Borrowed Cowboy (Shadow Maverick Ranch) (6 page)

“Call you tonight?”

Her heart soared. “You better.”

Chapter Ten

Pax made good on his promise to call.

He called every night for a week, so when her phone rang late on Friday night, Reese wasn’t surprised.

“Hi, beautiful. You home yet?”

She experienced a rush of pleasure at hearing his voice. Reese turned her key in the lock. The man had impeccable timing. “Walking in now.”

“How’d it go?”

She tossed her purse and keys on the narrow counter that served as a pass-through to her kitchen.

“Without a hitch.” She’d been planning the fundraiser for a local children’s hospital for months. “They raised a lot of money, and I found the perfect caterer for Gavin and Lauren’s wedding.”

Surprise colored his tone. “Yeah?”

“I’ve been hesitant to mention them to Lauren. They were highly recommended, but I’ve never seen them in action until tonight. The food was delicious, and perfect for what Lauren envisioned. I won’t bore you with the details. What did you do today?”

“You never bore me, darlin’. You wanna talk boring? I spent a good part of the day in the office with Gavin.”

She snickered. “In the office?” As memory served, Pax hated anything to do with paperwork. Or being cooped up inside. He preferred fresh air and wide-open spaces.

“Not my favorite thing to do, but sometimes, a necessary evil. There’s a neighboring property we’d like to buy. We had a conference call with our dad this morning. Sort of a status update, I guess you could say. Then I spent the next few hours going over land surveys and next year’s breeding schedule. Tedious stuff.”

Right. Tedious. He loved every minute of it, just as she loved her work. “Are your parents enjoying their vacation?”

Reese made her way to the bedroom. She kicked off her heels, shouldered the phone, and worked the sheer pantyhose down her legs. Wearing pantyhose on a hot Texas night should be a crime. She sat on the edge of the bed and flexed her toes, groaning as her muscles cooled and relaxed.

“Pax?”

“They are.” Pax’s voice turned sultry smooth. “What are you doing?”

She fell back on the bed. “I’m reveling in being out of those shoes. And don’t get me started on the pantyhose.”

“If I were there, you’d be out of more than just your hose and shoes.”

Her body reacted to his threat, heat pooling between her thighs. “Promises, promises.”

Reese ran a hand over her breast. God, she missed him. Their work schedules had made getting together impossible over the last week. They had their date for Mrs. Sinclair’s seafood boil tomorrow, and it couldn’t come soon enough. Reese was counting down the hours until Pax picked her up.

The night of Patrick’s death had haunted her for so long. She felt lighter, happier than she had in years. Reese never dreamed they’d be in this place. She and Pax. Rediscovering the connection between them.

Their nightly conversations had been tame. A ritualistic check-in at the end of each day that screamed
relationship
. They’d begun to get to know each other again, which seemed odd considering in the two times she’d seen him, he’d made her come more times than she could count.

Leave it to them to do things backward.

Pax continued to avoid the topic of his marriage and Reese didn’t push. She’d figured out most of it on her own, anyway. Reese hadn’t been entirely forthcoming, either. She’d never been married, but she’d been asked. Recently. Pax deserved to know, but how does one go about saying
Hey, this guy I refused to marry keeps calling…

Yeah, not so easy when the man she loved was looking for a reason not to trust her. Whether he realized he was doing it or not.

One day, he’d trust her to protect his heart. The last thing she wanted to do was give him a reason not to.

Reese filled her lungs, prepared to broach the subject.

He’d be cool. Pax would see the situation for what it was. Reese wasn’t interested in Todd or anything he had to offer. Pax owned her heart. Okay, so she wouldn’t share that last part. Call it a defense mechanism. Whatever. Her heart wasn’t a card she was ready to play.

“Tell me about the dress you’re wearing. I assume you’re in a dress?”

Pax’s words startled her back to the conversation. “Well … yes. For the moment I am. A cocktail dress. Simple. Nothing flashy.” She was often expected to attend the fundraisers she planned. She dressed the part, but preferred to stay on the sidelines to make sure everything went as scheduled.

“Gonna need a little more for the visual I’m trying to create here, sweetheart.”

And she’d just lost her opening to a conversation that would now have to wait. Not for long, though. Soon.

“It’s just a dress. Spaghetti straps. Modest…” She glanced at her cleavage. “…modest-
ish
. Black and turquoise. That’s sort of a green—”

“I know what turquoise looks like. Keep going. Is it a long dress?”

“No, short.”

He growled. “How short?”

Reese hummed into the phone, warming to his game. “Short enough.”

“Take it off.”

Her stomach clenched at the demand. “What?”

“Take. It. Off.”

Reese squeezed her legs together. She could come from the dominance in his voice. “I’ll have to put the phone down.”

“Put me on speaker.”

Reese stood and placed the phone on the table next to her bed. “Okay, mister bossy-pants. You’re on speaker.”

“I seem to remember you enjoyed my commands once. Is my memory failing?”

Reese shuddered a breath. “No.”

“No, my memory isn’t failing? Or no, you didn’t enjoy it? I can’t see you, sweets. Can’t read your expressions or body language, so you’ll have to verbalize. Be specific, please, so I don’t misunderstand.”

Fuck.

Her whole body shook, a pulse that started in her pussy and traveled out in all directions.

“Yes, Paxton.” She spoke strong and true. “I enjoyed your commands. Enjoyed them very much, as you well know. Your memory is quite intact.” She reached for the zipper hidden along her side. “Specific enough for you?”

“It’s a start. Get that dress off. Just the dress.”

“I’ve already taken my shoes off. If you tell me to put the hose back on, I might have to kill you.”

“We’ll save that fantasy for another time. For now, do as I asked and then lie down on the bed.”

“And then what?” Reese took her time with the zipper. Being sexy wasn’t her forte. Whenever she’d tried for a look or a pose, she felt awkward and silly. Yet, Reese found the act of stripping for a man who wasn’t there to see strangely erotic.

Not any man.
Paxton
.

“So impatient. Maybe we should stop.”

Her fingers froze their downward movement. The dark edge in his tone warned he’d do it. She glared at the phone. “No.”

He
tsked
. “No what, Reese?”

Right. “I don’t want to stop.” Specific. “Undress me, Paxton.”

An animalistic growl vibrated through the line. “The dress. Off. Now.”

She imagined his eyes, heavy-lidded and hungry. His wicked lips, promising pleasure. His powerful hands, touching, teasing, demanding.

She lowered her shoulders, allowing the tiny straps to fall across her biceps. A quick shimmy and the dress pooled at her ankles.

“It’s off.” She stepped out of the material. The urge to hang it up tempted her. Would he stop the game if she diverted to the closet? She’d rather not find out.

Clad in her bra and panties, Reese crawled up the bed, putting on a show he couldn’t see. She didn’t care. On hands and knees, Reese arched her back, raised her ass in the air and stretched her arms. The position tightened her panties, adding a delicious pressure that wasn’t enough.

She imagined him spread across his bed, hard and aching. For her. Arousal filled her blood.

More. She needed more. Reese rolled to her back. “I’m on the bed.”

His voice lowered to a husky whisper. “And I’m a lucky man. Close your eyes, darlin’.”

She did. His blatant sensuality warmed her, drew a moan from her lips as she waited for his next command.

“Cup your breasts. Describe to me what you feel.”

Reese was grateful to have both hands free as she palmed her breasts. “I feel lace. Black lace.”

He chuckled. “Your eyes are supposed to be closed.”

“They are. You said specific. I know what color my bra and panties are. Now, so do you.”

“Good girl. Continue.”

Her skin pebbled as she trailed her fingertips along the scalloped edge of her bra. “Textured. Soft.” Across the upper swell of her breast. “My skin is warm.” Her pinkie fingers grazed the front closure. “The clasp is hard. Unforgiving. Smooth.”

“Unhook it.” His purred demand held a sharp edge.

The sweet man who’d called her to say goodnight each evening was gone. This man on the phone, so confident, so innately sexual … this was the man she remembered, the man her body had craved for years.

Had she really thought to rid herself of him?

Silly, idiotic woman.

Reese released the clasp and moved the cups aside. She cradled her freed breasts, tested their weight as she imagined Pax would do, but went no further. Her nipples ached, begged for attention, but she resisted.

“Are your nipples hard?”

Her fingers hovered, primed to touch. Waiting. “Yes.”

“Pinch them,” came his next demand, as though he sensed what she needed.

“Yes,” she murmured and complied. A tiny whimper escaped her lips.

“Harder.”

Reese gasped, her fingers reacting before her brain had time to process. They were her hands, but Pax was the one touching her, directing her pleasure.

Sparks of sensation shot across her breasts. She firmed her touch, rolling the tight buds until she cried out.

“Feels good, doesn’t it? I know what you like, Reese. I’ve always known. My girl likes a twinge of pain with her pleasure, don’t you baby?”

She did. Oh god, she did.

“How about we see if your pussy likes the same attention?”

“Jesus.” Her hips curled of their own accord, already on board with the suggestion.

“Is that a yes, sweets?”

Reese groaned, forced her hands to stay in place when all she could think about was shoving them into her panties and finishing what he’d started. Wouldn’t take much.

“Reese?”

Damn it. Was he kidding? “Yes, Pax. That’s a yes. Hell-yes. Please-yes.”

“Take off your panties.”

His hoarse tone sparked a moment of clarity. “What about you?” Was he touching himself? The image of his strong hand wrapped around his cock almost did her in.

“Don’t you worry about me, darlin’. The next time I come, I’ll be buried balls deep in that sweet pussy you’re about to touch.”

“But—”

“Panties, Reese,” he ordered. “Now.”

With lightening speed, she pulled her arms from her bra, and shed her panties, tossing both over the edge of the bed.

“Slide your hands down. Don’t break contact with that beautiful skin.” He’d apparently regained some control as his tone smoothed to warm honey. “Bend your knees and let them fall open.”

Cool air met the moist heat between her legs. Her palms traveled over her abdomen. Her sex convulsed, the sensation ramping her arousal to painful proportions. The need to move, to find release, overwhelmed her.

“Paxton.”

“I’m right here, baby. Keep going, but do not touch your clit. Not yet. You have to earn it.”

He was trying to kill her. Kill. Her.

“What do you want?” She infused her voice with strength, determined to crack, if not break, his control. She wanted him with her. All the way. “Do you want me to shove my fingers where I want your cock?”

She did. No instruction, no command needed. Reese twisted her wrist and pushed two fingers deep. Her gasp filled the room.

“Did you just—”

“Oh, yes.” She worked her fingers in and out, adding a third to the mix. Too late to turn back now, Reese took his game to the next level. “I did, just.”

“Someone is lookin’ to have her sweet little ass spanked, is that it?”

Not her ass. Although the thought of his hands on her, anywhere on her, pushed her to the brink. Her legs trembled, her muscles tightened until she couldn’t breathe.

Instinct and desire took over.

She jerked her fingers from her sex and flattened them together.

Slap, slap, slap.

“What the hell are you doing?”

Lightening surged through her sex each time her slick fingers made contact. “Earning it,” she choked out as pleasure swamped her.

Violent curses fell through the phone. “Do it. Finish it, Reese. And don’t be quiet about it. Damn it. Let me hear you.”

Not a problem.

“How about we see if your pussy likes the same attention?”
Paxton’s dark promise filled her mind.

Heart pounding, Reese found her swollen clit and pinched hard, rolled the sensitive bud until the world exploded in a sheen of white.

She cried out. Maybe his name, maybe for an unseen deity. She didn’t know.

Her back arched, her stomach undulated through each pulse of her release. Warmth coated her fingers as she slowed her movements, her breath choppy and harsh.

Her body, drained of energy, melted into the mattress.

“Fuck, Reese. That was…” A heavy breath sounded. “Do you have to work on Sunday?”

“What?”

“Sunday. Do you have plans?”

Her head spun. He wanted to talk about plans? Now, when she could barely think straight? “No. I’m free Sunday,” she managed.

“Not anymore. Pack an overnight bag.”

So demanding. She smiled. “Where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise. We’ll head out after the party tomorrow, okay?”

A whole night in his arms? “Yes. That sounds perfect.”

“I’ve gotta go, Reese. My balls are in desperate need of an ice pack.”

“An ice pack?”

“Cold shower isn’t going to do it.”

So, after everything they’d just done, he’d still managed to maintain some control. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. “You didn’t come.”

“I told you where I’d be the next time that happened. Tomorrow, all bets are off. You’re mine until Sunday night, got it?”

She’d be his until the end of her days. “Got it.”

“Sleep well, beautiful. I’ll pick you up around ten in the morning.”

“Looking forward to it.” Reese scooted toward her headboard and reached for the phone. “Goodnight, Pax.”

I love you.