Chapter Three

CHAPTER THREE

YEARS OF BULL RIDING had finally shaken some screws loose. That was the only explanation for the fact that Hunter had just accepted Devon's offer and told her his real name.

"The name's Hunter Braddock."

Sweet Jesus. Was he completely nuts?

Hungry, he reminded himself. He was starved and so he wasn't thinking straight. That explained why he was now leading Devon outside, through the back parking lot toward his truck when his common sense screamed otherwise

That, and he'd always been impulsive. A loose cannon. A wild card. That's what made him so good on the back of a bull. He didn't waste his time thinking. He simply acted.

No way did his sudden change of heart have anything to do with the fact that he wanted to keep her from propositioning any other man. Particularly the asshole at the end of the bar. The guy had a wife at home that he liked to use for a punching bag.

Not that Hunter gave a rat's ass if Devon got mixed up with a character like that. Hell, he didn't know her from Eve.

It was hunger, all right.

It clouded his judgement as darkly as it shaded his past.

He tried to tune into the sounds around him. The music drifting from the row of clubs along the Sixth Street. The footsteps up and down the sidewalk. The whir of passing traffic and occasional bleep of a horn. But he found himself picking up only her. The steady beat of her heart and the faint in and out of her breaths and the excited flutter of her pulse.

"Stop." Her soft voice pushed inside his head and he turned just as she dug her heels into the asphalt and pulled him to stop.

"I thought you wanted to get out of here." His gaze collided with hers and he read the doubt that rolled through her. Half of her wanted to turn and run. Before she did something she would surely regret. At the same time, that's what this moment was all about. Doing something completely and totally opposite of what she usually did. A few moments of fierce and naughty and memorable to see her through the years and years of nothing special that she knew waited in the future.

"Out of there." Determination fired her gaze as she glanced around the parking lot. "Here is just fine."

And then she leaned up on her tip-toes and pressed her lips to his. The sudden connection sent a jolt through him. His muscle stiffened and his groin throbbed and he quickly took the lead.

His hands slid around her waist and he pulled her flush against him. He plunged his fingers into her hair and tilted her head back to give himself better access.

She taste like the sweetest wine and the most decadent sin and he couldn't get enough. He wanted to be inside of her, his cook deep between her legs, his mouth locked on hers.

He wanted it so badly that he nearly pushed her up against a nearby car, shoved her skirt up to her waist and took her right then and there. But she had something else cooked up in her fantasies---a small alley near the Exit door---and Hunter was all about pleasing his partner.

Especially this one.

Before he could dwell on the outrageous thought, she rubbed her pelvis against his crotch and electricity zapped the head of his penis. The sensation sizzled through him and gripped every nerve ending until his entire body buzzed.

In the blink of an eye, he picked her up and headed for the narrow alley that ran between the club and a neighboring building.

Her eyes went suddenly wide a heartbeat later when she realised they were standing between the two buildings. "How did you move so fast---" she started, but he silenced her with his mouth.

His lips plundered hers, his tongue pushing deep to stroke and explore and leave her breathless. He pressed her up against the brick so that she could feel the pulse of the music from inside. The excitement. And then he leaned into her, his body flush against hers, so that she could feel his excitement.

Emotion rolled through her, a mix of wonder and fear and hurry the hell up.

"Anyone could walk by," he murmured, feeding her impatience and the dangerous thrill of being caught.

That's why she had no intention of following him back to his hotel room or taking him home with her. She wanted to live on the edge a little while before she plunged over. She needed it. She'd denied herself for so long and now she wanted to experience the forbidden just once. The information glittered hot and bright on her gaze as she stared back at him for those next few seconds.

She was through relying on her imagination. She wanted to live up to her reputation. Right here. Right now. Despite the fact that she was hours from home with a man she didn't know.

Because of it.

She didn't want any strings any more than he did.

The truth bothered him a hell of a lot more than it should have and Hunter stiffened.

He ignored the strange tightening in his chest and focused on the only thing that mattered---pleasuring her. It was her pleasure---her climax---that would feed the beast inside him.

He caught the neckline of her skimpy top and pushed it down to her waist. Her luscious breasts spilled free. Dipping his head, he caught one rosy nipple between his teeth. He flicked the tip with his tongue before opening this mouth wider. He drew her in and sucked until a moan vibrate up her throat. The sound fed the lust roaring in his veins.

He knew even before he caught the hem of her skirt and felt the bare skin beneath that she wasn't wearing any panties. Pressing one hard thigh between her legs, he forced her wider until she rode him. Her sweet heat rasped against his starched denim.

She gasped and a shudder ripped through her. He leaned back to see her trembling lips and her quivering breasts.

Shocked and surprised swam in her smoky gaze. She'd had sex before, but nothing had ever felt like this.

So intense and thrilling and ahhhh...

Her pulse beat frantically at the base of her throat, teasing and taunting him. A slow hiss slid past his lips.

He shifted, moving and rubbing, working her until he felt her dampness through the rough fabric of his jeans. The scent of her arousal teased his nostrils and drenched his senses.

He caught her lips in a fierce kiss and plunged his hands between her legs. She was warm and wet and swollen. At the first touch of his fingers, she went ramrod stiff. A small cry ripped past her lips and jut like that she came apart in his arms.

A sizzling heat pulsed through her body and entered him at every point of contact---his hand between her legs, his mouth on hers, his thigh pressed intimately between hers. He drank in the sweet energy, relishing the dizzying rush of life. But it wasn't enough because he wasn't hilt deep inside of her.

Yet.

He drank in the picture she made, her head thrown back against the building, her eyes closed, her lips parted and trembling. She grasped at his shoulders as the convulsions ripped through her, feeding him yet making him all the more hungry at the same time.

His vision clouded, going from Technicolour to bright, vivid purple that washed everything. The pale colour of her hair and the smooth column of her throat. Her translucent breasts. The clothes riding her waist.

He fought the growl vibrating up his throat and the sharp graze of his teeth against his tongue. If he bit her, there will be no turning his back or leaving her behind. The connection would be forged.

Strong.

Resilient.

Unbreakable.

"More," she gasped, her eyelids fluttering open.

Before she could focus and see the beast that he knew gleamed in his eyes, he whirled her around and urged her hands flat against the brick.

Her sweet, round ass pushed back against him and he flicked open the button on his jeans. The zipper wasn't nearly as cooperative. Metal strained and popped and the teeth broke. The denim sagged on his hips and he shoved his underwear down so fast that the material ripped. His erection sprang forward, hard and greedy. The ripe head of his cock pressed the slick folds between her legs and she shuddered.

"Wait," Devon managed, the feel of him poised and ready like a lightning bolt to her sanity. She drew a deep breath to steady her rapid heartbeat and remember that while she'd made up her mind to let go of her inhibitions and satisfy her curiosity, she wasn't kissing caution goodbye.

Her mother had made that mistake.

Three times to be exact.

"We need a condom," she breathed. "I---brought some with me." She motioned to her purse which lay on the ground near her feet. "In there."

"I've got my own, sugar."

Of course he did. This might be her first time doing something like this, but its obviously wasn't his.

The realization stirred a strange sense of regret. One that quickly drowned in a wave of heat as he retrieved a small packet, ripped it open and worked the latex down his engorged lenght. She felt the brush of knuckles against her backside as he positioned himself. His thick head nudged apart her slick folds and pressed into her.

She closed her eyes and relished the feel of him pushing inside, stretching and filling her inch by decadent inch.

Slowly.

Slowly.

There.

He stopped, buried completely for a long moment, the pressure so sharp and sweet that her breath caught. Her heart paused. He throbbed and her body contracted. A wave of impatience went through her, making her nipples ache and her legs tremble.

She moved then, arching her back and sucking him deeper, begging for more of the ecstasy she'd tasted only moment before. So close that she could feel the heat licking her skin.

The hard brick vibrated against her fingertips, a reminder that she wasn't just out of her comfort zone when it came to men, but she was far, far away from the safety of her bedroom. The notion fed her anticipations much as the sounds drifting from inside the club. The music and the laughter and the voices...

A woman's voice. Clear. Distinct. Close.

"I thought you wanted to go to my place?"

Devon felt Hunter's muscles tense.

Her eyes popped open and her head snapped up in time to see the couple that stumbled around the corner of the building a good twenty feet away.

"Screw that," the man murmured.

"Let's just do it right here in the alley." He pressed the woman up against the brick. A trash can flanked them and blocked Devon's view.

But she could still hear them, which meant they could still hear her. And all they had to do was glanced up.

Uh-oh.