Jenna knew every makeout spot in town, but she had to admit that Hunter surprised her when he turned down a dusty back road that wound its way up and down several hills before winding to a stop at the edge of a rocky cliff.
She glanced through the windshield at the lake that shimmered in the moonlight below.
Rebel Lake had been a popular spot back in the day, but she’d never seen it from this angle.
“Please don’t tell me we’re trespassing on private property.”
“This old road does cross the Benjamin spread, but since the old man died the place has been all but deserted. I’ve been keeping an eye on it for his daughter while she straightens out all the legal issues with the will. She’s planning to put it up for sale as soon as the deed is transferred to her name.”
“That’s a shame. It’s beautiful out here,” she said as he swung the truck around and backed up to the edge of the cliff.
“Benjamin used to run cattle a long time ago, but he let the place go to hell after his wife died. There are a few head here and there, but mostly it’s just lots of space and great views. I think the old man hoped his daughter and her husband would move back and run a few head. Maybe even buy some horses.” He killed the engine, climbed out, and went to open up the back of the SUV.
“I can see this place running horses,” she said as she followed him around to the back of the SUV.
The sharp drop-off overlooked a spectacular view of the canyon and the rippling water. The lake below had always been a hot spot for teens and several small bonfires blazed along the riverbank below. Ice chests lined the water’s edge and Brantley Gilbert blasted from nearby truck speakers.
“I spent many a Saturday night down by that riverbank,” she murmured.
“You and me both.” He winked and settled on the back edge of the SUV. He patted the spot next to him. “But I think the view’s a helluva lot better up here.” She knew he was talking about the lake, but his gaze never left hers as he patted the seat next to him. “Hop up.”
She hesitated, a crazy reaction because Jenna Tucker didn’t hesitate when it came to men.
But this man was different.
He made her feel as if it were her first time settling down on the back of a tailgate, the moonlight overhead, the excitement zipping up and down her spine.
She climbed up and settled next to him.
He shifted his attention to the scene spread out before them. “I used to camp out at the lake back when I was bronc bustin’. We’d bring a couple cases of beer and unwind after a Saturday night ride. It’s still just as pretty as ever. But then you’ve probably camped out down there a time or two.”
“Or three.” Her gaze followed the direction of his and she drank in the scene. A strange sense of longing went through her.
For the woman she’d once been.
The past she’d left behind.
The house that was this close to biting the dust in less than a few days.
She ignored the crazy thoughts. She was happy with the progress she was making. The changes.
They were good.
Great.
She focused on the frantic beat of her own heart and the six-foot-plus of warm, hard male sitting next to her. “I doubt you just sat by the water and drank beer with your buddies,” she told him. “To hear tell it, you had quite the reputation yourself.”
“Surely you know better than to believe everything you hear.”
“Am I wrong?”
“No. But times change. I changed.”
“I wish you’d share your secret. I’ve been trying to walk the straight and narrow and, for the most part, I’m making progress, but you know what they say. You’re always seventeen in your hometown.”
“Be careful what you wish for.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” She slid him a sideways glance.
He seemed as if he wanted to say something, but then he shook his head. “You’re right. I didn’t spend most of my time down by the lake just drinking beer.”
“Or enjoying the view.”
A grin tugged at his lips. “Oh, I enjoyed it plenty. It just didn’t have much to do with the water. Thirsty?” His deep voice slid into her ears and distracted her from the dangerous path her thoughts were taking.
She nodded. The SUV rocked as he slid off the tailgate to retrieve a small Yeti cooler from the front seat.
She drew several deep breaths and damned herself for not insisting they stay at her place. At the same time, she couldn’t deny that he had a point. Last night had been fast and furious and much too fleeting. Maybe they did need to take their time and ease into things. Enjoy the moment. Milk it for all it was worth.
The notion sent a burst of excitement through her, almost as fierce as what she felt when he actually touched her. Her body tingled. Her nipples jumped to attention. A blazing heat swept her nerve endings and made it suddenly hard to breathe.
* * *
“It’s awful hot.” His deep voice drew her attention as he walked back, two beers in hand.
She took the bottle he offered her and held tight to the ice-cold brew. The icy condensation was a welcome relief against her blazing hot skin.
He hefted himself back onto the tailgate. Metal shifted and rocked and his thigh brushed hers.
A shock wave traveled across her nerve endings and made her hands tremble. She tightened her grip on the glass bottle and let the coldness sink into her skin.
Laughter drifted from below, the sound drawing her back to the past, to the many nights she’d spent with friends and the long list of bad boys who’d colored her reputation.
Funny, but at that moment she couldn’t recall one face. They blurred in comparison to the tall, dark man that sat next to her, his blue eyes reflecting moonlight.
She took a pull on her beer and stared at the scene before her, her mind completely aware of the man sitting only inches away. As anxious as she was to get down to business, there was something oddly comforting about the silence that stretched between them, around them, twining tighter, pulling them closer. As if they were old friends who’d shared this exact moment time and time again.
As if.
Even so, a strange sense of camaraderie settled between them as they sat there for the next few moments. She sipped her beer while he downed the rest of his. One last swig and he set the bottle between them. It clinked and toppled onto its side, and she couldn’t help herself.
“Did you ever play Truth or Dare?”
* * *
“I did a lot of things back in the day.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“That sometimes it’s a lot less work living up to people’s expectations than it is changing their minds.” He gave her a pointed look. “But then Sawyers don’t take the easy way out. That’s what my Mimi always told me.”
“Neither do Tuckers. That’s what James Harlin always told me. Then again, what he said and what he did were two very different things. I’d say he definitely took the easy way out.”
“He didn’t blow himself up on purpose.”
“Didn’t he?” She shrugged, that night rushing back into her mind until she could all but smell the smoke and hear the sirens. “He’d been working with that still too long to get sloppy. That explosion wouldn’t have happened unless he wanted it to.”
“It was an accident.”
“Was it?” She voiced the one question that still haunted her. He’d always been so careful. No matter how drunk. How belligerent. He’d been different when it came to his shine. Methodical. “I can’t help but think that maybe he just gave up. Everybody gets tired of trying.” Of living up to expectations. Or, in James Harlin’s case, not living up to them. He’d been a big disappointment for the most part. Maybe that truth had finally gotten to him. “Maybe he blew himself up on purpose.”
“I don’t know what was going through his mind that night,” Hunter murmured, “but I do know that he didn’t do it on purpose. Something was off.”
“Is that why you haven’t officially closed the investigation?”
He nodded. “The pieces just don’t fit.” And then he clamped his mouth shut on the subject as if words couldn’t begin to explain his suspicions. “There’s nothing specific. Just a feeling that there’s more to it.”
“A cop’s hunch?”
“Something like that. Listen, I’m really sorry about what happened. I know it was hard on you and your sisters.”
“We were used to being on our own.” What she wasn’t used to was the crazy emptiness that now sat inside her. The knowledge that her granddad was gone and never coming back. She’d been too young to feel the loss with her parents, but James Harlin … “I never thought I’d miss the old guy.” She stiffened. “I shouldn’t miss him.”
“Yeah, well, what we should do and what actually happens are two different things.”
“What do you mean?”
“I shouldn’t miss my brother. It’s not like we were close. We were always at odds. My dad pitted us against each other. It was always a contest, right up until the day I left. If you had asked me back then if I thought I would ever miss my brother, I would have said no. Hell, I would have thought it would be a relief not to have him around. No more competition. No constantly trying to measure up.” He stared out at the scene below. “But then he became this saint and the pressure was even worse. Be as good as Travis. As upstanding. As respectable.”
“I’d say you’re measuring up just fine.”
“I’m holding my own,” he said after a long moment, as if hearing her say the words reaffirmed something deep inside. “So are you. You’re growing up, Jenna Tucker.”
“Because I’m not running around with every man that smiles my way?”
“Because you’re reaching for something more.”
“I don’t know if I’ll ever get there. The closer I get, the farther away that horse farm feels. And even if I do get it up and running, I’m not so sure I’ll have enough business to stay in business.”
“So?”
“So it all seems so futile sometimes.”
“Maybe, but you reach for it anyway. You can’t let your fears stop you. When I first ran for sheriff, the odds were not in my favor. But I did it anyway and look at me now, about to go for a third term.”
“You don’t sound all that excited.” Something flashed in his gaze and she knew she’d touched on a sensitive subject. His look shuttered and she grasped for something to keep him talking, because as much as she wanted to get busy with Hunter DeMassi, she suddenly liked talking to him just as much. “How long has it been since you’ve ridden a bronc?”
“Over ten years.”
“Don’t you miss it?”
“Miss the aching shoulders and the cracked ribs?” He shook his head. “Picking yourself up after a hard throw is nothing but agony.”
“So why did you do it in the first place?”
“Because the first few seconds were enough of a rush that it made the hurt worth it.”
“And do you get the same rush from being sheriff?”
He shrugged. “Sometimes when I’m working a tough case. But not that many tough cases cross my desk in a small town like Rebel. For the most part, it’s pretty calm. Tame.”
Exactly what she wanted for herself. Or so she thought.
But seeing the flash of longing in his gaze, for another time and another place, another rush of excitement made her think that maybe, just maybe, walking the straight and narrow wasn’t all she’d built it up to be.
“Tame is good,” she heard herself say, but she no more believed it than he did at that moment.
There was just something almost sad about the look in his gaze and before she could stop herself, she slid off the tailgate and pulled him to his feet.
“What are you doing?”
“Trying to liven things up.”
“I thought you said tame was good.”
“I lied.” Before he could say a word, she stood directly in front of him and nudged his knees apart.
Anticipation rippled through her as she leaned up on her tiptoes and leaned in close. His warm breath tickled her bottom lip and her mouth opened.
“Are you going to kiss me again?”
“Only if you don’t start kissing me first,” she murmured a split second before her mouth touched his.
The kiss was soft and sweet at first, but then he slid off the tailgate in front of her, pulled her close, and suddenly it was raging hotter than a forest fire.
He held her close and explored her mouth with his own, touching and tasting and taking her breath away until she clung to him for a long moment. And then he lifted her, sitting her on the tailgate and stepping between her legs to get closer for those next few breath-stealing moments.
The cold metal of the SUV bed met her back when he urged her back down, leaning over her, their lips still pressed together, tongues still tangled.
He pulled back, leaving her panting and staring up at him as he reached for the hem of her dress. He pushed it up her thigh, his gaze locked with hers.
“I guess we’re getting to the good stuff now,” she murmured even though the past few minutes talking had been pretty nice, too.
“Oh, it’s going to get good, all right.” He continued pushing her dress up her leg, his fingers grazing her supersensitive skin. “Great, in fact.”
The sultry promise chased the oxygen from her lungs as he urged her legs apart and wedged himself between her knees. His fingertips swept from her calves, up the outside of her knees until his hands came to rest on her thighs.
He touched his mouth to the inside of her thigh just a few inches shy of her panties. He nibbled and licked and worked his way slowly toward the heart of her. She found herself opening her legs even wider, begging him closer, eager for the bliss he’d shown her that night on the porch swing.
But this seemed different somehow. More intimate.
She wasn’t sure if it was because they’d talked for those few minutes, but she felt closer to him somehow.
Connected.
He trailed his tongue over the silk covering her wet heat and pushed the material into her slit until her flesh plumped on either side. She was so wet and he seemed to relish the discovery, tasting her sweetness as if she were a fine wine. He licked and nibbled at her until her entire body wound so tight she thought she would shatter at any moment.
She didn’t.
She couldn’t.
Not until she felt him flush against her body with no barriers between them. No clothing. No fear. No secrets.
Crazy.
There were plenty of secrets still left between them. Plenty of walls firmly in place.
She held tight to the thought and focused on the large hands gripping her panties.
She lifted her hips to accommodate him. The satin material slithered down her legs and landed on the trunk bed next to her.
He caught her thighs and pulled her toward the end of the tailgate, until her bottom was just shy of the edge. Grabbing her ankles, he urged her knees over his shoulders.
He slid his large hands beneath her buttocks and tilted her just enough. Dipping his head, he flicked his tongue along the seam between her slick folds in a long, slow lick that sent a moan bursting from her lips.
His tongue parted her and he lapped at her sensitive clit. He tasted and savored, his tongue stroking, plunging, driving her mindless until she knew she couldn’t hold out any longer. Her cry shattered the darkness around them, mingling with the sounds that drifted from the riverbank below.
* * *
Her heart beat a frantic pace for the next few moments as she tried to come to terms with what had just happened.
She’d had the mother of all orgasms. An orgasm worthy of the most erotic dream.
But as satisfied as she felt, it still wasn’t enough.
She opened her eyes to find him staring at her. A fierce look gleamed in his bright blue eyes, one that said he never meant to let her go, and a spurt of warmth went through her.
Followed by a rush of panic because there was no truth to any of it. The heat of the moment. The frenzied thoughts sparked by a good orgasm. This wasn’t the beginning of anything permanent. It was all purely temporary. A fleeting moment in her life that she would remember fondly on all the lonely nights to follow.
That’s why she’d agreed to this in the first place. A few days of lust and then they both walked away. She kept walking the straight and narrow, and so did he.
My turn.
That’s what she wanted to say, but she wouldn’t. While she’d agreed to indulge her lust for him, she had no intention of unleashing the bad girl that she’d locked down deep. Giving in to him was one thing, but turning the tables and taking charge?
Not happening.
Not yet.
The notion whispered through her and she stiffened.
“Stand up,” he murmured, killing the push/pull of emotion inside of her and she quickly obliged.
She slid to her feet to stand in front of him. Her dress fell back down her thighs, covering the fact that her panties still hung on the edge of his tailgate.
A fact he was all too aware of if the tense set to his jaw was any indication.
He stood in front of her, his eyes gleaming in the growing shadows that surrounded them. His muscles bunched beneath his T-shirt. Taut lines carved his face, making him seem harsh, fierce, hungry.
She knew the feeling.
She swallowed against the sudden hollowness in her throat and fought to keep from reaching for the left strap of her sundress. But then he murmured “Undress,” and she quickly obliged.
She slid one strap free, then the next, until the soft cotton material slid down her chest, her waist, her thighs, to pool at her feet. She reached for her bra next, her fingers going to the front clasp.
A quick flick and the cups fell away.
His gaze darkened and his nostrils flared, as if he couldn’t get enough oxygen.
Her lips parted as she tried to drag some much-needed air into her own lungs. Her breasts heaved and his eyes shimmered.
* * *
“Damn, but you’re something else, Jenna.” The words were reverent and for a brief moment, she forgot all about the future and the past—everything save this moment and the urges building inside of her.
“I want to see you,” she murmured.
“Soon, but you’re still not done yet.” His deep voice slithered into her ears and amped up her heartbeat.
“I don’t have any clothes left.”
“I do. Take them off.”
She stepped forward to grasp the edges of his shirt. Flesh grazed flesh as she obliged him, pushing the material over his shoulders, down his arms, until it fell away and joined her discarded clothes. A brief hesitation and she reached for the waistband of his jeans.
A groan rumbled from his throat as her fingertips trailed over the denim-covered bulge. She paused, playing over and over the rock-hard erection until she couldn’t stand it a moment longer. She wanted to feel the real thing in her hands. Working the zipper down, she tugged and pulled until the teeth finally parted. The jeans sagged on his hips. His cock sprang hot and pulsing into her hands.
She traced the ripe purple head before sliding her hand down his length, stroking, exploring. His dark flesh throbbed against her palm and her own body shuddered in response. She licked her lips and fought the urge to drop to her knees and taste him.
Luckily, he wasn’t nearly as restrained.
He drew her to him and kissed her roughly, his tongue delving deep over and over until the ground seemed to tilt. And then he swept her up, laid her on the tailgate, spread her legs and sank hilt-deep inside.