Cowboys in Charge Read online

  She felt as nervous as when she’d first met him. She’d wanted to impress the brother of her college roommate, having decided he was the man she wanted from the instant she’d seen his picture. That ruggedly carved, handsome face with his sky blue eyes and jet-black hair had called to her. Mine, mine, mine. She’d thought that then, and she felt that way now.

  Slowly she made her way down the stairs. The tree lights were on and the tree and all of the decorations she’d put up looked beautiful. It had taken her all day to put everything out and decorate the tree. His family had always waited to put up their tree on Christmas Eve, a tradition which she was ready to change. She wanted to enjoy it for more than a few days. Hopefully he would be okay with her idea.

  She heard the garage door opening and closing and hurried into the great room. She settled onto one of the large floor pillows she’d moved next to the tree. Then she waited.

  Adam strode into the kitchen and inhaled the scent of spicy chili. He was glad he could smell again. Damn cold had felt like it had lasted forever.

  A glance toward the small table by the window had him spotting two place settings and a pecan pie. His stomach growled. Amber had gone to a lot of trouble for him and he knew he didn’t deserve it. After he’d sworn to himself that he would spend more time with her, life had gotten even crazier. And he’d gotten a cold. He’d spent most of this last week sleeping in the second bedroom, and he’d hated it. But he’d been determined not to give her his cold if he could help it. Tonight he’d move back to their bedroom. Assuming she’d let him.

  He lifted the lid off the crockpot and drew in the scent of beef, peppers, and his wife’s other secret ingredients. A pan of corn bread sat nearby. She spoiled him, even when they were at odds.

  Again his stomach rumbled. But he needed to find her first. He was going to kiss the hell out of her now that he wasn’t contagious anymore. Then he was going to…

  “I’m in here,” he heard her call from the next room.

  His heart raced at her familiar voice, at a curious softness in her tone. God, he loved her.

  He started forward and then froze. What the hell had he been thinking today? Going into town to meet with a few of the ranchers about some area news. He’d forgotten all about what day it was, all about putting up the Christmas tree. Damn, damn, damn. He’d let his wife down.

  He patted his pocket and the envelope he had there. Hopefully what he’d bought her would go a ways toward showing her how much she meant to him.

  Braced for seeing her and disappointment on her beautiful face, he stepped into the great room. Christmas had taken over. His mother’s nativity set and collection of angels sat on the mantel. He’d almost forgotten about them since his father hadn’t put them out in the few years since she’d died. Stockings were hung and looked stuffed, but he couldn’t imagine with what. Most amazingly, she had put up their tree and decorated it. She’d gone to all of this effort for him…for them. His heart swelled with so much love for her that he feared it would burst.

  Then he spotted her sitting just to the side of the tree. How had he not noticed her first? He really was out of it. But, admittedly, the rest had taken him by surprise. She sat on a big pillow, wearing a barely-there, white fringy outfit of some kind. Her breasts nearly toppled out of the skimpy bodice and the sides were cut deeply, showing a lot of bare skin. She wore a white wide-brimmed hat and short white boots. His cowgirl.

  “I hope…” He had to clear his throat and start again. “I hope you aren’t planning on wearing that get-up for long.” He was going to rip it off of her in about another minute.

  His sexy wife put her hands down and casually lifted the front of the skirt, which was really all just fringe. No panties. Not even a thong. “We don’t even have to wait for you to take this off me.”

  His palms were sweating. His cock was demanding freedom, ready to drive deep between those amazing legs. There was so much he wanted to say to her. He’d practiced it on the way home, couldn’t seem to remember a damn word of it now.

  He walked straight to her and went down on his knees. “Don’t ever leave me.” He’d been worrying about that for days.

  She blinked. “Why would I do that? You’re the other half of me.” She gave him a sassy grin. “Maybe not the best half. But I wouldn’t be whole without you.”

  He closed his eyes for a second, then looked at her, and his heart swelled. “I’m going to change things around here. Jake will take on more responsibilities. I’ll have more time, I promise. Time I plan to spend with you.”

  Her lower lip wobbled and she bit down on it. He reached out to touch her mouth and heard the crinkle of the paper in his coat pocket. He hadn’t even taken off his jacket yet in his need to find her. Uncertainly he pulled the envelope out and handed it to her.

  “It’s tickets for a Caribbean cruise, next spring.” He couldn’t wait for her to open it, had to tell her. “We were going to do it for our honeymoon, but I chickened out. Worried about getting seasick. But there’s a patch for that, I hear.”

  She smiled, tears sparkling in her eyes. She put a finger to his mouth to stop him from rambling. “I love you so much. Even more because you’re willing to do that for me.” Then she laughed softly and reached behind her to something she’d obviously stuck in the tree. “Like minds…sort of.”

  Confused, he accepted the envelope she pushed at him. Just as he’d done, she didn’t wait for him to open it. “Tickets to the Super Bowl.”

  He gaped at her. “No kidding? The Super Bowl?” He pulled her into his arms and hugged her so tightly she squeaked. Easing up, he said, “You’re the best wife ever, and I’m never letting you go.”

  She flipped off her hat. “Are you going to take off your coat and stay awhile? Maybe take off everything else, too?” She waggled an eyebrow at him. “You want to cowboy-up this time? Or am I going all cowgirl-gone-wild again?”

  He began yanking off his clothes, breathing hard, so damn ready for anything and everything. “Not that I don’t enjoy you going cowgirl wild, but I’m taking charge this time.”

  She peeled off her outfit, grinning. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

  Cowboys and Their Toys

  Jennifer’s head pounded as she watched Jason walk out of the bathroom, a towel slung low across his hips. He’d already showered and shaved. All she’d done was lay here in bed, her body slowly recovering. Her cowboy had woken up early this morning, not to get started with ranch chores. No, he’d had a serious hard-on and a major desire to play games. She didn’t mind his wilder times really, but sometimes he pushed the edge. This had been one of those days, particularly since she had a hangover.

  He gave her a cocky grin, his brown-eyed gaze intense as he regarded her. She was still where he’d left her, tied spread-eagled across their bed. “You look so damn irresistible this way, sweetheart.” He ambled closer, reaching down to trail his fingertips up one inner thigh and down the other. As she trembled, he blew out a ragged breath as well. “Mine, all mine.”

  He’d spent over an hour proving just how much he was in control when he tied her down. The things he could do with those big, long-fingered hands. The ways he could torture her with his talented tongue. She’d nearly passed out from blind pleasure at one point. Then he’d fucked her so hard she’d thought the bed would collapse. After he’d calmed enough to be able to move again, he’d climbed off of her, gotten a wet rag and cleaned her up, but he hadn’t released her before taking his shower. She knew he liked seeing her at his mercy as long as possible. For the most part, she was okay with it. She’d accepted his dominant ways even before they married four years ago.

  His gaze continued to hold her, possessively. As ridiculous as it was, she blushed all over.

  This had never been a lifestyle she’d dreamed about. If any other man had suggested trying the simplest part of BDSM, she would have turned him down before he could take another breath. With Jason, though… She’d trusted him to be careful with her. She’d come
a long way since the first time he’d tied her hands together.

  “I didn’t hurt you, did I?” Concern creased his brow. His quickly towel-dried hair looked sleep rumpled. She liked threading her fingers through the thick, dark hair and wanted to touch it even now.

  “Did I?” he asked again, frowning at her lack of response.

  “No.” She’d thought she might die, being taken from one shattering orgasm to another. But hurt her? No, he hadn’t.

  A masculine smugness replaced the concern. He stroked her inner thighs again; whisper soft, smiling wickedly as she quivered from head to toe. “So responsive,” he said in approval.

  She liked that she pleased him. Sometimes, though, she wondered if she could actually do what he wanted to try. So far she’d never let him down and enjoyed the times when he pushed her limits. But he’d been hinting about taking things a bit deeper, to a more extreme level. She’d balked at the suggestion so far. He hadn’t pressed her about it in the last couple of weeks, but she was pretty sure the idea was still in his head. The worrier in her feared that if she didn’t agree to it, he’d lose interest in her.

  There were a lot of women around who would very much want her hard-bodied, sexy husband. She still had trouble believing he’d gone after her, a somewhat shy part-time teacher instead of one of the more aggressive women in town.

  Forcing her thoughts back to the moment, she said casually, “It’s time, don’t you think? You’re going to be late meeting your friends in town.” She had a lot to do too. “And I need to get started on my Christmas baking.”

  Normally she would have just asked him to let her up now. But she’d gotten in trouble with him last night at the local ranchers’ party. She’d had too much to drink and gotten to be a lot more “party girl” than he liked. Then during the drive home, she’d been foolish enough to sass him about his being a stick in the mud. He’d ended up burning the blazes out of her butt with the “learning” paddle before they went to bed. Her having a tender bottom this morning hadn’t kept him from this wild session. Of course, she’d enjoyed herself. But her bottom was sore again from all the frantic bouncing around and rubbing against the sheets.

  He considered her eyes, frowning. “Still a bit hungover, aren’t you?” He moved down to untie one foot and then the other. “I hope you got the message last night about not drinking yourself silly. We’ve got more parties this week. I don’t want to have to deliver another walloping or two.”

  She didn’t want that either. “No more liquor for me,” she vowed. She drew her legs closer together and sighed in relief.

  “I don’t mind if you drink, Jen. You just need to pay more attention to the number of drinks you down.” He untied her wrists, taking a second to gently massage each one before gently kissing it.

  Her arms tingled, but not from having been restrained so long. There always seemed to be magic in his touches, his kisses. She couldn’t get enough of them.

  But there would be no more now. He nodded at the bathroom, his expression grim. “Go tend to your personal business. I’ll get dressed and then we’ll deal with the other matter.”

  “Other matter?” Her heart raced. He must have told her about another punishment after he’d finished paddling her and she’d laid down crying herself to sleep. He’d been really upset with her. And she did remember calling him a name or two. She only did that when she got drunk and careless with her tongue.

  He opened the top drawer of the nightstand next to the bed. She didn’t want to see what he was going to pull out. Yet she couldn’t look away. Dread curled through her at the sight of the anal plug he used when she’d really misbehaved.

  “You know I didn’t mean what I said,” she said warily. “We don’t have to…” But she knew him. He had made up his mind to do this and it was going to happen.

  His answer was to toss the plug on the bed and walk to the closet for his clothes.

  She thought about staying in the bathroom but she knew that delaying the matter would only upset him more. She’d earned this punishment and she would live with it.

  He was fully dressed by the time she walked out again. He held a tube of lube in one hand and the intimidating plug in the other. “Bend over. Let’s get this done with since we both have things to get to today.”

  Her day would be much better without walking around with a plug up her ass. She could refuse it. Jason never insisted on something she didn’t agree to do. But she was a submissive and accepted that fact. She loved him, even the stern dominant side of him. Resigned, she stood next to the bed and bent over to brace her hands on the mattress. She felt so vulnerable in this position, with her bottom thrust high for him, with him seeing her most private areas.

  “Ease your feet apart a little more.” As she did so, he carefully applied the lubrication around her hole and just inside it. She clenched uncomfortably at the coldness. While she adjusted and waited, he took another second to apply lube to the plug as well. Then he separated her cheeks with one hand, held them apart, and guided the tip of the plug to her rim. “Hold still, sweetheart.”

  Her stomach tightened at the warning. No matter how many ways he’d seen her naked and spread, having him shove a large rubber plug in her ass was embarrassing. She held her breath at first. He worked it in an inch, pulled it almost out, pushed it in further. He always gave her time to adjust. The point of making her wear a punishment plug wasn’t to hurt her, but to give her a reason not to act in a specific way again. It was a difficult lesson to endure.

  “Ready?” He held the plug still just barely inside her rectum and waited for her answer.

  She could still say no and he would stop. She’d never done that to test him, but she knew he would. Dragging this out any longer only made it worse. “Yes.”

  He pressed harder and the plug went past her sensitized sphincter muscles. She grimaced in discomfort as her body took over and pulled the horrible object the rest of the way inside. So full. So awful. The initial sting always made her suck in a breath, just as it did now.

  “Okay?” he asked cautiously. Even if she deserved to be punished, he always let her know he cared about her.

  “Yes,” she hissed. The first sting started fading, but the fullness and oddness would remain for as long as she was required to wear the plug. Sometimes he only made her keep it in for an hour or so. Sometimes it was all day. Once it had been for all night.

  She didn’t move, still adapting to the alien object inside her ass. “How long?” she gritted out.

  He’d walked away and returned to carefully lift one foot and then the other into a pair of tight-fitting exercise shorts. He’d bought them for her specifically for keeping a plug in her bottom as she moved around. He eased them up her legs, drawing her upright, and then patting between her legs to make sure the plug was still in place. “We’ll take it out tonight.”

  Oh, god, all day! She grew edgy, her stomach knotted with dread. The tiny movement made the plug immediately press harder inside her. She wanted to protest, tell him again how sorry she was for her bad behavior. But she didn’t want to disappoint him more. Part of why she didn’t want to wear the plug was it had a tendency to make her sensitive, to arouse her. Already she was feeling the stirring of desire. It would be worse when she actually moved.

  She tried not to think about it, but it was impossible to forget the discomfort she experienced. “We have a dinner at the church tonight.”

  He met her gaze, a firm disciplinarian now. “Make sure it’s still in when I come home. If it is…” He didn’t have to say that if it wasn’t, he’d put it back and she’d be wearing it to church. It had happened before. That wasn’t something she wanted to have happen again.

  “I’ll be good.” But it would be difficult.

  * * * *

  Jason sat across from two of his neighboring ranchers in Bev’s Coffee and Donut shop like he did almost every Monday morning. It was their “catch up” time. They talked about what was going on in the county and they discuss
ed the state of the poor cattle market. Usually he was a big part of the conversation. Today he couldn’t keep focused on what they said. His thoughts were twenty miles away on the woman he loved so much he hurt sometimes from the strength of his feelings. How had he ever gotten so damn lucky to find Jennifer?

  “Have you even heard a word I said?” Walker asked, sounding annoyed.

  “I’m thinking he’s a mighty satisfied man this morning.” Pete winked at him. “I’m envious as hell. What with my wife being about ready to explode with child any minute.”

  Walker shook his head, frowning. “Have pity on me, you two. I’m still reeling from the divorce from Hell. I don’t even want to think about sex with another woman.”

  “Well, only Jason here is getting any these days anyway.” Pete scooped up some scrambled eggs with a slice of toast. “I guess you got over being mad at Jennifer about last night.”

  Jason nodded, although he was still irritated. “We’ve moved on.”

  He wasn’t happy about giving her a sound walloping last night, but she’d gotten out of control. Going to bed with a hot butt and sobbing a little always calmed her down. It meant they didn’t make love, either. But he’d done that before dawn this morning. Okay, he’d gone to bed horny and his dreams had been double X-rated. So he’d needed something extra fiery and tying her up always made him a wild man. She’d barely hinted at protesting. She was learning. He thought he’d made it clear that he wouldn’t put up with her going against him.

  “Are you going to the church dinner tonight?” Pete asked with a wiggle of his eyebrows. “Or are you two spending some quality time together?”