It was Friday morning. Mitchell Riverton and Kayla Gregory were going to her mountain house. All indications led to him proposing before they came home to Riverton Ranch. Those two had dated in high school and recently reunited because of the trouble Masterson Investments caused in their home town of Riverton Crossing.

With the house to themselves, Evan Riverton planned to make sure his girl, Ginger Monroe, knew exactly what he wanted. They hadn’t known each other very long, but their relationship had evolved quickly after Ginger helped him establish contact with a fellow agent working undercover for Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.

With the click of the door, Evan wasted no time pinning Ginger to the wall with her legs wrapped around him and his face planted just under her ear. His spot. He took a deep breath to get her scent. “I love the way you smell,” he said between kisses with a southern drawl that had gotten him into more beds than he cared to count.

She tilted her head for him. “Mmm.”

“We finally have privacy for the next three days, so other than looking at the reports Mitchell left, I plan on being buried inside you. Let me know now if you’ve got a problem with that,” he said looking straight into her green eyes. When she nodded he said, “I need to hear your answer.”

“I don’t have a problem with that,” she said with a smile.

He returned her smile with a mischievous one of his own as he tucked the fallen red hair behind her ear. “What do you want, darlin’?”

“I want you, but I also need to get an article written.”

“How about we play while we work?”

“What do you have in mind?”

“Edging.”

Ginger’s eyes widened with the word. “Like with a razor blade or something?” She shook her head as she said, “I’m not into that. Sorry.”

Evan chuckled. “No. I’m not into a lot of edge play either, but definitely not a fan of blood play. I see enough of it at work. I don’t want it in my play life, too.”

“Then I don’t understand.”

“Edging is keeping us, and by us I mean predominantly you, on the brink of orgasm for a time.”

“So what about you?”

“Oh darlin’, it’ll definitely affect me, too.”

“So for how long?”

“Until tonight.”

“I don’t know if I can do that,” Ginger hesitantly said.

“That’s my job. You just need to be open and honest.”

“I can do that. Are there rules?”

“Yeah. I’ll get you revved up. It’s my job to keep you there. You can’t touch yourself unless I tell you to, and I won’t touch myself.”

“Okay, but do I get to touch you?”

“Yes. Here’s where the honesty comes in. On a scale from one to ten, with ten being an orgasm, you can’t get higher than nine. In fact, I want you between seven and nine all day. Think you can do that?”

“Like all day?” Ginger asked with big doe eyes.

“That’s the goal. Since this is your first time, we’ll see where you are at lunch.”

“That’s five hours from now!”

“Uh huh,” he said as he went back to his spot on her neck.

“If this is our first time, how do you know about this?” She moaned as he kissed his way from her neck to her mouth. He pushed his tongue against her lips requesting passage which she readily granted. When she opened to him, he plundered her mouth as he pressed his body closer to hers. He knew she’d be panting for breath when he broke the kiss. “Evan?”

“Mmm?”

“Is this your first time, too?”

“No,” he said as he peppered kisses back to his favorite spot. He pressed his hard cock against her core then backed away as she slid down his body. When she was stable on her feet, he cupped her breasts and stroked his thumbs over her nipples. As they stiffened he asked, “Where are you gonna write?”

Breathily she said, “Pool.” Evan led her back to his room. “I thought you said we had to wait until tonight.”

“I did. You’re gonna change into your thong bikini, and I’m gonna watch.” His cocky smile was back.

“Oh.” She moved to find the tiny scraps of material that passed as swimwear.

He leaned against the doorjamb. “What’s your number?”

“I was heading toward seven before you brought me in here,” she said.

“You’ll be at least seven before you leave.”

Ginger put on the emerald green suit. The top didn’t have straps so tan lines wouldn’t be an issue. She bent over to get the sunscreen out of her bag when Evan placed his hand on her backside. His fingers slipped between her ass cheeks and slid toward her opening then nudged the strip of material to the side as they eased into her core. “I’d say you’re at seven now.”

When she stood back up she asked, “Would you do my back?”

Mischief sparkled in Evan’s eyes and his cocky grin reappeared. “I’d love to. Do I get your whole back side?”

“Uh huh,” she said nervously.

Evan squatted and started at her ankles when he noticed her ass cheeks in his direct line of vision so he bit her and felt her muscles tense. She gasped as he squirted more sunscreen into his hand. “Sorry, darlin’. It just looked perfect sitting there.” He continued his trek up her legs and massaged her ass as he stood. By the time he was at his full height, she had pulled her hair on top of her head. “If we leave this top on, I’ll miss a spot and you’ll get burned.” He kissed her neck as he pulled the string that kept her top in place before his hands slid around to cup her breasts.

“Hmmm. I don’t think they’re on my back side,” she mumbled.

Evan smiled against her neck. “No, they aren’t,” he said as he moved to her back. With more sunscreen in his hands, he massaged her as he applied it. “Your patch is on your shoulder, want me to move it?”

“Yes please. Just stick it on my hip,” she said while she replaced her top. Evan carefully removed the patch and put the sunscreen in place before he slapped the patch onto her ass. “Ow!”

“Think of my hands on you while you work, but don’t touch yourself. I’ll be out with you soon,” he said as he moved to the bathroom to wash up. By the time she’d gathered everything she needed he was done and walked out with her. “Number?”

“Definitely seven and moving toward eight,” she said as she flashed him a smile.

Their paths parted in the kitchen, and he watched her walk toward the French doors. “Damn, my hand print on your ass is hot,” he said as she went out. He shook his head; whatever had made him think of edging at seven o’clock in the damn morning was beyond him. He hadn’t played like that since Denver. If he was honest with himself, Ginger was the first woman to make him want to play like that. His balls would be aching and possibly blue before tonight, but it’d be worth it in the end.

He closed himself in the office and ran his hand down his face because the sooner he got through these financial reports the sooner he could touch her again. Since he’d been gone for several years, he needed to know if the ranch was profittable. Mitchell had been running this place since their mom’s death, and Evan joined ATF. After all the shit they’d just gone through with Masterson Investments, he didn’t know if he wanted to leave. He’d enjoyed his time at the ranch and thought he’d like to stay, so he was taking a couple weeks leave to think through all of the possibilities. Hopefully it’d clear his head enough to make the right decision–with Ginger being a big part of it.

Ginger, she was unexpected. When Kayla invited her down a few weeks ago, they were just supposed to be a fling for a few days, maybe a week. He never expected to enjoy her so much. Teaching her to ride horses was fun even though their first ride had ended with them finding the first shot steer. He remembered how upset she’d become when they rode up on it, and he knew that even though she was a feisty little thing, she had a tender heart. Mitchell and Kayla had both warned him about hurting her, which was the last thing he wanted to do. He wanted to protect her, love her, and eventually marry her.

That was a new thought. Marry her? Could he really see himself as a husband? With her, yes.

Evan had looked at several reports and realized they had been apart for a while. He knew she’d be coming down so he sent her a text.

EVAN: Graze your nipples with your thumbs until they’re erect. Tell me when you’re done.

Just thinking about her following his command had eights looking like breasts and ones like… Fuck! He needed a break from numbers so he checked emails. There was an unread one from an address he didn’t recognize, but the subject caught his attention. He made sure their virus software had scanned the email before he opened the attachment. It was a picture. His eyes widened as he recognized Ginger with a band. One man had her pulled in close while another was speaking in her ear. She looked upset even though everyone around her looked happy. She was younger, but not by much. While the picture printed, Evan went back to the email. Subject: REDHEADS. In the body, the message read, I CAN ALWAYS FIND HER.

Forget working now. He took the picture with him to the pool. When he stepped through the French doors, there she was stroking her nipples in a lounger with her knees pulled up cradling her laptop and big sunglasses covering half of her face.

“Hey, I wasn’t done yet. I was going to text you. I promise,” she said with a big smile.

“I know, but we need to talk.” Four words no one likes to hear.

Her thumbs immediately stopped moving. “What’s wrong?”

“I received this.” He gave her the picture, and the smile left her face instantly. “Who is that? You said you were single.”

“Where did you get this?”

“It was emailed to me. Care to explain?” he said with a scowl on his face. They had discussed this weeks ago. Neither of them were seeing anyone, so who were these guys?

“Evan, it’s not what you think,” she said with panic in her voice.

“Then tell me who he is.”

Tears filled her eyes as they left the picture and locked on his. “His name is David. He was my first paid interview. That picture was taken after his band signed a very lucrative record deal, and I sold my exclusive, in-depth interview with the band to a country music magazine for their Up & Coming Artists feature.”

“If this was such a happy time, why do you look like you’re about to cry?”

“Because the band member was telling me David had been cheating on me for months. Apparently anytime I couldn’t be at a gig, he found someone to be with. He knew, and he waited until after they signed the deal to tell me. That night was the best and worst of my life.” She set the picture face down beside her.

Her eyes glazed over as she continued, “After that night, I thought about all of the gigs I didn’t go to, the nights he’d come home and not touch me, even when I begged. When I brought up the subject, he said my punishment for not being at his gig was for him to fuck someone else, and then not touch me. When I got upset he told me I wasn’t supposed to know about it and should be glad he wasn’t flaunting it in my face. It didn’t matter that I was editing the interview for the magazine. I wasn’t important enough for him to be faithful, but he was supposed to be my world. God!” She covered her face with her hands and took a deep breath.

“Did you go snooping for this? I would’ve told you. All you had to do was ask.” She put her hand over her mouth and shook her head. “I spent years getting over this shit, and it’s coming back to haunt me,” she said through a sob.

“I didn’t go looking for it, darlin’, but wanted to know if it was something I needed to worry about,” he said as he moved her laptop and joined her on the lounger. He took off her sunglasses and she buried her face in his chest, so he rubbed her back to calm her down. The ranch hands didn’t appear to be around, so he changed from comfort to comfortable as his hand skimmed down her back side to grab her ass. “Look at me, Gin.” He waited until her face tilted up to his. “Do you still have feelings for him?”

“Hell no! But I never thought that picture would resurface, either. He broke my trust and left me feeling foolish. It took me two years to get my head on straight. To him, I was just a steady piece of ass and free publicity. He’s the reason I’ve only had flings since then.”

“What about now? Is that all we are?”

“I hope not ‘cause I’m falling pretty hard, Mr. Riverton.”

Evan quickly released the latch to recline the lounger as he pulled Ginger under him with his fingers working the strings on her bikini. Once he threw the top over the back of the lounger and pushed her bottoms off with his foot, his mouth tasted its way from her jaw to her lips while he grazed the side of her breast with his thumb.

Her head fell back as he bent to suck her nipple. When he pulled back he saw pure ecstasy on her face, and he’d remember that look forever. She cupped him through his jeans and massaged as he groaned. Need to tell her. When she opened her legs to cradle his hips, Evan ground himself against her. Her purring and a sound in the distance caused him to slow things down as he rested his forehead on hers. His voice was low and gravelly when he asked, “Number?”

Ginger was panting and seemed to need to focus on his question. “More than eight,” she said between breaths. With them both on the edge, he kissed her more chastely. “Evan?”

“I’ve got you, darlin’. I’m glad he didn’t know what he had when he had you,” Evan said with a sexy smile. “I’ll gladly pick up the pieces and make you whole again.” She was shaking from want, so he rose to his forearms to bring her back from the edge. “Take a deep breath. I almost took us too far.”

She inhaled a steadying breath and exhaled it slowly. “I was so close I could feel it.”

“I know. The farther the flush went down your chest the more you moaned.” The side of his mouth tilted into a sexy grin. “If I hadn’t kept on my jeans, I would’ve been inside you right now. Then our fun would’ve been cut short.”

He was still lying on top of her, but their breathing has slowed to a more normal pace. She held his gaze when she said, “I’m sorry you had to see that picture. I thought all of them were destroyed. The record company bought them up because it’s the only picture showing one band member betraying another right in front of them, and the company didn’t want that shit out.”

“C’mon. Let’s get you dressed and finish this inside before the men come back.”