Taken, Not Spurred (Lone Star Burn #1)(18)
Author: Ruth Cardello

It took Tony only a second or two to follow suit. He flicked his reins back, cracking his gelding on the rump, and they were off after her. He had the advantage of riding a larger horse with a longer stride, but she had covered quite a distance during his moments of indecision. He kicked in his heels and felt a rush of adrenaline. Unused to leather snapping on his flank or the surge of energy from the man riding him, his horse gave an excited buck before lowering his head and giving chase.

A sense of freedom washed through him as he and his horse flew across the open field. He vaguely remembered a time, long ago, when he’d ridden for the sheer pleasure of it. Back then it hadn’t been about working them or training them. It had been simply this. This exhilaration.

When did I stop feeling this—feeling anything?

They were closing the distance and would have overtaken Sarah when she came to a sudden stop at the first tree.

“I win,” she proclaimed with a huge grin, circling her Paso Fino in triumph like she’d just won the nationals.

Adrenaline still pumping, Tony brought his horse to a sliding halt beside them. He hopped down, letting the reins drop with the confidence of a man who had trained all his horses to ground tie. He reached up and, without a word, lifted Sarah out of her saddle and slid her down the front of him, holding her against him, stopping only when her toes reached the top of his boots. She tilted her head to look at him.

He bent his head to taste her sweet lips. She wrapped her arms around his neck and met him halfway. He led and she followed, opening her lips eagerly for him. She was every bit as hot and sweet as he remembered, so he took instead of asked.

He couldn’t get enough of her. He ran his hands over every part he could reach, and his mouth explored all her bare skin until he needed more of her—all of her.

He reached down and unsnapped her jeans, continuing his sensual assault as he did.

She arched against him, momentarily pressing his hands between them as he slid her zipper down. When he began to ease her jeans over her hips, she froze.

“Trust me,” he whispered, and began to kiss her neck as he undressed her. He hooked his thumbs beneath the elastic of her cotton panties so he could remove them at the same time as her jeans. Shifting his weight, he held her to him even as he pulled the jeans the rest of the way off, easing her sneakers off at the same time. Her blouse hung just to the curve of her ass. That delicious ass. He ran a hand over the soft bareness of it and pressed her wet pussy against the crotch of his straining jeans. Her head fell back in abandon, exposing more of her neck to his attentive mouth.

Nature offered him a delightful option. The tree just behind them had two low thick branches just the right height for what he had in mind. He carried her to it and lifted her onto the lower branch. “Open your legs for me,” he commanded softly, and threw his hat to the ground behind him.

She sat there at first, her legs still together, on a branch about the height of his shoulder. She held on to the branch just above her head and looked down at him nervously. “I’ve never . . .”

He eased her legs apart, positioning her calves over his shoulders and savoring the view for a moment. She was perfection—wet, quivering perfection—and he couldn’t wait to sink his tongue into her. “Then let me show you.”

He waited until she nodded slightly and closed her eyes, then gave in and held her ass in place with both hands while he parted her lower lips with his tongue. She shook at his first intimate lap and he felt a resounding echo of pleasure course through him.

This was not a task to rush.

He explored her with his tongue, seeking out and finding her excited nub. Once there he brought one hand around and used two fingers to open her more to him. He lightly blew on her and loved how she moaned in response. One of her hands was braced on the higher branch; the other was clenched on her thigh.

He took her hand in his and laid it over her blonde mound. “You are so beautiful. Feel how beautiful you are.” He pushed her middle finger between her wet lips and guided it to her clit. “Feel how much you like this.”

Holding on to the branch above her with one arm, she closed her eyes and moved her hand up and down in small jerky movements. He said, “Look at me.” She opened her eyes and he could tell that she wasn’t yet relaxed enough to fully enjoy herself. “Did you like my tongue on you?”

Shyly, she nodded.

“Then touch where you want me to lick. Rub what you want me to suck. Pump that finger inside yourself if that’s what you’d like to feel me do to you next, but don’t close your eyes. I want to see you fuck yourself. I want to share it with you.”

Beneath his hand, she began to move hers again. This time she started as he had, by circling her clit. Then she rubbed it. Awkwardness fell away and was replaced by a rhythm that had them both breathing heavily as her eyes burned with the intensity of her pleasure.

He knew exactly when she dipped her middle finger inside herself, and the act sent a sledgehammer of desire through his gut. He shifted the position of his hand so his finger could enter her as well. She gasped and her eyes widened, but she didn’t protest.

In unison, they pumped in and out, and he loved the wild look that entered her eyes when they did. He said, “Now taste your finger.”

She shook her head.

He stopped moving and took her hand in his. Her finger was wet with her juices. He licked it, never looking away from her shocked eyes. “You will and you’ll enjoy it, but I can wait.” He kissed both of her thighs and then sank his face back into her beautiful pussy and caressed her as deeply as his long tongue would allow. He rolled his tongue and used the thumb of one hand to stimulate her while he continued. He went deeper and deeper, withdrawing now and then to blow on her excited nub until she was writhing on the branch in ecstasy.

She tensed against him, then began to cry out, “Oh, God. Oh, God.” He held her securely as she started to shake and maintained his intimate invasion until she was shuddering beneath his hands and came in his mouth. Then he lapped at her swollen lips slowly, knowing how to gently soothe her.

When he stopped and looked up at her again, she smiled even as she blushed. “Now that’s what I call a prize for winning our race.”

He was beginning to understand that she used her humor as a shield. He didn’t ease up and let her. Instead, he nipped her thigh and growled, “I can’t wait to fuck you in my bed tonight.”

She gulped visibly. “I thought we’d . . . uh . . . I guess I just assumed that you’d want to do it right now instead.”