STORY EXCERPT

Looking at the other items, his face hardened even more. “Bubble bath? Chocolate syrup? Have you been getting kinky with somebody else, darlin’?” His grip tightened, and he jerked her against him.

His erection pressed against her stomach, and she groaned as her body betrayed her. She remembered all too clearly the pleasure that long, thick cock could bring. Fighting the memories of loving in the dark, in the hay, in the shower—she fought the memories that threatened to consume her. She wouldn’t think about it. Jack’s tight features sent a shiver through her, and she shifted restlessly as a rush of fresh moisture dampened her panties even more.

“If I find out you’ve let another man in your bed, I’m gonna paddle your ass good.”

She jumped as a sharp slap landed on her bottom. “Damn you, Jack!”

Jack gripped her chin and lifted it. “You’re mine, and you’d better never forget it. You’ll remember when I have you over my lap and your tight ass is bright red. You liked that before, didn’t you, darlin’? I’ve spent the last three months remembering how hot you are in bed. I’ve jerked off many times thinking about that tight ass over my lap. Don’t tell me you haven’t thought about how much you like your ass paddled while I’ve been away.”

Incredulous, Emily felt a fresh rush of moisture soak her panties. The heat from her bottom began to spread and awakened her arousal to a level it hadn’t been for the last three months. He was the only man who could make her feel this way.

Why did she have to fall for someone like him?

She’d never in her life met someone like Jack, a cowboy with a dark side that sent her to heights she’d never even imagined. Dominant and controlling, he brought those qualities to the bedroom and taught her things about herself she’d never known, things she wished like hell she could forget. As soon as they got between the sheets, he owned her, body, heart, and soul.

She couldn’t resist him, but her heart demanded that she try her best. She’d never survive it if she weakened and let him back in her bed, only to watch him leave again. “I’m not like that anymore.”

* * * *

Jack picked up the last item she’d purchased, raising a brow at her outburst. “You’re going to learn that everything you do is my business. Frozen waffles? I guess you’re planning to have company for breakfast. Well, darlin’, you will. I’ll still be here in the morning after spending tonight in your bed. I love waffles.”

Emily grabbed the waffles out of his hand and started to put the groceries away. “You are not getting back in my bed. I have no idea why you decided to come back here, but I wish you would leave.”

Startled, she jumped when his hot hands gripped her waist and turned her, lifting her onto the counter. He’d done it so fast, she hadn’t had time to react. He took advantage of her surprise, spreading her thighs and pushing his way between them before she could stop him.

He leaned in close and pulled her against him. When his denim-covered cock pressed against her slit, Emily swallowed the moan that began in her throat. When his hands came up to cup her breasts, the moan could no longer be held back.

“You’re wrong about that. I will be the one sharing your bed tonight. I’m not leaving. And don’t try to tell me you don’t want me to. I know you, Em, maybe better than you know yourself.”

“Jack, I—oh!”

He ripped her blouse open, sending buttons flying everywhere. A flick of his finger opened the front clasp of her bra. He placed his hot, heavily callused hands over her breasts, running his thumbs back and forth over her pebbled nipples. “Those little nipples are hard already, and I’d be willing to bet you’re soaking wet. You’re mine, Emily. You know damned well I can have you anytime I want you.”

“Damn you, Jack,” she whimpered. She couldn’t keep from crying out at the erotic pleasure of his rough hands on her sensitive breasts or the indescribable feel of his thumbs rasping over her aching nipples. Her hands tightened on his wide shoulders, holding on to him as her senses spun out of control.

“All mine, Em. Damn, I’ve missed you.”

“You left,” she moaned. Oh God. When he touched her, she couldn’t even think anymore, and she struggled to remember what she wanted to say. “I told you…ohh…told you if…if you left, not t-to…oh God. I’m not yours anymore.”

Leaning into his caress, Emily lifted her face, desperate to have his lips on hers. When his mouth covered hers, she didn’t even care that he chuckled. Arching, she pushed her breasts more firmly into his hands, moaning with pleasure when he gave her what she needed.

He always seemed to know her body even better than she did. She knew he could take her to heights she’d never even dreamed existed.

He scared the hell out of her.

But that didn’t keep her from craving him. She dropped her hands to his chest, fisting his soft shirt in her hands to pull him closer, loving the feel of hard muscle beneath them. His groan brought her to her senses, and she pushed against his chest again, wrenching her mouth from his. “No, damn you, Jack.”

She pushed his hands away from her breasts and used her tattered shirt to cover them, fumbling to tie the two ends together. “I’m not going to let you do this to me again. When you left, I told you never to come back.” Emily hated the tears that streamed down her face and hated that it warmed her when he smiled at her and wiped them away. “Oh, Jack. Why did you come back? What do you want from me?”

Jack took her face between his hands, wiping the tears that continued to fall. “When I left, I told you I’d be back. We had a fight. Big deal. I told you when I left that I would be back at the end of the circuit. How the hell could you have thought I left for good?”

Emily shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant, but feeling anything but. “I figured you’d realized that we both made a mistake. And if you think you’re going to breeze in and out of my life whenever you get the urge, you’d better think again.”

He lifted her left hand, touching the ring that he’d placed there three months ago. “Oh, I have the urge. You’re mine, darlin’. ’Til death do us part, remember?”

ADULT EXCERPT

Heading for the bathroom, she paused in front of her dresser, staring down at the gold band on her hand. She had no idea why she’d never taken it off, but she hadn’t. She did now. Her hand shook as she removed the ring and placed it on the smooth wooden surface.

By the time she stepped into the shower, the tears fell freely. Damn him, why did he have to come back? And why today? She needed all of her wits for tonight.

She took her time in the shower, delaying the inevitable. Knowing that when she walked back out to the kitchen, she would find Jack gone, and signed divorce papers, she wanted to delay it for as long as possible. She instinctively knew she’d never love another man as much as she loved him. She’d never want a man the way she did him. Damn him.

Washing her hair, she remembered how Jack had done it for her before, his rough hands gentle on her scalp. When he’d rinsed it, those hands had been like magic as he followed the trail of bubbles down her body.

Running the soap over her body, she closed her eyes, remembering how Jack had washed her before, creating a thick lather and running slippery hands over every inch of her. His hands had played her body like a musician would play a beloved instrument, creating need that only he could fulfill.

She wanted to stay in here forever, to escape to the memories she’d ruthlessly pushed aside for weeks.

Damn, she couldn’t delay it any longer. Martin would be here soon.

After drying off, she tackled the job of drying her long, thick hair. Every time she did, she wondered why she didn’t cut it.

Then she remembered how Jack had loved to play with it, teasing her breasts with it and wrapping it around his hands. She shuddered when she remembered how he’d taken her from behind, fisting her hair in his hands to hold her in place for his thrusts.

Cursing herself for letting those erotic memories creep in, she donned her robe and started for the bedroom. She needed to throw on some jeans and get dinner started. She would only think of Martin tonight. She would block all thoughts of Jack out of her mind.

Walking back into her bedroom, she came to an abrupt halt, a gasp escaping before she could prevent it. Every erogenous zone on her body came to full attention.

Jack sat propped against her headboard, totally naked, his thick erection hard and angry-looking as he slowly stroked it. She barely glanced at the rest of him, only long enough to see that he looked even more muscular than he’d been three months ago.

Transfixed at the sight of his big hand stroking his more-than-impressive cock, she stood frozen in place. She swallowed painfully, remembering just how devastatingly that thick shaft had stretched her, giving her orgasm after orgasm. She’d even begged.

“H-how did you get in here?”

“Screwdriver.”

She gulped, unable to take her eyes from the feast in front of her.

“I think I’ve been too lenient with you, Wife. When you changed your phone number, I let it go. I found out that you hadn’t moved, so I figured you just didn’t want to talk to me. I knew where you were.”

His voice sounded almost casual but carried a low, angry undertone that got to her like shouting from anyone else never would. Emily forced herself to look away from the mesmerizing sight in front of her to meet Jack’s angry glare. “You tried to call me?”

Jack frowned at her. “Of course I tried to call you. You’re my wife. Why did you change the number?”

Emily shrugged and tried to keep the hurt from her voice. “Your girlfriends kept calling here, looking for you. Sometimes they would call at one and two in the morning. So I changed the number.”

His face tightened. “You have my cell number. Why didn’t you ever call me?”

Emily shrugged again. “I did once. A woman answered.”

“And you didn’t call back to fight with me and ask me who the hell the woman was who answered my phone?”

For the first time, she noticed that he held her wedding ring in his left hand, between thumb and forefinger, holding it up and rolling it back and forth, watching the light from the window glint off of it. “You left. I figured she was the next in line.”

He leapt from the bed and caught her before she could react. Grabbing her left hand, he pushed the gold band back onto her finger. “When I put this here, it was for forever. Leave it where the fuck I put it!”

She desperately grabbed on to every bit of temper she could muster. “Damn it, Jack! You and I are a big mistake. We have nothing in common. Look at me. You have all these gorgeous women chasing after you, and I run a ranch. I don’t have time to primp and do my nails. And I want something else for a husband. I want a man who’s going to be home at night, and you run around on the rodeo circuit. You run around wild, and I want a home and a family. We had a fling and mistook it for something more. Just sign the papers, and we can go our separate ways.” When she tried to jerk from his grasp, he held firm. “Let go of me. I have to fix dinner.”

“It appears we have a couple of things we need to discuss,” he drawled.

She didn’t trust the look on his hard face one bit. When they’d been together before, he’d never looked at her that way. She didn’t know him well enough to be able to decipher the look completely, but she was smart enough to be wary. “We have nothing to talk about. Just sign the papers and go.”

“You really don’t think I’m going to let you get away with trying to get rid of me, do you?” He spun her around, his eyes holding hers in the mirror over her dresser.

When his hands came around her, she found herself unable to look away as he opened her robe, baring her breasts and cupping them.

Wearing only her robe and a pair of cotton panties, she felt much too exposed. “Jack, I—”

“Do you remember how good we were, Em? Do you remember how I made you scream?”

“It’s not enough. Oh!”

His thumbs rasped over her nipples, sending an incredible jolt of lust through her. Her knees turned to rubber, and she grabbed his forearms for support.