Unforgiven Page 2

  She’d arrived late and sat to the side behind tall urns filled with lilies during the ceremony. She’d run to the bathroom when the band struck the first note in the ballroom in the old house. Not until she was sure everyone was deep into their drinks had she started to mingle, always with an eye for where Cutter was.

  When she’d seen him and Wade head out the door, glowering at each other and rolling up their sleeves, she hadn’t been able to resist joining the throng pushing through the doors to watch the fight.

  She’d kept behind everyone, standing on tiptoe to catch a glimpse.

  Cutter’s back had been to her for most of the fight and she’d drunk in the sight of his broad shoulders and thick arms and thighs as his muscles tensed. Watching the two men go at it like latter-day gladiators had sent a thrill of heat through her body unlike anything she’d felt in a long, long time.

  When Cutter’s glance had panned the porch and honed in on her, she’d taken a step back, hoping he didn’t know it was her because she didn’t want to leave just yet.

  Weddings were always roller coasters. Happy, tense times for the participants; poignant reminders to observers. She’d clutched a tissue in her hand throughout the ceremony, envying the smiles the bride and groom and best man had shared.

  All the while she couldn’t help thinking that she might have been the one up there, standing exactly where Dani stood, gazing into Cutter’s eyes as he slipped a ring on her finger—if only she hadn’t strayed.

  Infidelity wasn’t something Cutter would ever forgive. She couldn’t forgive herself. So she’d been a little tipsy. She’d been more than a little frustrated with how slowly Cutter had taken his courtship. Grown angrier the more she drank that fateful night with the fact he held the reins in their relationship and didn’t seem to notice she wasn’t happy with the pace.

  Justin hadn’t had to work all that hard to get into her bed. But even before he’d rolled off her, she’d known she’d just made the biggest mistake of her life.

  Katie slipped from the ballroom, and headed down the hallway toward the living room and the front door. She’d tortured herself long enough with regrets. It was time to go home.

  Just as she stepped into the living room, an arm reached around the corner, fingers closed around her wrist and whipped her toward a massive chest. The scent of spicy cologne, dust and male sweat assailed her, and she knew who held her inside his tight grip even before she raised her eyes.

  Cutter tsked. “Katie Grissom. Funny, I know you weren’t on the list of invitees.”

  Reluctantly, Katie lifted her gaze from the open collar of his shirt to meet his cognac-colored gaze. The color had always seemed so warm, so inviting, but now with angry color in his cheeks, his narrowed eyes made her heart kick into a panicked flutter.

  She licked her lips. “Maybe I’m a guest.”

  “Then where’s your date? Maybe I should return you to his side.” His narrowed gaze and the bruising on his cheek and jaw lent him a sinister air. “Just to make sure you don’t forget who you came with.”

  Katie pulled on her hand, attempting to break his hold, but he was stronger, more determined to keep her captive than she was to escape. One side of his mouth drew up in a nasty smirk.

  She stopped fighting and blew out a frustrated breath. “All right, so I crashed your party alone. I was just on my way out.”

  Cutter’s face hardened and his thighs crowded against hers. “Why are you here, Katie? Did you miss Justin?”

  Her body betrayed her, heat softening her core. Could he feel her belly quivering against his? She shook her head. “No, I’m happy for him. Although I really think Dani deserves better.”

  He grunted, and then pressed her wrists against her lower back, bringing her closer still.

  Katie wished she hadn’t had the wicked urge to go completely commando when she’d dressed. There was no way Cutter missed the fact her nipples were tight and digging into his chest.

  “Miss me?” he whispered.

  Katie opened her mouth to tell him to go to hell, but the anger in his taut expression halted her. Did she want him mad enough to goose walk her to the door or just mad enough to make him let loose some of the feral tension vibrating through his body?

  Isn’t this exactly what she’d wanted when she’d donned the little dress this morning, forgoing every scrap of underwear for a lavish coat of lotion to make sure every curve glided beneath the scrape of a callused palm?

  She licked her lips and tilted her hips—just enough to brush her belly against the thickening ridge of his cock. Oh yeah, she’d felt it.

  His darkening glance said he had too.

  “Guess you did,” he growled. “Or were you being that particular when you got dressed?”

  His words stung, but her body trembled from sensory overload. Cutter was too much man for her to make the smart choice and shove away from him.

  Katie dropped her gaze and tugged one hand free to slip the buttons of his shirt open, one by one. When the opening exposed his bronzed chest and crisp, brown curls, she slid inside it and smoothed her palm over his hot, sweaty skin. “I’ve always been…particular.”

  His chest expanded, and then he dragged her hand away, bringing it behind her back to shackle both inside one large fist. “Looks like you’ve got a choice,” he whispered.

  “Doesn’t seem that way to me,” she said just as softly, tugging at her hands—more for show, because she didn’t really want to be free.

  His face bent toward hers, and her lips parted. But instead of the kiss she craved, he nuzzled into her hair beside her ear. “You know where the door is. You decide one way—don’t let it slam you in the ass.”

  Katie shuddered as he inhaled along her cheek, like an animal scenting prey. “Or?” she managed to force through her tight throat.

  He straightened and his glance cut to the stairway leading to the upper floor and the bedrooms.

  Her eyes widened. “But you have guests.”

  “Who are busy sucking down alcohol at the moment. They won’t miss me.”

  Cutter turned her in his arms and jerked her closer, pressing every inch of himself against her backside. His free hand skimmed up the hem of her short dress, sliding up her thigh to the curve of her bare bottom where his hand paused.

  She stood still while his body tightened even more against her and his hand slipped forward, over the top of her thigh before gliding right between her legs.

  His breath hissed between his teeth even as his fingers slid over her smooth pussy and into moisture.

  Katie didn’t care that at any moment someone might walk down the hallway and see them like this, with his hand under her skirt, her pussy exposed. She braced apart her legs and let her back bow around her bound hands to lay her shoulders against his chest.

  His strong, thick fingers traced the waxed outer folds, then tucked between them to skim over the sensitive inner lips. A single digit dipped inside her entrance and swirled.

  Her legs trembled, her knees nearly buckling beneath her.

  His hand withdrew from beneath her skirt, and Cutter loosened his grip on her wrists, freeing her, and stepped back. “Choose,” he said, in an even voice.

  Katie glanced over her shoulder, thinking fast. She knew this wasn’t the answer to all their problems, but she wasn’t backing down from the challenge in his rigid face. If she ever hoped for another chance…this was it.

  She rubbed her wrists, stiffened her spine, then turned in her high-heeled sandals and sauntered toward the stairs.

  Chapter Two

  Cutter followed the slow, sexy roll of Katie’s round hips all the way up the staircase. By the time her little fuck-me heels snicked on the wooden floors of the hallway above, his body was as hard as a brick wall, his cock surging against the front of his trousers.

  While he climbed, he eyed every inch of her frame, from the thick red curls that fell mid-way down her back, the gentle slope of her shoulders, the indent of her narrow waist, the lush swe
ll of her ass and finally, to the long stretch of sleek legs he knew were stronger than they appeared. His hands itched to claim every inch of her, but he curled his fists, ruthlessly reminding himself this wasn’t about pleasure.

  Having her here at his mercy, at last, seemed to heighten every one of his predatory senses. Damn, he could smell her, even from this far away. The crisp, feminine mixture of perfume and musk drew him like a bloodhound to a fresh trail.

  His fingers were still damp from her arousal, but he resisted the urge to bring them to his mouth and taste her. He wouldn’t be weakened by his own desire.

  He didn’t know what her game was, but she’d accepted his invitation. Too bad for her he didn’t plan to do more than ease his own lust and kick her to the door. She didn’t deserve any more consideration than that. Revenge and an easing of his temper were his only goals.

  She paused at the first doorway and cast a questioning glance his way.

  He shook his head and waited for her to continue down, past the next and the next bedroom. At the end of the hallway, she didn’t give him another look, but turned the doorknob and stepped inside, pulling up the hem of her short dress even before he managed to close the door behind them.

  So she was eager. Again, he didn’t care. Only his urgency, his lust mattered.

  She’d betrayed him, and done it with the one man he’d never forgive her for. The year-old memory of Justin’s narrow-eyed triumph when he’d strode up behind Katie, stuffing his cock back into his blue jeans, had been enough to kill their relationship forever.

  But if she wanted to give him a little release, who was he to turn her down? Any cunt would do.

  The dress slithered upward in a soft rasp over her slender body, baring her bottom and slender waist. She tossed it toward the arm chair next to the bed and climbed onto the mattress, giving him a luscious view of her ass.

  He ripped open his shirt, listening as the remaining buttons pinged on the wood floor. His belt was open, the top button of his trousers gone before she reached the center of the bed and lay down. Rolling to her back, she lifted her legs, pulling them together and to the side so that her pussy was hidden, leaving only the sweet curve of her thigh and buttock exposed.

  His gaze raked her chest, lifting an eyebrow at the way she covered her breasts with her hands. But it wasn’t out of shyness. She squeezed them and closed her eyes, her mouth opening around a little moan.

  Fuck. She’d been sexy as hell when he’d been seeing her, but in a shy, kittenish way. This Katie had learned a thing or two about how to arouse a man. She tugged her nipples and a soft gasp escaped her rounded mouth.

  His own mouth watered. His cock jerked, thick and insistent. He kicked off his shoes, thrust down his pants and boxers and stepped out of them. Cutter pulled open the drawer of his bedside table and plucked out a condom. With precision, he tore open the packet and palmed the latex circle. Knowing she watched, he slowly cloaked his cock, giving himself a single, hard-fisted stroke before he followed her onto the mattress. He grasped that sweetly curved thigh and turned her hips, both hands opening her as he came down over her, and thrust his cock straight into her center.

  Katie didn’t seem to mind he’d skipped any preliminaries, but then again, she was already wet, already squeezing around him, her silken walls sucking him into her. When she tried to wrap her legs around him, he thrust his arms under her knees and pushed up her thighs, holding them opened for him to slam unimpeded into her juicy cunt.

  He knelt in the center of his bed and banged her, without grinding once against her sensitive clit. When she slipped her hands between her legs, he shook his head and stopped stroking, waiting for the moment when she got his message.

  Her hazel eyes widened, understanding now that this was going to be all about him or he was through.

  Her mouth opened, but she ground her jaws shut and turned her face against the coverlet.

  Cutter closed his eyes, let his head fall back and shut out the sight of her, concentrated only on the feel of a wet pussy surrounding him, trying not to care whose body he sank inside as he thrust again and again.

  Nearly mindless, swollen and edging toward release, he didn’t care how quick he came. It had been too damn long. He’d run through half a dozen one-night stands in the month following her betrayal, but nothing since, because they hadn’t approached the memories he had of what it felt like to slide inside her wet, tight pussy. They hadn’t smelled the same, hadn’t felt as soft…hadn’t felt right. And he damn sure hadn’t wanted to talk to them, not like he used to with Katie.

  He’d missed her and hated her for it. However, he wasn’t the one who’d strayed. So why the hell was he feeling guilty now? He thrust harder, deeper, until the pressure in his balls exploded and he couldn’t think, could only fulfill the primal instinct to pour his seed into her. He stroked more slowly, savoring the steady pulses as he emptied himself.

  When he opened his eyes, he gazed down. Katie’s head was still turned, her belly quivering. Again, her hands covered her breasts—this time to hide.

  He knew because her knees pressed inward against his arms, trying to close. He dropped them and scooted back on the mattress, watching as she closed her legs and turned on her side, facing away.

  As his breaths evened and the heat of his anger cooled, something lodged inside his chest, heavy and nearly choking the back of his throat. He’d never been this cold with a woman, this cruel. Even if she deserved the edge of his anger, she hadn’t deserved to be used like this.

  But what could he say and not make things worse? No way would he comfort her. She’d get mixed signals, and he didn’t want her to think they ever had a chance at resuming their relationship. They were done.

  A knock sounded on the door and it swung open. “Cutter, you in here? Dani’s ready to toss the bouquet—”

  Cutter aimed a glare at Rowe, whose eyes widened on Katie. “Tell her I’m on my way.”

  The door closed quietly, and Cutter backed off the mattress, his glance falling away from Katie, who still hadn’t moved. His clothes were a crumpled, dirty mess, so he slid open his closet doors and pulled out another crisp shirt and dark trousers. Then he headed to the bathroom without a word to the woman who lay as still as a statue in the center of his bed.

  ———

  Stupid, stupid, stupid! Katie couldn’t still the self-recriminations that echoed in her head. Her breaths came in sharp, jagged sobs, but she held back her tears. She’d never cry over Cutter Standifer again. She’d been a fool. He’d taken what she’d offered, and so much more. Her pride lay in tatters. Her soul felt as bruised and tender as her sex.

  From the moment she’d woken that morning and stared at the wedding announcement clipping she’d stuck under a magnet on her refrigerator door, she’d had this feeling stirring inside her. Something warm, something hopeful, like she had to give it one more try to make things right.

  What had she been hoping for? She’d half expected him to give her a cold stare then ignore her like he had every time they met by accident in town. She’d hoped he’d at least offer her a polite greeting, a chance for her step closer and apologize, because the guilt had haunted her for so long.

  Instead, he’d used her like a whore. And she’d allowed it—because she felt she owed him something for her betrayal.

  But they were even now. And he’d made it all too clear this was the only thing they’d ever have. Katie heard the bathroom door open and close, heard his footsteps walk around the room, back to the closet, to the door.

  “Stay here.” Then the door closed, and she opened her eyes to make sure she was alone.

  Only then did she sit up and take stock. The wedding party was gathering on the porch below. This time laughter told her the bride and groom were getting ready to leave.

  Loud shouts of encouragement, howls of laughter—and she knew the bouquet had been tossed into the arms of some other girl.

  Katie crawled off the mattress feeling drained, and went into the
bathroom to wash away moisture dripping down her thighs.

  Thank god someone had thought to use a condom. She hadn’t needed the pill in a long, long time.

  She dressed, wishing she had more to wear than the thin silk dress. Had everyone known she was naked underneath it? That morning she’d only cared that Cutter noticed.

  She slipped on her sandals and hurried out the door. She’d sneak out the back and get to her car before anyone even knew she’d left. Cutter wouldn’t care she hadn’t obeyed. He’d just be relieved he didn’t have to look at her again.

  ———

  Cutter watched the trail of dust the little red Mustang kicked up as Katie pulled away from the pasture they’d roped off for a makeshift parking lot. No one else noticed. All eyes were on the bridal couple who laughed as Justin’s old pickup, waxed to an impudent shine, pulled up with ribbons tied to the antenna mast and cans clattering behind it.

  Rowe stepped out of the cab, held the door for Justin to slide inside, and clapped his shoulder. Then he ran around the front of the truck and held the door for Dani, whom he kissed on the cheek and gave a wink.

  No doubt he’d return to the party with the rest of the guests and dance with a string of ladies, just long enough so no one would remark when he slipped out the door to join Dani and Justin as they packed for their trip to Mexico.

  Cutter’s fists curled, but he couldn’t work up the deep, disappointed anger he’d held close to his chest in the weeks since Dani had announced she’d marry Justin and live with the two men on Rowe’s ranch.

  She’d made her bed. He hoped like hell she’d be happy, because he’d have to kill two men if they failed her.

  When the pickup drew away, he forced a smile to his lips and accepted the congratulations from his friends for a great wedding. Even Wade came up and slung an arm around his shoulder. “Gonna be lonely in this house now, ain’t it?”