He set the corner of the condom wrapper between his teeth and ripped it open. She watched in awe as he slipped the rubber out and rolled it expertly—and one-handedly—down his length.
She swallowed hard at the thought of what they were about to do. Oral play could be lighthearted. But she didn’t share her body with people without feelings locking her to them.
“Whiskey,” he drawled quietly. She met his gaze, and the lights in his eyes anchored her. Yes, she wanted to do this. Wanted him. If it only happened once, she could live with that.
Running her palm up his chest, she circled one small nipple. His stomach dipped as she prodded it. He cupped her breast, teasing her bud back and forth with his thumb. Spikes of need struck her.
“You’re gonna have to do all the work, and I’m sorry for it.” Genuine remorse creased his brow.
She smiled and delivered a slow lick to his nipple. He shuddered. “I’ve always wanted to be a cowgirl.”
Hitching her leg over his hip, she straddled him. The extreme heat of his swollen cock against her pussy made her breathe erratically. When the ragged inhalations started to dizzy her, she forced herself to calm.
Holding his gaze, she rocked against the tip of his erection. The slippery head eased in, and she cried out. He gripped her hip and guided her down, down, until she was settled completely over him.
Her defenses crumbled as his entire body infiltrated her senses. She breathed Juss’s musky male scent, felt his molten flesh over steely muscles. His cock filled her, stretched her perfectly.
Dropping her head back, she rolled her hips, fighting to remain quiet and not draw more attention to a closed door than there already might be.
He groaned and gathered her hair in one fist. “Fuck, you look so beautiful. Stay like that.”
Had anyone ever said such a thing to her? She held her position, neck arched back, palms planted on his lower abs as she rocked into him again.
Heat climbed the walls of her core. She clenched around him, and he hissed in reaction. Her cream soaked him.
Dark pressure tightened her belly. Gasping, she increased her pace. In seconds, she’d be unhinged. Getting off on his cock.
He released her hair and dragged her down until she lay atop him. Lowering his head a fraction, he captured her mouth for several long minutes while he roved his hands over her stomach and hooked a pinky in her bellybutton ring. Drinking in his flavors, she rode him with abandon.
Breaking away from the kiss, he stared at her. “Don’t move for a second. Just. One. Second.”
She fell still, watching the fight cross his features. A fight for control. That he was so turned on sent her racing over the cliff of bliss. Release washed up in a tidal wave.
Crying out, she ground onto his cock. Her pussy clamped on his length, and he stiffened. With a violent buck upward, he shuddered. Their groans mingled. His heat bathed her as he poured cum into the condom.
“Damn, over too fast,” he grated out.
“Tell me that isn’t your only condom.”
He let his arm flop out to the side. His pupils were blown so wide, she couldn’t tell where his irises started. “It is.”
She moved against him one last time. Wanting more. No, wanting to do this all afternoon. At least he wouldn’t have an opportunity to reach for the Call button.
Giggling, she collapsed on his chest. She pressed soft kisses over his skin and up to his jaw. The black hair was razorsharp, and she knew that the redness on her flesh could not be cut with cold water this time. If she didn’t hide in his room all day, everyone on the staff would surely know what she’d been doing.
If she did hide in his room, they’d know too.
“What’s funny?” He skimmed a palm down to her ass. When he glided his fingertip over her seam, she broke out in goose bumps.
“I was thinking I finally found a way to keep you happy and from pushing that damned button.”
“Oh Whiskey, you made me more than happy.” His dark gaze penetrated to the center of her being. “But if you try to walk away from me, I intend to get you back into my arms by any means possible.”
* * * *
Exhaustion flooded Juss’s veins. His arms felt like they’d been injected with pudding. He could barely raise his good one to run his finger along Lilly’s delicate jaw.
She hovered over him, tucking a blanket around him carefully, her whiskey-colored waves swinging forward to kiss his hand.
“Sit with me awhile,” he said.
She glanced up at him, surprise flitting over her features. Damn, she was gorgeous. She’d felt amazing in his arms, moving over him. His cock jumped at the idea of having her again, though he was as weak as a newborn colt.
“For a few minutes, but you have to rest. Physical therapy is exhausting.”
He grinned, and even that sapped the energy from him. “Is that what we’re calling it?”
A flush deepened the roses in her cheeks. He drank in her beauty. Visions of her laid out on the red mat, nude, shifted through his mind. Her belly narrowed into trim hips. Her toned legs spoke of the hours she put into running. And her breasts…
He shuddered.
“Need another blanket?”
No, I need you against me.
He swallowed hard. He must be getting soft, sitting here for days on end trying to recover. Never in his life had he experienced thoughts like this. Would he feel as attached to another therapist? Say, the petite blonde out there they called Katie?
No. He couldn’t picture it.
His eyelids drooped. After Lilly had helped him dress, she’d gone through with the actual therapy session, maneuvering his shoulder and knee through full sets of repetitions. She’d whupped his ass.
“TV on?” She picked up the remote and aimed it at the flat-screen hanging high on the wall. “I think SportsCenter is on.”
She knew he liked to fall asleep to the broadcasters. She also knew he preferred cola to lemon-lime soda and demanded hearty meals instead of salads or soups.
What else did she know? He stared at the soft bow of her mouth. Lord, she’d sucked him with mind-blowing expertise. But she was one hell of a tender kisser too.
He ran his tongue over his lower lip. “Come closer, Whiskey.”
She threw a look at the door. “Anyone could walk in. Why don’t I just sit here while you try to sleep? When you wake up, I’ll help you into the shower.”
“You get a lot of injured rodeo guys in here, don’t you?”
“Yeah, mostly rodeo guys, why?”
He clamped his jaw on his reply. Telling her he despised anyone she’d helped before him would make him sound like a Grade-A ass. This was her job.
“We also help everyone from car accident victims to guys injured in construction accidents. This center is one of the best in the state, and the fact that you can stay here for a few weeks before you’re out on your own adds to its popularity. We’re booked up year-round.”
His eyes slipped closed, but he wasn’t finished talking to her yet. He held them open wide to keep from falling asleep. “I can tell you love your job. That’s important.”
She smiled. “I can tell you love yours too. I promise to get you back onto a bull as soon as possible.”
He nodded, heart warm from the sincerity in her tone. “Tell me about you. Besides the fact that you’re stuck here with me for two weeks.”
Something passed over her face he couldn’t read. “After this long shift, I’ll have two weeks of short day shifts. We rotate.”
“I’m glad I caught you on the long shift then.” He held out his hand, and she slipped hers into it. He squeezed. “Tell me more, Lilly.”
She laughed, a tinkling sound that made him smile too. “Like what? Do you want to hear that I have four little brothers who put me into a headlock and try to rub my hair off with their knuckles every time I get near them? Or would you like to hear that I’m a country gal with a sushi addiction?”
He sighed and let his tired muscles sink into the bed. “Sushi, huh? I’ve never tried it. A big fat steak is always the meal of choice after a good ride.”
“And if it’s a bad ride?”
If it’s really bad, I get some time off and a side of Lilly.
He lifted his good shoulder in a shrug. “If I don’t place, it means I don’t win money. In that case, I grab a burger from the drive-through.”
“Sounds like fun.” She nibbled her lower lip. The plush flesh around her white teeth drove him mad. His cock throbbed.
“Sometimes it is fun. At times, it gets lonely.”
The surprise that crossed her face echoed in his chest. Had he just admitted that aloud? In all of his years on the Tour, he’d never once let on that competing was anything but ideal. Being with Lilly though pulled out his soft side.
She rubbed the back of his thumb. “I imagine being on the road takes its toll.”
“Yeah.” Some guys had their wives and families touring with them. Most were gone for months at a time while their loved ones waited for them. Juss’s parents and brother were busy with a family ranch, so he never even had fans in the crowd.
Well, other than Buckle Bunnies.
He studied Lilly. After being with her, he couldn’t picture himself diving back into the stands and pulling out a willing bed partner. Now that he’d experienced the closeness of sex with a sweet, soft woman, he didn’t know if he could go back.
“Juss, do you ever think about what you’ll do later—when you can’t ride bulls for money anymore?”
Another wave of fatigue hit him, and he struggled to keep his eyes open. “I’m saving up to buy a pretty piece of property where I can wake up in the morning and ride my own horses across the fields that I own.”
A tender smile tilted her lips. “Sounds like a good dream. I’ve had that one myself but never believed it was possible.”
“No? Why not?”
She shrugged. “I don’t have the time or experience to do that on my own. But you do. Hold on to your dream.”
As he drifted, he blinked slower and slower, keeping Lilly in his sights. Unwilling to let her go just yet.
Chapter Four
The big calendar on Juss’s chart said he’d been here almost six weeks. Soon he’d be a bird leaving the nest of her care. While Lilly hated the idea of him being anywhere but ten steps away, a man with his energy needed new scenery. When he left, her world would crumble, but she’d proudly watch him walk out on two legs.
Lilly’s heart leaped with joy as the bell for room four sounded.
Be calm.
With eyes only for Juss, she quietly entered his room and closed the door. She shoved off her shoes and reached for the hem of her top even as she twisted the lock.
His lopsided grin was as bad-boy as they came. The kiss of death to a gal like her. He might have affairs at every stop of the Tour, but she was a levelheaded woman with only a handful of lovers in her past.
Still, she didn’t care. Her time with him was limited. For days she’d taken advantage of every waking minute with the cowboy.
Stripping her scrub top overhead, she flashed him a smile. “I’m pretty sure they know what we do in this room 24-7.”
He reached for her with both arms, his mobility in his injured shoulder improved tenfold. She was proud of the range of motion he had now. Thanks to her expertise, he’d be returning to the back of a bull within another six weeks, though he’d soon leave the rehab center—and her.
“Whiskey, I’d be doing this 25-8 with you if I could.”
Her heart did a slow flip she couldn’t ignore. The signs were all there. After just two weeks with the cowboy, she was head-over-rubber-soled-shoes in love with him.
Too bad she could never admit it to anyone but herself. To tell him would rope him in, hold him back. He wouldn’t appreciate a tether.
By the time she crossed the short span to him, she was aching for his arms around her and his rough kisses. She sank to the bed, not as worried about jarring his knee. He cupped one bare breast in his palm and hooked her around the waist, tugging her tight against his hard, hot chest.
She released a shivering sigh at the skin-to-skin contact. Tendrils of want spread through her veins rapid-fire. She slipped her arms around him and drowned in his musky scent.
The scent that would live with her no matter how far away he went.
“Fuck, I missed you. Give me your mouth,” he growled a split second before claiming it for himself.
The initial crush of his lips ignited her. He bore her back on the bed so her head lay at the bottom. Then he gained his knees, bearing his weight on his good knee the way she’d advised him to do. With swift tugs, he divested her of her pants and silk panties.
He groaned as he saw her freshly shaved mound. Running his fingertips over the smoothness, he held her gaze. “This for me, Whiskey?”
“I don’t spend time in bed five.”
He grinned, teeth flashing and eyes darkening. He swooped in and captured her mouth again, pressing her into the mattress. She longed for a king-sized bed to tumble into with Juss. This patient-sized bed hindered her imagination.
He rocked his erection against her, and her pussy squeezed hard, eager for him to fill her.
Breaking away from the kiss, she said, “Let me be on top. Hurting yourself now won’t be good for either of us.”
He stared at her for a long heartbeat. “Won’t it?” He shook himself. “You’re right.”
She guided him onto his back, then reached under the bed for the large box of condoms she’d sneaked in. As with everything between her and Juss, the staff turned a blind eye to the box’s appearance. They’d gone through half the box, and she had every intention of using every last condom before he walked out of the rehab center—and out of her life.
At first she’d believed the staff turned a blind eye to the happenings because Juss would be on his way soon. But after some sleepless nights over her ethical concerns about fooling around with a patient, she’d done some digging and discovered that Juss literally could do no wrong in that facility. His father sponsored it with big money from his award-winning horse ranch. In fact, Juss could take every staff member to bed—male or female—and no one would whisper a word against it.
If he wanted Lilly in his bed, he had her. But not for long.
He’d go back to the spurs and Buckle Bunnies. Far from Lilly and their romps on the mat, in the pool, and every possible way on this bed.