STORY EXCERPT

The road grew harder to navigate and bumped them up and down on the seat. The pounding on the roof set up a drumming background to their voices.

But she didn’t mind how long it took to get to the ranch. Watching the muscles in his arms was entertaining and more than enticing. The sizzle warped a little higher.

She shrugged, trying to maintain a cool exterior even as the rest of her body started to boil. The action caused the blanket to slip off her shoulders. “I guess you need to be a woman to understand.”

“Do you always talk in riddles?” Charlie hung onto the overhead strap as they failed to miss avoiding another pothole.

“I don’t think I do.”

“So what else did your mamma tell you? Anything like don’t hitch rides with strange men?”

She couldn’t hold back the giggle. “I think I remember something like that.”

“Is your mamma still with us?”

A wash of loneliness swept over her. “No. She passed on a few years ago. That’s when I moved from Dallas to Nashville.”

The sincerity on Jesse’s face was unmistakable. “I’m sorry to hear that. About your mom, that is. Not about you moving to Nashville.”

“Yeah. I’m glad I moved, too.”

“Let me guess.” Charlie arched an eyebrow, then narrowed his eyes. “You came to the city to break into country music. Everyone’s in the business. Am I right?”

He called it “the city” as many in Nashville did. It wasn’t as large as Dallas, but considering that the towns surrounding it were a lot smaller, she could understand why locals had given it the nickname.

“In a way.”

“Talk about a vague answer. What does that mean?”

She felt herself relaxing, wanting to ease against Charlie and capture more of his warmth. “I’m not a singer. You couldn’t pay me enough money to get on stage.”

“Then what do you do?”

“Didn’t you say everyone you know is in the music business?”

“Now who’s being vague again?”

Touché, big guy.

Charlie was hot, kind, and smart. As far as Carolina was concerned, that was a lethal combination. But she’d never thought that death by hunk would be a bad way to go.

The truck bucked into a large pothole, bumping them around in the cab, and Charlie placed his hand on top of her leg in an attempt to steady her. She sucked in a breath at the renewed sizzle that seared through her.

Okay. Definitely not lightning.

“I work for a talent management company. Witward Talent. Have you ever heard of it?”

“Yeah, I have.” Jesse made a right turn and came to a stop in front of a metal gate. The road led on behind the gate and cattle grid that kept the animals from leaving the pasture and getting on the road. He opened the door fast, and yet the rain still poured a generous amount into the truck.

She and Charlie watched as Jesse unlocked the gate, then swung it wide. He was back in the cab a minute later. Once they’d made it through the gate, he got out again and closed the gate behind them.

“So you said you’ve heard of Witward?”

“Sure have. In fact, three of our friends are signed with them.”

“Really? Who?” She knew all the artists, if only by their name on their contracts.

“Wyatt Montgomery, Stone Garrett, and Rae Barnes,” offered Charlie.

She pushed against his shoulder. “You’re shitting me. I know them, too.”

He grinned and tipped his hat back. “Does your mamma know you talk like that?”

“Hell, yes. Where’d you think I learned it from? In fact, my mamma”—she emphasized the word to play with him—“always said that a word’s just a word. A word isn’t bad or good. It’s how you use it that counts.”

“Your mamma must’ve been one hell of a woman.”

“Yes, she was.”

Her heart filled with pride as it always did whenever she thought about her mom. She’d been a single mother who’d raised her four kids with a smile on her face and a kiss each night. Like most kids, Carolina had never given any thought to losing her mother before the car accident that had taken her. Like most children, even some adult ones, she’d considered her mother invincible.

“So how do you know them?”

She turned to Jesse and caught his quick glance. “I’m Rae’s roommate. Or at least, I used to be until she met Wyatt and Stone.”

“You’re shitting me!” It was Charlie’s turn to tease her by mimicking her earlier response. “You’re that Carolina?”

“The one and only.”

ADULT EXCERPT

Charlie dropped to his knees, then slid his hand underneath her underwear and between her legs. “Spread ’em.”

Her breasts swelled as Jesse pushed her bra aside and freed her breasts. Her nipples engorged with blood, hardening with his touch. He tweaked her nipples then, with one of those wicked smirks she loved, bent and took one into his mouth. She whimpered again as his tongue danced from one nipple to the other.

Her clit started to throb even harder as Charlie’s fingers found it and started massaging the sensitive muscles. She clenched her thighs, trying to capture his hand and keep it there. She gasped as Charlie used the ball of his hand on her clit and thrust fingers inside her pussy. Her body heated even more as she reached behind her and grabbed the railing of the stall for support.

Jesse pinned her with his eyes, then jerked his head to the side. “Tell me you don’t like being watched and we’ll stop right now.”

Lord, have mercy.

A couple of the other ranch hands stood just inside the back door. Their gazes were glued on them, lust filling their faces. And yet they made no attempt to move their way.

“Tell me, sugar. You like being watched, don’t you?”

She wanted to lie, knew that she should lie, but she couldn’t. “Yes.”

She gasped as Charlie thrust his fingers in, then out, quickening his movement. She cried out in pleasure as cream leaked from her. Embarrassed, yet thrilled beyond anything she’d ever experienced, she moaned, glanced at the ranch hands, then back to Jesse.

“Please.”

“Please what, sugar?”

“Please fuck me.”

He took hold of her hair, putting his face a few inches from hers. “I didn’t hear you. Speak up. What do you want me to do?”

“Please fuck me!”

He smiled, pleased at her shout. “Not yet. We’re giving you a little taste is all, the appetizer before the main course.”

A hard tug from Charlie and her panties tore away. His tongue pressed against her clit stole the strength from her legs. She cried out again, on the verge of a climax. He sucked on her, tugging her clit into his mouth as he continued to plunge his fingers into her pussy. Her pussy walls clamped around his digits.

She’d wanted them from the first moment she’d laid eyes on them. Physically at first, but then once they’d started talking in the truck, she’d wanted them in every other way. Maybe she hadn’t fully realized it, but she must’ve known it in some instinctual way. As soon as the frisson of electricity had hit her, she’d somehow known.

Hadn’t Lisa-May said the same thing? Not straight out, but she’d called them her men. Her words had struck true and fast.

In desperation, she reached out to Jesse, taking his hair and trying to pull his mouth back to her nipples. He took one inside, then reached around her to skim his hand along her butt cheek. She tensed, never having had a man from behind.

“Easy, sugar. Like I said, I’m not going to fuck you right now. That’s for later.”

She let out a sob, brokenhearted that he wouldn’t give her his cock.

“Don’t worry. We won’t leave you in pain.” Jesse kept his stark appraisal on her as he moved his fingers between her butt seam then down to tease her dark hole. She flinched when he ran his fingers around the puckered entrance, but the more he did it, the easier it was to relax.

“That’s it. Take it easy. I’m not going to do anything you can’t handle.” His smirk grew. “Not yet anyway.”

She didn’t care what he did to her just as long as he didn’t take his hands away. Her body trembled, a strange feeling when she was so hot and still had clothes on. Clutching him, she pushed at his slicker, but he was quick to take her hand.

“No. Not us. This is all you.”

Charlie’s bite on her inner thigh had her jerking. She looked down and saw her juices spread around his mouth. He grinned, then plunged his fingers back inside her pussy. Her juices slicked the insides of her legs. He ate her, lapping, then sucking until she could no longer stand it.

“Fuck me!”

Jesse laughed and shoved a finger into her ass. “Charlie, put her out of her misery.”

Charlie groaned, then moved his fingers around, searching for the soft pad of pleasure within her. When his fingers caressed over the top of it, her body reacted, exploding with her climax. She sobbed out her release, letting both of them work their fingers into her. They held her up, the intense pressure of their bodies molding against hers.

Charlie gave her pussy one last slurp, then came to his feet. He raised his hand to wipe her cream off his mouth, then cupped the back of her neck and brought her mouth to his. The simple joy of tasting her brief sweetness then his tanginess sent another fresh wave of release through her.

She cried out as he broke away, angry that they kept leaving her. But she couldn’t stay angry for long. Not after what they’d given her.

He pressed a chaste kiss to her forehead. “You’re sweet no matter where I kiss you.”