Warm mouth, soft lips. The contact was…thrilling. Not as overwhelming as Joel’s kiss, there was no comparison, but the sweetness was delicious. And when Ashley slipped her tongue along Vicki’s lips, she opened without a complaint, the kisser now becoming the kissee.

So many sensations overwhelmed her senses. Ashley’s body pressed closer, all curves and gentle slopes. Vicki snuck her fingers up and along the smooth skin of Ashley’s neck as their tongues brushed. Ashley rubbed their hips together, and Vicki moaned, desire rising fast.

She’d barely had time to register that Ashley tasted faintly like watermelons when big hands wrapped around her waist and she was jerked from the kiss. The other woman winked saucily, licking her lips.

That’s all she saw before the view changed and Vicki realized she was in deep shit.

Chapter Twenty

Joel didn’t say a word. He’d watched the dance progress and wondered what the hell the girls were up to until he couldn’t hold back any longer.

Not only was he achingly hard, he was fucking pissed off. Vicki didn’t seem to get the idea of this whole deal between them, and like hell was she going to fool around with anyone, guy or girl, while they were a couple.

Possessiveness had never been an issue for him before, but right now he wanted to stamp her with his brand and make it abundantly clear the only person doing any touching, kissing or otherwise, would be him.

Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Travis approaching Ashley, but he had more important things to do than pay attention to his brother. He lifted Vicki into the air and spun her, a little squeal escaping her lips.

Her lashes fluttered for a moment before she glanced away.

“Hell no, you don’t get to pretend you didn’t do that on purpose. Look at me.”

Vicki lifted her gaze until her eyes were just visible through her lashes, her chin still tucked down.

Going to play that game, was she? Fine, he could give her what she needed as well as teach her a lesson even if she continued the shy schoolgirl ploy. “Wrap your legs around my waist,” he ordered.

Vicki moved quickly, her hands on his shoulders clutching tighter as he jogged to the right of the fire where the rock face showed through the hillside. He pressed her back to the smooth surface, and her eyes popped wide as he ground his erection over her clit.

“Joel, I—”

He swallowed her excuses. As he ravished her mouth, the faint taste of another person made him want to mark Vicki five ways to Sunday. He tugged her coat aside at the waistline and snuck his hand upward. Naked breast filled his palm and he let his growl of satisfaction escape.

He wasn’t done kissing her, but needed more. He dragged their mouths apart, hoisted her higher in the air. Vicki caught hold of his head, balancing herself as he shoved up her shirt and in one move took her nipple into his mouth.

“Oh God, Joel.” Vicki fisted her fingers, pulling his hair. She wasn’t hauling him off her, but keeping him close.

He sucked hard, laving his tongue over her nipple until she whimpered. Slow wasn’t happening, not tonight. Joel broke off, lowered her feet to the dirt and reached for her zipper. “Off. Get them off.”

Vicki had her lower lip between her teeth. “Strip?”

He squeezed her ass. “Right here, right fucking now.”

She lowered her zipper, glancing over his shoulder.

“Don’t look at anyone but me.” Joel yanked one side of her jeans down, panties going with it. The heat off her body made something inside crack. “I’m the only one you need to worry about, got it? Stop thinking about the others and focus on us. On me. I’m the one who’s going to fuck you until you can’t walk.”

That wide-eyed-doe look did something to him. For a split second he worried he’d gone too far before he noticed her breathing had kicked up a notch, and she was clutching his sweater to keep him close, not push him away.

Everything else vanished but the driving need to be inside her.

He whipped a condom out of his pocket and pressed it to her palm. Vicki swallowed, crowded as she was between his body and the rocky outcrop. Joel slammed down his zipper and hauled out his cock, the erect length hard and more than ready.

Condom wrapper abandoned to the ground, he rolled the latex on before focusing his attention on his now-silent girlfriend.

She had one leg still in her jeans, the other bare. He was fully dressed but for his cock.

“You ready for me?” Joel smoothed his fingers along her sex, slipping through the folds and finding what he’d hoped. “You’re good and turned on, aren’t you?”

“God, yes.”

She leaned her head back on the rock and thrust her hips toward him, as if she couldn’t get enough. He pressed his finger into her core and she sucked in air.

Joel growled. “You like this a lot. The idea of being fucked right out in the open.”

He sure the hell did. He spread her on a second digit, then a third while she panted lightly, her fingers digging into his shoulders even through the layers he wore.

He slipped his fingers from her heat, hoisted her in the air, and lined them up, his cock nudging her sex. He settled her shoulders against the rock wall.

Their eyes met and he drove deep.

The cry of pleasure from her lips only made it easier to continue, pumping into her frantically, thrusting like a mad man. The fabric from her empty jean leg dangled toward the ground, flapping as they moved. Vicki had her eyes closed, sheer ecstasy on her face.

Everything leading up to this moment meant Joel teetered on a thread. His climax built like pressure behind a dam, balls tightening, electric shocks sliding along his spine. He had less than a dozen strokes left before he’d lose it.

A slight adjustment allowed him to squeeze his hand between their bodies all the way down to her clit. She gasped when he touched her, eyes flying open to stare, breathless, as he pinched the sensitive nub.

Another thrust.

Another.

Vicki squeezed her legs tighter around him, pulling in time with his thrusts and driving his cock deeper. It felt so damn good he forgot everything except the need to make her come before he did. Had to be soon because, dammit, he wasn’t going to last.

Another stroke, harder to her clit.

Another thrust, deeper this time as he angled his hips. Vicki moaned sweetly, a long, low noise edging higher. Joel worked her harder, and her body quivered under him, nearly there…nearly there…

She jerked hard enough he almost lost his balance. He did lose his control. Climax spilling out, balls emptying so hard his legs went rubbery.

Vicki gasped as he thrust a couple more times, her passage so tight around him he couldn’t bear to leave.

Until they both stopped shaking, Joel leaned into her, supporting them with the meager energy left in his lower limbs. Cold air swirled around them, and he stroked her naked leg where it rested over his hip, warming her with his palm.

“Hmm, that feels nice.” Vicki whispered the words, her breathing nearly back to normal. “Joel?”

He leaned his shoulders away just enough to see her face. “Yeah?”

She stroked his cheek and smiled contentedly. “I liked that. Totally hot.”

So had he, but he hadn’t forgotten why he’d been insane. Frantic sex had eased his anger, and the way she burrowed in against his neck, he didn’t think she was pissed off at all he’d been a demanding asshole this time around.

Which was good, because he’d enjoyed the sex a lot. But this wasn’t the end, it was the beginning.

He wasn’t about to start the next step now, with his cock still embedded in her body, but once they were back to civilization, they were going to have a long-postponed conversation. About her disappearance the days before, the fuck-it-all attitude she’d had tonight. Hell, even dig a little deeper into a few other areas that up to now they’d avoided in the good old time they’d been having while hanging out.

Screw going slow. It was past time for some secrets to be shared.


Vicki accepted the cup of hot chocolate from Joel, staring around her in amazement.

He hadn’t taken her home after they’d driven back to the ranch house and dropped off Ashley and Travis. Well, not true. He’d taken her home and told her to pack a bag, then he’d hustled her out the door and into his truck. Driving into the mountains for an hour in the deepening black was a little like moving into a fantasy world.

The heat under her fingers was the only solid, non-confusing part, so she focused on it. A few sips at a time to center herself before she had to break the silence.

The tiny cabin had a small counter on one wall, the door to a bathroom on another, and the rest of the room was pretty much taken up with bed. This little corner she’d claimed was right in front of the wood-burning fireplace Joel had gotten going only moments after ushering her in the door.

The entire evening had bordered on the fantastic, and she was still reeling.

“How did you set this up so quickly?” She stroked the carpet under her fingers, luxuriating in the softness.

“Friend of the family. We have a standing invitation. I checked the website, and it wasn’t booked for the next couple nights, so it’s ours.”

Vicki shifted position as Joel lowered himself to the floor, his blue eyes catching hold of hers and not letting go.

She wasn’t sure why they were there, but that expression he wore scared her a little. “It’s pretty, but I don’t understand why we took off so fast.”