Ring of Fire (12 page)

“Mmm, what… what kind of a problem? Is there something wrong with my body? Something you don’t like?”

“No, darlin’. As you know well, there’s not a damn thing wrong with your sexy body. The problem is mine. Sometimes I think I may be too big for you.” He laughed when she demurred. “No, honey, I mean too
tall
.”

He pressed his hard erection against the small of her back and grinned at her squeal.

“Tell you what, I think I have a solution to the problem. How about you put both of your hands against the wall and scoot that sexy butt of yours up in the air so that this unruly guy of mine has a fighting chance of getting closer to where he wants to be.”

Delighting in her low moan, he maneuvered her into place. Pressing her hands against the wall, he bent her over and lifted her hips so that they were at precisely the level he needed.

“Hmm, yeah. That’s the way. Now we’re getting somewhere. I knew our problem could be solved if we could just get the proper parts of us communicating.”

At her groan, he laughed, a hoarse demanding sound.

“Now honey, one more thing. I’m gonna need you to spread your legs. Mmm, like that.”

He nudged her feet apart and pressed his iron-hard staff against the crack in her ass.

“There now, is that better or what?”

Erin struggled against him, a harsh groan escaping her lips. God, how did he know just what to do to drive her into a frenzy? She pressed up against him needing his hands, his fingers between her legs, driving her to distraction.

He laughed and murmured in her ear, “Uh uh, Erin. You think I’m that easy? Why, a couple of minutes ago you were tormenting me, threatening me with the chance that you might ‘go it alone’, not need me.”

He pulled her butt back against his hard thighs and laughed when she fought to get closer.

“Is this what you need, Erin?”

“Yes, Nate. Please. Don’t tease me. I need more, like that.”

He nudged her legs further apart and pressed the end of his turgid staff against her entrance.

His voice was close to a low growl. “I’m going to take you Erin. You know that don’t you baby? I need to be inside of you. Do you understand? But first, I need to touch you. Make sure that you are ready for me. I don’t want to hurt you, Erin.”

She gasped when he slid his hands around her hips and rested on her mound. She cried out when his expert fingers moved unerringly to separate her intimate folds. She wiggled against him doing everything she could to maneuver her bottom closer to his burgeoning arousal.

“Yes, Nate. Like that. Oh God, I need you. Don’t stop, please!”

She wailed when he pressed one thick finger up inside of her searching for and finding that perfect place that only he knew. That place so sensitive that one touch drove her desire from zero to fifty in seconds. Writhing against his strong thighs she cried out.

“Nate, please.”

He chuckled a raspy sound against her ear.

“What, Erin? What do you want? I thought you liked it when I touched you like this. When I rub up against these soft moist folds? Would you like me to stop? Give you a chance to catch your breath so that you can give me more orders?

“I know how you love me touching you here,” he said as he circled her clit with his thumb and forefinger. “But, how about we up the ante, darlin’, and add this? He clasped her firm ass cheeks in his big hands and slid one finger around the rosebud of her ass.

Erin couldn’t contain her shriek. His teasing touch and taunting words set off a firestorm of sensations rioting through her. Oh God, she needed him. Now. She couldn’t wait.

“God yes, Nate. Don’t stop doing that. Please, let me come!”

“Come,
now
, baby? You want to come—even before I get inside of you? You want to ride this wave all by yourself? Hmm? Is that what your hungry body wants?”

“Yes, please, Nate. I can’t wait….”

“Sure you can, Darlin’. Why I haven’t even touched you
here
.”

He snaked his fingers inside her swollen folds until he found the sensitive nub at the apex of her core. He moved his fingers up and down from side to side in a maddening circular motion, but never fully touching her throbbing clit. Waves of heat wrenched through her. She needed more—just a little more, now before she died from need.

She didn’t recognize her voice, it was a low needy growl.

“Now, Nate. Dammit, now!”

His sexy laugh echoed over her fevered skin.

“Ah, my hot baby is a demanding little wench. She can’t wait. She has to have it now! Is this what you need, Erin? For me to touch you here, and here, and right
here
?”

She screamed when his slick fingers grasped the aching nub and pinched hard. At the same time he bit down on the sensitive place between her neck and her shoulder sending an electric current streaking toward her clit.

With a shriek she shattered, waves of heat flooding her. She would have fallen except that he held her in his tight grasp murmuring soft encouraging words urging her to give in to the torrents of passion enveloping her.

For long moments he held her. Her heart was pounding so hard she was afraid it might break through her chest. When her trembling slowed somewhat, he eased her to her feet. She didn’t think she could stand. It didn’t matter. He wouldn’t let her fall. Turning her so that her back was against the wall, he pressed her against the cool tile. Dragging her hands over her head, he fastened her hands around the towel rings.

“Mmm hmm. That’s what
I
need, Erin. I need to see you, look at you. Damn. Do you know how beautiful you are when you come? Your cheeks are flaming, and look at your chest. It’s rosy red, hot. And honey, look at your breasts. They’re swollen and your nipples are like hard red berries. God, Erin. I thought I was hard before watching you come but I might explode if I don’t get inside of you in the next thirty seconds.”

Erin tossed her head from side to side, stunned that her desire was peaking again, so fast, so hard. She didn’t think it was possible to come again so soon, but his voice, his sexy words made her throbbing clit ache to be touched.

“Yes, Nate. Yes. That’s what I want. I want you inside of me. Now!”

He groaned. “Christ, honey, turn me on much? Tell you what. You hang onto these rings and, yeah, arch your back like that. Meantime I’m going to put you right up here—here on my thigh where you can ride me. And baby, you need to do that because I’m going to ride you hard, hard and deep.”

Nate lifted her up and rested her bottom on his muscular thigh. Grabbing her legs he spread them apart, wrapping her ankles around his slim hips. He pressed his weeping cockhead against her slick entrance. He knew if he didn’t get inside of her now it would be all over. There was no way he could hold back another minute. He had to believe that she was ready, that he could drive in without further preparation.

“Can you take me, baby? Now? Right now?”

She dug her fingernails into his back and cried out. “Yes, Nate! Yes, yes!”

Lifting her, he spread her folds with one hand. Grasping the base of his staff he thrust up inside of her, her keening wail urging him forward.

He didn’t realize until much later that the harsh animal growl was from him, a passionate cry of need as he thrust higher, harder and deeper. When he could go no further, his balls jerked up hard against his groin. With a deafening roar he let go, plunging his seed and his passion deep inside of her.

Nate held her against the shower wall for several long moments praying that his trembling legs would hold him up. When he regained enough strength that he trusted himself not to fall, he slid out of her and stepped back.

“Keep your hands up like that, Erin. I need to wash you.”

It was a strange thing to say but he had to make sure that all the ugliness he’d brought into the house from the hideous crime scene was removed, scrubbed off. That the awful images didn’t corrupt the powerful emotions he felt for this beautiful fragile woman. That the evil didn’t come between them in any way. He soaped her body, working the fragrant bubbles into the tender skin of her breasts, across her peaked nipples and between her legs. He smiled when she flinched as he washed the swollen tissues gently but thoroughly. He angled the showerhead to spray currents of warm water over her flushed skin, standing back to allow the bubbles to swirl down the drain.

Nate laid her in their bed and curved his big body around her slender frame. He closed his eyes against what he knew would come all too soon. He knew how angry she would be, how indignant. An ironic smile tugged at his lips listening to her soft whispery breaths. He’d have to remember this sweet surrendering woman when she railed against him. He would deserve her anger and he would tolerate it. Nothing and no one was going to hurt her. Not if he could stop them. And that is exactly what he intended to do.

In the meantime he needed to protect her. Keep her out of harm’s way. No matter what it took and no matter how much she resisted.

Chapter 13

“You’ve got a chance now, boy, to live up to your heritage. Show the world who you really are.”

Tucker glared at his father across the barroom table. He forced himself to speak quietly. To not let the odious man know how much he despised him.

“What heritage is that,
Dad
?”

Tucker was glad to see Cougar grimace at the name. He didn’t know if his father was surprised or embarrassed by the appellation but Tucker meant it as a curse.

“Are you surprised that I call you that? Afraid someone might hear? Don’t worry,
Dad
. The dead-enders you hang with could care less. I’m just one of the runts you sired and abandoned. The more the better, right? Shows what a
man
you are.”

Tucker leaned back in his chair. He took a swig of beer and smiled at the flustered man across from him.

“Don’t be alarmed, Cougar. I’m not going to proclaim you. I never have. And I never will. It takes more than a shot of sperm to be a father. But then you never acknowledged that you were my father—at least not publicly. Of course everyone knew I was your son. But you made it clear that I was the result of an insignificant relationship—an indiscreet roll in the hay. Know how I heard you describe me to one of your buddies when I was a little kid? You said that I was the result of dipping your wick in some red ink. Just for the hell of it, right,
Dad
?”

Tucker was gratified to see the big man’s face flush. He was surprised at the fury he felt. He hadn’t realized that in addition to hating his father, he’d been deeply hurt by his rejection.

“Ah yes, we were talking about my
heritage.
Would that be my ‘white’ heritage? The one you weren’t ashamed of? Was that why when you occasionally dropped in on my mother and me you insisted I cut my hair? Afraid if it got too long I’d look like some of my darker skinned relatives?”

“What the hell are you talking about, boy? What relatives?”

“You know, my
reservation
relatives. Admit it. You were ashamed of my mother and ashamed of me. And you hated the fact that we lived on the reservation.”

“That’s because your mother chose to live there. She didn’t have to. She wanted to rub it in my face who she was.”

“Or maybe, just maybe,
Dad
, she wanted to be with people who supported her. Who were proud of her and who loved and cherished her son.”

Cougar slammed his big fist on the table rattling the bottles of beer with the force.

“Goddammit, Tucker. All that is in the past. You’re a man now. Not a sniveling kid hidin’ behind your mama’s skirts.”

The big man’s eyes flashed with anger, his bushy brows jerked together in a dark fierce line. Tucker remembered how that look had scared him when he was little. His worst nightmare was that something might happen to his mother and he would be sent to live with this angry man. When he told Black Eagle his fears, the elderly man had held him close. He’d said in his kind voice, “You must never fear that, Tucker. You are my son, and Wolf Tender’s son and the son of all the other men in this tribe. No matter what happens, your home is with us.’

Cougar continued, apparently oblivious to Tucker’s disdain.

“You need to make a choice, Tucker. You heard what happened last night. Jeb killed seven of my men and destroyed hundreds of thousands of dollars of my merchandise. Do you hear what I’m saying, boy? Jeb’s coming after me. Are you willing to let that filthy son of a bitch take everything I’ve worked hard for, the sacrifices I’ve—”

Tucker drew up in his seat, his fury a rolling ball of acid in his gut.

“What
have
you worked hard for, Cougar? Worked hard to spurn your ‘redskin’ son and his mother while you used those reservation ‘connections’ to create a whole new generation of dopers?”

He forced his voice to drop. He didn’t want to give his father the satisfaction of knowing how angry he was. For years he’d watched this big man sidle up to the reservation selling his new brand of ‘firewater’, laughing at how easily he could hook the wretched souls who’d given up on their lives.

“Tell me, Cougar. What’s worse, denying you’ve got a ‘breed’ son or exploiting that association to sell your poison to the people he lived with? Did you ever feel the
least
bit guilty?”

Tucker laughed a harsh scornful sound. “Right, I forgot. It requires a conscience to feel guilt. But you’re conscience-free, aren’t you? Damn, 30 pieces of silver? Not you. You’ve taken at least a hundred. All to placate that evil man who treated you like his lap dog.”

Cougar rose up in his chair and clenched his fists.

“You don’t understand. Jeb threw that in my face. He constantly taunted me about you and your mother. That ungrateful asshole acted as though that connection didn’t get us in tight on the rez. Christ, how the hell does he think we got the reservation opened to us?”

Tucker stared at him, for the moment unable to conceive of such evil duplicity.

“And you’re proud of that, right,
Dad
? You denied me all my life. You refused to acknowledge my mother but you used that relationship to invade the reservation. Do you know how low, how despicable that is?”