Wrangled and Tangled

  Surprise surprise, the man lost his train of thought when her naked breasts were on display. She unhooked her feet from the chair rungs and stood, straddling him.

  Tierney gripped his shoulders. She lowered her chest, letting her left nipple brush the seam of his lips. Then changing the angle so the right nipple made the same slow pass. She whispered, “Touch me. Use your tongue.”

  Renner’s teasing licks were fleeting. He sucked her nipple hard; exacting the perfect amount of suction as his tongue rapidly flicked the tip. Tierney’s head fell back and she gave herself over to him. To the heat and wetness of his mouth.

  He nuzzled the lower curves of her breast. “Untie me. I wanna stick my fingers inside you and see how wet you are.” Soft kisses around the outside of her nipple. “I can smell that sweet cream, Tierney. Baby. Let me touch it. Let me taste it.”

  She pushed back and stepped in front of the chair.

  Heat darkened his light blue eyes into flashing pools of pure black.

  “You know, I was going to spend a little time playing with your nipples, but I’ll save that for next time since I’ve got bigger fish to fry.”

  Renner groaned when she dropped to her knees.

  “Just think how long I can drag this out. Taking you to the very edge. Again and again. And you can’t use your hands to shove your cock into my throat when you’re impatient to come. I can savor you. I’ll feel your tension build as you’re waiting for me to take you all the way in my mouth.” Tierney scraped her nails up the tops of his thighs.

  His whole body shuddered.

  “You can’t grab on to my hair. You can’t stop me from doing this.” She used the very tip of her tongue to touch the sweet spot below the head of his cock. “Or this.”

  “Untie me,” he said hoarsely.

  “No.” She locked her gaze to his and suckled the plump head. “You know how hot it was to give you a blow job that first night? Did you know I had no idea what I was doing?”

  “No. It was amazing. You’re amazing. Beyond amazing.”

  She tossed out, “Damn sugar mouth. Always gets you what you want,” since he loved saying that to her. She drew his shaft in, closing her eyes, losing herself in that wonderful male hardness gliding over her tongue. Making her wet and achy. She sucked until the inside of her cheeks enclosed his cock completely.

  “Fuck.”

  She released a bit of flesh at a time, keeping the suction steady until the tip popped out of her mouth. “I love this. I love everything about this. Mostly the reaction I get out of you.” Tierney sucked his cock to the back of her throat and began bobbing her head faster, digging her nails into his quads, bringing him closer to release with each rhythmic suck.

  When he swore again and began bumping his pelvis up to meet the downward stroke of her mouth, she pulled off him. Stood and wiped her swollen lips.

  “Untie me,” he demanded.

  “No.”

  He swore. “Untie me . . . please.”

  Tierney laughed. “Better. But no.”

  “Jesus Christ, Tierney. You’re killin’ me. I want to touch you. I need to touch you. Untie me.”

  “No. But I will do this.” She shimmied out of her underwear. “And this.” She straddled his groin, rehooking her heels into the bottom chair rungs. “And I’ll definitely do this.” She circled the base of his cock with her hand and drove it into her slick passage with one downward push.

  “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”

  Tierney watched his eyes glaze over. Felt him clenching and unclenching his fists as she curled her hands around his biceps. She rocked her hips forward as she moved up and down in a long delicious slide. As much as she wanted to kiss him, she liked seeing his response. But being a newbie at this seduction game, she wasn’t entirely confident it was good for him. She put her mouth on his ear. “Am I doing this right?”

  He released a strangled laugh. “I wouldn’t survive if you did it any better.” He turned his head and dragged a hot openmouthed kiss down the cord in her throat. “Do what feels good for you. Make yourself come. I love it when you come. It gets me hot and gets me off like nothin’ else.”

  She increased the pace. Arching her neck so Renner could lick and suck and kiss wherever he pleased.

  Her world became the heat of his body. The sweat-tinged scent of his skin. The continual rasp of his pubic hair against her clit. A buzzing sensation spread down her neck, past her breasts and belly, straight to her core. When that rhythmic pulse teased, just slightly out of reach, she felt a measure of frustration.

  “Baby, let me help you.” He flexed his pelvis and that movement set her off.

  She gasped with each deep throb of pleasure. Her inner muscles tightened and released, the pulses fading until Renner thrust up faster and harder. That extra friction brought her to orgasm again and the muscles squeezing Renner’s cock kicked him over the edge too.

  He growled against the base of her throat, pushing into her, then going motionless as his cock emptied in a hot rush of liquid.

  As Renner panted against her shoulder, Tierney floated her fingertips over the muscles straining in his arms. She feathered light touches down the back of his neck, unintentionally making him shiver and moan. She smiled, feeling... satisfied. This had gone beyond power and become a point of pride that she, Tierney Pratt, could have such a potent effect on this strong man.

  He lifted his head and snared her mouth in a blistering kiss.

  That’s when she understood he was taking back the reins.

  Renner nuzzled her ear and demanded, “Untie me. Now.”

  Somehow she eased off him without falling on her face—her legs were decidedly shaky. He’d pulled so hard on the neckerchief the knots were difficult to undo.

  Once his arms were free, he moved them briskly to get the blood circulating.

  Well, some of his blood had traveled a little farther south than his big biceps and ropy forearms.

  “Tierney. Look at me.”

  “I am.”

  “At my face.”

  Her gaze slowly traveled up to meet his eyes. Eyes chock full of heat and male satisfaction.

  “You surprised me.” He curled his hands around the back of the chair.

  “You’re not making that sound like a good thing.”

  “You know how fuckin’ hot it was that you tied me up with my own goddamned neckerchief?”

  “Ah no.” She permitted a small, hopeful smile. “So you’re not mad?”

  Renner shook his head. “But payback is gonna be mighty interesting.”

  “You’re going to tie me up now?” Why had her voice squeaked? Why did she have the strange compulsion to wave that black neckerchief and surrender to him?

  “No. I’ll surprise you sometime soon, that way we’ll be even.” His smoldering eyes searched her face.

  He was probably about to say something so blatantly sexual she’d melt into a puddle right in her platform heels. But she needed to clear the air first. “For the record today, you were wrong. Me not coming to your place wasn’t an intentional slight. It wasn’t because I think I’m too good to step foot in your trailer.”

  “Look, about that—”

  “Let me finish.” She pointed at herself. “Recently deflowered virgin here, remember? I don’t know any of this ‘who stays at whose place how many times’ type of stuff. But I do know if you would’ve said something to me, it wouldn’t have come down to this.”

  “I’m thinkin’ you tying me up and havin’ your selfish way with me ain’t all bad.”

  She smiled widely. “Really?”

  “You are sin in sexy shoes, Tierney. And I know something else.”

  That twinkle in his eye had become a gleam. A warning. “What?”

  “You have about four seconds to get into my bed.”

  The part of her that hated to be bossed around wanted to retort, “Or what?” The part of her that couldn’t wait to be in his bed told the bossy part of her to shut the hell up and she started down th
e hallway.

  At the halfway point when she felt Renner breathing down her neck, she broke into a run. She shrieked when they hit the mattress in a tangle of arms, legs, mouths and need.

  And he’d proved to her, twice, just how much he loved having her as his overnight guest.

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  “Abe? Is everything all right? You seem preoccupied.”

  He glanced up at Janie from his bowl of chili. “Why do you say that?”

  “Because you said you were starved and you’ve barely eaten a bite.” Janie stroked his arm. “I’m worried about you. You haven’t been yourself the last week. Locked in your office until all hours. You’re exhausted. What can I do?”

  He loved this side of Janie. The sweet, caring side. The side that wanted to soothe him with either touches or words. His biggest fear and greatest wish had been one and the same: from the moment she’d shown up in Muddy Gap he’d fall in love with her again.

  Again? Did you ever really stop loving her?

  No. Abe could admit that now. But he also admitted they’d both needed the separation in order to become the people they were today.

  So he decided to tell her about his secret keeping and they’d deal with the fallout. He linked their fingers together. “Is there any chance you can get a couple of hours off on Saturday afternoon?”

  “Shouldn’t be a problem. Why? What’s going on?”

  “Well, there’s this . . . ceremony and it’d mean a lot to me if you were there.”

  She blinked at him with those long eyelashes and it struck him how beautiful she was to him. Every inch of her. Inside and out. “What kind of ceremony?”

  “College graduation.”

  “Who’s graduating?”

  Abe’s cheeks burned. “Ah. Me, believe it or not.”

  Her gaze never wavered. “You’re serious.”

  “Completely. In three days I will officially have a bachelor of science in agricultural business from the University of Wyoming.”

  “Why is this the first I’ve heard of it? I’ve been living here with you for weeks.” She paused. “Wait. Is that what you’ve been doing in your office all those nights?”

  “Yeah. My classes are all online and I only have time to study at night. So some nights after you fall asleep, I get up and hit the books.” He inhaled. Blew out a breath. “The truth is no one in my family knows. Not Hank. Not Celia. No one.”

  “Why not?”

  “Mostly because I didn’t want people—my friends and neighbors—askin’ me, ‘Hey, Abe, did you ever get that college degree?’ There were a couple of semesters I wasn’t sure if I’d ever graduate.”

  “When did you go back to school?” When he didn’t answer, she figured it out. “After I left.”

  “I knew that wasn’t why you left. But it bothered me. No one ever knew how much I wished I could’ve gone to college.”

  She murmured, “I knew.”

  Of course she did. “One day, I just decided to do it. And I did really well. So I added more classes and let Hank and Celia believe I’d suddenly gotten addicted to Internet porn.” He smiled. “Probably I’d’ve given it up, but with Hank off fighting bulls, and Celia doin’ her own thing, I wasn’t sure I could keep the ranch goin’ by myself. I wanted something to fall back on that wouldn’t require me to work as a ranch hand for someone else. But then, Hank married Lainie and returned to ranching full-time. Celia started running the circuits. Which allowed me to increase my credit hours and finish quicker.”

  Janie didn’t say anything.

  Abe stirred the chili that’d gone cold.

  Then Janie’s hands were on his cheeks and she tipped his face up. She kissed him. “Of course I’d be delighted to see you in your cap and gown, waving your diploma. I’m proud of you, Abe. Every day we’re together I think I know you so well, and then I learn something like this, which quite frankly, shocks the shit outta me.”

  He laughed.

  She kissed him again. “But if I’m taking Saturday afternoon off for you, then I’ll need you to stay late at Split Rock Saturday night and help me catch up, okay?”

  “Deal.” Abe touched the dimple in her right cheek, then her left. “I love your smile. It lights up your whole face. I especially love it when you’re smilin’ at me.” Which seemed to be a lot lately.

  “You give me a lot to smile about.” She pointed at his food. “Eat up. I have a teacher and student fantasy to fulfill tonight. You never should’ve used that paddle on me.” Janie gifted him with a coquettish look. “Oh, and I’m playing the teacher role, just in case you were curious.”

  “You’re gonna torture me about this, aren’t you?”

  “Mercilessly.”

  Late Saturday morning Abe checked his reflection in the bathroom mirror and felt ridiculous. Mostly he felt stupid because he was so damn nervous, and he shouldn’t be. Wasn’t like he was giving a speech. He adjusted the square hat for the tenth time and the gold tassel swung into his face.

  Janie yelled down the hallway, “Abe. Come on. I want to get some pictures of you in your cap and gown before we leave.”

  Pictures. Like he was ten years old or something.

  Quit pretending to complain. You are thrilled Janie’s excited about sharing this milestone in your life.

  Abe tried not to walk like a cowboy as he crossed the floor. But college degree or not, he was a cowboy. He’d been walking this way his whole damn life. He pushed open the door, grumbling, “Make it fast because I . . .” He stopped in the middle of the deck.

  Hank, Lainie and Celia stood beside Janie. His little sister yelled, “Surprise!” and launched herself at him, knocking his damn hat off again.

  As soon as Celia was done hugging him, she smacked him on the arm. “You big jerk. I can’t believe you didn’t tell us.” She whapped him again. “And I can’t believe I ever felt guilty about keeping barrel racing from you when you were keeping this from us.” Then she hugged him. “But damn, bro. A college degree? I’m so freakin’ proud of you I could bust.”

  “Me too,” Hank said.

  “And to think I was worried that you’d gotten addicted to porn because of your tendency to disappear into your room for hours on end.” Lainie gave him a one-armed hug because baby Lawson had grown mightily in the last few weeks.

  Abe started to ask, “How did you know?” but realized Janie must’ve told them, so he amended, “I can’t believe you guys came.”

  “Like we’d miss something so important to you,” Hank scoffed.

  “To all of us,” Lainie said. “I’m just glad someone let us know about it.”

  “Yeah, Janie, we owe you big-time,” Celia said.

  Janie bowed to Abe. “You’re welcome. Now you guys stand together. I want a picture of you with your family.”

  Three hours later when Abe walked across the stage for his diploma, he knew when he thought of this day, it wouldn’t be receiving the piece of paper he’d remember. He’d remember how Janie had known what would really mark the occasion and make it perfect.

  Janie cried during the ceremony. Twice. She’d practically bawled on the deck step when she truly grasped how much it meant to Abe that she’d told his family of his accomplishment.

  They’d had a celebratory steak supper before Celia had to take off. Hank and Lainie headed home with a whispered promise from Hank he’d handle the morning cattle check.

  No one was around in the main area of the lodge. She said, “Hang on, I need to check this room,” and motioned Abe inside.

  When he saw his duffel bag on the bed, he said, “What the hell?”

  “I’m not working tonight. I booked us a room to celebrate.”

  Then Abe got the strangest expression. His gaze moved from the separate alcove for the hot tub, to the sandstone fireplace, to the seating area, to the king-sized bed.

  Not that she’d expected he’d whoop and holler, but his stillness bothered her. “If you’d rather go home, that’s all right too.”


  He smiled almost shyly. “No. I wanna spend the night here. You just caught me by surprise. To be honest, I’ve never stayed anyplace this nice.”

  “We have billed the Split Rock as a luxury resort. I’m glad you like it. With all the times you’ve been around you haven’t checked out the rooms?”

  “No.” He wandered to the window. “Are they all like this?”

  “This is the only room with a hot tub.” Janie smoothed her hands up his broad back and inhaled his familiar scent—starched cotton, warm skin