Chapter 2
RILEY
T hat was not how I planned to spend my first night in Clearwater Creek. I open the door to my brand-new home and toss my keys on the side table. I wanted to make myself known and test the waters a little. I did not expect to have to break up a fight. and certainly didn’t expect to feel the way I did when I saw him again.
I don’t know what I was thinking that night, or why I felt the need to test myself the way I did. I’ve felt nothing but guilt for it since, and having him here in this town is going to be a constant reminder of that.
I kick off my shoes and pour myself a glass of water. How can a few hours at a town dance be so exhausting?
Coming face to face with the Gendry brothers was another shock I wasn’t prepared for tonight. I should have let Jace Sullivan and his cowboys beat the shit out of them, but instead, I decided to use the opportunity to show my authority. Even if I did have to drag my own deputy out of the fight before I could get it under control.
I’ve never seen the Gendry men in the flesh before; seeing their eyes through pictures has always been bad enough. From the encounter I had with them tonight, I learned that they are every bit as rude, arrogant, and entitled as I expected them to be.
They won’t be easy to take down, but I’m not the only person who wants to destroy them, and once I’ve figured out who I can trust around here, I can start to make my plans. This pretty, quaint little town is riddled with secrets. I’ve been watching it from a distance, doing my research on its residents. I’ve watched these townspeople go about their business, and it didn’t take me long to figure out that the mayor has some kind of arrangement with the local lawyer, Jamie Sullivan. An arrangement that my young, enthusiastic deputy has got himself all caught up in. Jamie’s nephew, Jace, and... Sawyer, the name I can now put to the face of the man I slept with, are also deeply involved. Just thinking back to that night stirs a heat inside me, a heat that's laced with guilt but never regret.
THREE YEARS EARLIER
“Bad day?” The bartender places my neat whiskey in front of me and smiles.
“Something like that.” I take a sip and massage my temples. My mind is as drained as my body is from the case I just finished working on. I’m tired. I’m irritable, and the last thing I want to do tonight is celebrate my boyfriend’s promotion.
Especially when that promotion could have been mine.
I shouldn’t be jealous of Jack, he’s a hard worker and a great agent. He deserves the promotion, but so do I. The fact I wasn’t even considered for it is as hard to swallow as this cheap whiskey.
“Tastes like shit, don’t it?” A husky voice comes from the end of the bar, and when I look up and see the muscular guy sitting on a barstool, with a toothpick hanging out the side of his mouth, I instantly notice how handsome he is.
Handsome in a very different way from Jack.
“I’ve had better.” I swish what's left of it around in my glass and focus on that, rather than the fact that this guy’s eyes are crystal blue.
“So, what brings an attractive...” I hear his stool scrape against the floor as he gets up and moves closer to me, “...sophisticated woman like yourself to a dive like this?” The way those crystal blue eyes look me up and down makes my skin shiver and my pussy throb. I can’t think of a time when a man has done so little and had such an effect on me.
“Well, it sure ain’t the whiskey.” I shake my head and snigger. I’m not about to admit to this guy that I’m avoiding going to the celebratory meal with my boyfriend and his family. It makes me sound cruel.
“How about you?” I turn the question onto him, this handsome stranger has me curious, and so far, he’s proving to be a great distraction.
“Just passing through, had some business to take care of.” He takes the toothpick from his lips, and I can tell by the hint of a smirk on his face that his business wasn’t legal.
I’ve always been a good judge of character. It’s what secured me my job in the FBI, but I’m not about to admit that to him. I’ve just spent three weeks undercover, pretending to be someone else. Tonight, I get to make up my own character, and it beats being a bitter, twisted girlfriend.
“What kind of business?” I hear my cell vibrate in my bag and know it will be Jack. He’ll be wondering where I am, worried about me like the kind, considerate guy that he is. He said he wanted us to talk after dinner, and I’m certain I already know what that conversation will be about. Jack wants more. He wants us to live together, he wants us to get married and have two point four children. He wants to buy a nice house in the suburbs with a white picket fence and have BBQs on weekends
“I can’t tell ya that, darlin’.” The guy rolls his tongue around the toothpick when he places it back between his lips, and it makes the clothes I’m wearing suddenly feel tight and constricting.
My phone vibrates again. I should pick it up. I should leave this bar and go to the restaurant where Jack and his family are celebrating his success. This guy, whose pretty, blue eyes feel like they are undressing me, is trouble. I can sense it, but at the same time, I’m drawn to it.
“You wanna get outta here?” The words come out of my mouth before my brain can clear them, and they seem to shock the guy just as much as they shock me.
“Well, I was gonna offer to buy you another shit shot of whiskey, but…” He shrugs his shoulders, then looks me up and down in that same way that makes me want to forget who I really am and just be his.
“Come on.” I grab my bag and his arm, so I can drag him outside. A few bikers are hanging out the front and I ignore their whistles and cheers when I push this rough, rugged stranger against the wall and kiss him like a needy slut. Life's about to get real serious for me, and I feel the need to be spontaneous. I’ve spent my entire life being sensible. I studied hard at school, never let boys be a distraction. When my parents died, I didn’t go off the rails like Sasha did. I made my best effort to take care of her. To be her mother and her father. I joined the force and I worked my ass off. Special Agent Riley Hale doesn’t do slutty kisses with hot strangers that look as if they could ruin your life and steal all your senses. But Special Agent Riley Hale is off duty tonight.
“Steady, darlin’.” He pulls his lips from mine and grips hold of my shoulders. “Just how much have you had to drink tonight?” He furrows his brow at me, and the concern I see only makes him more appealing.
“You don’t need to be a gentleman. In fact, I need you to be the opposite. I’m not drunk and this is not my standard behavior, but I…” I feel my cheeks start to flush as I look to my right at our audience of burly bikers. “Do you ever feel like the world is spinning and you're just standing still?” I decide to ignore them and look back at the hot-as-fuck stranger who I want to kiss all over again. “I don’t want to stand still tonight,” I admit through wobbly lips. Tears prickle behind my eyes because I know what I’m about to do is wrong. Me and Jack are good, we’ve been dating for almost a year, and I love him. At least, I think I do…
“I got a room.” His voice comes out growly as he gestures his head toward the motel next door, and I grip my bag in one hand and touch the other over his solid, muscular chest. I can feel his heart beating, and I swear it’s thumping just as fast as my own.
“No names, no questions, just…” Fuck, I can’t even say the word. I’m a grown-ass woman who just played a vital role in taking down a human trafficking ring, and I can’t say the word ‘sex’.
“Just sex.” He says the word for me. “But I’m gonna warn ya, it’ll be the best ya ever had.” His lips hitch up into a cocky smirk and just as I’m about to start walking toward the dingy motel where he’s staying, he takes me off guard and lifts me off my feet. Hauling me over his shoulder as if I’m weightless, he slaps me hard on the ass and makes me squeal. One of the bikers looks up from rolling a cigarette, and he shakes his head and laughs as he watches me get carried across the parking lot toward sin.
I hang helplessly over his shoulder while he unlocks his door, steps through it, and kicks it shut behind him. Placing me back on my feet, he gives me no time to take in my surroundings before his mouth is on mine. His tongue feels like it’s possessing me as it rolls around mine, his huge, rough hands slide into my hair and hold me firm, ensuring I can’t get away, and the desperate way he attacks me causes heat to pool in my stomach. I soak through the cotton of my panties as he forces me against the wall, devouring me like I’m his last meal. This isn’t a pace I’m used to, but I like it. I like it a whole lot.
“You ever been fucked, sweetheart?” He looks down at me, staring at my lips. I can feel how swollen they are from the way he kissed me.
“I’m not a vir ? —”
“That’s not what I asked.” He lowers his head and laughs at me. “I asked if you’ve ever been fucked?” he whispers in my ear.
I shake my head slowly because I don’t think I’ve ever experienced anything like what’s about to happen in this room.
“It sounds to me like you want out of your own head for a little while.” His raspy voice speaks against my skin and causes it to shiver.
“Yes.” I swallow thickly. I’m fully aware that this man could be anyone. I know I should run for the door and get the hell out of here, but some invisible force has me rooted to the floor. I need this. I need to experience this man and everything he has to offer me.
I just can’t understand why.
“Okay.” He sinks to his knees and when he looks up at me, he’s wearing that cocky smirk again.
“You look nervous.” He tilts his head like he’s trying to read my mind.
I shake my head firmly in response, and his hand slowly slides up my thigh, taking my skirt with it. Just the skim of his fingertips on my skin feels overwhelming. It blurs all the lines between right and wrong, because how could something wrong feel so good? His fingers hook inside the waist of my panties, and he takes his time dragging them down to my ankles. All while looking up at me with those piercing, blue eyes that I’m holding responsible for this entire situation.
He grazes his thick bottom lip with his teeth, making me desperate to feel his mouth on me again.
I don’t feel any of the things I should feel. No guilt, or shame, it’s as if I left my conscience over at the bar, at the bottom of that whiskey glass.
He slowly raises my leg, laying it to rest over his strong, muscular shoulder and when he turns his head to kiss the inside of my thigh I feel my pussy spill from anticipation. This man knows exactly what he’s doing, and it feels like slow, agonizing torture as he trails those kisses closer to where I crave him most.
“You might wanna hold on to somethin’, darlin’, I’m about to make the world spin a little faster for ya.” He smiles up at me confidently, and just as I’m thinking of something clever to say, his tongue swipes between my folds, and the leg I’m standing on almost gives out on me. I take his advice, gripping his hair in my fingers and steadying my other hand on his shoulder as his wet, warm tongue licks and flicks in all the right places.
“Fuck!” I hear my voice, but it doesn’t sound like it belongs to me. It’s weak and it’s needy.
He spreads me open with his fingers, sucking my clit between his teeth and continuing to use that tongue to prove he’s an expert at what he’s doing. I’m embarrassed by the noises I make. I’ve never heard myself sound like this before, and I tighten the grip I have on him, bucking my hips against his face desperately when I feel myself getting close to coming. It all feels too soon. Too intense, and as I brace myself in preparation for it, he pulls away and slides his body up mine.
I’m pulsing between my legs as his eyes look over me.
“You taste far nicer than the whiskey,” he sniggers before gripping my jaw in the arch of his hand, tilting my head back and filling my mouth with his tongue again. I taste myself on it, and it feels too erotic to admit that I like it.
“I’ll bet you're used to being treated real nice,” he whispers in between kissing me.“You want me to treat you nice, too? Or did you go to that bar looking for something a little different tonight?”
I want to tell him that I wasn’t looking for anything at all, just a drink, but my ability to form words has up and left me, so I nod my head instead.
“Don’t just nod your head, pretty girl. I wanna hear ya say it.” He teases the side of my cheek with the tip of his nose.“Ask me to fuck you,” he whispers against my skin. “Ask me to fuck you so hard that you forget who you are, and why you were looking so sad tonight.”
“I… I wanna be fucked.” I manage to get the words out as his hand grips tighter around my jaw.
“Yeah?” He draws his eyebrows together, giving me one last chance to back out.
“Yes, Fuck me….Please.”
“Mmmm, and you're asking so nicely. Baby, I’mma make sure you never forget me.” The cockiness of this man irritates me as much as it turns me on but my head isn’t in charge anymore, my soaked, pulsing pussy is taking the lead this time. I hate that this man is turning me into a cock-hungry whore, and yet I’ve never felt so free and alive. I hear the chink of his belt as he unbuckles it one-handed and when something hard and heavy presses against my stomach, I close my eyes tight because I’m too afraid to look down.
“Go on, look at it.” He slides his rough palm around to the back of my head, gripping my hair and forcing me to look down, and I gasp at what I see.
It’s even bigger than it feels.
“You want that?” He lifts up my chin with the crook of his finger. “You want me to push this cock inside you? Ruin this hot, little pussy for any other man?” He taps his cock against my stomach and makes the ache inside me even more unbearable.
“Yes.” I nod, starting to tremble. I don’t know if it’s out of thrill or fear. A cock his size is sure to hurt, but I get the sense that I’m gonna enjoy the pain.
“Okay, pretty girl.” He moves in to kiss me.
“Wait.” I press my hand against his chest, holding him back. “You have protection, right?” I’m on birth control, but I have to at least try and do one sensible thing tonight.
“Already on it.” Raising his hand between us, he places the condom between his teeth before tearing it open.
My core squeezes when he spits the empty wrapper onto the floor, and as I watch him roll the condom over his thick, long shaft, I try not to let the fear show on my face.
He takes both my wrists, raising them up to wrap around his neck, then lifts me off my feet and presses my back tight against the wall. I can feel his tip pressing against my entrance, and I can’t help wishing it was bare as I leak all over it. He stands motionless, keeping me waiting, and I eventually start to move my hips when the need to feel him inside me takes over my pride.
“Fuck, you really need this, don’t you?” He looks between us and watches. “Why don’t you tell me your troubles, pretty girl?” He tucks the hair that's fallen loose from my braid behind my ears and looks deep into my eyes as if he might care.
“No questions, no explanations,” I remind him. I don’t want to think about why I’m sad, it’ll only remind me of what a bad person I am. “Just fuck me,” I beg him.
He shakes himself out of whatever trance he’s in and starts to tease me, sliding his cock between my pussy lips and making me moan from the sensation.
“I wish I could feel that needy pussy dripping all over me,” he growls, gripping my ass cheeks in his hands and stretching them apart. “I’d like to feel every inch of you stretch for me.” He slowly pushes himself inside, taking all the breath from my lungs at the same time. He holds still as I adjust to his size and when he drops his head into my shoulder, he places gentle kisses against my clavicle and then sucks on my skin. I can feel him marking me with his mouth, bruising me with his fingers, and I like that too.
“Fuck, you feel good.” His words come out strained, and when he starts to move inside me, I cling tight to him and let his mouth smother me in kisses, and his teeth graze against my skin. That weight starts to build in the pit of my stomach again, and I pray that this time he won't snatch it away from me.
His cock burns inside me, making me feel like I’m a virgin again, only this time I’m in very capable hands. His pace is perfect, the way he holds on to me makes me feel secure, and as he picks up his pace, I realize that he’s only just getting started.
“Fuck, I can feel how wet you are through the rubber,” he tells me, gripping my ass cheeks tighter. I’m starting to get dizzy, my bones are rattling from how hard he’s fucking me against the wall, and yet I tighten my legs around his hips and beg him not to stop.
Suddenly, it feels as if the world has stood still and I’m the one spinning. I’m dancing in the rain. I’m high, I’m coming hard and fast all over this stranger's huge, thick cock and I never knew that feeling so out of control could be so euphoric.
“Fuck, darlin’, your pussy’s clamping me so fucking tight!” He looks panicked as his glances flick between my eyes and his cock.
“I’m gonna come, too.” The confusion on his face surprises me, and when his entire body stiffens, he groans like he’s in pain.
“Fuck,” he whispers, catching his breath and still looking stunned as he looks up at me. He kisses me fiercely, and my body shivers with a contentment I’ve never felt before. It scares me so much that I force him back.
“So, is this the part where you take my number and tell me you’ll call?” I laugh nervously because I know guilt is about to strike any second now.
“Usually, yeah.” He looks up at me with that cocky grin that makes my insides melt. “But I’m not done with you yet. Nowhere near fuckin’ done.” He raises my arms into the air and lifts the blouse I’m wearing up over my head. His rough palm cups one of my tits over my bra and he crushes it in his hand as he kisses me some more. “I’m keeping you a little while longer, darlin’.”
I look down to where my hand is resting on my shirt, squeezing my breast desperately, and I quickly remove it and shake the man out of my head. I can’t allow myself to think about that night. I have to remain focused. I came to Clearwater Creek for one reason, and that reason wasn’t Sawyer Anderson. I have to figure out a way for him not to be a distraction, and the only idea I can come up with is to avoid him.
At all costs.