Karen Kelley - How to Seduce a Texan

“You know I did,” he barely got out as he tried to take a deep breath and couldn’t.

“I liked it, too. The hard length, the soft tip, running my tongue over it.” Her movements increased.

He moved to a sitting position, pulled her in closer, making the connection tighter. She bit her bottom lip and closed her eyes.

“Oh, damn, this feels good,” she said. “Oh, oh, I think I’m almost there.”

Her words seemed to come from a tunnel as his world exploded all around him. He sat straighter, grabbing her ass and holding her against him. She cried out as her orgasm swept over her.

Their breathing was ragged in the quiet of the late afternoon. Had he ever had such incredible sex as he’d just experienced?

He didn’t think so.

She laughed. He frowned.

“Is that another good laugh or a bad laugh?” he asked.

Nikki leaned away from him and stared into his eyes. “Definitely good.” Her smile was wide and mischievous. “But very, very messy. I think I need a trip to the river.”

“Good idea.” She frowned. “I’m starved, too.”

“It hasn’t been that long since we ate.”

She shrugged as she stood. “Sex always makes me hungry. What can I say?”

“Okay, but leave your panties here.”

“Why? So you won’t be the only naked one? Are you embarrassed?”

He shook his head as he let his gaze roam over her. God, she had a magnificent body. “No, this is Camp Braxton and you’re not allowed to wear clothes.”

Her smile was slow. “I think I like this camp.” She removed her thong and tossed it to the side.

It didn’t take them long to wash up since the water was ice cold. When they returned to camp, Cal dug out a bag of marshmallows and found branches. He took his knife and trimmed the ends of the branches until he had a sharp point on each.

“Oh, we’re going to roast marshmallows. Cool. I’ve always wanted to know what they taste like.”

He looked at her. “Don’t tell me you’ve never roasted marshmallows?” He added more branches and had flames in no time.

She shook her head. “No, but I always wondered what it would be like to go to camp and do all the things that other girls were doing.”

He studied her.

“Not a nudist camp. Well, not until I got older.” She grinned. “No, I always wanted to go to a summer camp. My parents thought it would be a bad influence.”

“Well, I’m here to round out your education, but fair warning, I am a bad influence.”

“Oh, I’d say you’re certainly that.”

When Cal returned her smile, warmth washed over her. Not the sexual kind she usually experienced when he looked at her. This was different. It made her feel good on the inside, but it worried her, too.

Cal handed her a stick with a marshmallow on the end. She dutifully stuck it in the fire, like he was doing with his. When it burst into flame, she quickly blew it out.

“It’s burnt,” she said.

“That’s the best part.” He pinched off the burnt part on his and stuck it in his mouth.

It didn’t look very appetizing but she’d try just about anything once. The burnt part slid right off. She blew on it before sticking the gooey mess into her mouth.

“So?”

“Okay, it’s good, but now my tongue is stuck to the roof of my mouth.” She laughed.

“The hazards of eating roasted marshmallows.” He grinned, then brought another one out of the fire. “Have you ever been serious about anyone?”

“Why?” Where was he going with this conversation?

“You want to know more about my past affairs, it’s only fair you tell me about yours.”

“But you haven’t told me anything about yours except your fiancée broke up with you.”

“You tell me and then I’ll tell you.”

She was finally getting somewhere. Nikki thought back to the last guy she’d fallen for. Her forehead wrinkled.

“Have you ever been serious about anyone?” he asked.

“Of course I have.” Had it been that long ago? There hadn’t been anyone she would say that she’d been serious about in college. There had been a guy in high school, though. “His name was Phillip. We were seniors in high school. I went to the prom with him.”

“High school?”

“I’m picky about who I get serious with.”

“What happened?”

She shrugged. “We went to different colleges.”

“So distance didn’t make the heart grow fonder.” Cal blew on his flaming marshmallow, then popped it into his mouth.

“He wasn’t that good in the backseat of a car. We couldn’t afford a motel room.” She remembered back. “I think we had more of a connection talking about what we wanted to do with our lives. He wanted to be a rocket scientist.”

“Pretty lofty aspirations. What did he become?”

She stabbed two marshmallows onto the end of her stick. “A rocket scientist.” She stuck her stick into the fire, then looked at Cal. “He works for NASA.”

“You’re serious?”

She nodded. “We’ve kept in touch over the years. He married and had a couple of kids.”

“And you haven’t been serious about anyone since high school?”

The way Cal put it, it did seem like an awfully long time. She’d been busy with her career and hadn’t had time to date anyone seriously.

“No one has made your heart beat faster?”

Only Cal. As soon as the thought hit her, her heart began to thump so loudly she thought he would probably hear it. She swallowed past the sudden lump in her throat.

“Pathetic, aren’t I?” Nikki tried for a smile but didn’t think she pulled it off, so she concentrated instead on burning the marshmallows on her stick.

She wasn’t falling in love with Cal. She barely knew the man. There was a lot she liked about him, sure, but there was a wide gap between like and love. Besides, he’d kill her if he knew the real reason she was at the ranch.

The thought that he would find out made her stomach churn. He would eventually when he saw the story she’d write, and she would write it. She’d never given up on a story yet. That’s why they called her The Barracuda. Her job defined who she was. She had to do the article. Her shoulders slumped. But it didn’t mean she had to like it.

“I wouldn’t say pathetic.” He laid his stick to the side. His gaze drifted over her. “Maybe you haven’t been looking in the right places for love.”

“What if I don’t want to find it,” she said. “I have too much happening right now with my career. I don’t want to settle down.”

“Your librarian career?”

She drew in a deep breath. “And my writing.” It wasn’t really a lie, she told herself. Yeah, right, then why did she feel bad?

“You don’t have a ring on your finger, either,” she said, changing the topic back to him. She would get the blasted story and be done with it.

He leaned back on his elbow. The fire cast him in shadows and light and it was all she could do not to stare. He was magnificent in all his naked glory. His tanned muscles were as firm as they looked.

“I plan on getting married someday, having a few kids, but I’m not in any hurry,” he said.

“But you never did say why your fiancée broke off the engagement,” she prodded. “Why was there no happily ever after?”

He raised his gaze to hers. “I wasn’t always the good guy, Nikki.”

She felt the color drain from her face. What? Did he beat women? Take steroids? Illegal sports betting?

Did she want to know? And if she did, would she be able to write about it?

She had a feeling her life was about to get a lot more complicated, and not in a good way.

Brian watched Celeste as she stood in front of the stall. Her back had stiffened. He almost wished he hadn’t asked about her parents.