He paused to nibble on the side of her neck. He pulled his thumb almost free, pressing against his shaft through the membrane as he did, pushing it back in, feeling her pussy writhe and his cock throb as his calluses dragged against her tender inner flesh. “Do you understand?” She tilted her head to the side, facilitating his caress. “Yes. Oh yes.”
“Good.” With a click of his tongue, he urged Shameless forward.
He came twice more before finally drawing Shameless to a stop. He’d lost count how many times Elizabeth had come. Once she’d started, she hadn’t seemed able to stop. The pulses of her last orgasm were still shuddering through her body, and her anus was clenching on his thumb as he tried to pull free.
Her protest was immediate. “Not yet. Please. Not yet.”
“You want a little longer?” he asked against the top of her head.
“Please.”
He slid his thumb almost all the way out, and then slowly pushed back. Her pussy clenched around his softening cock, massaging it gently as he fucked her ass with his thumb.
“Like that?”
She shuddered and pushed down. “Yes. Perfect.”
He made a mental note of her enjoyment as he fucked her gently, bringing her down slowly. Her climax, when it came, was easy and sweet. When it was over, he slid his thumb from her ass and eased her off his softening cock.
She sagged against him breathlessly. Boneless and replete. She didn’t even protest when he unbuttoned his duster to lift and seat her crosswise over his lap. As he buttoned her back in, he felt her hands at his fly, returning the favor. Her task was complicated by material that was damp from their combined releases.
When she finished his pants, she worked on the front of her shirt, relying on his strength to keep her in the saddle, she asked, “Do you think Cougar will be happy with that Emily Carmichael?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know either of them, so I couldn’t say.”
She resettled her cheek in the wake of his movement. “I hope so.”
“You used to be sweet on this Cougar fella?”
“He’s a very decent man.”
When he thought of a decent man, Asa pictured someone harmless enough not to have options. Cougar McKinnely had the look of his namesake. Savage. Unpredictable. Dangerous. “That doesn’t answer my question.”
“When I was sixteen, I thought he was my hero.”
“Sixteen, huh? How old was he?”
“Nineteen.”
He refused to acknowledge the slight clutch in his stomach as jealousy. “What happened to change your mind?”
“I grew up and realized life doesn’t allow heroes.”
“He didn’t live up to your expectations?” Not surprising for a nineteen-year-old faced with the worship of a sixteen-year-old.
“He almost died for trying.” She seemed willing to let the conversation end there.
“Whoa, darlin’!” He tipped her chin away from the haven of his chest. Her expression was stubborn. Her lips pursed mutinously. “You can’t just drop things there.”
“Why not?”
“Because it sounds like I owe McKinnely.”
“It happened long before I met you.”
“You’re still my wife.”
She sighed. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
He could be as stubborn as she. “I do.”
She folded her arms across her chest and pressed her lips so tightly together, they all but disappeared.
Shameless tripped in a hole, jerking them a bit. As rigidly as Elizabeth was sitting, she almost popped off. Lucky for her, he had quick reflexes. “Got ya.”
“I never had any doubt.” She probably hadn’t as she hadn’t made a move to save herself.
That bit of trust went a long way to soothing his irritation. “You really going to leave me hanging like that?”
“There’s no need to go into something that happened long ago.”
Apparently she thought so, but there was more than one way to skin a cat. “I guess if you’re so set against finishing the story, I’ll be dropping the subject.”
Her “thank you” was carefully controlled, telling him she had a lot of emotions packed into it. Probably thought her secret was safe. He felt like smiling but didn’t. The woman really had to spend more time studying his nature rather than assuming she knew him, ‘cause sure enough, he wasn’t letting this go. He was just going to change his angle of attack. McKinnely probably wouldn’t be as tightlipped. He’d just ask him.
They rode in silence for awhile. Though he had his wife in his arms, Asa felt her withdrawal like a windstorm from the north. He’d always dreamed marriage would be an end to being alone, but he was discovering it wasn’t a cure for loneliness. Just the opposite. It could, he decided on a sigh, serve to point out how far a desperate man could grasp.
Elizabeth broke the silence. “Millicent said Emily wanted no part of Cougar.”
Apparently, they were back to the original subject. That strange knot took root in his stomach again. “Uh-huh.”
He felt her cheek working against his chest. He wondered if she were biting her lip. Through the gloom, he could see the ranch house.