Author: Jaci Burton

He stopped, turned, and looked at her, and she read the question on his face. “You want me to?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, then. Whiskey.”

She made drinks while he went outside and gathered an armful of firewood, brought it in, and set it down near the fireplace. He got the fire started and she sat down with him near the hearth, listening to the aged wood crackle and pop as the fire got going.

“Too bad I don’t have any marshmallows,” she said as she took a sip of her drink.

Tyler downed his in one shot, then laid the glass on the table in front of him. “Marshmallows don’t go with whiskey.”

She wrinkled her nose at the combination. “You’re right.”

They hadn’t talked about their argument earlier, but he didn’t seem angry anymore. She was glad he wasn’t the type of guy to hold on to his anger, or hold a grudge. She hated guys who pouted. It was much better to say what was on your mind, get it out in the open, and get past it.

Though they hadn’t gotten past it, had they? It still hung in the air between them, unresolved, and that was as much her fault as anyone’s.

“I’m sorry about earlier at my parents’.”

“It’s no big deal. I pushed. You have a right to push back.”

He always made it so easy on her.

“I have been making some notes about a new bar,” she admitted.

“Have you?” He got up and grabbed the bottle of whiskey, poured himself a refill. “Tell me about it.”

“They’re just some preliminary estimates on cost and potential feasibility. I listed what I’d want as far as inventory and desirable space, staffing needs, and things like that.”

“I’d like to hear about it, if you want to share.”

Surprisingly, she did want to share it with him. “I’ll go get my notebook.”

She sprung up and went to her office to grab her notes. When she came back, she paused for a few seconds in the doorway, struck by how utterly sexy Ty looked leaning against her sofa near the fire. The flames outlined the darkness of his hair, the masculinity of his facial features, the long lean lines of his body as he sat there with his arm balanced on one bent knee and swirled the whiskey around in his glass.

She inhaled, let it out, came into the room, and sat down.

Ty smiled at her. “Let me see.”

She flipped open the notebook to where she’d started making her notes. “Some of it is scribble, so it probably won’t make much sense.”

He lifted his gaze to hers. “I can read scribble pretty well since that’s how I write. Let me see.”

Out of excuses, she gave him her book, then downed the contents of her whiskey, hoping she’d find courage in the amber brew.

He flipped through the pages, murmuring to her as he did. “Your numbers look reasonable. I like your thought processes on space requirements. Have you given thought to electrical needs for music?”

“Yeah, that’s here.” She flipped forward a few pages to show him the notes she’d made. “These are preliminary. I figure I’d ask an electrician and someone in the business if it came down to needing cold, hard numbers for outlets and amperage.”

He looked it over. “Good idea, but your estimates look sound. What about staffing, for both, plus insurance and liquor? Would you serve food at the other, or just drinks?”

She poured another whiskey. “You think of everything, don’t you?”

“You have, apparently. You’ve got a good list going here.”

“I told you I was just jotting down notes. It doesn’t mean anything.”

“Why do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Make anything you do seem…unimportant. Don’t devalue yourself that way. This could be a big deal for you and for your family, Jenna. Riley’s is a huge success. If you expanded you could double your family’s income.”

Putting it that way made good business sense. “But wouldn’t it make sense to just open another sports bar in another part of town?”

“Maybe. It’s an option. But is that what you really want to do?”

No.

As soon as the word formed in her head, she realized another sports bar wasn’t at all what she wanted. What she really wanted was what she secretly thought she could never have.

Until she’d met Ty. Now she wanted things she’d never wanted before.

And she was tired of thinking about them, at least for tonight. Those possibilities gave her a massive headache.

She laid her whiskey glass down and reached for his, putting it on the table behind her, then climbed into his lap.

“Conversation over?” he asked.

“Yes. You’re leaving town for a few days and I don’t want to spend our last night together talking about floor plans and electrical.”

“What? That’s not foreplay to you?”

She laughed and brushed his hair away from his face. “Not in the least. I prefer my foreplay a little dirtier.”

He squeezed her hips, his hands traveling down to cup her ass. “Floor plans and electrical can get very dirty.”

“You can get very dirty. That’s why I like you.”

Before she knew it she was on her back on the carpet, Tyler looming over her. “Yeah? How dirty do you want me to get?”

“Very.”

He lifted her sweater and pressed a kiss to her belly, rolling the sweater upward as he moved his lips across her stomach and ribs. When he got to her bra, he kissed the swell of her breasts and undid the front clasp of her bra, exposing her to his gaze.

“Firelight does amazing things to your skin. It makes you golden,” he said, lifting her sweater over her head and slipping her bra straps down her arms. He bent, pressing light kisses to each of her nipples before taking one in his mouth to suck and nip with his teeth. She arched to feed her breast to him, needing him to take more of it. He slipped his arm around her back and pulled her nipple into his mouth to suck her more deeply.

“Yes. That’s what I need,” she said as he worked both nipples—and her—into a frenzy. Her back bowed with need as he fed on her breasts until they popped—wet and glistening—from his mouth.

Then he went to work on her pants, unfastening them and drawing them off, followed by her panties, leaving her bare. The fire bathed her in warmth as she lay there naked before him. He laid his palm over her stomach and traced a path south, taking his time to tease and torment her before he found her sex and petted her lightly, making her hips rise off the carpet to meet his searching fingers.

But he dropped down between her legs, cupping her butt in his hands. She leaned up on her elbows to watch as he put his mouth on her.

All that wet heat surrounding her made her quiver. She tuned into only him, on the way he licked around her clit before taking it into his mouth to roll the piercing around his tongue until she wanted to die from the sweet pleasure of it. Watching him only notched up the frenzy of her desire. Seeing his tongue swipe over her sex was so incredibly intimate, and the way he’d dart glances at her made her breath catch. She felt the tingles of her approaching orgasm, almost embarrassed that he could make her come so easily, but he’d become so knowledgeable about her body and her reactions that he knew just where to touch her, where to taste her, to get her there.

She lifted against his mouth, urging him to lick faster. He knew, sliding his fingers inside her because that would intensify her orgasm. And when it hit, she unabashedly cried out, letting it roll throughout her as she released in wild abandon until she completely fell back, spent and sawing out breath.

Tyler stood and began to undress. Jenna rolled to her side, content to watch.

“You could do that as a strip tease and it would be way more entertaining.”

“Ha-ha. Not a chance. I don’t have any rhythm.”

“Liar. I’ve danced with you before and you do have rhythm.”

“Not on a stripper pole I don’t.”

“Really. So you’ve tried and failed on a pole. Who knew you had a background as a stripper?”

“Now you know my deep, dark secret.”

When he dropped his briefs, she figured he could just stand there naked and women would happily toss money his way. Even with the scars he bore from battle wounds on the ice, he was pure male beauty.

She reached for his ankle and slinked her hand up toward his calf, loving the muscle that spoke of his strength.

He dropped down to the carpet and drew her against him, kissing her until she forgot all about worshipping his body and concentrated on worshipping his mouth. She’d miss him when he was gone this week. She’d gotten used to having him with her, touching her and kissing her. She especially loved the kissing, the way he lazily brushed his lips over hers before rolling her onto her back and deepening the kiss until heat flared throughout her body. Her heart pounded against him, her pulse rate speeding up until she felt dizzy and hot. The world melted away until all she knew was his lips, his tongue, his hand sweeping down over her breasts to pluck and tease until she arched against him.

She reached for his cock, encircling it in her hand to stroke his length. She circled her thumb over the crest, using the fluid that gathered there to coat his cock head.

The groans he made when she touched him only increased her need to feel him buried inside her, and when he rolled her over onto her belly, she was ready for him.

“On your knees,” he said, grabbing a condom while she got into position.

He put his hands on her butt and spread her legs with his knees. She quivered in anticipation as his cock head inched inside her, and when he smoothed one hand over her back, she arched to meet his touch.

There was nothing sexier than a woman on her knees. Tyler slid his cock home, entering Jenna with one swift thrust. She hissed and pushed back against him, her pussy clenching around him, refusing to let go as he eased out, then powered back in again.

“I love fucking you in this position,” he said, smoothing his hand over her back, tracing the lines of her dragon. “I love this tattoo.”

She was a wild, untamed woman, and perfect for him. She bucked back against him and he gave her what she wanted, sliding his cock deep into her, but not too hard. Not yet. He needed to wait until the end or this was going to be over too soon. She was hot and wet and milking him with her muscles, her body glowing in the firelight as she moved against him.

He leaned back to watch his cock disappear into her, to see how her pussy grabbed on to him and draw him in. He spread her ass cheeks, the tiny puckered hole enticing him. He wet his finger and teased her there, rubbing his finger back and forth over her anus as he thrust in and out of her. Her moans of pleasure told him she liked what he was doing.

When he inserted the tip of his finger, she let out a cry of pleasure, her pussy clenching around him in response.

“Where’s your lube, Jenna?”

“Right-hand bedroom drawer.”

“Stay just like that. I’ll be right back.”

He withdrew, went into her bedroom, and grabbed the lube, then came back, coating his finger with it. He entered her pussy again, and played with the little hole, making sure it was well lubricated. This time, he slid his finger in deeper.

“Oh, God,” she said, lowering her head to the carpet and lifting her ass against him. “I like that.”

He drew his finger in and out in rhythm to fucking her pussy. Her ass clenched around his finger, a tight sheath, her pussy convulsing around his cock as he speared her with both. His balls quivered at the thought of fucking her tight hole, of taking her there right now.

“You want this?” he asked, pushing his finger farther into her anus.

“Yes,” she said, her voice breathless. “Let’s go to the bedroom. I have a dildo in there that’ll get me off while you’re fucking my ass.”