Secret Obsession Read online

  "Should I be asking you for ID? You look a little young, sugar," Randy said as he was sliding her beer across the varnished wood counter. Raven laughed.

  "I get that a lot, but I'm totally legal."

  To prove it, she dug out her driver’s license and handed it to him.

  "Raven," he read. "Pretty name for a pretty lady."

  "Are you flirting with me Randy?" Her voice was laced with amusement since he was surely old enough to be her granddad. Randy let out a rustic chuckle.

  "Goodness, no," he said with a wink. "Just trying to give you a friendly welcome."

  "I hope you're not giving this lady a hard time, Randy."

  The smooth voice floated over her shoulder. Raven looked up to find Finn and another young cowboy settling into the seats next to her. She took a long gulp of her drink hoping to cool the sudden heat flash spreading through her body. A deep breath that was meant to calm her failed when she inhaled his crisp leather and spice scent filled her senses.

  "Now, Finn," Randy feigned shock. "You know Beth would have my hide. I was giving Miss Raven a friendly town welcome, is all."

  "And I thank you. It's good to know that chivalry still lives," Raven said as a covert dig at Finn. She hadn't forgotten their awkward first meeting and his subsequent ignorance of her since. Even though she had vowed to stay away from him, she couldn't deny her attraction to him anymore than she could deny her femininity.

  Finn flashed her a look, his mouth smiled but one eyebrow cocked in confusion at her comment.

  "I assure you that chivalry is alive and well here in the South." His accent wasn't quite as thick as old Randy's, but his husky drawl was country to the core. She found it charming.

  "I haven't seen it," she mumbled. The thought came out leaving Raven to wonder what had gotten into her.

  "Then I'm thinking you need to get out more," Finn's friend added to the exchange.

  "Pardon my manners," Finn said teasingly. "Raven, this is Buck."

  "Nice to meet you." Buck extended his hand with a big smile. He seemed very nice, and very interested. Raven wished that his boyish grin and dark green eyes had sparked something in her, but while she checked Buck out, she was keenly aware of Finn's soulful brown eyes studying her every move. She accepted Buck's hand for a quick shake, unable to ignore the fact that she had to lean across Finn's solid arm to do so.

  She forced a smile and tried to appear comfortable as she signaled Randy for another round. She'd only meant to have one and a look around, but liquid reinforcement was a must if she was going to be in Finn's presence.

  "We'll have another round, and put them all on my tab," Finn instructed Randy. He hadn't missed the snarky comment about chivalry, which was a direct result of his bad behavior towards her. As a new member to his family and a guest in his house, he should have at least offered to show her around town. Seeing her walk into the bar alone made him feel like a real jerk. To make things up to her, he kept the drinks coming and found a way to make her laugh by giving her quick and dirty profiles of the various people she picked out of the crowd.

  She seemed like a nice girl, even funny, but he couldn't be around her without gaining an instant erection. It was embarrassing and frustrating.

  Before he had a chance to decide what to do about her unexpected arrival, Buck had noticed her and was planning his attempt at seducing the hottie at the bar. Finn's immediate reaction was to knock him off his stool. Why should he be jealous that Buck was attracted to Raven? Because he was too, and he was more concerned with protecting her from his womanizing buddy than he was with protecting her from himself.

  "I really shouldn't have anymore," Raven said. "I'm already on my third and I would hate for the first round of gossip about me to be tagged with a DUI."

  Finn laughed.

  "Don't worry. I'll make sure you get home safe. Buck is my designated driver, and we’ll make sure to get your car back to you in the mornin’.”

  After a skeptical look from Raven he added, “He only drinks sprite."

  Raven noted the liquid in Buck's glass was clear and bubbly. "Well then. Cheers to Buck."

  "Cheers to the beautiful new lady in town," Buck said with a toothy grin.

  Finn ignored the way his friend fawned over Raven. As he raised his glass, a loud whooping and cheering came from the back of the bar. Sandy, the town party girl, was giving the mechanical bull one hell of a ride. She was notorious for jumping on after she got good and tipsy, and also held the bar's current record for longest ride.

  "Whoa," Raven commented.

  "Yeah," Finn agreed. "Sandy is something on that bull." He was glad that Buck had something else to focus on.

  "She's ok," Raven said.

  "Just ok?"

  "I've seen better."

  "Really, City Slicker? Tell me about it." Finn was doubtful, but interested in what she had to say.

  "I may be a City Slicker, but I know how to work my hips."

  Finn couldn't hide the fact that he was imagining how well she could work her hips. Images of Raven dancing and shaking her curvy hips were a constant backdrop for his recent wet dreams. His eyes darkened with lust.

  Raven returned the sentiment. There was a moment of unspoken understanding that passed between them before she spoke.

  "What about you? Can you handle the bull?"

  Finn managed to tear his gaze away from Raven long enough to glance back at Sandy whooping it up with one hand in the air. He was also a damn good bull rider and had won enough bets to prove it. Getting on the bull was not a problem for him.

  "I'm a cowboy, baby." He winked. "There's nothing I can't ride."

  Raven blushed, just as Finn hoped she would. He watched her as she checked him out, her eyes traveling from his face to his torso. She bit her lip, when she noticed the bulge of the erection he wasn’t trying to hide.

  "Then show me what you got."

  Raven's excitement was genuine and also gave Finn an idea.

  "I will, but let's make a deal."

  She raised a brow in suspicion. "Ok...”

  "If I manage to stay on the bull for longer than ten seconds, then you have to ride too." Finn’s excitement rose at the thought of seeing that show.

  "Make it thirty seconds," she said.

  "Deal."

  Buck, who had remained quiet for most of their exchange, followed them both to the back of the bar. Sandy had been thrown for the second time and was making way for the next rider to have a turn. It just so happened that Finn would be that rider.

  "Hey Finn," Sandy greeted him with a seductive hug. She was such a flirt. "Haven't seen you up on the bull in a while. You've been holding out on us."

  Finn merely tipped his hat to her. Sally was trouble, and as far as he was concerned she could be Buck's problem. He wasn’t interested. Looking back, he gave Raven a sly smile before mounting the mechanical contraption. It was older than the Alamo and a pain in the ass to ride, but he was a master after years of practice. Raven had fallen right into his trap when he suggested ten seconds. He could do sixty seconds with ease.

  Raven stood amongst the spectators as Finn strolled towards the bull. She might as well have been standing alone. Her entire world had been narrowed down to focus on him. The sexy sway of his gait, the way his t-shirt hugged the muscles in his back, and his nice tight ass. And she loved that he wasn't cocky. Finn had an easy confidence about him that she found very disarming. His warm brown eyes seemed to look right into her, and made her wonder how much of her soul he could see.

  Hopefully not enough to know how bad she wanted him. He turned back to wink at her and she felt the flush rise up her neck and cheeks.

  In one quick leap, Finn threw one long leg and then the other over the bull. He straightened his back, placed one hand on the hook, and raised the other in signal of his readiness. The music started and after a backwards count from three to one, he was set in motion. After his first five seconds, Raven knew he wouldn’t be falling off anytime soon.

/>   He was magnetic. Looking cool, confident, and in total control as he kept his balance while the bull jerked and swayed. The way he eased his hips forward and arched his back to move with the momentum of the ride was beyond sexy. And the crowd ate it up. Some women cheered, others watched with the same dreamy expression. Finn was a living, breathing fantasy.

  The guys placed bets. Most bet that he would last more than a minute. Others thought he would fall at the next unexpected shift. They were clearly haters. No doubt, Finn held the attention of every woman in the room.

  He rode that bull for one minute and forty-five seconds. Then he let go on his own accord and threw himself onto the mat, hopping to his feet in the same motion. Raven stood in awe, with her lips slightly parted when he approached her.

  "Your turn."

  "I–"

  Finn shook his head and took her by the arm to guide her to the bull.

  "No backing out Miss 'I know how to work my hips'. You're up!"

  Raven didn't have time to protest. Before she knew it, Finn had her lifted onto the bull and adjusted for the ride. Once she was seated and the popular country song began to play, her nerves settled and her natural performer's nature kicked in.

  "You good?" Finn asked. Raven waved him off, shaking off the trepidation with a wink of her own.

  "I got this!"

  She raised one arm to signal and then she began to move.

  Standing with his arms crossed and a big smile on his face, Finn watched on with a mixture of pride and enthusiasm. He hadn't seen her, but he'd felt Raven's eyes on him when he’d rode. Now he was able to watch her, and boy was it a treat.

  After a shaky start, where it looked as if she would be thrown in her first three seconds, she righted herself, and rolled with the jerky motions of the bull, syncing to the beat of the music. He couldn't stop staring at her, not even when Buck tapped him to comment on how hot she looked up there.

  In his mind she was riding for him alone, like he was the only man in the room. Without thinking, Finn stalked forward, too drawn to her to stop, and jumped on the bull behind Raven. She laughed wildly and let out a loud he-haw. He slid an arm around her waist and pulled her close.

  "Hold on, baby," he whispered in her ear.

  Raven's laughter died down to an uncontrollable smile at the erotic sensation of Finn being so close to her. Finn's chest pressed against her back. His fingers clutched her hips to guide her to his tempo. And his obvious arousal pressed against the crease of her ass. If she weren’t having so much fun, she would have fainted from overheating.

  While they rode he whispered and crooned words of encouragement in her ear. It was all in fun, but she couldn't stop thinking about how good his body felt against hers and how she could tell he felt the same way. But she knew that they had just crossed some sort of invisible line, a broken yet unspoken rule, and committed an infraction in the whole stepfamily hierarchy.

  She knew she was supposed to care.

  But she didn’t.

  Raven couldn't believe her luck. Or the lack of it, to be exact. Her day began thirty minutes late, after she slept through her alarm, and was ending with a flat tire. A flat tire and a cell phone with no battery life because she had been running late and forgot to grab her travel charger. She ignored the voice in her head that chided her for not leaving the damned charger in the car.

  There was no time to worry about that now.

  Sidling out of the driver’s seat, she headed to the trunk. The spare hid beneath her gym bag and the load of clothes she had yet to drop off at Goodwill. Shaking her head, she managed to pull the donut out while only breaking one nail. Now all she had to do was remember how the hell she was supposed to change a flat.

  After thirty minutes of strenuous labor, the only progress made was removing two lug nuts from one tire. Raven wanted to cry in sheer frustration. It was moments like this that she wished she had a man in her life. A good man, not the kind she usually dated who were only good for one thing. If she was really lucky, they were so stellar in the sack that she'd forget how horrible they were out of it. This lead to her usual random thoughts of Finn, who she had a feeling would be a champion in the bedroom.

  Raven had done as she planned and tried her hardest to stay out of his way. After their intense introduction that included his healthy erection, and then their salacious bull ride encounter, she was even more determined not to cross his path. That night, she pleaded to being too tired to stay out and had not spoken when Buck drove them home. She'd just muttered a sleepy goodnight and flew inside.

  Finn must have had the same agenda because she rarely saw him. He was always long gone before she woke up for breakfast. The few times she had seen him were at dinner and a couple of random trips to his minibar. Nothing compared to seeing him shirtless, staring at her with fire in his eyes and a growing bulge in his crotch.

  Those thoughts served as a reminder of how horny she was, since she hadn't been with a man of any kind in months. Her ex-boyfriend didn't have time to sleep with her because he was too busy banging half of her dance squad. Raven blinked hard, willing those thoughts away. They were immediately replaced with thoughts of Finn. Again. She couldn't believe that she'd spent the last few weeks in close quarters with the sexiest man she'd ever seen in real life. Unfortunately he was off-limits. The good ones always were.

  The threat of tears caused her eyes to twitch. The thick humidity of the July evening clung to her skin like a wet towel, weighing her down. The work blazer she sported that day had already been discarded, and the sweat rolling between her breasts was enough to grant her access to any wet t-shirt competition.

  Why had she taken this route home? If she had just stayed on the main road another car might have driven past by now and she could have at least flagged them down for the use of their phone. All around her, crickets and other noisy insects taunted her. She had already swatted her neck three times with the fear that a nasty bug was trying to stowaway down her shirt.

  Raven wondered if Texas had a higher bug count than most states, or if it was part of her misfortune to be stranded in the middle of the most bug ridden field ever. She was so consumed in her miserable musings that the distant sound of tires crunching over gravel eluded her.

  Finn was intrigued. He wasn't sure what was more interesting. Raven attempting to change a flat tire, or Raven hot and sweaty on her hands and knees. The slight jolt of his cock answered that question. Her thick, black wavy hair settled around her shoulders like a blanket, and the hem of her tiny shirt rested just at her waist, leaving her plump little ass fully exposed. His stepsister had the body of a porn star. He didn't know much about her besides the fact that she moved back home from college, worked in her father's office all day, and had moves that could put a belly dancer to shame.

  Oh, and she liked taking long showers. Many a night he had succumbed to massaging his dick imagining her naked body as the water rained down her smooth skin. Some nights he imagined the shock in her eyes of him joining her while she bathed. The real life image of her bending over with her ass in the air would now be put into his visual repository.

  He eased his pickup to a crawl as he approached her car. She was so engrossed with the flat tire that she didn't notice him until his headlights were shining down on her. Finn sucked in a deep breath and groaned at the sight of her up close. The thin cotton tank top she wore was plastered to her body and her perky tits were on full display. He had been dreaming about how those lovely mounds would feel in his hand, and how good his cock would feel buried deep inside of her.

  Living in such close proximity to a woman who wore pajamas meant for a ten year old, with her tight behind barely concealed, had turned him into a sex crazed monster. It was the way his body hummed when she was near him. The way her scent lingered in the air whenever she passed. Damn, he wanted her desperately.

  They locked eyes, and for a moment, Finn swore he saw what he was feeling reflected in hers. Right before she let relief flood her features. For som
e reason that pleased him. He liked that the sight of him gave her relief.

  Killing the lights on his truck, he took a few moments to adjust his crotch and compose himself before jumping out.

  Raven dropped the wrench from her hand, conceding her defeat to the flat, and making room for Finn to crouch down next to her. She tried to ignore the way his musky man scent made her dizzy with excitement. The ache between her thighs was almost unbearable and she squeezed them together, desperately trying to take the edge off.

  What was it about him that made her feel so lustful and shameless?

  It could be the fact that he was a tall walking advertisement of muscle and brawn. His dark blond hair was perpetually on the verge of unruly, and it taunted her to sink both hands in and pull. His cognac colored eyes always regarded her thoughtfully, and his deep baritone voice made her feel warm inside. Today he wore a navy blue t-shirt that stretched across his well-defined chest and a pair of thoroughly worn jeans. The way his thighs bulged underneath the light blue denim made her want to reach out and touch them.

  "So, I have a flat," she nervously stated the obvious.