Page 75 of The Saloon Girl's Only Shot

“No, I was able to buy something at the trading post. I’m wondering how you would feel about using it.”

“Oh? What is it?”

“One of the skins made of rubber.”

“I don’t understand. A skin for making a jacket or...?”

“No.” His mouth twitched. “For me to wear. In bed. So you won’t get pregnant.”

“Oh.” She swallowed, heart lurching.

“I’ve never used one of these rubber kind. If you’re intrigued...?”

He needed to ask? “I’m intrigued.” Her voice felt as though it disappeared into her chest. She had been wanting to feel him inside her forever. Desperately.

A slow smile spread across his face.

“Now?” she asked, growing nervous.

“If you like.” He waved an invitation toward the bed, then moved to the pantry and poured a little olive oil from the jar into a cup.

She watched him as she shyly unbuttoned her gown. Despite the intimacies they’d been sharing, this felt bigger. More profound. They had held back from this act, and it had allowed her to convince herself she was holding back her feelings at the same time. If she didn’t do this, she would be safe, emotionally.

This act felt dangerous. Not harmful, exactly, but profound. She knew she would be altered after this, and that knowledge should have given her pause, but everything they did outside the bonds of marriage was considered by many to be a sin. She had come this far with him. Was there any point in denying herself now?

“You wear too many clothes,” he complained, stripping naked without ceremony and swooping to pick her up and set her on the bed.

“I didn’t know it was a race.” She kept her arms around his neck as he leaned over her.

“It’s not. I’m impatient. This is something I’ve wanted...” He touched his mouth to hers. “And wanted.” Another brief kiss. He smoothed her hair away from her brow. “Are you sure it’s what you want?” He searched her eyes with a faintly troubled gaze.

“It is,” she said as though confessing to a terrible crime. “I’ve wanted it since the first time we kissed.”

“Ah, Rose.” He often called her that when they were in bed. Sometimes she wondered if he thought of her as two people. Temperance was the woman he relied on for support with his business. When she was here, allowing him to undress her and kiss her naked breasts, this carnal person who arched and ran her fingers into his hair, was Rose, the saloon girl.

At some point, however, she had quit worrying about what he thought of her because what he did to her was so divine. When he trailed his mouth over her, and his beard tickled the swell of her breast and her inner arm and the quiver of her abdomen as she caught her breath, she became one live nerve. And when he slicked his tongue where she felt it most, she could do nothing but moan in sweet delight. He’d had a lot of practice pleasuring her this way, and he brought all his skills to bear.

Just when she thought she would tip into the abyss, he kissed his way up her stomach again, then teased her breasts until she was panting and trembling.

“Owen.”

“Are you aching the way I am?” He folded her hand around him so she could feel the steely heft of him, the leap of his response as she squeezed.

“Yes.”

He rolled away and reached for the condom, taking a moment to work it on before he dabbed oil across it.

He settled over her and his thick, covered shaft sat against her wet, needy folds. He kissed her once, twice, still tasting of her, but she didn’t mind.

She roamed her hands over him. They were both shaking with excitement. As he reached between them to guide himself into place, she opened her legs further and tilted her pelvis.

The broad head of his sex pressed for entry.

She braced herself, knowing this part would hurt, but it didn’t. Even as she bit her fingernails into his hard muscles, he was sinking into her with a rattled groan of pleasure.

She closed her arms across his shoulders. Her legs drew up and wrapped around his waist, welcoming him in. Welcoming the thick intrusion. The stretch and sense of fullness.

They kissed again, and he rocked back and forth, ensuring he was seated as deeply as possible before he braced on an elbow and slowly began to pump his hips.

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