Story Excerpt

“If I followed that home, do you think she’d keep me?”

“If you followed that home, her brother would skin you alive.” Jack Taylor didn’t even look up from beneath the hood of the Buick he was working on.

“Might just be worth the risk.” The slow drawl was downright wistful.

Jack hated it when Danny was right. There was just something about Dale McCabe that called to a man. He knew without looking at the clock it was just past four. You could set your watch by the little schoolteacher’s trek to and from Liberty Springs Elementary. He stayed clear of the doorway around four when Danny was watching for her—the two of them together would be enough to make a shy little thing like her break and run—but he made sure he was about when she passed by in the morning.

His big friend had begun to have a proprietary look to his gaze whenever he looked at the petite brunette. That was so far out of left field it wasn’t funny. Danny Blake liked big, strong, athletic types of women with questionable morals. Ones he didn’t have to be careful of his size around, ones who expected nothing more than a smile and a wave when he rode away. Danny didn’t give much change from three hundred pounds and he was only a thick pair of socks shy of six foot six. He’d make two of Dale McCabe with plenty left over.

“I wonder why she doesn’t drive Grant’s old pickup.”

Jack turned to look at his partner. Danny was leaning against the frame of the open roller door, absently wiping his grease-stained hands on a rag as he watched the path to Dale’s house. She had been wearing a long-line blazer to ward off the autumnal chill this morning, and with the stiff breeze that hadn’t let up all day she’d still be wearing it now. Danny wasn’t ogling her ass. “No idea. Maybe she enjoys the exercise.” It was a mile from Grant Raines’s old place to the school.

“Nah, she’s not the type.”

Jack shrugged. “Maybe she doesn’t want to drive a dead man’s vehicle.”

“She’s living in his house, so I doubt that’s it. I might ask Jory.”

A humorless laugh escaped Jack. “Yeah, he’s just gonna love the likes of you showing an interest in his baby sister. Dale might be a new addition to his life, but Jory takes his responsibilities seriously. He’ll be chasing you with a pocketknife bent on castration quicker than you can blink.”

“I think marriage has mellowed him. Bailey’s keeping his hands full now.”

“If you’re prepared to take that risk, let me know. I’d love to sit on the fence and watch.” Jack started packing his tools away, making sure everything was in its place. His nine-sixteenth open-ended wrench was missing. He took a deep breath and whispered a prayer for strength. “Danny, where the hell is my wrench? It’s got red fucking tape all over the handle, and I know you’re not color-blind.”

“Settle down. It’s beside the hoist. I couldn’t find mine.”

“No fuckin’ wonder.” It still stirred him to no end, but he was resigned to Danny’s slovenly work habits. The man was a maestro with a motor, possessing a real instinct for problem diagnosis, but he couldn’t keep his work space tidy if his life depended on it. Jack retrieved the spanner, checking it over for damage. Danny had a habit of using anything as a hammer if one wasn’t in reach. He was lucky this time. “I’ve had enough for today. I’m getting cleaned up and heading home.” There was no reply.

Danny hadn’t moved. He was still looking thoughtfully after Dale, even though she would be long gone from sight. Jack thought about throwing something at him to wake him from his reverie, but he’d only have to go and retrieve it. The big man would realize he was on his own soon enough.

Jack threw his dirty overalls in the laundry bag for collection and cleaned up in the washroom behind the office. The cracked mirror was stained and pockmarked around the edges but it clearly showed the same scruffy head that had looked back at him for the last four years. His scraggly blond hair hadn’t seen a barber in all that time and he guessed it was about a week since he’d run a comb through it. That was about the last time he’d trimmed his beard, too.

He ran a hand over the dark bristles. No wonder a decent girl wouldn’t look at him. The bright blue eyes were still the same, though filled with a restlessness even he could notice, but that and the battle-hardened body were all that were left of the soldier he had been. Shy or not, Dale would have fallen over herself to get to know the pretty boy hiding behind the hair. Women had lined up in droves to get a piece of the Army Ranger with the slow mountain drawl, but Jack had left the ladies’ man at his discharge debrief along with his sniper’s rifle. Both had brought him nothing but grief.

Jack turned from the mirror and grabbed a clean towel. The next time a woman paid him any attention it would be for more than his looks.

Adult Excerpt

“You gonna sit there and look all day, or come and get yourself some of this?” Danny fisted his cock and dragged his hand lightly along its latex-clad length.

“Oh, I’m so much getting myself some of that.”

She crawled up between his legs, her eyes fixed on his cock. He felt it swell larger and throb beneath her gaze. Let her ride all night? He really shouldn’t make promises he couldn’t keep. With Dale turned all sex-siren on him he’d be lucky to last five fuckin’ minutes.

She went to reach for his shaft, but he picked her up and lifted her to straddle him. He’d have enough trouble hanging on without the sweet touch of her hand. The silken caress of her thighs against his flanks was lost to the red-hot brand of her pussy slicking his cock. He sucked in a desperate breath through his gritted teeth. Even through the rubber he could feel her lubricous welcome. Her hot little hands dug greedily into the muscles of his chest as she rocked against him, sliding her clit along his length.

Danny groaned. “Who’s teasin’ now, darlin’?”

Dale didn’t reply. She watched his face and reached down between them. There was no holding back the moan that trickled between his clenched teeth when she slid down on his shaft. Inch by agonizing inch, she fucked herself onto his cock. Her tight, slick cunt wrapped around him like a fantasy, enveloping him with painful deliberation. He stroked her thighs, encouraging her on as his eyes ate up every nuance of expression to cross her fey little face. She stopped with half an inch to go, and Danny thought she might have been too tender from the day before to continue, but she bit down on her bottom lip and gave her ass a sexy little wiggle. A smile of triumph curled her lips as her ass settled against his balls.

He thought his heart was going to explode with all the emotion stirred up by the little fairy sitting so proudly on his cock. She was innocent and wild, shy and yet so bold and needed to give love more than she needed to be loved. His life had been so fuckin’ empty without her. He pulled her down to his kiss, crunching his body to scale the height difference. He poured as much love as he could into one all-too-brief kiss. Her silver eyes were smoky as she rose back up and she swept her hands over his body possessively.

Danny glimpsed a flicker of hesitation before she rose up on his length for the first time, the shadow of a thought not voiced. “What is it? Tell me what you want, darlin’.”

“I want Jack to touch me, too. I want to spend every minute we’ve got pressed between the two of you.”

“Hey, Jack?” His head rose immediately. “Dale needs an extra set of hands. Wanna help me out?”

Jack moved swiftly, his hand reaching for the box of rubbers before he positioned himself behind Dale. Danny slid his legs wider to give him room.

“Is this what you want, baby?” Jack was pressed tight against her, one hand splayed low on her belly, the other palming a strawberry-topped breast.

“God, yes!”

Bliss filled Dale’s face, her mouth opening slackly as she languidly rode his cock. Danny reveled in her abandonment as she chased the pleasure, becoming a willing slave to her every desire. The tight, wet clasp of her cunt and the fire brimming in her silver eyes became his whole world. His heart thudded like it meant to break free of his ribcage and his blood fairly sang through his veins. He’d tasted his share of battle highs, known the exhilaration of survival, had the euphoria of victory bubble hot and rich through his body, but nothing compared with the high of loving Dale McCabe.