Unbridled and Unbroken

The Double Rider Men’s Club

ELLE SAINT JAMES

Copyright © 2011

Chapter One

Quick ’n Easy Mart, 5 AM

Forrest Ridge, Northern California

At least he’s not naked this time.

Veronica Greenwood sat up straighter on her stool behind the bulletproof glass of the convenience store the moment she recognized the white van entering the parking lot. Still resting an elbow on the lotto generating machine, she watched her most annoying return customer very carefully.

Before he’d pulled in, she’d planned to fantasize about the next attractive man who stepped inside the store. It was a game she played with herself to keep the pervasive boredom at bay during the wee hours of the morning before the rush came.

The trouble was very few of the patrons were attractive at this hour of the morning. Especially the idiot currently parked next to the Easy Mart fueling island.

Yesterday, he’d exited his van through the sliding door wearing nothing but saggy boxers, with the fly gaping wide open, and black socks. He’d pulled on sweat pants while she kept her gaze averted hoping the initial sight of his swinging dangly bits wasn’t forever burned into her retinas.

Jerry, the crazy customer she’d been avoiding for the past week, had a routine. He’d watch her for awhile from inside his vehicle then get out and buy a dollar’s worth of gas. Once he replaced his gas cap, he would saunter inside and linger in the store doing his best to entice her from behind the safety of her secured work space.
As if.

A second twin beam of lights turning into the Quick ’n Easy Mart broke her miserable reverie and she anticipated who else might enter at this early hour. Would it finally be someone worthy of her attention? Or at least someone who’d stay until Jerry departed?

The cashier on the next shift wouldn’t arrive for another hour, so she was on her own until then.

Veronica noted the large pickup truck was a rental when it pulled in to the first slot closest to the door. She had a tense moment each time a new customer showed up while she was alone. Jerry didn’t count since he made her tense
any
time he showed up.

She always hoped the next person through the door wasn’t on a fury-filled rampage of terror with armed robbery on his mind. Only an hour until her relief showed up and thirty minutes later she’d be free until tomorrow at midnight. In the meantime, and for better or for worse, her vivid imagination kept her company.

A man alighted from the vehicle. Most notable was his cowboy hat. Something new. And even through the tinted glass she could see that he was much more attractive than the usual patronage. Tall, rangy with muscles to spare, he strode to the door with purpose.

She brushed her hands down her uniform with the in-born need to pretty up for a man. Then she promptly dropped her arms to her sides deciding nothing would help her looks now.

A cheap bell attached to the door chimed as he pulled the door open and stepped inside. Veronica noted two things right away. The cowboy was gorgeous, and he would be the perfect candidate for her stranger fantasy. Sexual fantasies being her only comfort in a substandard life she’d never intended on living, she quickly committed the cowboy’s features to memory.

“Howdy, ma’am.” He tipped his hat to her in a chivalrous action she wasn’t used to and allowed the door to swing shut on its own. “Is the coffee fresh?” The extra deep tone of his voice contradicted the sound she expected. He should be on sexy late night talk radio with that voice. Any woman with a pulse would no doubt pour out her innermost secrets to a seductive voice like his.

She cleared her throat. “I just brewed a new pot twenty minutes ago.”

“Excellent. Thank you.” He made his way across the store in front of where she was perched with a determined stride to the coffee center at the far left of the store. She took the opportunity to fan herself a little to cool off her inappropriate ardor. He
was
a stranger.

But you so love the idea of improper behavior with handsome strangers. Isn’t that what got you into trouble long ago? Or was it because of one too many apple martinis?
The devil on her shoulder certainly encouraged her provocative behavior, but never let her forget the past. This, however, wasn’t the same as long ago. This time she was in possession of all her faculties and could remember.

Veronica took a deep breath to steady herself. She slid off the stool and prepared to ring up his order as she watched his delectable behind move across her view to get a morning cup of wake up juice.

The cowboy hat concealed the color of his hair, but with the wide shoulders filling out his denim button up shirt, tucked inside a well-worn pair of clinging denim jeans, Veronica decided that he was already perfect. Definitely the most attractive stranger she’d seen since tucking her tail in place and accepting this job four months ago as the last of her savings ran out.

When he turned around, she noted that he had made two cups. She mentally sagged in disappointment at this turn of events. Probably getting a morning cup for himself and his equally gorgeous cowgirl wife. Nonetheless, she appraised his features and committed them to memory for her dirty little pleasure plan once she left work and slipped between the sheets of her standard double bed.

His strong square jaw line, vivid blue-green eyes and easy stride would likely make him the perfect candidate for her sexual fantasies for weeks to come.

The store security automatically took a still picture of every customer who entered the store. It was a grainy black and white, but Veronica knew how to print out a copy without anyone finding out. She hadn’t ever done it, but this cowboy was the first worthy candidate that might make the risk worthwhile.

She glanced at the security monitor below the counter which showed the still shot created when the cowboy had entered. It captured him in a perfect candid shot with a gleam in his eye and a heart melting half smile shaping his sculpted masculine lips.

Good lord above, he had a face that would make an angel weep.

Her clit itched with need and she wished she had the nerve to proposition him for a real date. The very idea made heat rise to her cheeks.

A couple of minutes later, he placed the two cups on the counter and she got a full look at his face close up. Lord above, he made
her
want to weep.

She cleared her throat. “Is that all you need?”

His gaze roamed her face a moment and he grinned as if he liked what he saw. “And a lotto ticket, please.”

Veronica blinked in surprise. She hadn’t pegged him for the type to waste money on the lottery. She understood statistics and the likelihood that he would win the big jackpot was remote. “Do you want to pick the numbers yourself?”

He shook his head. “Nah. Just push the button and we’ll see what fate hands me.”

Veronica wanted to hand him her phone number and see what fate had in store for her if she dared follow him home.

“So do you win very often?”

He pulled his wallet from his rear pocket, a lovely tight place she’d studied as he made his coffee, and pulled a twenty from the fold. “I don’t usually play at all. Truth is, I have a friend who wanted me to pick up a ticket. Personally, I think I’d have better luck getting struck by lightning than winning the big jackpot, but a dollar now and again won’t break me, and it keeps my friend happy.”

“That’ll be three dollars and seventy nine cents, please.” Was his friend male or female?
Foolish question. Pay attention to the job. Your rent is due. You can fanaticize later.

He handed her the twenty through the opening on the stainless steel counter beneath the bullet proof glass. This was the first time she wished she wasn’t so protected.

“Do you know of any good places to eat around here close by? My friend and I are staying at the Redfield Hotel down the street, and the restaurant has a breakfast buffet that’s a little bit hoity-toity for me and my buddy.”

His buddy? As in not a nameless, faceless cowgirl wife waiting to make mad passionate love to him for bringing her a morning coffee?

Veronica took a deep breath to calm down. “Well, there’s a diner about a mile down the road on the same side as the store here, and it has a few pretty good meals if you like good down home cooking or fried food.”

“I like down home meals, and I don’t mind fried things on occasion. Do you eat there?”

She nodded and leaned forward. “I do. It’s close to where I live.” Veronica was obviously blinded by his good looks and sexy drawl. Otherwise, she would never have told him even a vague idea of where her residence was located. Then again, the notion of peeling off his shirt to see what his muscular body looked like and stroking it with her eager fingertips until she’d had her fill also crowded her mind.

She stared at him for a moment with his twenty in one hand and the lotto ticket in the other, unable to filter out touching him to finish the transaction. “You okay?” he asked after several seconds.

The heat rushed into her face so fast it was a wonder her cheeks didn’t burst into flame and smoke. “Yes. I’m sorry. You remind me of someone.”
Liar. Liar. Face on fire
.

“I’m Johnny Dyer. I just flew in from Colorado to attend a rancher’s conference with my business partner, Adam. I’ve been here before, but it was a few years ago.”

A few years ago, Veronica still had a future in finance. Times had changed for her and apparently so had her attitude about strangers, ranchers and the possibilities of her future life.

Perhaps it was time to take a chance on lust at first sight.

What did she have to lose? Each move from where she was right now would definitely be a step up.

* * * *

Johnny Dyer squinted a little and studied the girl behind the scratched plexiglass shielding her from any criminal elements. He genuinely hoped she was protected by bulletproof glass. She’d been staring him down since he entered and, to be honest, she intrigued him.

She looked for all the world like she didn’t belong in a job quite like this one. Her name tag said Veronica. A cultured, classy name clearly perfect for her.

Her elegant beauty was at odds with a cheap nylon blend convenience clerk’s smock. Johnny had a lot of respect for not only those who worked the late shift, but also employees stuck in quick mart stores like this everywhere. He’d seen his fair share and usually the workers weren’t nearly so attractive as this girl. She had an air of high class. Difficult to define, but he knew it when he saw it, and it turned him on.

If he was the sort of man who picked up women in convenience stores, she’d be his first choice. Alas, he didn’t usually select strangers as dates.

He used the term girl, but truthfully she was a full grown female, nicely rounded and exceptionally gorgeous.

However, even her poor outfit didn’t hide the luscious curves she possessed. Her best feature besides her figure had to be her eyes. The color emerald never looked so good on anyone before.

Her hair was held back with some sort of clip he didn’t see, but the color was like golden summer wheat. He wondered how long it was. Did it come below her shoulders? That would be fine.

A sudden image of gripping her golden hair in his fist, his cock buried to the hilt in her slick, hot pussy as he rode her doggie style slid into his morning fogged brain. He shook off the image and grinned. He likely needed to drink both of these coffees to wake up.

“How long will you be in town?”

Her question took him off guard. He stopped his sexual wool gathering and smiled. “We’ll be here about a week or so.”