Slow Ride Home (The Grady Legacy) (13 page)

“Wow.” Allie unwound herself from him, lowering her legs to the ground.

“Woman,” he panted, “if you come back tomorrow and tell me we shouldn’t have done this, I’m gonna...I’m gonna—”

“Put me over your knee and spank me?” Her husky whisper had him opening his eyes to stare at her. She stared right back, grinning, a mixture of heat and humor filling her gaze.

Was that a challenge? He tried to imagine her calmly lying down over his knee and letting him spank her. Nah, she’d hogtie him, cut his nuts off and feed ’em to him for dinner if he dared lay a hand on her.

“I’m not suicidal.” He tucked himself back into his briefs and hitched up his pants. “Can we just get done with all this ‘we shouldn’t be doin’ this’ nonsense? We’re obviously still attracted to each another. I don’t care if you want to call it scratching an itch or testing out a possible relationship or just friends with benefits, but I’m done talkin’ it to death.”

* * *

Ben made sense, Allie admitted to herself. But just because she still found him attractive, still found making out with him exciting and gratifying, that didn’t stop her spidey-sense from tingling whenever she drove under the Bull’s Hollow gate.

She’d never been one to talk things out. She’d been a “jump in and do it then deal with the consequences later” girl. “Once burned, twice shy, I guess.”

“Huh?”

“It’s why I keep waffling. Between your grandfather and my ex-husband, I don’t trust my own judgment anymore.”

Ben bent his head and helped her straighten her shirt. “Understandable. “He cupped her chin and lifted it to look at him. “But you’re not going to get burned again. Not by me. And if anyone else tries, I know some damned good lawyers who will be pleased to sue their asses. If there’s anything left of their asses once I get through with them,” he added darkly.

She dropped her gaze to his chest, unwilling to let him see how much his response pleased her. “Like Logan? He warned you off me.”

“Or Uncle Charlie, or Pop’s lawyer, Randy.” He placed his hands under her shoulders and lifted her away from the tree. The touch of his hands as he brushed bark from her skirt sent her heart rate rocketing again.

“Why’d you go with Logan instead of Ackerman & Freeman?” she asked over her shoulder.

“Ego, I guess.” Another adjustment to her skirt, and he stepped back. “Other than your hair fallin’ down, no one should be able to tell what we were doin’.”

“I don’t follow. Not about my hair—” which she had given up and reached up to remove the remaining pins, “—but about firing your father’s lawyer because of ego. His or yours?”

“Mine, mainly.” Ben bent down to retrieve his hat from the ground. He thumped it against his leg before clamping it back on his head. “After Pop died, Randy would drop by, offering suggestions about what crops to plant, whether to change the grazing rotation by one day or two. I mean, he’s a fricking lawyer, what does he know about EPDs and grazing management? Or whether we should put GPSs on our tractors or not or what cow shouldn’t be bred again but should go on the big truck ride.”

Deciding what cow to breed based on their expected progeny hadn’t been a usual topic of discussion in her New York law offices, but Randy must have heard Ed discuss it before. “He was probably just trying to help—he was your father’s best friend.”

“But he’s not a rancher, and he doesn’t know my cows or their breeding history. For Pete’s sake, he got Ma questioning my decisions.”

“So you got pissed off and wanted someone who would respect you.”

“Yeah, I guess.” He kicked at a stone, watching as it tumbled down the hill and landed with a splash into the creek. “It sounds immature when I say it out loud. But I worked hard for my degree, and with Gramps’ and Pop’s training, I know what I’m doing.”

“It sounds like you were trying to establish boundaries. Assert your—” dominance wasn’t the right word, “—independence.” She hooked her arm in his and aimed him back along the path. “But you don’t consider Logan telling you who to date butting in as badly as Randy’s suggestions?”

“In his defense, Lo’s worried that if I ticked you off, you’d find a reason to cancel the policy and leave us hanging.”

“I guess I know exactly what Logan thinks of me then.” Even though she technically represented Bull’s Hollow, she had the power to dismiss their claim. Or maybe Logan simply distrusted her because he was Ben’s friend. Either way, in Logan’s eyes, she was the enemy.

“Now see, there you go, being lawyerly and twisting things again. He was just watching out for my back.”

Maybe she was overly sensitive. Or maybe Ben only saw the good in people and hadn’t learned that people changed, that some people did things to lose the trust they may have earned in the past.

They walked the remainder of the way in silence until they returned to the main yard, where she parked her car. She pressed the button on her remote to unlock the door and released Ben’s arm.

“Thanks for...well, for this afternoon. It was much more...pleasant than I’d expected.” Pleasant? Her body still hummed with a little electrical tingle from his attentions. Now if she could only get her heart to slow down and her head to remember to keep a mental distance.

“Yeah, you’d worked up quite a mad when you first showed up.”

“You noticed? I thought you were too busy nuzzling the foal.”

“Oh, I noticed you right away, darlin’. It would have been hard to miss you the way you charged around the barn with a full head of steam. But I also know better than to cuddle up with a woman who’s has proven she’s capable of removing a man’s ability to reproduce with one good knee strike.”

Would they never let her forget the Billy Thompson incident? “Hey, I was sticking up for a friend.”

He opened her car door. “And that’s what Logan was doing when he said I needed to be careful.”

A friend who didn’t trust her not to deliberately sabotage a claim. “So why didn’t you listen to your lawyer?”

“Logan may have a fancy law degree and work at a fancy office and drive a fancy car but he doesn’t know everything, especially when it comes to Allison Jane Daniels O’Keefe, does he?”

“No, he doesn’t.” She ducked her chin at the flush of pleasure that went through her. He’d actually ignored his best friend’s—his lawyer’s—advice just for her.

“You want to stay tonight?” He trapped her against the car, a mixture of heat and need in his eyes. “If you get up with me in the morning, you could still make it into your office by nine.”

“What d’you have in mind, cowboy?” Oh damn, was she really considering staying the night?

He twirled a strand of her hair around his index finger. “I’m hankerin’ to get you horizontal in a bed for once, darlin’.”

She laughed at his accentuated drawl. “You’re right, it would be nice to have something soft beneath my back next time.” And the chance to have something hard—him—inside her again had her nodding. “All right. I’ll meet you over there.”

“Key’s beneath the stone frog in the front garden. Let yourself in, make yourself comfortable and I’ll be there in about an hour.”

“All right. But don’t be too long, or I’ll start without you.”

His eyebrows lifted to his hatband. “I’ll be there in an hour—nah, make it thirty minutes. Tops.”

Chapter Eight

The thirty minutes he’d aimed for turned out to be two hours, even though he’d busted ass to get through the chores. Ben released the breath he’d been holding when he saw her waiting on the porch, wearing one of his old tees like a dress, and beneath the shirt a pair of his silk boxers some girlfriend or other had given him and actually expected him to wear.

“Hey, you.” She uncurled from the chair she’d been sitting in. “I was about to start the party without you.”

He let his gaze wander the length of her thighs, over her trim knees and calves and down to her bare feet, her nails painted in a shimmery gold. While he loved her fuck-me high heels, Allie’s bare feet were downright sexy.

After her earlier flip-flopping about their relationship or whatever it was, he’d decided she was thinking too much. He’d also decided he needed to keep her concentrating so hard on something else she didn’t have time to think. Only thing he could think of to distract her was...well, sex. It always distracted him from his worries.

A woman wanted romance, he figured, rather than the wham-bamming he’d given her the last two times. Tonight he’d take it slow, make it all about her. With a few twists just to keep her mind occupied on what he was doing. He reached behind his seat and pulled out a new hank of rope. He didn’t plan to use it but figured it would keep her mind working on what and when he’d tie her up while he slowly romanced her.

“I thought I told you to be naked when I got home.”

Her eyes widened. “You did not.”

“Then I’m tellin’ you now.” With a casualness he didn’t feel, Ben ambled toward the porch. “You’d better not be wearing a stitch by the time I reach you.”

“Or what?”

“Or I’ll tie you up and spank you.”

Her gaze darted to the rope he’d hooked over his shoulder. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Keep those clothes on and you’ll find out.”

Sweet baby Jesus, he just about swallowed his tongue when she grasped the bottom of his tee and pulled it over her head, then shimmied out of the silk briefs and stepped out of the whole bundle.

He damned near tripped over his own feet when she folded her arms beneath her breasts, the action pressing the luscious globes together. The plans to gently romance her tonight went up in a puff of smoke, replaced with a caveman-like need to get her on her hands and knees and mount her like a stallion. “Inside. Upstairs. On my bed. Now.”

“Wow, you’re in full
Me Tarzan
,
You Jane
mode, aren’t you?”

He opened the front door and pointed. “Inside. Upstairs. On my bed. Now.” He couldn’t help that his voice had lowered or that he sounded like he’d sucked a day’s worth of smoke. Right now words were the last thing he could formulate.

“You’d better not be planning on sleeping ever again if I’m nearby, cowboy. Because you’ll wake up naked and hogtied. On your front lawn.” Lifting her chin, she strutted through the door and up the stairs.

On the landing near the top of the stairs, she glanced over her shoulder and smiled archly at him standing at the bottom of the stairs, struggling to take off his boots. “I still think you’re bluffing about tying me up.”

“I’m not bluffing.” He had been bluffing but now he couldn’t get the image out of his brain. Her, with her hands tied behind her back, kneeling in front of him, sucking on his dick. Or on her back with her hands and feet bound to the bedposts, leaving her spread open for whatever he wanted. What the hell had happened to slow and easy romancin’? “Last warning, darlin’. If you’re not on my bed when I reach the bedroom, I will tie you up.”

“Promises, promises.” Her laugh echoing off the stairwell, she disappeared up the last three steps and out of sight.

He leaped up the staircase, taking the stairs two at a time while undoing his belt buckle, pulling his shirt from his jeans. His dick was wrought iron hard when he caught a glimpse of her luscious derriere disappearing into his bedroom.

He hopped a few steps, first on one foot, then the other, as he stepped out of his jeans and briefs, his cock grateful for being released from its confines. As he was undressing, he’d dropped the rope so he stooped to pick it up. Upon reflection, he looped one end into a slipknot.

When he strode into his bedroom, Allie was kneeling on the bed, her hands hidden behind her back, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

“Hey there, cowboy. What took you so long?”

She was planning something, but what? Maybe she’d found some rope or sash to make good her threat to tie him up?

She tilted her head as she watched him cautiously approach, her hair draping over one breast like crimson silk. “What’s the matter? Don’t trust me?”

“Not an inch.” He tossed the rope on the bed. Before she could escape, he bent and caught her over his shoulder, carrying her to the bathroom, her laughter filling the small room.

Her eyes sparkled once he set her down.

“I have a confession,” she whispered.

“Which is?” He bent to kiss her shoulder.

“I’ve always wanted to be tied up.”

And didn’t that confession make him so hard it ached?

* * *

There was nothing like Ben in full-blown lust—his eyes darkened, his voice deepened, his muscles seemed bigger. He even smelled different. Everything about him was just more. Larger than life.

There was no need to tell him she’d already showered. What was the point? It would only deny her the experience of running her soapy hands over his pecs, his abdomen. Of wrapping her hand around his shaft and jerking him off until he was shaking. Or getting on her knees at the end and making him sweaty all over again.

Her eyes traced the rippling shoulder muscles down his arms, where a light tan turned to a heavier farmer’s tan. They stopped on a red streak on his forearm. “You’re bleeding.”

He glanced down at it as if surprised. “It’s nothing. I was helping a couple of the newbies roll up the wire and a length snapped back on me. I cleaned it up back at the shed.”

If Lewis’d had such a long or deep scratch, he’d have called an ambulance. Okay, maybe that was mean. But he’d have headed to the nearest urgent care clinic for a tetanus shot. Not Ben. Nothing so paltry as a scratch from a freaking length of rusty barbed wire would slow him down.

Further evidence of the hard work he did could be found in the half dozen nicks on his knuckles and thick, callused fingers. Callused fingers that could soon cup her breasts, stroke her belly, stretch her pussy and bring her pleasure no vibrator or dildo could match.

He stepped into the shower and held out a hand. The moment their palms touched, he tugged her beneath the hard stream of the shower and pressed her against the wall. Trapped between the heat of his body and the water, and the cool of the tile at her back, she alternated between shivering and sweating. He swooped down and captured her mouth, his tongue delving deep, claiming, possessing her. Letting her know exactly how much he wanted her, wanted this.

She gave as good as she got, returning his passion with her own. It had been too long since she’d had someone need her like this, too long since she’d needed or wanted anyone else, trusted anyone enough to let them behind her shields.

She grabbed a sliver of soap and worked up a lather then slid her palms over his chest, revelling in the muscles in his pecs, the hard strength of his shoulders. She’d seen him easily lift a sick calf across a pasture, haul it onto his horse then ride with it cradled in his arms back to the barn. Gentle strength was such a turn-on. As she pressed her lips against his sternum, she slid one hand between them and wrapped her fingers around the hard length of his cock. He eased back from her, and they switched places so he now rested against the wall.

“Christ, that feels so fucking good.” He’d closed his eyes and let his head fall back.

Ignoring the water splashing onto her face, she lowered herself to her knees. She skimmed her nose over his belly, following the thin line of hair from his belly button lower. When she reached the stiff, heavy cock jutting from the thick nest of hair at his groin she tilted her head and lick the long length. With her grasp firm on his hips, she swallowed the swollen head, lapping until he groaned and fisted his hands in her hair, delivering the bite of pain she loved. The pain told her he was straddling the line between rigid control and losing it, a line she loved to push him to, push him past until he lost total control.

Over and over she teased him, swallowing his shaft down to its root, her tongue swirling circles over the sensitive head. His groans and the tugs on her hair guided her speed and told her exactly what he liked and how fast. She’d long ago learned she loved the control she had over his body with this simple act, loved the power it gave her.

His limbs were shaking, her hair twined in his fists in tight knots when he finally pulled her off. A whimper of disappointment escaped her that he wouldn’t let her complete his release.

“There’s plenty of time, but you make me shoot off my load now and the fun’s done for a while.”

She sat back on her heels and grinned up at him. “Maybe for you, but there’s plenty you can do for me while you recuperate. Like returning the favor?” Going down on her was one of his favorite ways to get her off. Or at least it had been. Maybe he’d changed.

“Oh, I plan on making sure the favor is returned. Believe me, we’re just getting started.” He ducked his head under the shower and squirted on some shampoo, then quickly rinsed off again.

The mirror over the sink was covered in steam before Ben shut off the shower. Allie handed him a towel from the rack behind the door, but instead of using on himself, he wrapped it around her. “Can’t have you catching cold, now can I?”

The brisk scrubbing of the towel over her skin set her nerve endings afire. His gaze was intense, his movements methodical. Focused. All on her.

After quickly drying himself off, he caught her by the waist, set her on the counter and dropped to his knees.

With a nudge, he spread her legs, kissed her hip, kissed again just above her mound, then lowered his head until the scruff of his five o’clock shadow scratched her inner thigh. She sucked in a breath, arching when he spread her folds and swirled his tongue across her clit. Carefully balanced between the edge of the counter and the sink, Allie threaded her fingers through his hair, not so much to guide him as to just hold on.

He knew just what pressure to use to make her body react, until the only thought she had was how she needed to be filled by him—his tongue, his fingers, his cock, she didn’t care. She needed this pleasure, needed this release.

Between his tongue and his teeth toying and teasing her clit, and his fingers deep in her passage, the first flutters of an orgasm made Allie stiffen.

“Relax. You’re fighting it. Let yourself come.” His breath was hot on her skin, and the vibration of his words added an extra sensation to her already sensitive tissues. He scissored his fingers inside, twisting them, pressing them against the—

“Yeah, right there. Harder.”

“That’s it. God, you’re close, aren’t you? Stop thinking so hard, just feel what I’m doing and forget everything else.” He continued the regular strokes, finding that special spot every time. And then, when she didn’t expect it, his teeth nipped her clit, caught it and tugged.

Her body reacted, clamping around him, as she shuddered through her release.

He caught her before she slipped from the counter, held her in his lap until the last of her climax faded. She rested her head on his shoulder. After a moment he easily stood, still holding her in his arms, and carried her into his bedroom.

She was a boneless heap by the time he laid her on one side of his bed. Her body still tingled from his attentions, and she watched, quite content, while he stripped the top cover from the bed from the opposite side.

She blinked at his “lift up.” Nope, her body wasn’t ready to move. She was comfortable right where she was.

“Like that, huh?” His lips tugging up at the sides, he lifted her and stripped the rest of the cover from beneath her one-handed. “Down you go.”

Once he laid her back on the bed, she snuggled into the pillow. God it even smelled like him. She nestled deeper, letting his scent surround her. “Comfy.”

“Good.” He trailed a finger down her arm. “Trust me?”

“Of course.” She was so languid she didn’t react when he gathered her hands and pressed them together.

The prickle of hemp on her wrists was the first warning that he’d followed through on his threat of tying her up before he hauled her hands over her head and fastened the rope, binding her wrists to the headboard.

He wore a look of smug satisfaction when he sat back on his heels. “Shit, you’re sexy all bound up.”

Arching an eyebrow at him, she tugged on the rope. Nope, he knew how to tie a good knot. She couldn’t stop her ear-to-ear grin as she admitted, “I thought you were joking when you brought in the rope.”

“I thought I was too, but then you challenged me.” He trailed a finger down her cleavage, drawing circles over her breasts, her belly that left her aching for him to continue. “You know I’m never one to step away from a challenge.”

She did know he wouldn’t back down. Maybe that’s why she’d dared him.

If she’d thought he was focused on her in the bathroom, it paled in comparison to the attention he paid to her now. From the long kisses that left her breathless to the way he cupped her breasts, laving them with his tongue, tweaking them until her nipples were taut and her thighs pressed together at the ache in her pussy.

Every touch of his hands, of his lips, every look in his eyes was pure worship. Not an inch of her body escaped his caresses. Only when she was trembling and begging, her folds damp from need, did he finally settle between her thighs. His gaze blazing hot as it slid over her body, he grabbed a condom from the bedside table. A rip of foil and he quickly sheathed himself then planted his fists on either side of her head and stared down at her, his expression unreadable.

Allie squirmed beneath him, the head of his cock slipping through her folds, but bound as she was, she couldn’t move down the bed far enough to force him inside.