Too Hot to Handle (20 page)

Merry handed her keys to Rayleen, they said their goodbyes and then she was in Shane’s truck and on her way home.

“Jesus,” he said, “I was afraid you wouldn’t come.”

“I thought maybe you wanted to get to bed.”

“I did. Was I not clear?”

Her own laughter surprised her. It was deep and husky and pleased, but she wasn’t used to this. She wasn’t used to being someone’s secret. Or an object of desire. It was really…really…

Completely fucking awesome.

Her Wonder Woman T-shirt had worked its charm. Best superhero ever.

Shane reached across the truck to put his hand on her thigh. Merry watched his wide hand settle on her leg. She wanted this image in her mind forever. His tanned fingers, slightly dusted with hair, spread across her thigh. The fingertips blunt and wide and rough from work. They looked so beautiful and unfamiliar, despite that they’d already been inside her body.

The last glimmer of evening light caught his face, the shadows making his jaw even harder, and Merry watched him for a dozen heartbeats. More. This was a scene from someone else’s life. A handsome man in a cowboy hat driving a pickup truck through the mountains. His hand on the thigh of his lover. The moonless night hiding their secrets.

Her window was cracked, but Merry rolled it all the way down. She wanted to feel everything tonight, so she let her arm slide out the window and cupped her hand to catch the bright cold of the air. And her other hand… Her other hand she slid down Shane’s arm, over his warm skin and soft hair and flexing muscles. She spread her fingers over his and held his hand to her leg.

She had no idea why, but this moment felt important. A stolen breath between before and after.

His hand turned up and he folded her fingers into his. “Will you be in Providence tomorrow?”

“Not until late. I’ve got to get to the printer’s first thing. I’m trying to cobble together a press package before the board meeting tomorrow.”

“I’m not sure how much more time I’ll be able to put in on the saloon. Work is getting tight. I thought I’d finish up the floor tomorrow, but after that…”

She squeezed his hand. “I understand.” She did, but her chest still ached a little. He wasn’t there often, but she’d liked that promise. Of knowing he might surprise her. Of wondering when he would show up. Usually he’d just gone straight to the saloon, but sometimes he’d stopped in to say hi. And now that they were lovers, she realized she’d been crafting moments in her head, assigning him lines and stolen kisses and afternoons when he couldn’t keep his hands off her. “I’m thankful for what you’ve done,” she said, instead of asking him to keep coming every day.

“Do you think you could come by after the board meeting? I wanted to show you something.”

She forgot her strange mood and turned toward him. “What?”

“It’s a surprise.”

She shook his hand like a rag. “What surprise?”

Shane laughed and twisted free of her grip to squeeze her thigh. “You’ll have to wait and see.”

“Noooo! No fair! I’m going before the board tomorrow! If it’s something I can—”

“No. It’s just for you. Not for the board. Not for the paper.”

He sounded serious, so Merry tried to contain her excitement. And failed. “Just give me a hint. Please? I can’t take it. What is it? Did you find something? Is it in the saloon? Was there something hidden under the floorboards? Is it treasure?”

“God, Merry.” He chuckled. “You’re like a kid.”

“I’m not! I just love surprises.”

“She says in her Wonder Woman shirt.”

Her happiness froze and turned into something heavy and cold. “Hey.” She let go of his arm and faced straight again, and suddenly the crisp air pouring through the window was too cold. “Wonder Woman is sexy.”

“True.” He smiled at her.

She folded her arms.

“Come on, Merry. I like your shirt.”

“Sure. Thanks.” Now she knew why tonight had felt like a scene from someone else’s movie. Because it was. Someone who wasn’t a girl who floated through life on cartoon clouds and goofball dreams.

“Hey.” Shane stopped just before the highway and put the truck in Park. “I was only teasing you. Wonder Woman
is
sexy.”

“Right. I’ll be sure to wear something that shows off my tits next time. Would that be more grown-up?”

“First of all, your tits look amazing in that shirt, and you know it.”

She shrugged, pretending like she hadn’t worn an extra tight shirt on purpose.

“Second, there are a dozen women at the saloon every Saturday night in shirts that show off way more than they cover. You’re the one I can’t keep my hands off.”

“Right. You think I’m cute.”

“You are cute.”

“Great!” She turned her head to stare out into the night, pissed off and feeling stupid as hell for being pissed. Which only made it worse.

“Merry.”

She crossed her arms tighter.

“I don’t get it. Is there something wrong with thinking you’re cute?”

Crap. She was being ridiculous. She didn’t know why she felt hurt. He wanted her. She wanted him. So why did she need him to say it a certain way? To look at her a certain way? “No, it’s good. Let’s go.”

“Okay,” he said, but instead of putting the truck in gear, he leaned closer and tipped her head toward him. He kissed her, softly at first, then with increasing urgency. When he pulled back, her arms were clutching his shoulders and they were both breathing hard. “You’re cute, Merry. And you turn me on like crazy. If you can’t tell, maybe I’m the one who should be upset.”

She rolled her eyes.

“You’re not just cute, you also look sweet and harmless, and when I see you I remember how it felt to be inside you and to see you naked beneath me. I remember how you looked as you came, and it drives me insane. Like I know something about you that no one else does.”

She tried to hide her delighted smile. All her hurt had disappeared and now she was just turned on and trying not to feel anything else for him. Anything scary. “Well, a couple of other people know.”

“Just a couple?”

Oh, God. Now she’d let that slip, too? “Let’s go already. I’ve got secrets I want to show you, too.”

He watched her for a long moment, but then he finally shook his head and put the truck in gear. “There’s no way I can say no to that. Hang on.”

He peeled out, gravel flying as he turned onto the highway. Merry let her hang-ups go. She let her worries fly out the open window into the night. She could be worried about looks and sexiness when she was alone again. Why bother with worrying about them right now when she had a big, hot man driving her home for illicit sex? That was the definition of screwed up and self-destructive. Grace wouldn’t need to bother with cock-blocking if Merry was going to do it for herself.

“I need a shower,” Shane said apologetically as they approached the lights of town. “Can you give me a minute?”

“Oh,” she breathed. “I guess.”

“You can’t wait one minute for me?” he asked with a huge grin.

Her heart thumped hard as she thought of what she really wanted. What she’d say if she were bold and brave and more confident about sex. “It’s not that,” she whispered.

He shot her a questioning glance.

“It’s just that I…” Oh, fuck. What the hell. She took a deep breath. “I’d like to see you in the shower. I’ve thought about it.”

“You’ve
thought
about it?” He sounded shocked, but surely he was a little pleased. He was a man, after all.

“Yes.”

“You’ve thought about me showering?” They’d reached town, finally, and she could see the surprise on his face. And the delight.

Wishing it were still dark, Merry decided that if she wanted to be seen as sexy, she had to be sexy. There was no way around it. “Yes. I fantasized about that. Watching you. In the shower.”

When he looked at her, she kept her face straight ahead, but she couldn’t stop the smile that spread over her face. His voice held an entirely different timbre when he spoke. “You fantasized about me, Merry?”

“Yes,” she said, her own voice hoarse with embarrassment and excitement.

“Did you touch yourself?”

“Um… Yes.”

When he had to stop at the first light, Shane’s thumb tapped impatiently at the steering wheel. Merry pressed her lips together and held her breath.

“Christ,” he finally cursed. He didn’t say another word as he drove through the crowded streets of town. But his thumb tapped. Over and over. Faster.

The truck jerked to a stop when he parked in front of the Stud Farm. He quickly circled to open her door.

Merry smiled up at him as she hopped down. He slammed the door and followed her into the building. She got her keys out and tossed him a look over her shoulder. “Anyway, did you want to shower or did you want to come in with—?”

She’d barely turned the key in the lock when Shane pushed her door open with a growl. His body moved her in. He slammed the door behind her and reached for the hem of her shirt. “Get naked,” he ordered.

Merry giggled. She couldn’t help it. Shane growled again and pulled her shirt up. A second later, he had her bra unclasped. “Stop!” she shrieked, laughing as she covered her bare breasts.

“Oh, sure,” he said, walking her backward toward the bathroom. He tossed his hat to the couch. “You tell me you want to shower with me. Tell me you’ve fantasized about it, that you fucking touched yourself and fantasized about it, and now you want me to
stop?
”

Oh, God. He backed her against the bathroom wall and braced one hand next to her head. His brown eyes burned, brushing her skin with heat.

“Did you touch your breasts, Merry?”

She opened her mouth, meaning to answer, but her throat dried to dust.

“Did you?”

She nodded.

“Show me.”

She couldn’t. She couldn’t. But she was already cupping her breasts, trying to hide, and Shane just put a hand over hers and slipped her fingers a little lower. “Show me, Merry.”

Her lungs couldn’t hold enough breath. There wasn’t enough air in the room. She was panting now. So was he. His eyes watched her hand as if she held the key to some treasure.

Merry brushed her fingers over her nipple and watched his jaw jump. Terrified power exploded through her body. She rolled her nipple between her fingers. His lips parted. She squeezed and gasped, and Shane groaned.

“What else?” he rasped.

She shook her head again. “No. I can’t.”

“You can. Please. Please. Show me.”

She had to look away from him. She couldn’t watch his face. Instead she looked down to her own trembling hands as she reached for the button of her jeans. She pulled the zipper down slowly then slid her fingers down her belly, beneath her underwear. When she touched her clit, her breath broke in her throat.

Shane’s hand spread over her shoulder, his thumb tracing her collarbone. “You thought of me?” he asked as she slowly slipped her fingers deeper.

“Yes.”

His fingertips trailed down her skin and circled her nipple. She groaned and arched her head back.

“God, Merry. You make me insane.”

She’d never done anything like this. Never. But she kept touching herself as Shane shrugged out of his shirt and stood bare-chested before her. He kissed her, making her whimper against his mouth then reached over to turn on the shower.

“Let’s make your fantasy come true.”

Oh, this was already way better than her fantasy, but she wasn’t going to stop now. They both stripped down to nothing, and she couldn’t believe how hard he was. How big already. The head swollen and skin stretched tight. She almost groaned again and she wasn’t even touching herself anymore.

Shane stepped into the shower and held out a hand to pull Merry in after him. The water was hot, but what made her gasp was the searing heat of his skin as he pressed himself to her. His cock lay against her belly like a brand.

“Is this how you thought of it?” he asked, his mouth dragging down her neck. “Us together? Under the water? Like this?”

She pushed her hips tighter against him, loving the way the length of him slipped against her slick belly. She didn’t want to say no. Didn’t want him to step away. But she’d give him the truth about this. “No,” she whispered against his dampening hair. He smelled like sweat, but she liked it. A more potent version of his natural scent.

“No?”

“I just…watched you. You were washing yourself, and you…”

She couldn’t say it, but she felt the breath shudder from his chest as his teeth pressed her neck.

“Is that what you want?”

“Yes,” she breathed.

He stepped back and reached for the body wash. She felt dizzy. Her heart fluttered like a trapped bird in her chest, and she had to lean against the shower wall as Shane spread dripped soap over his chest.

“Touch yourself,” he said as he soaped his chest.

She touched herself. He spread the soap down to his thick cock. “Oh, God,” she breathed as a bolt of lust shot through her body and ended right between her thighs. She’d never seen a man do that before. She’d never seen a man’s fist around his shaft, slowly stroking. “Oh, God. Shane.”

She edged her foot up to the rim of the tub and rubbed herself, painfully aware of his eyes on her as she did. But if he could offer her a show, she could let him watch, couldn’t she? She could do that.

And damn, it felt so good. So good to touch herself and watch Shane’s arm flex as he worked his cock. This was insane. Reckless. And so, so dirty. She couldn’t believe it was her. Couldn’t believe it was real.

But it felt real. She felt tight and swollen and so close already.

Shane shifted, angling his body closer to her, bracing an arm above her head. His tension and size added danger to the mix, and Merry felt everything inside her wind tighter. His fist stroked faster. She looked up and found him watching her intently, each of his breaths edged with a low growl.

“Watch me,” he ordered. “This is what you wanted, Merry. Wasn’t it? Is this what you wanted?”

“Yes. Please. Yes.” Her gaze swept down his wet body, over the soap suds stuck in his chest hair, down to the rivulets that snaked down his stomach, and finally to his hard cock. Oh, God. He was so thick. The head so tight and plump and darkly flushed with need.