fairytales.  Loyalty, compassion and fierce protectiveness.  An unwavering sense of right and wrong.  But this man, the last man on earth she expected to have those virtues, had them in spades.

He snorted.  “A bullrider is about as real as we come, sweet thing.”

Heather smiled against his skin.  She was getting used to his nicknames, although she’d always hated it when men used them with her. 
Angel..sweet thing
.  Coming from Zack Taylor, she kind of liked them.  They sounded like terms of endearment, not a put down.  That was weird too considering the insulting things he continually said to her.  But Zack swore he didn’t think she was a whore and Heather didn’t know why, but she believed him. 

Letting go of some of the things she’d kept to herself for so long did make her feel a little better, lighter inside.  Maybe it was time to let go of more baggage, find out what it was like to be with a real man.  If there was any man she would ever be able to trust enough to have sex with, it would be this one.   At twenty-seven years old, it was way past time, and she thought she was ready now. 

“Well, Mr. Bullrider, I think you were right.  I’m ready to move past this.  I’m not letting Jack Thomas win,” she said, placing a soft kiss on his chest, which dragged a moan from Zack. 

Chapter Eight

Zack’s heart mule-kicked in his chest when Heather’s fingers walked up his chest to rub his shoulder.  She turned to raise up to kiss his throat, and drew his heart there.  “What’re you doing?” he asked, his voice tight, his heart pounding in his throat.

“Trying to have sex with you, but I don’t know what the hell I’m doing,” she replied in between tiny kisses up his throat to his ear.

His fingers dug into her arms.  “You don’t have to do this, sweet thing.”  This woman had been through a lot.  Too much.  She needed to process what she’d just unveiled, and frankly, so did he.  There was no way he was going to have sex with her right now.  She was too raw and vulnerable.  “Just let me hold you, angel.   There’s time for that later, if you still want it.  Let’s get some sleep.”

“Don’t want to sleep,” she mumbled, her breath tickling his ear, her breasts rubbing against his shoulder.  “Want you to show me what it’s supposed to be like.”

Zack dragged in breaths now, because, fuck, his dick was about to burst out of the jeans he’d thrown on before he ran down the hall when he heard her scream.  The sex he liked was hot and hard, with a woman who enjoyed the same.  He’d never had sex with a virgin, much less one who was as traumatized as this one had been.  He didn’t want to hurt her or further traumatize her.  She might never recover.

Heather put her arms around his neck, her cotton candy scent surrounded him, mixed with the strawberry shampoo she’d used in her hair, and he bit back a groan when she straddled his thigh and he felt her hardened nipples scrape his chest through her thin nightshirt.  “I want you to teach me, Zack,” she whispered, her voice a little hoarse.  “Touch me.”

She leaned away from him, and Zack breathed a sigh of relief, but it was short-lived when she crossed her arms in front of her, grabbed the hem of her nightshirt and pulled it over her head.  Except for the faint light filtering in from the living room, it was dark in the room, he hadn’t stopped to turn on the light.  But her gorgeous breasts were there.  Right. There. In. His. Face.  And his mouth watered to taste them. 

Of their own accord, his hands drifted up to cup them, but he stopped at the last minute, leaving them to hover.  The heat from her skin sizzled his palms, as he tried to meet her eyes in the dark.  “Are you sure about this, angel?”

Her response was to bring her hands up to his and press them to her breasts.  She sucked in a sharp breath.  “Yes, I’m sure,” she replied, arching her back so her breasts filled his hands.  Her voice, barely above a whisper, sounded a little afraid, and a lot awed.  “Just tell me what you like, because I have no idea what I’m doing.”

Scooting down, Zack pulled her down with him.  It was going to kill him to slow down, but that was exactly what he was going to do.  “Kiss me, angel,” he invited, kissing her cheek once she settled beside him.  Since Heather was trying to take back her life, get past what had happened to her, maybe giving her control would help her.  Guided control.  “Good sex starts with foreplay and kissing.”  Zack demonstrated with tiny kisses up her cheek to her ear.  He nipped the lobe, which dragged a moan from her.  That delicious sound danced through his brain down his body to settle in his dick.  His dick.  Fuck. Condoms.  Sex 101. 

“Do you have any condoms?” he asked quickly.

She laughed.  “Bob doesn’t need condoms,” she replied.

“Bob?” he asked, the hair at the back of his neck bristling.

She slapped her palm on his chest, and laughed.  “No need to be jealous—my battery-operated-boyfriend,” she explained with a chuckle.

Oh.  Her vibrator.  She’d named it Bob.  And from the fond way she spoke of that appliance, he had a lot to measure up to.  “We need condoms,” he said gruffly, easing her to the side to move to the edge of the bed.  “I think I have a couple in my wallet in the other bedroom.  Be right back.”

“Hurry, cowboy,” she said, and the silky tone of her voice slithered along his spine—again, to settle in his dick. 

Zack was in as much pain as he’d ever been, even as a randy teenager.  He all but sprinted out of the room, down the hall, and grabbed his wallet off of the dresser.  His hands shook, and he prayed they were still in there.  He opened it on the run, and finally breathed when he saw two gold foil packets in there.  Pulling them out as he walked back into the darkened room, he dropped them, along with his wallet, on the nightstand.

“Tell me you found them,” she said, with a huffed breath.

“Yes, ma’am. Two,” he replied triumphantly, before removing his jeans to crawl back in the bed beside her. He left his underwear on, so he didn’t freak her out.  He was determined to go slowly, not move too fast and have her bolting. 

Rolling on to his back, Zack pulled her with him.  “Straddle me, baby.  Kiss me,” he instructed, his breath coming in short spurts.  She hesitated, and he bit back a groan.  “You have nothing to fear, angel.  If something happens you don’t like, you can call it off.  Just say you want to stop, and it’s done.”  He meant that, and hoped she believed him.  It might kill him, frustrate the hell out of him.  But he was determined to fix this woman, not break her again.  He could deal with his frustration.

“You’d stop?” she asked, a fine shiver moving through her.

“In a New York second, sweet thing.  Just say the word.”  Zack breathed a couple of times to slow his heart rate.  “You’re the one in control here, Heather.  I’m along for the ride.”

The tension in her body eased, and she laughed as she threw her leg over his waist.  “Okay then, get ready for the ride of your life, cowboy.”  The crotch of her panties, her very wet and warm satin panties, brushed over his dick, and Zack gritted his teeth to stifle a moan. 

The ride of his life might not last eight seconds if she didn’t move, he thought, gripping her hips to push her upward, transferring her heat to his waist.  She eased forward to press her breasts to his chest, and he sucked in a sharp breath.  She rotated her upper body to rub them against him and mewled, and her hot, quick breaths heated his skin.  Zack’s toes curled, his fingers dug into her waist, and he couldn’t stop his moan this time, as electricity sizzled through him setting his nerve endings on fire.  Heather evidently took that as encouragement to torture him, because she dragged her breasts up to his chin, then down again.  Fire scorched a twin path down his body to his toes. 

“Kiss me,” he growled, sliding his hand up to shove it into her thick hair to pull her face toward his, but she held back, shoved her hand into his hair too.

“Your hair is so beautiful, Zack,” she said, fingering a strand down to the end, which sent tingles over his scalp.  “Don’t cut it.”

He wanted her to kiss him, and she was wanting to play with his hair.  This is her first rodeo, just go with it, he reminded himself.  “It’s too long,” he said gruffly.

“No, it’s perfect.  I love the waves, and I’m glad I can finally touch it.  It is as soft as I thought.  And it smells like my strawberry shampoo,” she observed with a giggle. 

Zack held his breath as she scooted up to bury her nose in his hair, and her full breast rested under his chin.  If he just lowered his face, it would be in his mouth.  But this was her show.  “I want your mouth on mine.  Kiss me…
please
,” he begged, and with a sigh, she kissed her way from his ear to the corner of his mouth.

“So impatient,” Heather breathed over his lips, before she finally pressed her mouth to his to make two tentative passes, before licking the seam with her tongue.  Zack’s hand gripped her skull, he held her there and trapped her tongue with his.  Her body tensed, but relaxed when Zack’s tongue courted hers into a sexy dance.  When she moaned into his mouth, his fingers loosened, and she took over in a most inspired way.  Her small hands framed his face to hold him, as she devoured his mouth, sucked his lips, licked them.  

Zack’s hands drifted down to cup her breasts, and she stiffened, stopped kissing him.  Her agitated breaths raked his wet lips, but she didn’t stay stop, so he eased his thumbs up to gently brush her nipples and a tremor rocked her. 

“Oooh,” she moaned, pressing her forehead to his, her fingers digging into his face.  Zack took that as a good sign, so he made a slow downward sweep with this thumb, raking the rigid tips and  Heather whimpered, arched her back into him.  Zack added his forefinger to gently pinch them, rolled them and the groan that came out of her turned his blood to lava.

“You like that, angel?” Zack asked, his voice gravelly.  A whimper was her reply, so he rubbed harder, rolled faster.  Her knees dug into his sides, and her chin dropped to her chest sending her hair over his face.  Their hot breaths were trapped under the curtain, and he was enveloped in a heated strawberry cloud, as he continued teasing her nipples. 

“Put your breast in my mouth, angel,” he whispered inside their private paradise, making faster strokes over her nipples that drew sweet moans from her lips. “I want to suck you.” 

Her body tensed, but she lifted and his hands slid down to her waist as she guided her nipple to his mouth.  Raising his head, he kissed her first, a quick nip, before he sucked the pert tip into his mouth.  He quickly released it, and she gasped.  Ringing the rigid, sweet tip with his tongue, Zack made slow circles.  On the second round, she let out a long, slow moan that had the come in his cock rushing upward.  He pinched the tip with his lips and she whined in her throat.  Spurred on, Zack sucked her into his mouth hard, flicked her nipple with his tongue, pressed it against the roof of his mouth.  She moaned, her body stiffened and shook all the way down to her toes, which were curved into his hips.  A low, guttural sound accompanied the tremors, then a long shuddering sigh.  No way.  He held her hips as his head fell back on the pillow.  “Did that sound mean…”

A surprised laugh floated from her.  “Yeah, it did.  Bob has nothing on you, cowboy.” 

She raised up to sit on his stomach, and the wetness he felt on his skin verified that, from just sucking her for all of five minutes, she’d come for him. 

Zack was totally fucking amazed.  And more turned on than he’d ever been in his life. 

“Again,” he said, pushing her to the side to raise up on his elbow.  He was going to make this woman come in a hundred ways before morning.  That would be satisfaction enough for him if they didn’t get to the big show tonight.  “Lay on your back this time, because I’m adding a little something to the mix.”

“What are you going to add?” she asked warily, as she laid on her back beside him.

“We’re having a threesome,” he announced with a grin.  Heather was comfortable with her battery-operated-boyfriend, and maybe that would help them transition to the big show.  And he was also curious what he had to measure up to.  He’d never actually used one before himself, he liked doing things the old-fashioned way, so this would be new for him too. 

Heather shot up to sit and glare at him.  “I don’t think so, cowboy,” she said, scooting toward the foot of the bed.  Zack grabbed her arm, and she tried to pull away. 

“With Bob,” he clarified, laughter bubbling in his throat.  “Where do you keep him?”

“Oh!” she said, then stuttered, then her eyes narrowed. “R-really?”

“Really,” Zack confirmed. 

Heather huffed a breath as she collapsed on her back on the bed.  “You had me scared there for a second.”  The tremble in her voice made him sorry he’d teased her. 

With a growl, he laid beside her and put his arm over her waist.  She looked at him, and he held her gaze.  “I will
never
do anything to scare or hurt you, Heather.  You’re still in control, angel.  Always in control.  Do you understand?”  She nodded, and he kissed her forehead.  “Now where does Bob sleep?” he asked, with a laugh, trying to get her comfortable again.

“In the nightstand drawer,” she replied with a giggle.  “He has a nice, comfy velvet sleeping bag in there.”

“Only the best for Bob,” Zack said, glad to hear her laugh again.  He rolled to the edge of the bed, sat up and pulled open the drawer.  Fishing around blindly, his pinkie brushed velvet, and his hand closed over a very small pouch, which confused him.  “Bob’s awfully small,” he commented pulling out the pouch to loosen the strings.  He emptied the small silver bullet and rubber ring out into his hand and was even more confused.

“Bob is a
vibrator
, not a dildo.  That’s in the closet, because I kind of bought one that was a little too big,” she said rolling up behind him.  She sat up and took the vibrator from his hand, shoved it into the rubber sheath, slid it onto her forefinger, and wiggled it.  “Voila—instant orgasm.  No man needed,” she said smugly.

“Yeah, but how will it be with a real man behind the controls?” Zack asked, sliding the rubber band from her finger to put it on own.  He wiggled it under her nose.  “Put on your seatbelt, baby—Bob is on the bus, but Zack is driving it to O-town.” 

She giggled, then laughed as she rolled away from him to lay on her back, lift her hips and remove her panties.  She stared at him, while she dropped them over the side of the bed.  Zack’s hand shook as he felt around the bullet, until he found a black button and pressed it. The vibrations tickled up his arm to his elbow, as he rolled over to lay beside her.  “Get ready to sing, sweet thing,” he said with a waggle of his eyebrows as he laid his hand on her thigh.

“Ooh,” she breathed, her eyes widening.  He nudged her knees apart with his hand, but she pinched them back together.  Zack looked up to see uncertainty in her beautiful green eyes.