The Barter System Companion: Volume One Read online

  “Riya’s a good person,” he said in a strangled voice.

  Nodding, she said, “She sure is. I know she respects you and likes you as a man. You gave her lots of pleasure.” She smiled at his wide-eyed stare. “We had a nice talk. She’s worried about leavin’ you in a couple days.”

  “Worried?” He didn’t feel like he was part of the real world.

  “Mm hmm. She asked what the hell was wrong with me, allowin’ things to get to a point where she could intrude on my territory.” Shay shook her head and chuckled.

  “I didn’t know what to say at first. I told her I had no right thinkin’ about you like that and she said she didn’t take me for a weak-minded woman.”

  She picked up a blow dryer and moved it over his head and upper body to dislodge loose hair. Then she stepped in close and used her fingers as a comb while she dried it.

  When she was done, she pulled off the apron and ran a soft brush over his neck in case there were any other hairs.

  “That woman made me realize something real important, Victor.” He started to get up from the chair and she gently pushed him down. “You wanna know what it was?”

  His jaw was locked hard, causing a muscle to tick in his cheek. He nodded brusquely.

  “It wasn’t weakness. It was flat-out cowardice. I’ve been by myself for almost ten years, since my marriage of five minutes was annulled to that low-life rodeo boy when I was eighteen.”

  “You got a bad deal outta that, Shay. Wasn’t your fault.”

  “I’ve had no interest in life or livin’, in datin’, in havin’ children. To be honest, I didn’t have a spark of interest in anything. Except you, Victor. Since I’m best friends with Sissy, I’m around you a lot. It can be my own personal hell some days.”

  He blinked. “What?”

  “I did it because I was willin’ to take whatever I could get. Riya told me to grow up. She said go all-in or get stuck with nothin’.” She leaned in close. “Here’s my all-in.”

  Then she dropped her silken lips over his.

  Victor exploded from the chair with his arms locked around her waist. He carried her into the back room where the big windows wouldn’t advertise their goings-on to the entire town. Setting her down, he pressed her against the wall.

  Wrapping his hand around the back of her neck, he braced himself with the other to keep from crushing her.

  They stood like that for a long time, staring at each other. He took in her tiny freckles and green eyes. Peaches and cream complexion. Trim body with all the female curves women were meant to have.

  He traced his thumb along her jaw line. “You don’t know what you’re getting into, Shay,” he told her quietly.

  “That a fact?” She rocked her hips against his cock and he hissed in reaction. “If that tree trunk in your pants is any indication, I know exactly what I’m getting’ into.”

  What exactly did a man say to something like that?

  “I’ve accidentally on purpose walked in on you a dozen times. I’ve seen you peein’, changin’, showerin’. I know you got a huge cock. We’ll figure it out.”

  Then she licked her pink lips and he was lost.

  He dropped his mouth over hers and worked her with his teeth, lips, and tongue. Sucking, nibbling, and inhaling the taste of her.

  She slipped her hands around his waist and up his back exploring the muscles under his tank top. She rocked her body against him and moaned softly into his mouth.

  They pulled at one another, getting as close as they could with their clothes on. When her hands went to the waistband of his jeans, he stopped her.

  She gently moved his hands aside. “Did Sissy ever tell you what I was known for in home economics?”

  Holding his gaze, she lowered the zipper with care. Slipping her hands in flat against his hipbones, she nudged his pants and briefs down.

  “It’s not very ladylike when we talk about it now. Back then, we had this game to see who could fit the most food in their mouth, or swallow a wooden spoon, or hold an entire bunch of grapes without gaggin’.”

  She ran her hands around to his ass and kneaded the taut muscles there. “It turns out I have a really big mouth.” She lowered to her knees and stared up at him. “I also have no gag reflex.”

  Then she took his cock in her mouth almost to the base.

  “Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck…” Groaning, he rested his head against his arm, rolling his forehead back and forth. “I don’t think this is real. It isn’t possible.”

  He gritted his teeth. “Don’t answer me…I don’t care if I’m hallucinatin’ or even dead. God, yes. Deep in your hot mouth. Jesus. Please don’t stop.”

  She pulled back, stroking his length with both hands stacked and slightly twisting on the down-stroke.

  “Victor, I’m suckin’ your cock in the backroom of my shop. It’s a pleasure I hope to repeat often. You don’t have to worry. I have no intention of stoppin’.”

  Shay stuck her tongue out to lick the head and a shudder wracked through him. “It’s rude to talk with your mouth full. Don’t expect any more talkin’.”

  It was the last thing she said for a long time. The suction and depth of Shay’s mouth were like being buried in a tight pussy, something not even Riya could accomplish.

  Without being with her first, he wouldn’t be here right now with the woman of his dreams sucking him off twenty feet from Main Street.

  She took a little more of him and every thought went right out of his head. She was almost to his balls and he didn’t know if he was going to be able to stand up much longer.

  He felt a bit of pre-come escape the head and Shay moaned around him. Cupping his ball sac, she kneaded them firmly. He didn’t want to come in her mouth without permission.

  “I-I can’t hold on much longer.”

  Her answer was to suck him harder and faster. His fingers tangled in her hair and the silkiness of it was the sensation that tipped him over.

  Come burst hot and painfully hard from the head of his dick and she milked him, swallowing every drop.

  When he was almost done, she pulled back enough so the last of it pooled on her tongue. Watching her take it so openly resulted in another small burst.

  She closed her eyes and swallowed with an expression of pure pleasure. Opening them again, she took him all the way in her mouth once more, like a final lick on a lollipop.

  Then she smiled and got to her feet between him and the wall. “Everyone in home economics said my grape thing was a useless skill. Shows what they know.”

  Victor attacked her. Later he’d realize it was the only way to describe it. He pulled her shirt open and yanked up the hem of her tank top, reaching behind her to unclasp her bra. All three pieces went over her head at the same time leaving her bare from the waist up.

  He dragged her into her kitchen area and unsnapped her jeans. He had them and her panties down her legs but they were hung up on her boots. He spread out a hair towel on the counter and lifted her to it as if she weighed nothing. She was higher than him and he reached to yank off her boots, then her jeans and panties.

  Naked to him at last, thank god.

  His pants were loose around his hips and he still wore a tank top. It was time to focus on her pleasure. He wasn’t taking her the first time in her shop like some cheap thrill.

  When she let him put his cock in her body, it would be in a proper bed with clean sheets. There might be candles.

  All he cared about was turning her inside out like she did to him. He kissed her deeply, possessively, before pushing her back to lean on her hands.

  He took her full breasts in his hands, caressing their firm roundness and pushing them together. “One day, I’m gonna fuck you here. After I’ve taken your pussy. I’ll slide my cock between these lovely tits and fuck you until I come on your chest.”

  “Sounds like you’ve given it some thought.” She squeezed her thighs together with a low moan. “Have you?”

  “Over the years, there isn’t
a position I haven’t considered you in.”

  He sucked her nipples, using his teeth to nibble the hard peaks. When she was writhing in pleasure, he continued down her torso, giving a small bite to the area beneath her belly button.

  Her skin was soft but he could feel strong muscle underneath. He gently pushed her thighs apart and enjoyed the sight of the bright red curls covering her pussy. He took his time combing his fingertips through the neatly trimmed hair.

  Arching against his fingers, her cream eased from her and glazed her folds. Everything about her body language told him she was prepared for him. He needed to be sure.

  “It’s alright if I touch you, Shay?”

  “I’ll die if you don’t touch me, Victor.”

  He slid his finger from her clit to her pussy and back again. He bent, using his fingers to separate her outer lips, and realized she was dripping.

  “Did you come when you sucked my cock?”

  “I came when I was washed your hair and y-you exhaled over my nipples. I came a-again when you let me drink you down. It was better than I dreamed.”

  Dragging his tongue through her folds made him growl. His balls tightened with need as he kissed the skin at the top of her mound. “You dreamed about me?”

  “Every night for years. I wanted to be ready so you didn’t worry if you ever touched me. I bought a fake cock as close to your size as I could find. I use it and I think about you. Havin’ you at least once is all I ever wanted.”

  Cock throbbing, heart pounding, he whispered, “How much time we’ve wasted.”

  He went after her clit with his mouth while his fingers plundered her pussy, curling inside to make her insane. Her inner muscles pulsed, sucked at him, and he knew how it would feel when it was his cock fucking her.

  The first orgasm was explosive and she moaned his name through clenched teeth as he tongued her pussy down. He refused to waste a drop of what she offered. He brought her down gently, his fingers and tongue loving on her until the tremors eased.

  He slicked some of her fluids down to her ass, smoothing them around the tight entrance. Softly, he asked, “Did you prepare yourself here, too, Shay?”

  The bright blush across her breasts and up her neck told the truth before she could. Holding his gaze was one of the bravest things he’d ever seen. “I didn’t think I’d enjoy it at first. I wasn’t sure what you were…into.”

  Her palm caressed his cheek and he turned to kiss it.

  “I conditioned my body to be your playground, Victor, because I’ve been in love with you since I was seventeen. I married someone who looked like you because you treated me like your sister.” Swallowing hard, she added, “I’ve waited for you since I realized what a mistake he was.”

  Leaning forward, she kissed him and tasted herself on his lips. “I know you’re tryin’ not to fuck me. You want to be a gentleman. I appreciate that but I need you. Right now.”

  He gathered close and smoothed his hands over her face and body. “I’ve been an idiot. Do you have any idea how long I’ve been in love with you? I didn’t want to scare you, to hurt you. I didn’t think I was good enough for you.”

  Shoving his pants out of the way, he picked her up and her entire body wrapped around him. “I wanted you all the time. I jacked off over and over if I was going to be around you.”

  He pressed her back against the wall and lowered her until his cock nudged the entrance of her pussy. “That big Fourth of July barbeque at Aunt Cyndi’s when you came out in a bikini, I ran to the bathroom and stroked off so I didn’t attack you.”

  Moaning, she rubbed her body against him, planting kisses on all the skin she could reach. “All this time I’ve been fightin’ loneliness, you were lonely too. I didn’t know, Shay.” She yanked at his tank top and pulled it over his head, lowering her mouth to lick his nipples. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  She tightened her legs, drawing the head just inside her body. “You won’t hurt me. Take me, Victor. Don’t make me wait anymore.”

  He put one hand on the wall under her arm and held her in place by palming her ass with the other. Dropping his head, he inhaled carefully.

  Cupping his face, she lifted his eyes and made him look at her. “You won’t hurt me. I need you inside me.”

  He surged upward and buried himself more than halfway. She gripped him tight as a fist and sighed in pleasure. He pulled back and watched her face as he buried himself to the hilt in one more smooth stroke, her pussy flexing and tightening around him.

  Over the next hour, he never stopped kissing her as he maintained his rhythm. Sure and strong, he pounded her through two orgasms until he could feel her release dripping from her body.

  When the third arrived, she shook violently. “Come with me, Victor. I want to feel you come. I’ve waited years to feel it.”

  Seconds after watching her entire body tighten in her climax, he joined her with a roar. He knew he held her too tight, that the veins in his neck and shoulders stood out as he crushed her to him. He couldn’t seem to ease his grip.

  His come coated her pussy thick and hot, too incredible even with the circumstances, and he realized he forgot to use a condom.

  Locking eyes with her, he struggled for…something to say.

  She put her finger over his lips. “Don’t. I’ve never felt anything so good. I’ll think about it later but I’m not worried.”

  “You’re not?”

  “If you got me pregnant with your baby, would you do right by me, Victor?” He nodded and didn’t look away from her face. “That’s why I’m not worried. We’ll be more careful.”

  “I want you to know, I’ve always been real safe.”

  Grinning, she replied, “I know. You wouldn’t touch me if you weren’t.” She raked You realize Riya’s probably been sittin’ at Cyndi’s place for like two hours. Not real hospitable of us.”

  He smiled. “You’re friends.”

  “I think she’s amazin’.”

  “It makes me happy.”

  “It’s strange I’m not jealous of her. Like she was meant to come here, to put us together. I believe we’ll be together because she did. If she ever needs me, I’ll go. No questions asked. I owe her. I finally have you and I’m never lettin’ you go, Victor.”

  Lifting her slowly from his cock, he grabbed another towel to clean them up. Once his clothes were in place, he helped Shay with hers. When she was ready, he held her close and kissed her until she trembled.

  The woman he loved. In his arms at last.

  Shay wasn’t the only one who owed Riya.

  Uncertainty

  Billings, Montana - October 2012

  He tried to settle back into his life but it was too quiet without her. Silence was a physical presence he grew accustomed to through years of a bitter marriage.

  She’d turned up the volume so quickly and effortlessly. It was almost magic.

  Though he was absolutely convinced he’d made the right decision for her future, the thought of going back to life alone made his chest hurt.

  The quiet and the long nights weighed on him.

  He wasn’t sure he should’ve agreed to host company in the downright pathetic place he seemed to dwell.

  The sound of vehicle doors slamming brought him out of his introspection. At the back porch, he watched three people step away from a big truck.

  A small woman with red hair, a big man who made him frown though he didn’t know why, and a tall brunette who looked up and met his gaze without an ounce of shyness.

  He felt shame when he noticed her legs went on for miles but shrugged it off.

  The redhead gave him a big smile. “The description was exactly right…my word.” Releasing a nervous giggle, she walked closer. “I sure hope you don’t find me rude but I’m desperate for a bathroom. We got a little turned around.”

  Finding his voice after days of silence wasn’t easy. “Right here off the kitchen.”

  The leggy brunette stumbled. He stared at her with a quie
t question.

  “Sweet baby Jesus, your voice.” She shook her head and it made him smile before he could temper it. “I’m Amelia. You must be Lucas.”

  “I am. Pleased to meet you.”

  She nodded toward the house. “She of the tiny bladder is Shay and this is my brother Victor.”

  He shouldn’t have recognized the name but he did. He should’ve controlled his temper but he didn’t.

  Later, all the should haves would come back.

  For now, he disliked the man who’d touched her before him, younger and bigger than him, who gave Riya pleasure and kindness and the will to keep going.

  He’d done the same but…the anger bubbled up anyway.

  “Hmm. You ride?” Seeming a little confused, Victor nodded. “Let’s saddle up. Give the ladies time to freshen up.” To Amelia, he added, “Two guest rooms past the kitchen. Make yourself at home.”

  She tilted her head. “You don’t have to do this, you know. He loves Shay something fierce.”

  “Don’t know what you mean. Just getting to know each other.” Nodding his head, he stepped off the porch.

  They didn’t end up riding that first afternoon. They shot targets. They branded cattle. And when Lucas felt like his head was going to explode, he goaded the younger man into a fight.

  After the first punches were thrown, he recognized he was taking his anger about a lot of things out on the fisherman from Georgia. Stuff that wasn’t his fault and Lucas had no right to take a toll for. Pausing gave Victor the opening to tackle him to the ground but he let him go when he sensed it was over.

  “You alright now, mister?” He nodded. “Good. I hate fightin’.”

  He stood and held out a huge hand. Lucas accepted it and they took a minute to dust off. When their eyes met, they both started laughing. The women stood along the corral fence, looking real annoyed and confused about the rituals of men.

  “Y’all ’bout done? Lord.”

  Shay tsk’d over a cut to her man’s lip and Amelia raised her brow. Lucas couldn’t do anything but shrug. “Now that’s out of your system, let’s eat and have a damn conversation like real people. Shit.” Shaking her head, she walked toward his house.