He knifed out of the seat, taking me with him and putting me on my feet.
Feet he looked at as he draped his arm around my shoulders.
Feet he was still looking at when he muttered, “I cannot believe I fucked you in those boots.”
Heat rose in my cheeks.
His arm angled down and his hand cupped my bottom as he rolled me into him and stared down at me, grinning.
“You sliding my finger inside you, baby, was seriously hot but you dropping drawers after half a kiss was seriously fucking hotter.”
And now I could actually feel the pink get more pink in my cheeks.
“Can we not do audible replays?” I requested.
“Why not?” he teased.
“It was—”
“Hot.”
“Yes and also—”
“As fuck.”
I slapped his arm. “Johnny.”
He brought his lips to mine. “Okay, spätzchen, I’ll just do mental replays.”
I glared at him even as I melted into him.
He kissed me again. It turned into a short make-out session. Then he guided me with his arm around my shoulders to the door, through it and pushed me gently toward the gate.
“Breakfast,” he ordered.
“Okeydokey,” I replied.
I headed out the gate and latching it, looked back to see Johnny was already to Serengeti, getting her ready to let her outside to roam.
I didn’t think about how much I liked that visual.
I didn’t think about how much had just happened and how huge it all was.
I didn’t think about the fact that life might have just changed in major ways and just how much possibility now lay before me, all of it embodied by Johnny.
I went to my house, slid my boots off outside the door (and I did this grinning) and I walked in.
My dogs bounded to me.
My nephew sat in a high chair by the island with a bib on and my sister bent over him, shoving baby cereal in his mouth.
Her head turned to me.
“You might have seen that Johnny pulled up and—” I started.
She straightened.
Brooks screeched when his food got farther away.
Addie spoke.
“Yeah. He came to the door. I told him you were in the stables. He didn’t say a word, turned on his kickass boot and stalked to the stables. And to say the man can stalk is to say the man can stalk. I watched with what I will admit was avid fascination until he disappeared around the corner and I couldn’t watch anymore. He seemed pissed and worried. I went with the worried at first then I got worried about the pissed. So I went out to make sure everything was okay. And just to say, you getting drilled by a hot guy against a wall in a stable is something I cannot ever unsee.”
My entire chest depressed.
“Though,” she bent back over Brooks and shoved more cereal in his mouth, “after my eyeballs stopped burning, objectively I could see it was seriously hot and I’m glad for you.”
“He’s mucking out the stalls and spending the day with us,” I said quietly.
She turned her head to me again.
“Good,” she said strongly.
“It wasn’t the woman. It was his dog,” I told her.
“You got until he gets done in the stable to fill me in on all this stuff you wouldn’t talk about last night and you kept from me the night before. But just to say, it wasn’t lost on me how into you he was. It was just lost on you, until he drilled you against the wall in the stable. Still, I wanna know all the dirt, so get cracking on breakfast, Iz, and spill.”
“Do you think he’ll want pancakes or eggs?” I thought for a second and added more options, “Or waffles or French toast?”
“When I turned on the ringer of your phone this morning, I saw he’d texted twelve times and phoned eleven. I think that man would eat sawdust, it was you serving it up to him.”
Twelve texts.
Eleven calls.
So fuckin’ good and so fuckin’ intense and so fuckin’ everything.
It seemed Addie might be right.
I smiled at her.
She rolled her eyes. “Spare me the post-coital bliss, cook and fill me in. Man like that will have two stables mucked out in less than twenty minutes.”
This might be true.
So I got cracking (I picked pancakes).
And I filled my sister in on what was happening.
But I couldn’t quite beat back or even hide my bliss.
Johnny
Johnny got out of the shower and reached to grab a towel.
When he did, his eyes fell on the jar by the tub.
It had been sitting there so long he didn’t even see it anymore.
But he saw it then.
He rubbed his hair, gave his body a cursory wipe and then wrapped the towel around his hips.
He secured it and went to the jar.
Ranger got up from lying on the rug in front of one of the sinks and came to him.
Johnny grabbed the jar but bent with his free hand to give his dog’s head a scratch.
He then walked with his dog at his heels to the kitchen. He opened the cabinet that hid the trash bin and tossed the jar in.
He closed the cabinet and bent fully to his dog.
Grabbing his head, he asked, “Wanna go to Izzy’s with me?”
Ranger tried to lick his face.
Johnny smiled at him. “I’ll give her a call. See if Dempsey and Swirl are good with company.”
He rubbed Ranger’s head and moved back to the bathroom to his jeans on the floor. He dug his phone out, called Iz and was not surprised with her answer.
So he pulled a comb through his hair, put on deodorant, clean shorts, jeans and tee, tugged socks and his boots on and he grabbed his wallet, phone and keys.
Then he and Ranger headed out the door to his truck in order to get back to Izzy.
You
Izzy
HEARING A CEILING fan, I opened my eyes and saw tan sheets.
I rolled and saw Johnny in sweats and nothing else at the railing on his deck holding up a cup of coffee.
Ranger was lying at his feet.
Dog and man looked comfortable in their morning repose.
That was, dog and man looked comfortable in their morning repose until Johnny’s head turned and he looked through the windows at me.
He then lifted up his free hand and crooked a finger, also at me.
Like I was mesmerized, I threw back the covers and tossed my legs over the side, pulling myself out of bed. I walked like I was in a dream (because mostly I was) to the door and through it.
Ranger shot up and came to me and I gave him some distracted pets as I made my way to Johnny.
He held his arm out.
I walked right in, pressing my front to his side.
His arm wrapped around but his hand kept moving, pulling up his tee that I’d put on before collapsing in his bed then gliding down, fingers in my panties.
I shivered.
He put his coffee mug down on the railing.
“Passed out on me, spätzchen,” he murmured instead of saying good morning.
“I didn’t sleep well the last couple of nights,” I explained.
“You sleep well last night?”
The day before I’d learned a lot about Johnny Gamble.
I’d learned he had a quick wit and could match Addie quip for quip, a lot of the time doing it even better than her.
I’d learned he didn’t only muck stalls, he did dishes, refilled drinks without being asked, and proved to be an excellent sous chef when you’re cooking.
I’d learned he changed diapers.
I’d learned when his head wasn’t messed up necessitating he convey a message so your heart wouldn’t get broken, he was exceptionally affectionate and sweetly teasing, but there was more.
He was appreciative.
With his eyes and facial expressions, sometimes touches, sometimes murmured wor
ds, he showed and told me he liked how I moved. He liked my legs. He liked my hair. He liked my behind. He liked listening to me talk. He liked watching me laugh. He liked seeing me tease my sister. He liked watching me respond when she teased me. He liked the little mini-dress I’d put on (Johnny was coming over to spend the day so I absolutely made an effort) that was a blue and white print with a blousy top and short sleeves and a flouncy short skirt.
He liked me and didn’t hide it in any way.
In fact, I’d never had the admiration of a man aimed at me the way Johnny did it. It was casual, spontaneous, but definite. It was a part of who he was and how he felt about me, not a path he was taking to get what he wanted.
After dinner and after after-dinner conversation, which both involved wine, and Johnny taking me back to his house, I’d barely made it up the stairs and walked a step inside when his lips were at my neck and he said, “Get your ass to bed, baby, before you curl up on the floor and fall asleep.”
I’d turned drowsily to him, eyes to his chest and mumbled, “Tee.”
He took his tee off.
I took my dress and bra off and put it on.
Then I climbed into his bed and went right to sleep.
And having the day I’d had the day before with Addie and Brooks and Johnny, learning all I had about Johnny, I’d slept like a baby.
“I slept great,” I whispered.
He bent his head, brushed his lips against mine and lifted up.
“Did you?” I asked.
“I didn’t have the best nights’ sleep the last few nights so yeah. It was good to sleep solid.”
I nuzzled into him, turned my head, put my cheek to his chest and stared at the sun glinting off the creek.
I felt fur slide down my calf as Ranger slid down my leg to lie down at our feet.
Ranger had a lot going on, what with being back with Johnny then spending the day with new dogs, new people and a baby.
He didn’t seem to miss Shandra.
But once things settled down and he realized this was his permanent reality, he would.
I sighed.
“What’s on your mind?” Johnny asked, the tips of his fingers idly tracing the curve at the bottom of the cheek of my behind.
“Nothing.”
“We don’t do that, baby,” he admonished gently.
I left my check to his chest but still tipped my head back to catch his gaze.
“Don’t do what?” I asked.
“Especially not with a beginning like we had that was rocky,” he went on.
“What?”
“Something bothering you?” he asked.
“No,” I answered.
“You made a noise like something was on your mind,” he stated.
“It isn’t bothering me.”
“And I asked what was on your mind. You said nothing when it was something. And we gotta stay open and out there so we don’t fall into shit that might keep things rocky.”
I lifted my head, turned it back to him and put my hand on his chest.
“I was just thinking that Ranger probably doesn’t get that things have changed and he’ll miss Shandra when he does.”
His hand cupped my behind. “So you were thinking about her.”
“No, I was thinking about Ranger.”
“And Shandra.”
“Well, kind of,” I allowed.
“Not kind of,” he returned.
“A dog can’t communicate like we do, but they can communicate and they have feelings and change is rough for them just like it is for anyone.”
“He’ll be fine,” Johnny assured shortly.
“I know he will,” I replied, also shortly.
“You need to get her off your mind,” he ordered.
I felt cold penetrate and I pushed a little away, stopping only when the pads of his fingers started biting in, and retorted, “No. It seems to me you need to get her off your mind.”
“I didn’t bring her to the balcony, Izzy.”
“I didn’t either, Johnny.”
“We gotta make sure this doesn’t infect what we’ve got or what we got isn’t gonna stay good.”
“I’m all in for that, but just to say, you also need to let me worry about your dog because he’s cute and he’s sweet and he loves you, and he gets along with Dempsey and Swirl and he thinks Brooks is awesome and I like him and that’s me. I’m an animal freak. If I see a humane society commercial with pictures of animals that have been abused, I won’t be able to sleep. I once stole a neighbor’s cat and took her to the vet to be fixed because the neighbor kept letting her out and she’d get pregnant and have babies, and the neighbor would just take the kittens to the shelter every time and that’s not right.”
Johnny stared down at me.
“Don’t worry,” I told him. “I gave her back after she’d recovered. Said she got stuck in my garage. Her baby had her belly shaved and she probably figured it out but she never said anything. For her, free neutering. For me, I didn’t want to shoot her with BBs every time I saw her load a box full of kittens in her car.”
He kept staring down at me.
I kept blabbing.
“You know, it was better when you were being sweet and I could just think about how much I liked it that you don’t mind changing diapers. So can we have a nice morning, and to have that, can I ask that you stop annoying me?”
“Changing diapers?” he queried.
“Men don’t get it. If they knew how much women liked it when they took care of babies, the moms wouldn’t get anywhere near their child.”
His lips hitched. “You liked it when I changed Brooks’s diapers?”
I shrugged.
His hand still in my panties moved from my behind to my hip.
“What else did you like?” he murmured, his voice having changed entirely.
But I was still annoyed.
“I liked it that you didn’t let Addie give you any shit.”
“She’s fun,” he said.
“She’s a smart aleck.”
His hand shifted to my hipbone and my attention on our conversation stuttered.
He dipped his head closer and asked “What else did you like?”
I tried to stay focused at the same time wondering where his hand was going to go next.
“I . . . I, uh . . . like it that you’re easy to cook with.”
“Yeah?” he murmured, his eyes dropping to my mouth and his hand sliding even farther.
“Yeah,” I whispered, my eyes also dropping to his mouth.
Seriously, I really loved his beard.
And his lips.
“What else you like, baby?” I watched his lips whisper back, his fingers skating across the curls between my legs.
“Um . . .” I mumbled.
“Hmm?” he hummed against my lips and then his fingers slid over my clit and my hips jerked. “You like that?” he asked.
“Yes,” I breathed.
He repeated the gesture and my hand at his chest slid up to hold on to his neck as I pressed into him.
“How much?” he asked.
“A lot.”
He stroked me between my legs, barely grazing my clit and I started panting.
“Does your man always gotta ask you to kiss him when he’s wanting a kiss or are you gonna learn to get with the program?” he inquired.
“I’m gonna learn to get with the program,” I whispered but was so entranced with him, I made no move.
“Then give me that mouth, Izzy,” he demanded.
I kissed him.
He pulled me closer, giving his hand more room to move and his fingers scored firm against my clit before he bent into me so he could glide one inside.
I whimpered into his mouth.
He separated his mouth from mine and slid his finger out.
“Get inside,” he growled. “And get naked.”
“’Kay,” I pushed out.
He let me go.
I turned immediately and moved on
jellied legs into his house.
Johnny followed me.
Ranger came with us.
But I had no mind to Ranger.
I went to my side of the bed and tore his T-shirt from me.
And I watched in turned-on confusion as he went to his side of the bed and pulled his sweats down.
I watched his hard cock spring free and it felt like it took ten years to yank my panties down my legs.
He bent to the bed, shoved the pillows against the headboard and climbed in.
I watched.
He settled with his back to the headboard, one leg straight, one leg cocked but falling to the side and then . . .
Then . . .
Then he started lazily stroking his cock and his eyes locked on me.
“What you gonna do to me, Izzy?”
Oh my God.
Ohmigod!
If I was completely in control of my limbs, which I absolutely was not, I would have scrambled in bed and taken that beautiful cock in my mouth so fast, I’d be a blur.
Instead, I was shaking with anticipation so it was deliberately, my gaze to him, that I put hands then knees to the bed and crawled his way.
He watched me do this and I got his sexy noise, this one lower, rougher, the one that carved through me, leaving me open, exposed, wanting, needing.
I positioned between his legs and stopped.
His eyes burning black fire, I was again mesmerized by Johnny.
But I didn’t miss him stop stroking his cock so he could cup his balls, use his other hand to angle his cock from his stomach and offer it to me.
Oh . . . my . . . God.
“You gonna stare at it, beautiful, or are you gonna suck it?” Johnny asked gruffly.
My attention went from his shaft on offer to his face.
For a second.
Then I moved in, put a hand to his chest, trailing it down as I dropped my head, kneeling in front of him, positioning to worship his cock.
My closed lips touched the tip, I let it spread them then I drew him deep.
Johnny hissed out a breath.
I drew him out and sucked him back in.
I found his nipple with my thumb, rubbed it, felt it tighten under my touch, but my focus was what my mouth was doing, how far I could take him, how hard I could suck, how fast I could go.
His hand was in my hair pulling it back and I felt him take it, like it, become agitated and tense under my movements.
I gave him a break, laved him, stroked him with my free hand while I gently licked the tip.