Hard Lovin' Read online

  It was after one by the time they drove into Richland Hills on the outskirts of Fort Worth. Grady pulled into a diner and, after they placed their order, he fished out his cell phone and called Bubby Trammel, the owner of the Yellow Rose Saloon.

  “We’ll stop by the bar after we eat,” he told Erin, pouring ketchup out for his fries. “Bubby says he can recommend a motel most of the guys who play his place use. Cheap. Nothing fancy, but he guarantees it’s clean and safe.”

  “Anyplace is fine.” Her voice was low and soft. She glanced up from her tuna sandwich. “Really, Grady. I’m good with whatever.”

  He sighed. “I wish I knew what devil was driving you, darlin’. Hanging out with me isn’t the easiest gig in the world.”

  She grinned suddenly. “But it does have his advantages.”

  He smiled back, feeling the heat climb up his body and his cock swell and press hard against his fly. “That it does.”

  ***

  “I’m sick of excuses,” Rance Braddock railed to the man standing in front of him. “How hard is it to find one damn girl, anyway?”

  Sheriff Brad Hollis shoved his hands in his pockets and glared back at him. “Rance, we’ve got everyone on this, including the Texas Rangers, and we’re ready to call in the damn FBI. I know how upset you are, but, trust me, we’re all doing the best we can.”

  “The best?” He grimaced as if he’d swallowed something bad tasting. “If you had the best, then my little girl would be back here safe and sound where she belongs.”

  “Rance?” T.J.’s voice was low next to him.

  “What? He spat.

  “First of all, Erin’s not a little girl anymore. You need to remember that. Second, everyone’s working their asses off to find out what happened.”

  Rance narrowed his eyes. “Aren’t you the littlest damn worried that your bride disappeared the night before your wedding? Or isn’t she important to you? Have I been misreading this whole thing?”

  T.J. sighed, glanced at the sheriff and back at Rance. “Of course I’m concerned. There’s nothing I want more than to have Erin back here and get this wedding back on track. But….”

  But what?”

  “Well, what if she got cold feet about the whole thing and decided to disappear on her own?”

  Rance could feel his blood pressure going through the roof. “Now, why in the hell would she run off? Did you do or say something to piss her off?”

  “Of course not.” Anger washed across the man’s face. “I love her. But both of us have been so concerned about making sure she never had another experience like Cal, we may have rushed her into things.”

  “And what if someone like Cal’s gotten hold of her again?” Rance wanted to know.

  “Rance?” the sheriff interrupted. “Is there something you’re not telling me? Something we should know? Because there’s been no ransom demand and, thank God, we haven’t found a body. Smoky says she walked out the back door, but no one remembers anything after that.”

  Rance dropped into a big easy chair, forcing a calmness he didn’t feel before he gave himself a damn heart attack. He scrubbed his big hands over his face, wishing his brain would settle down.

  “T.J., you really think she might have taken a powder?” Then the next minute, he shook his head. “No, I don’t believe it. If she did, it’s because someone like Cal Stadler saw dollar signs all over her and talked her into it.” He looked at both men in front of him. “She’s vulnerable right now. God only knows who she could fall prey to.”

  “I’ll ask you again,” Brad Hollis said. “Who’s Cal, and what about him?”

  Rance shook his head.

  “Brad, Cal’s someone Erin met in Houston at the hotel where she was assistant manager. Too rich, too arrogant, too powerful. Rance, here”—T.J. glanced at his erstwhile father-in-law—“kept such a tight rein on her after her mother died she decided to kick over the traces. It’s why she took a job with the luxury hotel chain rather than let Rance help her get a job with one of his friends. Or insist she come back here to the ranch. Sorry, Rance, but if you hadn’t squeezed so hard, demanded she stop seeing him and come back here, it might not have happened.”

  When Rance didn’t say anything, the sheriff asked, “So what did happen?”

  Rance closed his eyes as T.J. continued the tale. “It seems Cal had a few problems with alcohol and control. Not apparent at first. After Erin moved in with him, his temper and drinking really took over.”

  “He abused her,” Hollis guessed.

  T.J. nodded. “Badly. Psychologically as well as physically. If she hadn’t ended up in the hospital with my phone number in her purse, he might have killed her. Rance and I flew down and brought her home.” He shook his head. “She hasn’t been even close to herself since then.”

  “What happened to Stadler? I hope she pressed charges.”

  “No.” T.J. let out another sigh. “Rance tried to, but the cops told him she needed to do it herself. We could hardly get her out of the house in what seemed forever, much less to the station to file a complaint. But Rance had what you might call a heart-to-heart with the guy. And I don’t think Erin would let him get within ten feet of her again without screaming her head off.”

  Hollis pulled out a little notebook and jotted something down. “We’ll check him out, anyway. The Ranger and I are going to check the bar again tonight, too. See if someone there remembers anything else.”

  “Just find my little girl, okay?” Rance blinked up at him. “Before some piece of garbage thinks he can get his mitts on her and suck a bunch of money out of us.”

  ***

  “The room’s not nearly as bad as you made it sound.” Erin took in the motel room with its standard queen sized bed, small table and chairs, and one big arm chair. As the man named Bubby had said, it wasn’t fancy but it was clean.

  Grady studied her. “I have to say, darlin’, you look like you’re used to fancier digs.”

  Erin stiffened. “Why do you say that? This is fine. Perfect, in fact.”

  He studied her some more before his mouth curved in that sexy crooked grin. “Okay. If you say so.”

  “What time do you have to be at the bar tonight?” she asked.

  “I like to get there about an hour before the first set. Why? I’ve been thinking you can’t spend the next two weeks in those clothes. How about I take you shopping this afternoon?”

  He was right. She needed toiletries, too. And other things.

  “That would be nice.” She looked him hard in the eye. “I’ve got money. I pay for my own things.” She was more than grateful for whatever reason she’d kept a nice amount of cash stashed away in her bedroom. Maybe she’d been planning on “breaking out” all along.

  For a moment, she thought about T.J., who’d done nothing but love her and be nice to her, and her conscience stabbed at her. She’d find a way to get a message to him. It was the only right thing to do. She needed to let her father know she was okay, too, so he’d call off the dogs. But she wasn’t nearly ready to talk to him yet. He’d steamroll over her, and she’d be back where she started.

  Grady smiled at her. “Fine by me. Whatever you want, darlin. How about we go now? Then you’ll have some time to shower and change, and we can grab a quick bite before heading for the bar.”

  She insisted he take her to Wal-Mart, despite his trying to steer her to an outdoor mall with nicer stores. She needed to buy a lot, and her cash had to last her. The trip turned out to be more fun than she expected, with Grady teasing her as she pawed through the lingerie and holding up low-cut tank tops for her to try on. She even bought a large duffle to carry everything in. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d done something so…so normal. Maybe never. She’d gone from being Rance Braddock’s pampered princess to the hot babe working her way up the hotel chain to Cal Stadler’s punching bag. Maybe her life had never been normal.

  But for right here, right now, she could pretend with Grady none of that existed. None of
it mattered. She even found herself laughing, something in short supply for her for a long time.

  Her biggest challenge was keeping him away from the newsstands near the doors. She was sure her face would be plastered on every front page, if her father had his way.

  “Planning on hanging around with me for a while?” he asked when they got back to the room, his tone half-joking.

  Did she? At this particular moment, she didn’t want to think about anything beyond the two weeks here. At some point, she had to decide what to do with the rest of her life, but, at the moment, she wanted to pretend no one existed except for her and Grady.

  “At least until I can’t stand your singing any more,” she teased. She was busy taking the tags off the clothing, as excited as if the things had come from a designer shop.

  Grady toed his boots off and lay down on the bed, propping pillows behind his back. “I think I’ll turn on the television while you put your stuff away. See what’s happening in the world.”

  He picked up the remote, and Erin’s stomach clenched. Cold washed over her. She didn’t know how long she could keep him away from the news, but she’d do it as long as she could.

  “I can put this stuff away later.” She dumped everything onto the big chair and climbed onto the bed next to him, taking the remote from his hand and tossing it aside. “I can think of a better way to pass the time than watching television.”

  “You can?” Heat simmered in his eyes.

  “Uh-huh.”

  Erin stroked her fingers over his face, feeling the rough, dark stubble beginning to push through the skin. Again she marveled at how, after the nightmare she’d lived for so long, she was able to trust this man so quickly and so completely. Respond to him the way she did. Even now, although she’d started this for a different reason, she felt the pulse in her cunt throb with need and her breasts ache.

  “I think I can get into that.” His low voice dripped over her like warm molasses.

  He shifted to roll her onto her back and lowered his head to take her mouth. His lips were warm and firm, his breath soft in her open mouth, his tongue a brush of flame as it darted inside and licked and touched and danced everywhere.

  Erin threaded her fingers through his hair and clasped his head, holding him to her as if she’d never let him go. God, how she loved the taste of him. Hot and sweet and thoroughly intoxicating. Certainly different than T.J.’s kisses which were…nice. Or Cal’s, which were…demeaning. She was sure she could spend the rest of her life kissing Grady Sinclair. Along with other things.

  When he broke the kiss, she made a small murmur of dissatisfaction, but he moved his mouth across her cheek to the wonderful spot behind her ear and then down her jawline, nipping and licking and kissing. His hand stroked the hair back from her face and traced the line of her neck before lowering to cup her breasts. The rasp of his thumb over her nipple sent shards of lightening straight to her pussy and spread fingers of heat through her blood.

  “Too many clothes,” he whispered, pushing up her T-shirt and opening the front clasp of her bra.

  The feel of his warm hand on her bare skin made her pulse leap and her blood race and ramped up the throbbing deep inside her. She squeezed her thighs together against the fluttering of the walls of her cunt. When his mouth closed over one stiff nipple, she arched up to him, wanting him to take it all. Everything.

  Grady spent a long time teasing her nipple and her breast, pulling with his mouth, grazing lightly with his teeth, squeezing gently with thumb and forefinger as if it were his life’s work. When she wriggled against him, he laughed softly against her skin and moved to her other breast, her other nipple. As if from a distance, Erin heard little sounds of pleasure and realized they were coming from her. She pulled up his T-shirt and raked her nails over the hot skin of his back, pressing toward him as if she couldn’t get closed enough. With a tiny portion of her brain, she wondered how it was with one touch this man could explode all the passion she hadn’t even realized had been bubbling inside her.

  Then thinking became an impossibility. Lean fingers unsnapped her jeans and lowered the zipper, and his hand insinuated itself between the silk of her thong and the warmth of her skin. He brushed lightly just above her nest of curls before sliding within her folds and into the slickness of her slit. He found the nub of her clit and stroked it so lightly she wanted to scream for him to touch her harder. Harder!

  She tried to lift her hips to him, but he held her in place while he teased and tormented. The throbbing in her body intensified, hunger clawing through her. Grady rubbed and stroked and lightly pinched, fanning the flames licking through her.

  “This little button feels so good, darlin’.” His voice was soft against her ear. “Little nub of flesh made for me to touch. It’s making your whole pussy hot, isn’t it? And soaked. I want it dripping, sugar, so my fingers will slide right in there. Feel those wet walls close around them and know pretty soon they’ll be gripping my cock.”

  His words were as arousing as his touch, and she brushed her hand against his fly, seeking his hard erection.

  “Let me touch you,” she panted. “Please, Grady.”

  She mourned the loss of his hand as he slid it free to unfasten his jeans and push them down along with his boxers. But then he was back worrying her clit, and she wrapped her own around the stiff, hot, swollen shaft. Her thumb slid over the velvet of the head, finding the bead of fluid signaling his arousal. She spread it over the surface before stroking up and down his length.

  As her hand squeezed his cock, his own moved below her pulsing clit to the opening of her vagina, two fingers sliding easily inside her. They curled to reach the hot spot right there and scrape lightly against it.

  Oh God!

  Her hand convulsed around his shaft as the tremors of a small climax gripped her, the walls of her pussy grasping at the invasion. She tried to ride them, tried to push her clit against the heel of Grady’s hand, but he was relentless about holding her in place. Driving her to pleasure. Fucking her with his hand until the small orgasm spent itself and the process began again.

  But, she realized between desperate breaths, he wasn’t as in control as he’d like her to believe. His own breathing was uneven, his skin warmer, his hips moving against her hand just enough for her to notice it.

  “I want you inside me,” she murmured, even as he wickedly and sensuously alternated between stroking her clit and plunging inside her.

  “Not yet, darlin’.” She could sense the effort at control. “Your pleasure comes first.”

  “I’m having plenty of pleasure,” she cried. “I want you now.”

  “Soon,” he promised.

  His thumb rasped her clit while he thrust in and out of her. And there it was again, another climax, rushing through her, making her pussy clamp and clasp and flex. Her hips rose and fell against his touch as she shook with the spasms, erotic little noises erupting from her throat. Grady moaned as her fingers clamped reflexively around his shaft.

  She was covered with perspiration and panting unevenly when he finally kicked his jeans and boxers to the floor and ripped his shirt over his head. In seconds, he made quick work of her clothing, dug a condom out of his duffle, and was back between her legs almost before she could complain about his absence.

  He bent her legs wide and back to open her up to him fully, staring down at her for a long moment before driving into her with one hard stroke. He closed his eyes and inhaled slowly.

  “The promised land,” he breathed. “And worth the wait.”

  He lowered his head to take her mouth with his before beginning a steady in and out stroke. Thrust, push, drive. He filled every inch of her, his tongue doing to her mouth what his cock was doing to her pussy, the movements coordinated. And nothing existed for her except this man and their joining. The erotic fog wrapped around them. The heat flowing between them. And a connection she’d never had with another human being.

  When the orgasm hit, it crashed over them with
the force of a cyclone, picking them up and tossing them into a black velvet abyss where their bodies pulsed together. Grady lifted his mouth from hers, threw back his head, and came, shouting her name. The walls of her cunt grabbed him and milked him, drawing every bit of burning cum from his body while she flooded him with her cream.

  When the storm subsided, they lay spent in each other’s arms, breathing ragged, hearts thundering. Finally, Grady slid from her body to dispose of the condom, but he was back in a moment, wrapping her up against him, spooning her body into the curve of his.

  “Hope I have enough strength left to sing tonight,” he teased.

  “Hope I have enough left to watch,” she laughed.

  He glided one hand down the curve of her hip and her thigh then back up to the swell of her buttock. But when the tips of his fingers slid between the cheeks and whispered over the tight opening of her anus, she tightened like a rubber band and tried to pull away from him. He moved his hand at once, draping his arm over her waist and cupping the swell of one breast.

  “It’s okay, Erin. We don’t have to do that if you don’t want to.”

  How could she even begin to tell him the horrible memories it evoked.

  “It’s not…. I can’t…. I wish….”

  “Shh.” He kissed the shell of her ear. “No problem.”

  She bit her bottom lip. “I don’t want you to think…. I have reasons.” Oh God, did she.

  “And I’m hoping we’ll get to them sooner or later. Erin, I know there’s a devil chasing you, and I’m not about to push you. If you didn’t mean any more to me than the women I usually fall into bed with, it wouldn’t matter one hoot. But if we’re going to be together like this, we need to be open with each other.”

  She was silent for a moment, chewing it over. She still wondered why she should care when Grady had only been a means to escape. But that was in the beginning. Before the first time he entered her and she realized it was a lot more. And every minute they were together reinforced her belief.