Bounty (Colorado Mountain #7)

I opened my eyes to find his still closed.

Those eyelashes, God, a thing of beauty.

He opened his eyes.

And then there was more.

He said nothing, his breath still coming heavy.

I said nothing, my breath doing the same. But I put my hands to his hips that were distant as he remained kneeling over me, sliding them up to his waist, stroking there lazily with my fingertips.

It took a while but it finally occurred to me we were no longer recovering from our orgasms.

We also weren’t sharing a moment of connection. He was still up on his knees. The only parts of Deke touching me were the sides of those knees, his hands at my neck, his forehead on mine.

We were close.

Yet he was still far.

My fingers stilled on his skin.

Deke just kept staring in my eyes.

“Deke?”

I used his name as a question.

“Just came on you.”

“I…yes,” I answered hesitantly.

Didn’t he like that? Was that too weird for him? It wasn’t weird, but for some it could be.

He seemed pretty freaking into it when I’d asked for it.

“Fucked you hard last night, took it, fuckin’ drove yourself into it, came for me while you did. It was you this morning wanted my cum on you,” he reminded me of things I very well knew.

“Does that…are you…” I fought against clearing my throat to battle a sudden onslaught of anxiety and finished, “Does that turn you off?”

He lifted his head an inch but didn’t take his hands from my neck.

“It seem to turn me off?” he asked.

“Uh…no,” I answered.

One of his hands shifted, so did his eyes, and while he watched, I felt his thumb sweep where he’d sunk his teeth into me last night right before his climax.

His gaze came back to mine.

“Took my mark,” he whispered, all three words were thick.

Thick with meaning.

Maybe even thick with emotion.

My fingers clutched his waist.

He slid his other hand down my chest, between my breasts, down, and my nails curled in when he slid his hand through his cum, smoothing it over my skin.

“Took my mark,” he repeated.

I was thinking I was getting him.

Still, my, “Yes,” was tentative.

His hand slid up and curled around my breast.

I bit my bottom lip.

Deke’s eyes watched.

God, he was turning me on again.

He looked back to me. “You run this hot all the time, gypsy?”

“Uh…not so far, until, well…obviously…um…”

I trailed off.

He got me.

And I knew this because he smiled.

Slow.

So fucking slow.

Cocky.

Totally goddamned cocky.

Hot.

Unbelievably smoking hot.

He ran a thumb hard over my nipple, that rocketing straight to my clit, my fingernails digging into his flesh, all while he erased the inch he’d put between our faces as he whispered, “You like me.”

It was not tentative that time when I whispered back, “Yeah.”

Something passed through his eyes. I wanted to chase it for a variety of reasons, not the least of which it was amazing, but at that moment it made new wet surge between my legs.

“Made for me,” he muttered, like I wasn’t there, like he wasn’t even a breath away from me, giving me those words and all they seemed to mean.

I lay unmoving under all that was Deke and stared in his eyes.

“Shower,” he grunted suddenly. “Condoms,” he went on. His mouth touched mine, “Lots of those fuckers.”

Before I could agree, or what I was leaning more toward, kissing him, he was on his feet at the side of the bed. Then he was dragging me across the bed.

And finally, I was over his shoulder and he was stalking toward the shower.

Okay then.

We had our morning plan.

Shower.

And condoms.

Lots of them.

I had a feeling I was not going to get any progress done on my house that day.

And I did not give that first fuck.





Chapter Fourteen


Highly-Tuned Revenge Streak

Deke



Deke dumped the five packs of condoms on the counter at the convenience store in town.

He watched the cashier guy’s face turn startled before he slowly lifted his gaze up to Deke’s then turned it to Jussy who was standing close to his side, holding his hand.

The man’s face stayed startled as his eyebrows flew up.

Deke dipped his chin and saw her smiling bright, bold, huge and unashamed right at the guy.

Christ, she was something.

Deke beat back the rush of laughter he was feeling and looked back at the cashier when he heard the beeping of their purchase.

“How’s my face?” Jussy asked and his attention went back to her.

He took in her eye, saw the yellow was gone, almost all the purpling was gone at the side, but there was still some blue under her eye. His gaze dropped and he also saw he’d been right in his assessment the day before. Not even a shadow left at her throat.

They made it through last night.

They’d connected the way they both wanted to connect and it was fucking spectacular.

And that shit at her throat was gone.

A good day.

“Better,” he answered.