The Marriage Auction: Book One

A manly moan broke me from my food stupor.

Sutton chewed with his eyes closed and the tumbler of bourbon dangling from his long, thick fingers. For a moment I imagined those fingers nestled deep somewhere else. My temperature heated at the thought, and I sucked back more liquid courage.

“Damn, that’s a fine piece of meat,” he said while drinking his bourbon, then finished with a satisfying ahhhhh sound.

I nodded and smiled while tucking into my meal. We’d both gotten through half of it, satiating the better part of our hunger before he poured me another glass of booze.

“So, how’s this going to go?” I lifted the glass and nodded thanks for the refill.

He wiped his mouth and eased his large frame back in a restful pose. “As it pertains to what?”

“After tomorrow’s meeting, what’s next?” I took a large swallow of my drink, letting the heat warm my belly and release the tension of the day.

“We go home.” His response was direct, with no hint at what that meant to him.

“My home is the McAllister land,” I reminded him.

His lips twitched. “Not anymore, sweetness.”

I pursed my lips and inhaled fully, then let it out slowly. “So, again, what’s the plan?”

He refilled his empty glass and topped off mine. “We’ll figure it out when we get there. No sense worrying about what’s going to happen until it’s right in front of us. Yeah?” He lifted his drink and stared at me over the rim as he sucked back half of it.

A challenge had been set.

I cocked a brow, and he repeated the gesture.

He filled my glass yet again, and then his. The liquor swirled pleasantly in my stomach, the stress of the day slipping away with each minute that passed.

“Are you trying to get me drunk so you can take advantage?” I licked my lips and bit down on the bottom one, looking my fill of the manly form leaned back in repose. Sutton Goodall was hot as Hades and knew it too.

Feeling too heated myself, not only from the alcohol but from the way Sutton’s gaze slid all over me, I stood up. The booze made me a little wobbly as I removed my boots and toed off my socks.

He watched me fumble around until I finished my task and shoved my wild hair out of my face. Then as I was going to move my plate to the catering cart, my foot caught on the hem of my dress, and I flailed my arms wildly as I listed forward. The plate clattered to the table, food flying all over the white cloth as I fell directly against Sutton.

“Jesus!” he cried out, catching me mid-fall, and hauled me sideways onto his lap. “Christ, woman, are you always this clumsy?”

I don’t know what came over me, but while staring into his concerned face, I suddenly burst into belly-aching laughter. Before long, Sutton had caught the bug and was laughing right along with me.

As he laughed, I stared at his handsome face. He’d taken off his hat when we arrived, and his hair was thick and wavy on top. It looked so soft. Before I knew what I was doing, I lifted my hand and tunneled my fingers through those silky strands. His hands tightened around me, keeping me close.

Wanting to explore a little more, I shifted in my seat, yanking up the swaths of fabric so my legs weren’t twisted up. He helped this along, running his big paws up the sides of my thighs as I properly straddled his form with a leg on each side of him, my chest braced against his.

“What are you doing, wife?” He gulped, and I could see his uneasiness at war with his desire at my bold choice of position.

I sat fully against his lap, straddling him and the chair. “I want to touch your hair with both hands,” I whispered, my gaze locked on his scruffy jaw and plump lips. I could see the little wound I’d given him when I bit him earlier. With the pad of my thumb, I traced the laceration. “I’m sorry about this,” I murmured, frowning.

“Are you really?”

I shook my head, “No. But I should be.” I smiled, then slid both of my hands into his lush hair teasingly. “So damn soft,” I cooed, enjoying the feeling of running my fingers through the silky strands.

“Dakota, I don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, honey, but you’re in my lap, rubbing that fine ass against my cock and winding me up.”

“Mmm-hmm.” I scratched my fingers down his scalp and purposely rubbed my ass against him.

His fingers dug into the flesh at my hips. “We’ve been drinkin’. Bottle is more than half empty. That means neither of us are thinking too clearly,” he stated rather primly, but his hands started to move up and down my sides delectably.

I sighed and rubbed my sex harder against the steely length between us and cried out when the target hit the bullseye just right. “Why are you talking?” I grumbled, intent on my task.

His hands shifted up my back and back down where he ground his hips against me. I held on to the back of his chair and gloried in the pressure between my thighs.

“Fuck, yes!” I gasped. Arousal roared through my body, making my skin feel sensitive and my lady bits needy.

Sutton’s mouth latched on to my skin where he kissed a line from one ear down along the column of my neck to the tops of my breasts. Both the fabric of the dress and the lingerie beneath crisscrossed over my boobs, capturing them behind two complex layers of fabric. That didn’t stop Sutton for even a second.

Before I knew it, the top clasp at my neck was undone, the fabric falling to my waist and exposing my top half in the pretty lingerie. It took him a nanosecond to shove aside both swaths of fabric and palm my bare breasts, tweaking my nipples with his thumbs.

Pleasure blasted from my chest and settled like liquid heat at my core. “God, that’s good.” I arched in his lap, continuing to rub against him, seeking more.

“Dakota… Sweetness, if I put my mouth on you, there’s no stopping this train. This is your chance to put an end to this. Right here, right now.” His hands molded to my breasts so beautifully, while his thumbs petted the pale pink tips in a featherlight caress that was maddening and delicious at the same time.

Stop? Hell, no. I wanted to get off. Multiple times if that spear in his pants was as promising bare as it felt clothed. We were in this relationship for three years, might as well enjoy the good parts. Which was increasingly obvious since we couldn’t keep our hands off one another.

I abruptly stood up and noticed his expression fall to one of regret. He let his arms drop loosely at his sides, hands in fists while his chest pumped up and down with every ragged breath he took.

That’s when I shocked the holy hell out of Sutton Goodall.

I shoved off the remainder of the dress and let it pool at my feet. Then I unclipped the latch at the neck of the lingerie and shoved it down until I stood completely bare-ass naked in front of my nemesis. My adversary.