Colt Read online

  “Fuck, Colt!” I cry out, loving the fact that we’re out in the middle of nowhere so I can be as loud as I want to. And with everything this cowboy is making me feel, I don’t care to be a bit quiet.

  I rock my hips into his hungry mouth until I’m taken completely over the edge. I cry out his name. I see stars—and not the ones overhead.

  “You like that, huh?” he says with a sexy smirk.

  “Oh yeah.”

  I’m panting heavily and still recovering from the epic orgasm I never knew was possible. I don’t know why I waited so long to let a man suck my cunt but I won’t make that mistake again. Except, I only want Colt’s mouth down there. It is possible that I’m startling to fall for this cowboy?

  Colt slips off his jeans, but before he can climb on top of me, I sit up. If I was plain Sonya, I might not have the courage to do what I’m about to do. But as Jane and the way Colt’s eyes rake in my body like it’s a decadent dessert, I have an overabundance of confidence.

  “On your back, cowboy.”

  The hungry gleam in his gaze makes my nipples ache for this touch. I’m not some skinny model, and I’m not used to a man being so fiercely drawn to me.

  “You comfortable?” I ask him, practically panting at the sight of his hard shaft ready for my pussy. I should be worried it won’t fit, but I know it will.

  “I am.”

  “Good. It’s my turn to ride something tonight.” I lower my hips and guide his cock to my entrance. I stroke the head of dick along my wet folds, coating him in my juices. “I’m clean,” I tell him.

  “Me too.” His gaze flickers away, then back. “I haven’t been with a woman in years.”

  My heart thrums in my chest at that confession. “You probably say that to all the pretty girls.”

  “It’s the truth. You’re the first woman who’s turned my head in a long time.”

  With our gazes trapped together, I feel like this might be the time to confess my little secret. But I’m terrified the truth will change his mind about me. All day, he’s been getting to know Jane Harper, romance author. I’m not ready to lose him to the boring Sonya Williamson. Not yet.

  “I don’t make a habit of riding cowboys,” I tell him. “Or… any man.”

  “Good. Because I don’t have any intention of sharing you.” He shackles his hands on my hips and helps me lower onto his cock. I gasp as he fills me, relishing in the feel of him inside me. I feel…complete. “I want you all to myself.”

  “I’m all yours.”

  With his hands to guide me, I gyrate on top of him. “There you go, babe.” I slide slowly onto his cock and quickly release until just his head hovers at my center. Together, we find a rhythm that perfectly pleasures and tortures both of us.

  “Fuck, Colt.” I’m whimpering it feels so good. I drop my pussy until I feel his balls against my skin. With him seated deep inside, I rock my hips, rubbing my clit against him.

  “That’s it, Jane. I want you to come on my dick.”

  The dirty words sound so sexy with his deep voice. It’s a command I can’t help but obey. I increase my speed until I feel that wave of pleasure sweep over me. Just as I start to shutter an orgasm, Colt grips my hips tighter and thrusts into me with such force I might actually split in two.

  “Come inside me, Colt.” And he does. Everything is right with the world in this moment.

  COLT

  “Stay with me tonight,” I ask Jane once I park the truck back in the parking garage.

  “Colt, I—”

  “Please, Jane.”

  “Okay.”

  I can’t imagine spending another day away from this woman. I’ve never felt so complete inside someone before. Though there are certainly a lot of mysteries about her, I want to learn them all. Starting tonight with her in my arms, in my bed. Preferably naked.

  My cock is already half-hard at the thought of another round of pleasure.

  “Just let me text my friend so she doesn’t worry.”

  “Of course.”

  I lead her to my room, unable to keep my hands off of her. Simply touching this woman makes my entire body ignite with life. Once I shut the door, I draw her in for the most sensual kiss we’ve shared. It’s not the greedy, hungry kisses of before. It’s filled with hope and promise.

  “Colt, there’s something I need to tell you.”

  The alarm bells from earlier start to sound again, but I block them out. I kiss her neck, slowly. I want her, again—I think that’ll always be the case—but this time, I want to memorize every inch of her body. I want to worship her in a way no one has or ever will again. “Later, babe.”

  I slip her shirt off her shoulders easily enough since all but one button was lost in the passionate tumble earlier. “Tell me, Jane. Where are you from?”

  “Here,” she says in a breathy whisper.

  I’m surprised by her answer, but don’t stop my mission to kiss every inch of skin. I slip her bra off next. Her nipples are already standing at attention, begging for my touch. I’ll never get tired of this.

  “What do you do?” I ask, working my tongue down to her nipple. “Other than write?” If she’s not published, it stands to reason she has another job. All details I need to sort out if I’m going to figure out how to make this work.

  “In between jobs—” She moans when I gently bite her nipple. “—at the moment.”

  I unbutton her jeans and slowly roll them down her hips. “Do you like the city?”

  “It’s okay.”

  Good. I can work with that. “How do you feel about the country?”

  “After tonight?” Her laugh is full of naughty desire. I’d bet my season earnings on it. “I’m a fan.”

  I slip my hand down her panties, and it takes only half a second to discover she’s wet and ready for me again. I slowly stroke that swollen bud, loving the sexy moans that escape her perfect lips.

  “Ever ridden a horse?” I ask.

  “Nope.”

  “That’s okay.” I plunge a finger inside her hot channel. “I can teach you.”

  I kiss her when she moans again. We’re not out in the middle of nowhere this time, and if she gets any louder there’ll be banging on the walls. I love that she’s so unguarded, but I can respect the fact that we currently have neighbors.

  “Do you have any family here?” This question causes a slight quiver of fear to race through me. Family is everything to me. If I had to leave them behind to follow a woman, I would live to resent it. I could never ask that of someone else.

  “No. Just Jillian.”

  “Your friend?”

  “Yep.”

  She’s apparently too lost in a pleasure-filled hazed to realize her slip-up. She’s just given away the secret identity of her best friend. It’s almost not fair of me to ask, but I do anyway. I have to know. “What’s your real name, Jane?”

  “Sonya.”

  I lead her to the bed, lowering her down onto the mattress. I slip off her panties before undressing myself. “Lay down, Sonya.” Her name—her real name—feels good on my lips. “I’m going to worship every inch of your beautiful body.”

  Sonya Wilder. The name has a nice ring to it.

  6

  SONYA

  The next morning, I feel happy. So damn happy. I’m sore in all the best ways, and I wouldn’t change a single thing that happened last night. It makes me think that maybe I do need to try my hand at a romance novel. Because Jane Harper is exactly the kickass woman I want to be.

  “Thinking about your book?” Colt asks beside me in the booth. We opted out of a hotel breakfast, certain we’d be inundated by the romance writers. Colt didn’t want the attention, and I secretly didn’t want to risk being outed by Darla. We narrowly escaped her when we left. I brought Colt to one of my favorite breakfast spots—their pancakes are the best kept secret in town.

  “You could say that.”

  Colt fishes a finger at the safety pin I’ve used in place of the top button of my blouse.
“We could’ve stopped by your room you know.”

  “You do not want to be the one who wakes up Jillian unannounced.” That part is true—my bestie turns into an all-out fighter who swings first and asks questions later. I have a string of texts to read from her—apparently, she did not go straight home when Colt and I left the bar. But I’ll read those later.

  At least for the morning, I want to enjoy Colt’s company. I want to pretend that he’s not going to drive away tomorrow, never to be seen again. His next rodeo is five hundred miles away, or I’d go.

  “What’s that frown about?” He lifts my chin with a finger and places a gentle kiss on my still swollen lips.

  “You must travel a lot,” I say.

  “More weekends than not,” he admits.

  Last night he peppered me with several questions. Now, it’s my turn. “Where do you live? When you’re not on the road?”

  “Montana.”

  Immediately, I picture mountains, ranches that go on for miles, and calm. I’ve never lived anywhere but here. Honking horns and sirens are noises I’ve learned to tune out. But it doesn’t mean I enjoy them. “That sounds wonderful.”

  As the server takes our order, I let myself fantasize about living on a quiet ranch. Married to Colt. Maybe even writing a real novel. The only thing I have keeping me here is Jillian. I’d hate to leave my best friend, though. She’s the reason I even met Colt.

  “Do you live with your brothers?”

  “We share a ranch, but we all have separate houses.” Colt tucks a lock of hair behind my ear and kisses me softly on that tender spot just below my lobe. “Any more questions?”

  “What do—”

  “Jane Harper?” Darla’s nasally, shrill voice echoes in the restaurant, causing me to cringe and panic in the same moment.

  “That’s me.”

  Darla—still in that blue vest—has one hand on her hip and the other waving a clipboard. Does the woman seriously not travel without it? “I looked you up, Jane Harper. You’re not a published author.”

  “I know that.”

  “Darla,” Colt says in that suave, sexy voice that caused more than half the authors to swoon yesterday, “We’re trying to enjoy a nice breakfast. Can this wait?”

  “No, I’m afraid it cannot!”

  Fear pricks my chest. I don’t know what I did to make this woman target me—well, other than breaking and entering her private pre-rodeo event without an invitation. My eyes wildly scan the restaurant for cops. Maybe I’m going to get arrested after all. I’ll kill Jillian if that happens.

  “Then please make this quick.”

  “Only published authors are allowed at this convention. And I looked you up. Not a single published title under Jane Harper. Or Mandi Flowers.”

  Colt warm fingers caress my bare shoulder, but I can sense the uneasy tension. He’s about to find out just how unexciting my real identity is. Because Darla here is not budging. With a deep breath, I muster the courage to rip off the Band-Aid before this gets any worse.

  “I’m not a publisher author,” I admit.

  “I knew it!”

  I peel my narrowed eyes from Darla and look at Colt instead. He’s the one who needs to know the truth. If there’s even a tiny beacon of hope that we’ll have a future together, this lie can’t go on any longer. “I’m not writing a book, Colt. I’m not even a writer.”

  “Aha!”

  I shoot daggers at Darla with my death glare. “You can go now.” I don’t know if it’s the force in my tone or the menacing stare, but Darla finally backs away. She fiddles with her clipboard all the way to her corner booth.

  “You’re not a writer?” There’s an edge of disappointment or hurt in his voice, I’m just not sure which.

  “No.” I take a gulp of ice water and continue. “My real name is Sonya Williamson. I got laid off from my cubicle job yesterday.” I add in the details about the flat tire, spilled coffee, and splash of mud. “Jillian wanted to make me feel better, so we crashed the pre-rodeo event and pretended to be authors.”

  I take a deep breath and hold in the air as I anxiously await his reaction. Twice he parts his lips to say something, but doesn’t.

  “I’m sorry I lied, Colt. I thought…I thought after the weekend was over that I’d never see you again. I like Jane Harper. She has more confidence in her pinky finger that Sonya has in her entire body. It was nice to feel like I was somebody.”

  Colt drops his arm from around my shoulders, and I feel my heart sink into the pit of stomach.

  “I was going to tell you—”

  “Were you, though?” He slides out of the booth, dropping a twenty on the table. The wounded look in his cobalt eyes cracks me right in two. I should’ve told him before we ever went inside that RV.

  “Colt—”

  “I’m sorry. I need to go.”

  For the first time since her invention, I wish I could erase Jane Harper from existence.

  7

  COLT

  Hours later, my mind still races wildly. I’ve done everything I can think of to erase Jane—Sonya—from my mind. I need to focus on my job, which is to stay on that bull for eight seconds. But right now, I don’t think I could stay on the back of a sheep, much less an angry bull. I’ve never been rattled like this before.

  Maybe there’s a reason I’ve kept my distance from women. They’re distracting and nothing but trouble.

  “You look mad enough to punch a bull in the face and not regret it,” Hudson takes a seat next to me on the empty stands, handing me a bottle of water. Though my brother likes to pretend he doesn’t have a heart, deep down I know the man has one made of gold.

  “Thanks.” I uncap the bottle and down half of it.

  “So what’s up?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Liar.”

  I empty the rest of the bottle, then squeeze the plastic until it’s a shriveled mess in my hands. Just like my mind is right now. “How do you do it?”

  “Do what?”

  “Fall for a different woman every weekend and still manage to win most of the time?”

  “Ah, so this is about her.”

  “Doesn’t matter.” I hop up from the stands, unwilling to talk about the woman who shimmied her way into my heart. She lied about being a writer. What else did she lie about?

  “Of course, it does.”

  “She lied to me, Hudson. That’s all there is to it.”

  He follows me as I march back to the area behind the grandstands. I don’t have much time before the gates open and they start letting fans in. I don’t want to be anywhere near people tonight. I’m going to draw my bull, do my ride, and spend every other minute hiding out in Uncle Raine’s RV.

  “If that was it, you wouldn’t be so upset.”

  I round on him before I reach the gate. “Stop, please.”

  Hudson lifts both hands in surrender. “If that’s what you want, then fine. But you and I both know you can’t ride a bull for shit with a clogged-up head.”

  “I’ll ride just fine.”

  “Wanna make a bet?”

  My world spins beneath my feet, and if I couldn’t see Hudson standing there without a problem, I might think there was an earthquake. The bet. “If it weren’t for your stupid bet, I never would’ve met her.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “Forget punching a bull—”

  “Think about it, Colt. I’ve never seen you hung up on a woman before. Really think.” Hudson trots off before I can get in any more jabs or spew any more harsh words. He’s really a pretty great brother. Austin and Tex are great too, but I’ve always been closest with Hudson. It’s the only reason he tolerated me just now.

  So I do what he suggests, despite how much I don’t want to. I think.

  Memories from the past twenty-four hours flood my mind. The first time I spotted Sonya in the stands. The way she felt with my arm around her as her friend snapped a dozen pictures. That sizzling kiss in the RV. The way the moonlight bat
hed her naked body in a soft glow. Her giggle as she scrounged up safety pins to fix the shirt I ripped open last night.

  Maybe her name was a lie, but the chemistry between us wasn’t fabricated. That much I know. I can’t deny that my heart still wants her—no matter what her real name is.

  I think some more, on the words she said to me this morning. How Jane Harper was the brave one, not Sonya. “But she was being brave.” Standing up to Darla. Telling me the truth. She had a crappy day and found a way to overcome it.

  I feel like a giant jackass.

  I’m about to jump in my truck and rush back to the hotel to find her—if she’s even staying there. But I hear a call over the louder speaker for all riders to report. It’s our safety brief that’ll be followed by drawing our bulls. Missing that means disqualification.

  “Shit,” I mutter.

  SONYA

  “This is a terrible idea,” I say to Jillian. We’re once again at the rodeo, even using the VIP tickets Colt acquired for us. This is the last place we should be.

  “This is the perfect solution.”

  “I don’t see your vision,” I say flatly. I scan the area, like I have been every two minutes, looking for Colt. It’s stupid, but I can’t help it. If we were anywhere else, I could forget about him so much easier.

  “Your cowboy will see you, and how he reacts will tell you everything you need to know.” I narrow my eyes at Jillian, set on lighting her on fire with my glare. But through my misplaced annoyance, I see the glow in my best friend.

  “Wait, what have you been keeping from me?”

  “We’ll talk about it later. Right now, this is about you.”

  Despite my curiosity, I don’t have the energy to extract Jillian’s secret. So I go back to brooding. “He’s not going to be happy to see me.”

  “You don’t know that.” Jillian snakes an arm around my shoulders and squeezes me against her. “He’s had some time to clear his head. If he’s really the man you say he is, he’ll come around.”