AJ wiped the sweat from her brow and straightened the blanket draped over the stall railing. She stood on tiptoe, lifting her arms to hang the halter and bridle. The motion made her shirt ride up and she felt his searing gaze roving over the exposed skin.
Then he was behind her. “Need some help?”
“No. I’ve got it.”
“Yes, you definitely have it all.”
She pivoted. “What are you doing here?”
“Hopin’ to steal a kiss from my girl while they hammer out the rest of the details.”
“Cord—”
“AJ.” He stalked her until her back hit the post between the stalls. “Your cookies were sweet, but not as sweet as the taste I’ve had of you.”
His lips were so close. So warm and full. And tempting. Her tongue darted out and licked the seam of his lips. Mmm. Coffee. Cookies. Cord. His breath caught, but he didn’t take over, as she expected. He allowed her to explore. She slid the tip of her tongue over his teeth. Nibbled on his lower lip, then his upper lip. She kissed the corners of his mouth until he smiled. She stopped teasing and slipped her tongue inside the warm cavern.
Cord kept a firm grip on her wrists, almost as if he didn’t trust himself not to touch her. The kiss went on and on, both sweet and hot, and intense and lazy.
Reluctantly she eased her mouth away. “You make my head spin.”
“That’s bad?”
“Right now? Yes, because my body craves the rest of that headlong rush. I want to tear off your clothes. I want you to tear off my clothes. Then we can race up to the hayloft—”
“Stop. Jesus, AJ.”
“See what I mean? Quit kissing me like I’m nekkid.” She looked at the bulge in his Wranglers and a tiny surge of pride arose. “I’ll walk out first. Give you time to think about baseball or something.”
“You really have to stop reading Cosmo.”
“But now I can finally utilize some of those sex tips I’ve been saving up.” She ducked out of the barn to the sound of his frustrated male groan.
A few minutes later, Cord propped his boot on the fence next to her, which looked casual to the casual observer, but wasn’t casual in the least.
“Better?”
“No. I want you so f**kin’ bad, I’m thinkin’ takin’ you for a roll in the hay in the barn in broad daylight might be worth someone discoverin’ us.”
Her hopeful sex sent a rush of wetness south.
He pointed to Lucy. “Ever think about breedin’ her?”
“I wanted to this year. But it’d be too much work for Ma.”
“You upset about Flo sellin’ the ranch?”
Yes. “I’m not really surprised. She isn’t spry enough to run this place on her own, she wasn’t years ago when they made me do it after Dad…”
“What? After he died?”
Damn. No one knew what’d gone on in the years before her dad died and she intended to keep it that way. “She’s been struggling since I went to school, though she doesn’t want to admit it. I panic when I think how things might’ve turned out if Jenn hadn’t found her right away that day.” AJ winced at the image of her arthritic mother laying in the pasture with a broken hip.
“Take a deep breath. Come on, baby doll, she’s all right. So are you. Accidents are part of life. A big part of ranch life, we both know that.”
A moment of silence passed.
“Sometimes I wonder if I won’t be out checkin’ cattle and I’ll find my dad has done some fool thing and broke his fool neck. Then I’m amazed that Ky hasn’t busted more bones from all the stunts he’s pulled.”
“Like father like son, huh?”
“Somethin’ like that.”
They talked about Ky. About the time AJ relaxed, Cord said, “You sore from last night?”
“Didn’t bother me when I rode Lucy, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“No, I’m askin’ purely and simply because I cannot wait to have you again. Can you come to me tonight?”
AJ’s belly did a little flip. “I don’t know. Jenn and the kids moved in, and if she’s upset and needs someone to talk you, I can’t blow her off to blow you.”
“Amy Jo that was just plain…raunchy.” He paused. “I like that side of you.”
“Not so sure you’ll get to see that side of me tonight.”
“Wrong. I expect to see you tonight. You’d better find a way to make our deal work.”
“Or what?”
“Or I’ll create a suitable penalty.”
“Penalty? I didn’t agree—”
“Ah ah. You agreed to whatever demands I make.”
“Like?”
“Like if I tell you to bend over this fence, I’d expect you to do it. If I decided I wanted to spank your butt until it turned the same pink as your pu**y, you’d let me do that too.”
“But—”
“No buts. There are consequences for disobedience. I don’t see you as the disobedient type, but I hope I’m wrong because dishin’ out penalties oughta be interestin’.”
“Have you…penalized women before?”
Cord stared straight ahead. “What if I say I’ve always wanted to but I’ve never had a woman willin’ to give me that much control?”
“I’d say no is a much safer answer for me than yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I’d like to give you something no other woman has. Do your ideas for kink go beyond spanking me?”
No answer.
“You want to tie me up?”
“AJ, I’m warnin’ you.”
“What?”
“Stop talkin’ before you get yourself inta trouble.”
“Hah! You can’t do a damn thing to me right now.”
“I can make you pay for it later.”
She loved the dangerous glint in his eye. Loved that she could incite him to cut loose, to show a side of himself to her no one else knew. “You’d like to take me to that edge. Make me beg. And isn’t it just a little sweeter to know that I’ve never begged another man for anything? No man has ever touched me like you plan to? Or done any of the things you’re itching to do to me?”
“You are so in for it tonight, baby doll.”
AJ faced him. “Go ahead and think up a penalty, cowboy, because I’m telling you right now, I plan on being a little late.” She whirled on her bootheel and returned to the house.