My mom had gobbled up all the lies every man had fed her. Over and over again. She never learned.
I’d seen through their bullshit when she hadn’t. Right here, right now, this didn’t feel the same.
It felt… more. That hope I felt, it grew to include him.
He took my hand. “Come on. I want to show you something.”
I let him lead me down the hall and through his kitchen. I took in what I could as we went. The appliances were modern, but the house had a casual, homey feel. The place was neat. I didn’t even see a dish in the sink.
He led me out the door and to a barn set back in a field, painted the same crisp white as the house.
Inside, the space was huge. One large room. While the house wasn’t modern, the barn deceptively was and definitely not used for animals. There were skylights in the vaulted ceiling, the back wall a long row of sliding glass doors that let in even more light and offered a pretty view of the fields and the mountains in the distance.
Huge metal sculptures filled most of the space. Some were finished, some in various stages of work. Large and small sheets of metal leaned up against a wall. Buckets of scraps were lined up by a workbench. Fuel tanks were in a corner.
“What is all this?” I asked, wandering.
“My studio,” he replied. “I’m a sculptor. I weld metal to make things.”
I went over to one of the projects. It was a huge elk, life-size, made completely of different kinds of metal. Shiny sheets, corrugated sections. Nuts and bolts. Rusted rivets and other pieces that looked like they had come from a junkyard. Combined, it was stunning. While it was clunky and huge and heavy, the animal appeared to be moving, as if charging or bugling for a mate.
It had to weigh a thousand pounds. It was massive, manly. Aggressive. Bold. Just like the artist. This wasn’t just making things.
He was really talented.
“You made this?”
He tucked his hands into his jeans pockets and nodded. He pointed toward the door. “That asshole was here because he was interested in a commission. He came into some money and wants something made.”
Next to it was another animal piece, half done.
“You’re… famous. They’re amazing.”
He replied to the praise with a chin lift. “I’m showing you these so you know I don’t sit around and watch football. Well, every once in a while with my brother, but the only time you’ll bring me a beer is if you’re grabbing one for yourself and you’re coming to sit in my lap.”
“Oh.”
He crooked his finger again, like he did the day before. I went to him.
“I want you,” he said. Three words summed up how he felt.
“Just like that? You saw me, you want me, so you got Nancy to have me clean your house to get me here?”
“If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m a bossy guy. I didn’t think tossing you over my shoulder at another job and kidnapping you was going to work.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “You’re probably right.”
“Give us a chance, beautiful. Fuck, I want more of those kisses.” His gaze dropped to my body, raked over me as if he had X-ray vision. “On your mouth. Your body. I wondered yesterday if you were wet because I was hard as a fence post. I am now, too.”
I glanced down and I couldn’t miss the thick bulge in his jeans.
“But now I have to know,” he continued. “Is your pussy all needy after that kiss?”
I gasped and squeezed my thighs together. He must have seen the subtle motion because he groaned and picked me up, carried me to a workbench and sat me on it. Nudging my knees apart, he stood between them. We were eye level.
His breath mingled with mine. I recognized his scent now. Craved it. His hands rested on my hips. Holding me. Waiting.
“Is it?” he prodded.
This was the moment where I had to decide. Tell the truth and he’d know I was into him just as much as he was into me, although he already knew. He wouldn’t be pushing me if I wasn’t into it. He wanted me to admit it. To consent to being right there with him.
“Yes,” I whispered.
That one word and he groaned. His lips were back on mine. My hands went to his waist, slid around his back beneath his shirt. Felt the play of his muscles, the heat of his skin. My t-shirt lifted and we broke the kiss long enough for him to drop it onto the workbench beside me.
My ankles hooked about his hips as I tilted my head back. He kissed down my neck and across the swells of my breasts above my plain white bra. It felt so good, his lips. The rough calluses on his palms as he undid the clasp on my bra and cupped my bare breasts. He was the first to touch me like this because Tommy hadn’t taken any time with me.
I cried out, suddenly frantic. Needy. My fingers went to his belt, and I tried to work the buckle open, but who could do such a task when a hot cowboy’s mouth was latched onto my nipple?
He helped me, getting his jeans open and his dick out in record time. Taking my hand from his back, he placed it on his hard length and wrapped my fingers around it. Barely. They couldn’t even touch, he was that big. My pussy clenched in anticipation… and concern for it fitting. Tommy had taken my virginity in the back seat of his car and it had hurt. We’d skipped most of the steps and he’d only lifted my skirt and stuck it in me. I’d been dry and it had hurt so fucking bad, especially with a condom. He’d been a two-pump chump and that had been it.
I hadn’t been eager like this, or wet. While I’d never seen Tommy’s dick, it had felt big as he’d pushed it inside me. But nothing like this. I looked down.
It was huge. It was hot beneath my palm. The skin was taut and silky smooth, yet it was rock-hard. I’d never thought it was sexy to do this, but I’d never imagined myself being this aroused. I’d made him this hard.
Tommy had never made me feel like this. Wild, hot. Frantic. I’d been hotter for Hot Cowboy just looking at him across the Wainright kitchen than I had with Tommy. I’d been young and all I’d wanted was to lose my virginity. To get it over with. Hell, to get Tommy to want to be with me. Stupid, because it turned out, he’d been like all the other guys, into Paisley more. Once she found out what he and I had done, she offered him more than spreading her legs in the back seat. She’d sucked Tommy’s dick in the janitor’s closet after US History class.
He’d dumped me for her talented mouth. Paisley had…
“Where’d you go, beautiful?” he asked, blowing on my nipple and watching it harden. His hand was still around mine on his dick showing me how he wanted me to move.
“I’m not good at this,” I admitted, worried he’d think twice about this.
He looked up at me, those dark eyes meeting mine. A soft smile curved his lips. “You’re doing just fine.” I gave him a little squeeze and he muttered fuck under his breath.
I licked my lips. “I mean, I’m not very experienced.”
His head popped up, eyes wide. “You’re a virgin?” He looked me over as if he could tell.
Shaking my head. “No. Not officially, but I might as well be. You really don’t want to know about my sex life, do you?”
His jaw clenched and he took my hand off his dick. “What you did before we met isn’t my business. Unless the fucker hurt you. Then it is.”