Rode Hard, Put Up Wet (Rough Riders #2)(89)

Not that she was paying attention to him.


Gemma flattened her palms on her belly and slid them up her ribcage. She arched.


Her fingers fluttered higher. Then those ivory breasts were cupped in her hands and she strummed the pink tips with her thumbs until they drew into hard tips. She moaned.


His hips lifted slightly.


“That feels good. Mmm. But do you know what would feel better?”


My lips?


“This.” Watching his face, she sucked her fingers into mouth. “Mmm.” She kept sucking, letting him get a flash of that naughty pink tongue.


Oh, he knew what damage that tongue could do. Bring a man to his knees with one wicked swipe.


Gemma eased her wet fingers out of her mouth, smiled, then used them to twist her right nipple. The fingers of her other hand glided down her stomach to the thatch of golden curls. The tip of her middle finger dipped down into her slit. Played around with the opening to her * and her ass as she rocked her hips forward, letting him see everything, letting him how she pleasured herself. She pushed two fingers in deep.


His cock jerked hard.


Her moan was only slightly sexier than the moist sucking sounds of her fingers moving in and out of her *.


Then her fingers returned, glistening with her juices, to rub her clit.


Cash groaned. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from this woman who held nothing back. In bed or out.


Her hips undulated, she said, “Oh, yes,” as she touched herself like he wasn’t here.


Screw that. He was here.


“Gemma. You’re killin’ me. You proved your point. Let me touch you.”


And then she was in his face. “Why should I? You won’t let me touch you. In fact, I don’t even get to see you naked. It’s been nearly three months you’ve spent in my bed.”


“You can touch me right now.”


She rolled her eyes. “So I had to ask myself: Am I that disgusting that you can’t stand to look at my body when you make love to me?”


His jaw dropped. “Jesus. No!”


“Is it because I’m too old?”


“No.”


“If it’s not the body, then is it my face?”


“For Christsake, no!”


“Then it must be you.”


His pulse pounded.


“You’re not scarred, or tattooed, or ashamed of the size of your big dick either. So, why is it, Cash Big Crow, that it always has to be so damn dark between us?”


Silence.


“I will leave you handcuffed here all night and all day if you don’t answer. I might even stretch it out to two days. You know I don’t make idle threats. Call this my pre-emptive strike.”


He probably deserved that. “Gemma, sweets, please.”


“No sweet-talkin’, no bullshit. Tell me what in tarnation is goin’ on with you and why we are always in the dark.”


“Because I don’t want you to know. I don’t want you to see…” He squeezed his lids hard. But he knew it wouldn’t do any good.


“See what? Please. Cash. Look. At. Me.”


Cash opened his eyes. “See that I love you.”


Gemma didn’t speak.


“I’ve been in love with you for two years. From the first moment I saw you at the Ardmore Rodeo. You were perfect; a horsewoman who loved the land, who loved her stock, who was loyal to her friends. A sexy cowgirl who was smart, and smart-mouthed and could hold her own with rodeo cowboys and queens alike. But you were still grievingfor your husband and it broke my goddamn heart. So I bided my time, actin’ like your friend, when in fact, I’ve been a lovesick fool for you for years, Gem, waitin’ and hopingyou’d notice me. Give me a chance.


“Last year I thought you were finally gonna take a chance. But you weren’t ready to move on. I didn’t know if you’d ever be ready. ’Bout killed me to let you go. But I did.


When you came to me, offerin’ me a job, offerin’ me the dream of bein’ with you every day… I’m such a selfish bastard. I knew if I didn’t claim everything I wanted from you up front, you’d give me scraps and I’d probably take them. But I found my pride and demanded all or nothin’. It floored me when you said yes.”


“I wouldn’t have asked you, or said yes to you if I hadn’t wanted you. All of you.”


She smirked. “I’m a little stubborn in case you hadn’t noticed. But you aren’t answering my question. Why the darkness?”


“I hid your eyes that first night because I didn’t want you to regret bein’ with me, especially when I sorta forced your hand. And I sure as hell didn’t want you to look down at me when we were both naked for the first time, and remember back to the last time a man had made love to you, and wish I was Steve.”


She didn’t move.


“Then I heard you cryin’ afterward. It hurt like a son of a bitch. I didn’t mean for it to go this far—with the blindfold, the darkness, and the funky sexual positions. But I knew I’d never be able to hide how I feel when I look in your eyes as I’m lovin’ you. I wanted to wait until there might be a chance it didn’t scare you and…you might love me back some day.”