River Road (River's End Series, #4) (13 page)

She sighed. “A girl could dream of that. Anyway, glad you enjoyed it.”

Twilight beckoned her through the windows. “I don’t suppose you’d dare risk taking a walk? It’s such a gorgeous evening out.”

“Taking a walk?” he repeated, his face almost blank. “Uh, sure?” His voice almost went higher, like it was a question.

“You don’t do that very often?”

“No. I mean, it’s where I work, I guess, so I don’t ever think to stroll around when I don’t have to.”

She grinned as she grabbed some sandals and slipped her feet into them. He started to grab the dishes, but she waved him off. “Leave them. I’ll get them later.”

He nodded, grabbing his boots before he stuck his hat on his head and waited off to the side while she went ahead of him. She’d give him that, he always took his lead from her. She hit the ground off the stairs and remarked, “The flowers are lovely.”

“City people need to pretend they’re part of nature. They really are not. But they’re pretty, I suppose.”

“You don’t like them?”

“Just about a hundred other things I’d rather do than plant flowers.”

They fell into step. Nearer the river, the trail dropped from the view of the cabins and the main ranch, which was farther down the way. They were essentially alone. She nearly shocked him when she took his arm in hers, leaning her head against his shoulder as they walked, practically entwined with him. He didn’t know what to make of it; she could tell by the stiffening of his body parts. “What things? What things do you like to do?”

He hesitated, but didn’t shake her off. “I like to take care of the orchard probably most of all. I like growing stuff. Ian’s the one who planted it. He knows a lot about farming practices and the latest techniques. When he’s around, he takes a lot of interest in it. He answers my questions, even if it bothers him sometimes. Probably after that, I like doing anything alongside Jack. His skills with the horses are unparalleled to anyone I’ve ever witnessed. I learn a lot from him too. They’re both so intelligent. It’s something I admire.”

She bit her tongue to avoid saying that AJ seemed hungry for knowledge and know-how. He didn’t have to ask or express any interest in the other men’s knowledge. The reverent way he talked about the Rydells made her want to point out to him that the Rydell men had a family and a ranch as a starting point in life. In other words, they were more privileged than most and that was the only thing that separated them from AJ. She wondered if anyone had actually raised him, or answered his questions, or showed him a skill or trade that might have landed AJ Reed a whole other career in life. Still, she was beginning to realize it wouldn’t be
barely surviving
to skimp by and live on someone else’s ranch.

“But work is work. I’m happy to do it. So flowers it is. Not my favorite.”

He was humble. Grateful. A sense of shame filled her. She made so many false assumptions about him. She sensed that was the story of AJ’s life. Tenderness filled her usually crusty heart. She stopped, and together, they stared at the river. She sighed and leaned her head on his shoulder, her hands rubbing his arm.

“What’s
your
favorite thing to do? With your job, I mean?” he suddenly asked.

“I like to make up the ads. That’s the creative part. That’s always been my preferred talent. That’s what drew me to it in the first place. And…”

“And what?”

She sighed. “Bossing the employees around. I’m a control freak; and I really like having all the say-so, which is a terrible thing to enjoy. I’m not as bitchy as you might imagine. I’m actually pretty generous as a boss, but I really enjoy being the one holding the reins.”

A laugh rumbled from his chest. She lifted her head, startled. “I didn’t expect you to admit that.”

She shrugged. “I know, you’ll probably hate me now. The arrogance. The—”

“I like it that you’re so honest. Never met anyone who speaks their mind like you do.”

She smiled and strangely, a blush of pleasure at his praise filled her cheeks. She realized his praise meant more to her than anyone else’s she’d ever received, besides maybe her parents’. Which was odd. There were so few people she fully respected, but she definitely respected AJ. The realization of it was startling. An ex-con and uneducated ranch hand turned out to finally win more respect than all the men she’d ever known? That thought was sobering.

“You seemed a bit unsure about my honesty the other night. And particularly shocked at the speed in which I took you inside my mouth. I was simply being honest about what I wanted.”

He blushed. She shook her head and laughed, enjoying his expression. “I don’t expect you to blush, but anytime sex comes up…”

His gaze didn’t meet hers, but when he finally spoke, his tone was so soft, she almost missed it. “I particularly did enjoy that honesty. Even if I shouldn’t have.”

She slid her hand from his elbow down to his hand and clasped it. “AJ Reed, we are two seriously mismatched people.” His eyes dropped to their joined hands and she lifted hers to study his face. “Tell me then why it feels so nice?”

“I don’t know,” he answered, without the usual shyness.

“You think it does feel nice too, then?”

“Being with you? Yes.”

“Would you take me to try shooting a gun? I was thinking I might like to try that.”

“Yes, I’ll take you. Tomorrow night? Around eight? I promised Jack I’d finish up the roofing on Joey’s house that I didn’t get done yesterday.”

“You worked yesterday? On Sunday?”

“Yes, I didn’t get it done on Saturday… so…”

“You work the weekends and the evenings?”

“Sometimes. But if you want to, we would still have a few hours of daylight.”

They sauntered back towards the cabins. She sighed, knowing he most likely wouldn’t be coming back in. She wanted to push him further. Her body was strumming, thinking about him near her, inside her, touching her… but she shook it off. AJ wasn’t about that.

“So, tomorrow. I’ll wait by your trailer.”

“Okay.”

She still clasped his hand as she turned towards him and raised up a fraction of an inch on her tiptoes so her lips could brush over his. He remained stock-still. His hat brim touched the top of her head. She leaned up further, adding just a bit more pressure. Suddenly, his arms swooped around her waist and his mouth opened to hers. Her hands were trapped between them, pressed against the wall of his chest. His tongue touched hers and she felt the ensuing jolt clear down to her toes. It was their first kiss. The one they skipped before their first sexual encounter. The one she now kind of wished she had started with.

He lifted his head from hers, dropping his hands. She wondered if he were about to apologize. She smiled and touched his cheek. “We might have started backwards, kissing the wrong ends and all first, but I enjoyed tonight more than almost any date I can remember.”

His smile was tinged with chagrin as he shook his head. “The things you say…”

She sighed, dropping her shoulders. “I don’t mean to… I’m just… so…”

“Honest?” he supplied.

“We’ll go with that.”

He smiled one last time before turning and slipping into the shadows. He was taking the beach route, she realized, probably to avoid prying eyes and the views from the ranch house. She glared up towards it, cursing Jack Rydell for making a fine man like AJ Reed sneak around as if he were a dirty criminal. Meanwhile, she was starting to wonder if he might be one of the most upstanding men she’d ever met, despite his stint in prison.

KATE WAS WAITING ON AJ’s deck when he walked up. She was dressed in her pink boots, shorts, and tank top, and smiling a huge grin when she spotted him coming up the walkway. She was sprawled out, with her feet resting on the table, and her head bent backwards over the chair. He was filthy from the work he just finished. Dust coated him from head to toe and sweat stained his shirt in giant rings that began at his hairline. He cringed as he came closer to her cool, beautiful face and carefree sophistication.

“Hey there, cowboy,” she said with the exaggerated drawl she often used. “Looks like you were doing more than planting flowers today.”

“Plowing one of the pastures. Dust is a foot thick since it hasn’t been watered.” He kept his eyes lowered, staring at her feet, almost ashamed of the way he appeared to her.

Lowering her feet, she pushed the chair nearer to her out. “Here, sit. You look tired.”

He dropped into the chair and ran his hands over his jean-clad legs, suddenly noticing how black his hands were. She startled him when she silently crawled onto his lap and pushed her hands into his hair until his hat fell off with a soft thump. He jerked back. “Kate, I’m filthy.”

She answered by placing her mouth over his, and slipping her tongue inside. “I know.” She grinned and took his hands from the chair handles he was gripping fiercely, placing them on her waist. His blackened hands smudged her shirt and he jerked back.

“I don’t care.” Her mouth returned to his. Her lips were outlined in pink and tasted like Vaseline. He groaned at the slickness of it. She leaned back and asked, “Better?”

Puzzled, his now overheated brain and receptive body didn’t know what she meant. “Better?”

“Not so tired? Not so awkward. You looked freaked out to find me here, so I thought I’d remind you why I came. Chemistry.”

“Better, then.” And worse too, for now, he was turned on. He gritted his teeth in annoyance that he so easily responded to her. She glanced down.

“I can help you with that…”

He shook his head, rising to his feet, and gently setting her off to the side and onto her own feet. “Let me go change, at least.”

She sighed. “Oh, my straight-laced, celibate cowboy, the things you’re missing out on…” She smiled wickedly, tracing her tongue between her lips in exaggerated slurps.

He finally smiled and pushed at her shoulder gently. “You’re just a giant, over-aged brat, aren’t you?”

She squealed in delight. “Now you’re catching on. See? Not too scary or intimidating a city girl, am I?”

No, strangely enough, she wasn’t. He opened the door to the trailer and she followed behind him, glancing around as he started up the two stairs to the small bedroom at the front of the trailer.

“Never been in one of these before.”

“One of what?”

“A trailer.” She was spinning in a circle as he stared at her. They might as well have been from opposite poles of the earth.

“It’s about all I’ve ever lived in.” His quiet tone made her carefree spinning stop dead. Sunlight streamed through the windows, highlighting lazy dust motes that floated over her head. His statement sobered her.

“It’s not a reason we can’t enjoy each other’s company, is it?”

He sighed. An answer for everything, Kate. “No. S’pose not.” He grabbed a towel and ducked into the bathroom, quickly starting the shower. His shoulders almost didn’t fit inside the small, mini-shower of the RV, but the cool water and some hard scrubbing managed to wash off most of the dust, sweat, and grime. He didn’t usually dry off in the bathroom, but no way would he dare to do it out in the bedroom. Not with man-eating Kate. Or so
she
proclaimed. When he was dry enough, he wrapped the towel around his waist and slipped out of the bathroom. Kate sat on the couch and her eyes shot up to look at him. He turned his back and headed for the bedroom.

Shutting the small divider, which was just a plastic, accordion door, she again surprised him. Damn her. She went behind him, wrapping her hands around him as her breasts smashed deliciously against his bare back. She was so slim in contrast to his broad width. Her slimness beside his bulkiness was sexier than any aphrodisiac. Her body felt like the perfect temperature pressed against his dampness. The water droplets from his hair beaded over his back and chest.

He shut his eyes, letting her softness surround him, and her warmth filled his heart.
Sex.
It was all just sex with Kate, wasn’t it?

Her lips touched his shoulder, then dropped near his arm, then drew closer and closer to his neck. He tilted his neck to give her soft, tender lips more access to his skin. So rarely had he ever been touched with so much softness or care. Never. Not even as a child. The times when he had sex in the past never involved caring from his partners or him.

She stretched higher on her tiptoes until her mouth reached his neck and ear. Swirling her tongue inside it, his entire body jerked in reaction. He encouraged her, turning his neck in a weird position to get closer as her tongue sweetly bathed his ear. She moved her flat palms to the wall of his stomach, going up and down his abs and pecs. She stroked him with her palms and the backs of her fingers, creating friction as she longed to explore every inch and feel the texture of his skin. Her mouth moved from his ear to his jaw, dropping her hands lower, until she gripped the towel in her hands. “Can I?” she whispered into his ear, her tone husky and sensuous. He nearly gulped at the heady feel of her hands combined with the anticipation of what she was asking. His shock overcame him. He nodded.

She undid the towel and it fell to his feet. He jutted forward, ready and willing, no matter what kind of dedication he claimed to have in his beliefs. Her lips were still on his skin, kissing his neck and traveling down the center of his back. Goosebumps broke out all over him when her hands oh-so-gently slid down his back, and over his bare butt. She followed the indentation of his cheeks, moving in and out, pausing, then rubbing him to let him know how much she liked the contour of his ass. He closed his eyes, his body completely hers now, strumming, and primed to come. She was so amazing and incredible. Her touch was powerful.

But she didn’t touch him anymore. She lifted her hands off him and he felt her shuffling around behind him. Glancing over his shoulder, he watched her drop her shorts, kicking off her boots and socks while working on her t-shirt and bra. He turned to face her fully. She noticed his interest and instantly encircled the cups of her breasts with her hands, rubbing up and down over the clinging fabric that barely contained her nipples. He swallowed, riveting his gaze on her nails, which were red today. She squeezed her nipples between her thumbs and index fingers, rubbing them sensuously and fluttering her eyes at the contact. With a smile, she finally dropped the frail material, flinging the bra to the floor and stepping forward. He fell back onto the bed and she walked forward until she could straddle him. He inhaled and buried his face in the cleavage of her round, white globes. She had a tan on her arms, neck, and elsewhere, but the white patches over her breasts only highlighted their allure and volume.

“Do you like them?”

“How could you even ask that?”

“Some men don’t like fake boobs.”

He glanced up and raised his eyebrows in surprise. She tilted her head back with a laugh. “No woman’s breasts are this perky on their own. Especially at my age. You really couldn’t tell?”

“It was dark last time, and I didn’t do much of an examination. It was all, ‘Hurry, AJ, oh, touch me there, do that harder…’ It was a lot of pressure, I didn’t have time to study all the goods.”

Her laugh was husky in response. “I did so do that. I told you I liked to be the boss, always in control. I didn’t know you could tease and joke about such a sacred act.”

He surprised her when he suddenly grabbed her in his arms and flipped her under him, pinning her to the bed with his hands holding her wrists. “First off, I can control you too. This isn’t all your show; and second, there’s nothing wrong with wanting sex to be more than just a cheap thrill. You don’t have to mock my desire that it mean something. Not much has meant anything to me in my life.”

Releasing her breath, her eyes grew huge. “Okay, cowboy. You’re never what I expected. At all,” she said almost breathlessly. Then she grinned. “And these aren’t what you call ‘goods.’”

He leaned down to nuzzle her breasts, which were pointing toward the sky. Now that she mentioned it, they weren’t as flat as one might expect. His lips circled one and tasted it and then the other. Raising her legs on either side of him, she lifted her knees until her feet came off the bed, and curled her toes. “They are good though.”

Sighing contentedly, she threaded her fingers through his hair. “They were the first frivolous thing I ever bought.”

He paused, amazed she paused long enough to speak again. Once she got started, Kate seemed to go on and on. But he waited, and she nodded at him before she continued. “I got my condo, started my retirement savings, bought a new car, and still had cash in reserve. So I decided, why not? I hated my body before.”

He leaned further back, almost onto his heels, as his gaze scoured her long, naked, horizontal body beneath his. “How do you figure you could hate this? Big breasts or not?”

“I’m broad shouldered and with thick hips. I used to have A-cup breasts. So I looked unbalanced. My mom was so mad at me for doing this.”

He didn’t remount her. Their conversation wasn’t about breasts. It took him a moment to realize it. They were
conversing
now, of all times… Well, Kate wasn’t totally there for his dick. AJ was just starting to realize that.

“Why? Why was she mad? Because it’s about sex?”

She laughed outright. “It wasn’t about sex, AJ. I wouldn’t go under the knife for some guy. I didn’t even have a boyfriend at the time. Just pangs of self-consciousness. I felt unbalanced. Notice they aren’t triple D’s or something equally as ridiculous. They just balance me out, you know, top and bottom. I am awfully tall, in case you hadn’t noticed, for a girl. It’s awesome now, as a thirty-plus adult boss of a business usually dominated by men. But being in seventh grade and this tall? Yeah, I was the giraffe, and no boy wanted anything to do with me. And then, no breasts. They never developed; but oh, my hips did. I promised myself when I was in high school if I could ever afford to, I’d fix them.”

“It’s impossible to imagine Kate Morgan feeling embarrassed about herself.”

“Years of practice. I was always the largest and tallest girl in a classroom, then the office. I learned to embrace it and later flaunt it. I was never a skilled athlete, and no basketball to give me a ‘place.’”

“So it helped you?” He nodded towards her breasts. “Those were about you becoming you?”

“Yes, low and behold, I was twenty-eight before I had enough cash for a decent down payment. My mom was furious. She thought any risk of going under the knife was ludicrous, especially for something as cosmetic and vain as fake boobs. Biggest joke in the world, right? But it really wasn’t any joke to me. My dad pretended I didn’t do it. But my mom actually came to the clinic and was there for me in the end. Even though she lectured me for weeks beforehand and all the way there. But once it was over, and I came out, all groggy and bandaged and a mess, she never said another word. She even babied me and fussed over me. But the first time I put on a shirt, it felt like it tipped the scales from my lower half, and I couldn’t stop smiling in the mirror. I’m sure I stand up taller because it was the best confidence boost I’ve ever had. I was finally… me. I mean, at last, I could reveal how I felt inside.”

He waited. Her gaze remained on the window. “Anyway, that’s the story of my fake boobs.”

Leaning forward, he placed his lips on one leg, and then on her other one. She sighed and her eyes fluttered shut as her thighs separated eagerly. She was waxed or shaven, leaving only a thin strip of hair. He cupped his hand over her and her entire back flew off the mattress with surprise at his contact. He smiled. “My way this time.”

He trailed kisses up her thigh, her stomach and the tip of her proud, erect nipple. His hand cupped her and she lifted her hips upwards to encourage him further, but he ignored her. He wasn’t hurrying this time. He kissed her breasts and her neck, then her collarbone and her mouth. She moaned into his mouth and her hand pressed his face against hers harder. He finally took her wrist in his hand and held it down. She shifted, elevating her torso towards his mouth more effectively. He smiled. She really couldn’t just have him. He kissed and licked and sucked his way lower until he brushed his fingertips over her wet lips. Gasping, she dug her heels into the bed and unashamedly raised her hips more urgently toward his hand. There was nothing subtle about Kate.

He ignored her again and slipped both hands around her, cupping her bottom in his palms. She moaned and squirmed, grinding her juicy flesh into his fingertips. He returned her pressure before lowering his face further. He’d never been with a woman so well-groomed down there. He touched his tongue on her and she, as he expected, nearly melted. Her legs spread-eagled and he could completely slip his tongue inside her as he pushed her closer to his face. She moaned as her torso shifted up and back, and seemed confused over how to control her body. “AJ—oh, my GOD. You can’t… I can’t… oh, GOD…” Her pitch grew higher before fading off into a deep groan. Her head twisted back and forth; she shut her eyes and suddenly lifted her entire butt up into his face. Grabbing the pillow over her head, she brought it over her mouth and nearly screamed with delight into it. Startled, he lifted his mouth off her. She had some pretty incredible reactions. He couldn’t remember being with any woman who came like Kate.