Unbridled (24 page)

Alex stood and straddled him, guiding his pulsing cock to her pulsing pussy. She held the back of the chair and planted her feet on either side of it, then slid down onto him, inch by inch. He filled her completely, thick and hard, until he touched her womb. Alex’s head dropped back as she jerked with the pure pleasure of having him inside her.

He held her hips and pushed her back up, then slammed her down. Alex let him do it a few times; clumsy as his movements were, it put her breasts level with his mouth. Then she took over, pushing her nipple between his lips. The voices were nearly at the door, and Alex knew she would come fast and hard.

His mouth closed around her nipple and he pulled her into his mouth, his tongue swirling around the aching tip. Alex wanted to cry out, to moan, but she swallowed it back down, her arousal that much stronger. She held on to the chair and rode him as if he were a stallion, her pillion perfect.

His grip on her hips tightened as she rode him, faster and faster, fucking him so hard he almost lost her breast, but he held on with his teeth. The pain sent waves through her, landing between her legs. The mix of pleasure and pain and the addition of the danger made her nearly mad with the need to fuck.

The voices were directly outside the door now, and anyone could open it. Licks of arousal flitted through her, leaving fire behind. His cock hit her womb again and she felt her orgasm building. She bent down and whispered, “Now.”

His pace increased, as did hers. The wet sounds of her pussy seemed exceptionally loud in the small office. She reveled in it, loved it, embraced it, welcomed it. The pleasure started to overtake her and she tightened around him, her toes pushing against the floor as she rode the wave. His fingers dug into her hips and he bit her nipple again.

A powerful rush of ecstasy whooshed over her, leaving her blind and deaf to all but her blood pumping madly in her ears. He held on to her nipple, prolonging her own orgasm as he buried himself to the hilt inside her. His warm cum gushed deep within her pussy and she clenched around him, milking his cock for every drop.

Alex tried to suck in air, but her body was so tightly wound she could pull in only a short burst. He let her nipple loose and pressed his forehead against her chest. His body was shaking and she realized hers was as well. It had been powerful, mind-blowing sex. Outside the door was silent, the guests having moved on past.

She knew it was more than just a casual fuck in her office. It meant much more than that, but what, exactly, she wasn’t ready to face. She pulled his hair until his head lolled back. His eyes were unfocused and hazy with pure pleasure. With a smile, she kissed him, running her tongue along his lower lip until he opened his mouth.

Their tongues slowly danced together as his dick pulsed in the throes of recovery. She cupped his face and stared into the depths of his beautiful green eyes.

“Again?” she challenged, not yet ready to leave the hot cocoon of her office.

His dick twitched again within her. “Give me five minutes.”

Alex leaned back and pinched her own nipples, their tips sensitive from his attentions. “You’ve got two.”

He laughed silently and hugged her to him. Alex knew at that moment she was already in love with him.

 

 

She walked with Connor by her side to the mess hall to eat lunch. Her body still hummed from the amazing sex in her office and she felt a certain languidness to her movements. Much of the staff smiled at them as they passed, as if they were part of a big secret. She realized he had been visiting her daily at the VIP cabin, and now she was going everywhere with him at her side. The staff must have noticed, which obviously led them to the conclusion that Connor and Alex were a couple.

It made Alex uncomfortable, if she was honest with herself. She hadn’t yet committed to staying on at the ranch and she wasn’t ready to be permanently attached to the man at her side either, even if her heart shouted with glee when he was around.

It made her stomach quiver to even contemplate handing over her heart and soul to him.

The coffee was heavenly enough to distract her from her odd mood. Connor didn’t say much but he kept sneaking glances at her while he ate.

“Don’t you want to have something besides coffee?” he said around a mouthful of potatoes.

She made a face. “Not what you have. Maybe a piece of toast.”

He hopped up. “Be right back.” His obvious chivalry secretly pleased her, which just added to her confusion.

“Where’s Connor?” She looked up to see the desk clerk Jennifer standing with a bouquet of orange roses. Their scent was heavenly, not to mention the perfect buds.

“He’ll be right back.”

“Well, here’s another bouquet, and he told me to bring them right to him. I heard he was here.” Her curious gaze told Alex the girl wanted to ask her about the bruises, but didn’t.

Alex realized what the girl had said and her stomach dropped at the dark thoughts that entered her mind. “Another bouquet?”

“Yeah, he’s been giving them to guests since he knows you don’t want them.” Jennifer smiled. Her young, fresh face was so innocent it made Alex cringe inwardly.

“Why don’t you leave them here and we’ll take care of them.” Alex managed to move her lips into what she thought was a smile.

Jennifer bobbed her head and set the vase down on the table. The roses Alex thought were so beautiful had just transformed into something very different.

“How many does this make?” Alex didn’t want to know the answer but she had to ask.

“Well, three on Friday and Saturday, then only one yesterday because they had to come from Billings. Um, then just this one today.” Jennifer must have seen something in Alex’s expression because her happy smile disappeared. “Did I say something wrong?”

“No, you didn’t. Thanks for bringing these.” Alex could barely bring herself to appear unaffected. She felt her happiness shriveling into a desiccated corpse.

Jennifer walked away, frowning as she looked back at Alex. The girl didn’t know what she had been brought into, a lie that now sat between Alex and Connor like an elephant. Or a vase of orange roses in September.

With a shaking hand, Alex reached out and took the envelope tucked in among the roses in the vase. As suspected, her name was on the outside. Her stomach jumped and the coffee burned as it nearly came back up at her.

She opened the envelope and pulled out the card.

Alex closed her eyes and squeezed the card in her hand. According to the girl, James had sent eight bouquets of roses and not one of them had ended up in her hands. Until this afternoon, that was—until Alex discovered Connor had decided to lie to her and control reality on her behalf.

Anger mixed with disappointment and sadness. She expected more from him, she truly did, or perhaps she just wanted more. A man who would let her be strong and make her own decisions. Connor was a cowboy, a man’s man, who likely assumed he needed to stand between her and the interloper. Little did he know, everyone was an interloper in Alex’s world.

She stood and took one rose from the vase, leaving the crumpled card and the mug on the table. If she confronted Connor right then, she might say something she’d regret later. For now, she needed to be alone and shake off the anger.

The cold afternoon air made her shiver as she walked down the path. Several people commented on the bright orange rose in her hand. One little old lady even told her the meaning of the color.

With a denture-straight smile, the woman touched the petals with one gnarled finger. “I used to be a florist before I retired and moved up here. Now I take care of the children in the program while their parents ride.” She shook her head. “You are a lucky girl, you know. Orange roses represent desire, enthusiasm and passion. They’re a mix of yellow and red; did you know that?”

Alex murmured, “No.”

“Many times a man sends a woman orange roses when he’s ready to make a change from friendship but not quite love, which is what red roses mean.” She patted Alex’s cheek in her grandmotherly way. “Whoever gave you these is telling you he has romantic feelings for you and he wants more than to just be a friend. Hang on to him, dearie.”

After another few excruciating minutes with the older woman, Alex escaped and found herself heading to the family cemetery. She hadn’t missed her mother so much in ten years, but right about then her heart ached with the need to be in Katie Finley’s arms.

The sun shined brightly on the cemetery, which was made up of about two dozen headstones, all Finleys. Her mother had a pink granite headstone, as pink was her favorite color and it also symbolized the fight against the breast cancer that had taken her life way too soon.

Alex laid the rose on the grass in front of the stone and sat down beside it, keeping her back to her father’s grave. She didn’t need him, or want to even remember he was there. He was the one who’d gotten her into the untenable situation she found herself in.

Alex spent the next half hour sitting with her mother and telling her about the weekend with Connor. Even if there was no one to answer, she felt better just getting it all out.

She felt a warm touch on her neck and didn’t feel afraid; she simply felt loved. Her mother’s spirit was telling her she wasn’t alone and even if it was her imagination, it felt more real than much of the last ten years.

When she rose from the damp grass, she hadn’t made any decisions about Connor, but she did know she had to speak to James, whether or not her lover liked it.

 

 

When he spotted the vase of roses and the empty table, Connor dropped the plate of toast with a loud crash.

“Shit.”

He had kept the roses away from Alex the last several days, making all kinds of guests happy with fresh flowers. Connor knew he should have told her, but he assumed each bouquet was the last; then another one came, and another. Soon he found himself standing in a hole he’d dug himself, with no way to fill it in without admitting to Alex he’d been intercepting the flowers from James.

Now it was all in vain because someone had simply brought them to her in the mess hall. The crumpled card told him she knew exactly whom the roses were from.

“What did you do, Connor?” Bernice stood there with her hands on her hips glowering at him. “I told you to take care of her.”

“I did, or at least I thought I was protecting her.” He resisted the urge to throw the flowers on the floor and stomp on them.

Bernice shook her head. “Men are the most idiotic creatures on the planet. Looks like your protecting skills need a little bit more polishing.”

“Thanks. I’ll make a note of that.” He squatted down to pick up the plate and scattered toast while Bernice stood over him tsking.

“You don’t need to be sarcastic. That’s a very old habit I thought you broke a long time ago.”

He snorted. “I just hid it from you. Didn’t want to hear you tell me how screwed up I was anymore. I already knew it.”

There was a brief silence and then he heard the scrape of a chair. When he glanced up she was sitting in the seat Alex had vacated. Bernice looked as if he’d slapped her.

“Did I do that to you? Did I make you feel like you wasn’t a good person?” Her brown gaze was confused and stricken.

Connor hadn’t meant to hurt her feelings—actually he didn’t know he could. Bernice was a tough old dame who didn’t take shit from anyone, least of all a snot-nosed juvie with a record a mile long. After he cleaned up the toast, he sat down across from her and took her callused hands in his own.

“You were being honest with me, which I appreciated. You never made me feel as if I wasn’t good enough to be working at Finley’s.” He squeezed her hands. “I thought of you as a bossy aunt who happened to want to do what was best for me, even if I didn’t like it.”

Her expression softened a bit, but she still looked not quite right. “An aunt, eh? I thought I was more like a big sister.”

She was at least thirty years older than him, but he wasn’t about to point that out.

“Big sisters don’t pull little brothers out of a jam at the sheriff’s office after he steals their wallet.” The memory of that particular night in jail made a chill crawl up his spine.

However, it seemed to cheer Bernice. “You were a little shit.”

Connor smiled. “I was most definitely a little shit. Now I’ve got to go find Alex and try to make things right.” God only knew how he was going to accomplish that without a burning bush or a parting of the sea.

Bernice’s grip tightened. “I always tried to do my best with Alex, and then you. You both were like the kids I never had. Never mind aunt; I tried to act like a parent, but since I ain’t got no kids, I was always afraid I did it wrong.”

“You did it right.”

“You work too hard and have no social life. She’s been hiding for ten years. Tell me how I did it right.” Bernice’s scowl was back.

“Believe me, if you hadn’t been there, I would have been in prison, not jail, and Alex wouldn’t be the person she is.” Connor stood and kissed her cheek. “So thank you for kicking my ass now and then, and for caring enough to do it. No matter what, I do love you, Bernice.”

When she blushed, Connor thought perhaps a miracle was possible. Maybe he could find another one to fix this particular fuckup with Alex. He left the mess hall and headed toward the VIP cabin.

 

 

Alex stood outside the main office and waited for James. He seemed surprised to get her call but eagerly offered to come by to pick her up. She knew she was playing a dangerous game between the two of them, but since she hadn’t had an opportunity to speak to James since the fight in town, it was a necessary risk.