Rough Riders Bundle 1(books 1, 2, 3) (45 page)

Macie was strangely content just to watch Carter, fascinated by his controlled body movements. The muscles in his shoulders bunched as he lifted his arms. As he pushed and pulled the clay, corded muscles popped up on his forearms. A thin line of sweat trickled down his spine and disappeared into his low-slung sweatpants. She wished she could see his hands. Those long, clever fingers smoothing and shaping, plunging deep.

Outside the mist morphed into a steady, soft rainfall. The clean scent of rain wafted through the open door, but did nothing to cool her off. Seemed nothing could make her take her eyes off him, either.

She’d thought Carter was sexy when they’d first met, but it was nothing compared to the way she felt when she looked at him now. Despite his overwhelming intensity, he was sweet and thoughtful and had a body made for pure sin. She wanted him. Wanted his clay-covered hands on her. Molding her breasts. Leaving a muddy trail down her belly. Leaving moon-shaped clay marks from his fingernails digging into her hips. Seeing his big handprints on the inside of her thighs.

Tasting clay and passion on his lips. Scraping her nails down his sweat-coated back. Clutching his ass. Watching lust fire in his eyes as he took everything she offered him.

Right then she knew she wouldn’t deny him a damn thing.

Thunder cracked outside.

Macie gasped at the intrusion of reality into her little fantasy world.

Carter spun to glare at her. “Jesus, Macie, what are you doin’ in here?”

“I-I woke up a little while ago—”

“And you just snuck in to spy on me in my private studio?”

His angry look doused her steamy thoughts. “No!”

“Then what the hell—” He paced toward her, then back. “Fuck.” Angrily he wiped his hands on a towel. “Never mind. My own damn fault. Shoulda put a lock on that goddamn door.”

“I-I’m sorry. I’ll go.”

The gentle rain changed to a torrential downpour. More thunder boomed. The wind howled and the door smacked shut.

“No. That’s okay. Hang on. Just let me—”

The last thing she saw before she fled was Carter flinging a sheet over the globs of clay and mysterious shape on the table.

Macie couldn’t blame the way she trembled solely on the change in the weather. The change in Carter had a lot to do with it.

Stupid girl. Stupid to hope he’d be different. When would she learn nothing ever changed for her when it came to her relationships with men?

Water splashed up to her ankles, as she couldn’t avoid mud puddles. Had she left her keys in her car?

He’d glared at her like a disobedient child.

A sharp rock tore at the skin on the bottom of her foot and she stumbled. She righted herself and kept limping along in the downpour. Why in the hell had she parked so far away?

Maybe it was a cosmic sign she should drive far away and never look back. Good plan.

“Macie!”

Don’t look back. He’ll convince you to stay—only temporarily—and you need to keep running.

She’d counted to ten when a hand landed on her shoulder and jerked her to a stop.

A BOOM of thunder nearly burst her eardrums.

She screamed.

Strong male arms wrapped her against a warm bare chest. “Hey. It’s okay. I’ve got you.”

“No! Let me go.” Being wet and mad made it easy for her to slither out of his grasp. Her hair hung in her eyes, obscuring her vision, her dress was sopping wet and stuck to her calves like plastic wrap.

Still, Macie ran.

Until two steel bands immobilized her completely. She’d only taken three steps that time.

“Macie. Calm down.”

She thrashed and shrieked.

He put his mouth directly on her ear. “It’s me. Carter.”

“I know who you are, dumbass, why do you think I’m trying to get away?”

Carter spun her to face him, keeping his hands gripping her upper arms. “What is wrong with you?”

“You won’t let me go. You’re keeping me here against my will. I just want to go home.”

The clouds rumbled and she went absolutely still.

Silence.

“You’re soaking wet, scared out of your mind and in no shape to drive.”

“I have to get out of here.”

“No, you don’t. You need to take a deep breath and calm down.”

“Don’t tell me what to do!”

The threat of thunder gave way to another loud boom and before the noise quit, Macie screamed again.

Carter cupped her face in his hands. “Look at me. Jesus, Macie, you’re scaring me.”

“And you’re pissing me off. Let. Me. Go!” She knocked his hands away, dodged sideways and ran.

This time she made it about ten steps when she heard—
Riiiippppp
. Carter had caught her by the back of her dress.

She whirled around, leading with her fists, losing her footing as she yelled, “You bastard.”

He lunged for her as she slipped in the mud and they both fell to the soggy earth.

She scrambled to her hands and knees and tried to crawl away from him.

He snagged her ankle, rolled her on her back and pinned her to the ground.

Macie thrashed and bucked like a penned wild animal. She was scared by the storm, mad at Carter for treating her as callously as every other man in her life, but mostly mad at herself for acting like a child in the face of a thunderstorm. Again. Breathing hard, she closed her eyes and managed not to scream at another deafening roar of thunder.

Carter locked her wrists in one of his hands and pressed them above her head, while his hard body trapped hers.

“Look at me.”

She shook her head.

“Please. Macie. Let me help you.”

“It’ll help me if you let me go.”

“No.”

“You can’t do this to me. First you snap—”

“I’m sorry I yelled at you.”

She squirmed.

“And now seeing you so upset, knowing it’s my fault. It’s killing me. Please. Let me make it right.”

“You can’t.”

“Let me try.”

Macie didn’t move.

When he eased up, she finally looked in those blue, blue eyes. She lost her will to fight when she witnessed the misery on his face.

“I’m an asshole sometimes.”

She nodded.

“But I’d never do anything to intentionally hurt you. You have to know I’m not that kinda man.”

“What kind of man are you, Carter?”

“A sorry son of a bitch right about now.”

Rain fell as they studied each other.

“I wasn’t spying on you.”

“On some level I know that. But I’m so used to keeping people away from my work until it’s finished. I force everyone away from me when I’m working because I’m not always nice. When I saw you standing there, staring at my piece of shit work in progress… But it’s not your fault. Sorry I lashed out at you.”

“I wasn’t staring at what you were working on, I was staring at you.” Crap. That hadn’t come out right. “What I meant was—”

“I see in your eyes exactly what you meant.”

The gray clouds above them clashed like cymbals. Before she had a chance to scream, Carter slanted his mouth over hers and kissed her.

And kissed her.

And kissed her some more, until he’d thoroughly scrambled her brain to anything beyond the way he tasted and the sexy sounds he made as his mouth dominated hers.

“Macie,” he mumbled against her damp cheek. “God, Macie. Let me have you. All of you.” He released her wrists and levered himself over her, trailing his lips down her throat. When he reached her chest, he yanked the stretchy bodice of her dress aside and his warm mouth engulfed her breast.

“Oh. Man. No fair,” she whispered.

Carter rolled to his side, taking her with him. Mud splattered his face. He flicked his tongue over the tip of her nipple while his other hand kneaded her left breast. “Goddamn you’re perfect. Just like I knew you’d be.” His gaze hooked hers. He vigorously sucked her left nipple through the wet fabric until she couldn’t lie still but wiggled like a worm.

“Carter—”

“I want you like this. Right now. Wet. Raw. Dirty.”

“Yes. Oh. Yes.”

He returned to her mouth, kissing her stupid. She felt him sliding her sodden, mud-caked dress up her trembling thighs. When it was bunched around her waist, he knelt between her legs. He pulled aside her thong and fingered her where she was slick.

“Lift up.” He tapped her butt. In the split second she raised her hips, he grabbed her thighs to slide her closer to his torso and draped her knees over his shoulders.

Carter raised her ass high in his hands at an angle as he buried his face in her pussy.

“Omigod.” The only parts of her still touching the ground were her shoulder blades and the back of her head.

“Hold still. Jesus, let me have more than a taste before I drop you.” He licked up her slit. Alternating the flat of his tongue with just the flickering tip. Then he fastened his mouth to her clit and began to suck. When her whole body shook, he slapped her ass and growled, “Hold still, goddammit. I’ve been dying to get my mouth on you.”

“But your mouth is so hot.”

“Macie—”

“And I’m already so close.”

“I know. Next time I’ll make you wait. I might even tie you up and make you beg. Lord, you are so warm and sweet…” He suckled her pussy lips and scraped his teeth over her clit.

She gasped. “Oh. You’re good at that.”

He grunted but didn’t stop licking. Sucking. Driving her to the brink of insanity.

Rain poured down on them. She’d probably feel cold if her body wasn’t on fire. Heck, she was so hot her clothes were steaming.

The sky rumbled a warning.

For the first time in several minutes Macie realized they were out in the open in the thick of a thunder and rainstorm.

Carter sensed the moment she froze up. “Look at me, not the sky. Think about how crazy it’s making me to taste you. Think about how hard I’m gonna fuck you right after you come all over my face. It’s right there, darlin’, take it.” He did some different nibbling thing on her clit that made her hips buck like she was riding a wild bronc.

He didn’t move his mouth when he growled at her, and the buzzing sensation of his lips on her clit set her off.

“Oh. Like that. Don’t stop. Please. Yes!” She screamed as the orgasm hit, as thunder exploded above her, reverberated inside her and she felt as if a thousand bolts of lightning struck her body.

Carter didn’t remove his lips or his tongue or his hands from her throbbing sex until she twitched one last time. Her legs became boneless and slipped from his shoulders.

Hot, open-mouthed kisses seared the cool skin on her thighs, rousing her. Making her arch into his body and he kissed his way to her throat.

“Macie.”

“Please, Carter. More. All. Give me all of you.”

His breath tickled her ear. “Shit. I don’t have a condom—”

“Where are they?”

“Inside.”

Macie rolled and stood. She grabbed his hand and tugged until he was on his feet. “Hurry. What the hell are you waiting for?”

‡

C
arter stared at
Macie, his eyes eating up the frantic, sexy look on her face as the little spitfire attempted to drag all two hundred pounds of him through the mud.

So she could fuck him.

Senseless.

Mindless.

Too late.

She’d already blown his mind.

He grinned, hefted Macie over his shoulder amidst her surprised shrieks and raced to the trailer, his bare feet skidding through the muck.

Once he had the door open, he set her down and clamped his mouth over hers. Ripping off the tattered, muddy remains of her flimsy cotton dress, he pushed her back toward his bed.

Then she was naked. She untied the drawstring on his sweatpants and then he was naked. He groaned and filled his hands with her tits. Her ass. Her hips. He pulled her hair back so he could ravage her throat without obstruction.

“Condom,” she said hoarsely.

Carter bit her shoulder, then followed a wayward rivulet of water between her breasts with his tongue.

“Carter.”

“Yeah? Damn, you taste good everywhere.”

“We need a condom.”

His fingertip traced the upper swell of her breast, as he watched, transfixed by the color of her skin tone. “You’re so pretty here. Delicate, but sexy. I don’t know if I’m talented enough that will come through.”

“Are the condoms in the bathroom?”

“No.” His dick stayed stuck against his belly and he grunted with pain as he bent forward and placed his mouth against the hollow of her throat. “I want to kiss every spot where I can see your pulse pounding. I know where my favorite spot to feel throbbing against my tongue is.”

Macie grabbed his hair and yanked his head back to meet the fire flashing in her eyes. “Find. A. Condom. Right. Now.”

Carter rubbed his cheek over her mouth to hide his laugh. He kissed her. Very softly. Very sweetly. He kissed her mostly to hear her frustrated groan rumbling over his lips because she wanted more.

Without warning, he intensified the kiss, heating her up so she squirmed and rubbed her mound over his thigh. He sucked on her tongue, then sank his teeth into her full bottom lip. When she gasped at the hint of pain, he licked the warm, wet cavern of her mouth like he’d licked her pussy. Grinding his cock into the cradle of her thighs, he reached for the unopened box of condoms on the dresser and tore the plastic packaging off with shaking fingers.