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LICKED
ISBN-13: 978-1-60272-005-3
Publisher: Amber
Quill Press
Read
an excerpt here.
Needing a job, Terri Gates approaches
the owner of the Triple-Bar Dude Ranch, knowing that he spanks women.
She counts a possible spanking among her perks.
Texan DJ Harding needs another ranch
hand yesterday. Hiring a female hand previously brought him misfortune,
but Terri looks—and acts—so deliciously spankable,
he can't resist.
They both thrill when Terri provides
the excuse for DJ to lick her with a strap—and his tongue.
And when he does her an unusual kindness, Terri thanks her boss in an
unorthodox fashion. But a horse's injury, and his own emotional panic,
pushes DJ into publicly rebuking her for not doing her job properly.
The two find a way to mend fences—both literal and
emotional—because Terri and DJ know that love has licked them
both.
Excerpt from
"Licked", © 2007 Barrie Abalard. All
rights
reserved.
From the house,
DJ studied the wiry, flame-haired firecracker as she ambled around,
water in
hand. Her round ass and better-than-average rack warred with the thin
muscularity of her arms. Never had he seen a woman with such beautiful
curves
who was obviously used to physical labor.
All her references
had been extremely positive. Terri busted her hump with a smile on her
face.
Terri handled horses like a pro. Terri didn’t know the
meaning of the word,
“quit.”
“She can be a
spitfire,” one man had said, “but I’m
sure you know how to handle a woman like
that. Just do what ol’ John Wayne did to Maureen
O’Hara in that movie. You know
which one I mean.”
DJ knew exactly
which movie the man meant. He couldn’t remember the title,
but every frame of
the spanking scene was burned into his memory the way his name and
Social
Security number were.
He shifted his
weight from foot to foot, his erection driving him nuts. He
didn’t have time
for any damned foolishness with one of his employees. He also
didn’t like
sporting wood in his jeans for all his wealthy lady guests to see. Some
of them
had already communicated sexual interest in him, but he was not the
kind of man
who’d sleep with his customers, if only because of liability
problems.
Damn it,
though, he was a man, a red-blooded Texan who liked rolls in the hay as
much as
the next fella, but not with his guests, and not with his employees.
Walking back to
the redhead, he thought about what he was going to say.
“Well,” he
drawled, “seems you’re a good worker and know
horses. But you have this temper
problem, so I’m not sure whether I should take you
on.”
Like I have
much choice. She’s the best candidate for the job
I’ve seen in days, and the
two men who quit on the spot last weekend really pinned my balls to the
wall.
Guests have complained about the delay in saddling up, and the lack of
personalized attention I advertise.
Again, she made
eye contact as if it were an Olympic sport and she owned a gold medal.
“My
‘temper problem’ is overblown, I promise you. Look,
I really need this job. I
know I’m a model employee, so what do I need to do to
convince you to take a
chance on me?”
“Why’d you quit
your last job?” DJ asked. He already knew the answer, but he
wanted to hear it from her. That bastard Gary Stoke had a rep for
making unwanted moves on his female employees.
A redhead’s blush crept into
her cheeks. “You know Stoke’s on the make for
anything with curves. I didn’t appreciate the attention, so I
left. But not without notice.”
He nodded. “Gary admitted as
much, that you didn’t leave him in the lurch.
’Course, he claimed he never made any moves on you.”
“But we both know
that’s not true,” she said, so softly he almost
didn’t catch it.
“And I have a rep
that’s one-hundred-eighty degrees opposite Groping
Gary.”
Now it was her turn to nod.
“Yes, Mr. Harding.” Again her laser-like gaze hit
him. “Are you going to hire me, or should I climb in my old
Dodge and turn into a dust cloud?”
***
No matter how much she wanted to look
away, she kept her gaze pinned to his. She knew she needed to appear
confident and strong to be hired by Harding. She had the skills and the
references—now, all she needed was a chance. Just one
teeny-weeny, itty-bitty chance.
Please hire me. Please.
He smiled with his mouth. His eyes
were less welcoming. “All right, you got the job, partly
because I’m down two men and the guests aren’t
happy. But no excuses, and no whining. You’ll do the job I
tell you to do, and you won’t question my orders or give me
any sass, got it? In return, I promise never to treat you any way other
than professional. You really sure you can handle a half-ton of
stallion? You don’t weigh much more than a saddle.”
She smiled, thinking, I know one
stallion I’d like to handle. “You bet I can. In
fact, just try and stop me.”
He stuck out his hand. “You
know what the wages are. When can you start?”
Terri wanted to dance a jig. Instead,
she placed her hand in DJ’s, her expression solemn.
“Does right now sound good to you?”
His shake was firm. The touch of his
palm kicked up the heat she was feeling from the August sun by several
notches. Removing her hand as quickly as she could from his, she said,
“What do you want me to do first, Mr. Harding?”
Excerpt from
"Licked", © 2007 Barrie Abalard. All
rights
reserved.
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