Page 1 of Love Unbound
Chapter 1
She stood in the barn, running the brush over the smooth back of the tall horse standing in front of her. Dust motes danced in the rays of sunlight filtering in through the windows high above her. The musky scent of hay and grain and her own sweat mingled in the air.
A shadow fell across the center aisle and she turned. Her heart instantly began to pound at the sight of the man standing in the doorway. The cowboy’s face was deeply shadowed by the wide brim of his black cowboy hat. Tight fitted jeans hugged his thighs and the apex of them. The toes of his dusty boots peaked out from beneath the hem of his jeans, a black t-shirt defined the muscles of his chest, arms, and shoulders deliciously, and a leather vest hung open over his chest. Leaning with one broad shoulder against the wood frame, he folded his arms over his chest and crossed his booted ankles. He watched her from beneath the brim of his hat and her breathing began to accelerate. She wished she could see his eyes!
“Don’t let me stop you,” he murmured low, his voice drawling and sexy, and she could barely make out the movement of his lips.
Turning back to the mare, she continued to run the brush down the animal’s side. Her senses seemed to be on overdrive, because she heard it when he shifted away from the door and slowly sauntered over until he was standing inches away from her. She could smell his masculine scent, sweat and man, and his sweet breath as it hit the back of her neck. Her long hair waspulled into a single braid down one side of her neck.
She was feeling lightheaded, his nearness was so intoxicating. She had watched him for months, working on her father’s ranch. He was handsome and mysterious. They had never spoken, but she knew he had been watching her, too.
She wore tightly fitting jeans that were tucked into a pair of clean cowboy boots. A plain white t-shirt with a deep V that revealed her generous cleavage fit snuggly to her body. She had worn it on purpose, in the hopes that she would see him during her ride.
She could feel his body heat radiating against her back, he was standing so close behind her. She swallowed hard just as she felt his work roughened fingers touching the soft skin at the nape of her neck, playing with the thick braid of hair. With a slow swipe of his strong hand, the braid was moved aside so it fell over her right shoulder, resting on the curve of her breast. There it trembled, as her heart was racing in her chest. The fabric of her shirt fluttered with each quick breath she took.
The hand at her nape cupped her slender throat and her eyes slid closed as her head fell to the side, into his hand. His other hand slipped around her, pressing his palm flat against the taut muscles of her abdomen. Without words, he urged her back against his front. She sucked in a startled breath as his lips found the exposed skin of her left shoulder. An unfamiliar but delicious ache began in her lower belly, where his hand was pressed. Rolling her hips backward, she gasped and he groaned against her throat. The cowboy hat was knocked off his head and it landed in the hay at their feet.
His breathing was becoming choppy as his hand skimmed up, over her ribcage, to cover one breast. Her head fell back and a soft moan escaped her slightly parted lips. His mouth loved her throat, kissing and suckling, as his hand cupped and massaged the tender breast it held.
She could feel the hardness of his erection straining against the fly of his jeans as she pressed her rounded bottom to his front.
He pulled away and a mew of disappointment slipped from her lips. It was fleeting, as he took her hand in his and turned her toward him. His aquamarine eyes were bright as they stared down at her. He reached for the brush she still had clutched in her other hand and tossed it aside. He looked over her shoulder and then back down to her. Pulling her with him gently, he guided her toward an empty stall in the back of the barn. Her heart thundered in her chest, terrified and excited at the same time.
He backed into the stall, her hand still enclosed in his. They were very secluded in the back of the barn, the high walls of the stalls giving them much needed privacy from anyone that might come looking for her. He released her hand and turned, taking down a blanket from one of the pegs and lowering it to the bed of hay on the ground. Turning back to her, he tipped her chin up with one finger and lowered his mouth to hers.
His lips brushed over hers, once, twice, then pressed and stayed. She gasped, and his tongue darted into the honeyed cavern, tasting all of her. One hand caught her braid and held tight, holding her to him. His kiss was intrusive and intense, and she reveled in it.
She heard more than felt when his fingers began to undo the buttons of her jeans. He surprised her by gathering her into his arms. His mouth continued its onslaught on her senses and she didn’t realize he was lowering her to the blanket until he leaned away to pull her boots off her small feet. She lay, reclining on the hay, watching through passion clouded eyes as he stripped her of her jeans. She blushed and whimpered softly and he was there, shushing her with his mouth.
The rasp of the zipper on his jeans being lowered was astrangely sexy sound. Flinging the leather vest off, he lowered his jeans on his hips and she gasped at her first sight of his hard length. Parting her thighs, he slid one finger into her silken warmth and groaned gutturally, his eyes blazing into hers. Lowering his body over hers, he captured her mouth with his again; one arm supporting himself up, the other sliding beneath her hips, angling them to meet his. She felt the tip of his steely strength probing gently, and she breathed huskily, “Free, oh yes, Free…”
“Jodi… Jodi…” he whispered roughly against the underside of her jaw even as he pressed inside her. “Jodi…”
Jodi Kendall’s eyes flew open. She sat at the kitchen table, fingers poised over the keys of her laptop. Unsure what had drawn her out of her daydream, she let out a shaky breath and lowered her face into her trembling hands. His voice had seemed so real, as if he were mere feet away, instead of thousands of miles.
“Penny for your thoughts,” she heard from behind her, and her heart stopped, for she would know that Texas drawl anywhere.
Chapter 2
Jodi whipped her head around and her heart thundered back to life with a vengeance, nearly knocking the breath out of her. She wondered hazily if she was still daydreaming, not completely believing her eyes. The setting sun was directly behind him as it descended beyond the trees across the field, casting him in shadow.
“Free,” Jodi finally managed to whisper between dry lips.
He smiled, that slow, lazy grin that she remembered so well. He was propped up against the doorjamb with one of his wide, hard shoulders. He crossed sinewy, tanned arms over the broad expanse of his chest. His hips were narrow, his long legs crossed at the ankles. It was eerily close to what she had just envisioned in her daydream. He exuded a carefree laziness that only native Texans could manage.
“Yep,” Freeman Thorp husked in that slow Texas drawl that he’d been born with. It still made her go weak.
She stood, nervously straightening the white shirt she wore. Her heart was pounding beneath her breasts. “You’re back,” she said lamely, cringing internally. Why, after all this time, was she still so awkward around him?
He pushed himself away from the door and came toward her. That slow, rolling of his hips that all cowboys seemed to have mastered was blatantly sexual, even though it was unconscious on his part. The jeans that he wore were worn and faded and fit his long legs, his hips, his backside… his sex. They fit snug to his hips, emphasizing the lazy roll of them. A wide brown leatherbelt was strapped around them, accentuating how narrow they were. A plain black t-shirt was stretched over the impressive expanse of his muscled chest, hard back, and corded shoulders. He wore a black felt cowboy hat that sat low on his head. His jaw and upper lip were covered in a dark but well-groomed beard, no longer clean shaven like he’d always been before. She liked it, a lot. Jodi’s fingers itched to touch it, to see if it was as soft as it looked. His aquamarine eyes were bright as he stared at her.
Watching him now, he made her weak, and it made her angry that he still had so much influence over her. Damn him.
He stopped a foot away from her. He was close enough that she could smell him, his body wash, cologne, whatever it was. Cedarwood and citrus. He smelled dangerously sexy.
He’s so tall, she thought breathlessly as she looked up at him, a long way up. He was six feet, three inches of Texan.
Bad boy Texan.
