Heartbreak Ranch (16 page)

She gripped the bar to support herself as Colt thrust his finger into her wet, waiting womanhood. One of his hands kneaded her ass as his mouth placed kisses along her skin. He removed his finger from the harbor of her silken folds and began circling her tender, swollen nub, driving her mad.

“Colt ... Please ...” As she moaned her plea, he increased the tempo.

“I need to taste you, Graysen,” he groaned, his mouth pressed against the dimples just above the curve of her backside. He stood and turned her around. She whimpered at the loss of his hand between her legs. His lips crushed hers in a maddening, lust-driven kiss and then he scooped her up and carried her to the bar. She clung to him, returning his kisses with equal fervor. Their tongues danced to the music of their fierce passion.

Colt placed her on top of the bar. “Lean back, baby.” He pleaded against her mouth. She didn’t want to pull her mouth away from his. She wanted to go on kissing him all night. Lying back on the bar meant she would have to surrender his delicious embrace, and she wasn’t quite ready to do that. She continued to work her mouth against his, but he persisted.

“Mmm, Honey, I could feast on your lips all night, but right now there is another place I want to put my mouth. I am so hungry for you, if I don’t make my way there right now I will starve to death. Now you don’t want me to come to that kind of end, do you?”

Graysen complied willingly. She stretched out her torso before him. He grinned as he tore her panties completely off and pulled up a barstool. Colt took her legs in his grasp and placed her feet on top of the bar, one on either side of her butt. She was incredibly exposed in this position and a new excitement burned inside of her. He maddeningly ran his hands up and down the insides of her thighs. Colt sat on the bar stool just inches from her dripping body. His eyes were hungry, and he licked his lips as his fingers parted her folds to discover more of her glistening pink wetness. His voice became graveled. “Graysen, you are so eager for me … so wet. You have no idea what you do to me.”

He did a good job of showing her as his tongue pressed against the bottom part of her slit before agonizingly making its journey to her button, dipping into her on its way up. As his tongue met her pulsing bud and his mouth latched on to it, he pushed two fingers deep inside her. Colt was perfectly in tune with all of Graysen’s desires. He knew she wanted to be exposed, naked, and explored by him, all for him. It was as though he was trying to discover something deep inside her. He took his time to caress every inch of her aching womanhood, inside and out.

“Colt, I’m dying!” She managed to free the thought from her mind just as the rough side of his tongue brushed against her most sensitive spots.

“No, Hun, you’re coming alive for me, just me,” he whispered against her flesh. Graysen cried out his name over and over and over as pleasure swamped every fiber of her being. Her hands gripped the bar, and her toes curled. She panted and shook as she tried to hold on to any shred of sanity she still possessed. And then he stopped.

“Colt!” She thought she screamed his name, but she wasn’t sure. Everything was a blur. All she knew for sure was that his fingers and mouth had deserted her.

“Don’t come. Not yet. I want you to come with me inside you.” Colt growled as he stood up and grabbed her waist, pulling her off the top of the bar. Colt wrapped her legs around his waist and held her there against the bar.

She sank onto him, taking every inch of him inside her. He grabbed her shoulders as he plunged in and out of her once, twice, and a third time. He stilled and gently touched the small firm flesh at the center of her desire. That was all it took. She exploded like a cache of dynamite.

The feeling of him repeatedly thrusting in and out of her prolonged her bliss and soon her climax melted with the strength of his movements, creating a sensation that seemed not to stop. He took her possessively, raking his fingers over her delicate skin, grasping whatever he could hold onto. His eyes held her gaze. He watched her intently as pleasure conquered her body. Colt was a madman pounding against her as if his life depended on it. The savagery of it was all-consuming. The tremors from her last orgasm had yet to subside, but her body climbed recklessly to meet another peak. Her eyes tore open, and she stared at Colt in disbelief. Colt witnessed what was happening to Graysen, and he was there with her. The intensity that had been building detonated without warning. The sensation consumed them both as he spasmed inside of her.

Slowly her body came back to her, reverberating. She couldn’t move though, and she was only vaguely aware as Colt pulled her to him and turned, leaning back against the bar with her in his arms. Memories of how wild she’d been bombarded her consciousness; how out of control with lust and need she was flickered through her mind. Unable to control the tide of emotion that flooded her heart, Graysen began to weep.

Colt pulled her into his bare chest and stroked her hair as he held her, whispering in her ear. Her body shook as she sat there against him. He simply held her, brushing her skin softly with his fingertips to calm her.

“I’m sorry. This isn’t like me. I don’t know what happened,” she choked out as the tears traveled in small streams down her pale cheeks and fell onto the expanse of Colt’s chest.

As she wept, Colt caressed her cheek, wiping the tears away. She gazed up at him and noticed the same wonderment filling his eyes. “Don’t try to wrap your head around something only your heart understands,” Colt whispered into her hair.

That night, Graysen learned to dance. And even if she couldn’t admit it to herself, it was also the night she discovered that Colt had two-stepped into her heart. She was in love.

Colt took a quick shower, shaved, and grabbed a clean pair of dress pants from his closet. His heart thudded in his chest like a herd of wild mustangs tearing across the pastures. He’d heard about the idea of soul mates and all of that nonsense, but he’d always brushed it off as chick flick fluff; it wasn’t reality. The way he felt last night when Graysen looked at him after he made love to her changed his mind.

He pulled on a cream colored, snap-front shirt, slipped on his pants and socks and then stuck his feet in a pair of black dress boots. He grinned as he slid his belt through the loops of his dress pants. “Damn, it is just as Elvin Bishop said it would be,” he murmured under his breath to himself. Yep, he was a goner who had fooled around and fell in love. Now what on earth was he going to do about it?

He sat on the edge of the bed and pondered the impossibility of their relationship.
You love-struck idiot,
that voice inside his head taunted him.
You know down deep in your heart that she’s never going to leave Iowa.
Graysen wasn’t a country girl. She was born and bred for comfortable city living. She was the daughter of a successful architect. He didn’t know if her heart could ever call the ranch home, and he knew he wasn’t cut out to be a city slicker. He sighed with a bit of regret and a heart full of ache.
Pull them reins in and put a halt to this
, he thought.

***

Graysen rifled through her suitcase in a frenzy trying to find something suitable to wear for the dance that night. She finally settled on one of the two nicer dresses she had packed on the off chance she would be able to dress up. The dress was a beautiful eggplant-colored, single-shouldered cocktail dress with crisscross panels. She spent more time than usual getting ready. She pinned her hair up, but let several of the curls escape to fall delicately around her face, knowing that Colt wouldn’t be able to resist wrapping his fingers in the loose tendrils.

She walked into the lodge with her family that evening and marveled at how it had transformed from something more like a makeshift honky-tonk into a romantic ballroom. The main lights were dimmed, and instead of the usual paper lanterns, soft icicle lights hung along the walls. The tables were draped in pale silver cloths and lit candles served as centerpieces.

June Edmiston greeted them as they found a table. She wore a floor-length, midnight blue dress. “Well don’t you all clean up nice? There is an open bar this evening, so please, get something to drink and enjoy the evening.”

Carson perked up at that invitation and floated off towards the bar. Graysen’s eyes followed in that direction. She stifled a moan as she recalled how a few nights ago she’d sat naked on that bar with Colt’s head buried between her thighs.

Graysen’s parents and Mrs. Edmiston continued to talk while she scanned the room for Colt. Everyone looked to be enjoying themselves, and many couples were out twirling around the dance floor to the music the country band played. She turned back to the conversation at hand when she couldn’t locate Colt in the crowded room.

As though she read Graysen’s mind, June Edmiston turned to her and smiled. “Don’t fret, Graysen. That wild boy of mine is around here somewhere,” she laughed.

Soon the Heywards came up to join the conversation, or at least Mr. and Mrs. Heyward did. Graysen was relieved Brady wasn’t with them. “Graysen, my dear, you look lovely this evening.” Mrs. Heyward’s compliment seemed genuine, and Graysen smiled and thanked her.

Harper tugged at the edge of Graysen’s dress. She turned to her sister and asked with her eyes what she wanted. Harper led her a few feet away from the adults. “You never told me about your ride with Brady. How did it go?” she asked curiously.

Graysen rolled her eyes. “Let’s just say I made it abundantly clear I didn’t want anything to do with him. He is a first-class jerk, just as we suspected.” She smiled and tried to lighten the mood.

“Oh ... Was he angry? He’s staring at you right now ... No … Don’t look his way!”

Graysen’s head instinctively shot around, looking for Brady. “Where is he?” she whispered.

“He’s over in the corner. He looks as though he has been drinking, and you know, he hasn’t been at breakfast since you went riding with him ...”

“Don’t worry; he’s just upset that I shot him down.”

“You mean he actually hit on you?”

“Don’t act so shocked… He tried to kiss me! He has been less than subtle about his attraction to me. He sat next to me every day at breakfast practically slobbering on me.”

“Oh, Graysen, I am so sorry, I should have stood up for you the other day when Carson and Dad wanted you to go with Brady.”

“Hey, it’s not your fault, don’t worry,” Graysen reassured her. “Besides, I took care of myself. Nothing happened, and it was good I went because now I don’t have to waste the rest of my time here dealing with him.”

Graysen grew concerned when Harper became silent. Harper’s eyes grew wider, and Graysen thought perhaps Brady was coming toward them. She turned around, and was thrilled to see Colt standing there.

She looked him over shamelessly. He was magnificent. He donned a dark Stetson, black boots, dark pants, and an ivory-colored dress shirt. A small, silver buckle shone at the center of his leather belt.

“Iowa, I don’t think I have had the pleasure of meeting your sister yet,” Colt said as he looked at Harper with a smile that would make a teenage girl daydream for months on end. He extended his hand and Graysen watched as Harper took it, her wide eyes never leaving his.

“Harper, this is Colt McCord. Colt, Harper.” Graysen introduced them, amused with Harper’s response. She sympathized with her, perfectly understanding how she felt.

“Pleased to meet you, Harper,” Colt’s polite southern drawl was mesmerizing, and all Harper could do was nod.

“Colt!” Mrs. Edmiston called to him. “Isn’t he a handsome devil?” she joked as she patted Colt on his forearm. He smiled and wrapped his arm around her. “Graysen has been waiting for you all night. I ought to tan your hide for making this pretty little thing wait so long.”

Graysen flushed red with embarrassment. “I’ve actually only been here about ten minutes …”

Colt was playful and continued the farce. “My God, I’ve been such an ass!” A shocked look crossed his face. “Ms. Beaufort, I guess I will have to find some way to make it up to you.”

Graysen gleaned from the look in Colt’s eyes that he knew exactly how he could make amends. “Well ... perhaps I was a little put out ...” she retorted, her eyes dancing with laughter and longing. He smiled and took her hand.

“Would you like some fresh air?” he pleaded, nodding toward the door. She laughed and followed him out into the Wyoming night. The slight breeze was refreshing. Graysen stepped up to the porch railing and inhaled the wonderful air. Colt came up behind her and put a hand on either side of her, effectively trapping her.

Colt leaned down and rested his chin on her shoulder. “You smell intoxicating tonight and you look beautiful, Graysen.” Her heart soared when he spoke like that, but she tried not to show how much it affected her.

Instead, she whispered, “You don’t look too shabby yourself.” His arms unwrapped themselves, and she felt him squeeze her cheek before his hands came to rest on her shoulders. “What would you like me to say?” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “You make me desperate with desire, and I feel like part of me is missing when you aren’t inside me?”