Chapter Nine
Amaryllis didn’t know if she was on a high or had hit a new low. Contrary to Aiden’s beliefs, she did have a code of rules. And she’d tossed out every one she’d ever made to protect herself.
No sleeping with people she worked with.
Well, that was blown to hell, wasn’t it?
She wiggled in the driver’s seat, feeling the aftereffects of him being inside her. Stretching her.
On their way back to Crossroads, he’d asked her to stop at the mini-mart so he could run in and grab something. She had a sneaking suspicion it could be condoms. But why bother now? His release still leaked from her to wet her panties.
Eyes trained on the front of the mini-mart, she started ticking off all the reasons why this affair was a terrible idea. There were plenty, starting with compromising their working relationship and ending with her going home to Texas.
No good could come out of this.
Through the glass doors of the store, she could see Aiden standing at the counter, turned away from her, his hat moving slightly as he nodded at something the clerk said. They stood there for another long minute, and Amaryllis wondered what they could be discussing. Maybe the size of condoms he’d purchased.
A half-snort, half-giggle escaped her, and she shook her head at herself. Aiden Roshannon definitely lived up to the old saying about the bigger the cowboy boots, the bigger the—
He walked out of the store, a white bag in hand and two bottled waters tucked between the fingers of his other. When he jumped into the truck, he eyed her. “Tell me this truck is just a passing fancy of yours to get under my skin.”
She put it in reverse and twisted to see while backing up. “Nope. Get used to it.”
“Tomorrow I drive.”
She straightened out the wheel and drove forward. “We’ll take turns. What’s in the bag? Is that hot dogs I smell?”
His brows shot upward. “Hot dogs? Woman, that is an insult to this part of the country. These aren’t just hot dogs. They’re triple cheese chili dogs with all the fixin’s.”
“Sounds like a fantastic meal to eat on the road.”
He opened the bag and delved in. Coming out with a foil-wrapped dog cradled in one hand as if it was the Holy Grail. He held it out to her. “Can you drive this monster and still eat?”
“Give me that.” She snagged it from his fingers and tore open the foil. The scents of peppers, nacho cheese and chili hit her. “Is this some kind of test? See if Amaryllis’s stomach is as cast iron as her personality?”
He chuckled and bit off a chunk of his own. “Sure, if you’re up to the challenge.”
She eyed him. “Are you serious?”
“Nah, I just wanted a chili dog. And you know my rule of never passing a spot to get food.”
She nibbled at the bun, her mind working away from what she and Aiden had done and on to what they’d discovered in the grocery store.
Aiden polished off his first hot dog and crinkled the paper in his fist. He reached into the bag again. “You know I’m not going to let you off the hook for breaking into that building.”
She swung her gaze his way, heat creeping into her cheeks, to her horror. “I’m not going to apologize to anybody for anything I do on a case. Everyone knows I have unconventional ways of bagging criminals. Latchaw knew it when he asked me to come to Wyoming.”
“Lucky for you that window went right back in. Almost as if you’ve done that before and you knew it would.”
She stared at the road and took a huge mouth full of chili dog to avoid answering.
“Seriously, Amaryllis. I won’t stand for that again.” He cracked open a bottled water and held it out to her.
She set the hot dog on the console between them and grabbed the water. “Won’t stand for it? Am I under your control now?”
His dark stare sent a pulse of need straight between her legs. That look said she was—at least when it came to sex. His shirt was slightly wrinkled from being twisted and knotted around her wrists, which only made the man look more fucking hot and rugged as hell.
“We gotta play by the rules, Amaryllis.”
“Is fucking me while on a lead by the rules?” she threw back at him.
He gulped too much water and had to clear his throat hard.
“Did you write that detail in your little notebook, Roshannon?”
“Now that you mention it, I should.” He got out his notebook and pen. What he wrote was anybody’s guess—she was focusing on her chili dog. Maybe she’d have bad enough breath that he wouldn’t want to kiss her again.
After a minute, he slipped the book back into his breast pocket. She held out her hand with the crumpled foil of her hot dog on her palm. He plucked it up and dropped it back into the bag.
“I’ll take the other one now.”
He laughed. “You sure your stomach’s up to it?”
“You don’t know a lot about me, Roshannon. But I’ll tell you one. My momma always said I could go out and graze with the cows and not have a hint of stomach trouble. Now hand over that dog.”
* * * * *
Aiden tossed his notebook down on the coffee table in his living room. The surface was littered with clutter—bills and junk mail as well as receipts for feed he’d purchased and had sent to Eagle Crest to help out with the expenses. Judd was strapped for cash since he’d lost his ass in the divorce, and Aiden could afford to pick up a bit more of the slack for his brother.
Aiden sank to the sagging sofa and stared into space.
After returning to the office to discuss their findings with Latchaw, Aiden had spent some time trying to combine the clues in his head. On the surface, it seemed like two separate crimes, but he and Amaryllis believed the killings and thefts were all connected. If not stemming from one man then by a group of them who all worked together.
Amaryllis had hijacked a computer and spent the entire afternoon doing research. She’d found the cattle brand that had been seared over Owens’ wasn’t registered anywhere. It was new, fabricated to throw off suspicion.
He stared at his notebook with no new entries to tell him what was going on with the crimes. And it sure didn’t tell him what to do about this ache inside—the one he had for a feisty little strawberry blonde with the constitution of a US Marine.
Hell, if she’d been given the order to fire upon that bunker, she probably could have done it. Far as he could tell, she didn’t hesitate on anything ever. Eat one of Crossroads’ mini-mart death dogs? Hand it over. Remove a windowpane and climb through the window without knowing the danger on the other side? Hell yeah.
Buck against his cock to find her release? Oh fuck yes.
He sat back on the couch and threaded his fingers through his hair, but all he felt was Amaryllis’s silky strands. The bright locks that intrigued the hell out of him. He wanted to see it twisted in his fist as he marked her ass with his palm prints.
He threw a glance at the clock on the wall. It was well past eleven. Would she be sleeping?
Did he care? She wasn’t the only person who could run with her urges.
He stood and jammed his hat back on his head. He cast a look around his lonely living room. The sagging furniture and clutter didn’t require attention. All he had to do was walk out and lock the door behind him.
Five minutes later, he stood at Amaryllis’s door. The B&B owner had let him in with a wink that was probably relief that Aiden wasn’t here for her daughter.
He rapped lightly on the wooden door. Inside, he heard a rustling sound. Was she throwing on clothes? No need.
When she opened the door, she was fully dressed, sans boots and hat. Her hair floating loose and her eyes bright. “Aiden.” His name came out as a breath. “What are you doing here?”
“Can I come in?” He met her gaze.
Her lips parted. “Is that a good idea?”
“Depends on how quiet you can be while I rock your world, Amaryllis. Now make your choice.”
She threw a look past him and then stepped back to let him pass into her room. She hurried to close the door and lock it. Then she leaned against it as if in need of the support. His own body felt mighty jelly-like, so he understood.
They stared at each other for a long heartbeat. Suddenly, she lunged into his arms at the same moment he scooped her up. Their mouths collided with a primal need. His cock stiffened in a blink and she practically shimmied up him like a pole.
He lifted her under her ass and broke from the kiss long enough to say, “I’m takin’ you in a bed this time.”
“And after that?” She worked at his buttons while pressing nipping bites to his throat.
“After that, we have some options.” The bed was piled with pillows and quilts, and a silky robe lay across the foot. He threw her down and crawled atop her.
She stared up at him, chest heaving. “What options?”
“Well,” he drawled, leaning back enough to peel the top over her head. Her breasts rose up, cradled in black silk bra cups. His mouth dried out, and somehow he managed to get out the rest of his sentence. “There’s the shower.”
“Mmm.” She arched enough to let him slide his hands underneath her and unclasp her bra.
“The sofa.”
“How boring.” She bit his lower lip hard enough to sting.
Growling, he saw spots for a moment before throttling back the powerful lust inside him again. He had to take this slow.
“It won’t be boring when you’re bound hand and foot, on your knees, taking the leather of my belt across your round ass.”
Her eyes widened and she sucked in a sharp breath. He studied her eyes. Was she aroused or frightened to death?
He waited for some sign that he should go on, that she accepted this dirty side of him and wanted to continue.
She slid her hands inside his shirt, skimming warm fingers over his skin. She found his nipples and tweaked them hard.
A harsh groan issued from him. “Amaryllis, say the word now if you want to stop. Because once I start, I’m not sure I can.”
She leaned upward, her lips brushing his. “I want you,” she whispered.
With need raging through his system, he tore off her clothes. She unbuckled his belt and jeans and got as far as easing her hand inside his boxers. He gripped her wrist, stopping her.
“I’ll tell you when you can touch me.”
Her eyelids fluttered. “I want to taste you.”
Gulping back a growl, he counted to ten. Backward. Once he had some semblance of control, he said, “I’ll feed you my cock as soon as I’ve had my fill of you.” Then ducked his head and sucked her nipple into his mouth.
She bowed off the bed, crying out, her fingers tangled in his hair as he tormented her with hot passes of his tongue. The scent of her arousal flooded him with need, and he didn’t know how much longer he could hold back.
He moved to the other nipple, giving it the same bathing with his tongue. “So fucking beautiful even if you’re a pain in the ass.”
She giggled, and it cut off on a gasp as he ran his tongue down the flat of her stomach toward her pussy. “Such a charmer. I don’t know why I’m letting you touch me this way.”
He lifted his head and pierced her in his gaze. “Because we’re like a cat and dog going at each other. Then at the end of the day, we curl up as friends.”
“Is that what you call… this?” She sucked in sharply when his tongue struck wet honeyed gold. He lapped over her clit and down the seam of her pussy to her opening. Juices soaked his tongue, and he swirled it, lapping them up. Tasting her essence, his cock rock hard, barely harnessed by his underwear. Good thing his fly was open—he would have busted the zipper otherwise.
He burrowed his tongue into her folds, dipping into her pussy. Her inner muscles clenched on him, but he withdrew, teasing her. She yanked his hair, and he rumbled his amusement against her sensitive tissues.
One small heel beat the mattress in frustration. “Roshannon!”
“Aiden to you when I’m between your thighs, Amaryllis. Say it.”
Her eyes shot dark brown sparks. Whether lust or annoyance, he had no idea. With her, it could swing either way. He ran his tongue to her clit again, circling slowly while she moaned, “Aidennnnn.”
* * * * *
She’d lost her damn mind, and she’d never get it back at this rate. He was doing things to her clit with his tongue that no man should ever know how to do. Did men even understand a woman’s body this way? Aiden seemed to.
He licked in small circles and then spread them wider, like rings rippling on a pond. Her pussy squeezed hard, juices sliding down her body. When he sucked her clit into his mouth using strong pulls, she threw her head back and let her first orgasm sweep over her.
Shaking, her belly muscles jumping. Need lashing her like the spanking he promised to give her with his belt. The thought only shot her higher, wringing more contractions out of her.
When he raised his head, she met his stare. His eyes were hazy with passion, and damn if she didn’t want to see him in the same throes of ecstasy she’d just been in.
She grabbed his shoulders and guided him back up. His kiss was wet with her release and he shared her flavors for long seconds. “My turn,” she whispered.
He clutched her wrist and moved her hand over his cock. “Can you take that in your mouth all the way?”
He was big. Maybe not. “I want to.”
“Get on your hands and knees.”
She rolled slowly over, trying to find equilibrium after that mind-shattering orgasm. Wetness leaked down her inner thighs as she assumed the position he’d commanded her to get into.
He moved to his feet at the side of the bed, and never shifting his eyes off her, stripped his clothes off. She watched the way his hands moved, veins snaking down his forearms. His eyes smoldered, and her breath was coming too fast. Dizziness hit her, and she had to slow her breaths to keep from hyperventilating.
He didn’t move toward her, even when she wet her lips invitingly.
He seemed content to stand there looking at her.
“Arch your back for me, doll.”
Dear God, was she seriously taking commands from a man this way? She was a strong woman, and she was letting him treat her like a plaything.
Yet she fucking loved every minute of it.
She arched her back, breasts thrusting up, ass in the air.
“More.”
A shiver ran through her. “Like… this?”
“Good.” That single word wove through her psyche. The praise something she hadn’t known she craved until right this minute. On the surface, Aiden Roshannon was a man who liked to be in control, but she’d never guessed he was like this in the bedroom.
“Now wet your lips. Run your tongue over them.” His gaze locked to her mouth.
Feeling strangely confident under his stare, she did his bidding, teasing him with her movement.
He grunted, and she felt a heady wave of power at how she was affecting him. Her nipples felt so heavy, aching for his touch and the bite of his teeth.
He cupped his balls in one hand and fisted the base of his impressive length with the other. As he stepped up to the bed, knees digging into the mattress, he ran his cock head over her lips. Back and forth, smearing his pre-cum over them.
She stuck out her tongue and lapped at the juices, pulling another rough moan from him. When he eased the tip of his cock into her mouth, she closed her eyes to savor the warm velvety steel on her tongue. He pushed deeper.
“Look at me. I want to see your eyes as I work into your throat.”
Jesus, this was really happening. His dirty talk meshed with her submission sent her whirling with bone-melting desire.
He pushed deeper, gliding on her tongue all the way to the back of her throat. “Angle your head, doll. That’s it.” He edged farther in.
She swallowed on reflex, and he snapped his hands into fists. Was he battling for control? She swore she felt his shaft pulsating, ready to explode. But a man like Aiden wouldn’t let that happen. He’d get everything he wanted from her and then some.
“Now suck.”
She squeezed her thighs together as he fucked in and out of her mouth. She hollowed her cheeks. He closed his eyes and bucked into her for several more strokes before yanking free.
“You’re fucking good at that. Great. Too fucking great.” He clamped the head of his cock in one fist as he placed a knee on the bed. “Keep your ass in the air. Like that, yes. Fuck.”
He was speaking in short, jerky bursts, testimony that he was close to losing it. She reached back and caught his hip, pulling him to her. He moaned as his cock slipped easily into her soaking pussy.
“Fucking hell, you’re so hot and wet.” He sank balls deep.
* * * * *
Sweat dripped down Aiden’s temple as he battled for self-control. He wanted to take it slow, but Amaryllis wasn’t having any of it. She pushed him to the brink. He swore if she tightened around him one more time, he’d—
He clenched his jaw and breathed through his nose. In for five, out for five. Her long hair trailed down her spine, caressing her pale skin. At her throat, her pulse flickered. He ducked his head and placed his mouth over that spot, tasting sweet woman and the tang of her own perspiration dewed on her skin.
“Take me, Aiden. Don’t hold back.”
He swallowed. “You don’t want me to let go, doll.”
She squeezed his fingers digging into her hip. “I know what I’m asking for.”
Ffffuck. Did she?
He gave an answering rock of his hips, burrowing his cock against the entrance of her womb. She cried out. He withdrew slowly, lapping circles around her rapidly-beating pulse point with his tongue. Anything to distract himself.
But she felt so fucking amazing, clenching around him so perfectly, like she’d been made for this.
For him.
Hell, he was thinking of having her as a permanent fixture in his bed. It happened that way for some. He had a buddy in the military who’d come home on leave, met a girl and married her the same week. They were still happily married, last he’d heard.
But then there was Judd. His twin had been head over boots for Cassie, and in the end, she’d left him broken. He refused to speak of it, so Aiden knew it pained him.
Was he on the same slippery path, falling in lust with the first woman who’d stimulated his brain and his libido? He wasn’t lookin’ for more than a taste of the stunning woman. And maybe to shut her up for a bit.
He grinned at that and slid deep into her pussy again. She hung forward in his arms, rasping her pleasure as he fucked her with slow, measured movements. As he bottomed out, she’d push back and grind. The sweetest torture in the universe.
He lashed an arm around her middle and held her fast to his body. “You think you want my belt on your backside.”
“I do.” She whimpered as he pulled out almost to the tip.
“What about my palm? My paddle? Can you stand it if I tie you up and blindfold you and make you take me into your throat?”
She breathed out in a rush. Then nodded. “Yes.”
“Fuck, Amaryllis.” He knew her well enough to realize she wasn’t easily frightened. Maybe—just maybe—she could handle him. So far, she hadn’t backed down from anything he’d thrown at her, even the commands.
He stroked her breasts with one hand while inching the other down her body. He cupped her pussy hard, applying pressure to her clit. She was swollen, and he knew if he had that little bundle of nerves beneath his tongue, he’d feel it pulse as if with its own heartbeat.
“Oh God, Aiden. Yesss.”
He massaged her pussy as he fucked her faster. She was climbing, juices slicking his cock and creating a soft sucking noise.
“You can’t come until I say you can.”
“I can’t hold back.”
He deliberately slowed, edging her away from the cliff of pleasure. In her ear, he rumbled, “You only come when I say so.”
“Please. Aiden!”
He stroked her clit, trapping it between his fingers and rubbing up and down. He pushed into her body again and felt her contract. So close.
“Focus on my voice, doll. Only on me, not what your body’s telling you to do.”
“I don’t know if I can.” Her voice trembled.
“If you pass this test, I’ll reward you. Generously. Now listen to me. Do not come.”
She seemed to still in his arms and he continued to torment her with his cock and fingers. Drawing deep moans from her that grew more guttural with every caress. Her body shook.
How far could he push? He couldn’t have her losing faith in him, but he had to know her limits and take her half a step beyond.
She clamped down on his cock, and need flooded his body, pressure on his lower spine increasing. His balls aching to blow.
“Easy, doll. That’s it. Listen to me now. You want to come.”
“Yes!”
“You’re so close.”
“Oh my God. Fuck.”
He grinned. Dirty mouth and all, she was a gem.
“Feel my cock glide into your pussy. Tighten your muscles around it.”
She obeyed, limp, breathing hard.
“Now feel your clit under my finger. So swollen.”
She cried out. She couldn’t go on much longer.
He lifted his fingers from her body one by one until he was no longer touching her. She trembled against him.
“Think of my fingers there.” He pushed in hard.
“Yes!”
“Now come, Amaryllis. Come on my cock.”
She did with a scream of pleasure that probably rattled the windows of the rest of the B&B. He fucked her fast as she clenched and released around him. He issued a growl, cum rushed up his shaft. The first splash on her inner walls made her tighten around him again.
He pounded into her, stars bursting in his vision. But all he could think was that he’d fucking achieved more with her in one short session than any of his lovers had with him after months.
Not many could be his lover, as submissive as he needed.
But Amaryllis was.