Leather and Lust (2 page)

And she needed release. Needed to feel the heat of desire sweeping through her again. Needed hot, mindless sex - no strings attached.

Seeing as how her vacation was starting off, she wondered if she should have cancelled her reservation right along with her friends. But she hadn’t. How could she after her friends dared her to experience a wild fling with a cowboy. Dared her to prove she still had it in her. That sexual self-confidence she’d had before her last relationship.

But it wasn’t just their dare that brought her to Wyoming. It went deeper than that. She needed to know for herself that she still had it in her. The ability to flirt, to seduce, to drive a man crazy with hunger for her with just a few whispered words.

Her friends were right. A cowboy was the perfect choice for her sexual quest. A man totally opposite her ex and the suit and tie businessmen she had always been attracted to. She just had to get to that dude ranch to find one.

Flipping open her cell phone, she glanced down, hoping there might be some sort of signal now that she was out of the car, but not a single lit bar greeted her. So much for contacting the nearest service station.

“Piece of shit,” she muttered, snapping the phone shut. She tossed it into her purse through the open window and then circled the car. The engine hissed as smoke or steam continued to spiral out from under its hood.

Jillian’s gaze shifted from one end of the long empty road to the other. Then to the land vast expanse of undeveloped land around her. Land lined by mountains and endless sky. It was unbelievably breathtaking.

And hot.

Evidence of that gathered between her breasts. And it was only going to get hotter as the afternoon wore on. So here she was, stuck out in the middle of nowhere with no phone service, no water, no sunscreen.

Jillian undid her jacket and worked the top several buttons of her blouse open, letting what little breeze there was sweep across her heated flesh.

Well, she couldn’t just stand around hoping that someone might happen by. Reaching in through the open window, she released the hood and then stepped around to the front of the rental to raise it. A whoosh of hot steam sent her stumbling backwards. Her heel caught on the edge of the road, snapped and sent her skidding onto her backside across the grass.

“Shit.” So much for her designer shoes.

* * *

Jackson Burke’s eyes widened at the sight before him. There had been plenty of times he’d had to stop his truck to allow a stray cow to mosey across the road, or to avoid hitting a deer that had just darted out of the woods, but never in his thirty-two years had the drive back to his secluded ranch been hindered by a woman.

And not just any woman. One in some frilly pink outfit that reminded him of freshly spun cotton candy at the county fair. There was no missing the shapely figure hidden beneath the citified clothing. The woman definitely had curves in all the right places.

His gaze shifted to the swell of her breasts, clearly displayed between the open front of her blouse and his mouth went dry.

And those legs...

He gave a low, lust-induced whistle as his gaze moved further down to those long, shapely legs. The kind he wouldn’t mind having wrapped around his waist, heating him up on a cold winter’s night.

He blinked hard. Once. Twice. But the vision in pink was still there. He dragged both hands down his face with a groan. Those couple of drinks he’d had on his flight back from Denver that evening must have been stronger than he thought. Surely he was seeing things.

Suddenly, the figment of his imagination started toward him, waving her arms. Regaining his senses, Jackson threw the truck into park and jumped out.

“Ma’am? Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” she replied with more than a hint of sarcasm in her tone.

She had that right. In fact, she was more than fine. With those big, green eyes, full, pouty lips, and long, wavy auburn hair she was a real beauty.

His cock stirred.

The woman shifted in her stance, revealing even more of the rounded flesh.

His cock thickened beneath the fly of his dress pants. Fortunately for him, his suit jacket covered the telltale bulge beneath. He forced his gaze further downward, away from the temptation those barely covered breasts offered only to discover her skirt had a long, jagged tear up one side, allowing him more than a plentiful glimpse of a shapely thigh.

He swallowed hard as lust raced through his veins like a late summer wildfire.

She started towards him. Her uneven gait was like a splash of cold water on his face.

“You’re limping,” he said, pissed at himself for not noticing she was hurt. He’d been too busy imagining his mouth moving over those creamy swells, his hands gliding up the smooth flesh of those sweet thighs. “Did you twist your ankle?”

“No.” She stopped to whip off a shoe. Then, straightening, she dangled it from an extended finger. “I broke the heel off my new Louis Vuitton sling back.”

“Louie who?”
Sling what?

“Louis Vuitton,” she repeated. “Never mind. Do you have a cell phone I can borrow? I need to call for a tow truck and my phone doesn’t get any signal out here.”

He tugged at his necktie, anxious to get out of the monkey suit he wore whenever he traveled out of town on business. “I have one, but it won’t do you much good.”

“No signal for you either?”

“Getting a signal isn’t a problem.”

“Then what is?”

“Willie, who runs the tow service around here, shuts down at four o’clock sharp.”

“Surely he has an emergency number we could call.”

“Afraid not.”

“Damn it.”

A grin tugged at his mouth. “He’ll be back in the shop at 8:00.”

“Tonight?” she asked hopefully.

“Tomorrow.”

The woman groaned. Her cherry red lips formed a pout that drew his gaze to her incredibly full mouth and held it there. He found himself fighting tooth and nail against the urge to kiss that frown away. To taste those lips. His lustful reverie didn’t stop there. He imagined those same lips wrapped around his cock, sliding up and down the length of it until he came long and hard. But she wouldn’t stop there. She’d draw him into her mouth again and again until she’d suck him dry.

Jackson bit back a groan, his body responding almost painfully to the fantasy. Hell. The last thing he needed to do was entangle himself with some high-strung city girl. The kind who blew sickening amounts of money on fake hair, fake nails and fake tits to go along with their fake personalities. He’d already been there, done that. Would never do it again.

“Do you think I might trouble you for a ride?”

His cock thumped. Giving her a ‘ride’ was all he seemed to be able to think about. Jackson gave himself a mental head slap. Get your mind out of her pants, Burke.

Jillian smiled for the first time since her rental hunk-of-junk broke down in the middle of ‘cow country’. The dark-eyed stranger who’d come to her rescue had the sexiest smile she had ever seen. He was exactly the kind of man she was drawn to. Desired.

But he’s not a cowboy,
she reminded herself, her smile fading. She refused to allow herself to revert back to her old ways. No suit and tie hottie for her this trip. Even if he wanted her. And want her he did. She’d seen the push of his straining cock beneath his suit jacket. Seen the hunger in his eyes as his gaze slid over her.

Her own gaze shifted to the man’s back and those broad shoulders as he walked back to his truck. He was tall and lean, and, judging by the fit of his suit jacket, quite muscular. A rush of warmth moved through her to settle between her thighs, making her pussy ache.

Don’t even think about it. You came all the way out here to find a rough and tough, fuck me like there’s no tomorrow cowboy. Not another sexy, nine-to-fiver in a business suit.

Slipping off her other heel, she followed him, treading lightly in her bare feet.

Her rescuer rounded the truck and opened the passenger door as turned to face her. “Give me your hand,” he said, the low timbre of his voice making her want to give him more than just her hand. She stepped up to him, hesitating.

“It’s a ways up there,” he said with a nod toward the bench seat.

Jillian looked up at her rescuer. He towered over her, something she found both intimidating and arousing. Her gaze slid down the front of him to the fly of his pants where his outstretched arm caused his jacket to part. There, beneath the charcoal grey cloth, his cock thrust out with impressive force.

The man cleared his throat, bringing a rush of warmth to her cheeks.

She hurried to reach for his extended hand. Only he pulled away with a grin and caught her by the waist, lifting her effortlessly up onto the leather seat of his truck.

His face was only inches from her breasts as he leaned into the cab. His nearness evoking all sorts of sexually charged thoughts. Like what it would be like to have him turn her to face him, dragging her to the edge of the seat as he parted her legs. Of his fingers yanking her panties aside and his tongue thrusting deep inside the lust-swollen lips of her wet pussy.

“You smell really good,” he said as he backed away to close the door.

So do you
, she thought as she breathed in the lingering spicy scent of his aftershave. One she didn’t recognize, but liked immensely.

“I’m so glad you came by,” she said as her far too sexy, dark-haired rescuer slid onto the seat beside her, tossing his suit jacket onto the seat between them. “I was beginning to think I was going to have to spend the night alone on the side of the road.”

He gave the key in the ignition a sharp twist and the engine roared to life. Then, he turned to face her, draping an arm across the seat behind her. “Lucky for you I cut my business trip short a day. Otherwise, you would have. This is the road to my ranch. No one else uses it.”

She eyed him in disbelief. He didn’t look like a man who would put down roots on a piece of land out in the middle of nowhere. “You own a ranch?”

“Last time I checked.”

“Are you telling me you’re a cowboy?”

He laughed. “I suppose you could say that.”

Her gaze moved over him again as he sat there grinning at her. “Where are your hat and spurs?”

“Spurs?” He raised a dark brow, yet the humor remained in his dark eyes.

“You know, the whole cowboy getup - tight jeans, dark hat worn low on your brow, boots, spurs, the works.”

“You didn’t happen to smoke any of that grass that left those stains on your skirt, did you?”

Jillian glanced down at her favorite travel suit and frowned. It was irreparably ruined. She looked up at the so-called cowboy beside her with a frown. “No, I didn’t.”

“Sorry,” he said, sounding sincere. “I wasn’t trying to be a smart ass. I just find it funny that some people still believe real cowboys spend their days in cowboy hats and spurs.”

Okay, so maybe that was her preconceived image of a cowboy. But cowboys didn’t go around in business suits either. Why would they? The man beside her had to be a cowboy wannabe. He wore his suit way too well not to be. And the strong attraction she felt towards him was a dead giveaway. He was a suit and tie guy. Definitely her type, but not the type she was looking to seduce on this trip. She had to get to the dude ranch where she’d have her choice of genuine hot blooded cowboys.

“I’ll keep that in mind. Anyway, thank you for stopping to give me a ride, Mr., uh...” She paused, realizing that she didn’t even know his name.

He flashed a sexy grin that made her grateful she was sitting down. “Jackson Burke,” he supplied, extending a large hand. “And you are?”

“Jillian Summers.” She held out her hand but stopped before making contact with his much larger one. “I’ve got grease on my hand. I’d hate to get you dirty.”

He reached for it anyhow. “That’s okay,” he said with a grin. “I don’t mind getting a little dirty once in a while.”

CHAPTER TWO

His words combined with the huskiness of his tone nearly had her melting into a puddle of lust right there on his seat. Getting dirty with a man like Jackson Burke was exactly what her body ached for.

She looked down to where their hands met, to where his long fingers closed over her much smaller ones, and found herself wondering what it might be like to have them caressing her bare flesh. Have them touching her in places she yearned to be touched. Stroked. Pleasured.

“Pleasure to meet you,” he said, drawing her gaze back to that strong, whisker-shadowed jaw and those firm lips. Then further up to those dark chocolate eyes.

All she could do was stare, like she was under some very sensual, very hypnotic spell.

He withdrew his hand from hers and grabbed for the steering wheel. “So where can I take you?”

To bed for starters.

“To the Blooming Rose Ranch.”

His head snapped around. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“Well, maybe back to my rental car first so I can grab my things. I’ll call Willie’s garage in the morning if you’ll be so kind as to give me his number.”