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  “But what am I going to do? If the station here has my picture, nowhere is safe. I might as well turn myself in.”

  “Don’t do that,” Eddie pleaded. “I know somewhere you can go. Come with me. We rodeo folk, we’re always on the run. We’re all outlaws. You’ll fit right in. No one will ask any questions.”

  She smiled, despite the pain in her head. “You want me to come with you?”

  “More than I’ve ever wanted anything before. I’ll keep you safe.”

  It would be hard to tell Brianna. She didn’t want to disappoint her friend, but it made sense. She could hide in the rodeo. She could be free and have her happiness.

  “Okay,” she said, accepting his offer. “I’ll join you.”

  ***

  The medic was gone, and so was Eddie. He’d left her alone to sleep, giving her his bed. When she’d woken, it was to an empty trailer, but she knew where he’d gone. Under the moonlight, she walked the half hour to the stadium, following Eddie’s footsteps to the stables. She wasn’t afraid to do so, not even with Girey out there, plotting his revenge. Knowing Eddie loved her, she wasn’t scared of anything. She felt truly safe for the first time since leaving home.

  “You never did tell me his name,” she said to Eddie when she entered the stables. He stood before his bronco, feeding him oats from a bucket.

  “Dakota, you’re supposed to be resting,” he protested, setting the bucket down. “Let me take you back.”

  “I don’t want to go back,” she said. “I only want you.”

  With all the strength she had, she pushed him into an empty stall, the horse and its owner already gone. Loose straw crackled beneath her feet as she met him there, full of desire and intention. Standing on her tip toes, she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him, the heat of her anticipation fueling her lips. There was nothing tender about the kiss. Eddie took control, commanding her tongue with his, showing her the full force of his love.

  When she was at his mercy, he broke away. “I’ve wanted you since the day I met you,” he growled, craving her.

  “Then take me,” she permitted. “I’m yours.”

  Delighted, he lifted her up so that she straddled him with her legs, and he pinned her against the wall of the stall, running his hand over her toned thigh, now tanned by the sun. He kissed her neck, his lips hot but tender against her pulse, sending shivers down her spine. As he kissed her, his hand traveled up her thigh and beneath her tank top, caressing her bare skin, magnifying the joy already coursing through her body.

  “Keep going,” she pleaded, immersed in his kisses. “Feel all of me.”

  With his strength, he ripped off her bra and threw it onto the ground, keeping her steady against the wall, and then he cupped her breasts, circling her nipples with the roughness of his palm, awakening her body as his lips continued to slide across her neck. She squeezed her legs around his waist, letting him know just how much pleasure he brought her, aroused further by the foresight that next time she squeezed her legs, his cock would be inside of her.

  He knew it too, causing his cock to grow through his jeans and press against the gap where her thigh met her ass. Suddenly impatient, he massaged her breasts harder, pushing against them as he kissed her with the vigor of a bear but the lips of a man. She wrapped her arms around the bulk of his neck, matching the intensity of his kiss, charged by the power of his body, a power she wanted to feel within.

  He lost control. Consumed by his desire for her, he dropped her to her feet, and then he spun her around so that she faced the wall. He lifted her tank top over her head, and he pulled down her denim shorts, exposing the lace of her panties. Her core was wet. He could smell it. Bending down to his knees, he inhaled her, the scent of her desire an ambrosia. Moving her panties aside, he tasted the ambrosia, his tongue hard and warm against her core.

  Moaning, she arched her back, giving him full access to her as he licked her pink flesh, sliding his tongue into her core, lapping the ambrosia, ripening her, preparing her for the magnitude of his cock. As he drank her in, he gripped the cheeks of her ass, rubbing them like he had her breasts. It opened her up wider to him, gave him more room to taste her.

  “I want you,” she panted, her breath hot against the wall. Her body was aflame, ready to burst apart. “Ride me and never let go.”

  He stood. “I’ll give you what you want,” he murmured in her ear. “I’ll show you what the love of a cowboy feels like.” He took her hand and put it over his cock. “It feels like this.”

  “It feels good,” she praised, gripping the tip of his stiffness, unable to wrap her hand fully around it. “But I’d like it better if it were free.”

  “So would I,” he said with yearning, his own wetness seeping through his jeans. “While I set it free, I want you to touch yourself. Show me what you want me to do to you.”

  As she listened to him unzip his jeans, she obeyed him, keeping one hand against the wall while she massaged herself with the other. His tongue had left her clit moist and ready. She rubbed it, imagining it was still his face between her legs. Her breathing grew harder, luring him back in.

  He grabbed the strands of her chestnut hair and pulled her head back, causing her backside to protrude further so that he could fuck her. Teasing her, he kissed her back, starting at the base of her neck and slowly working his way down, his lips as soft as the snowflakes back home. Already charged, it rocked her body over the edge.

  “I’m going to cum,” she warned, gasping between his kisses, his head nuzzled against the curves of her back.

  “I want you to,” he said. “I want you to cum all night.”

  To prove it, he ran his tongue down her spine, causing her to cry out as she came. Pleasure ripped through her, but it was only an appetizer. She was still hot, ready for more.

  He gave her more. Seizing her hips, he drove his cock into her plump wetness, filling her with his girth, which pulsed gloriously against her inner flesh. As he began to thrust, he rubbed her clit, heightening her bliss, building her back up. Her body shook with each drive. The whole stall did, causing a rake to fall to the ground.

  Needing to feel more of him, she reached between her legs and took his balls into her hand, enjoying their size and masculinity. As he plunged inside of her, she rubbed her thumb against the base of his shaft, where their wetness joined, spilling down his cock.

  “Oh darling.” His voice was low and powerful, saturated with lust. “I knew you were something special.”

  To show him just how special fucking her could be, she clenched, squeezing her core around his cock. In return, he thrust hard, pushing deeper into her, and he began to swivel his hips, rubbing his cock within every inch of her pussy. It sent currents through her body, causing her to moan with ecstasy. Moving her hips with him, like a slow dance, she trembled with pleasure, her breath wild. He pushed her hair aside and pulled her closer so that her back rested against his chiseled abs, and he kissed her neck once more, working his cock within her while he tasted the sweat that dripped down her back.

  In his arms, she exploded, her ambrosia drenching his cock. “Eddie,” she whimpered as she came, overwhelmed by a powerful bliss that made her float in a golden light, her soul reaching out to his.

  Swelling when she said his name, he returned to pumping her, growing with his own pleasure until he also came. He shuddered as he released himself into her, continuing to hold her, the muscle of his arm resting against her breasts.

  “I really do love you,” he declared into the night. “I won’t let anything happen to you. You’ll be safe with me, Dakota. No more running.”

  “No more running,” she promised, knowing she was safe, that his promises were real. “Not from you.”

  From now on, they would run together, outlaws in the southern deserts, animals who roamed free.

  FIN

  Owen

  Rodeo Bears II

  by

  Becca Fanning

  Chapter One

  Sipping he
r macchiato as she walked beneath the palm trees on Rodeo Drive in her Jimmy Choo heels, Mary Beth Chaudett would soon get the devastating news that would change her life forever.

  “You have to stand up for yourself,” she said into her phone, which was pressed against her long blonde hair, bleached by the California sun. She walked out of a designer boutique where she’d tried on outfits that equaled the monthly wage of the staff working within her mansion, but she’d left empty-handed. The outfits had been repulsive. She wouldn’t put them on a dancing hippo. “I mean it, Claudette. Be the biggest bitch there is. Raise a fuss. It’s the only way to get the cow off your back.”

  “But that cow is my little sister,” Claudette pointed out.

  “Doesn’t matter.”

  “It does. If you had siblings, you’d understand.”

  “I understand plenty. Your sister tried to steal your boyfriend. Now she’s trying to steal your car by defaming you. Your dad had that car custom made for you. There’s no other in the world like it, and she knows it, so she’s using all the ammunition she has to talk it out of your garage and into hers. You have to fight back. Don’t let her walk over you. Stand up for yourself.”

  Beside the cobbled stone of the street, a homeless man sat on the sidewalk with a cardboard sign asking for supper. He wouldn’t last long. The police would be on him in an instant. Mary Beth quickly pulled a hundred dollar bill from her pocket and set it in the man’s hand before hurrying on her way.

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Claudette said, giving in. “You know what she told Daddy yesterday? She said that because I was twenty-four, I should be working so that I could afford my own car. Can you believe it? The worst thing is, I think Daddy is considering it. I’m a little scared. You’re my age. You understand. We haven’t worked a day in our lives. I even paid the Geek Squad to do my homework in high school. Where the hell am I supposed to get a job?”

  “I don’t know,” Mary Beth said honestly.

  “That’s because your daddy has billions. He has more than enough to spread around.”

  “No, not billions,” she corrected her friend. “But close.”

  The truth was, her papa would probably love it if she got a job, invested herself in something other than fashion, but he couldn’t talk. He’d been jobless at twenty-four as well, traveling around as an amateur bull rider in the rodeo, eating away at the trust fund set up by his father, an oil tycoon. It was only when her papa was older did he invest his money into organizing rodeo events. Now, he was a recognized name, the leader of the pack, responsible for events as elite as the world championships in bull riding, adding millions to the fortune he had inherited from his father.

  Reluctantly, Mary Beth went into another shop. Ray Chaudett. It belonged to her papa, one of his latest business ventures. Known for its designer Western wear, it was less than a year old, but it was already building an elite reputation with rich cowboys and cowgirls. She didn’t care for it. She didn’t care for any of it. Her papa could have the South. She’d stick with Beverly Hills. The only reasons she was in the shop was because hidden between the pinched hats and leather chaps were the best sunglasses on Rodeo Drive.

  A host rushed towards her with a glass of champagne, but Mary Beth held up a finger to indicate for him to hold on while she finished her call.

  “I wouldn’t worry about it, Claudette,” she continued. “Your dad won’t take your car away. He bought it for you because of all the charity work you do. Your sister can moan and bitch, but she’ll never get what she wants. She’ll never be as great as you are.”

  “I hope so. Hey, did you see the new Gucci bag that’s out?”

  “Yeah. It’s vulgar.”

  “Oh. I bought one.”

  “I would take it back. Seriously, Gucci is the poor man’s Versace.”

  The door opened, and a man Mary Beth knew all too well walked in, grabbing the attention of everyone in the shop. Around her, men and women alike glistened with admiration. Mary Beth rolled her dark blue eyes. It made her want to dump her macchiato on each of their heads.

  “I gotta go,” she said to Claudette. “The big bad bear has arrived.”

  “You mean Owen Hutch?” Claudette asked. “Where are you? I want to meet him. He’s the sexiest thing to walk on two legs. And four.”

  “What would you guys talk about? You don’t know anything about the rodeo.”

  “I may not know anything about the rodeo, but I know he’s a superstar. Where are you?”

  “Nowhere, because I’m about to leave before I get sick,” Mary Beth said. “See you later.” She hung up.

  “Your brandy,” the host said to Owen, bringing him a glass of brandy on a gold platter.

  “Where was my gold platter when you offered me the champagne?” she mumbled to herself. “I’m the owner’s freaking daughter.”

  Like her, Owen was in his mid-twenties, but he had the stature of someone much older, carrying himself with a formidable confidence that came with being a superstar. It helped that he was also super tall and well built, with a broad chest that could rip trees apart. He was a champion bull rider, but his good looks and easy humor had earned him numerous television appearances and invites to red carpet events. The magazines loved him. Social media was constantly flooded with images of his brown hair and golden eyes. He was a gentleman and a redneck, a combination that made the public drool.

  It makes them drool, but it makes me gag, Mary Beth thought. She didn’t understand the obsession with Owen. Yeah, he was hot, but she preferred her men in sharp suits and fast cars, not jeans and flannels, no matter how well those jeans showed off his ass.

  She’d known Owen for many years. As a bull rider, he was often at the events her papa organized, and when he was in town he came to the mansion for dinner. Impressed with his talent and drive, her papa had taken Owen in. To him, Owen was more than a rider in his rodeo. He was like the son he never had. It didn’t matter that Owen was a shifter, a werebear who could transform at any time into a giant grizzly. Her father treated him like family.

  Mary Beth didn’t mind that Owen was a shifter either. But she did mind that he was so obnoxious. She didn’t know why she hated Owen so much, but she didn’t need a reason. He and his perfect smile left knots in her stomach even a sailor couldn’t untie.

  Standing tall, though she was no match for Owen, she went to the host. “I’d like my champagne now,” she said righteously. “And make sure it’s a fresh bottle.”

  “Of course,” the host said, clearly disappointed to leave. He let the platter fall to his side as he went to the back to do as she asked.

  She turned to Owen. “What are you doing here?”

  His smile didn’t falter. “You mean what is a bull rider doing in a store that sells snake skin boots and shiny belt buckles?”

  “This isn’t a store. A store is where you buy apples and bubblegum. This is a shop.”

  He laughed and walked by her. “Well, this shop has the best sunglasses in these parts.” He went to the display tucked into the far corner. “It’s a shame they’re hidden away in the back.”

  Mary Beth had thought the same thing, but she wouldn’t admit it to Owen. “Don’t think you’ll get a discount just because you had dinner at the mansion with my papa last night.”

  Owen mindlessly searched through the sunglasses. “We missed you at dinner. Where were you?”

  “I was at a club meeting a real superstar. One who has been nominated for an Oscar, but you wouldn’t understand what it’s like to be nominated for something so prestigious. All you know is bulls and muck.”