Wild Card: Boys of Fall (9 page)

It didn’t work.

Then she ran her fingernails along the muscles of his bare back, digging in deeper than she normally would have, hoping that would get his attention. If anything, Glen’s kisses became softer, calmer.

Lorelie was an impatient person on good days. This wasn’t a good day, and the man was driving her out of her mind.

When her unsatisfied arousal reached fever pitch, she twisted her face away from him. “Glen, I—”

“You finished?” he asked, interrupting her before she could read him the riot act.

“Finished what? We haven’t even started!”

Glen leaned up on his elbows, cupping her cheeks. His face was only inches above hers and she was confused by what she saw there. Amusement and…maybe frustration.

“Six lovers, you said.”

Lorelie nodded, wondering where the hell that comment had come from.

“I understand now why you think those six were plenty. Did any of them ever make you come?”

“I had orgasms with them.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

She knew that. And she knew exactly what he was alluding to. She’d had orgasms with her other lovers. Orgasms that wouldn’t have happened without her doing everything in her power to help the situation along.

“I’m perfectly capable of taking care of my own needs,” she said at last.

“Jesus. Add another thing to our agenda for the next two weeks. In addition to romance, I’m going to show you what it’s like to go to bed with a man who knows what the fuck he’s doing.”

“You’re being cocky again.”

“Call me that after.”

“After what?”

Glen didn’t answer. Instead, he reached for his shirt. “First thing I need to do is get
you
out of the way.”

She snorted. “Won’t that defeat the purp—”

Her words died abruptly when Glen grasped both her hands and pulled them above her head. He used his shirt to bind them together. “I don’t have anything to tie the shirt to, so you’re on the honor system. Keep your hands up there. Don’t lower them. At all. Understand?”

She nodded, while trying to discreetly test the cotton binding her. He may be a city boy, but damn if he didn’t know how to tie a knot.

“It’s gonna hold, darlin’. You can quit trying to break free.”

“But I can’t touch you this way.”

“That’s the point.”

Lorelie had never considered herself sexually inexperienced until that moment. Everything with Glen felt foreign and exciting as fuck. She’d never considered bondage something she would find sexually stimulating, but the idea of being held captive by him was provoking tingles she had never felt before.

Glen slid lower, returning to her breasts. While he sucked on one nipple, he pinched the other. His touches were even rougher, stronger.

Lorelie’s hips started the same rise and fall, almost of their own volition. She’d never experienced such painful need. Her pussy was throbbing, clenching tighter with each hard suck, each pinch.

“God, Glen,” she gasped. “Please.”

Several minutes passed before he gave in to her pleas. By then, her breathing was ragged, her chest rising and falling, her heart thumping louder than a bass drum.

When he touched her clit, her body jerked as if she’d been struck by lightning.

Jesus. One touch and she was poised to go off like a bottle rocket.

Glen’s finger slid lower, swirling around the opening to her body. It probably felt like a Slip ’N Slide down there. She’d never been so wet in her life.

When he pressed that lone digit inside her, Lorelie felt the uncontrollable desire to cry. Not from pain or sadness, but with overpowering relief. He thrust the finger in and out several times before adding a second.

It had been too long. She hadn’t even masturbated since her dad’s heart attack. That fact was driven home as she marveled over how full she felt. He was only using two fingers.

Glen continued to work them inside her, setting an easy, gentle pace, giving her time to get accustomed to him. Or maybe he was trying to slow down the inevitable orgasm. She was so freaking close.

Lorelie had just opened her mouth to ask him to move faster, take her harder, when they heard voices in the stable below.

Both of them froze when they heard her dad talking to Oakley. “You got the truck loaded?”

“Yeah,” Oakley responded.

Lorelie didn’t move a muscle as she considered what would happen if Dad or Oakley climbed the ladder. She was lying almost completely naked in the hayloft, her hands tied above her head, and Glen had two fingers buried deep inside her.

If she weren’t on the verge of panic, she’d laugh her ass off.

She’d been looking toward the railing—but her gaze flew to Glen’s face when he began thrusting his fingers inside her again.

Her eyes widened and she shook her head no. This time he was giving her
exactly
what she’d just been about to ask for. Instead of two fingers, he used three, and while his movements were quiet, they were deadly to her self-control. Her mouth flew open as she tried to suck in some much-needed air. Then she mouthed, “What are you doing?”

Glen, the gorgeous bastard, just winked at her. Then he stroked her clit with his thumb.

She closed her eyes tightly and bit her bottom lip so hard she thought she tasted blood. Her dad and Oakley were having some discussion about what tools they needed.

Jesus. She was going to come. Right here. Right now. With her dad no less that twenty-five feet below her.

She was going to kill Glen when this was over.

Maybe.

Glen continued to thrust his fingers inside her as he leaned closer, his face only an inch or so from her ear. “Do you have any idea how beautiful you are right now?” he whispered.

Shit. She’d been able to battle the orgasm on a physical level, but now he was adding emotional warfare to the game. She couldn’t win.

She was going to come. And it wasn’t going to be quiet.

Glen’s thumb grazed her clit again and she jerked, everything inside her turned to static. Static and this screaming white noise that deafened her. Her body trembled and shook as the orgasm rumbled through her like a freight train.

It was so powerful it almost hurt. The world turned to black as she closed her eyes and gave in. It was lightning, thunder, crashing waves, and every other crazy description she’d ever heard used to describe a sensation that simply couldn’t
be
put into words.

When she finally opened her eyes, she realized she’d lost time. Glen was sitting next to her on the blanket and the voices below were gone. In fact, she could just make out the sound of the old ranch truck in the distance.

Glen reached out and ran his fingers along her cheek, clueing her in to the wetness there. Was she crying? Why would she be crying?

She touched her own face and found his shirt gone. “You untied me.”

He nodded, his expression one of almost wonder.

“What?” she said.

“We’re in trouble, Lori.”

She sat up quickly, pulling the blanket over her as she glanced behind him for her father. Had they been caught?

“What do you mean? Dad?”

Glen shook his head. “No. Nothing like that. They were gone before you came. They didn’t hear a thing.”

That surprised her. She really
had
lost track of time. Because she could’ve sworn Dad and Oakley had just been here a minute ago.

“Then what’s the trouble?”

“Two weeks isn’t going to be enough.”

She smiled, even as his reminder of the time limit looming over their heads sent a sharp stab straight through her heart. She agreed with him, but old habits died hard. When Lorelie was stressed out, she turned to humor. “Most people decide that two hours with me is enough. Give it time.”

He grinned, and she was relieved. When he reached out to brush a strand of hair away from her face, she pretended the tightness in her chest had nothing to do with this unfamiliar feeling. She’d seen this man a total of four times in her life. Four times.

It was too soon to attach any sort of name to what was happening here. In truth, it was better if they didn’t try to name it. So she sought for a way to change the subject.

“Glen. I take back what I said. You’re not cocky. Or well, actually, you kind of are. But you have every right to be. That was amazing. I didn’t… I never—”

“You’re going to do it again for me. Because that was the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen. And next time, I’m going to be right there with you.”

She pressed her legs together, shocked that he could make her feel so needy again after an almost brutal orgasm. “I swear to God, I think I heard my bones rattle when I came. I didn’t realize orgasms could feel like that. Maybe we could set up some sort of same-time-next-year deal, because I’m going to need a hit of that at least every twelve months, and God knows the yahoos around here aren’t capable enough.”

“You think once a year is enough?” he asked.

It was on the tip of her tongue to say hell no. To tell him once a day wouldn’t be enough, but they were already tiptoeing around an issue that was going to bite them in the ass.

She strengthened her resolve once more, merely shrugging rather than lying.

Live in the moment, Lorelie.

“So what next?” she asked, her gaze drifting lower. There was no denying Glen was still hard. He had to be hurting.

“I thought maybe we could finish the tour.”

His answer surprised her.

“What about…” She pointed at his crotch.

Glen chuckled. “Quick trip to the bathroom and I’ll fix that right up.”

“Or I—”

“Don’t finish that sentence, Butterfly.”

“It’s just—”

“I told you my reasons before. They still stand.”

She sighed. “I’m sorry. I keep pushing.”

He laughed. “Don’t apologize. I assure you. This is uncharted territory for me too. Never wanted a woman as much as I want you. But I’m not willing to rush it.”

Lorelie tugged her bra back in place, and then put her T-shirt on. Glen did the same and then he helped her pull her jeans back up so she could put her boot on.

“Do you want to see my garden?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I’d like that.”

They climbed down the ladder and spent the next two hours holding hands as she showed him the ranch, pointing out all her best hide-and-seek spots as a child and the place where her beloved dog, Scooter, was buried underneath the cherry tree next to the house. She told him that her garden had actually been her mother’s before she’d died, and that she was still planting the same vegetables and herbs. She showed him the kitchen and the small ranch manager’s house, where Oakley, Joel, and now Sadie lived.

She gave him a quick tour of the building they called the barracks, as well as the history. The barracks had been built nearly fifty years earlier by Lorelie’s great-grandfather. At that time, the ranch had been a larger operation, and as such, it had employed nearly a dozen ranch hands.

Her grandfather had sold a large tract of land to the state, so that they could build a road, and the need for extra hands dwindled.

Back when her dad was football coach, a lot of the boys on the team worked on the ranch, sort of an old-school version of off-season conditioning. Occasionally, they’d spend weekends in the barracks, something her dad called a team-building exercise, and they roasted hot dogs over the fire pit and talked about girls, family issues and occasionally game strategy. The Quinn boys’ version of Boy Scouts.

However, the place hadn’t housed anyone in over a decade, so it was dusty and badly in need of a coat of paint. Regardless, Lorelie had always loved the place.

“One of these days, I’ll come out here and fix it up.”

“For you?”

There had been a time Lorelie had considered taking over the barracks and making it her own little house. That idea had been squelched after her dad’s heart attack. The thought of leaving him in the big house alone now wasn’t something she’d consider.

“No,” she said. “I can’t leave Dad alone.”

Glen nodded, but she could see he didn’t necessarily agree with that assessment. However, he didn’t question her on it.

“I need to get dinner started. Still staying?”

“Hell yeah. Home-cooked meals are few and far between in my life.”

“Did you bring your guitar?”

He tilted his head. “Are you going to think I’m crazy if I say yes?”

She shook her head. “No. I heard you tell Wade you never go anywhere without it.”

“I swear the thing feels like an extra limb.”

“I’m glad you’ve got it. Grab it from the Yukon and I’ll let you serenade me while I cook.”

Glen wrapped his arm around her shoulders as they walked back toward the main house. “You’ll let me, huh?”

“Yep. And I’m warning you now, I have a long request list. Might take you a few hours, or days, to get through it.”

“I like singing to you, Lori.” He placed a quick kiss on the top of her head.

Two hours later, they were still in the kitchen. Lorelie had just pulled the roasted chicken out of the oven as Glen played her favorite Zac Brown song for her. For some reason, “Colder Weather” had always seemed romantic to her…until Glen sang it. Now it just reminded her that he would never stay in Quinn forever. No matter what happened between them, he would leave. She pushed that idea down into concrete in her brain and tried to force the stuff around it to dry.

He
would
leave.

“That’s a nice song.”

They both glanced over, surprised to find her dad standing in the doorway. “And dinner smells delicious, Lori.”

She walked over, kissing Dad on the cheek. She didn’t even consider her actions until her father gave her a pleased look. “That’s a nice welcome, too.”

God. What the hell was she doing? She loved her dad more than anything, but they weren’t overly affectionate.

She tried to brush off her uncharacteristic behavior. “Oakley and Joel behind you?”

“Yeah. They stopped by the house to grab Sadie. I’ll go wash up.”

“Okay.”

She started to turn around, but her dad grabbed her hand, tugging her a step closer so that he could place a quick kiss on her forehead. “Owed you one.”