Free Sweet Melody (Rock & Rodeo Romance #1) by Jaye Ripley Page A

him his phone back. “We’re not bad together, you and I.”
    Hunter takes the phone and my hand. He lifts my warm hand to his lips. “No, ma’am. What we are is definitely not bad.” Even the lightest touch from him reignites the fire inside of me.
    He twists my hand and plants light kisses on my palm and wrist. For someone I took to be a true Dominant, his sweet side confuses me. But it also touches the inner parts of me not meant to be accessed.
    Yanking my hand away from his lips with gentle force, I reach for his face and pull it into mine. As soon as our lips touch, the inferno we started before flares back to life, and we lose ourselves to the rhythm of our tongues and other parts of our body we can merge together.
    Hunter’s massive hard on presses against me, reminding me of how much he has to offer. Determined to reach my goal, my hand moves down the length of his torso toward his bulging pants. My brain barely registers his hard, cut muscles underneath his shirt before my hand reaches its target. His erection twitches underneath my palm slowly running up and down his hard length. A guttural groan escapes his throat as he matches my raw craving, and deepens the kiss.
    Without warning, Hunter grabs both my hands and pushes me off his body. “Damn it, Mel. Slow down.” Both of our chests heave.
    Puzzled, I try to move out of his grasp, but he holds on fast. Unwilling to give up, I challenge, “What if I don’t want to?”
    “Then I’m going to have to tie you up to make you behave. And I really don’t want to do that with you. At least, not tonight.”
    No talk of anything beyond what we have right now allowed. Changing tactics, I lick my lips to capture his attention. “I don’t mind being tied up. In fact, there are a lot of things I wouldn’t mind doing with you. Or to you.” My body leans forward against him, but he shifts his hold to my shoulders and pushes me back.
    Rejection replaces the hunger coursing through me, and I jerk away from him. “If you don’t want me, just say so.” He’s wound me up so tight all night long that any more waiting will cause an explosion. And for all the fun and games, the flirting and the play, I deserve the payoff of hot sex, not mind fucks.
    I turn to leave. “I’ll see if I can catch a ride home with Trey.”
    That last parting shot is mean and uncalled for, but Hunter drives me crazy. If we aren’t going to fuck, then I want to go home to at least give myself some release with my Battery Operated Boyfriend. One way or another, an explosion is imminent—by his hand or by my own.
    Before I take more than three steps, Hunter’s voice bounces off the brick walls of the club and empty parking lot. “Stop.”
    My damn feet obey, exactly like before. I stand, waiting for the next command, a little pissed at myself for not moving and a lot more excited for the possibilities. My mind races to anticipate his next move.
    Hunter walks up behind me, his body temperature warming my back. Instead of commanding me to turn and look at him, he wraps himself around me and gives me a hard squeeze. He holds onto me long enough for me to relax into his embrace. His breath tickles my neck from where he nuzzles into me, his stubble scratching my skin.
    When I start to speak, he places his finger gently over my mouth. “Don’t speak. Give me a chance to process things and explain.”
    Before he continues, he nestles further into my neck, inhaling me and brushing his lips lightly over my sensitive skin. If he thinks I can live in this erotic limbo for long, the fact that I may burst into flames will prove him wrong.
    “I do want you, Melody,” he starts.
    When I protest his use of my full name, he lightly nips my neck with his teeth.
    “I will call you that, and you’ll let me. Not because it reminds you of things you don’t have to tell me about, but because it’s exactly what you are—my Melody. And after we just sang together tonight, I don’t know how you could