Bourbon Summer, page 20
The bar was empty, the whole distillery was, but I only had the small round seat I was sitting on.
He lifted my leg from the stool’s footrest and draped it over his shoulder. My hold on the edge of the bar tightened. My legs were spread and his face was right there. “Tenor.”
“I like when you say my name.” He kissed the inside of my thigh, working his way closer to the juncture. Need quivered inside of me.
“Tenor,” I said again. I was on edge, ready to combust. If he didn’t release the pressure humming between my legs, I might just implode, and then I’d miss out on everything.
Still, he took his damn time. My underwear was still on. A pink pair that didn’t show seams. Nothing fancy. But the way Tenor looked at them, it didn’t matter. His unyielding expression, the heat in his eyes—he wanted what was underneath.
“You’re wet for me.” He placed a kiss on the fabric, right over my covered clit.
A shudder made my boobs jiggle. “Yes.”
He tucked a finger under the seam and dragged it through my folds. “So hot. So soft.”
Nothing but a whimper left me. I was close to a release but so far away.
The corner of his mouth kicked up before he turned serious again. He tugged the underwear to the side. “It’s been a long time since I’ve done this, Goldilocks.”
“I have a feeling you’re going to do it just right.” Tremors ran up and down my spine. I was balanced on a precipice. If he backed away, deciding to wait or that he didn’t want to break his dry streak for me, I’d be left empty. Unfulfilled. Bereft. On the other side was a whole new world of pleasure. A place I’d only dreamed about with him.
He held my gaze as he closed the distance between his mouth and my pussy, then he licked through me.
“Oh god.” I arched toward him. Just like his kiss, he deepened the pressure, lengthened the strokes of his tongue, until he was centered on my clit. I let out a ragged moan.
Both of my feet were on his shoulders. I was still in my skirt. Only my breasts spilled over my bra, but otherwise I was concealed. Yet Tenor had stripped me down to nothing but raw nerves that were starved for pleasure.
“You taste as sweet as I imagined.” His hot breath gusted over my sex. He licked again, moving his hands to keep the underwear out of the way and hold me open to him.
He dove in. If he hadn’t had a good hold on me, I would’ve slid right off the seat. I dropped my head back and rolled my hips into his mouth as much as I could.
Tenor really was showing me everything I’d been missing. Even with my underwear still on, this was the most amazing sexual experience of my life. And Tenor was fully clothed.
All my focus was on my sex, nothing but energy coursing through me, centering on where he stroked my clit with his talented tongue. Any hold I had on my pleasure fractured into a million pieces.
“Oh my god, Tenor,” I gasped. All my muscles constricted as unfiltered pleasure exploded from my core outward. “Tenor!”
My release went on and on, sweeping over me in waves. I shook against him but he held me tightly and kept stoking me higher and higher. The next second, he was rising. I kept my hold on the counter, the pleasure in my body still pitching me from side to side.
He dragged my underwear off and yanked his zipper down. I was trying to catch my breath when my gaze landed on his erection. It strained toward me, taut and veiny. Big and strong, just like him.
“It’s massive.” I widened my legs, the heels of my shoes pressed into his ass.
“And you’re nice and ready for me.” He notched himself at my entrance.
A quiver racked my body. Anticipation. An orgasm that was finished but also not completely done, another one climbing toward a peak, ready to go.
A slow push inside had me groaning. The sense of fullness was so right, yet he was barely inside. He drew back and shoved in a little deeper this time. I watched him push in, slide back out, and thrust in again.
I fisted my hands in his polo, drawing the fabric up to stay out of my way. I never thought a sight like this would get me off, but I was catapulting toward another peak. Maybe it was because I’d never come down, but I didn’t think so. The way Tenor’s body was rigid. How he was being so careful. That it was his cock stretching me open. Everything about him could get me off again and again.
I rocked against him, urging him to fill me completely.
“You’re a greedy girl.” His voice was gruff, thick.
“It feels so good.” There was no wondering if this was it. Thinking that I’d built sex up again and my expectations were unrealistic. No. Inch by inch, Tenor rebuilt each and every expectation. I’d already had an orgasm that showed me I had most definitely been missing a lot.
He punched his hips forward, and I gasped, my eyes rolling back. “So good,” I groaned.
“Fuck, Ruby.” He propped a hand on the counter behind me, a tremor traveling through him.
I kept undulating my hips, the need inside of me growing more and more demanding. There was another precipice and I had to get there.
He clamped a giant hand on my thigh. “Christ, you’ve gotta quit moving or I’m going to blow.”
“I can’t stop. You make me so—” I moaned. He filled me so completely that any small twitch hit all the right spots. “I’m going to come again.”
He pinned me with slitted eyes, his teeth gritted, like he was making a decision. Then he started moving, an erratic but strong rhythm. “So fucking wet and tight.”
My ass scraped across the stool, but he clamped my hips in both hands and held me still as he plunged into me. “Yes,” I hissed. I was so close.
“Fuck.” He ground against me, the sound of our skin slapping together filled the room. “Fuck, Ruby. You take it so well.”
I slammed to the top of my ecstasy and cartwheeled over the edge. “Tenor!”
I broke apart, splintering into a zillion pieces, but he held me together as he thrust in one last time. He clenched his teeth, throwing his head back. Hot release filled me and his big body shook.
When he quit shuddering and jerking, my legs started slipping down his hips. He gripped my calves, but I sank back, the hard line of the counter jabbing into my back. “Wow. That was . . . Wow.”
Hair hung over his forehead and he was breathing hard, but his lust-filled gaze was on me. “I’ll help you down. Then you’re coming home with me. I’m not done yet.”
Tenor
When I had woken up this morning, I’d anticipated a day full of self-torture, thinking about Ruby all day and how long it’d been since I’d seen her. Right before her shift started, I’d been glued to the goddamn window, watching the sway of her hips as she rushed toward the entrance. Her little skirt had swished around her thighs and then I couldn’t leave my fucking office until my dick had calmed down.
I’d only meant to talk to her. Then I’d seen her. Kissed her.
Now we were in my bed, our clothing strewn from the garage door to my room. She was on top of me, her legs draped over each side, her knees grinding into the mattress. Fucking heaven.
“Ride me,” I said through gritted teeth. “Just like that.”
Her tits bounced as she rocked on top of me. “I can’t believe I’m going to come again.” Her eyes went hazy and she spread her hands out on my chest.
“It won’t be the last time.” I planted my hands on her hips. It took everything in me not to flip us over and fuck her into oblivion. But twice wouldn’t be enough. My restraint was shot. Blown. She was mine for the whole night.
It wasn’t just that I was having sex again. Nothing had ever been this good. I couldn’t remember my previous times, but I’d never forget this.
Her walls fluttered over my dick and the rest of her body shook. When her breath hitched, I knew I had her. She dropped her head back, her dark hair waving behind her. “Tenor,” she gasped like she was scared of her own reaction.
“Come for me, Ruby.”
Another shudder racked her body. “Oh god.” The walls of her pussy gripped me so tight I couldn’t believe she could keep riding me. First, long, hard strokes, and then fast.
“Tenor!”
Heat rushed between us. I was barely able to keep from coming while she rode out her orgasm. Then, as soon as she slowed, I rolled us and pinned her hands above her head. She hitched her knees up and to the sides.
I plowed into her until my climax hit me square in the balls. I had to grit my teeth against the onslaught of pleasure. Energy raced down my spine and out of me with my release.
I’d never skipped protection, but as soon as she’d said she was on birth control, I hadn’t questioned the rest. Maybe I should’ve, but now that I’d come inside of her twice, I was a man consumed.
Sagging over her, I kept the bulk of my weight off her.
She let out a contented sigh. Her heels hit the mattress and she ran her hands up and down my back. “I did not think this was going to happen tonight,” she murmured.
“Me either.” I dropped a kiss on her neck and she shivered under me. I arranged us until we were under the covers.
She cuddled into my chest, tracing her fingers along the old silvery scars around my armpits. “I don’t want to ruin the mood, but what does tonight mean?”
It meant I’d done the worst thing possible. I’d proven that she was irresistible. That I could never get enough of her.
This was my chance to tell her that tonight was a one-off. A two-off. A three-fer before I was done with her. All I had to do was tell her that I still wasn’t interested in dating. She was gorgeous. Sexy. I couldn’t keep my hands off her, but if she wanted a relationship, she needed to look somewhere else. It had been hard, when all the others had left. Ruby could destroy me.
She went still. “If you don’t want to—”
I closed my hand around hers. The disappointment in her voice was too much. I couldn’t do it. Not tonight. Yet I wouldn’t make promises I couldn’t keep. “Do we have to give this a definition right now?”
“Oh. Okay. No.” She tucked her head into my chest. “Of course not.”
I winced. Fuck. “I like you. A lot. But I’m not ready—”
“No, I know.” She leaned back to look at me. “It’s all right. We’ll just enjoy each other.”
“You gonna still have sleepovers with me?”
She chewed on her lower lip. “Are you going to keep giving me multiple orgasms?”
I rolled her over to her back and slid down her body, pressing her legs open as I went. “Absolutely.”
I rounded the barn, checking my watch. I’d only done it a million times today. I hadn’t complained about getting up to help with chores since I was a kid and Dad had turned the light on in my room before the crack of dawn.
But after taking Ruby three different times last night and getting only a few hours of sleep, I’d gotten cranky having to drag myself from her warm, supple body.
Now, it was finally time for me to go. Tate and Teller could take care of the rest. Chance was baling hay in the flattest pasture we had while Tate was stacking the round bales at our storage point.
I found Teller hopping the fence by the horse pasture.
“I think I’m going to head out—” Blood dripped down our roan gelding’s face. “What happened to Tenpin?”
“Not sure.” Teller tried to get close but Tenpin tossed his head. “Whatever it is, it hurts.”
Shit. “I’ll call Dr. Sanders.” The semiretired vet now only worked weekends, when he could charge emergency rates.
“Yeah, I don’t think we’ll be able to take care of this ourselves.”
Dr. Sanders would have the good stuff.
I called him. Teller and I managed to coax the horse into the barn. We had a stall where we could treat him without outside disruption, and since the horse was in pain and anxious, we needed all the advantages we could get.
The next two hours went by in a whirlwind. Tate had dropped by to see what was going on. Then Chance had to take a look. It was good experience for the kid since this would be all his one day.
Unless I had kids.
No. I wasn’t getting ahead of myself, and I wasn’t going there. I’d only just started dating after swearing I wouldn’t.
You’re going to hold my daughter back. I shook the words out of my head.
I folded my arms across my chest and watched Dr. Sanders as he rattled off instructions to Tate. I should have been listening, but my brain was stuck on a pretty little social media manager.
I stayed where I was as Dr. Sanders drove away in his early-aughts Chevy pickup.
Mama was standing next to me, her arms crossed like mine. “He was probably playing with Nugget and caught his face on a fence post.”
“I’ll see if I can find where he hurt himself,” Teller said. “Remove the hazard.”
Mama chuffed. “Horses will create a hazard if there isn’t one.”
We all nodded.
I started backing away. The siren song of Ruby in my house called to me. “I’m gonna head out.”
“I can always tell it’s a Ruby weekend,” Teller said.
Tate smirked. “Every weekend’s been a Ruby weekend.”
I wanted every day to be a Ruby day.
I ignored them and walked out.
“Hey,” Teller called and I turned. “I checked my email this morning. Tell her we got two inquiries for next summer. Weddings, and both brides wanted to know if they could name a mocktail or a cocktail.”
My grin spread wide. It’d only been two weeks since the Crock wedding, but Ruby had rolled out a dozen posts. Wynter had commented that they were getting more engagement than our normal content. I wouldn’t be able to tell if it translated into sales for a while, but the possibility of booking more events was promising. “She’s a natural.”
“We also had to add more tours for the rest of summer,” Teller said. “Her shit works fast.” He exhaled a frustrated sigh. “I might have to get in front of the camera.”
“We don’t want to scare the tours away,” I joked.
He glowered at me. “I’m gonna get you in a shot one day. We can compete to see who gets the most likes.”
I didn’t need to be compared to my brothers more than I already was. I didn’t need more proof that I didn’t measure up in the public eye. “Sure.”
“She’s good for you,” Tate said.
I shrugged as panic clawed at my chest. I gave them a salute and continued walking away before they could sense something bothered me.
The last month had been amazing. It’d been pretend. Ruby had rolled with every facet of myself I had exposed, but that didn’t mean it’d last. It only meant it’d hurt more if things didn’t work between us.
Good thing nothing was defined, then.
What the hell was I thinking?
I wasn’t. I couldn’t stay away from her. Weeks of trying, of striving to be the type of guy she should date, had sapped my restraint. Ruby had dismantled my guards. Now I was flying through space without my armor, waiting to get blasted through the chest by an Ork.
Mama fell into step beside me. She moved like the bad guy in a horror movie. I could run from her, but she’d only walk calmly and somehow still catch up with me before I made it to an exit.
“Hey, Mama.”
“Tenor.”
When I got to my pickup, she patted me on the back. “Just a minute. I have some cookies to send with you.”
“You don’t need to give me treats to tell me something.”
She smiled. The sun broke through some clouds, and her gray strands glinted in the light. “I was giving you the cookies anyway, but I wanted to ask how you’re doing.”
“I’m good.”
“Ruby’s a special girl.”
“She is.”
Mama tipped her head. “You’re a special guy too.”
I nodded. “Thanks.”
“She’s as lucky to have you as you are her.”
I bit back a grimace. Mama was the only one to think that, but she was my mother. It was her job. “I know, Mama. I heard your message the other night.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Mm.” Her expression said Did you? “She treats you well.”
She apparently wanted to make a point and didn’t think it’d stuck the first time. “She didn’t run screaming when she saw I played with toys.”
Mama harrumphed. “All adults have toys, whether it’s games or fishing or engines.”
Sure. I did hunt and fish, and that had caused resentment with my ex too. Just another way I had ignored her needs.
“It’s been, what? A couple of months since you two started dating?”
To them? Yes. But officially dating? Zero weeks. “Yeah.”
The scrutiny intensified. “Mm-hmm. Have you met her parents yet?”
“It’s not that serious.” When her brows popped up, I backtracked. “We’re taking it slow. No rush. She already knew you and every other Bailey.”
“Have you been to Bozeman?”
“I don’t have business in Bozeman.” Dammit. Now she’d really suspect something. Not only was the other location of Copper Summit in Bozeman, but Ruby lived there. “I haven’t needed to travel. She’s in town every weekend.”
“You don’t have anything to worry about. You never have.”
The berating I had gotten from Katrina’s dad suggested otherwise. “Thanks, Mama.”
She set her mouth in a line. She knew I was brushing off her pep talk. I wasn’t meeting Ruby’s parents anytime soon. We weren’t serious.
Acid crawled up my esophagus. Fake dating should not be that much different from not that serious, but my stomach clenched at the idea and threatened to toss it back up.
I did not want to date. But I wanted Ruby.
My taste for her was stronger than my sense of self-preservation. I kissed Mama’s temple. “Don’t worry. I’m just happy being with her right now.” And that was the truth, or I’d have left my grubby hands off her last night.
With a plate of cookies in the passenger seat, I arrived home. The house was quiet when I entered. Out front, she was sitting in the porch swing, rocking gently back and forth while buried in a book.
