Chapter 8
8
JESSE
J esse had always been a man who thrived on control. It was what made him good at his job, what made him the man his team depended on when things got ugly.
But Keely Malone? That woman had a goddamn gift for tearing his control to pieces, and she knew it. The moment they settled into the ranch, Keely turned it into a battlefield.
She wasn’t reckless—not in the way some people were—but she was deliberate. Calculated. Every move, every choice was designed to push him, to see how far she could go before he snapped.
The first time had been minor. She’d left the front door wide open while Jesse was outside, despite him telling her twice to keep it locked. It was a test. He knew it. She knew it.
“You think I don’t check these things?” he’d asked, closing the door behind him, voice even, controlled.
Keely had shrugged, leaning back against the couch, her body all casual defiance. “It’s not like there’s anyone out here. I mean you can see for miles and miles and there’s nothing to see but miles and miles.”
Jesse had taken a slow breath, rolling his shoulders back. “There’s always someone.”
She hadn’t argued, but the second time he went outside, the damn door had been left wide open. She’d taken one of the ranch’s ATVs—one Jesse had explicitly told her not to touch—and gone tearing off into the hills without telling him. Open rebellion.
By the time she returned, the sun was beginning to set, and she got off the ATV, stretching her arms open wide and spinning around. Jesse had been damn close to losing it right then and there. He’d grabbed her by the wrist so fast she let out a startled gasp.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he’d growled, voice low and edged with fury.
Keely had blinked up at him, feigned innocence dripping from every syllable. “Taking in the view.”
Jesse had fought the urge to shake some goddamn sense into her. “You don’t just take off like that.”
Her eyes had danced with amusement. “Why? Were you worried?”
He’d gritted his teeth, dropping her wrist before he did something stupid. “Get inside. Now.”
She’d gone. Slowly. On her own damn time, with a deliberate sway of her hips.
And now? Now she was testing him again.
Jesse had been chopping wood near the barn when he heard it—the sound of Keely inside the house, blasting music loud enough to shake the damn walls, and wasting valuable energy. A hidden solar panel system supplied the only electricity.
He shut his eyes, exhaling hard. This made three—three times he had warned her, three times she had ignored him, three times she had openly defied him.
Jesse strode toward the house, boots kicking up dust, muscles tight and rippling with anger.
Inside, Keely was in the kitchen, her back to him, standing at the stove like she hadn’t just made a decision she was going to regret.
He stepped inside and slammed the door behind him.
Keely jumped, turning toward him, eyes shining with mischief. “Something wrong, cowboy?”
Jesse rolled his shoulders back. “Turn it off.”
She looked at him with an innocent expression. “It’s just music.”
He didn’t repeat himself. Keely held his stare for a beat, then slowly reached for the knob, turning it down but not off.
Defiance.
Jesse closed the distance between them, placing both hands on the counter beside her, caging her in.
“You’re trying to see how far you can push me,” he said, voice rough.
Keely tipped her chin up, not backing down. “And?”
Jesse let out a low chuckle—one with no humor in it.
“You’re about to find out exactly how far.”
And then he grabbed her by the waist, spun her, and pressed her face-down against the counter.
Keely let out a startled gasp, her hands flat against the surface, her back arching slightly as Jesse braced her in place.
“Jesse...”
“Three warnings, darlin’,” he murmured, his voice all steel and dominance. “And you ignored every single one of them.”
Keely’s breath hitched. “You wouldn’t...”
Jesse’s hand slid to the small of her back, pressing her down gently, firmly.
His other hand landed the first slap to her ass. Her leggings would offer her some protection, but not much, and none at all when he stripped them off. She gasped, her body jerking slightly against him. He reached up, grabbing the waistband and peeling them down—she wore no panties. Of course she didn’t.
“Oh, I would,” he said darkly.
Another sharp slap, this one just a little harder. Keely yelped, her fingers gripping the counter.
“You don’t listen,” Jesse murmured, his palm smoothing over the sting of his last hit. “You don’t follow orders.”
Keely’s breathing wasn’t steady anymore.
“Jesse...”
He delivered a succession of five more swats to her firm buttocks, two to each side and a third one in the middle. Each was measured, a precise, hard smack. He watched as her body reacted, as she fought the urge to press back into his touch.
“That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?” he murmured in her ear. “To push me until I handled you?”
Keely let out a ragged breath, her pulse racing under his fingertips. Jesse’s control began to fray. He let go, stepping back, giving her space.
Keely stayed where she was for a second, like she needed a moment to collect herself. Then, slowly, she turned around, her cheeks flushed, eyes wide, lips parted and slapped him across the face.
Jesse reached up to touch his cheek, forcing himself to take a steadying breath.
“Do that again, and you’ll regret it. From now on, this is how it’s going to be,” he said, his voice still rough. “Got it? You’re going to listen to me and do what I say.”
Keely swallowed, then licked her lips. “Depends.”
Jesse clenched his jaw.
Keely took a step forward, pulling up her leggings as she lifted her chin. “That all you got, cowboy?”
Jesse let out a low, rough laugh. Oh, she had no idea what she was asking for, but she would, and soon.
Jesse knew he had made a mistake the second he laid hands on Keely. Not because he regretted it—hell no—but because now that he’d touched her, he knew keeping his hands off her was no longer an option. Her warm, heated flesh had felt so right under his touch, and that was a problem.
Keely had always been a storm in a silk dress, a woman who knew exactly how to push him, how to make him want her even when he knew he shouldn’t. But this wasn’t some casual temptation. This was something far more dangerous, something Jesse had been trying to bury under rules and restraint.
Because Keely wasn’t just another woman. She was off-limits, the one woman he couldn’t have, the one woman he couldn’t afford to crave. Yet, here she was, standing in front of him, chest rising and falling, eyes burning with a challenge she wasn’t ready to take back.
"You really don't listen, do you?" Jesse's voice came low, dark, edged with heat.
Keely tilted her chin, her hands resting against the counter like she needed something solid to hold on to. "I hear just fine."
His gaze locked onto hers. "Then why do you keep testing me?"
She licked her lips, that wicked gleam in her eyes igniting something primal inside him. "Maybe I want to see what happens when you finally stop holding back."
Jesse let out a slow, measured breath. He could walk away now. Should walk away. Instead, he closed the distance in two steps, gripping the counter on either side of her. Keely’s breath hitched, but she didn’t back down.
“Is that what you want, darlin’?” His voice was rough, filled with promise. “You want to know what happens when I stop holding back?”
Her pulse fluttered against her throat. "I want you to stop pretending you don't want this as much as I do."
Jesse cursed under his breath, and then his control snapped completely.
His mouth crashed against hers, claiming, devouring, staking a claim he had no right to make. Keely moaned into the kiss, her fingers fisting in his shirt, pulling him closer, as if she couldn’t get enough. Jesse didn’t stop her. Didn’t try to slow down.
Because this wasn’t something he could control anymore. This was need, raw and unfiltered, burning through him like wildfire. He grabbed her by the hips, lifting her effortlessly onto the counter, spreading her legs wide enough to pull him in. He lifted her sweater and pulled it over her head, removing her bra before fisting her hair as he trailed hot, open-mouthed kisses down her throat, across her collarbone, down to the sensitive skin just above the swell of her breasts.
She was soft beneath him, pliant, her body a contradiction of defiance and submission, the perfect balance that had always driven him wild.
Keely arched into him, her breath coming hard and fast. “Jesse…”
His name from her lips was his undoing.
Jesse pulled back just enough to grip her jaw, forcing her to look at him. “You want this?”
Her wide pupils and kiss-bruised lips didn’t stop her from saying, “Yes.”
Jesse’s grip tightened, his thumb brushing over her bottom lip. “Then you take it my way.”
Keely shuddered. “And if I don’t?”
Jesse let out a low, dark chuckle. “Then you’re not ready for this.”
Her nails dug into his arms, her thighs tightening around his hips. “I was born ready.”
Jesse shook his head, pulled her leggings off and then scooped her up and carried her into the the bedroom, setting her in the middle of it and trailing long, slow kisses down her throat before continuing down her torso. She started to reach for him and he grasped her hands, bringing her arms over her head, placing them there firmly.
Her body lay splayed on his bed like a virgin sacrifice, but he didn’t feel like a monster about to devour her. Everything about her called to him. Everything about her felt like home.
He stepped away and stripped out of his clothes until he was as naked as she was. His cock was hard and was close to reaching his navel. It ached and had ached every time they were in the same room. Cupping one breast and teasing the nipple with his thumb, he swirled his tongue around the other nipple, giving it the edge of his teeth before moving on to the other.
He climbed onto the bed, hovering over her before moving down, slipping his hands beneath her ass and lifting her up to meet his mouth. He nuzzled her clit and licked her labia. She was already wet. He very much doubted the spanking had done anything to curb her disobedient nature, but it sure as hell had warmed her up for him.
The scent of her arousal threatened to cost him his control and drive him into a frenzy, but he tamped down his need and lowered his mouth to her sex, feasting on it. He speared her pussy with his tongue again and again, delving deep with it curled and then flattening it out to sup on her honey. It coated his tongue and tasted delicious.
Keely writhed on her back, trying to get away from him, but he held her steady. She would learn from the beginning that he was the one who controlled their sexual encounters. He continued to ravish her sex with his mouth, and she cried out, trembling as she came.
He gave her no respite and crawled up her body, covering her and taking his place between her thighs as he settled at her core. He pulled her legs up around his waist. Keely tried to bring her arms back down and with one hand he raised them back, pinning them above her head. With the other hand, he captured her hip.
His mouth hesitated a moment above hers. As his lips captured hers in a dominant kiss, he thrust deep inside her. It took every last measure of control not to just start pounding into her as hard as he could. Instead, he pulled back slowly before kissing her as he stroked in her, setting up a rhythm that she easily caught.
Releasing her hands, he brought his hands under her ass, cupping her buttocks as he massaged and squeezed them. Every moan, every sigh, every touch of her hand called to him in a way no woman before her ever had.
She called his name when her pussy spasmed around him. Even though he didn’t want it to end, he couldn’t help himself. Her orgasm brought forth his own, and he ground against her as he spilled himself deep inside her.
Later, Jesse sat at the edge of the bed, barely catching his breath, running a hand down his face. He should have stopped this before it started. But he hadn’t and couldn’t bring himself to regret it.
Keely lay sprawled across the mattress, the sheets twisted around her body, her hair a wild mess against his pillow. She was utterly wrecked, her skin still flushed, her lips curved in lazy satisfaction, and God help him, he’d never seen anything more beautiful.
But Jesse wasn’t a fool. This? This was a mistake—not just because his attraction to her was more than physical, but because he genuinely cared.
More than he should. More than he ever intended.
Keely stretched, humming softly, then turned on her side, propping her head on her hand. “You’re thinking too hard.”
Jesse let out a breath. “And you’re not thinking at all.”
She grinned, completely unbothered. “I’m thinking just fine. Mostly about how good that was. I suppose we should have had the safe sex talk before we fucked, but the fact is we both play at the Iron Spur, which means we’re both clean and I’ve been on birth control for years.”
Damn it. That hadn’t even occurred to him, but she had a point about them both being free of disease, and god help him, he wasn’t sure he really cared if she was on birth control. Jesse rolled his shoulders, trying to shake off the feeling creeping up his spine. "This changes nothing."
Keely arched an eyebrow. "Funny, it sure felt like it changed something."
He shot her a look, but she just grinned. Her body was still languid and relaxed, like she hadn’t just turned his world upside down.
"You keep pushing me, Keely." His voice came out rough, the warning clear.
She shrugged. "And you keep letting me."
Jesse exhaled through his nose, standing up, reaching for and pulling on his jeans. "This was a mistake."
Keely sat up, pulling the sheet around her. "Now, that’s just rude."
He turned to face her, jaw tight. "You’re in danger. That hasn’t changed. Nico isn’t going to stop just because we spent the last several hours tearing up the sheets."
Something flickered across her face—something vulnerable, brief, but unmistakable.
"You think I don’t know that?" she asked quietly.
Jesse hesitated, because hell if he knew how to answer that.
She ran a hand through her hair, exhaling. "Look, Jesse, I know what this is. You don’t have to get all broody about it. I don’t plan to."
Jesse studied her, the way she masked her emotions behind that affable grin, the way she pretended like this hadn’t just changed everything—for him, for her, for both of them. He stepped closer, brushing his knuckles down her jaw, watching as her breath hitched, as she leaned into the touch she claimed meant nothing. He didn’t look back as he left the room.
Because he knew if he did, he wouldn’t be able to walk away. And walking away was the only thing keeping him sane.