Page 22 of Wild and Unruly
I let myself look him over again. He gazes down at me like he wants to say something, and I wait patiently, unsure if I want to actually hear what he might say. “I would have let you.” Mywords come out softly, but he hears them, and when I feel him moving closer, I feel a thrum of anticipation course through my belly.
Then, a song comes on that makes the whole bar erupt in cheers, and I smile at the beginning notes, tilting my head to look at Stetson.
He grins. “You wanna dance?”
“I do.” But I ignore his outstretched hand and quickly weave my way through the crowd before finding the dance floor. I see Dani, and she nods at me, smiling broadly at the song and the people lining up to start a dance I know very well.
I find a spot, and Dani finds one next to me, CT on her other side, and I think CT’s sister-in-law is next to him. We all start moving in unison, and I’m grinning and laughing while we all dance, stomping to the beat of the music and moving fairly flawlessly to the music.
I let myself get lost in the song, remembering a time when I was able to be a little more carefree in my life, when all I had to do was please my dad with my showing, and then the rest was up to me. When Mason and I would head out to the local country bar and go dancing three times a week, him finding several willing cowgirls, and me…well, mostly, I kept to myself with a few random partners in between.
The feeling that courses through me has me feeling all of that nostalgia that I’d been missing, and by the end of the song, I catch Stetson’s eye from where he watches all of us on the side of the dance floor.
The look in his eyes should scare me. It should warn me away and make me tuck tail.
Instead, I do something reckless and bold. I hold out my hand to him as the song changes, and it’s not three secondsbefore he’s grasping my hand in his. The heat from his body overwhelms me, and I suck in a lungful of his cologne.
Tonight, he’s got on his full cowboy attire: the shiny boots, the Wranglers, the button-down, and the cowboy hat. He’s everything I’ve tried to avoid, but he’s the only person in so long that I’ve felt completely comfortable around.
Pulling me in, he wraps his arm around my waist and starts to lead us in a two-step. I keep rhythm with him, holding myself just enough away from him to stay appropriate. But he turns me out and back into him, flushing our bodies together and looking down at me like I’m something delicious he wants to devour.
It makes me flush all over.
I can feel the tequila making me hot, and the dancing with so many bodies in the room feels stifling. I turn to go as the song ends, and he grasps a hand around mine, following close behind me.
We make our way out of the crowd, and he pulls me into a secluded hallway. I assume it leads to the bathroom, but I don’t pay much attention as he turns me, pressing my back against a wall and tilting my chin up with a finger.
“I’m kissing you now.” His words almost sound like a question, but I don’t think he’s asking.
I feel my head nod before I can think it all the way through, and his lips slam down on mine so hard my head hits the wall, but I don’t really care.
My hands find his muscular shoulders, and he wraps an arm around my lower back, practically pulling my feet off the ground. I’ve never had a man do that with me before.
I feel no sense of self-consciousness. Not in the way I normally have. I don’t like talking about my weight, but I have wide hips and cellulite, I have a large chest and a soft belly, andyet, Stetson makes me feel like I’m a supermodel fresh off the runway.
He holds me tight, his other hand holding my jaw firmly and guiding my head the way he wants, positioning me where he wants me to be and running his tongue over mine. He pulls my tongue into his mouth, kissing me with a ferocity that I’ve never felt before in my life.
I moan, and it spurs him on. His hand that holds me up grips me harder, and his other hand slides down my neck while his mouth slides down my jaw and the other side of my neck, sucking and kissing me until I’m sure I’ll have a hickey. In that moment, I just don’t really care.
His hand finds my breast, and I lose all train of thought as he kneads it, making my entire body shake. I realize then that my hands are still on his shoulders, lost in the feeling of what he’s doing to me, and just as I’m about to move them, a loud cheer rings out in the bar, startling me and realizing we’re still in public.
Stetson must come to the realization as well, and he settles down, pressing light kisses to my neck and making his way back to my lips. I let him kiss me gently for a minute, trying to catch my breath.
“I was about to move my hands.”
Stetson pulls back slightly, frowning a little. He’s breathless as he asks, “What?”
“My hands.” I tap his shoulders. “I was going to move them.”
“Oh.” He smiles at me and leans forward, kissing me again. “I like your hands where they are.”
“Yeah, but your hands were everywhere, and my hands stayed put.” Why am I still talking about my hands?
Oh, right, because he just ravished whatever brain cells I have.
“I’d like both of our hands to be everywhere, but we’re still a little exposed.” His words send another thrill through me, and I have to tell my body to settle down.
“Ah, right. I should head home.”
