Willow
The house settles around me and my heart kicks up as soon as I take my headphones off. My AirPods Max block out almost all of the noise around me and my playlist keeps me focused.
Most of the time.
But tonight? My elusive hero is now wearing a cowboy hat and smirking like he just can’t help himself. His trim beard and auburn hair is begging for his heroine’s fingertips and I’m blushing like a damn idiot when he kisses her for the first time.
My heart races and I hold my palm on my chest, trying to trap the pounding beat. Trying to control myself.
Since when do I let a hero in my book get me all turned on?
I know the answer though. It’s him. Jasper Lockhart. I huff and fight the urge to delete every bit of what I wrote this afternoon.
But it’s good. It’s so long since I felt a connection with a character and these two…? Especially him?
I can’t delete that even though my fingers itch to do it.
I sigh and stand up, my skin itching under the long-sleeved t-shirt and long lounge pants that flow around my calves and bare feet.
I freeze, my eyes falling on the page. I’ve never written a cowboy romance. But the whole story feels right although Livvy is gonna bitch up a storm because it doesn’t match the outline I sold the company on when they gave me an advance for the book.
But it’s good. And I can’t walk away from that.
I pop my back one more time and then head for the kitchen, limping slightly. A long day of typing lets my bad hip stiffen up if I don’t do some rowing or walk on the treadmill. Or even hit the bike. Something.
But the muse was working and there’s no way I’d walk away from that.
Smiling, I hum to myself and pull out the leftover chicken from lunch. The diner delivered when I called but for some reason fried chicken was calling me today. Maybe it was the show I watched with Maggie. That picnic scene with fried chicken was something. ‘
I cringe. “I definitely don’t want some guy with dirty, greasy hands trying to get in my pants,” I mutter under my breath.
My phone chimes next to me and I pick it up casually, sure that it’s Livvy about another book signing that I absolutely have to do!
Not a chance.
But it’s not. It’s a shadowy shot of the back door and there’s a shadow…or is there?
What the hell is that?
Then my phone rings and I groan when I see who it is. I pick it up and sigh.
“Did you see anything?”
“Hello, Sheriff. Nice night.”
“Did you see anything? I’ll be there in two minutes.”
“No, you won’t. I’m fine. It just looks like the wind. It’s really picking up outside.”
“I don’t believe you. I think you’re lying, little sprite. I’ll be there soon. And I might paddle your ass for lying to me.”
My whole pussy clenches and I flush again. I open my mouth but nothing comes out.
I barely have time to get my heart to come down to a normal level before there’s a ping from my phone again.
My eyes narrow. How did he know about that damn camera going off?
“Oh hell no, he didn’t,” I mutter under my breath as I hit the front door and yank it open.
My breath stops. Everything around me stops. Because the man is leaning on my doorjamb, his big, tanned hands gripping it tight. And his gray eyes are stormy wild. The smell of nighttime is clinging to him. Fresh, deadly.
My whole body goes taut as I stare at him. My mouth goes dry and then my eyes wander down his long, husky frame.
The man is a snack and a half. My pulse throbs as his mouth opens. He grins. “Hey, little sprite. Gonna let me come in.” That fucking mouth quirks again while I stand there like an idiot with my mouth hanging open.
“No.” I cross my arms and glare at him. But it doesn’t stop him at all.
His big hands come down on my waist and I gasp as he picks me up and moves me out of the way then sets me down so gently it feels like I never even moved.
Then he’s inside and he’s shutting the door gently, his fiery eyes locked on me as I back away from him.
I can feel the heat from the burn of his eyes as they run down me. He grins. “I can see that you’re about to explode, little sprite and I think I know why but why don’t you just spit it out.”
Huffing, I tighten my arms around him. He leans back against the door and crosses his own arms on the massive wall of his broad chest. His thick thighs cross as he sets one booted foot on the other. He looks so damn casual that I want to smack the hell out of him.
I blink. I’ve never ever thought about doing something like that. I don’t hit people. Not even when they deserve it.
God knows that’s how I got hurt myself.
Glaring back at him, I growl, “You have that app on your phone, don’t you? You’re watching my house.”
He nods his dark head. “Yep.”
Nothing else. I blink again. “What the hell kind of answer is that? What are you a stalker? You can’t just creep around my house and watch me.”
“I can and I will.”
Nothing else again. Shaking my head, my jaw drops. “What is wrong with you? You can’t do things like that. Isn’t that illegal? I should report you,” I huff.
“I’m not getting rid of it.”
“What the hell is wrong with you? Get rid of the app! You’ve got no business stalking me like this!”
Normally that word would terrify me. But instead my whole belly feels like it’s on fire and the poisonous heat surges through my veins, heating me up to inferno level.
He stands up and his eyes are hard as flint. “I’m not getting rid of it. I’m gonna keep an eye on you. And you know why, baby?”
Shaking my head, I back up when he paces towards me, his booted steps sure and steady.
Each one of his steps is three of mine and it doesn’t take long before I’m scrambling and he’s got me backed into the wall, his arms like barriers on either side of my body.
He leans down and his steady gaze stares me down.
I can’t breathe. He leans closer and his minty breath fans over my cheek when I turn my head. His lean fingers grasp my chin. His eyes dip to my lips and I lick them, quivering when his eyes follow the movement, tracking it like a predator tracks prey.
My breath stalls in my throat, my pulse pounding so loud I can barely hear.
But there’s no way that I can miss his words. “I’m not going anywhere and there’s no way in hell anybody else is ever getting into this house again. And if they did? I’d kill them with my bare hands.”
My jaw drops. There’s no smile. “You’re not serious,” I breathe.
His mouth comes down to mine and I feel his breath across my lips.
“I am damn serious, little sprite. I’ve spent my whole life being the steady man.
The man who never lets a situation get away from him.
The man who is always there when people need him and who never loses control.
But I cannot control myself around you.” His head dips again and his lips brush my jaw and I whimper.
“I can’t help it. You’re my kryptonite, sweetheart. If anything happened to you I’d lose my mind.”
My eyes search his, looking for the joke. The laugh at the silly woman’s expense. A man like him? And a mouse like me?
No fucking way! I couldn’t even write that opposites attract trope. I’d laugh myself silly.
But he’s not laughing. “You can’t be serious,” I breathe. “You don’t want me.”
He grins slowly, wickedly. “Oh, little sprite…you would blush bright red if you know what I want from you. What I want to do to you.”
And then his mouth is on mine and it’s like an awakening. His touch steadies me. His big body surrounds me. The scent of night and man clings to him like a dark, sexy cloud.
His mouth moves on mine and my lips open. His hand caresses the back of my neck and moves to hold me just where he wants me.
Control. Every breath of him is control. And I love it. Because my whole life has been chaos.
I moan when his tongue slicks along my lips and my mouth opens for him.
I expect him to storm inside, taking what he needs, what I want.
But his tongue gently slides along my cheek, traces my teeth and tangles softly with my own tongue.
Panting, I reach up and tangle my fingers in his thick, soft hair, dragging his hat off and throwing it to the floor.
His big arms wrap around me tight as he lifts me up and on instinct, I wrap my legs around his muscular hips. He’s a tank so my whole body scrabbles to wrap around him.
“Fuck, Willow. Little one. I fucking need you so damn bad. Ever since I saw you, I haven’t been able to forget you. Not one damn second of the fucking day.” His mouth slides down until he nips at the curve my throat. I moan and his chest rumbles. “Need you, baby. Need you so bad.”
He throws me down on the couch and stands over me, his big hands on his hips. His heated gaze runs over me and I groan when my pussy clenches and I feel the moisture in my panties.
He drops to his knees between my legs and growls, his palms running restlessly up my thighs and back down. “Let me make you feel good, baby. Let me show you what you do to me.”
My tongue is glued to the roof of my mouth but I nod my head frantically.
He growls and then his fingers tug at my pants, pulling them down my legs, grabbing my panties as well until I’m lying there bare as a newborn.
“Fuck, that has to be the prettiest pussy I’ve ever seen.”
I flush at his rough, wicked words. I’ve written them but I’ve never heard anything like them myself.
His head comes down and he kisses along my thighs. My hands wrap in his hair as his lips come closer to where I need him. He pauses and I see him lift his head, my hips shifting restlessly.
“Are you sure, baby?”
“Yes, please, Jasper.”
With a pained growl, he dives down and I feel his mouth on my pussy for the first time.
Heat. Every muscle in my body locks up and my breath freezes in my lungs as his tongue laps along my clit.
“Holy shit!” I hiss and then he mouths along my lower lips and drives his tongue inside my needy little hole.
Black. All I see is black as waves of pleasure wash over me, tides of desire and hunger and so much pleasure that it knocks me into a sea of bliss and I scream some incomprehensible word.
But he doesn’t stop. His mouth and teeth and tongue delve inside me and I fall again, screaming and writhing and begging for him to touch me, to taste me.
To stay and never leave me. I fall into a sea of black and shudder as everything disappears.