Wildcat (12 page)

“Maybe you shouldn’t have been teasing me all night.” He increased his motions, his finger sliding along her slick folds. The way her thighs trembled around his hand, he new she was close to the edge, even though he’d barely touched her. “Open your eyes.”

She obeyed and glanced around at the empty tables as he continued to finger her clit. A new song had started, and practically everyone else was on the dance floor. “Oh, God. I’m gonna come.”

“That’s it.” Damn what he would give to take her behind the tent and fuck her now. “Come for me, honey.”

The climax scalded Catie in a hot rush and her body jerked against his hand. She bit down on her lip, holding back her cry, and leaned against Jarrod’s shoulder, trembling with every stroke of his finger. “Stop.” Her voice came out husky as she spotted her friends. “Dee and Jake are coming back.”

Jarrod stilled his finger, but kept it in her pussy as the newlyweds returned. She reached down to try to pry his hand away, but he wasn’t budging. Her clit continued to throb and pulse, the feeling seeming to amplify as Dee and Jake seated themselves at the table.

“Are you two going to dance?” Dee leaned up against Jake as he brought his arm around her. “Or are you planning to sit here all night?”

“We’re—” Catie started just as Jarrod flicked his finger against her sensitized nub, and she damn near came unglued. Furious heat engulfed her and she sat bolt upright while trying to yank Jarrod’s finger away from her pussy at the same time. “We were just about to.”

She cut Jarrod a glare that said,
just you wait ‘til I get you alone
.

He grinned as he removed his hand and pulled down her skirt, then stood. “May I have this dance, honey?”

Jake and Dee exchanged glances that made Catie feel like they knew what Jarrod had been doing to her.

“I’ll honey you in a minute,” she muttered and took the hand that he offered. His fingers were damp with her juices, and just that made her pussy even wetter than it already was.

Jarrod led her to the edge of the dance floor, where they were in shadow. Even though the band was playing a fairly fast tune, he pulled her close so that their bodies melded together. He rested his hands on her hips, just above her ass while she hooked her hands around his neck and smiled up at him.

Damn but he was handsome. That sexy smile, the way he looked at her like he intended to eat her all up. She loved the feel of his body pressed tight to hers, his cock rigid through his jeans and against her belly. She loved his masculine scent, the way it surrounded her and made her feel content, and loved.

She loved…him.

Oh, God.

A tingling sensation rushed through her as the realization filled her with a strange combination of exhilaration and outright terror. She knew she’d been fighting it all along—but was she ready to face those feelings now?

Jarrod pressed his cheek against hers, his stubble rough against her skin. “I can’t wait to get you alone, honey.”

“Yeah.” She turned her face so that her lips were close to his. “Just kiss me already.”

A rumble rose in his chest, reverberating through her as he claimed her mouth. His lips were gentle at first, but then grew hungrier as their bodies continued to sway to the music.

Everything faded around Catie until all she was aware of was the man in her arms, and the knowledge that the impossible had happened.

Catie Wilds had fallen totally, completely, absolutely, in love with Jarrod Savage.

Chapter Eleven

When they finally left the reception, Catie was so horny she could hardly stand it. “Turn here.” She pointed to the entrance of a dirt road that led to the mountains behind the Wilds Ranch.

“What do you have in mind?” Jarrod gave her a quick look as he guided the truck down the road she suggested.

In response, she lifted the hem of her blouse, yanked it over her head, and then unclasped her bra and tossed it to the floor. “I’m going to fuck you,” she said as she shimmied out of her skirt and kicked off her shoes.

Jarrod groaned and shifted in his seat. “I’m about ready to pull the truck over right here and fuck you in the cab.”

Catie knelt on the seat next to him, her naked body pressed tight along his bicep. “Just keep driving ‘til I tell you to stop, Sheriff.” She rubbed her breasts against his shirt, the material chaffing her sensitive nipples.

He took one hand off the wheel and moved it between her thighs, easing it up to cup her pussy. Moaning, she thrust her hips against his hand. The scent of her juices mingled with his light aftershave and the truck’s leather interior.

She nuzzled his neck, drinking in the smell of him. “You should keep hold onto the wheel.”

Jarrod flicked his finger against her clit. “I can’t keep my hands off you, honey.”

“You don’t have to wait any longer.” She gestured to a cleared area that was a kind of overlook. “Park by those trees.”

They’d driven just high enough into the mountains that they could see the glitter of lights from Douglas as well as the Mexican town of Agua Prieta that bordered it to the south.

As soon as Jarrod parked and killed the lights, he grabbed Catie and pulled her onto his lap so that she was straddling him. “I can’t wait to be inside you.”

Catie moaned as he took one of her nipples into his mouth, and she could hardly speak. “No. Outside. By the tailgate.”

His tongue flicked against her other nipple. “It’s cold. You’ll freeze.”

“You’ll heat me up.” Her voice was low and sensual, and the look that came over his face was positively untamed.

“Hold on.” Jarrod yanked the door open. He was so powerful that he was able to grip Catie snug against him with one arm while he climbed out of his truck.

She laughed and clung to him, wrapping her legs tight around his waist. Night air chilled her and caused goose bumps to sprout along her skin. The cool breeze felt erotic brushing across her bare back and ass, while her chest, pussy and thighs were pressed against Jarrod’s shirt and jeans.

He strode to the back of the truck and carefully set her down on a clear patch of ground that was pebbly, but didn’t hurt her feet.

“Leave your clothes on. Just undo your jeans.” She turned her back to him and gripped the tailgate, then pressed her breasts against the cool metal. It felt so good rubbing her nipples across the metal as she waited for Jarrod to free his cock from his jeans. “
Hurry
.”

He chuckled. “You’re something else, honey.”

Catie looked over her shoulder as he unbuckled his belt and unbuttoned his jeans, just inches away from her. He shoved his pants down around his hips, then pressed his warm cock against her ass.

She held onto the tailgate as she widened her stance and arched her back. “Fuck me now.”

Jarrod gently pumped his hips against her ass, his cock rubbing up and down her cheeks. He eased his hands along her slender body, from her slim hips to her small breasts. “I’ve been dying to do this all night.” He moved his cock between her thighs and slid it against her pussy lips.

“Then do it already.” Her pussy was drenched, her juices coating his cock as he caressed her folds with it.

He placed the head of his cock at the entrance to her core and gripped her hips tight. With one quick thrust he plunged into her tight entrance, burying himself deep within her. “Damn but it feels good to be inside you.”

Catie moaned, enjoying the feel of him inside. He was so long and thick, stretching her, filling her beyond belief. Slowly he moved his cock in and out of her pussy, drawing out the sensations and making her crazy.

“Faster this time, Sheriff.” She moved her hips hard against his, trying to bring him deeper inside her.

Jarrod leaned over, covering her back with his warm body while his hips pounded against her ass, his cock thrusting in and out. While he fucked her, he cupped her breasts as he kissed and nipped at her neck.

It was unlikely anyone would happen upon them, but just the thought that someone else could drive up this same road gave Catie the feeling of doing something very naughty. And very exciting.

“You don’t know how many times I thought about dragging you into Dee’s barn tonight.” Jarrod’s breathing was harsh as he spoke, his breath warm against her back. “I wanted to take you into the stall and fuck you good and hard.”

“Yes.” Catie reached between her thighs and fingered her clit. “So good. You fuck me so good.”

Jarrod brought one of his hands down and put it over hers, pressing her own fingers tighter into her folds. “I like it when you touch yourself.”

All the sensations were too much. The cool air on her naked body, the feel of Jarrod’s jeans and shirt scraping her backside, his big cock thrusting in her pussy.

Catie vibrated, the orgasm starting at her scalp and working down her body in a hot flush. This time when she climaxed, she screamed as loud as she could and she barely heard Jarrod’s groan as he came.

It felt like every bit of desire for this man came tearing from her lips, hurtling into the night and echoing throughout the valley spread out below.

* * * * *

Come Monday afternoon, Catie was feeling like one of those lovesick airheads that she’d thought were such idiots to lose their hearts over a man. While she straightened up the ranch house she’d actually been
humming.
She couldn’t stop thinking about Jarrod. The way it felt to be wrapped tight in his arms. His smell, his taste. The way he kissed her. Made love to her.

Sunday evening he’d brought her back to her ranch after they’d spent the entire day in his home. Touching, feeling, sharing. She’d come close to telling him that she loved him, but somehow she couldn’t get the words to come out. A part of her was still afraid that what they had would vanish. That it was about as tangible as smoke and that it would just drift away on the first good wind that swept through.

Yet she knew she could trust him completely—with her life and her heart.

Catie smiled as she undressed and kicked off her moccasins in her bedroom closet, thinking about how exciting it had been to fuck Jarrod while overlooking the distant city lights. She yanked on a pair of jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt, socks and then boots, preparing to go work in the barn with Sassafras.

On her way out, she grabbed her sheepskin-lined jacket off the coat rack by the door, slipped it on and then headed outside. Overnight the sky had turned dark with clouds that threatened rain, and the nippy air chilled her cheeks.

Steve was in the barn, getting his tack together to take Shadow Warrior out, probably to the Garcia’s again.

Sassafras stuck her head over her stall door and whickered at Catie for attention. Catie rubbed Sass’s nose while she studied Steve. “When are you going to tell me about what you’ve been doing with David Garcia? Not to mention Natalie.”

Steve shrugged as he took a halter down off the wall and hooked it over a sawhorse by the stall. “Not much to tell.”

“Yeah. Right.” Catie rolled her eyes. “So, the Garcias are the reason you’ve been sneaking off every afternoon. And you’re just too macho to admit that you’re doing something nice and working with this kid, helping him out.”

His brown eyes met hers, and the corner of his mouth turned up in a little smile. “He’s a neat kid.”

She propped both hands on her hips and grinned. “And you’ve got the hots for his mom.”

With another smile, Steve grabbed the saddle blanket off a different sawhorse and put his hand on the door to Shadow Warrior’s stall. “Yeah.”

“Steve Wilds.” Jarrod’s voice came loud and clear from the door of the barn slicing through their conversation.

Catie felt a flush of pleasure as she turned toward him, but the chill in his eyes chased away the warmth. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

Jarrod’s sheriff’s star glittered copper in the dim light of the barn as he strode to where she and Steve stood. Deputy Ryan Forrester’s expression was unreadable behind his mirrored sunglasses as he followed close behind Jarrod.

“I’m real sorry I have to do this.” Jarrod’s gaze flicked from Catie to Steve. “Steve Wilds, you’re under arrest for suspicion of cattle rustling.”

Even as Jarrod spoke, Ryan Forrester held the handcuffs and eased behind Steve. Catie’s ears rang, and a ball of acid rolled in her stomach.

“Hold on.” Steve dropped the horse blanket and raised his hands in front of him as though holding the men back. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“We’ve got a lot of evidence.” Jarrod’s face was stony, his eyes remote and focused only on Steve. “I don’t have a choice about this. Everything we’ve got has you orchestrating the rustling from the get go.”

“Are you out of your fucking mind?” Catie clenched her fists at her sides. “There’s no way that Steve has had anything to do with it.”

“Where’s he been every night?” Jarrod’s green eyes were cool as they met hers. “Where do you think he got the money for that water heater? And what about that thirty grand in his account?”

“Thirty grand?” Catie repeated, unable to believe she’d heard right.

Steve shook his head. “There’s only ten. And I can explain that.”

Her gaze swung on Steve as she tried to process what he’d just said. “Ten. Thousand. Dollars.” She blinked at him. “Where the hell did you get that kind of money?”

“Like I said, I can explain the ten grand.” He turned his attention back to Jarrod. “There’s not thirty in the account.”

“You’re gonna have to come on down and work it out at the county jail.” Jarrod sighed and nodded to Ryan.

The deputy began reciting Steve’s Miranda rights as he jerked Steve’s arms behind his back then cuffed him. While Ryan patted Steve down, his voice droned on like so much background noise.

Catie could only stare, barely hearing the words as the deputy told Steve he had the right to remain silent. Had the right to an attorney. How everything he said could be held against him in a court of law.

“I’m innocent,” she heard Steve say to her over the roar in her ears as her eyes met his. “We’ll get this straightened out.”

“I’ll—I’ll call a lawyer.” She raked her hand through her hair, watching Deputy Forrester escort her brother from the barn. She wanted to scream. Wanted to cry. Wanted to turn to Jarrod, the man she’d thought she’d loved. The man she thought had loved her.

“I’m sorry, honey.” Jarrod’s voice was low, breaking into her frenzy. “I didn’t want to have to do this.”

“You bastard.” She cut her gaze from the barn door to Jarrod’s face. “You used me. You fucked me just so that you could get information on Steve.”

His frown deepened. “That’s not true and you know it, Catie.” He sighed and started to reach for her, like he wanted to comfort her, then dropped his hand at his side. “I’ve got to go now. We’ll talk later.”

“Like hell we will.” She raised her chin, her vision practically red from her fury. “This is all the talking I’m going to do.”

With everything she had, she slammed her fist into his gut.

Her blow caught him by surprise, but he only gritted his teeth as his hand shot out and caught her by the wrist. “You and I, we’re not done. I’ll be back tonight when I can.”

“Fuck you.” She jerked her hand and he let it go. “And not literally. Ever again. You and I are through in every goddamn possible way. Just stay the hell away from me,
Sheriff
.”

She turned on her boot heel and marched out of the barn and toward the house. Deputy Forrester was waiting beside the Sheriff’s Department SUV, but even with his dark glasses on she was sure he was watching her. She saw Steve through the back window of the vehicle, looking straight ahead, his jaw set.

Her knuckles throbbed as she hurried up the stairs, and she felt the heat of Jarrod’s gaze on her back. She hoped his gut hurt as much as her hand did. Should have gone for his balls instead.

Catie flung open the screen door and shoved open the door to the house, then slammed it behind her. After locking the door she ripped off her jacket and slung it across the room, wishing she had something big and heavy to throw at Jarrod Savage’s head.

The bastard. The never-fucking-her-again
bastard!

When Catie had calmed down enough that she could talk without screaming, she called Dee to see if her friend could refer a good attorney. Dee was as shocked as Catie at Steve’s arrest, and promised to do what she could to help him.

“We all know there’s no way he had anything to do with the rustling,” Dee said after giving Catie the number of her attorney. “Steve’s a good guy.”

After calling Janet Jimenez, the attorney, and arranging for the woman to go to the county jail to meet with Steve, Catie hung up and paced the floor of her kitchen, tugging at her earlobe so hard it was a wonder she didn’t tear the damn earring out. Her boot steps thunked across the linoleum as she tried to force from her mind thoughts of various methods she could use to kill a certain county sheriff, in a rather painful fashion, and still make it look like an accident.

Catie sighed and shoved her hair out of her face with both hands.
Dammit
. Planning all the ways she could string Jarrod up for using her and breaking her heart wasn’t real constructive right now. But it sure felt good.

Instead she needed to concentrate on trying to figure out what to do next, and how to help Steve. Where in the world had he come up with ten
thousand
dollars? Why hadn’t he told her?

She braced her hands on the kitchen sink and stared out the window. The late afternoon sun was setting low over the mountains. Not too much longer and it would be dark.

Then it dawned on her. However Steve had gotten that cash, it had to have something to do with Natalie Garcia. That’s where he’d been going every day. He’d as good as admitted it in the barn.

Energized by actually doing something towards helping her brother, Catie snatched up her jacket from where she’d thrown it, grabbed her truck key from the hook in the kitchen, bolted out the door and jogged down the steps.

She and Natalie Garcia were gonna have a talk.

After she climbed in and started up the old workhorse of a truck, she gunned the engine and headed as fast as she safely could to the old Karchner place. It had been years since Catie had been there. Her fingers tapped an impatient rhythm against the steering wheel and her thoughts wandered while she drove the beat-up truck the two miles north.

She used to ride Sassafras over to visit Mrs. Karchner, an elderly woman who always had a plate of cookies and a good story to tell about the old days. Not to mention the woman could play a mean game of Scrabble. Catie had never seen much of Old Man Karchner. Even though he’d been in his late seventies back then, he’d always been out working in his garden, and never did have anything to say the times she did run across him. One of those strong, silent types, she supposed.

When Mrs. Karchner passed away, Catie had been devastated. She still missed the old woman. Her stomach clenched as she remembered the woman’s lilac perfume and the home’s comforting smells of fresh baked cookies and hot apple pie. Mrs. Karchner had been more like a mom to Catie than any of the number of wives her father had brought through her own home. And her ‘real’ mother…well, it’d been years since Catie had seen her. She didn’t even know if the woman was alive any longer.

Natalie Garcia was in the front yard when Catie drove up. The woman had on a pair of work gloves, and she was pruning one of the weeping willow trees in the front yard. Out near the barn in the backyard, Catie saw David in his wheelchair playing with a golden retriever.

While Catie climbed out of the truck, Natalie tossed the pruning sheers onto the dead grass at her feet. She shucked off her gloves, leaving them with the garden tool before walking up to Catie. A smile lit Natalie’s face until she got a good look at Catie’s expression.

“Steve?” Natalie’s hand went to her heart as if trying to calm it. “Did something happen to him? Is he all right?”

Catie shoved her hands in her front pockets. “He’s been arrested.”

“What?” Shock registered on the woman’s face, her palm going from her chest to her mouth. “Why?”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out.” Catie explained what Jarrod had said when he’d arrested Steve. “It sounds like the biggest thing they’ve got is a shitload of money deposited into his account.”

Natalie took a deep breath and pushed her black hair off her forehead with one hand. “The ten thousand I can tell you about, and it’s perfectly legal. It’s a lump sum grant. Payment.” She gestured toward the barn where David was laughing and doing wheelies in his wheelchair. “A private organization provided the grant for my son to have extensive therapy to help him rehabilitate after his spinal cord injury. I signed a contract with your brother to work with David.”

Catie tilted her head. “You hired my brother?”

“He’s been my son’s companion for a couple of months now, taking him on horseback rides every afternoon.” The woman gave a quick smile. “Steve plans to start a full time therapeutic horseback program for kids with CP and spinal cord injuries.”

“And every evening…” Catie let her voice trail off as she studied Natalie.

A flush stole over Natalie’s face. “When I get David settled down for the night, Steve and I do spend time together.” She gestured with one hand toward Douglas. “Sometimes
mi madre
comes to watch David while Steve and I go out.”

Okay, after she did away with Jarrod, Catie was going to kill her big brother. Nothing like keeping his entire life secret from his little sister.
The jerk
.

At Catie’s frown, Natalie’s face fell. “You don’t approve, do you,” she said, a statement, not a question.

“It’s not that.” Catie shook her head. “I just don’t understand why he kept this all secret from me.”

“Steve has a hard time opening up.” Natalie sighed and gave a wry smile. “He’s a hard man to get anything out of, but once we reached a certain point in our relationship we both began sharing our dreams.”

Catie felt like she’d been kicked in the gut. She was Steve’s sister, yet she’d never taken the time to find out if he had any dreams beyond trying to make the ranch productive. She sighed. “All right. So Steve has a secret life he didn’t bother to tell me about. But that doesn’t explain the other twenty grand in his account.”

“Steve would never do anything illegal.” Natalie pursed her lips, and then shook her head. “I’d better go call
mi madre
to see if she can watch David.” She scooped up the gloves and pruning sheers. “I’ve got all the grant paperwork for the ten thousand, and the contract and payment agreements. Even the plans for the riding program. I’ll take it all down to the county jail. And I’ve got to tell them that he’s been with me until late, just about every single night.”