Anything But Sweet (18 page)

“Long story.” He opened his arms. “How about a dance?”

“Hmmm. I didn’t even get a chance to check out your brother’s chest.”

“No need. I’ve got one you’ll fit just perfect against.”

When she smiled, he needed no further invitation and pulled her into his arms. To
his pleasure, the band swung into Chuck Wicks’s “All I Ever Wanted,” which had a slower
pace that gave him the opportunity to enjoy the sensation of finally having Charli
in his arms.

Beneath the smooth fabric of the sexy dress, her curves called out to him to come
play and explore. To find out where she liked to be touched and where she
loved
to be touched. She fit perfectly in his arms, like they’d been made just for her.
Which was the last thing he’d thought the day she rolled into town in her big yellow
Hummer, and he’d wanted her gone.

A moment of sorrow grabbed him by the heart, and, for the first time, he pushed it
away. He was going to live in the moment. Even if it killed him.

“I like this music.” She smiled up at him, and it was hard not to get lost in her
eyes.

“Beats rap or hip-hop.”

“I like that all the songs have a story,” she said.

Their bodies found the perfect rhythm, and, for Reno, the friction of rubbing against
her only increased his desire. “I like the way you smell.”

“You do?”

He nodded. “Must be some expensive perfume.”

“I don’t wear perfume. Only scented body lotion. Tonight, I’m wearing peaches and
cream.”

“Mmmm. I love peaches.” He lowered his head, ran his nose up the length of her neck.
Beneath his hand, a shiver danced up her spine. He spoke close to her ear, “Ripe . . .
juicy . . . peaches.”

A little moan vibrated in her chest. “And cream?”

“Cream definitely enhances the flavor. Makes me want to lick up every last drop.”

Her head tilted back. “Are we talking about food?”

“Nope.”

“Hmmm.” Her eyes brightened. “Then there’s probably something I need to tell you.”

A hundred erection-busting thoughts raced through his head.

She slid her hand up the front of his shirt. Wrapped her arm around his neck and pressed
her breasts against him. “Tonight, I was in such a hurry to get to the party I forgot
. . .” She leaned in closer, stood on tiptoe, and whispered in his ear. “To put on
panties.”

As she slid back down to the heels of her boots, everything inside him swelled, expanded,
and damn near exploded. He fought the urge to lower his hands, clasp a handful of
her backside, and see for himself. His grip tightened around her waist.

“No panties?”

She smiled. “Nope.”

He took a quick glance around them. Definitely not the place to back her up against
a fence post and ride her hard.

Not his style anyway.

“You continue to surprise me,” he said, failing to keep a grin in check.

“Is that a good thing?”

“Very good.”

The heat of her body warmed his hands, and the desire to slip them beneath that thin
fabric and touch her skin was almost too much to deny.

“Perfect.” Her fingers stroked his shoulder. “But I’m willing to bet I can put an
even bigger smile on your face and make those dimples pop.”

“Hard to beat imagining you naked under that dress.”

A second later, as he was trying not to haul her up over his shoulder and cart her
off somewhere private, she took complete control of the situation. He was a man who
liked to be in charge, but he didn’t mind admitting her confidence was a big turn-on.

“Since everyone is already staring at us, wondering what we’re whispering about, and
I know you’re not the type who likes to advertise his goings on . . .” She gave a
casual glance over her shoulder, smiled, and waved to Hazel and Ray Calhoun. When
her eyes came back to his, they were full of sexual promise. “I’m going to back away
real slow like we’re just done dancing.”

“Okay.”

“Then I’m going to get in my car and go home. Give me a five-minute lead. If you’re
interested . . . I’ll be waiting.”

If
he was interested?

There wasn’t a muscle or bone in his body that wasn’t vibrating with fascination.

Before he could tell her he really didn’t give a shit what people thought right now,
she slipped from his arms, gave him a nod, then tossed him a sexy smile.

“Thank you for the dance,” she said mildly as though she hadn’t just told him beneath
that floaty little dress she was absolutely naked or that she’d be waiting at home
ready to put a smile on his face.

And because he was a man who hadn’t had fun in a very long time, he decided to play
her game. He gave her a two-finger salute from the brim of his Stetson as she walked
away. She cut right off the dance floor, he went left.

For the moment, their directions might be vastly different, but once he got her back
in his arms, he’d make damned sure they were on the same course.

Chapter 14

N
o panties?

That
had been the best she could come up with?

Some secret weapon.

Charli didn’t need confirmation that she’d completely lost her mind. Flirting was
one thing, but to tell a man she barely knew she wasn’t wearing any panties
and
to let him know she’d be at home waiting for him to show up?

Yeah, that hardly reeked of desperation.

She might as well have walked around with a blinking red sign that read “I’m hot for
you” or “Take me, I’m yours” or any number of similar phrases that screamed Loserville.

Pathetic.

She’d made some bad romantic decisions in her life, but she’d never been the aggressor
in a relationship before. And if this turned out disastrously, it would be the last
time she tried it. And then she’d have to get a big old ladder and climb back up on
that no-man wagon.

While she maneuvered the road home, she slowed to a crawl, grabbed the tube of peaches
and cream lotion from her purse, and slathered on a fresh layer. Might as well smell
tasty too. Just in case. When the road straightened out, she dumped the lotion back
into her purse.

Maybe the possibility of humiliation was frightening, but how could she say she didn’t
know Reno? Outside of her father and brother, she might know him better than any man
she’d ever known. She knew his life, his passion, his heartaches, his losses. She
knew he believed he didn’t deserve to enjoy his life. And she knew he deserved to
be happy more than most. Her attraction to the man had grown into something more.
And she cared.

God, how I care.

Just the sight of him flipped her stomach like she was on the world’s largest roller
coaster. When he flashed those rarely seen dimples, she melted like a Hershey bar
in the summer sun. For her, it had become far more than just his amazing face, tall,
powerful body, or, heaven forbid, those dimples.

She was crazy about his heart.

As she turned the Hummer onto Rebel Creek Road, she reached down, shimmied out of
her underwear, and tucked them inside her purse. Not an easy task while tires spun
and gravel flew. She parked the Hummer near the barn and turned off the ignition.
In her rearview mirror, headlights sped up from behind. Her heart did a double somersault.

The red truck came to a sliding stop. Beneath her hand, her door flung open.

“You drive slow.” His voice was rough.

“You came.”

Those dimples flashed. “Not yet.”

Lust darkened his eyes as he pulled her into his arms and crushed her against him.
His mouth came down and opened against hers, and he fed her hot, gut-clenching kisses.
His fingers tangled in her hair. And then his hands were everywhere. Touching. Exploring.
Testing.

He rocked his hips and slowly thrust against her. The woman in her responded to the
hot man pressed against her from breast to thigh. A warm flush tingled up her chest.
She didn’t think she’d ever experienced anything like the crazy need that swirled
through her stomach and into her heart.

As she wrapped her arms around his neck and devoured his kiss, he pressed her up against
the side of the Hummer and slipped his hands up beneath her dress. His moan filled
her mouth when his long fingers cupped her naked bottom.

He lifted his head, and a whoosh of air pushed from his lungs. “My God, you weren’t
kidding.”

“Why would I kid?” She traced her tongue across his bottom lip. “When I want you so
bad.”

Dark brows pulled together. Then his mouth came down on hers again. His kisses became
feverish—hungry—as though any moment she might disappear, and he’d starve. He tasted
wild and hot, like a man who could deliver on all those seductive looks he’d been
giving her when he thought she wasn’t looking.

The rapid throb of desire pulsed through her blood and gathered low in her belly as
she speared her fingers into his hair and knocked the hat from his head. When the
black felt Stetson hit the gravel, she figured she’d probably committed some kind
of Texas sin.

Lucky for her, he didn’t seem to mind.

The moonlight shone down and glinted in the strands of silver at his temples. His
slick tongue delved deep in her mouth, stroking, caressing, teasing, promising.

And then he was gone.

A rush of air swept across the moisture on her lips and cooled her heated flesh.

“Are you sure about this?” he asked, even as his heart pounded against her own. “Tell
me no. Right now. Tell me no, and I will stop and walk away.”

She looked up at him, at the doubt creeping into his eyes. She couldn’t let him stop.
Not for her. Not for him.

“Don’t do that,” she whispered. “Don’t deny whatever this is between us. Please. I
want you.” She lowered her hand from his chest. Slid it down the front of his shirt,
past the big silver buckle, to the zipper on his jeans and cupped his long, hard erection.
”And you want me.”

“I do.”

“Besides, if you stop now, I’ll sue for false advertising.”

“I’ll be damned if you aren’t the sassiest woman I’ve ever met.” He chuckled in a
deep, husky tone. Then he lowered his mouth and gave her a slow, sexy lick up the
side of her throat. “Wrap your legs around me.” His breath rasped hot and moist against
her ear.

“Yes, sir.” She did as he asked, locked the ankles of her boots together and felt
his erection pulse against her flesh. His fingers dug into her backside as he lifted
her and carried her toward the front door of his house.

“Where are we going?”

“A gentleman doesn’t take a lady standing in the driveway up against a truck.”

“I wouldn’t mind.”

His boots stopped moving, and he looked deep into her eyes. “Next time. But for what
I have planned for you, you’re definitely going to want to get horizontal.”

Well, if that didn’t stir everything up inside her like a warm bucket of butter, nothing
would. “I like the way you think, Cowboy.”

Between feeding her wet, hot kisses, he somehow managed to unlock the front door and
push it open. Bear and Pumpkin were sprawled out on a leather sofa, and their fuzzy
heads popped up as the door crashed against the wall. Reno practically fell through
the opening, but he managed to stay on his feet. His firm grip on her naked bottom
never wavered.

Charli had been curious as to what the inside of his house looked like, but at the
moment, she wasn’t the least interested. As they moved through the living room into
the hall, she caught a vague sense of a huge stone fireplace, adobe floor tiles, lots
of warm wood, and traditional leather furniture with nail-head trim.

Reno paused in the hallway and pressed her backward against the wall. She slid her
legs down his muscular thighs until the toes of her boots touched the floor.

“You win,” he said, his voice a rough whisper. “I give.”

“I like winning.” She gave him a playful grin, knowing what it took for him to let
go of his past. She lifted her face and kissed the shadow on his jaw. “I’m always
up for a celebration. And I think . . .” Her hands wandered south. “I deserve my prize.”

He made a low sound in his throat—half growl, half surrender—before his mouth slashed
across hers in a fiery kiss that hit her ignition switch like a fully charged torpedo.
She threaded her fingers through the sides of his soft hair and held him tight to
her lips while his tongue caressed and plundered. When he pulled back, his broad chest
expanded on uneven breaths.

On a slow rotation, he turned her to face the wall and settled her hands flat against
the surface. He pressed his full length into her back. “You’re so soft. So beautiful.”
In a smooth motion, he lifted her hair to fall over one shoulder. “And you smell so
damned good.”

The quiet words were spoken low and close to her ear, and she felt the vibration between
her legs. She swallowed hard as he slid his work-roughened hands to the buttons at
the top of the halter dress at the nape of her neck and methodically released each
one. As the dress fell to her waist, he trailed his fingers down her back. When she
thought she couldn’t take his unhurried movements much longer, those warm strong hands
slid up the bare flesh of her stomach and cupped her breasts.

He trailed kisses down her neck to the sensitive spot near her shoulder and sucked
her skin into his mouth. A hot flush of tingles spread up from her core into her belly.

Beneath his skillful touch, her nipples peaked and ached for the warmth of his mouth.
When she moaned deep in her chest, he slipped those magical hands down her waist,
taking the dress with him. The fabric fell into a silky pool around her boots, and
Charli realized that while she stood there naked, he remained fully clothed.

“Not fair,” she said, as his mouth and tongue did a slow glide down the length of
her spine, and his hands cupped her rear end.

He came back up—his chest pressed into her back. His hand skated down her belly.
His fingers slid lower and parted her flesh, touching her in that warm dampness where
she craved him most.

“What’s not fair?” he murmured against her ear.

She could barely think, let alone breathe. “You’re still dressed.” She panted, glancing
over her shoulder. “I haven’t even touched you.”

“You want to touch me?” His dimples flashed with a teasing smile.

“Yes.”

His hand moved away, and she ached at the loss of his touch. Then he turned her to
face him.

“I’m all yours,” he said, arms held out.

That was all the invitation she needed. She had no finesse as she tore at the buttons
on his shirt, yanked the fabric from his pants, and pushed it from his shoulders.
She pressed her breasts into his hard chest. The short dark hairs tickled her nipples.
Her hands touched him everywhere. His skin felt hot and tight, and she wanted more.

She kissed him hard, like he was a last meal. Then she lifted her head and looked
up. His heavy-lidded gaze looked back.

“Boots. Off.”

He complied, then waited for her next instructions. She didn’t know what was more
fun—being in command or giving up control. Both, in her mind, were going to be more
satisfying than she could ever have dreamed.

Hot liquid lust burned through her veins and set her need for him on fire. She flipped
open the big belt buckle, unbuttoned his pants, and pushed them down his muscular
thighs. His boxer briefs went next. And then she just looked at him.

He didn’t waver beneath her heated gaze. He just stood there with that tight, muscular
skin, jutting erection, and let her look.

And she did.

But looking alone wouldn’t ease the ache between her thighs. She reached out and took
him in her hand, squeezed gently, and smiled when he dropped his head back and groaned.
She leaned forward and pressed her mouth to his chest, licked his flat brown nipple,
and said, “I’m ready to collect that prize you owe me now, Cowboy.”

A deep chuckle rumbled in his chest. “Yes, ma’am.” He lifted her into his arms, carried
her into his room, and tossed her on the king-sized bed. He followed her down.

If she thought this would be quick, she’d be wrong. Reno took back control. He fed
her slow, wet kisses while his erection pressed into her lower half and tempted her
with heat and promise. He kissed her neck on his way down to her breasts, where he
paid very careful attention to each one with long laps of his tongue and gentle pulls
of his hot, moist mouth. Those languid strokes sent a flurry of need between her legs.

“I want you, Reno.” She reached for him, tried to pull him up and over her. “I need
you.”

“Mmmmm.” He gave her nipple a slow lick, then gave her a gentle nip. “Happy to comply.”

Instead of moving up, he went down and put that amazing mouth and tongue to work between
her legs. If she’d thought he’d taken his time at her breasts, he proved he was in
no hurry now.

He licked. Stroked. Sucked. Until she couldn’t take the heat anymore. Her midsection
tightened, and the slow burn headed north from her toes up her legs.

It would be so easy to let that fire singe her until she couldn’t breathe, but she
didn’t want to take that trip alone. She squeezed her inner muscles to stop the wildfire,
reached beneath his arms, and tugged. “You promised.”

He stopped. Looked up. “But—”

“I need
you
, Reno. Inside me. Right now.”

With a smile, he moved up, leaned over her, and opened the nightstand drawer. He tore
open the foil packet, and she took the condom from his hands.

“Let me do that.” She pushed him to the mattress, straddled his thighs, and rolled
the condom down to the base of his penis. Then she leaned down, brushed the tips of
her breasts across his chest, and watched a smile spread across his face. She kissed
him. And squeezed him. And teased him. Right up to the moment he grabbed hold and
flipped her on her back.

“I want
you
,” he said. “Right now.” He parted her legs and slid into her with a long, hard thrust
that stole her breath.

She gasped. Or moaned. Or something, then grabbed his firm butt with both hands and
locked her legs around his waist. “You feel amazing. Don’t stop. Don’t even slow down.”

With a long groan, he plunged into her again. Deeper this time. Touching all those
amazing places that lit her up like a carnival ride. His thrusts alternated between
slow and fast. He rotated his hips, kissed her neck and breasts until her breathing
quickened, and everything inside her tightened. Her entire world centered on him and
where their bodies were joined in intense pleasure.

His thrusts came faster, his breathing shallower. He reached beneath her, grabbed
her bottom, and lifted her hips. He drove harder. Her heart pounded in her ears. Scorching
flames licked at her core and lit the fuse.

“Oh . . . God.” Her words came out a strangled moan. As he pounded into her body,
he unleashed a sexual storm of beautiful and intense sensations that rolled over her
in a long, sweet climax. She rode out the throbbing pulsations, holding him tight
between her legs and arms as he thrust one last time with a long groan that sounded
of pleasure and pain.