Miss September

An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication

www.ellorascave.com

Miss September ISBN 9781419914140 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Miss September Copyright © 2008 Madison Hayes Edited by Pamela Campbell. Cover art by Willo. Electronic book Publication January 2008 With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502. Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/) This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.

CALENDAR GIRLS:

MISS SEPTEMBER

Madison Hayes

Trademarks Acknowledgement The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction: Advil: Boots Company PLC Styrofoam: Dow Chemical Company Tylenol: Tylenol Company

Miss September

Chapter One Colt groaned. Without opening his eyes, he reached for his head just to make sure it was still there because it felt like someone might have blown it right off his shoulders. With his blunt fingertips, he rubbed circles into his temples for several minutes. Then he cracked his eyelids open just a hair and focused his gaze straight ahead. What he saw was encouraging—at least at first glance—a white plastered ceiling with a small starshaped fire sprinkler set directly overhead. So far, so good. He wasn’t dead. And he wasn’t sprawled in a back alley somewhere on the outskirts of Las Vegas. Evidently he was in a hotel room—a good place to wake up, everything considered. Letting a tightly held breath whistle through his clenched teeth, he gazed at the ceiling, trying to ignore what felt like construction work going on in his head as he sorted through the remnants of memory left to him. Yesterday, he’d taken a Monday morning flight to Las Vegas with his assistant, Renny Clarkson. Assuming he hadn’t lost several days somewhere, that made today Tuesday. That meant they were scheduled to meet at one o’clock with Campus Miss—a clothing manufacturer that catered primarily to young women of college age. The company was launching a new line meant for the younger crowd, targeting teenagers in high school. They’d contacted Colt and invited his company to put together a proposal to promote their new line of clothing. They were looking for a full advertising plan as well as a name for the new line. It was a huge opportunity. A little over two years ago Colt had left his former employer of three years and started up his own advertising agency. The first year had been rough, involving long hours, late nights and a lot of traveling. The first year had destroyed his marriage. But he didn’t think about that. Not if he could avoid it. 5

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His business had recently taken off after he’d landed a deal with Outrider Jeans. He’d pitched a string of commercials featuring once-great athletes, including his ex-pro bull-riding brother, wearing the Outrider brand. Since then, the phone hadn’t stopped ringing. His advertising company was up and off the ground. But he hadn’t done it alone. No. The whole “washed-up” idea his company had pitched to Outrider hadn’t been his brainchild at all. His assistant, Renny, had come up with that little bit of genius. He’d just sold the idea. That was his forte—sales, communication and charm, when he needed it. He had the deep, rough voice and the dark good looks to pull the whole thing off. And at six-one, he was a commanding presence in the conference room. The riveting gaze didn’t hurt, either. Riveting. That was how Eloise had always described his eyes. Damn the bitch, anyhow. He pulled in a deep breath and let it out slowly, rearranging his thoughts to exclude Eloise. Jungle eyes. That was the term Renny had once used on one of those rare occasions when he’d managed to pry a few words out of her. Jungle eyes, then. For Renny. They’d arrived in the desert city late Monday afternoon and had taken a taxi to the Gold Cove where they’d checked in to adjoining rooms then wandered downstairs to play a few slots before dinner. Together they’d lost about forty dollars to the gambling machines before heading to the other side of the casino for a meal in one of the hotel’s many restaurants, this one a French Bistro. He’d ordered a double scotch and was looking at the menu when Eloise’s phone call had come through. He didn’t know how the hell his ex-wife had gotten hold of his new phone number and he hadn’t had any warning, either. He hadn’t recognized the number that popped up on the cell’s output screen so he’d answered the call. As soon as he heard her voice he’d disconnected, hit the power button and pocketed the damn phone as fast as he could. 6

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Up until that point, Colt had been doing most of the talking—Renny being just about the quietest person on the face of the earth—but the phone call had cast a pall over his mood. He’d felt as if he’d stepped into a black hole and couldn’t dig himself out again. Renny must have known who the phone call was from but she hadn’t said anything. No surprise, there. Renny rarely spoke. It was amazing. To meet her, you wouldn’t think she had a thing going for her—she was so shy and quiet. But, on paper, it quickly became obvious that she was an absolute genius. Her writing skills were exquisite. Her spelling and grammar, perfect. In addition, her math skills were exceptional along with her organizational skills. She took care of the company’s accounts receivable, accounts payable and the company taxes. But above and beyond all that, Renny was a one-of-a-kind marketing assistant. When it came to advertising, she thought “outside the box” and came up with stuff that was both unique and original. A mind like that was absolutely essential to the success of an advertising company. Truth be told, Renny was smart enough to run her own company. But she’d never be able to go it alone. Not unless she changed a whole hell of a lot. Renny just didn’t have the confidence to promote her ideas. That’s where Colt came in. Together, he knew they couldn’t fail. The meal had been a long time coming and the apologetic waiter had delivered another round of drinks, courtesy of the casino, while they waited. By the time dinner arrived, Colt had downed a lot of alcohol on an empty stomach. Everything that had happened after that was foggy. Colt remembered the waiter delivering the meals but didn’t remember eating. If he lived, he’d never drink again, he promised himself, rolling into a sitting position and dropping his feet over the side of the bed as he glanced at his surroundings. The warm, apricot-sponged walls definitely looked familiar, along with the pine furniture, the jauntily upholstered chair in the corner and the ivory duvet draped across the end of the bed. But when he rubbed a hand into the spray of dark

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hair on his chest, his knuckles felt stiff. He glanced down at his hand and frowned at the dark, crusted scabs on the back of his fingers. Jesus. He didn’t remember hitting anyone. His knuckles stung as he made a fist and gazed at the dried wounds. A mirror on the wall outside the bathroom door framed his naked body and he checked his reflection for other signs of injury. His eyes glowed back at him, large flecks of gold gleaming against the sage color of his irises. Other than a bad case of bed-wrecked hair, he appeared to be unscathed—at least on the surface. It was a different story inside his head. Inside his head, there was a war being waged. And it felt as though nuclear weapons were involved. Tylenol. Advil. Aspirin. He had to get something for his headache. He pushed off from the bed and stumbled to his feet then turned, trying to get his bearings. His gaze slipped across the bed and he staggered, his knees almost buckling beneath him. “Fuck,” he whispered as he stared at the dark color staining the white bedsheets. Stark fingers of terror wrapped around his spine. “Who’d I kill?” Bracing himself with one hand on the wall, he searched his mind, trying to fill in the gaps between ordering a double scotch at dinner yesterday and waking up in the hotel room this morning. At least he assumed it was the next morning. Vestiges of images, short flashes of memory and drifting uncertainties traipsed through his head, offering him a glimpse of what might have gone on. All of it was pretty hard to believe. He shook his head as his gaze snagged on a small pair of jeans crumpled in a pile at the end of the bed. They weren’t his. Beside the flare-leg jeans sprawled a pale green Tshirt. He followed the trail of clothing with his eyes. Sneakers. Pink panties. The tiniest bra he’d ever seen. “Renny,” he breathed, searching suddenly around him as though he might find his tiny assistant under his arm. The shower. The bathroom. He could hear water running.

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“Renny,” he shouted, almost tearing the bathroom door from its hinges before hurling himself inside the small room. Steam filled the space, softening the sound of running water and clouding the dark teal walls. Behind the textured glass shower door, he could see nothing of the girl. His stomach twisted as he slid the door open, expecting to find a woman’s slight form standing beneath the shower’s spray. But Renny was curled up at the far end of the tub, her arms around her knees, crying her heart out. He plucked her into his arms, holding her tightly, reaching for a handful of towels and pulling them around her like a soft fluffy nest while he muttered her name. “Renny. Renny, baby. What did I do?” Inside his arms, Renny’s fragile frame shook as she turned her face into his chest and sobbed. Feeling empty and lost and terrified out of his wits, Colt carried her back into the bedroom. He rocked her in his arms as he sat on the bed and dabbed at her pale skin with the cream-colored towels, scared to death he might find blood with each touch of the thick, soft terrycloth. “Renny,” he moaned. “Talk to me, baby. What did I do to you? Do I need to take you to the hospital?” She burrowed her head more deeply against his chest as her small hands fought free of the tangled towels and found their way around him. She held on to him as though she was drowning. Colt willed his pulse rate to slow as he took several deep breaths and continued rocking her like a baby. “Tell me you’re okay,” he rasped when she finally stopped crying. In answer, her hands gripped him even tighter. With a little pulling and tugging and rearranging, he uncovered her head to reveal a wet mess of tangled brown curls. With his fist beneath her chin, he tilted her face upward. She gazed back at him, her blue eyes far too big for her face.

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His breath caught as he stared down at her. He’d never before seen her without her glasses and her hair pulled into an untidy knot at the back of her neck. He’d never really even looked at her before. There wasn’t much to attract his attention. Renny, god love her, was as plain as an empty brown paper sack. At least, that was what he’d always thought. Now he held his breath, stunned to find himself staring down into a face with an almost heart-stopping waiflike beauty. As he gazed into Renny’s dark blue eyes—her wet eyelashes clumped together and sparkling with moisture—he reached for her face, dragged his knuckles across her baby-soft cheek and rubbed his thumb across her full lower lip. “Renny,” he whispered. “What did I do to you?” Her face crumpled up and her voice broke as she stuttered. “Y-you m-married me, Colt.”

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Chapter Two Renny’s problems had started when she’d said, “I do.” Up until that point, she’d been relatively happy—as happy as a self-conscious introvert could be—working alongside Colt Hardin and basically worshiping him from afar. As his only employee, she’d been with him pretty much ever since he’d started up his own advertising company two years ago, having joined him upon her graduation from college. In fact, part of the reason for Renny’s devotion to her boss was due to the generous job offer he’d made her, despite the fact that she’d had no previous experience in marketing and only a general business degree from a local community college. Renny was devoted to her boss. And in love with Colt. Lethally handsome, powerfully dynamic, he oozed confidence and energy along with a rangy male sex appeal. His ruggedly curving mouth looked like it had spent a lifetime dominating women with rough kisses. But it was that jungle green gaze of his that turned her legs to rubber every time he flashed it in her direction, especially when his hair fell over his eyes and he looked out from behind that spill of dark midnight. But Colt had more than just killer looks going for him. Her boss was smart as hell. He’d been married when he’d hired her two years earlier. Which meant she’d been working for him over a year ago when he’d come home early from that sales trip and found his wife in bed with his two closest friends. Ugh. Renny’s stomach still turned every time she thought about what Eloise had done to him. Eloise. She was gorgeous, vivacious, outgoing and fun. A centerfold model with sexy breasts and sexy hips and sexy lips and…sexy everything. And as far as Renny could tell, Eloise was madly in love with her tall, dark husband so why on earth she went looking for anything else was an utter mystery. Maybe the blonde beauty just 11

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thought she could have it all—Colt Hardin, as well as all the other little scraps of men lying about. She’d wounded him deeply though. That night, Colt had lost not only his wife but his two friends as well. The next morning he’d failed to turn up for what was probably the most important meeting of his life with a client he’d courted for months. Renny had tried to cover for him. She’d known the presentation backward and forward since she’d worked with Colt to create the proposal. But when she’d tried to carry off the sales pitch, she’d flubbed it, stumbling over words and blanking out at the client’s simplest questions. She’d lost the account. Without Colt there to carry the ball—his easy confidence and powerhouse personality—the client had walked away totally unimpressed. Then Colt had drifted in at the end of the day, his expression empty, his normally vibrant eyes dull and lifeless. Renny had only just turned her computer off, ready to lock up the office for the night. At that point, she hadn’t known what was wrong. She had only known it had to be something huge to have kept Colt from closing the deal he’d worked so hard to set up. He hadn’t said anything. He’d just sat down at his desk across from hers and blinked at the dark face of his computer monitor. Renny had been terrified. Afraid that something had happened to one of his brothers. Or his sister. His family was very close. April, Cord and Colt’s mother lived in Colorado and he saw them often. His oldest brother, Bolt, lived in New Mexico but made the trip north to visit at least once a month. Colt had a wonderful family—lively and full of fun. And kind. Especially Bolt. Colt’s parents had divorced when he was young and when his father had moved out of state, Bolt had become the patriarch of the family, if you could imagine a patriarch who was half man-eating lion and half pro wrestler, all wrapped up in an utterly wicked sense of humor. He always went out of his way to include Renny in a world where she’d felt pretty much excluded all of her life. When he visited the office, he always had

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a million questions for her and seemed genuinely interested in her responses, no matter how long it took her to stutter her way through her answers. But she hadn’t dared to ask Colt what was wrong when he’d finally shown up at the office late that day. She hadn’t dared to say a word. Because there was one thing she knew for certain. If she opened her mouth, the wrong words would come out. That was a given. It was something she’d been doing all of her life. So instead of asking questions of Colt, she’d pulled her chair up close to his, reached for his big hand and curled her small fingers around his long, thick ones. They must have sat there for two hours together while Renny did nothing more than rub her thumb over his knuckles, waiting for him to speak. When he’d finally broken his silence with a few hoarse, cracking words, Renny could hardly believe what he was telling her. She couldn’t believe a woman could be capable of such a thing. It was a terrible thing to do to any man! How could Eloise have done it to such a beautiful, proud creature? Cheating was bad enough. But cheating with his friends? And more than anything else—how could his wife have been stupid enough to risk losing him? She could have killed Eloise for crippling him that way. Since then, he’d shunned all company outside his work and his family—especially female company. It had taken a long time before he was able to focus on his advertising agency again. It hadn’t helped that Eloise kept calling, crying and begging for his forgiveness, wanting him to give her another chance. After a few days, he’d gotten a new phone with a new phone number. Two weeks had gone by before he’d even remembered that early morning meeting he’d missed—the big client and the job that would have gotten his advertising business off the ground. With her stomach twisting in knots, stumbling over every misspoken word, Renny had explained to him how she’d failed him. How she’d mismanaged the presentation and lost the account.

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He’d stared at her, his green eyes flickering anger as he shook his head. “Oh hell,” he’d answered, impatiently. “It wasn’t your fault. I should have been there.” After that, he’d seemed to heal outwardly, though it was obvious he was shoving his pain more and more deeply inside, growing colder and more distant, detached from life and everything that went on around him. He would show up for work and go through the motions as though he wasn’t quite sure why he was working anymore. If it hadn’t been for his brother, he might never have shoveled his way out of that black hole he’d dug for himself. But Cord had needed ten thousand dollars quickly to close a land deal and, finally motivated, Colt had sent off a video clip to Outrider Jeans. The short film featured his ex-pro bull-riding brother dusting off his jeans after a fall. Colt had edited the video, zooming in on Cord’s back pocket and the Outrider label. Renny had stood behind him, looking over his shoulder as he’d attached the file to the proposal he was sending to the client via email. “W-washed-up,” she’d struggled to tell him before he sent it off. His hand had hovered over the mouse, ready to click and send the email. “What?” Renny had groaned, taking a deep breath before she tried again. “They look good even when they’re washed-up.” He’d shot her a smile—the first in months—and it had been such a welcome sight, it was a wonder she hadn’t collapsed right into his lap. He’d sent the email, briefly outlining the “washed-up” idea and they’d won the account. Together they’d built the television ad campaign, which showcased good-looking once-great athletes wearing Outrider Jeans. The famous “has-beens” had signed on for a song. The client was in raptures. But even better than that, Colt was back, working and taking an interest in his company again.

And now she was married to him, curled up in his arms, sniffling and wishing she were dead. A wave of humiliation rolled over her as she curled into a tighter ball,

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hoping to hide what she considered her thin, unattractive body from her husband. A body she was certain he would never find desirable. Monday had started out so well, beginning with an early morning flight from Denver to Las Vegas. She’d won the in-flight jackpot when Cord had written her seat number on ten separate one-dollar bills and tossed them into the stewardess’s white plastic bag. “This is your lucky day,” Colt had told her with one of his rare smiles. “This is our lucky day,” she’d managed to answer without stuttering. He’d coldly ignored the attentions of the flirty stewardess, giving her a surly stare when she’d leaned over the seat in front of him and given him a pretty clear shot inside her loosely buttoned blouse. Renny could have told the leggy blonde she was wasting her time, flashing her cleavage at Colt. Colt hated women, especially attractive, flirtatious ones. He barely tolerated Renny! And Renny was neither attractive nor flirtatious. Despite that fact, she had the feeling that if he could have come up with a reason, he’d have fired her and gone on alone with his company. But that suspicion didn’t lessen her affection for him—she knew he was hurting. She ignored his occasional rudeness—it was usually directed toward someone else, anyhow. It was the cold, icy aloofness that chilled her at times. She’d have given anything for the old warm, dynamic Colt. It had been a short trip from the airport to the Gold Cove, where they’d booked adjoining rooms so he could help her prepare for their meeting the next afternoon. Under Colt’s insistence, she was to be part of the sales pitch! She had reluctantly agreed to play her part as long as she didn’t have to talk. Colt had been in and out of her room, outlining the role she was to play in the presentation. It had been nerve-racking but exciting, being so close to him, having him in a room with her, with two beds within spitting distance.

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As she’d hung a white blouse in her closet, she couldn’t help wondering what it would be like to wake up next to a man like Colt Hardin. What it would be like to open her eyes and find herself wrapped up in those strong arms dusted with dark hair—his long, hard, naked body pressed against hers. Renny sighed. Even if he didn’t hate everything in high heels, Colt was way out of her league and she knew it. But she could still dream. There was no harm in that. After hanging a short plaid skirt next to the crisp white blouse, Renny had trailed him happily as he’d led the way down to the casino, content just to spend time with him, looking forward to dinner and determined to be careful what she said in his presence. She had a long history of scaring men off or boring them to death or whatever it was she did that chased men away. She was determined to keep quiet and avoid making mistakes with Colt. Eloise’s phone call had come just after they’d slid into the padded leather booth. Renny could tell it was his ex-wife calling. Colt turned pale. He closed the phone with a sharp snap before burying it the pocket of his khaki slacks. After that, he’d swiftly downed his scotch and turned quiet. He was obviously drunk when he’d asked her to marry him. Completely wasted. She’d only accepted his proposal after a long, arduous and very compelling argument on his part. It was one of those speeches that only a drunk man could make. With halting words, he’d exposed all of his vulnerabilities. He’d told her he was lonely, sick and tired and hurt and hungry and that he needed a woman in his bed. That he needed a friend—a best friend. He’d been betrayed. He’d been wounded. But he thought maybe—maybe—he could trust Renny with his heart. Only a heart of stone would have remained unmoved. He had been extremely and utterly convincing and she’d wanted to believe it all. Every single word of it, no matter how unlikely. Renny knew she was the polar opposite of his ex-wife and realized that was probably part of the reason for his attraction. Maybe the biggest part. She was shy. She

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was quiet. She was twenty-five and had never been kissed! You couldn’t get much more opposite than that! Of course, Colt didn’t know she’d never had a boyfriend but if he could be sure of one thing, it was that he’d never have to worry about Renny with another man. It’s not like men were ever going to throw themselves at her, the way they’d salivated at the mere sight of Eloise. They’d gone to the chapel next door for the ceremony then returned to the hotel. Renny had thought it would be the most wonderful night of her life. Instead it was a complete disaster. “Renny…are you all right? Did I hurt you?” Colt asked, his terrified voice pulling her back to the present. “No,” she insisted, shame and humiliation attacking again as she thought about her wedding night. “No.” “Jesus, I’m sorry, Renny.”

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Chapter Three Colt sat with his hands anchored around a mug of steaming coffee and stared at the table’s smooth white surface, hardly daring to raise his gaze to the young woman sitting opposite him in the casino coffee shop. Thank God, Renny was back to looking like his assistant again—back in her rectangular, wire-rimmed glasses and loose clothing, with her unruly brown curls pulled into a knot behind her head. The silence lay between them like a smothering weight of black snow. Turning his mind back a year, Colt thought about that other time when they’d sat silently together after he’d discovered his wife in bed with… Fuck. That had been a black day. When he’d arrived at his office the next afternoon Renny had sat there with him, holding his hand. She hadn’t spoken, which was just as well. What could anyone say in a situation like that? Afterward, as the days and months passed, he’d felt as though he never wanted to have anything to do with a woman again. He’d probably have fired his little assistant if she hadn’t been so quiet and inoffensive. He was glad now that he hadn’t. It would have been the biggest mistake of his life. And though he hated to admit it, he’d drawn strength from her silence and her presence. She’d been there for him when he’d needed her—quiet, calm and supportive. He wished he could return the favor for her now. He owed her that much. But he didn’t know what to say. He knew they should talk about what had happened last night but there were so many gaps in his memory. Colt scraped his knuckles over his jaw then rubbed his fingertips into his temple, trying to erase the memory of the bloodstained sheets. She had been a virgin on her wedding night. He’d taken a virgin wife to bed and couldn’t remember any of it. Her

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first time with a man and her husband couldn’t even remember it! What did that say about him? Besides the fact that Renny had obviously married the wrong man. The waitress finally showed up with the small pot of tea he’d ordered for Renny fifteen minutes earlier. “My wife will need more cream,” he told the middle-aged woman in the pale pink uniform. “And a lot more sugar.” Renny gave him a smile that was so thankful it made his heart hurt. She took such pleasure in the smallest notice. As though she considered herself beyond anyone’s regard. Like she was nothing. Jesus. It was no great mystery that she took a lot of cream and sugar in her tea. He’d worked with her for two years, for Christ’s sake! The poor kid deserved better. She deserved better than a man who took her to bed drunk and didn’t even remember their wedding night. She was young. She deserved to be loved! And Colt couldn’t give her that. After his first, failed marriage, he didn’t think he could ever give that to any woman ever again. Because three things were certain. One. He hated women. Two. He didn’t want to be married. Three. If he had to be married, he sure as hell didn’t want his wife to be even remotely attractive. Colt lifted the mug to his mouth. The hot liquid stung his lips as he took a sip of the strong, bitter brew. That was the sorry state Eloise had left him in. He’d been angry ever since his divorce, turning his cold rage on every woman who crossed his path. On the other hand, he did have certain needs—needs that hadn’t been addressed in a long time. He hadn’t gotten fucked…in over a year. It was getting old—jacking off alone in the shower. He might hate women but his body still ached for everything a woman could offer—her fragile frame bending beneath his as he pulled her wrists over her head and nailed her to the mattress, her wet heat wrapped around his dick, her softness, her warm breath hitching at his ear, her body jerking, her cunt sucking on his cock, her small, helpless murmurings, her deep, raw cries of pleasure. With a shallow rasping breath, Colt stared at Renny, his cock thickening as he gazed at her delicate features. He hated women, he reminded himself. Especially 19

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beautiful ones. That’s probably why he’d proposed to Renny, thinking she would be a safe choice because she was as plain as snakes. It was a great shock to discover she wasn’t. Even now that she was back in her loose, unflattering T-shirt and baggy jeans, with her light brown hair pulled back and her glasses in place, he could no longer see her as he’d seen her yesterday. Now he couldn’t ignore what he’d never noticed before—her slender, sexy frame and her small, adorable tits poking shyly at the thin white fabric of her T-shirt. Her heart-shaped face and elegant jawline. Her pretty pink kiss of a mouth. Her huge blue eyes and perfectly shaped eyebrows, all concealed behind a pair of outdated glasses and a rat’s nest hairstyle that was a frowsy mess. Colt took another sip of coffee and chewed on the inside of his mouth. He couldn’t believe he’d married her. That was a mistake. He didn’t want to be married—ever again. And he sure as hell didn’t want to be married to someone with an elegant jawline and adorable tits. But even worse than the fact that he was married was the fear of what he’d done to her on the night of their wedding, along with the terrifying fact that he couldn’t bring any of it back to mind. He didn’t even know how badly he’d hurt her. For all he knew, she’d screamed for him to stop. His stomach heaved at the thought and his hand shook, spreading a tremor across the surface of the black coffee. No. That wasn’t possible. If she’d asked him to stop, he would have stopped, no matter how drunk he’d been. With an unsteady hand, he lifted the mug to his lips and let the scalding brew burn a path down his throat. Fuck. What the hell had he done to her? Whatever it was, he didn’t think he’d ever be able to live with himself once he found out. And until he found out, he certainly couldn’t live with her. Every time he looked at her all he could think about were those bloodstained sheets and how badly he might have hurt her. A chill traveled his spine and he resisted the urge to shiver. She was so much smaller than him. Fragile. Delicate. He’d never have married such a small woman, had he been in his right mind. He felt like a fucking monster beside her. 20

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He had to get out of the marriage, even if it meant hurting her…again. How hard could that be? To hurt her enough that she’d never want anything to do with him ever again? To make her hate him…if she didn’t already. The poor girl had no self-esteem! But he didn’t want her to blame herself. He wouldn’t do that to her. He had to convince her he was a total ass so that she’d be glad to see his backside. A total ass. Absolutely and irreconcilably. Right. He could do that. He was going to feel like a jerk when it was all over but it couldn’t be any worse than he felt right now. Silently, he marshaled his weapons. After all, he had every right to feel defensive about the whole wedding thing. She’d accepted his proposal knowing he was drunk and had married him without giving him a chance to sober up. If that wasn’t taking advantage of a man, what was? “Why?” he asked her in a quiet, flat voice. Her answering gaze was defensive. “What do you mean?” “Why did you marry me?” “You asked me to.” “You could have said no.” Two spots of color flamed high on her cheeks as she jerked her chin upward. “If you want to be…not m-married anymore, we can probably get it annulled,” she stammered. He kept his voice cold. “That might be a good idea but I still want to know why.” She lifted her chin a little higher. “I mean it. We don’t have to stay married. I knew you were drunk when you asked me.” He shook his head and snorted. “Again, I can’t help wondering why you accepted a proposal from a drunk. Why did you marry me, Renny?” She lifted a shoulder as though it might shield her from his sharp questions but there was a spark of fire in her cobalt eyes as she answered in a quiet staccato, “Why do

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you think? Because I didn’t think I could do any better than a drunk man. Because I love you. Because Bolt told me to. Take your pick, Colt.” Colt stared at her, stunned. Although her body language was defensive, her eyes flashed out the information that she she’d fight back if she had to. And her tone said, “Back off, prick.” “Bolt!” Colt exclaimed, quickly hiding his surprise and taking up the attack again. “What were you doing talking to my brother?” She flinched, her gaze falling to her teacup. “Don’t yell at me,” she whispered. Damn! It wasn’t easy being an ass. He wanted to lean over and cup her chin in his hand. He wanted to lift her face and take a long taste of that pretty pink mouth. He wanted to whisper an apology against the delicate pout of her lips. Instead, he gritted his teeth and pushed ahead. “What the hell were you doing, calling my brother? You had no right to call my family. What did you tell him? That I was raving drunk and asking random women to marry me?” Her proud little chin shook with emotion. “No!” “What did you tell him?” he shouted. Her troubled gaze flitted around the restaurant. “I—” “Why did you call him?” “I— Colt.” His whispered name was an appeal for mercy. He waited, glaring at her. “You had no right to call my brother.” She stood suddenly and hurried away from the table. As Colt watched, she slipped through the restaurant entrance in her sloppy jeans and long T-shirt. That went well, he thought glumly. He’d managed to chase her off before she’d half finished her tea. He sighed. He couldn’t believe she’d called Bolt. She’d had no right to call his family. If he was smart, he’d follow her up to the room and finish her off while he was still ticked about the phone call to his brother.

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He was smart and, to be honest, he was a bit ticked. He just wasn’t sure he could be that mean. Poor little Renny. What the hell had she done to deserve him? Downing his coffee in one long, burning swallow, he slammed the heavy mug down on the table, fished a five out of his pocket and left it beside his coffee cup before heading upstairs to their rooms.

The first thing Colt noticed when he entered Renny’s room via the adjoining door were her glasses on the bedside table. As he stood in the open doorway, she walked out of the bathroom. Her hands were shaking as she plucked sharply at the pins that pulled her unmanageable curls away from her face. As he steeled himself to renew his attack, half of her hair tumbled down over her right shoulder. Fuuuck. Did she have to be beautiful? Now? For the last two years she’d managed to avoid it completely. Why did she have to be beautiful now? He braced himself, ignoring the hard twinge of interest that stirred deep in his loins. “You walked off in the middle of our conversation.” “That wasn’t a conversation,” she muttered, surprising him again with her moxie. He rested his hands on his hips. “Oh?” “A conversation is a…a meaningful exchange of ideas,” she began awkwardly but forged on, determined to have her say. “Two…two people talking. Not one person not letting the other one say anything.” He propped his shoulder against the doorjamb and lifted his hand toward her. “Well, excuse me for being pissed. I just don’t think you had any right to call my brother.” Her hands clenched into small, stony-white fists. “I didn’t!” He pushed out a snort. “You said downstairs that you talked to Bolt.” “That’s right!” “Well, how the hell did you talk to him if you didn’t call him?”

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“Because you called him, Colt! You called your brother!” “Me?” he mouthed, his voice barely audible even to himself. “I told you I couldn’t marry you because you were drunk. I said you’d hate me for taking advantage of you! But you wouldn’t take no for an answer. It was you who called Bolt. You, Colt! You wanted Bolt to tell me it was all right to marry you!” He stared at her, utterly staggered by her claim. “And what did Bolt say?” “Bolt told me to marry you.” He shook his head. Then shook it again. “He told me to marry you, Colt. He didn’t just say it would be all right. He told me to marry you and save you from yourself.” “Bolt wouldn’t say that.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “He said, ‘marry him, Renny, and save the miserable bastard from himself.’” Colt blinked at her. “Miserable bastard?” “That’s what he said. Call him if you don’t believe me!” “No,” he muttered. “That…sounds like Bolt. But why didn’t you just tell me that downstairs in the coffee shop?” “Because you were being an ass,” she snapped. “And I didn’t want to make you feel stupid, not down there, in front of everyone.” Colt just stared at the angry little pixie standing before him, her fists clenched over her small breasts. She might be normally quiet and unassuming but she certainly developed a backbone real quick when you backed her into a corner. “You didn’t want to make me feel stupid,” he stated, curling his lip into a sneer, though in truth he believed her. That would be just like her, to spare his feelings at the expense of her own. The poor kid probably knew all about feeling embarrassed. It was an experience she’d spare someone else if she could. As he stared at her, the left side of her hair unraveled. Several weightless streamers of wrinkly brown curls slipped down 24

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around her face and over her slim shoulder, giving her a wild, haunted look and Colt felt an awful ache that reached right from his heart all the way down to his balls as he realized again how beautiful she was, how desirable. With that big, blue, vulnerable gaze and those perfectly formed eyebrows, she’d have been beautiful if she shaved her damn head. “That’s right,” she muttered. “Although the reason escapes me now.” “What?” “The reason escapes me,” she mumbled, “why I didn’t want you to appear stupid.” A smile flickered across his lips as Colt quickly covered his mouth with one large hand. He couldn’t help but feel proud of her. Despite her lack of self-confidence, the little imp wasn’t about to let anybody walk all over her. As he gazed at her, all he really wanted to do was pull her into the chair on the other side of the room and hold her, curled in his lap, while she explained to him how the hell they’d gotten to this place, to this point. Damn. Giving her the shake was going to be harder than he’d thought, especially if she was going to insist on being so wonderfully damn noble. And she was. Wonderful. As well as noble. Unexpectedly, he found himself wanting to know more about her. Despite the fact that they’d worked together for two years, there was a whole lot of Renny that she’d hidden from him. Like the fact that she was beautiful. He’d known she was simultaneously brilliantly clever and helplessly awkward. But he would never have guessed she could be so brave in the face of her own timidity. Suddenly, he wanted to know all those details she had kept hidden. He had a feeling that once he did, he’d never want to let her go again. And that wasn’t the point, was it? “Whatever. Fuck it,” he said, running a hand back through his hair and trying to make his voice harsh. He turned away from her, unable to keep up the pretense of anger while facing her. 25

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“Anyhow,” she continued stolidly. “I told you we don’t have to stay married. I only agreed to it because you seemed so…” He turned again to face her, knowing she wouldn’t say why. She wouldn’t tell him that he seemed so desperately needy. Again, because she didn’t want to make him feel like an ass. Despite her pique, she wouldn’t be reduced to name-calling. She was a sweetheart through and through, still worrying about his feelings even though he was attacking her. She took a deep breath. “But right now, we have a client to meet at one o’clock and I’d better get dressed.” Colt watched her as she disappeared into the bathroom. His quiet little assistant had a backbone of steel. Unfortunately for him, that didn’t make her seem any less appealing. The respect he’d always felt for her was snowballing into something much deeper and far more disturbing. If he didn’t know better, he’d think he was falling in love…with his wife. Bothered by the idea, Colt slouched off into his own room and banged into the bathroom. After stripping off his khaki slacks and white polo, he stood in front of the mirror and watched his cock lengthen and lift. Not an unusual event for him. He’d always had a healthy reaction to the opposite sex. But until this morning, he’d never even thought of Renny as the opposite sex. Now he couldn’t seem to overlook the fact. Of course the first year he’d known her, he’d been married so he shouldn’t have noticed her. And the second year, he’d been walking around in a daze. But Jesus! Closing his eyes, he wrapped his fingers around his broad root and fisted his cock a few times, wishing now that he could remember his wedding night—what it had been like. She’d have to be a tight fit—she was so small. He probably wouldn’t be able to get his entire ten inches inside her but those first five would have to be heaven. His brain was still thumping out the painful reminder that he hadn’t taken anything for his headache. Feeling somewhat tired and defeated and not very certain that he wanted to continue his attack on Renny—for more reasons than one—he dug a plastic 26

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bottle of Tylenol out of his leather valet on the bathroom counter and swallowed two tablets. After adjusting the showerhead to deliver a fine spray of hot water, he eased down into the bathtub and rested his spine against the curved enamel at the end of the tub. He let his head fall back against the tile wall and opened his legs until his knees rested on the tub’s steep sides. While the steaming water fell over his body he pumped his cock, imagining he was inside a woman’s hot, wet sheath. Unbidden, Renny intruded into his thoughts while he fisted himself. Just the thought of her sharpened the building pleasure in his lower body, driving a heavy surge of blood up the length of his cock, darkening the flesh to a stormy shade of purple and making his cock so hard it felt like a long length of iron pipe. As he stroked himself, he wondered how often she did the same. How often the pretty little imp masturbated—where she did it and how. Whether she fingered herself in the shower or spread her legs in bed. Whether she covered herself or threw the sheets off and watched herself in the mirror. You’d have to think a twenty-five-year-old virgin would be pretty good at servicing herself. It felt deliciously dirty wondering how she did it but sweetly intimate as well. The thought of Renny with her slim legs spread wide and her fingers in her pussy, holding her lips open with two fingers while a third drifted over the delicate pink folds and up around her clitoris, made his mouth water and his cock pound hard inside his tight fist. He groaned and closed his eyes, stroking himself faster, his hand pistoning up and down the length of his cock, his ass lifting slightly from the floor of the tub as his hips jerked upward to meet his fisted hand. As he approached orgasm, he wrapped his second hand over his first and covered his cock head with his broad thumb, making a tight wet sheath that he worked brutally over his shaft. Just before he came, he loosened his fingers and opened his eyes. His hips punched upward and his body formed a hard, sinewy, muscle-bound arch from his neck to his feet, his body straining forward— fucking the sky—as he watched his cock jerk and spew, spurting cum onto his flat belly and the dark tangle of hair that arrowed into his groin.

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Panting roughly, he let his body sag back down to the floor of the tub. Slowly, the shower’s warm rain washed the thick spill of cum off his tightly ridged abdomen and away from his body. For several seconds he sat there, handling his cock. It looked like a thick hank of damaged rope, the fine skin covering his beaten erection a punished shade of harsh rose. Colt pushed out a short sigh, feeling strangely empty and less than satisfied, feeling like he needed a woman more than ever. And not just any woman, either. Despite the fact that he didn’t want to be married, apparently he did want his wife. He wanted to have sex with his wife. The same wife he’d been so determined to get rid of only an hour earlier. With another deep sigh that came from the very depths of his soul, Colt rolled up onto his feet and washed. He dressed in his own room, donning charcoal slacks and pale gray shirt. After knotting his red and black patterned tie, he picked out a green one for Renny then sauntered into her room to see how she was doing. Colt did a double take when she stepped out of the bathroom. Despite the fact that he knew better by now, he was tempted to check the bathroom and see if he could find where the petite temptress who stood before him had stashed his plain assistant’s body. She’d dressed in the clothes they’d agreed upon—a crisp white shirt tucked into the waistband of a short pleated skirt and black lace thigh-highs. With her glasses exchanged for a pair of contact lenses and her hair down, she’d applied a little makeup and lip gloss. Although twenty-five years old, Renny was petite enough to carry off the whole naughty schoolgirl look to perfection. It was only with a supreme will of effort that Colt was able to drag his eyes from her shapely legs, most of which were showing beneath the incredibly short plaid skirt. The worried frown of uncertainty that pulled at her exquisitely shaped eyebrows just gave her an air of vulnerability that completed the picture—so well that it was all Colt could do to hide his body’s reaction. Despite the fact that he didn’t want to be

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married, Colt couldn’t convince his cock that he didn’t want her. Renny. His assistant. His…wife. Stripped naked and gazing up at him with those big blue eyes as he covered her with his body, spread her slender thighs outside his own and planted himself deep inside her. She nibbled nervously at her bottom lip and damn if he didn’t want to lean in and take a nibble himself—take a gentle bite of that plump pink pad and get a taste of that sweet little rosebud mouth. As he stared at her lips without speaking, she fumbled with the tie he’d just handed her, obviously never having knotted one before. “Let me get that,” he offered gruffly, reaching for the strip of green silk again and knotting it beneath her chin while she averted her gaze to the floor. When he lifted her chin with his fist, hungry for a glimpse of those deep blue eyes, she turned away from him. His body tensed, his muscles turning rigid as he fought the urge to go after her and make her look at him. He restrained himself, recognizing the instinct and damning himself for his weakness. He knew what was going on—the aggressive male impulse. With his fists balled at his sides, he fought the need to possess her—both emotionally and physically. Damn. He didn’t want to go sending the girl mixed signals. He’d already decided he wasn’t going to stay married. Returning to his room, he grabbed his suit jacket from the closet. As he pulled it up his arms and over his shoulders, Renny stepped into his room wearing the white satin sash she’d made, emblazoned with the words “Miss September” in gold glitter. He ushered her out into the corridor and, together, they headed across town in a taxi to meet with the president of Campus Miss. The drive to the north side of Las Vegas was a silent one. Renny sat huddled on the other side of the taxi’s backseat, her hands clasped in her lap, gazing out the window as though absorbed with the tourists thronging the city streets. Colt couldn’t seem to get his mind off her legs. It was Neanderthal but all he could think about was his hand spread out on her thigh, moving up over the edge of her lacy stockings and across the

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bare silken flesh all the way up to her soft pussy. Gritting his teeth, he jerked his gaze from her and stared unseeing through the opposite window. Upon their arrival at the client’s offices, she hurried through the glass door, leaving it to slam in his face. Of course, it might not have slammed in his face if he hadn’t been so busy watching her beautifully formed legs stalk through the door into the low building’s air-conditioned lobby. But that would have been a lot to ask of any man, let alone Colt. That girl might not have him wrapped around her little finger but her legs were another matter entirely and all he could thing about were those legs wrapped around his hips.

***** The client loved the whole “Miss September” idea. In fact, at the end of the meeting, he tacked on another fifty thousand dollars’ worth of work—an unexpected development which would pay their wages for the next six months—or his wages for a year, assuming Renny would probably quit working for him after he destroyed their marriage. Jesus. How would that work? It was Renny who came up with all the ideas. He just sold them. Of course, he’d have a year to come up with another Renny. If there was such a thing. The meeting with Campus Miss had exceeded his wildest dreams. He should have been ecstatic. He probably would have been if he hadn’t screwed things up by marrying Renny. He still needed an assistant. But he had to get rid of the wife. And he had to do it soon, before he ended up back in bed with the tempting little morsel.

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Chapter Four Colt excused himself the minute they got back to the hotel, leaving his jacket folded over the back of a chair in Renny’s room and telling her he was headed down to the casino to play a little blackjack. Hovering in front of the bathroom door, Renny gave him a cautious nod. He turned as though to leave, then turned back and paced across the room toward her. Reaching out with one hand, he pushed his fingers into her hair, running them through the soft tangle and gathering it at her nape again. “Do me a favor,” he growled as though the words caused him physical pain, “and keep your hair pulled back.” He plucked her glasses from the low chest of drawers and slid them back onto her nose. “I’ll be back in an hour to pick you up for dinner,” he muttered. “Why don’t you change back into your jeans?” Gazing at him quietly, her feelings a mixture of relief and disappointment, Renny watched his broad back disappear through the hotel room door. She changed out of the tiny skirt back into her loose jeans and a white T-shirt then turned on the television and flipped through the channels for an hour. An hour after that, she decided that Colt wasn’t coming back to the room to pick her up. Maybe he’d had a run of luck and didn’t want to leave the tables. Maybe he was just avoiding her. Maybe he was just a complete ass who didn’t live up to his obligations! But, at that point, Renny was getting hungry enough that she didn’t care. She decided to head downstairs to get a roll at the casino’s health food stand. With any luck, she’d run into Colt on her way there. She didn’t have far to look. When she exited the bank of elevators and stepped onto the casino’s carpeted floor, he was seated dead ahead at a kidney-shaped card table, his arm around a busty brunette, his fingers laced through the spaghetti straps on her slinky red dress.

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Lowering her eyes swiftly, Renny turned her face and headed toward the small stand on the far side of the casino. As she waited to be served, she blinked back tears, silently upbraiding herself the whole time, knowing that her new husband was just acting out. He couldn’t have picked a more visible place to sit, certain to be seen by her when she finally ventured from the room in search of something to eat. Colt hated women. He wasn’t interested in the attractive brunette any more than he was interested in her. On the other hand, Renny had to face up to the fact that his behavior was a pretty fair indication that he didn’t want to be married to her. “Yeah, Colt,” she muttered beneath her breath. “I get it. I’m not dumb, regardless of the fact that I sound like a moron every time I open my mouth.” She was tempted to take her hot tea and pour it right in his lap. It wasn’t like his massive hardware was doing her much good! But, as usual, she didn’t have the nerve. She didn’t want to make a scene. She didn’t want to draw attention to herself. She just wanted the earth to swallow her up and save her from the humiliation of a husband who didn’t want anything to do with her. But she wasn’t without pride. Lifting her chin, she grabbed her Styrofoam cup and carried her tea back across the casino. In her other hand, she clutched the brown paper bag containing a fat whole-grain bagel for which she now had no appetite. To hell with Colt Hardin. She knew he was hurting. She knew the past year had been hell on him. But she wasn’t going to let him wipe his feet on her. She was outta there to wait at the airport for the next flight home. She’d file for divorce and let the poor miserable bastard off the hook as soon as she got back to Denver. But she was crying just the same when she reached their rooms on the tenth floor. Pushing into her room with the Styrofoam cup in one hand, her key in the other and the brown paper bag between her teeth, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror above the low chest of drawers. Her eyelids were puffy. Her eyes were swimming in tears. And her long, sharp nose was a very unattractive shade of red. She looked ridiculous. She was ridiculous. No

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wonder Colt wanted out. With a feeling of utter hopelessness, she dropped onto the end of the bed and stared at herself in the mirror. The melodic trill of a ringing cell phone intruded into her melancholy and she stood slowly, gazing uncertainly around the room, searching for the source of the chirping noise and finally realizing it was coming from the jacket Colt had left on the back of the upholstered chair. She probably had no right answering the damn thing, despite the fact that she was Colt’s wife. On the other hand, if it was Eloise pestering him again, she’d like to tell that blonde hussy exactly where the hell to get off. After ruining Colt’s life and her own, Eloise was now doing a pretty damn good job of ruining Renny’s as well. “Hello?” she spoke into the phone. “Hello,” a gruff male voice responded. “Am I speaking to Mrs. Renny Hardin?” Renny sniffed at the welcome sound of the deep, familiar voice. “Bolt?” “Renny? What’s wrong?” “Bolt,” she whispered brokenly, crumpling onto the end of the bed, “things aren’t going so well.” He cursed. “Let me talk to my miserable excuse for a brother.” “He’s…down in the casino.” Bolt blew out a frustrated snort. “What’s a newlywed doing down in the casino alone, without his wife?” “He’s not alone,” she answered in a low voice. He snarled out a low “Fuck”. “Bolt, I think it was a mistake to marry him.” Bolt was silent a minute. “No,” he finally said, his voice serious. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Colt’s the one who’s making all the mistakes, here, Renny. Tell me— are there any shops down on the casino’s mezzanine level?” “Y-yes.”

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“Good. Here’s what you’re going to do. Take yourself shopping, Renny. Charge everything to your room and let Colt pay for it. Get yourself the hottest dress you can find, make up those big beautiful eyes of yours and get yourself back down to the casino.” She shook her head, laughing sadly. “I don’t think that’s going to work, Bolt. Your brother doesn’t need another Eloise.” “I know. You’re right. He doesn’t need another Eloise. He needs you, Renny. And the sooner he figures that out, the better it will be for him.”

***** Thirty minutes later Renny stood stripped and naked in front of the mirror as she considered herself critically. Even alone in the hotel room, she had to fight the urge to cover herself up because, as far as sexy bodies went, she didn’t have a whole lot going for her. Her legs were nice—slender, well-shaped and long for her body, considering she was only five-three. Her hips and waist met each other in a shallow curve that was at least willowy if now womanly. But things fell apart as you moved higher. Because when you got to her chest, she didn’t have much of anything other than nipples. Renny chewed on her bottom lip, fighting back a surge of uncertain tears. What did she have to offer her husband, really? No breasts, that was for sure. No experience. No sexy savoir-faire. On top of that, she was…small. Really small—inside as well as out. And Colt was big…all over. Renny sighed as she turned and checked out her backside from over her shoulder. It was okay as far as backsides went. Small, of course. Low and pear-shaped rather than high and apple-shaped. She supposed the dimples at the top of her buttocks were cute if men went for that sort of thing. She glanced at the low-back dress she’d bought downstairs, spread out on the bed’s ivory duvet. Hopefully, men went for that sort of thing. She gave her hair a shake, letting it fall softly around her face then headed for the bathroom, hoping that a little more makeup would bolster her courage.

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***** With the edge of his card, Colt scraped at the green felt-covered table. In answer, the dealer slid an ace toward him. Without really concentrating, Colt checked the cards in his hand again. He was having a hard time paying attention to either the cards or the woman he’d hired to sit beside him. She was a lulu. He’d found her at the bar and had offered her eighty dollars an hour, figuring that nobody wore a dress like that unless they were for hire. He’d figured right. She’d picked up her purse and followed him without question and had only seemed somewhat surprised to learn that she’d be doing nothing more than playing cards with him for the next few hours. So far, in addition to the eighty an hour he was paying her, she’d doubled her money at the tables. Currently, he was losing. But that was mostly because he wasn’t exactly into the game. Colt gave his “date” a sideways glance. Her lips pulled into a shrewd, rouged kiss as she considered her cards and tapped one of her long lacquered nails against the edge of the tabletop. He shuddered to think what kind of scars those nails might leave on a man. And he didn’t even want to think about what all that heavy, pancake makeup was hiding. Man, she had it layered on thick. As thick as house paint. He gave a soft, sharp snort, automatically comparing her to Renny without even thinking. She’d looked so adorable at their afternoon meeting, her fair, translucent skin glowing with a light brush of bronzer, her small pink mouth glistening with a thin coat of lip gloss, her huge blue eyes beautiful and expressive with nothing more than a few strokes of dark mascara. Colt’s snort turned into a deep sigh. His little charade at the blackjack table had played out to perfection. He’d seen Renny step out of the elevator and had made sure his arm was around his “date” when she stepped onto the casino floor. She’d seen him. Mission accomplished. Hopefully she’d returned to their rooms hating him. Hell. At that point, he hated himself!

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Yep. At that point, Colt wasn’t exactly feeling proud of himself. He didn’t have much to be proud about! He’d gotten obscenely drunk, married a virgin, taken her to bed and didn’t even remember any of it. That was depressing enough. But the way he’d felt when his eyes had connected with Renny’s as she’d stepped into the casino was somehow worse than all those things. Talk about your deer in the headlights. Her eyes were huge and doe-like as she’d gazed at him, a quiet melancholy falling over her features. He’d fought the urge to throw the plan into reverse and instead had barreled on ahead, running the little sweetheart down with his next act. He’d turned to the woman beside him and leaned close to whisper in her ear. He couldn’t even remember what he’d said to the top-heavy brunette, he was so busy trying to pretend it was something intimate. He’d probably congratulated her on her latest win. He should have been telling her what an ass he was and how he was fucking himself over as he spoke. Yeah. He’d screwed himself, all right. Now all he could think about was Renny, the stoic sorrow in her eyes as she turned and headed across the casino, retracing her steps a few minutes later and heading back for the elevators, this time without even looking at him. Whatever. He’d done the right thing. He didn’t want to be married and pretty soon he wouldn’t be. As he glanced at his cards again, from the corner of his eye Colt saw a young man in front of the bar go to his knees. He was part of what looked like a large group of college students. It was fairly obvious that they’d only just turned twenty-one and that it was probably their first visit to a casino. While his friends laughed at his antics, the clown on his knees had his arms outstretched, reaching for a woman who’d just passed him. The woman, dressed in a sexy black dress continued walking across the casino as though he didn’t exist. Colt’s gaze followed her as he scraped the green felt surface and was dealt another card.

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The woman, though small, had to be the sexiest woman alive. The dress she was wearing was made for her—one of those Peter Pan-style dresses that barely covered her in a tangle of tattered black lace. Although it was cut radically low in the front, almost baring her from her chin to her belly button, it did manage to cover her hips, though only just. The lacy skirt clung to her like it was in love as she swung those slender hips and kept walking. On her feet, she wore a pair of glossy black spikes that screamed “fuck me now”. Colt scraped at the felt again and glared at the heads that were turning to watch her as she stepped out the length of the bar. There was a long, ragged rent in the skirt that bared her pretty left leg all the way to her—all the fucking way. Any higher and she’d be showing whatever was covering her pussy—if she was, in fact, wearing anything covering her pussy. Again, Colt scraped at the felt as he watched the girl toss her mass of unruly curls over her shoulder. “Sir?” the dealer’s voice intruded into his concentration. Colt wanted to tell the dealer to get fucked—he found his voice that intrusive. Calling on a reserve of patience he hadn’t known existed, he tore his gaze from the woman’s sexy dimpled backside and glared at the man in the black shirt and silver checked vest. “I’m sorry,” the dealer told him. “You can’t have another card. You broke twentyone on the last card…with what’s showing on the table.” Colt gave him a blank stare. “Without even counting what’s in your hand,” the dealer added as though Colt must be a bit dim. With a growl, Colt pushed away from the card table, leaving his chips sitting on the green felt, leaving the woman he’d been flirting with for the last hour. Forgetting all of that, he stalked across the casino and caught up with Renny. Just before he reached her, she stumbled on those damn heels and he had to throw himself the last few yards to 37

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catch her before she went to her knees. One hand slipped beneath the skirt of her dress to slide over her thigh, the other wrapped around her ribs. “What the fuck are you doing?” he grated at her, putting her back on her feet then grabbing her hand and dragging her across the casino toward the elevators. As he towed her behind him, she stumbled again, failing to keep up with him in those ridiculously provoking spikes. “Jesus, Renny,” he cursed, slowing down enough to pull her into his side before heading again toward the elevators. Halfway across the casino, he was surprised to find himself suddenly surrounded. The college students had come to Renny’s rescue. The young men looked grim and determined as they blocked him in on three sides. The blond, who’d been on his knees earlier, looked ready to kill as he squared his shoulders and challenged Colt with a rough snarl. “What’s your problem, man?” Colt might have answered him, though his answer probably wouldn’t have been very fucking congenial but all he could see was the blond’s hand wrapped around Renny’s arm. “Get your hand off my wife,” he fired off in a staccato command. “Wife?” The youngster with the sun-streaked hair looked uncertain for an instant, then more determined than ever as he turned to Renny. “I don’t think so. How old are you, sweetheart?” “She’s twenty-five and she’s my wife,” Colt gritted, trying to shove his way through the circle of men. “Please,” Renny mumbled, clearly uncomfortable to find herself the center of attention. “It’s okay.” “Are you sure, honey?” “Y-yes,” Renny stammered. The blond jerked a thumb in Colt’s direction. “And you’re really married to this asshole?”

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She didn’t answer that one. “Get your hand off my wife,” Colt snarled again. The young man’s face was grim but he released his hold on Renny’s arm. “Okay,” he finally acquiesced. “But if you need to get away from this guy, I’m in room 1183. Room 1183!” he yelled as Colt pulled her toward the bank of elevators. Colt was growling as he dragged Renny through the closing doors of the crowded elevator car. Silently, he crushed her hand inside his big palm as the elevator whisked upward through the first eight floors. When the last couple got off there, he turned on her swiftly. “What the fuck was that all about?” She swallowed hard, averting her eyes nervously. “What do you mean?” “What the hell were you doing down there in a black dress that barely covered your ass?” he demanded, throwing a thumb over his shoulder. Renny let her gaze drop to the dress then returned it to his face and gave him a surprisingly pointed look. “Sorry. Do you think I should have gone with red?” He just stared at her, fighting the urge to latch onto her lips, crush a kiss into that provocative little mouth and never let go. “What was I supposed to do?” she cried softly, lifting one shoulder in a timid shrug. “When I saw you with that other woman, I assumed it was because you didn’t find me attractive. So I…” With her chin in his big palm, he backed her into the elevator wall. His hand shook as he rubbed his broad thumb roughly over her small mouth, smearing the deep bronze lipstick across her cheek. “I don’t want a beautiful wife!” he shouted, his voice cracking with strain. “Don’t you get it? I wouldn’t have married you if I’d known you were beautiful. And I sure as hell don’t want other men going to their knees when you enter a room! Begging for a kiss. Praying for a fuck! I want someone safe! That’s why I married you!”

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An unexpected spark of fire burned deep in her cobalt eyes as she glared up at him. “There are a lot of things you don’t know about me, Colt Hardin, despite the fact that we’ve worked together for over two years! Starting with the fact that I am safe. You don’t get to be a twenty-five-year-old virgin unless you’re pretty damn undesirable. “You know what else you don’t know about me?” she continued in a wobbly voice. “When you married me, I’d never even been kissed. Twenty-five years old and never been kissed. And you’ve been so busy punishing me for what Eloise did to you that I’ve still never been kissed. You’ve been married twenty-four hours, Colt, and you haven’t kissed your bride. If you find me that damn undesirable then why the hell are you worried about anyone else?” Her voice broke as hot tears streamed down her face. “I didn’t kiss you?” Colt rasped, feeling like he couldn’t breathe. “I didn’t kiss you when we…” What kind of asshole climbed on his new wife and started fucking her before he’d even kissed her? Jesus! What else hadn’t he done? Had he not prepared her, given her the time and attention to get aroused, to get wet? What the hell had he been thinking? Why would he have done that? He’d never done that to a woman before. He stepped away from her, rubbing a hand over his eyes. He’d screwed up. Totally. “D-do you know what else you don’t know about me?” she cried. “I don’t want to be married to you anymore. I love you. No, I loved you. But I never loved you enough to be your doormat. I hurt, Colt. I hurt all over from the inside out. If that’s what you were going for when you married me—if you wanted to hurt a woman as badly as you were hurt—then you’ve succeeded.” The elevator doors opened with a quiet whisper and she was through them before they’d parted a foot. Colt followed her down the hall, watching her hips swing beneath the tattered black lace as she paced away on those spiked heels. As she stalked into her room, he reached for the edge of the heavy door before it slammed in his face. He sat on the nearest bed and watched as she collected her things and stuffed them into her simple canvas duffel bag. He gathered the quiet around him and thought about

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what she’d told him in the elevator—more than he’d ever heard her say in the two years he’d known her. The interesting thing was…that he’d known all along just how articulate she was. He’d read her memos, her proposals, her reports—all of which were clear, concise and eloquent. Yeah, she had a hard time expressing herself verbally. But deep down inside she was a genius, a positive gold mine of bright ideas. She just had no self-confidence, despite the fact that she was both very smart and very beautiful. How the hell had that come about? Bit by bit, probably, one aborted relationship at a time, from high school on up. But she’d been pretty damn articulate in the elevator when she’d as much as told him to fuck off. He pushed out a sigh and scraped a hand back through his hair as he looked at her. That morning he’d been sure of three things—that he hated women, that he didn’t want to be married and that he sure as hell didn’t want to be married to someone who was beautiful. How quickly things had changed. Now he was certain of only one thing. He wasn’t going to let her go. Not now. Not like this. Not without repairing the damage he’d done.

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Chapter Five Colt cleared his throat, formulating his argument as he spoke. “Don’t leave,” he said, lifting his chin and trying to catch her gaze. “Don’t leave, Renny. Bolt was right. I need you. If there was ever a woman who could restore my faith in the opposite sex, it’s you.” She zipped up her bag and hefted it over her slim shoulder, heading toward the door. “You need me like you need a punching bag, Colt. Take out your frustrations at the gym. I won’t let you hurt me again.” Getting to his feet, he moved quickly between her and the door. “Please. Just give me a minute. Let me try to explain.” As she crossed her arms over her chest and stared angrily at the carpeted floor, he leaned back against the door and gathered his argument. “I wasn’t punishing you,” he began. “But it would be wrong to say Eloise didn’t play into my behavior. She did.” He hesitated, groping for the words that might help him to express himself. If he lived to be a hundred, he’d never understand where he’d gone wrong with Eloise. It would have been better if she’d called screeching at him, telling him he hadn’t spent enough money on her or hadn’t given her enough attention or even that he was a crap lover. At least then he’d have known what he’d done wrong, whether it was his fault or hers. At least then he could have moved on and made sure that he didn’t make the same mistake again. But instead, she continued to call, insisting that she still loved him. That wasn’t the least bit fucking helpful. “After a year,” he started tentatively, “I still don’t know what I did wrong. I don’t know how I failed my wife. I thought she loved me. I was sure she loved me.”

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“I think she did love you,” Renny said, the stiff line of her shoulders softening with her sympathetic words. Colt gazed down at her, wanting to gather her up into his arms and kiss the generous little pixie. She was so kind. Ready to forgive him. Ready to forgive Eloise! “Let me finish,” he told her. “After what happened with Eloise, I didn’t ever want to be fooled like that again. I didn’t want to leave home one morning thinking my wife was in love with me, only to come home at night and realize…and find…” He stopped, unable to finish the sentence. “I didn’t want to expose myself to that sort of risk ever again. So, when I woke up this morning and discovered I was married again, I was sure it was a bad idea. For you as well as myself. That’s why I’ve been acting like such an ass. But, Renny. Now…I’m not so certain that marrying you was a mistake.” “Well, you’ve just about convinced me it was a mistake.” Renny’s expression was wry but at least she was smiling…a bit. She lifted her arms out to her sides. “I mean, really, Colt. What do we know about each other?” “You’re right. I worked with you for two years and didn’t even know you had legs,” he chuckled softly. “I must have been blind.” Quietly, she studied the floor. “How did you get to this point, Renny?” “What do you mean?” He lifted his hand through the air. “Look at you. You’re beautiful, sexy, kind, generous, intelligent. You should have been snapped up years ago.” “I’m not beautiful,” she mumbled. “Yes, you are. But most of the time, you hide the fact. Why do you do that?” “I don’t know what you mean.” He took a step toward her. With his hands on her shoulders, he guided her to the mirror hanging above the low pine chest. “You’re beautiful.”

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Renny tilted her head, gazing at her own fey face. “I’m not ugly,” she admitted. “No, you’re not. But most of the time you don’t look like this.” “I used to,” she explained in a small voice. “I used to dress up and put on makeup. Guys would ask me out. I’d get all excited. We’d go out once. Then afterward, they…wouldn’t call again.” “Why?” “I don’t know,” she whispered. “I’d get so nervous I couldn’t think of anything to say. Or I’d say the wrong things. It seemed to get worse with each new date. After a while, I stopped trying to look desirable. It was a waste of time and…and nothing but a heartache. No matter how attractive I tried to make myself, I could never get past that first date. I got to where I didn’t want anyone to be attracted to me anymore, because I knew it wouldn’t go anywhere. It would just end in rejection and I’d feel terrible again.” Colt had to admit that he wouldn’t have thought much of her if he’d only spent an evening with her. He’d probably have considered her mousy and timid, shy and awkward. But over the past two years, he’d gradually come to respect her as an employee and appreciate her as a friend. There was a brilliant, lively young woman trapped inside that pretty little selfconscious shell. She just needed help finding her way out. And somehow, he needed to convince her that he was the man for the job. No easy task, considering what he’d put her through since their wedding. “But you can’t convince me I’m beautiful,” she continued as she turned to face him. “After all. It’s not like you ever noticed me before, Colt.” “That’s not quite true,” he said quietly. She shook her head stubbornly, fixing her unhappy gaze on his chest. “Your favorite color is green,” he said softly. “Ocean green. You take your tea with milk and three teaspoons of sugar—four when you’re depressed. You like rainy days better than sunny days and cold weather better than hot.”

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She lifted her big blue gaze to his. “What are you—” “Maybe I didn’t realize you were beautiful. But it would be wrong to say I’ve never noticed you. Your favorite bands are Radio Halo and Mute. Your favorite movie is Snatch. You love pasta and hamburgers but you wouldn’t touch veal if you were starving and it was the only thing on the menu.” As he edged toward her, she retreated. When the back of her calves hit the low chest of drawers, she was forced to sit on the pine chest and he grasped her wrists quickly. “You prefer water to soft drinks. You avoid beer and most alcohol but you have a weakness for white Russians. You like Pavarotti. You’re kind and generous and loyal. And you still love me.” “What are you doing?” she mumbled, trying to tug her wrists from his clamp-like grasp. Slowly, as though he wasn’t even aware that she was fighting him, he took one of her wrists to his mouth and pressed his lips against her fluttering pulse, his gaze fixed on her face. “First kiss,” he murmured. “What?” “Tonight, you’re getting your first kiss.” Her eyes widened on him. “Open your legs,” he told her, then pushed between her thighs when she hesitated. With her slender wrists still clamped in his big hands, he leaned over her and brushed his mouth across one of her eyebrows then slid the kiss down over her eyelashes. He let his lips warm the fragile flesh long enough for her to know he wanted her eyes closed. Then, slowly, he dragged his breath over the bridge of her nose to her other eyelid and pressed a soft kiss over her other eye. Watching her face, he lifted both her hands to his mouth and rubbed his lips over her knuckles before placing her hands in her lap. With his fist beneath her chin, he lifted her face and gazed at her closed eyes for several moments. She wanted this. Oh yeah. She wanted it. She’d wanted it since she was fourteen. She wasn’t going to stop him now. She might stop him later but not now. 45

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Not before she collected the kiss he knew she yearned for from the depths of her innocent, fluttering heart to the tips of her hard little nipples. Thank God. After spending the entire day trying to chase her off, he’d been granted a chance to undo the damage he’d caused. This was Colt’s last best chance to win back her love. Win back the love he’d almost crushed out of her. One kiss to change her mind. One kiss to get it right. But what really floored Colt was how much he wanted it, how much he wanted to experience the innocence and the sweetness of her mouth, how much he wanted her small body beneath his. How badly he wanted to see her on his cock and feel her arch beneath him while he fed his thick shaft into her tender opening and watched her while her innocent gaze turned hazy with lust and her shy murmurings changed to shouts of pleasure all mixed up with the sweat of raw desire. Again he leaned in and touched his lips to her silken eyelid then trailed them down the long, elegant line of her nose, hesitating when he reached her mouth to let his breath wash hot and humid over her parted lips, purposefully teasing her with the idea of the intimacy to come, intentionally allowing her anticipation, as well as his own, to build. Opening his fist, he let his fingers slide along her jawline while he cupped her chin in his hand and tilted her face a little higher. Angling his face, he finally lowered his mouth onto hers. Their lips met in a soft, breathless explosion of sensation, surprising him, almost knocking him off his feet, robbing him of breath as he rubbed a kiss into her mouth. He groaned as her mouth yielded beneath his and opened shyly, submissively, undoing him and his control almost at the first touch. A tremor traveled his rigid frame as he fought for control. He wanted to be gentle but everything was unraveling. He groaned again as he flicked his tongue just inside her lips—just for a taste, just for a sample of her warmth and flavor. Again, he flicked his tongue inside her mouth. Then again. Deeper. Filling her mouth. She tasted like sex. Oh God, she tasted like the sweetest sin a man could ever imagine.

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His hands gripped her upper arms, fingers biting into her small biceps as he dragged his mouth from hers. Panting out ragged, aching bits of breath, he stared at her. Her eyes were still closed, her face tilted upward, her breath soughing softly across her parted lips. Waiting for her kiss. Fuck. He had to be gentle. Had to. But his body wasn’t cooperating. Beneath the pressure that pounded up the length of his erection, his gut clenched in painful knots, the urge to take and claim and penetrate so fierce it was agony. Tearing his gaze from her petal-soft lips, he buried his mouth in the crook of her neck and burned a line over her collarbone. Gasping for breath, grasping for sanity, he mumbled her name as he dragged his wet lips down between her breasts and went to his knees, nosing his way deeper, nuzzling her dress open all the way to her belly button, breathing out a growling sound of triumph as his tongue sank into the tiny cup. Digging deep, he gently fucked the tiny indentation with the sliding prod of his tongue, barely aware of her fingers twisting in his hair. Inches away. Her dewy, tufted mound was inches away from his mouth. He had to taste her. He shouldered her legs apart and fumbled the lacy skirt open then worked it up her legs and dropped his face between her thighs. Her black panties covered the soft swell of her pussy. He kissed the silk stretching across her mound then hooked a finger over the top edge and pulled downward, exposing her trimmed curls and moist slit. Tilting his head, he slid his tongue between her pouting lips and rubbed it into her folds. Her fingers tightened in his hair and her soft moan shook him to the core. Collecting himself, he reached down and scraped the heel of his palm over his erection. The kiss. She still needed her kiss. Pulling his finger out of her panties, he kissed her again, right over her silk-covered slit then dragged his damp lips down the length of her inner thigh all the way to her knee. After lifting her foot in his big hand, he pressed his lips to the inside of her ankle.

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Finally, he moved back to his feet, his gaze homing in on her mouth again as he rubbed his lips together hungrily. Control. She needed him to be gentle. She needed him to love her. He rested his forehead against hers and battled for command, his breath torn as it fought its way out between his clenched teeth. “Renny,” he whispered. “Renny, Renny, Renny.” With his hand cradling her nape, he crushed her mouth beneath his. His tongue surged between her lips and reached deep inside, plunging into her in a natural male instinct to take, to dominate but above all to own. With that kiss, he finally gave in to the need and desire he’d been fighting all day. He wanted to own this woman in every possible sense—body and soul—from her sweet, innocent, panting little mouth to her hot, tight, virgin pussy. Unable to curb the rush of lust thrumming thickly through his bloodstream, he plucked her from the chest, turned and slammed her onto the bed. Driven by need, he followed her quickly, spread his thighs and straddled her as he tore open her dress. With his avid gaze fixed on the rise and fall of her small breasts, he yanked his shirt over his head and flung it across the room then started on his pants. He got his slacks open and past his hips then had to stop to rub his face over her skin. With his mouth, he found a tight, sensitive nipple and feasted on it while his body pinned her to the mattress and he rocked between her legs, his hips thrusting into the warm silken hollow between her open thighs. “Fuck,” he panted, frustrated with all that clothing that lay between him and his goal. With another curse, he rolled off her for a brief second, fought his slacks and shorts over his feet then swiftly returned to her lips. An overwhelming sense of urgency possessed him, to the exclusion of almost everything else. Everything that mattered in his world lay captured beneath his body. Renny. He wanted to stamp her forever with his kiss while his body screamed for the final consummating act of male aggression, male passion and male love.

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He held her face with trembling hands as he plowed his tongue into her mouth and rolled her on top of him then rolled her beneath him again, rubbing his lightly haired chest into the heated wet trail he’d left on her breast, anxious and hungry and unable to fight his body’s need to move, to grasp, to take. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled, dragging his mouth down to one of her sharply pointed nipples and worrying the stiff crest with his teeth. “I can’t do this. I can’t do this right, the way I should be doing it. I want this so much.” Working his broad palm between her silken thighs, he grabbed the crotch of her panties and yanked sharply. The fragile fabric came apart in his hands and, as he worked his way down her body he nipped at the slight swell of her breast and rubbed his rough chin into the hollow beneath then kissed his way down over her navel to the pretty patch of brown curls perched on her mound. He opened her legs and spread her lips with his thumbs and explored hungrily with his eyes, drinking in the sight of her wet slit, her delicate folds and the tiny knot of her clitoris. Opening his mouth, he covered it all as he ate his way into her body, running his tongue through her slit, suckling her sensitive folds, thrusting deep into her sex until he felt her inexperienced little cunt shudder and clench and close around his tongue like a warm, tight fist. She was coming. She was coming on her first kiss. Colt’s heart expanded painfully as he threaded his tongue through her folds, forcing himself to be gentle, loving her pussy with his lips while her velvety-soft sex shuddered and spilled her juices into his mouth. He fitted his mouth over her entrance and sucked on her trembling flesh, rimming the opening with his tongue and swallowing her rich cream with a deep murmur of satisfaction. Returning to her face after the last of her contractions faded away, he pressed his wet mouth into her lips, sharing her flavor with her and panting as he growled, “How was that for a first kiss?” When he raised his head to look down on her, she lifted her head from the pillow and clung to his lips, hanging on to his kiss. Her passion ignited a flame in him, a

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torrent of emotion, a flood of need and he pressed her back into the pillow, one hand wrapping her fragile nape, his other splayed out in the small of her back as he pulled her into his lower body and rubbed his cock into her flat belly, getting as close to her as he could, wanting to be a part of her, muttering bits of phrases mixed up with the hungry kisses he pressed into her mouth. “Renny, I want this so much it hurts.” “I want this too,” she moaned into his mouth. He pulled back and looked at her face, her lips swollen with the violence of his kisses. “But I’m scared, Renny. I’m afraid to let go. I need to be sure of you before I give you…everything. I need to be sure that you’ll love me back. What I feel for you is so…big. And I feel like I’m risking…so much. Renny, I don’t think I could take it if it didn’t work out.”

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Chapter Six Renny could hardly believe what she was hearing. If she could take Colt at his word, then the old adage was true. The bigger they are, the harder they fall. In her opinion, Colt was a hugely strong individual. Even his failed marriage hadn’t brought him to his knees—not like this. It had made him bitter toward life and toward women but it hadn’t brought him to his knees. Instead, she had! But it was so hard to accept! After a lifetime of being overlooked by men and excluded by her peers, it was just too hard to believe that this fabulously perfect male was falling for her! When his cell phone pealed out a string of notes, he ignored the muffled cry despite the fact that it was singing out the ring tone she knew he’d reserved for Campus Miss. “Colt,” she muttered against his lips, “the phone.” “It can wait,” he snarled, lifting his hips and lowering his gaze between their bodies as he dragged his hot, swollen shaft over her stomach. With a twist of his hips, he shoved her legs apart and settled his cock between her thighs. “It’s the client. It might be important,” she suggested, worried. “I don’t want you to lose another client because of me.” He jerked his chin upward, his hair tumbling over his forehead as he stared into her eyes. “Sweetheart,” he groaned, shaking his head while a few night-black strands spilled over his brow. “We did not lose that client because of you. Please don’t blame yourself. Don’t ever blame yourself.” “Okay,” she murmured in a tiny voice. “But I’ll feel better if you get the phone.” “Shit,” he growled, finally giving in and rolling away from her. Ignoring the rockhard erection that bounced against his belly, he pawed through his clothes, eventually finding his cell phone buried deep in the pocket of his jacket. “Hardin,” he barked into the phone. 51

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As Renny watched, Colt paced the room with the lethal grace of a jaguar. Shyly, she pulled the rumpled ivory duvet around her body and folded her legs beneath her. From beneath her lowered eyelids, she sneaked a glimpse of her naked husband—his long, muscled legs, the strong, hard line of his shoulders, his broad chest with the spray of dark hair that gathered between his nipples and collected on his belly to form a dark pour that flowed into his groin and thickened into a bed of curls around the broad base of his cock. Returning a quick glance to his face, she assured herself that the phone call had his entire attention then dropped her gaze again. A rugged network of veins rode the length of his shaft, twisting around his cock like some sort of bulging purple baling wire, crawling up its long, thick length to the heavy, fat head. It bobbed as he took a step, the tip kissing his flat stomach then swinging away from his body as though reaching for her. As it swung her way, she had the maddest urge to reach for the thick span of flesh, pull it to her breast and rub the dark skin over her nipples. She checked his face again and this time found him watching her. She felt a blush warm her cheeks and averted her gaze. But, with one hand holding the phone close to his ear, Colt stepped close and lifted her chin with his other fist. His cock head flirted across her lips for a brief instant and she was stunned at the delicate silken texture, as well as the heat raging just beneath the fine, fragile skin. She got only that brief brushing sample of hard masculinity before he pulled away and leaned over to kiss her lips. “Yes,” he said into the phone, straightening again so she could look her fill at the heavy cock spearing from its black nest of curls and rising right before her eyes. “I understand. I’ll let you know.” Renny dragged her gaze from his massive hard-on back up to his face. His expression was serious as he closed his phone. “What is it?” she asked. As he dropped onto the bed and rubbed a hand over his eyes, she waited for him to speak. Whatever it was, he wasn’t anxious to share it.

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“That was the client,” he eventually told her. “Lancaster, from Campus Miss.” His expression was so troubled, Renny could only assume something had gone terribly wrong. “They…haven’t changed their mind, have they? About the account?” He shook his head and Renny caught a glimpse of his cock, still stretched out long and thick but slowly bending away from his body. Whatever the phone call had been about, it had obviously been important enough to distract him from his formerly feverish ideas of sex. Her own body was still sharp and raw with built-up arousal and she could have cried to watch that proud, thick stalk bend its fat head away from his belly. “No. He just had a new idea he wanted to run by us.” Relieved, Renny licked her lips, eager to feel that fine, flushed skin against her mouth again. She wanted to get on her knees and crawl between his legs, kiss his mushrooming crown and beg for some of that broad, dark cock. “Well, whatever it is, can’t it wait?” she suggested, pitching her voice to a low, husky purr. She had hoped her sultry plea would make him smile. Instead he turned his distracted frown on her. “He asked to meet with us for a late dinner.” “Oh,” she said, flicking her gaze to his cock again and making her disappointment obvious. Again, he didn’t smile. He was just too distracted. Damn Campus Miss, anyhow. Colt reached for her hand and held it tightly as he spoke. “Renny. I don’t know how to tell you this. I don’t even know if I want to tell you this. But…they want you to be Miss September.” “Wh-what,” she croaked faintly, her chin jerking upward as she searched his eyes. “They want you to model their new line, to appear in their ads, in magazines, on television, on posters plastered throughout stores. They want your face on their label! Hanging from every piece of clothing they sell! They think you’re perfect. Lancaster says you have the winsome look they want to promote their new line. Of course they’ll

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pay you separately, on top of what they pay the company,” he rambled on, his voice gruff and uneven. Renny rolled up onto her knees, using one hand to clutch the duvet between her breasts as she laid her finger across his lips. “I won’t do it,” she told him breathlessly, knowing how far back that phone call must have set him, how tempting it must have been for him to tell the client “no thanks” and leave it at that, without ever mentioning it to her. His first wife had been a centerfold model, paraded before millions of men, desired by almost each and every one of them. Colt didn’t want another famous wife, especially one famous for her looks. A deep ridge formed between his dark brows and he sent her a look of pain. “You have to do it,” he argued. “Renny, this is too big an opportunity for you. You can’t turn it down.” “I-I don’t care that much about money. They can find someone else. We can find them someone else.” “That’s not what I mean. This is your chance to finally recognize your own value and worth. Appreciate yourself for what you are. Beautiful. Desirable. And…and perfect in every way,” he said, lifting his shoulders in a helpless shrug. “I don’t want to do it,” she insisted, trying a different line of attack. “I don’t want to be the center of attention. You know how I am around people. I can never think of anything to say and when I do it’s always the wrong thing. I don’t even want to meet the client for dinner, Colt. I’m scared to death I’ll say something—” “I’ll be there,” he interrupted, his voice deep and soothing. “Right beside you. I’ll help.” “Colt,” she moaned, burying her face against his strong shoulder. “Please don’t make me do this. I don’t want any of this. I just want…us. And I’m afraid this will ruin everything.” He pulled her face out of his shoulder, holding her chin in his palms as he smoothed his thumbs over her cheekbones. He looked deep into her eyes as his own 54

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jungle gaze glowed with fervent heat. “We won’t let it ruin everything,” he growled, fiercely. “We won’t let it ruin us.”

***** And yet, it appeared as though the meeting with Campus Miss hadn’t done much to improve their relationship, Renny had to admit to herself as she sat alone in her hotel room several hours later. Worried about Colt, she checked the digital clock on the bedside table, wondering where he was. After dinner with Mr. Lancaster and his wife, Colt had put her in a taxi and sent her on ahead to the Gold Cove, assuring her that he’d soon follow. He’d looked so solemn that she hadn’t argued with him. Now she wished she had! She assumed he was out there somewhere, walking the streets of Las Vegas, grappling with the idea of being married to a woman soon to be famed for her looks—a woman like Eloise who had betrayed him on every possible level. A woman who had almost crushed the soul out of him. Renny twisted her hands in her lap. She should have stayed with him instead of taking the taxi to the hotel. At least she could have held his hand while he tried to sort things out. Like he’d held hers at dinner. He’d done so well, his hard thigh tucked in close to hers, somehow drawing her into the discussion with his well-placed questions. The next thing Renny knew, she was contributing to the conversation while Colt encouraged her, squeezing her fingers gently beneath the table, responding to her verbal forays with a proud, soft laugh. Considering what he’d recently been through, it couldn’t have been easy for Colt to encourage his wife to become a fashion icon. But he’d been wonderful. Brave, generous and giving. So why had he put her in a taxi to return to the hotel alone? Was he already regretting having encouraged her to accept Lancaster’s offer?

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Renny didn’t know. She just wished he’d come home to her. Damn Campus Miss, anyhow. And damn, damn, damn the Miss September idea that had put her in this fix.

***** Colt scuffed down the wide, open boulevard, his tie loose, collar open and his jacket tucked under his arm. A light, warm breeze sifted through his hair and dropped several longish black strands over his forehead. As he lifted a hand and shoved his hair off his face, his gaze caught on his crusted knuckles. He stared at them for several seconds as the quiet sound of his footsteps accompanied him down the street. Fragments of memory haunted him—short incomplete images that flashed through his mind as he tried to piece together his wedding night. But it was all a jumbled mess with too many gaping holes. He remembered the chapel, though incompletely—the neon sign outside with its two champagne glasses clinking together but he couldn’t recall anything about the chapel’s interior. The ceremony itself was no less hazy. Only Renny’s face stood out in his memory, her big blue eyes gazing up at him, scared but determined. With those eyes as his anchor, he’d latched onto her face and focused. It had taken every scrap of concentration he could muster just to stay upright as he’d stood there waiting for his cue to say “I do”. The next thing he remembered was the stumbling trip back to the casino—weaving his way across the parking lot toward the large sign with turquoise letters that flashed, Keno! Keno! Keno! As he’d headed for the bright homing beacon, Renny had tried to keep him on course, supporting him with an arm around his waist. At one point, he’d listed heavily to his left, throwing her off balance. As she started to fall, he’d just managed to get an arm around her before she hit the ground. He went to his knees, his knuckles scraping against the rough concrete. But he was so far gone, he hadn’t felt any pain whatsoever.

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Then they were up in the room together. He was naked, on his knees in front of her, hungry for a woman, wetting his lips as he greedily stripped away her clothes. And that was it. That was the last thing he remembered. Fuuuck. What the hell had happened after that? Colt shivered, though the night was warm. The blood on the sheets was pretty damn chilling proof that they’d consummated the act. How had he taken her? Had it lasted two hours or two minutes? Had he climbed on her and fucked her brutally? Had he been rough, punishing her for all the pain Eloise had heaped on him? Or had he just used her like a piece of meat, releasing in her quickly then falling into a drunken sleep? No matter how hard he racked his brain, he couldn’t remember anything about it. And the image of those bedsheets, stained a bright scarlet, would haunt him to his death. Hunching his shoulders, he shoved his hands deep in his pockets. As he glanced down the street and headed for the Gold Cove, Colt had to face the fact that the biggest threat to their marriage was himself. What would Renny think of him when she learned that he couldn’t remember their wedding night? He was screwed and it was nobody’s fault but his own.

As Colt let himself quietly into the darkened hotel room, he expected to find Renny asleep on the bed, tumbled in the white sheets and ivory duvet. Instead he found her in the chair, sitting in a small pool of light cast by a shaded lamp on the wall, curled up in the arms of a big man with sun-streaked hair. He didn’t even register who was holding his Renny. “What the fuck are you doing with my wife?” he roared, throwing himself across the room to get to her. Like an angry lion, his brother reared up to meet him, letting Renny slip from his arms and tucking her behind him on the chair. “It sure as hell ain’t what you think I’m doing,” Bolt growled. The warning note in that rumbling, deep voice only caused Colt a moment’s hesitation. At that point he just wanted to hit someone. Anyone. He struck out with his 57

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right fist, planting it in Bolt’s iron midriff, his left fist following with an upward crack to the jaw. Though Renny screamed, Bolt didn’t so much as blink. Instead, he reached up and rubbed one large, calloused hand over the bronze stubble on his jaw while Colt stood stiffly before him, his fists clenching at his sides. “You done?” Bolt drawled. As Colt’s gaze focused on his large implacable brother, he felt his anger drain away like a spring torrent. He sagged forward and let his forehead fall on his brother’s wide shoulder as the fight went out of him and Bolt wrapped him up tightly in a bearlike hug. “Glad you finally found something you’re willing to fight for,” he growled in Colt’s ear. Colt sucked in a sharp breath and held it, afraid it would turn into a racking sob if he let it go. He rubbed his eyes into Bolt’s big shoulder. “I’m sorry,” he croaked. “Jesus. I just saw a man with Renny and I lost it.” “I don’t know which of us should be more insulted—Renny or me. I’d never fool around with another man’s woman—even if I didn’t have Tavia at home, waiting to jump my bones.” “I know,” Colt answered. “And you should know better than to think Renny would ever—” “She wouldn’t,” he agreed in a self-effacing mutter. “I wasn’t thinking. I was just reacting. I just saw her curled up in your arms and went berserk.” “You didn’t fight the last time you found yourself in that situation,” Bolt pointed out, reaching up and ruffling his paddle-sized hand through Colt’s hair. Colt nodded. He hadn’t fought for Eloise. He’d been stunned, disgusted, sickened, hurt and betrayed. But he hadn’t lifted a finger against the men he’d found with her that night.

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“What does that tell you?” Bolt asked, loosening his hold on Colt and letting his thickly muscled arms drop to his sides. Colt lifted his face and met his brother’s enigmatic gold gaze. “What I already know. She means more to me.” “More than what?” “Just more,” he answered, feeling utterly beaten. “More than anything.” He ran a hand back through his midnight hair and squinted up at his brother. “What are you doing here, Bolt?” True to form, Bolt didn’t waste any sympathy on him. “After I talked to Renny this afternoon, I thought I’d better get out here and make sure you were treating her okay. I went down to the airport and got out standby on the next flight.” Colt nodded, leaning to one side to get a peek at Renny, hugging her knees in the chair behind Bolt. “You look tired,” Bolt pointed out, shrewdly tracking his gaze. “Why don’t you have a seat?” With those words, he turned with the smooth grace of a jungle cat and plucked Renny up into his arms as effortlessly as if he were lifting a feather pillow. “Sit down,” Bolt commanded before Colt had a chance to get pissed again. A deep growl built in Colt’s chest. He didn’t exactly approve of his brother holding Renny. But he’d learned many years ago that you didn’t argue with Bolt. Not unless you wanted a fight. And if there was a fight, there was only one guy who was gonna win. Bolt. Colt threw himself into the wide, upholstered chair and wasted no time stretching out his arms. Bolt delivered the feminine little bundle onto his lap and Colt drew Renny close, spearing his fingers into her hair and pulling her against his chest while his brother cut a meaningful look at the open door into the next room. “Close the door behind you,” Colt told him.

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After Bolt disappeared through the door to the adjoining room and a quiet click told Colt they were alone, he collected Renny into his arms and rubbed his palm into her bottom while his fingers strayed close to the warm crease that parted her cheeks. “Colt,” Renny whispered, her lips moving softly against his pale gray linen shirt, her humid breath warming his chest, “where did you go?” He shook his head, unable to answer her, unable to explain. Instead, he stroked her hair, his fingers catching in the thick, wild froth that tumbled like wild bramble over her shoulders. When she lifted her face, his heart about turned over as she looked up at him. With nothing more than that wide-eyed gaze, she trapped his heart and held it captive. It was scary how far he’d fallen in just one day. It was terrifying to admit to himself how much he needed this woman. And it was fucking ironic that, now that he wanted her, he didn’t think he stood a chance in hell of keeping her. “Colt,” she said, “I’ve decided to turn down Lancaster’s offer. I won’t be Miss September. I don’t want it or need it. I just want you.” “Ah, Renny,” he answered, his voice rough with emotion. “That’s not the problem. It’s something else that’s eating at me.” “Does it have something to do with your first marriage? Surely you know I’d never—” “No,” he answered. “It doesn’t have anything to do with Eloise. This might sound harsh but, as Bolt pointed out, I don’t think Eloise meant that much to me. The fact is, I married Eloise before I was ready. Nobody knows this, Renny, but I married her after she told me she was pregnant.” “Pregnant!” “She was using a contraceptive while we were dating…but nothing’s a hundred percent. I didn’t doubt her when she told me she was going to have a baby and I didn’t question her. I did what I thought was right and married her. She was sexy and beautiful and always laughing. I thought I’d be happy with her. I wasn’t unhappy. And

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I…loved her. But about a month after our wedding, it became pretty clear that she wasn’t pregnant and probably never had been.” With the memory tugging his mouth downward, Colt recalled his surprise and disappointment the day Eloise had told him that the home testing product she’d used must have been faulty. Maybe it was and maybe it wasn’t. Knowing what he did now about his ex-wife, it wouldn’t surprise him if she’d lied to him. What was hard to understand was why she’d wanted to marry him bad enough to lie to him. At the time, he’d assumed it was because she was in love with him. If she had been, it sure as hell hadn’t lasted very long. “Do you know what I miss most of all?” he said, his voice inconveniently cracking on the last word. Renny shook her head. He snorted softly. “You’re going to think it’s fucking stupid.” “I won’t think it’s stupid,” she promised him in a whisper. He chuckled but the low, gravelly sound was full of pain. “Fishing. I haven’t been to the mountains in over a year. Because…” His eyes burned and he couldn’t go on. “Because you always went with Dan and Josh.” He gave her a jerky nod. “I haven’t been up to the lakes because I knew it would remind me of them…and what they did to me.” “Oh, Colt,” she cried softly, reaching up to cup his cheek in her palm. He pulled her hand away from his face and wrapped it up in his own big fist, his voice rasping unevenly as he said, “Don’t touch me, Renny. If you do, I’ll start making love to you and I won’t be able to stop. And we need to talk. If we don’t have this conversation now, we’ll never have it and it will haunt me for the rest of my life.” He took in a deep, shaky breath. “I don’t know how to tell you this. You’re going to hate me once you realize what a bastard I am. I’m scared to death it will mean the end of our marriage but…I have to know what happened.”

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Her eyes narrowed on him as she shook her head in apparent bewilderment. He hid his face in her tangled curls. “Renny. I don’t remember the night of our wedding. I don’t remember…making love to you. I don’t know if I hurt you or how badly I might have hurt you. I don’t know whether I bored you to death or if it was the fuck of a lifetime. Either way, whether I botched it completely or if I did all right, I know you’ll never forgive me for forgetting it. And I don’t blame you. Shit. I’m not sure I’ll ever forgive myself! I know that you’re probably better off not knowing that I can’t remember it. But it’s tearing me apart. I have to know if I hurt you. And you need to know what kind of man you married, so you can decide if you still want to be my wife.” “Colt, I—” His fingers tightened around hers as his voice cracked again and he muffled his next words in her hair. “What kind of man doesn’t remember the first time he made love to his wife?” She shifted on his lap and pressed a kiss to his jaw. Her moist, velvety-soft lips warming his beard-roughened skin were a heart-bending reminder of everything he stood to lose. “The kind of man who drinks too much when he can’t escape a painful past,” she said. His lifted his head and gave her a solemn look. “That isn’t a good enough reason.” “The kind of man who goes to his knees on the pavement outside the casino and rips his hand open on the concrete while trying to save his wife from falling.” His mouth formed a hard, thin line as he shook his head. “The kind of man who falls asleep while his new wife is in the bathroom.” “What?” She nodded, her teeth scraping at the plump cushion of her lower lip. “The reason you don’t remember making love to me is because it didn’t happen. You fell asleep while I was in the bathroom.”

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He squinted at her and snorted out a soft sound of disgust. “I…fell asleep? But there was…blood on the sheets and this morning I found you crying.” Renny paled at his words. “Oh, Colt. You thought that was my blood?” Quickly she pulled her hand out of his and cradled the strong line of his jaw. “You thought you’d hurt me? How could a man like you ever hurt a woman? That was your blood,” she cried softly. “From your hand! Where you scraped your knuckles!” He held her tightly. “I didn’t hurt you?” “No!” “I fell asleep?” he said, his voice so tight he though it might snap. “Yes,” she insisted in a quiet murmur. He didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. He turned his face and rubbed his cheek into her temple, breathing out a rough, unhappy chuckle. “So I fell asleep on my wedding night. I guess that’s better than it could have been. At least I didn’t hurt you. But, Christ. No wonder you were crying this morning.” “Well, I wasn’t happy,” she admitted with a tender chuckle. “I assumed it was because you found me…less than desirable. But I think I have to take some of the blame.” Some of the blame? Colt lifted his head and sent her a suspicious look. “What do you mean?” She cleared her throat and lowered her gaze to her lap. “I…was in the bathroom a long time,” she confessed. “How long?” he demanded, pinning her with his narrowed gaze. “Almost an hour.” “You kept me waiting an hour?” he barked. “I-I was nervous,” she explained in an uneasy squeak. “You kept your new husband waiting an hour?” Finally, he felt the tension that tightened his jaw slipping away. “You little bitch. How could you do that?” 63

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“I’m sorry,” she apologized, a contrite smile playing at the corner of her mouth. “An hour,” he repeated, stunned with relief, full of playful indignation. “You wonderful, terrible little bitch. And we never made love.” “We never made love,” she confirmed, shaking her head. He wanted to shout with happiness. He wanted to cry with relief. And even more than that, he wanted to make love to his sexy little handful of a wife. He wanted to pleasure her beyond her wildest imaginings—and imaginings were all she had to go on, since she was still a virgin. He only prayed he’d be able to live up to her expectations of love and marriage and sex. Beyond that, he wanted to teach her a lesson. One that would forever convince her that she didn’t want to loiter in the bathroom when there was sex to be had and a husband waiting, rock-hard and ready to shaft her. He intended to “punish” his sweet little bride for hiding in the bathroom when she should have been splayed out on the bed with her legs open for him, taking his weight, taking his cock—down her throat or deep inside her pussy or wherever else he decided to possess her. When he was through with her, there’d be no more hiding in bathrooms for Mrs. Renny Hardin. And when she came after a long, erotic introduction to sexual arousal, he wanted to be there for her, his cock buried deep inside her, wrapped up in her precious wet heat, giving her his thickest diameter for her contracting cunt to break against. “Renny,” he said, burying his face in the crook of her neck and pressing a kiss against her fluttering pulse, there at the base of her throat. “I want you. I want you now. I want you naked and on my cock.”

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Chapter Seven Sitting across Colt’s lap, her legs draped over his, Renny shivered with excitement as well as apprehension. She wanted her husband as much as he wanted her. But…naked? The idea terrified her. When it came to show and tell, she didn’t have much to show. And nothing whatsoever to tell! She’d been dreading the moment when she’d have to be naked with her perfect, gorgeous husband. Which was why she’d dawdled so long in the bathroom the night before! “C-couldn’t we just do this with our clothes on?” Colt sent her a severe look from jungle green eyes that just about smoked with intensity. “No way,” he murmured, his voice a husky burr. “I want you. I want to see every inch of your pretty little frame stripped naked and exposed. I want you with your legs open wide so I can explore every pink fold inside your pussy lips with my tongue as well as my fingers.” He lowered his head and whispered in her ear, his voice thick and heavy with lust. “Then I want to cover the same ground with my cock.” Renny bit back a low moan as her spine tightened with excitement, making her body stiffen and her back pull into a gentle arch. “But we’ll go slow,” he growled softly, smiling at her though his eyes still burned a deep green shade of lust. “We’ll go so slow that, by the time I’m done with you, you’ll be tearing your clothes off and begging me for it.” Renny swallowed hard, squeezing her legs together as her sex fluttered with a bright thrill of anticipation. “Believe it,” he rasped as he worked his hand between her tightly clenched thighs. “You’ll show me everything and you’ll be begging for everything else. And after I give it to you, you’ll be real careful in the future about keeping your husband waiting.”

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Again, that strange spike of excitement burned up her spine as his fingers made that first pass over the silk covering her pussy. Gently, slowly, he stroked her soft, full pussy lips, each pass taking his fingers a little more firmly between her legs while her body responded with a hungry yearning for more contact, a heavier stroke, a deeper reach. As Renny lost herself to the erotic sweep of sensation, his fingers continued to caress the closed seam of her sex and she was torn between the urge to ease her thighs open, inviting his hand farther between her legs and the fear that he’d think her sluttish if she did. While she faltered in her decision, he continued to rub arousal into her sex with those beautiful, thick fingers of his. “Relax,” he murmured and she wondered if that meant she could spread her legs a bit after all. But again, she hesitated. While he continued to rub his fingers lightly over her panties and the swell of her pussy lips beneath, she reached for his shaft and shyly explored the steel-hard length of flesh covered by his pants. But he stopped her with a growl. “Leave me alone,” he said. “I don’t want you distracted. Just relax, clear your mind and think about what’s happening to you. About what I’m doing to you. Do you understand, baby?” Her lips parted as she panted lightly. “Take your hand off my cock,” he told her more pointedly. “I don’t need to get any more excited than I already am. I’m ready to go off, just touching you. Just looking at you.” With a reluctant tip of her head and a soft groan of defeat, Renny loosened the fingers she’d half curled around his erection. Feeling a little deprived and cheated, however, she stubbornly spread her hand out over the thick mass of hard flesh. Beneath the thin wool fabric of his slacks she could feel his blistering heat under her palm and his heavy pulse hammering along the length of his shaft. Colt grunted, lifting his hips a fraction and pressing his cock into her splayed hand. And he didn’t ask her to remove her hand, she thought with a victorious little inner smile.

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“Now close your eyes and think about what I’m doing to you. And what I’m going to do to you. How my fingers are sliding over your plump pussy lips and moving deeper.” He paused. “Toward your cunt.” A hard tremor of arousal shook her frame and settled hot beneath her belly as she pulled in several short, shallow breaths. His fingers continued to caress the space between her thighs while he pulled one of her legs up and open, resting her foot on the arm of the chair. “Relax,” he whispered and, finally feeling that she had his permission, she let her leg fall open. Now his whole hand slid easily over her entire sex. “Damn,” he rasped. “You look good with your legs spread wide like that. You’re hot. The heat is pouring off your pussy. I can’t wait to get my hand inside your pants and sink my finger inside your pretty pink cunt.” Renny groaned, ready for it. Ready for Colt’s finger to part her sex and swipe through her folds on its way to her hungry opening. But the teasing bastard didn’t slide his hand inside her panties. He did nothing of the sort. Instead he just continued to rub his hand between her legs and all the time, her pussy lips were getting fatter and hotter and wetter while need and desire built inside her to an overwhelming ache. “Colt,” she murmured, between ragged breaths. “I think I’m ready.” His low laugh was dark. “I’m sorry, baby. But there’s no way you could be ready this soon.” A soft sound of frustration broke across her lips as she ground her bottom into his lap and gave his cock a good stiff rub with her open palm. He gasped then quickly turned it into a threatening growl. But he didn’t demand she remove her hand, she noted with a wry sense of vindication. “Open your legs,” he whispered against her ear, never removing his eyes from his large, strong hand rubbing between her legs. “They are open,” she whimpered. “Wider, Renny. Open them wider.”

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As Renny lifted her bottom and stretched her legs wider, again she felt that stiff streak of excitement course up her spine. She gasped in surprise. Colt’s light groan was in her ear as his hand tightened over her swollen lips and he dragged his palm roughly across the wet silk between her thighs. “Fuck,” he growled, his voice raw, “I’m dying to touch you.” “Do it,” she grunted, stiffening in his arms again and spreading her legs wider still. “I will,” he rasped. “As soon as you take your panties off for me.” Renny stilled in his arms, realizing where this was heading—which was right toward begging and pleading. Just as he’d predicted, she was ready to get naked for him. And it hadn’t taken long for her to start wishing those panties off her behind, either. Because she did. She wanted them off and her legs spread wide, her pink folds exposed and open while she watched Colt’s fingers pluck at her hungry clitoris. But Renny didn’t have the nerve to follow her instincts. “Couldn’t you just slip your hand inside?” she whimpered. “I could,” he answered gruffly. “In fact, I might. But I’m gonna want something in return.” “What?” she moaned, turning her face and pressing her lips to the strong column of his throat where a damp sheen of sweat gathered on his skin, tasting so strongly male. “Anything,” he grunted, shifting his hips beneath her hand and giving her a nice long feel of the heavy ridge that lay thick and hard beneath his fly. “A few buttons. A bare shoulder. A mouthful of tit. Anything.” “Okay,” she groaned, getting his drift. A few buttons. She could do that. With trembling fingers, she worked open the buttons on her white shirt. There were only four, after all. When she was done, she slanted him a cautious look from beneath her eyelashes. “A bare shoulder,” he demanded.

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“Okay. Okay,” she complained in a breathless mutter, before pulling the shirt open enough to expose one slim shoulder. “That’s better,” he growled, lowering his face. And, oh Lord, his mouth on her skin felt blissfully decadent as the blouse fell open and slid down her arm while Colt’s dark head nudged its way inside her shirt. Her skin tingled as his breath washed over her skin and his tongue shot inside one of the lacy cups that held her breasts. She pulled in a sharp breath as his rasping wet tongue rode over her puffy nipple and his rough chin scraped everywhere his tongue wasn’t. Renny wallowed in the erotically provoking sensations as she closed her eyes and concentrated on what he was doing to her. “Could I get some help here?” he mumbled, still massaging the plump, sodden flesh between her legs while using his teeth to tug at the lacy edge of her bra. Without even stopping to think, she shrugged the shirt down her arms and pulled one of the narrow brassiere straps over her shoulder. Colt rumbled out a deep, animal sound of satisfaction as his tongue dug into the loose cup again. “So responsive,” he muttered before pressing her nipple between his teeth. “Oh!” she shouted, her back arching again as he sucked her roughly into his mouth and curled his tongue around her aching nipple. “So fucking responsive.” “You deserve more,” she groaned between her rapidly sawing breaths, amazed at the interest he lavished on her modest breasts. “I’ve had more,” he growled. “And it didn’t work out. Besides, when it comes to tits, less is more. More sensitive. More responsive.” “What do you mean?” she asked, her voice hitching as he rubbed his lips over the sensitive pink crests. “I’ll show you,” he said. “Take off your bra.”

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She reached for the thin strap then hesitated, opening her eyes to give him an accusatory stare. “You’re just trying to get me naked,” she said with a pout. He cut her a dark glance, the gold flecks in his eyes glowing as his gaze zeroed in on her bottom lip. Leaning into her mouth, he gave the plump pout of her lip a sharp bite then used his tongue to lick away the tingling ache. “I told you I’d get you to take your clothes off and I will.” “Oh yeah?” she retorted, pulling back her shoulders and trying to look determined. “Well, what do I get in return?” His answering growl was low and gritty as his gaze dropped to the little lacecovered breasts she’d just petulantly thrown in his face. “You get my cock rubbing across your nipples.” Her hand flew to her mouth. “Oh,” she breathed. “Oooh.” Swiftly, she reached for the clasp between the cups of her brassiere. As her lacy little bra fell open, he rose from the chair, clutching her in his arms. A moment later she was lying on the ivory duvet, looking up at him standing beside the bed. As she watched, he rubbed his palm down the length of his fly several times then plucked open the button on his waistband and pulled down the zipper. She touched the tip of her tongue to her upper lip, greedily watching his parted fly while he stripped his shirt over his head. “Let me tell you something about your small tits,” he murmured, reaching inside his pants and pulling out the heavy weight of his cock while his slacks and shorts slid down his legs. “Big breasts are nice to look at but they’re not as responsive as little ones. I’ll show you what I mean.” With his cock in his fist, he joined her on the bed and hitched his butt up toward the pillows, stopping when his groin was level with her chest. With his fingers wrapped around the base of his cock and his thumb pressing his shaft forward, he touched his cock head to one of her nipples. Immediately, she gasped, arching her back into a tight, erotic bow while he laughed low and rough.

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Colt pressed his cock head forward again, this time with a growl of utter masculine pleasure, rubbing the brutally dark head over Renny’s puckered nipple as a thin flow of pure lust leaked from his slit. He spread his pre-cum over the stiff, rosy crest and watched avidly as the sexy little nymph arched again, pushing her breast into the touch of his dick, a soft cry of wonder echoing across her kiss-swollen lips, her wide gaze focused on his purpled cock head, watching the spill of liquid coat his plum-shaped tip. “Fuck,” he groaned. “That feels good. You have me so excited, I’m about to shoot all over your precious little tits.” She reached for him suddenly and he gasped as she wrapped her hand around his thick girth and rubbed his streaming cock head into her sharp, hard nipples. As though she couldn’t bear to be still, her body undulated like a flame. Lost to the eroticism of the moment, her carnal appetites overwhelming her, she writhed against him and pushed her breasts across the burning skin of his shaft while he watched. Entranced, aroused, in love and blown away at the sight of his little pixie losing control, he gazed down at her as her body contorted with need and she crawled over him, rubbing her body into his damp sex like a cat in heat. She looked like she was ready to come at any moment and he was damn near ready to let her. At least, he was ready to let her get close. Very, very close. As a virgin, she’d need to be close before he entered her, if he had any hope of taking her to orgasm on her first fuck. And that was assuming he’d last more than five minutes. Because Colt was pretty damn sure that, when he finally shoved into her, he’d be lucky if he lasted that long! His cock head was coated with a gleaming veil of pre-cum that continued to stream from his slit as his hips jerked against the roving press of her tits, her chest, her belly, her shoulders. She was all over him, rubbing her upper body into his groin and spreading his damp moisture over her skin, bathing herself in his sharp, musky scent. With a harsh gasp of burning arousal, he felt the stiff peak of a nipple ride restlessly

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over his balls and trail across the thick, vein-heavy base of his shaft. Jesus! He was about to lose it all over her darling, provocative little breasts. And this girl didn’t think she was sexy? In what appeared to be an absolute trance of arousal, she moaned and wriggled, pulling at her skirt, trying to get it down over her hips. Even in his own lust-dimmed state of mind, he could see why she wasn’t getting anywhere. Leaning over her, he pulled the zipper down for her then watched her wiggle out of the skirt while, panting harshly, she licked his belly. “Renny,” he whispered, threading his fingers through her tangled curls to hold her head against his frame as his hips rocked, feeding his cock over her skin. “Kiss me, Renny.” With one hand cradling her skull, he pushed her head lower. “Please,” he muttered then shuddered as her lips touched his burning skin. “Oh God,” he muttered. “Oh God! Your mouth,” he moaned. “Renny, take me in your mouth.” Then her hot little mouth was covering his broad tip, while her tongue flicked passionately over the slit. Colt groaned as that evil little tongue slashed around his mushrooming crown and accidentally found the sensitive tag of skin beneath the rim of his cock head. “That’s enough,” he almost shouted, pushing away from her and grasping the root of his cock, squeezing hard to stop the mounting orgasm that burned in his balls. She fell on her back, shuddering as she stared up at the ceiling and wrapped her arms around her middle. Her upper body was naked, her breasts squeezed together where her arms crossed her body. Below the waist, her black bikini underpants stretched across her slender hips while the lacy black thigh-highs looked incredibly hot on her slim, sexy legs. “Damn, you’re sexy,” he growled, reaching out with one hand and rubbing the heel of his palm over her mound. Immediately, she started moving again, rocking her lower body upward into his hand.

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Slowly, cautiously, he unwound his fingers from his erection, watching as his shaft gave a fierce pulse of impatience. He was huge. Bigger than he’d ever been before, his bulging cock head bruised purple with the pounding rush of blood that pumped relentlessly into his shaft. On the bed, Renny whimpered, lifting her hips and grinding her cushioned mound into the heel of his palm. He’d wanted her to undress herself but now he wasn’t sure he could wait to see the delicate pale flesh hidden beneath the wrapper of her black bikinis. He couldn’t wait to rub his lips into that cloud of curls on her mound or open her legs and watch her fragile lips part while her ruby opening shuddered with need and her clit ripened like a berry in late summer. Oh fuck. With his hands on either side of her hips, he ripped her panties down over her hips and off her legs. Then he had to stop and feast his eyes on his pretty little wife. She looked so sweet, his slender nymph, in nothing but her black thigh-highs. He raked his gaze down her body, lingering on her lace-clad legs before returning to her swollen nipples. He licked his lips and swallowed hard at the sight of the dark, rosy swirls that surrounded her wet areolas—the marks of his passion and love. “That’s enough,” he croaked, when she reached for the top edge of her stocking and tried to work it down her leg. “Leave the thigh-highs. They’re beautiful. Just like you.” She twisted on the bed, her legs pressed together in anguish as she panted. “You were right. You were right, Colt. I want it all. Everything you can give me.” “And I can’t wait to give it to you,” he rasped, leaning over to claim her mouth violently, thrusting his tongue past her shyly parted lips to reach deep inside her with a dominating kiss that demanded surrender and submittal. But he wanted to claim more than just her mouth. And he wanted it now. With a harsh gasp, he broke the kiss and held her face as he rubbed his thumb into the swollen corner of her mouth. “Okay, baby. You’re going to have to help me out here. You’re going to have to be really close 73

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before I go in. So let me take you right to the edge but stop me before you go over. Do you understand?” Her breaths came rough and tortured as her body twisted beneath his. He cupped her nape in his large hand and crushed her lips beneath his own again before demanding, “Do you understand?” She nodded erratically, her eyes lost and unfocused. Her body wouldn’t stop moving. She just kept arching beneath him and rubbing against him, pushing her tits into his chest, lifting her mound and rubbing it into his groin. “Okay,” he growled. “I’m going to spread you open and lick your pussy. I’m going to kiss your clit and get you wetter. But don’t you come before I get inside you. I want to be inside you when you orgasm. You got that?” “Oh!” she shouted, her body curving stiffly beneath his. He let out a sound that was half groan and half growl as he slipped down her body and spread her slender thighs with the press of his hands on her damp, silken flesh. Before him lay her sex in all its perfect pink glory, exposed and open and blushing darkly. His for the taking. His alone. Her virgin entrance looked positively demure— tight and coy. But despite the fact that her pussy had never been opened by a man before, that modest little cunt was already swimming in moisture. Gently, to test her, he flicked his tongue through her folds while she sobbed with pleasure. Her mound strained upward as her bottom lifted from the bed. Oh fuck—she liked that. She was so aroused she was almost out of her mind. Again, he flicked his tongue at her, a little more forcefully this time, as he dragged it through her slit and flattened it against her clit, pressing hard enough that he could feel her pulse threading through the tiny nub as it thrummed with excitement. He backed off for a few heartbeats and gentled her clit with several soft kisses then pressed hard again, his tongue shoving tight against her clit. This time, he felt a clutching pulse of pleasure travel through her sex. “Oh God,” he muttered. “You are so sexy.”

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As he licked her clit again, his fingers were sliding on the delicate flesh around her wet opening. With his thumbs, he stretched her wide then watched as liquid trickled from her cunt and headed down through the crease of her ass. Dipping his head, he lapped up the pearly flow like a hungry cat, using his tongue to delve more deeply into her opening with every lingering taste. As he began to lose control, he found himself alternately fucking her with his tongue and rubbing his mouth over her folds then suckling her sweet, sassy little clit. “Oh!” she shouted suddenly, her legs coming together quickly as she twisted away from him. “No! No! No!”

Pulling away from Colt with her legs tightly clamped, Renny tossed on the bed, almost mad with need. She was hardly aware of anything except that she’d promised him she wouldn’t come before he got inside her. And she was about to come. “Colt,” she chanted. “Colt. Colt. Colt.” She felt his strong grip on her wrists as he pinned her arms above her head. Felt his weight bear down on her. Felt his knees fight to open her tightly clenched legs. Felt his strong hard thighs push her open. Wide open. She lurched beneath him and thrust her pussy at him as a nameless burning need consumed her with an unfamiliar urgency. She needed Colt. Needed him to fill her. Needed him to possess her. Instead, he tormented her. With his velvety soft cock head, he touched the drenched heat of her sex and explored her like he was on some sort of expe-fucking-dition to the ends of the world. While his broad cock head rubbed soft circles around the swollen, heavy pulse of her clit, she jerked against him and tried to position her pussy a little higher, struggling to align her wet opening with that wonderful thick shaft. “Colt!” she shouted out in her need.

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He settled his wide cock head at her opening then dipped his face. “Are you ready?” he murmured, his breath humid as it broke against the sensitive shell of her ear. “I’m ready,” she cried, her body rocking up to meet his, trying to shaft herself, trying to fill her exquisitely aching cunt with his thick cock. “Then ask for it,” he demanded, quietly. “Ask me to fuck you. Beg me, Renny.” But he’d taken her too far. She was no longer capable of coherent thought or even the ability to voice the plea for the action her body required with an urgency that was driving her out of her mind. In blind, blank desperation, she started fighting him, her body going wild beneath his as she tried to turn beneath him.

Colt had never seen anything like it. He’d had a lot of women over the years, a lot of women twisting beneath him as he fed his cock into the tender flesh between their legs but he’d never seen anything like this before. He’d never seen a woman so aroused that she didn’t know where she was or what she was doing. The sight of Renny, undone by her need, was taking its toll on him—his swollen cock was a pulsing mass of aching flesh that screamed for release. Almost overcome by his own suddenly patent need, he fought to hold her still enough for entry. And for several seconds, Colt wasn’t sure which way it was going to go, whether he’d be taking her from before or behind. “Oh fuck,” he cursed as her slender body lashed against his. Compressing his lips between his teeth, Colt tasted blood as he held her down, spread her legs with his thighs and penetrated her with a lunging drive. He ripped through her fragile barrier and winced at the cry that broke from her lips as he felt it tear. Beneath his straining body, Renny stilled suddenly. Releasing her wrists, he lifted himself on his forearms and checked her face. He had her pinned to the bed, shafted on his dick while she shivered beneath him, her eyes wild and staring as she tried to cope with the shock and the sting of his flesh stretching her wide.

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Reaching for her nape, he fisted his hand in her hair and forced her to look at him. “Are you all right?” he panted, watching her wild face while her pussy coated his shaft with a delicious wet heat that was driving him out of his mind. Sweat trickled down the side of his chest, beneath his arm, as he fought the urge to pull and thrust. When she didn’t answer, he pulled back his hips then shoved carefully forward again, working his way slowly up through the wonderfully constricting tightness of her cunt. Banked up against her cervix, he stopped, his cock throbbing deep inside the tight hold of her vagina while he fought for control. He could do this. He was the master. The fucking master of control. With a stinging wash of sweat coating his flesh, he ground his teeth and slowly pulled his cock from her slim sheath. Slowly, he fed her his first few thick inches again. “Come on, baby,” he gritted from between his clenched teeth, “you can take it.” She gulped for air and her bottom lip disappeared beneath the white edge of her teeth. Again, he pulled his hips back. Again, he entered her, feeding her several inches of hungry cock. He felt sorry for her. If he lived until the end of the world he’d never understand why it was so damn hard for a woman. He was ready to come the minute she gave him a sign. One fluttering contraction riding the length of his shaft and he was done. He shook the damp hair from his eyes as he gazed down at her, shifting his weight so he could cup her face in his palm and run his thumb over her delicate cheekbone. “Do you want this?” he whispered softly. Her back arched again and her head tilted back, exposing the long sexy curve of her neck. A high keening wail ripped out of her throat as he pulled his hips again. “Ask for it,” he murmured, drawing one of her legs up beside him and tucking it into his armpit. “Ask for it and I’ll fuck you, Renny.” “Yes,” she sobbed, her eyes shining with a wild blue fire. “Fuck me, Colt. Fuck me now!”

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A rough sound of victory broke from his lips as he heaved his hips forward and slammed to the back of her cunt, giving her a hammering blow deep inside, stretching her vulva wide with the thick root of his cock, while crushing her clit beneath the grinding action of his hips. Her body twisted in agonized pleasure and her elegant eyebrows pinched together as her eyes closed in a tight frown of concentration. “Renny,” he whispered. “Open your eyes. Open your eyes and kiss me.” He tried to cover her mouth with his but she was losing it again, her head tossing wildly on the pillow. He hungered to claim her and possess her—to mark her as his own—to stamp her forever with his love and leave her with a long, lingering ache that she’d feel forever deep within her intimate places. He wanted her to feel where he’d forged his way inside, the sting that burned along her pussy walls, the heated scratchy marks his stubble left on her fragile flesh. He wanted her to see him when she looked at her naked body in the mirror—on her well-loved nipples, on the flushed skin of her slender neck, in the bruised color of her swollen mouth. He wanted her to know that she was his. Now and forever, as long as she lived. When he finally trapped her mouth under his own, he took her roughly, his tongue thrusting deep as he pushed her knee up and out and his hips exploded into action, slamming between her legs while his cock pounded the back of her cervix. He’d lost control. Faced with the temptation of her sweet, seductive body, he shoved deep inside her with a hunger that demanded completion and fucked her with fierce savagery, his hand fisted in the hair at her crown as he pulled her face back to watch her eyes, waiting for her to crest before he released inside her. When she came, she did it with fireworks. Her body shuddered in ecstasy, her tight cunt clamped down hard on his dick and milked and sucked until he couldn’t hold back his release a moment longer. With a hiss of pleasure searing his lips, he banged into her narrow channel a final time and let go inside her. Flooding her tight, hot sheath 78

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with his burning wash of cum, he filled her with his seed until she finally went limp beneath him. “Renny,” he groaned, fighting the overwhelming surge of emotion that twisted through his body and tightened his throat. Finally giving in, he fell on her and kissed her neck, her chin, her jawline, her ears, her cheeks, her lips, her temple as he fed from the fine feminine sweat that clothed her skin like gossamer and tasted like love and sex and very satisfied woman. “Renny,” he mumbled between tender kisses. “Don’t stop loving me. Please, don’t ever stop loving me.”

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Chapter Eight Stretched out on the bed the next morning, Renny propped herself on her elbow and gazed down at her sleeping husband. She’d woken early, a tight jumble of nerves, and taken a quick shower. She hadn’t bled much when Colt had penetrated her last night and, though she’d washed some red streaks from between her legs that morning, most of her blood had apparently ended up on Colt’s cock. Now, in the faint morning light that glowed at the edges of the heavy curtains, she drank in the sight of her ruggedly handsome husband who lay sprawled on the bed with traces of her blood dried on his heavy shaft. His ink-black hair fanned out on the pillow beneath his head, framing his face like a halo. It made him look like some sort of dark angel, she thought, as her heart stirred with emotion. And he was dark. Dark and damaged. Deeply sensual. Everything sinful and raw rolled into one very male animal. And yet, there was something inherently sweet and deeply vulnerable about him as well. His black eyelashes lay thick against his cheek. His rugged mouth looked lethally sexy, even in sleep. The lines that bracketed his mouth—etched plainly into his stubbleroughened cheeks—added a severe air of brooding to his face. It really was a beautifully masculine face. And despite the words he’d spoken with so much passion the night before, twinges of doubt attacked what had only ever been a very fragile confidence at best. It was hard to believe that this wonderful man could truly be hers. Colt opened his eyes and gave her a slow, sleepy smile. With one big hand, he reached up to move her shower-damp hair out of her eyes. After he’d tucked it behind her ear, he trailed his broad thumb down her jawline. How did he do that? How did he make her feel like the most beautiful woman alive? His deep green eyes flicked over her

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face, his gaze pantherish as it gleamed from beneath the dark weight of his long eyelashes. “I love you,” she whispered, her voice shaky with an emotion so tender it made her heart hurt. “Yeah?” he asked in a sexy drawl, his biceps bulging with strength as he tucked an arm behind his head. “You sure that’s not just the sex talking?” “Actually, it’s probably the wild nymphomaniac talking,” she said, chuckling softly, loving the dark masculine hair that shadowed his armpit and made him look so…male. She teased her hand down his body and trailed her fingers over his rigid erection. His cock was so intimidatingly long and thick that it was a wonder it fit inside her. It was amazing that something so savage and brutal-looking could be the instrument of such pleasure. Renny shivered under a sweeping wave of arousal, her sex responding to his affecting presence even though her body still ached from the pounding ravages of their lovemaking last night. “My blood is on your skin,” she murmured. His gaze traveled down his body then back to her face, turning possessive as their eyes met. “That makes you mine.” She smiled quietly, the idea of belonging to Colt warming her as she rolled his rigid flesh under her palm. “You’re hard. Are you supposed to wake up hard?” “I am when I’m dreaming of you,” he answered in a husky whisper as he reached for her fingers and worked them over his cock, showing her with his strong grasp how he liked to be gripped and pulled. His eyes were half closed, weighted with the thick black fringe of his eyelashes. But his jungle gaze glittered with a preternatural intensity. “Ah,” she said, loving the commanding pressure of his hard hand over hers as well as the silken slide of the flesh that burned beneath her fingers. “And what was I doing in your dream?”

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His green eyes darkened to black as he stroked her hand up the length of his heavy shaft. “To start with, you had your mouth wrapped around my cock, your lips stretched wide while I deep-throated you.” “Sounds pretty sexy.” He shook his head. “After that it got even better.” She gave him a sultry look and cocked an eyebrow his way. “Tell me about it.” He gave her a long, hungry look before finally shaking his head. “You’d think I was perverted.” “Too late for that,” she pointed out, sending him a saucy grin. He smiled up at her for a few moments before his expression softened. His grip on her hand loosened as he stroked her fingers. “How did I get lucky enough to end up with you?” “Well,” she said, “it probably helped that nobody else wanted me.” He lifted his hard, square chin and searched her face. Slowly, he shook his head. “I don’t understand how that could be possible. Talk to me, Renny.” She shrugged. “There isn’t much to talk about.” “Talk to me, sweetheart. You need to get it out. It must have been hard for you, as a teenager and as a young woman, to feel so rejected.” Renny sighed, hardly knowing how to explain what she didn’t understand herself. “Like I told you before, I don’t know what I did wrong,” she started out, pulling her bottom lip through her teeth. “I was smart. Maybe even a bit nerdy. I talked about things that other people didn’t talk about. I was bored with the things they did talk about. Every now and again, some guy would get interested in me. We’d go out once. Then afterward, he…wouldn’t call again.” “Why?” “I don’t know,” she answered, reluctant to divulge anything that might ruin their chances together. “I think I said the wrong things. Colt…I’m afraid it will happen with

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you. I’m afraid that I’ll say the wrong thing and you’ll walk away and won’t…call again.” “Hey,” he said, rolling up onto one elbow and reaching for her face. “It won’t happen.” His thumb stroked her cheek while his long fingers cradled her nape. “Talk to me, Renny.” She hesitated, turning her face into his hand and rubbing a kiss into his palm. “C’mon,” he growled, dipping his head to catch her gaze. “Give me your worst. Say something weird and nerdy. Let’s get it over with now and find out if I survive the test of fire.” Renny groaned. She really didn’t want to go into this. Not now. Maybe after they had a few months of marriage under their belts. But not now. “Renny?” “I don’t know, Colt! I’m not sure what it is I say that turns people away. But sometimes it seems as though I wonder about things that other people never seem to think about.” “Mmm-hmm?” he murmured, lifting a dark eyebrow that demanded she continue. “You’re going to think I’m dumb,” she faltered. Her voice sounded petulant even to her own ears. “I know you’re not dumb,” he answered. “Renny, I love you. I want to know about you. All about you. I want to know the things that other men didn’t want to know, couldn’t be bothered learning. I want to know what you think about and wonder about. What makes you tick.” She chewed on her lip for several seconds then blurted it out. “Why is fuck a bad word? I mean, it’s a pleasurable act. So why is the word considered obscene?” Feeling like an absolute idiot—though that wasn’t exactly a new experience for her—she barreled on before Colt could answer. Her husband might as well have a full sample of her quirks and oddities. “And when you fill out a form, like an application form, for

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instance, there’s a box for you to check your sex. Male or female. Why is there no box for hermaphrodite? Why? I mean, they exist, don’t they?” “Ahh,” he said slowly, after a short silence. “Those are unusual questions.” “You’ve never wondered why?” she asked, searching his eyes. “Honestly? No,” he said, quietly. “But you’re not like me, Renny. You’re not like most people. I’ve never wondered why fuck is considered an obscenity or why there isn’t a third box on application forms. But I didn’t come up with the ‘washed-up’ idea either! Or the ‘Miss September’ idea for that matter. You’re different, Renny. And for me that means perfect.” “I was never perfect for anyone else,” she pointed out in a small voice. He leaned forward and brushed a tender kiss into her lips. “That’s only because fate was saving you for me,” he said, softly. “I don’t think any of this was a mistake. I didn’t ask you to marry me because I was drunk. I got drunk so I’d have enough nerve to ask you to marry me! Because I knew you’d love me. Because I knew I’d be safe with you.” “Because I was plain?” “No,” he said quickly. “Because you’re loyal. Turned out to be just my luck you’re beautiful and a nymphomaniac as well.” Renny couldn’t help but smile. He continued more seriously. “I must have known you were beautiful. Only a fool could have overlooked that fact. But I thought you’d be safe because you’re…shy and quiet.” “And awkward.” He gave her a painful nod, a ridge forming between his wide, masculine brows as he continued with his confession. “I thought I wouldn’t have to worry about you with other men.”

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She shook her head, her tangled curls shifting softly over her slim shoulders. “Even if I were the most beautiful woman in the world, you’d never have to worry about me with anyone else.” “I know that now. I probably knew that all along.” He touched his lips to hers again then whispered against her mouth as his hand tightened around hers and together they gave his cock a hard pull. “I want to fuck you again this morning. Are you sore?” “A little,” she admitted. “I’m sorry. It’s because I’m too small. Too tight. Maybe I could buy something…to stretch me open?” Colt couldn’t stop the choking sound of alarm that escaped his lips. He shook his head rapidly. “Don’t you dare! It feels good, tight. Don’t you dare mess with that incredibly, deliciously tight little cunt.” “But you can’t even get all the way in.” A smile curled the edges of his mouth as he pulled her hand to his face and brushed her knuckles across his lips. “It’s only the top few inches that matter.” She challenged him with a look that said she didn’t believe him. “Really,” he insisted, tucking her hair back behind her ear again. He lowered his hand and rubbed one thick finger beneath his cock head. “Most of the sensation is right here below the rim.” She glanced quickly at his penis then averted her eyes. “Renny,” he said, softly. “Look at me. Look at my cock.” With a shy tilt of her head, she returned her gaze to his hand. He had his cock in his fist, one finger rubbing beneath the flaring ridge that capped his shaft. As she watched Colt handle his cock, carnal hunger built between her legs, weighting her body with a sudden sharp blast of sexual need. Feeling like a naughty coquette, she wiggled down his body and kissed his dark cock head then let her gaze slide down his vein-ridden length. He was massive. It was no wonder she was sore—the inner walls of her vagina bruised and beaten. But beneath that lingering pain, she still ached for him. And even

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though her vagina was tender, she could still offer him sex, a place where he might be able to bury his whole length. She returned to his mouth and kissed him then swiftly rolled over and got to her knees, pushing her bottom into the air. “Ah, Renny,” he rasped, his voice hoarse. With one hand, he reached for her and ran his open palm over the soft swell of her ass, his touch reverent and worshipful. Leaning forward, he pressed a damp kiss into her sensitive flesh, his lips like warm, rough silk as they touched her. “Are you offering me what I think you’re offering?” “I-if you want it,” she answered, tremulously.

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Chapter Nine Stroking her delicate, baby-soft skin, Colt had to fight the very natural and very male instinct that urged him to get behind her, mount her and take her tempting little ass. “Let’s leave that for another time,” he said against her gently curving bottom. “We have a lifetime to explore one another. Let’s…not rush things.” “Please, Colt. I’m sore but…I want to please you.” He laughed softly, his heart expanding with a terrible ache that told him he was in love—deeply, wholly, irrevocably in love. God help him! He felt ripped open and laid bare. That’s what this woman did to him. “You do please me,” he insisted, surprised at the gruff note of emotion that marked his words. “I just thought, this way, it wouldn’t hurt as much.” “I’m sorry to tell you that ‘this way’ would probably hurt just as much. Maybe even more,” he said with a low, coarse chuckle. “Couldn’t we just…try?” Oh fuck. The girl just didn’t understand. Once he started trying it was going to be awful damn hard to stop. Next thing his innocent little bride knew, he’d be packed all the way up inside her provocative little ass and she’d be sore in twice as many places as before. “Colt?” “Okay,” he growled, deciding he was just going to have to show his little lovenymph one of the more painful facts of life. He rolled to his knees behind her and spread them wide outside hers. With his arm beneath her stomach, he gave her a hard, possessive jerk upward, bringing her tempting little ass up level with his groin. With his arm holding her firmly in place, he rubbed his cock head into her crease. “How’s that? Does that feel good?” 87

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“Mm-hmm,” she hummed, wiggling her precious little bottom. He tried to chuckle but he was just too damn aroused at the sight of her pretty heart-shaped ass reaching for his cock, her pussy lips damp and soft just below her tight little kiss—both of them just asking for it. With his cock in his hand, he ran the head over her puckered kiss then down to her opening. He splayed his fingers out on her backside then dropped his thumb and pressed the broad pad against the tight ring of muscle. “How about that?” “That’s…okay,” she said uncertainly. “Uh-huh,” he said, quickly wetting his thumb in his mouth. “How about this?” He sank the first joint of his thumb into the tight rim of her ass. At the same time, he fed the first few inches of his cock between her tender pussy lips. Despite his wife’s willingness to experiment and her obvious desire to please, a tight hiss of pain whistled in through her teeth. “That’s enough,” he growled, giving her delicate bottom a light smack and turning her over. But even the suggestion of a little anal had him breathing hard. He knelt in front of her, his knees spread, his cock lifting high and hard as he dragged his hungry gaze down over her slender body. God, she was sexy, laid out on the rumpled sheets, her hair damp from the shower and hanging in wild, wrecked ringlets, her translucent skin blooming here and there with deep color that marked the places where they’d gotten rough together last night. She sent him a wry little smile. “I just wanted to do something…nice for you.” He was silent a long moment, watching her, trying to decide. “What?” He lifted one shoulder. “There is the dream.” She picked up on his meaning right away. “The dream you had last night?” He pressed his lips together and admitted, “There is something a woman has never done for me before. It would be a huge turn-on…if you think you’re up for it.” She

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looked so sweet and innocent as she gazed up at him that he immediately changed his mind. “Nah. Forget it,” he said suddenly. “It’s…too private.” She tilted her head thoughtfully and it was like they’d communicated without speaking. But Renny was smart. She was probably on to him. “When you wrap your hand around your penis,” she started hesitantly, “I find it very sexy—watching you—watching your hand move over your shaft.” Bingo. She got it the first time, the clever little nymph. “It’s not private,” she whispered, making excuses for him and his own dark desires. “It’s…intimate.” He sank back on his heels and wrapped his hand around his arm, below his biceps. “Do you think so?” When she lifted her small chin in assent, he wanted her so hard, his cock hurt. Loving her more than ever, he tried to explain himself. “I could say it was because I wanted to know how to better please you. But that wouldn’t be entirely true. It’s more selfish than that. I want to know you. Everything about you. Each dark intimate detail. Every secret. I want to know how you pleasure yourself. I want to watch you masturbate,” he whispered, his voice gritty and tight with hunger. “I want to watch you with your fingers in your pussy, pulling your lips open while you play with your clit. I want to watch your cunt shiver and gasp. I want to watch you make yourself come.” Her deep blue eyes were cloaked and heavy as she gave him a sultry smile. “Well, when you put it that way…” With a flowing, sensual grace, she drew her knees up and scooted backward. When she reached for the pillow next to her, Colt leaned forward and helped her collect the four plump feather pillows at the head of the bed. Together, they stuffed them behind her back. Colt leaned back again, his chest tight with anticipation, his knees spread wide between hers as his erection reached for his belly, rock-hard and pulsing. Slowly, she opened her legs, revealing her glistening folds to his devouring gaze. A low animal sound grew in his chest as he watched her silken thighs spread and her 89

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pouty outer lips part. The fragile folds inside were deeply colored, the petals of her inner lips the shade of bruised roses. He flicked his gaze upward to her face as the pink tip of her tongue flitted across her upper lip. The action was both innocent and provocative. His cock stiffened and throbbed, painfully hard and he reached down to resettle the weight of his balls. She pulled her pussy lips open with her middle fingers and touched herself with her forefinger. He held his breath as her finger tapped gently at a rumpled knot near the top of her cleft. Her clit. She touched it lightly, over and over again and he watched, spellbound, while the little tag of flesh stiffened right before his eyes. Without thinking, he wrapped his fingers around the pulsing mass of his erection and stroked his cock at the same erotic rhythm, keeping time with her and watching her cunt. His ragged breath came hard and fast as he tracked a tiny pearl of moisture that spilled from her vagina and meandered slowly down between the globes of her ass. “Renny,” he grunted huskily, gripping his cock and pulling hard. “You’re a fucking dream come true. I’ve never seen a prettier sight than your wet pussy.” Letting go of his cock, Colt spread his knees until he was almost but not quite touching the bed. He moved his face between her legs, watching through heavy-lidded eyes as her slit got wetter and wetter. Her sinfully sweet scent filled his head, making the muscles of his stomach cramp with need while his hips moved slowly, rubbing his erection into the crisp sheets beneath his widely spread legs. With her feet braced wide on the bed, she started lifting her bottom and rocking her hips upward, as though she were being fucked. At the same time, she moved her finger across the swollen flesh of her drenched pussy. With a thick, choking moan, Colt kissed the back of her hands, her knuckles, her fingers, breathing in the sweet humid warmth that poured off her sex. Her clit was thick and swollen, near to bursting, her slit quivering with each upward thrust of her slender hips. Her plump pussy lips were smeared with cream and the tiny mouth of her cunt shuddered as rivulets of the pearly liquid streamed from her entrance. Heat poured

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from her shivering, wet sex in burning waves. With one thumb hooked in the base of her vagina, he pulled down, knowing the tight, stinging stretch would probably finish her off. A guttural cry tore from her lips as he pulled her opening wide, watching it flutter just before she came, watching it as it shuddered and closed and squeezed out another flood of rich cream. Automatically, her legs pulled together but his shoulders kept them from closing so he could watch every last detail of her shattering orgasm as it unfolded before his eyes. A ragged moan whispered across her lips, the sultry sound of her pleasure sharpening the driving need in his aching shaft. With a growl, he rose on his knees before her and shoved her legs apart with his thighs. Her gaze was on his cock as he curled his hand beneath his shaft and squeezed hard. Within his hand, he felt his pulse in the long, veined length as his dick throbbed and his balls ached heavily, ready to unload at a touch. “Oh fuck,” he groaned, edgy with need. “I have to come.” His hand tightened as he pumped his cock in long savage pulls until his cum exploded from the tiny slit in his cock head, jerked in a long, hot stream between their bodies and hit her belly with a wet smack as he emptied out onto her skin. He stared, panting, shocked at what he’d done. At how aroused she’d gotten him. A shiver claimed his spine as he checked her face. It was a lot for an inexperienced young woman to take and Colt couldn’t help but fear he’d gone too far by shooting his cum all over the front of her body. But Renny’s gaze was on her belly, watching her own fingers swirl through the puddle of lust spread out on her skin. As he watched, she lifted a finger coated with his semen and touched it to her lips. The pink tip of her tongue darted out for a taste then she smiled and used her wet finger to smear a thick coat of his cum over her lips. Colt groaned. She was so fucking sexy. He fell over her and licked her lips, gathering the musky salt taste of his cum onto his tongue and thrusting it inside her mouth where her tongue tangled with his. As he crushed her small frame beneath the weight of his body, his hot spread of cum sealed

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them together, skin to skin, making him feel like she was a part of him. And he was a part of her. The intimacy they’d just shared made him feel so close to this precious woman—closer than he’d ever felt to anyone before. With a knee-buckling rush of emotion, he grabbed her head and held her face between his hands. “I love you so fucking much,” he snarled, angling his head before branding her mouth with a violently savage kiss. A loud hammering on the hotel room door interrupted the eating kiss he forced against her mouth. Colt jerked his head up to stare at the closed door as a deep voice in the corridor boomed, “Room service!” Narrowing his eyes, Colt gave Renny an uncertain look then rolled away from her and pulled his charcoal slacks up his legs. He stopped at the bathroom and grabbed a towel from inside, rubbing it over his damp skin while Renny burrowed beneath the fluffy tangle of sex-wrecked sheets. When Colt cracked open the door, his brother brushed past him on his way into the room. On his shoulder, Bolt balanced a large tray heavily loaded with several plates of food and three thick ceramic mugs. Coffee sloshed over the sides of the mugs as he swung the tray from his shoulder and settled it on the hotel room table. After closing the door, Colt turned to face his brother. “What’s all this?” he asked, waving his hand at the tray laden with eggs and bacon, omelets and sausage, pancakes and waffles. His nose picked out the scent of strong black Columbian and he gravitated toward the steaming coffee cups without thinking. “Gotta keep your strength up,” Bolt rumbled, a wicked gleam lighting his golden gaze. “Don’t want you making any skinny babies.” “Babies!” Colt snorted then went suddenly still. A surge of panic took hold of his spine as he cut a quick look at the tumbled bedsheets. He’d never even thought to use a condom last night. And it was too much to hope that Renny would be on the Pill. Still. Maybe she wouldn’t mind…having his kids. The thought of Renny carrying his child filled him with a rough burst of warmth unlike anything he’d ever experienced before.

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“Yeah, babies,” Bolt said, picking out a plate piled high with fried eggs, bacon, hash browns and at least four pieces of toast. With a crisp triangle of buttered toast between his fingers, he plunked his rear in the upholstered chair. “You gotta have kids so my kids will have someone to play with.” Colt picked up a mug brimming with coffee and took a few sips while eyeing the spread Bolt had delivered. Suddenly hungry, his mouth watered as he tried to decide between a colorful Spanish omelet or a huge golden pile of scrambled eggs. It took him a while to decide whether Renny would want either of them. She’d want the pancakes, he finally decided. “Why don’t we just wait until that’s an issue,” he suggested, setting his coffee mug back on the tray and reaching for the Spanish omelet. Bolt gave him a broad grin as he stabbed a fork in his direction. “Okay. You got seven months,” he announced. Colt froze with the plate in his hand. He stared at his brother. “No shit?” Bolt grinned like a cross between a man-eating lion and a very satisfied satyr. “Tavia’s due in February.” “Well, congratulations!” Colt yelled, grasping his brother’s hand and giving it a long, strong, heartfelt shake. “Congratulations, Bolt,” came Renny’s voice from beneath the muffling pile of the duvet. Bolt tilted his head. “Your bed’s talking,” he grunted. Colt chuckled. “That’s not my bed. That’s my wife.” Bolt arched one tawny eyebrow. “Where is she?” Colt waved a hand at the rumpled duvet. “Right there in the middle of the bed!” “That’s a wife?” Bolt challenged him with a drawl. “I thought that was a wrinkle in the bedsheets!” The bedsheets erupted in a flurry of white and ivory and Renny’s head popped out from under the covers. “Bolt Hardin!” she exclaimed. “I am not a wrinkle!”

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“Good morning, Renny,” Bolt greeted her pleasantly. “Pancakes? We’re going to have to fatten you up if you ever hope to compete with Tavia.” “I like her just the way she is,” Colt cut in gruffly. Bolt flicked his gaze at Renny’s slim shoulders. “I’m sorry but when it comes to women, I’m used to a little…more.” “You’re used to a lot more,” Colt corrected him in a low mutter. Bolt’s eyes glittered as the corner of his mouth kicked up into a mischief-made smile. “Well, you know what they say. The more the cushion, the better the pushin’.” Renny’s mouth dropped open as she stared at the sun-streaked giant. Colt’s finger was shaking as he pointed at the door to the adjoining room. “Get out,” he said, breaking into laughter. “Get out, now!” With an easy grin, Bolt sauntered through the door, his plateful of breakfast in one hand and a mug of coffee in the other. As the door closed behind his brother’s back, Colt grinned at his wife. “I’m sorry,” he chuckled. “He really is awful.” “He really is,” Renny agreed with a warm chuckle. “Awful adorable.” Colt looked at his plate then set it back down on the table. “Renny…I’m sorry. I should have asked you about protection last night.” She lowered her eyes, rubbing her finger in a small circle on the white bedsheets. “Would you…mind if it turned out I was pregnant?” Would he mind! Wordlessly, he got on the bed and crawled over her, stretching her out beneath the press of his body. He answered her with his mouth, placing several long, tender kisses against her lips.

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Chapter Ten Later that evening, Colt strode across the main terminal of Denver International Airport with Renny at his side. Bolt had accompanied them to the airport in Las Vegas where he’d gotten out on an earlier flight, winging his way back home to Santa Fe. As Colt guided his wife toward the baggage carousels, more than a few heads turned to watch the petite beauty on his arm but Colt didn’t mind the attention that his wife attracted. He knew Renny was his—body and soul—and, confident of her love, he was more than happy to show her off. Just as long as nobody tried to make a move on her. If anything like that happened, he wouldn’t hesitate to protect what was his. Standing together while waiting for their baggage to appear, they exchanged some quiet talk as well as several heated kisses. When their bags didn’t turn up after twenty minutes, Colt started looking around for a secluded corner that might do for a quick fuck, should he get any more aroused than he already was. He was about to suggest the idea to Renny when he thought he saw their bags on a distant carousel. “Wait here,” he told Renny. Renny lifted his soft briefcase from the floor and showed him his cell phone tucked into the side pocket. “But, Colt, you’ve left your phone!” He turned and shouted at her while backing away. “Honey, I trust you with my heart. I sure as hell don’t have a problem with you answering my phone.” “But what if Eloise calls?” “Tell her to go to hell!” he answered, cheerfully. Sure enough, as soon as Bolt had disappeared into the crowd of recently arrived passengers, the phone rang. Renny opened the cell phone and answered it with a cautious “Hello”. 95

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It was Eloise. As delicately as she could, Renny explained to the distraught woman that Colt had remarried. Gently, she begged Eloise to leave her ex-husband alone. Eloise’s sniff traveled the airwaves and sounded in her ear. “I’m glad he’s married. He deserves to be happy. I just wanted him to know that I’d give anything to take back that awful night. I never thought he’d know. I’m so sorry he had to see it. Please tell him it wasn’t because I didn’t love him. It wasn’t because he wasn’t wonderful in bed. Nobody’s ever made love to me like Colt did. Nobody ever will.” Renny shook her head while she stared at the toe of her shoe, making small circles on the airport’s polished granite floor. “Why did you do it, Eloise?” “I don’t know how to explain. I was jealous of his friends. I wanted all of his love. I didn’t want him spending time with Dan and Josh instead of me. I knew if I had sex with them, they’d never be able to look Colt in the eye again. And I knew they’d never tell him. They’d just drift away from him.” “You stripped him of his two closest friends just so you could have him for yourself?” “And ended up with nothing. Nobody’s sorrier than I am. Please tell him, Renny. I promise I won’t bother you again.” Renny shook her head again. Despite everything, she really did feel sorry for Eloise. “Renny?” “I’ll tell him,” she said softly, disconnecting the call and closing the phone as she watched Colt striding toward her with his bag in one hand and hers tucked beneath his arm. “So,” he said as they strolled through the sliding glass doors and out into the clear, warm Colorado evening, “how do you feel about fishing?” “Well, that depends,” she answered, sweeping her sly gaze sideways toward his long, lean, handsome frame. “Do you mean reservoir fishing or river fishing? Trawling

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the lakes by boat or fly-fishing the beaver ponds? Alaskan salmon, Colorado brook trout or Canadian muskie?” That stopped him in his tracks. Throwing her head back, Renny laughed as she left him behind and strode across the taxi and bus lanes. When she reached the far side of the road, she stopped and grinned back at him. With a wry smile curling the rugged line of his mouth, he followed her. “You can fly-fish?” “A bit.” “A bit? What does that mean?” She shrugged. “I can keep about fifty feet of line in the air.” “Yeah?” His gaze was vibrant, glowing and alive as they set off down the ramps into the parking area. “I bet you look sexy with a rod in your hand.” “Are we still talking about fishing?” she chuckled. “I don’t see any need to make a distinction,” he answered, an endearingly boyish grin on his lips. “You have two hands, don’t you?” “And I’m great at multitasking,” she admitted with a come-hither look. An eager, greedy growl vibrated in his throat. “I can’t wait to get you up to the lakes,” he said as he pulled her close with an arm around her shoulder and planted a rough kiss on her brow.

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Epilogue Renny ignored the first slight rocking of the hammock and burrowed back into her pleasant, drowsy slumber. The swinging bed, made of crisscrossing string attached to two slats of wood stretching either end, was a wedding gift from Bolt, along with a pair of pretty, black ankle-strap pumps. She’d thought both the shoes and the hammock a bit unusual for a wedding gift but then Bolt was a bit unusual. And Colt didn’t seem disappointed with either the heavy string hammock or the high heels. After Colt had strung up the hammock between two trees earlier that morning, Renny had donned her bikini and headed out behind their new mountain home to do a little reading, snoozing and sunbathing. With a five-acre lot bordering miles of national forest, Renny dozed the afternoon away, confident she wouldn’t be seen in her skimpy swimwear. And she was tired. It turned out that being Miss September was a lot of work. And after a twelve-hour fashion shoot the previous day followed by a long night of lovemaking, Colt had reached for her again in the wee hours of the morning. Her husband was insatiable. Lucky her. With her arms crossed over the open novel lying just below her chest, she resettled herself comfortably into the slightly swaying hammock and drifted back to sleep. When she felt a man’s warm, rough hold on her ankle, she ignored it for a while. But when she felt that same rough hand slipping a shoe onto her foot, she opened her eyes and smiled at her husband. Dressed in a comfortable old pair of cut-off sweats, Colt straddled the hammock in front of her, his muscular thighs spread wide. He’d lifted one of her feet and was half turned, tying the wide ribbon on her ankle-strap shoe into a large bow. With an amused smile, she watched as he captured her other foot and gave it the same treatment. When 98

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he was done, she wiggled her toes. “Okay,” she chuckled, “so now you have my both my feet tied to the end of the hammock.” The corners of his mouth twitched upward in a wickedly sinful smile as he gazed at her from beneath his dark eyelashes. “With your legs spread,” he pointed out as he lowered his weight onto the hammock. “With my legs spread,” she conceded, giggling. “But what’s to stop me from sitting up and undoing the ribbons on my shoes?” The gleam in his gold-flecked eyes was positively primal. “Your bikini.” She laughed. “My bikini!” Like a jungle cat eyeing his next meal, he just smiled while rubbing a hand over the front of his faded navy cutoffs. Beneath the soft, loose fabric, she could see his erection forming a thick, mouthwatering ridge. God, he was sexy when he was aroused. Renny felt like she’d never get enough of him. Never get enough of that thick, broad cock filling her pussy, driving the pleasure deep inside her. Never get enough of his raw sex talk or his achingly sweet confessions of love. He was a wild, volatile mix of coarse dominance and tender vulnerability. With a soft smile, Renny reached forward to stroke his cock. And came up short. She grunted as she tried again to reach for him. She was pinned to the hammock. While she had slept, Colt had evidently rolled beneath the hammock, undone the halter-top bikini, threaded it through the holes of the hammock and refastened it both at the neck and behind her back! Renny’s fingers flew to her neck but the hammock’s tight netting wouldn’t let her reach the ties on her swimsuit! As she fumbled first at her neck then tried to reach behind her back, Colt pulled down on the front of his cutoffs, freeing his brutally wide erection.

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Her eyes widened with shock as she stared at the handsome beast and realized how completely he’d trapped her, how entirely she was at his mercy—and his command. A traitorous flutter of excitement grew in her belly. Not that she minded. “Bolt gives the best wedding presents,” he hummed in a deep, lusty rumble as he scooted his butt forward a few inches and nudged his knees beneath her open thighs. Rubbing his tongue over his lower lip, he hooked a finger into the strip of fabric that traveled between her legs. With a tug, he pulled it sideways then tilted his head and gazed at the bared, puffy lips of her pussy while fisting his hand over his shaft. Like some great, indolent cat, he gave his cock a few pumping strokes. Renny stopped struggling, her insides melting at the look of utter fascination she found on her husband’s face. “You won’t get any argument from me,” she said, lovingly. “That’s just as well,” he growled. “Because I’m not about to take any argument.” She didn’t get any more warning than that. With his fingers guiding his cock, he pushed his first thick inches into her narrow opening. Renny gasped as he entered her. Even after two months of marriage, it was an incredibly tight fit. But the big brute took pity on her and eased into her gradually, tunneling his way up into her vagina until he bumped up against her cervix. There he stopped. His eyes smoldered as he narrowed his gaze on her. “Are you ready to get fucked, Miss September?” Renny shivered with anticipation, already bucking slightly as a brilliant streak of arousal stiffened her spine. “Do your worst, Mr. Hardin.” “I will,” he drawled in a low, provocative rumble. “And fortunately for you, my worst is also my best.”

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About the Author I slung the heavy battery pack around my hips and cinched it tight—or tried to. “Damn.” Brian grabbed an awl. Leaning over me, he forged a new hole in the loose belt looped around my waist. “Any advice?” I asked him as I pulled the belt tight. “Yeah. Don’t reach for the ore cart until it starts moving, then jump on the back and immediately duck your head. The voltage in the overhead cable won’t just kill you. It’ll blow you apart.” That was my first day on my first job. Employed as an engineer, I’ve worked in an underground mine that went up—inside a mountain. I’ve swung over the Ohio River in a tiny cage suspended from a crane in the middle of an electrical storm. I’ve hung 30 feet in the air over the Hudson River at midnight in an aluminum boat—suspended from a floating barge at the height of a blizzard, while snowplows on the bridge overhead rained slush and salt down on my shoulders. You can’t do this sort of work without developing a sense of humor, and a sense of adventure. New to publishing, both my reading and writing habits are subject to mood and I usually have several stories going at once. When I need a really good idea for a story, I clean toilets. Now there’s an activity that engenders escapism. I was surveying when I met my husband. He was my ‘rod man’. While I was trying to get my crosshairs on his stadia rod, he dropped his pants and mooned me. Next thing I know, I’ve got the backside of paradise in my viewfinder. So I grabbed the walkie-talkie. “That’s real nice,” I told him, “but would you please turn around? I’d rather see the other side.” …it was love at first sight. Madison welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email address on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.

Tell Us What You Think We appreciate hearing reader opinions about our books. You can email us at [email protected].

Also by Madison Hayes Alpha Romeos with Rhyannon Byrd Calendar Girls: Miss April Calendar Girls: Miss August Calendar Girls: Miss December Calendar Girls: Miss February Calendar Girls: Miss March Calendar Girls: Miss May Calendar Girls: Miss October Dye’s Kingdom: Wanting It Forever Enter the Dragon anthology Gryffin Strain: His Female Gryffin Strain: His Mistress In the Arms of Danger Kingdom of Khal: Redeeming Davik Kingdom of Yute: Tor’s Betrayal Made For Two Men Made For Two Rivals Zeke’s Hands

Discover for yourself why readers can’t get enough of the multiple award-winning publisher Ellora’s Cave. Whether you prefer e-books or paperbacks, be sure to visit EC on the web at www.ellorascave.com for an erotic reading experience that will leave you breathless.

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