I wanted to get closer to her, to pull her into my arms, but I worried she’d bolt. So I stood still, hands at my sides, coiled rope slack in my fingers.
“There’s something between us, sugar. Can’t you feel it?”
“We have chemistry.” She shrugged as if what this was between us was just chemistry. Fuck no. It was so much more than that. “It’s been awhile for me. I’m on vacation and this is a fling. You heard my sister on the damned speakerphone, I needed to get laid.”
“I’ll a
gree with the last. You did need to get laid.”
Her lips thinned and I held up my free hand.
“But not just with any guy. Not some guy on your flight, not the rental car agent. Not even the guy at the reception desk. You wanted us. Why?” I paused, but answered for her. “Because you’re drawn to us just as we’re drawn to you.”
“I don’t even know you,” she snapped.
“I could say I know what you look like when you come or the color of your nipples. I know you have a scar on the inside of your knee and a little mole on the inside of your thigh. Just as well as you know the feel of my dick on your tongue.”
Her cheeks flushed again, this time for a completely different reason.
“That’s it, I’m out of here.” She turned on her heel but before she could get up the two steps to the porch, I’d dropped the rope to the ground except for the tail end, circled it over my head and whipped my wrist, sending it through the air so the lasso wrapped around her. All the years competing in calf roping finally paid off.
As soon as it got about her waist, I tugged, tightening the loop, but not too hard to have her fall over.
She gasped, spun about, but her arms were pinned at her side. She wasn’t as wiggly as a calf, but she was just as ornery about being roped. “Colt!”
I reeled her in, hand over hand on the rope as I walked toward her until she stood in front of me. “Let me go.”
“Trying to get away?” Micah called, coming around the side of the cabin. Since we’d made the decision to spend the night, he’d been tending to the horses, settling them into the lean-to and small corral. He had one of the saddle bags which I knew held the food provided by the guest ranch kitchen for Lacey’s outing. They never skimped—and had expected two guests, not one—so I had no doubt there was enough for us until we returned tomorrow. We wouldn’t go hungry. If we got her soothed and settled, content to spend the night with us, my concern was whether we had enough condoms.
He set the bag on the porch, then joined me, putting his hand on her shoulder, sliding it down her arm.
“What’s the matter?” he asked.
“Besides being hogtied?” She wriggled again, but the rope was snug about her elbows, securing them to her waist.
“That’s not a hogtie. Trust me, sugar, those are no fun. This? This is just a way to keep you in one place so I can finish what I was saying.”
She huffed and stomped her bare foot on the soft grass.
“What were you saying?” Micah asked.
“That while I didn’t know everything about her, I knew some.”
“Like the way she likes dirty talk?”
Her cheeks turned red and Micah grinned at the sight.
“That, but I was about to say that I wanted to know everything about her. I wanted to spend the night learning more. Out of bed. Then, hopefully, in.”
“Why? You got what you wanted,” she countered, repeating herself. She stuck out her lower lip and blew her hair out of her face. Since she didn’t have use of her hands, I reached out, tucked the curl back behind her ear for her.
“Not even close.” Her eyes lifted to mine at the sharper tone. I’d reined her in physically, but it was time to take over. “We want everything from you.”
She frowned, stilled. “Everything? What does that even mean? Like money?”
Micah shook his head, ignored her ridiculous comment about money. “We want you. Your body, your heart. Your soul.” I’d never heard Micah say those words before. They were too important, too valuable to say to just anyone.
“What?” she asked, her voice filled with soft confusion.