Too Fast to Fall Read online

  “Oh, Jesus,” she gasped, covering her face in horror at her own thoughts. She’d never do that, not with a man she barely knew. Just the idea of getting naked for him made her cheeks flame.

  On one hand, she’d heard too many guys discussing women’s bodies in the saloon. Little digs about big thighs. Crueler digs about breasts that didn’t measure up or fat in all the wrong places.

  On the other hand, she’d watched men fall head over heels for the plainest girl at the bar just because she made them laugh. Men who went starry-eyed at some obscure hobby he had in common with a girl who didn’t draw anyone else’s attention.

  She didn’t know what to think about men anymore. Sometimes they seemed the simplest creatures in the world. And sometimes she was convinced they were more complex and sensitive than any women she’d ever known. All she could do was take off her clothes and enjoy the experience. Since he was a man, she had confidence he’d do the same. Another of their many gifts.

  But on her way to the fridge to check the contents, she made one last detour to close all the blinds. Getting naked was one thing. Getting naked with a gorgeous new lover in the cold sunlight of midafternoon? She’d rather sell her car and leave town on the bus.

  * * *

  NATE STOOD IN FRONT of Jenny’s apartment door, clutching a bottle of wine in one hand and checking to see if his hair had dried with the other. He’d rushed through a shower, raced to the liquor store and arrived exactly thirty minutes after his call, but now he hesitated.

  Somewhere between picking up the phone and walking up her stairs, he’d become confused about the visit. He’d meant to push her a little harder about Ellis. To find out what she knew, what the man had told her. He’d wanted someplace quiet where he could watch her face and listen closely to her voice for any tells. And then hopefully move on, set it aside and get to know this woman who’d been driving him crazy for months. But along the way, his logical plans had scattered like tumbleweeds. Actually, he knew exactly when his brain had started misfiring. It was when she’d nixed his perfect lunch date in favor of something more intimate.

  Lunch. At her place. With wine.

  His fingers squeezed the neck of the bottle and he knocked.

  No reason he couldn’t stay on track with his plans. Maybe they’d get intimate. Maybe they’d have sex. But she wasn’t going to jump him as soon as she opened the door. He could still ask his questions. He could still step cautiously before deciding to move forward.

  Then she opened the door, and he suddenly remembered the taste of her skin, and the sounds she’d made, and the way he’d fucked her in his fantasies that morning.

  Her hair was down today. It slid past her shoulders in shiny blond waves. Her eyes glinted green in the sunlight, and her teeth pressed nervously into her plump bottom lip. When she spoke, Nate forced his gaze away from her mouth to meet her eyes.

  “Come in!” she announced, stepping back and drawing his attention to her bare feet and red toes. Then her bare legs. And the short black skirt. His brain flashed to an image he’d had that morning, of parting her legs and putting his mouth to her pale, sweet thigh. And then higher.

  Oh, fuck.

  “I think this was a bad idea,” she said, and he yanked his eyes from their unfortunate journey up her legs. “I shouldn’t have invited you over.”

  “I’m sorry. I—”

  “The only thing I have here is breakfast food. I can make eggs and home fries. God, I don’t even have any bacon. An omelet, maybe? I’m sorry. I just wanted…” Her voice faded into an uncertain quiet.

  Nate’s mind was still spinning, but he latched onto her last word. “You wanted what?”

  She bit her lip again, denting the tender pink flesh until he wanted to make her stop so he could lick the hurt away. His cock stirred at the thought of gently sucking her lip until she groaned. She’d open for him then. Give him her mouth. Her tongue. Her need.

  “I wanted to…” She shifted, her gaze falling to the floor, but Nate was distracted by the neckline of her blue sweater slowly sliding down. The gentle turn of her shoulder was revealed in torturous increments. The hollow above her collarbone. The silky strap of her black bra. The soft skin just at the front of her shoulder. God, he wanted to taste her right there. This time he didn’t look away from the tempting sight when he spoke. “What did you want, Jenny?”

  He heard the soft shush of her inhaling. Her nervousness stoked his lust. “I wanted to be alone with you. Last night, we were interrupted. And I wished we weren’t.”

  Nate set the bottle on the kitchen counter.

  “Do you want a glass of wine?” she asked.

  “No.” That wasn’t what he wanted at all. He reached slowly toward her, giving her time to move away. But she held her ground. “Your sweater’s sliding off,” he murmured, but he didn’t fix it. Instead, he brushed his thumb against the sweet expanse of skin that had become exposed. Jesus, she was soft. He felt goose bumps rise under his touch. “Jenny,” he said, thinking that he needed to ask her something. Say something. But he couldn’t recall what it was. Because he could feel the way her breath came faster as he touched her, and he was closer now, though he couldn’t remember moving, and his hand slid higher, up toward her neck, while she sighed and arched into him. Her neck… she liked that so much, when he kissed her there.

  So he bent his head and kissed her neck. She gasped as if she’d been holding her breath for long minutes. Nick spread his fingers over the delicate muscles that tensed beneath him as she pressed closer to his mouth. He gave her what she wanted, scraping his teeth along her sensitive skin.

  “Oh, God,” she whispered, and suddenly they were right back where they’d left off. Jenny whimpering and Nate hard as a rock as he pressed his hips to hers. What questions could possibly exist that couldn’t be answered by the taste of her, the feel of her body? Whatever concerns he’d meant to address were surely solved by her hands sliding around his waist. She snuck beneath his flannel shirt and tugged his T-shirt from his jeans.

  For a split second, every neuron in his brain was focused on that one thing, that one promise of her hands and his skin and…

  Christ, he finally felt her fingers on his bare back and every goal he’d ever had in life was supplanted by the need to feel her naked against him. Her breasts against his chest. Her legs entwined with his. And her sweet, tentative hand around his cock.

  The thought made his hands shake as he finally kissed her mouth. Whatever this insane chemistry was, she must have felt it, too, because she kissed him back with wild need and he felt the sudden, delicious bite of her fingernails in his back.

  This was the woman who needed to drive fast. Who needed speed and danger and freedom. Nate dragged her sweater up, only breaking the kiss for a moment to pull it over her head. Then their mouths were sucking and biting and licking again, and it was her bare skin now. And his hands. And she was so hot, her skin so soft as he traced the line of her spine.

  She turned her head to gasp, “Your shirt,” so Nate shrugged out of his flannel shirt as she helped to push his tee up and off his body. And then, thank every god that had ever lived, her stomach was pressed to his and she groaned in relief as he unhooked her bra and tugged that off, too.

  “Yes,” she said, her breasts pressing tight against him as she drew her hands along his shoulders and over his arms. “Oh, God, you’re so damn gorgeous.”

  His male ego thrilled at the lust in her voice, but he shook his head. Nothing about his body could begin to compare to hers. Just the sight of her shoulders, completely bare, her hair falling around them, then the plump rise of her breasts against him. “God. Just…please, Jenny.” He eased her back, giving up the feel of her for the sight.

  She turned her head slightly, as if she didn’t want to watch him seeing her, and he was relieved, because his eyes would’ve betrayed him. He was used to being shielded in a uniform and sunglasses. Impervious and unfeeling. But he knew he looked stunned right now. Overwhelmed that she
was exposed to him. Her beautiful breasts, tipped with small nipples such a deep pink that his mouth watered at the sight of them.

  He cupped a hand carefully over her breast. His fingers looked rough and dark against her perfect skin, her breast too small to fill his grasp. He teased her nipple with his thumb, watching it grow tighter. He heard her breathing quicken and looked up to see her watching now, her gaze locked on his thumb as he teased her.

  He’d thought he was as hard as he could get, but then her eyes focused on her own breast as he rolled her nipple between his fingers…God. He wanted her watching him as he did…other things to her.

  “Jenny?” He made himself stop teasing her and slide his hand away. She finally looked up, her lips parted, eyes dark. “Where’s your bed?”

  Her eyes stayed clouded with lust for a moment, but when they cleared, she smiled. That familiar smile, reminding him of who was half-naked in his arms: cute, maddening Jenny Stone. “Right this way,” she said, taking his hand to lead him toward an abbreviated hallway. “I feel a little silly wearing just my skirt.”

  “You should.” He devoured the sight of her naked back and the swell of her breast when she twisted to smile at him. “In fact, you should take that off right now to save yourself further embarrassment.”

  Her laugh made him smile like a besotted fool, or maybe that was the way she stopped next to her bed and unzipped her skirt. When she let it drop to the floor, Nate stopped grinning and reached for her hips. He groaned and slid his hands beneath her black panties to grip her ass.

  He squeezed her, pulling her close so he could nibble her neck. “I’d like to point out…” he murmured against her skin, “that I came to the saloon before I ever saw your ass.”

  Her laugh ended in a small shudder when he sucked just below her ear. “What does that mean?”

  Fuck, she was soft and plump and hot beneath his grip. “Because at some point, you’re going to accuse me of being obsessed with your ass, and I’m going to remind you that I had no idea you had the most perfect ass I’ve ever seen, because you were always in your car.”

  “You haven’t even seen it yet.”

  “Good point.”

  He spun her around and slipped her panties off while she laughed a breathless protest.

  “Jesus Christ, Ms. Stone. Are you trying to kill me?”

  “Yes.” She arched into him when he pressed his hips to her generous backside and cupped her breasts in his hand. “It’s part of my plan to keep you from pulling me over again.”

  “Letting me see you naked is not the way to keep me off your ass. Your instincts…” He snuck a hand down her stomach, loving the way her muscles jumped. “Are faulty.” She parted her thighs just as he realized it was all smooth skin between them. Christ. Smooth skin and wetness and…

  She cried out when he touched her clit. “My instincts seem pretty damn spectacular right…now.”

  He couldn’t disagree. He also couldn’t speak. She was liquid heat beneath his fingers. Slickness. Wetness. He needed to feel that around him. He needed to bury his cock inside her right now, but he was still wearing jeans, still separated from her body by torturous millimeters of denim and cotton. And he couldn’t let her go, because she was working herself against his fingers now, her hand pressing his closer as her other hand rose to grab the nape of his neck.

  God, she needed this. She was on fire for it. But he felt insane with the need to sink himself deep. To lose himself inside her. He slid his hand lower and drove two fingers into her pussy.

  “Ah!” she cried out. “Yes. Just…”

  Her fingernails dug into his neck as he held her with one hand and used the other to tug at the button of his jeans. He finally freed his cock and immediately pressed it to the warm skin of her ass. The feel of her body soaked into him, bringing just enough pleasure to make him groan in pain.

  “God. Jenny. Please.”

  “Don’t stop,” she urged as his fingers slipped out of her.

  “Please,” he begged. “I need to—”

  “No!” Her hand tightened around his wrist. She needed it so badly. He couldn’t say no. But his cock ached, feeling too thick for his own skin.

  “Please,” he rasped. “You want me inside you, don’t you? You need it?”

  She nodded.

  “Then just give me one second. Please.” Fuck, he’d get on his knees and beg if she wanted him to. “Give me a second and then I’ll fuck you. Deep and—”

  She moaned and let his hand go so he could dig the condom out of his pocket and tear the package open. His hands shook, but he managed to get the condom on in record time. He had a brief, frantic thought that he should turn her around. Ease her onto the bed. Kiss her. Take her gently. It was their first time.

  But Jenny had other ideas. She raised one foot to the mattress and tossed an impatient look over her shoulder. Nothing gentle, then. Not this time. Nate bent his knees slightly, notching the head of his cock against her. He eased up slowly, pressing in, opening her for his body. When she gasped and swayed, he curved an arm around her chest to hold her steady as he pushed relentlessly in.

  Her voice edged into breathlessness. She whimpered his name, but Nate didn’t stop. He pressed deeper into her tightness, nearly dizzy with relief and pleasure and animal satisfaction as she squeezed around him. But when he was as deep as he could get, the satisfaction turned immediately to clawing hunger.

  He pulled her tight against his chest and slipped his fingers along her slick flesh until he found her clit again. When he withdrew and thrust into her, Jenny cried out so loudly it was nearly a scream.

  “Is that what you wanted?” he growled into her ear.

  “Yes,” she panted, the word pushed out by a hard thrust of his hips. “Yes.”

  “God, you feel so good,” he groaned, and then he couldn’t say more, because it was too much. Too good. Too hot and tight as she arched her back to take him deeper. He tried to concentrate on his fingers, determined to get her off and fully aware that if he focused on the exquisite slide of her body around his cock, he’d lose it. He’d come fast and hard, and he needed that, too, but what he absolutely couldn’t live without was getting her off. Hearing her scream. Feeling her shudder around him.

  God. Please.

  She said his name then. Her body went taut. She threw her head back.

  Please. Yes. Come for me. He pressed his mouth to her ear. “Come for me, Jenny.”

  She cried out then, her hips jerking against his hold, against his cock. Nate closed his eyes, determined not to come yet. Determined to let her ride every spasm as it shook through her. She sounded just as he’d imagined she would, desperate and wild and beautiful, her voice breaking into little bits of joy that burned straight through him.

  He drove himself into her, finally, over and over, until his own climax crashed into him. He clenched his teeth against the painful wave of pleasure, biting back a ragged cry. When he was spent, he eased Jenny down to the bed before he slid free of her body and collapsed to the mattress.

  Thank God they’d been at the bed, or he might have simply fallen to his knees like a dying man. He felt as if his soul had been scooped out. Jenny looked similarly weak, from what he could tell past the mess of golden hair that had fallen over her face. Nate reached to the table to grab a tissue and get rid of the condom before collapsing again.

  He turned toward her and tried to ease some of the hair from her face. “Are you in there?”

  “Sorry,” she whispered before she shoved her hair back. “Here I am.” Her cheeks were flushed already, but they turned pinker as he watched, and her eyes slid down to focus on his chest. “So.”

  He tipped his head to try to catch her eye. “Are you okay?”

  “Sure.”

  Nate suddenly recalled the moment when he’d thought of being slow and careful. Then he recalled that he’d tossed that thought away and fucked her hard. “Jenny? I’m serious. Are you okay?”

  “God!” She turned her face
to the mattress and shook her head, spiking his alarm into the red-alert zone. He was reaching carefully toward her when she squeaked. “I don’t know what to say. I’m not usually so…”

  “So, what?”

  “So…dirty? Oh, God. That was dirty, wasn’t it?”

  Relief slammed through him with a force that knocked the air from his lungs. When he could breathe again, he agreed. “Yeah. It was. Filthy, even.”

  “Stop!” Her shoulders shook, but he could see from the line of her jaw that she was laughing.

  “If you were trying to throw me off, you went about it all wrong. That’s no way to shake a tail.”

  “Nate!”

  He cupped a hand over her shoulder and turned her toward him. She only resisted for a moment before rolling to her side. Still, she refused to open her eyes.

  “Hey.” He dragged a finger along her jaw, then over her lips. Her eyes finally fluttered open. “Did you mean that?”

  “What?” she asked warily.

  “That you got especially dirty for me?”

  Her eyes glittered past her lashes as she watched him. “Maybe,” she finally said.

  Pride swelled so quickly in his chest that Nate worried it might press too tight against his heart and cause trouble. It certainly felt as if it was doing damage. “I like that.”

  She smiled. “Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.”

  Actually, it surprised him. Not that he liked intense sex with her, but how much he liked it. His chest still felt strange, warm and woolly with the idea that she’d given him a glimpse of her that others didn’t get. But he let her think it was as simple as she thought it was.

  “Jenny…” He swept her hair back again, but this time he let his hand trail over her shoulder, her arm, then her hip. God. Her beautiful hip.

  “You like saying my name,” she said with a coy smile.

  “It’s because I had to say ‘Ms. Stone’ for so long. It felt like torture.”

  “Poor Deputy Hendricks.”

  Her sweet, teasing words caused a niggling in his brain. Then a tense tug. And then he remembered. What he’d meant to ask her about. The complications he’d meant to avoid. And now… What had he done?