Wrangled and Tangled (Blacktop Cowboys 3)

“I oughta be hurt that you suspect I have ulterior motives.”

“You oughta be used to me questioning you on everything by now,” she volleyed back.

He laughed. “True.”

Sitting next to him on her overstuffed couch, Tierney clinked her glass to his. “Cheers.”

“Cheers.” He drank most of his in one gulp. “What’ve you been doin’ tonight?”

“Catching up on projects.”

“What kind of projects?”

“Quarterly reports for companies on the chopping block. I’m trying to sort through nine months of P&Ls to ascertain whether pumping more money into them would change the long-term financial gain or if we’d be better off selling them, or closing them outright.”

“Sounds . . . interesting.”

“If you like picking apart every blasted expense and weighing it against past, current and projected income. It’s tedious.”

He faced her, gently pushing a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “Why do it?”

She shrugged. “I’m good at it. I’m not good at a lot of things, so I stick with what I know.” She swallowed a healthy gulp of burgundy liquid. “This is a great zin. Where’d you find it?”

“At the bar at the lodge. I figured if we planned to serve it in the dining room, we oughta at least know firsthand if it tastes like vinegar.” Renner smooched her, murmuring, “I like this wine. But I like it best when I’m tasting it from your lips.”

“Sweet-talker. Kiss me.”

“Maybe I’m waiting for you to kiss me.”

And kiss him she did. Steadily. Impatiently. She’d only allow their lips to part to take another breath before she sought his mouth again. He handed over the reins to see how far she’d take them.

But he didn’t touch her beyond the gentle stroking of his thumb on the base of her neck. A buzzing sound echoed to him and he knew it wasn’t his cell, since he’d left his phone in his trailer. He glided his damp lips across hers. “Your phone is buzzing.”

“I thought it was my head buzzing from the wine. Or from you.”

“Now who’s the sweet-talker?”

“Be right back.” She scooted off the couch.

Renner topped off their glasses. When he glanced at her, she wore that cute wrinkle on her forehead as she poked buttons on her BlackBerry.

“Something wrong?”

“No. Just a text from my sister. She’ll be out of phone range for a week and didn’t want me to worry.”

“Where’s she gonna be that they don’t have cell service? Wyoming?”

“Ha ha. No, she’ll be in the Amazon rain forest.” She picked up her wineglass and took a long sip. “Love my baby sister, but we are total opposites. She’s a free-spirited, tree-hugging, Sierra Club, PETA-supporting vegan. Drives our father insane.”

“I’ll bet.” Renner touched her jaw. “You okay?”

“I worry. Harlow travels to crazy places across the globe being a do-gooder because she has this theory all people are basically good.”

“You don’t believe that?”

“Numbers have always made more sense to me than people.” She squinted at the wine bottle. “Holy crap. We drank that much?”

“Uh-huh. Which is a ringing endorsement for this vintage, if you ask me.” He set his glass aside and pulled Tierney onto his lap to restart his seduction. Letting his hand map the outside curve of her thigh to her hip. Twining his fingers in her hair, releasing that intoxicating scent of sex and flowers. Pressing her body closer to his.

Tierney wiggled until he released her. “Hang on. That angle gives me a crick in my neck. And I get that plenty from being bent over my desk all the time.”

I’d like to bend you over your desk all the time.

She placed her eyeglasses on the coffee table and repositioned herself on his lap with her knees tucked by his hips. Her brown eyes were nearly as black as her pupils. Her lips were as plump as berries from their kisses and as cherry red as the wine. “Much better.”

His c**k hardened, feeling the heat from Tierney’s groin bearing down on his. Renner’s fingers traced her spine from the dimples above her butt to her nape. When his fingertips connected with the elastic band taming her hair, he slipped it off, freeing the silken tresses.

He tilted her head back to blaze a path of kisses down the column of her throat. While eking sexy coos and moans from her, his fingers worked the buttons on her pajama top, until the silky fabric separated, revealing her pearly skin. His hands circled her waist, sliding to cup the sweet mounds of her br**sts. He flicked the tip of his tongue across the rigid point of her nipple.

When Tierney arched her back and thrust her fingers through his hair to hold him in place, he couldn’t wait to see her reaction when he went down on her. He switched to her left nipple, raking the tip with his teeth.

She rocked her pelvis, her hands gripping the couch cushions behind his shoulders. The friction of her ass grinding over his c**k practically had him shooting in his Wranglers.

“Bed. Now.” Renner clutched her lower back, bowing her backward as he scooted to the edge of the couch. Balancing her body weight on his knees, he stood and clamped his hands on her ass as his mouth swallowed her surprised cry.

He moved them into the bedroom so fast he accidentally smacked into the wall, and Tierney broke their kiss with an, “Ouch.”