Cowgirls Don't Cry(49)

“Oh, I…wow. That feels good.”


“Tastes good too.” Brandt’s fingers drifted down the inside of her forearm to her wrist. He threaded his fingers through hers and brought their joined hands to his mouth, lightly kissing each fingertip. He reversed course back up her arms and did the same thing, bestowing the same diligent treatment to the other side, except he dragged it out a little more.

Jessie’s body wilted when he skimmed his fingers up and down her side, in a feather-light caress, from her armpit to the curve of her hip. She managed not to squirm too wildly when he wrapped her fingers on the rungs of the headboard and zigzagged openmouthed kisses down that same tender section of skin.

Twice.

Her chest rose and fell rapidly with the marked increase in her breathing. His cock was so hard it pained him to bend over as he moved down the wonders of her body, but Brandt would not be rushed. He’d take his time, even if it damn near killed them both.

He paid no attention to her breasts or her nipples. Instead, his mouth brushed over every rib in her ribcage. Then down the centerline of her belly, past her belly button, to that sensitive span of skin between her narrow hipbones. When he put his mouth on her there, her entire belly rippled. So he did it over and over until she huffed out an impatient breath.

“What are you doing to me?”


“Memorizing you.” He pressed kisses around the triangle of strawberry blonde hair at the juncture of her thighs. Again he allowed his fingers to map the muscles in her legs, tease the skin on the inside and smooth his palm over the curve from hip to ankle.

He kissed the tops of her thighs. He lifted her leg to nuzzle the back of her thighs and to trace the bend in her knees with his tongue. He peppered kisses down her shinbones, which were covered in bruises from Landon smacking into her all the time. When he reached the top of her foot, he sucked at the delicate skin and Jessie shot up off the bed so fast she almost kicked him in the face. “Easy there,” he murmured.

“I heard that toe sucking was erotic, but this…this is way better. I never knew that would make me…”


“Make you what?”


“Tingle. My God. My whole body is tingling.”


He switched feet just to see her come unglued.

“Okay, and now in addition to making me tingle, you’re making me wet. Really wet. In fact, I think you should check it out,” she purred.

Brandt chuckled. “I believe you. But I’m not finished yet.” The same time he lifted her right ankle for a kiss, he noticed the tattoo. He outlined the shape of the butterfly with the pad of his thumb. “When did you get this?”


“The first time a bunch of us went in and India gave us all McKay brands.”


He’d heard about his cousin’s wives getting inked with the McKay cattle brand, but he’d never seen Jessie’s. He’d been too busy noticing other parts of her body.

“But last year, about the time I…quit grieving for Luke so hard and realized our life wasn’t as perfect as I’d made it out to be after he was gone, I wanted the symbol of his ownership gone too. So India designed this one, using the original tat, but you’d have to look really hard to see it.”


The colorful butterfly emerging from a land cocoon fit Jessie’s personal metamorphosis. Yet, it bothered him that she’d had the McKay brand removed. Why not just get a new tattoo? Keep the old one as a reminder of a past life event? If he thought about it too hard, he might take offense to it. Like Jessie no longer wanted to be associated with the McKays. Like she wanted to erase any part of her life with them.