STORY EXCERPT

Dahlia nearly jumped out of the hospital chair she’d fallen asleep in. Scooter’s big hand gripped her shoulder, and lines creased his forehead. She stared at him, momentarily confused, then whipped around to face the window outside Tanner’s room. Morning sun lit the hospital courtyard. Nurses and technicians dressed in scrubs made their way along the intersecting concrete walkway. Dahlia automatically reached for her hair, taming the long curls behind her ear as best she could.

“You didn’t sleep here, did you?” Scooter’s voice held equal parts disbelief and irritation.

“No,” she lied. “I…I was just praying.” No doubt, she’d go straight to hell for that one.

Scooter snorted his disbelief and handed her the steaming cup in his hand. He still didn’t seem to like her much, but at least he wasn’t picking a fight this morning.

“You didn’t have to bring me coffee.”

“It was mine, but looks like you could use it.”

She took the cup and murmured a thank you without looking at him. Ordinarily, she’d have a little more pride. Ordinarily, she wouldn’t think twice about the price of a cup of coffee. Ordinarily, she wouldn’t be hightailing out of Dallas trying to put miles between herself and a cruel ex-husband who thought she deserved to be broke and destitute.

“Your car’s totaled.” Scooter leaned his long body against the raised bedrail.

His eyes traveled over her in a way that made her squirm inside. She straightened her shoulders and tilted her chin a little higher. The coffee cupped in her hands chased away some of the chill in the hospital air but did nothing to diminish the goose bumps that had risen on her arms under Scooter’s appraisal. He looked even better up close than he had walking along the roadside, and the clean, masculine scent he wore trickled over her senses. She may not be smart when it came to men, but there was no denying what turned her on. “Cream and real sugar, just the way I like it.” She offered him a small smile and pressed the coffee cup to her lips again. Of course, she wasn’t in any position to be choosy with the coffee. If he’d given her cheap brandy in a paper sack, she probably would’ve taken it.

Scooter watched her with open curiosity. The remnants of a frown still lowered his brow. “The judge set your court date this morning. May 29^th. You’ll get a letter.”

No. She wouldn’t get a letter. The address she’d given on the police report hadn’t been her home in six years. She was headed back to Vegas where she’d once owned the condo at the address she’d given on the police report. By the time the letter from the judge arrived, she’d be living in a cheap motel, paying by the week, until she landed a job and a steady paycheck that would enable her to rent an inexpensive apartment. Her circumstances left her queasy - thirty years old and starting over more broke than she’d ever been in her life.

Her shoulders sagged. “How do you total a hundred thousand dollar car on the tailgate of a beat-up pickup truck?” A hundred thousand dollars. If she’d sold it for fifty thousand, she could’ve gotten herself settled in comfortably until she landed a part in one of the nicer shows on the strip. Showgirls were a dime a dozen in Vegas, but she still had a few contacts and her legs could stop traffic a mile away. She just needed some cash to hold her over until she landed a job. The sale of the car was going to give her that cash.

Scooter’s eyes had drifted down to the expanse of slender thigh that extended from the short skirt she wore.

She slid one leg out further and shifted her hips, sending the skirt up another few inches. She hadn’t risen to the top of the world and fallen flat on her ass without knowing what her assets were every step of the way. Married to Raymond Burke, her assets were tied up in the gifts he gave her to make himself look better. She’d used the honking diamond ring to pay the attorney’s fees so she could finally be free of the bastard, and the hundred-thousand-dollar car wasn’t worth a dime now that she’d rammed it into the back of some cowboy’s piece-of-shit work truck. Everything she owned now, the Good Lord had given her—make that the Good Lord and years of dance rehearsal.

As if he sensed her thoughts, Tanner shifted in his hospital bed and groaned. Scooter leaned over him, and she edged a little closer in her seat.

Scooter gripped the bedrail. “How’re you feeling, man?”

“Like I got run over by a damned woman driver.” Tanner’s voice cracked, and his face twisted in pain.

“I didn’t hit you.” Dahlia regretted jumping in the conversation as soon as the words were out.

Tanner turned his head enough to glare at her. “What in the hell are you doing here? Come to finish the job?”

Dahlia clamped her lips tight and averted her gaze.

“I’m figuring she either came to kill you so you couldn’t sue her, or fuck you so you wouldn’t want to,” Scooter said. “Either way, you’re screwed.”

ADULT EXCERPT

The second he brushed her clit she came off the bed.  He leaned in close to her ear. “Settle down now, darlin’. I promise I’ll take good care of you.”

She swallowed hard, and her lips moved against his jaw. She kissed her way back to his mouth and moaned as he stroked her clit with his dick again. His own shoulders shook with restraint. She moved like she was a coil, wound so tight, she’d spring off the bed the minute he let her loose. Goddamn, if she responded like this to a little toying around, fucking her would be an experience he wouldn’t forget any time soon. He lowered himself and pushed his cock into the soft, warm flesh of her inner thigh.

She bit down on her bottom lip. Her eyes flared, and her voice was fierce. “If you don’t put yourself inside me now, I’m going to put you there myself.”

Tanner couldn’t hold back his grin, and he couldn’t deny the little woman what she wanted either. But just to tease her, he slid one finger around the rim of her ass slowly. She nearly came undone in his arms. Her face and neck blushed. Her hands dug into his back. He inserted the tip of his dick and nearly came undone himself. She went off like a rodeo bull, screaming, bucking, biting down hard on his shoulder. Her pussy clamped around his cock in velvety spasms that tightened his neck and made his balls ache. He couldn’t stand it another second. He spread her legs with his thigh and slid his cock deep inside her with a stroke so fast and hard he yelled himself.

If any of his injuries still bothered him, he couldn’t feel them. He couldn’t feel anything but the grip of her inner walls around his dick and the sting of her fingernails on his skin. They moved together like one of them might get away before the other was done. And he wasn’t planning on being done for a while. The first surge of warning hit his gut a split second before it shot down his cock. He slowed his strokes and fought to catch his breath.

“Don’t you dare stop,” she warned him between pants. A bead of sweat dropped from his chest and pooled in the valley of her throat.

“Don’t worry, honey. I don’t think I’m ever letting you out of this bed.”

A smile curled her lips, and then her eyes widened in surprise as he drove deep again. Her mouth moved like she wanted to say something, and her eyes followed some movement near the door and she stilled. From the surprise that registered in her eyes, he figured she must have completely forgotten about Scooter. He looked over his shoulder. Scooter stood there with his hands on his hips and a shit-eating grin on his face.

“You gonna stand there and watch, or are you gonna see if the lady wants more company?”

* * * *

Dahlia couldn’t catch her breath. She licked the dryness from her lips and enjoyed one wave of sensation after another as Tanner continued to move in and out of her like he had this conversation with Scooter every day.

He leaned close to her ear. “You want me to throw his ass out, or are you gonna invite him in? If he was that mad at you, you wouldn’t still be in his house.” Tanner pushed his cock deep inside her. “It’ll be a hell of a lot more fun with him in here.”

Dahlia fought to keep her eyes from rolling up into her head. My God, she hadn’t ever had a more perfect dick inside her. She found her voice, and somehow managed to form words. “I don’t know how it’s gonna get much better than this.” She bit down on her bottom lip and threw her head back as Tanner sank deep into her again.

The scent of Tanner’s skin, the feel of his body in hers, his easy acceptance, even encouragement, of such a naughty idea, all of it came together and gave her more nerve than she would have ever had on her own. “I want him, too,” she whispered.

Tanner chuckled low in his throat and pumped his cock into her again sending pleasure rocketing through her core. “You better tell him then.”

Dahlia’s heart pounded. Tanner didn’t stop moving. Another orgasm was building deep in her belly. Warmth and sensation spread over her thighs, circled her clit, sang against the walls of her pussy as he continued to stroke deep inside her. She locked eyes with Scooter. His passion-darkened gaze burned a hole through her. The huge bulge in the front of his jeans made her mouth water. She had never felt such intense sensations and still wanted so much more in her life.

“Come here.” Her voice cracked. She swallowed against the dryness of her throat and said it again. “Come here, Scooter. Hurry.”

Scooter didn’t budge. “I think I’ll just watch, darlin’.”