High-Stakes Cowboy (WEST Protection) Read online

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  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  All Rights Reserved

  High-Stakes Cowboy

  Box Set Novella

  Copyright Em Petrova 2020

  Ebook Edition

  Electronic book publication 2020

  All rights reserved. Any violation of this will be prosecuted by the law.

  West Protection

  RESCUED BY THE COWBOY

  GUARDED BY THE COWBOY

  COWBOY CONSPIRACY THEORY

  COWBOY IN THE CROSSHAIRS

  PROTECTED BY THE COWBOY

  One hatched plan…and a whole lotta romance.

  Maya Ray’s just been dumped. Noah Wynton’s just been dumped too. So while their exes bask in their new relationship, what do Maya Ray and Noah do? Hatch a plan, of course.

  The checklist:

  -Pretend to date.

  -Show up everywhere their exes do.

  -Get lovey-dovey as often as possible (shouldn’t be too difficult, with this chemistry!)

  -Prove they’re over their exes (except things are starting to snowball, and maybe those kisses aren’t so fake after all…)

  Maya Ray is convinced the best revenge is proving to her ex that she’s fine. With a plan like this in place, she’s sure to have more than her share of fun too. Now that Noah’s spending so much time with Maya Ray, he’s starting to realize things might not have been perfect with his ex. But how long can they possibly keep up this act? And with a whirlwind romance to fake, who has time for falling in love?

  High-stakes

  cowboy

  by

  Em Petrova

  Chapter One

  A rough, warm hand landed on Maya Ray’s lower back, in the cutout of her sexiest top. Then an equally warm pair of lips nestled at the curve of her ear.

  “You look like my next big mistake,” the deep voice sent shivery goodness through her body.

  Twisting, Maya Ray prepared to find just another cowboy-wannabe here at Jake’s annual rodeo kick-off party, but she stopped short of letting her jaw drop. This was no wannabe cowboy, the kind who wore hats and boots from the slick riders shop in Bose. This guy was rugged and worn in all the right ways, from the curled edge of his Stetson to his scuffed boots.

  She took in the denim in between. Wranglers, nice and tight, the way every girl liked them. And a chambray shirt open at the collar to reveal the cowboy’s tanned neck.

  The sight of him sure was welcome, after standing alone at this party pretending to enjoy herself when she really felt miserable.

  At least while gawking at the hunk who claimed her to be his next big mistake, she’d lost sight of her ex-boyfriend Jake—and his brand-new perfectly blonde, perfectly manicured girlfriend. The one he’d dumped Maya Ray for, directly after their two-year anniversary.

  The cowboy in front of her gave her a slow perusal, eyelids dipping. Either he couldn’t hold his liquor or he was one of those men who knew how to work a woman…which meant he’d know all the sweet spots on her body once they got between the sheets.

  When the music changed to a fast beat, he planted his hand on her bare spine again and with a little tug, brought her flush against him. Gazing into her eyes, he said, “Dance with me.”

  She barely had time to nod before he swept her onto the dance floor in the middle of the barn. The stomp of boots on floorboards raised the roof, and Maya Ray’s dance partner had all the moves. He shook his ass. Swung his hips. Rolled his broad shoulders in the line dance everybody in Stone Pass, Montana knew since the moment their momma slipped their first pair of boots onto their feet.

  Through a slight haze of tequila, Maya Ray issued a laugh as the cowboy grabbed her hand in his and spun her around and around, whirling her through the other dancers like he possessed a radar for other couples flying their way. And his fingers probing the flesh of her lower back worked a new kind of pressure deep into her belly that had nothing to do with tequila.

  As he spun her again, her gaze locked onto Jake. That bastard. He stood off to the side next to the buffet with her. Shana Peachtree. What kind of name was Shana Peachtree anyway? She sounded like a drink, and by the looks of her, one that would taste sweet going down but then turn sour in a man’s stomach after a few sips.

  Oh yes, Maya Ray fully expected Jake to come running back to her after his little fling, but she had no plans to stick around for when he did. This was why attending the party was so important—it proved to the whole town of Stone Pass she was over him. She could slap a smile on her face, don her sexy red, backless top and kick up her boots to celebrate the annual rodeo.

  The cowboy spun her out. Then back in. He pulled her tight against him and ground his hips in a way that had her pulse racing and the girls around him shooting her jealous glances.

  Who was this mystery cowboy, anyhow? She’d lived here her entire life and never come across the likes of him. Tipping her head back, she studied his handsome face, noting the strong dark brows, straight nose with a slight bump revealing he probably broke it at some point like most cowboys did. But those lips…

  Now she recognized him. Or at least knew him by his bloodline. He was a Wynton. Those wide, full, lover’s lips gave him away.

  As did the deep dimple smack-dab in the middle of his cheek when he flashed a grin at her. Her lungs burned, and not from dancing. This might be the first attraction she’d felt since the day she ran into Jake at the tack shop two years before. Since then, pretty much every male of the species had been invisible to her.

  Until now.

  This man couldn’t go unnoticed if he tried. He shook his hard ass all over the dance floor, and Maya Ray took note of how Jake focused on them from across the room.

  Good—let him see what he’s missin’ while he stands around with his arm candy.

  The dance ended, and the cowboy took her firmly by the hand and led her to the drinks table. She noted how Jake and his woman both watched them now. Maybe all was not paradise in their relationship.

  Not that Maya Ray cared. She was soooo over that chapter of her life.

  “Tequila?” The cowboy raised the bottle.

  She nodded. She expected him to pour the shots into plastic cups, but he wrapped his long fingers around the neck of the bottle, grabbed her by the hand again and led her outside.

  The strains of music were hardly muffled out here, but the cool air dried the perspiration on her face and neck from their energetic dance.

  Suddenly the cowboy whirled her to face him. “What’s your name, sugar?”

  “Besides your next big mistake? It’s Maya Ray.”

  “Ray your last name?”

  “No, my full name is Maya Ray Spotts.”

  His dimple appeared. “Betcha hated that last name as a kid.”

  She pulled the tequila from his hand. “I did.” She swigged.

  His grin widened. “I’m Noah. Noah Wynton, in case you need to know.”

  “Why would I need to know your last name?”

  “In case you wanna look me up again after tonight.” In the darkness, his eyes appeared darker green like the forest pines on the mountains.

  She held out the bottle to him, and a knowing look passed over his face. He sipped the alcohol, and her gaze latched onto the gleam of wetness along his lower lip.

  “You excited for t
he rodeo, Maya Ray?” How a Montana man could drawl out the syllables of her name until her toes curled she couldn’t guess. He must have practiced the drawl along with his swagger.

  “As excited as any girl is to watch men in tight Wranglers.”

  He tossed his head on a hearty chuckle.

  “I like you, Maya Ray. Whattaya say we take this party into one of the rooms?” He waved the bottle in the direction of the main ranch house that belonged to Jake’s daddy. The one Jake promised her they’d move into once they married. Now Shana Peachtree would have that honor.

  She stared at the long white ranch house with all the buttery yellow windows lit up, then back to Noah.

  She had a little too much tequila.

  She was feeling a little too reckless.

  This time, she grabbed Noah by the hand and hauled him across the yard between barn and house. His deep chuckle threaded through her lower belly, and his rough fingers met her bare back again. This time she embraced the burn of the liquor coupled with a desire to see how far she could push herself.

  Get back in the saddle, Maya Ray. Purging Jake from her system with a good, hard, sexy romp in the hay with a cowboy even hotter than her ex seemed like the only way to do that.

  She marched him up the wide porch steps and opened the front door as if she owned the place. On the nights of the rodeo parties Jake threw, his parents went out of town. Said it was too loud for them. That meant the house was open, and Maya Ray knew which hallway led to the guest room.

  With Noah’s hand cradling hers, she pulled him on through the big, expensive house. She threw a look over her shoulder, shooting him a wink. Her long hair swished over the cutout of her top, reminding her of his promise to make her his next big mistake.

  Well, she would make Noah Wynton hers too.

  She pointed to a closed door. Noah’s eyes glittered, and before she knew what his intentions were, he grabbed her around the waist and lifted her. He slammed his mouth over hers before they even burst through the door. With the bottle still in hand, he kicked the door shut and trapped her against the wall.

  His mouth tasted of alcohol and the promise of the hottest night to come. Angling her head, she parted her lips. He slashed his tongue through her mouth, raising a soft moan from her.

  He answered the sound with his own growl, and her body broke out in goosebumps. Suddenly, the alcohol hit her full force, ripping away any inhibitions she might have about sleeping with him at her ex’s party and in his own house.

  She threw her arms around Noah’s neck, aware of how beefy his wide shoulders were, layered with muscle in a way she’d never had the honor to touch before. His mouth worked over hers with an expertise she hoped would continue to the good parts.

  When he tore free and stared down at her, panting hard, his gaze burned into her. “You sure about this, sweet thing?”

  She bobbed her head. “Absolutely.” His kisses, his body, and the dirty grind of his hips on that dance floor made her hornier than she’d been in too long.

  Slowly, she rubbed against him. Up and down, like a kitten starved for affection. Which she was.

  The corner of Noah’s mouth tipped upward, quirking all the way up to his eyes, where a sunburst of creases broke out. She could see this man smiled a lot. Just the kind of man she was looking for to be her own big mistake.

  She tore off his hat and threaded her fingers through thick masses of dark hair. He swooped in and claimed her mouth again, this time taking the kiss to a whole new level by centering the hard bulge in his Wranglers against her pussy and applying pressure.

  Breathless, aching, she kissed him back while gliding her fingers through his soft hair and down to those bulky shoulders. She needed to feel them without the chambray covering them. She slipped her hands down and started plucking open his buttons, one by one.

  When she reached the last one, he raised his head. Pinning her in his stare, he lifted the tequila to his lips again. She watched him latch that full mouth around the glass rim and the strong pulls of his throat as he swallowed.

  Then he held out the bottle to her. She took it and swigged the same way, matching him swallow for swallow, though he was so much bigger and she’d end up with a crushing hangover while he would probably jump up at daybreak and go about his day as if he hadn’t just found the worm at the bottom of the bottle.

  She lowered the bottle from her lips and dropped it to the floor, leaving the last dribble and the worm. She skated her gaze over the tanned, chiseled lines of Noah’s chest. Damn, that was some fine cowboy right there. Prime Grade-A deliciousness, and she was about to put her mouth all over it.

  Gliding her hands into the open front of his shirt, she ripped it off his wide shoulders. “Let’s do this!”

  He didn’t need her to ask twice. He grabbed her ass in his firm hands and lifted her, spinning for the bed in the same move. They landed on the soft, springy mattress, mouths working in tandem, tongues exploring and Noah’s erection digging into her crotch.

  Moans escaped her as he located the cutout on her spine yet again and splayed his fingers over it.

  “Fuck, you’re sexy,” he ground out.

  “So are you.” She pulled him back down for another kiss. Wrapping her thighs around his hips, she rocked. He rocked right back. She held onto his broad shoulders and lifted up when he drew her top over her head.

  “Jeezus, you’re braless. I wondered.” He didn’t elaborate on that train of thought, only parted his lips over her nipple and sucked. She arched on a cry, an inferno sweeping through her whole body.

  He skimmed a fingertip along her other bud, so it spiked up to match the one on his tongue. Need blasted her. With her eyes wide open so she didn’t miss a single minute of the beautiful man working her into a frenzy, she explored his muscled shoulders, pecs, down to the ridges of his abs. Jake didn’t have all this. As far as she was concerned, she’d upgraded.

  When Noah lifted his head and stared into her eyes again, she caught a glimmer of lust in the depths of his eyes. “You taste damn good. Let’s see if the rest of ya does.”

  Before she could even gasp, he shot down her body, shoving her skirt up her hips as he went. He shouldered his way between her legs, took a moment to hook his big finger into the strip of panties covering her wet pussy, and then opened his mouth over her slit.

  A roughened cry left her, and her mind spun with more than alcohol. Passion and need mingled to create an even more lethal cocktail, but this one wouldn’t leave her with regrets. Oh no…she wouldn’t feel bad come morning when she felt the tingles of Noah’s touch tonight.

  He centered the point of his tongue over her seam, drawing it from the soaking bottom, through her folds to the hard pearl of her clit. Looking up her body at her, he wiggled his tongue over her pleasure center. Her hips launched off the bed. Noah clasped onto her outer thighs and held her prisoner even as he trapped her in his heavy stare and beneath his dancing tongue.

  When was the last time she’d experienced a moment like this with a man? She thought back to Jake, and then her mind skittered away from her ex. She squeezed her eyes shut as the first thick beads of juices slipped down her folds.

  Noah’s rumble told her he liked what he found with his tongue as much as she did. He sucked her clean, but her body created more of the wetness as he teased and tormented her. She fisted handfuls of his hair. He lapped her clean once more. When he suctioned his mouth over her clit and began to suck, she dangled over a canyon. Bliss spread through her, rushing into her whole body as her orgasm broke over her.

  She came on a scream, rocking her hips, driving up into Noah’s magical mouth as wave after wave controlled her every move. The bed seemed to vibrate on his sexy-as-hell growl. After her release, he knew exactly when to pull back, brushing his lips gently over her seam as little aftershocks jolted her.

  With a grin—and flash of that dimple—he did one of those manly pushups that a girl could stand and watch all day with a dreamy sigh on her lips.


  He was coming for her.

  Boy did he.

  Covering her body with his own huge one, he looked into her eyes. “I’m gonna take the chance and say you’re mighty satisfied right now, sweet thing.”

  “Uhhhh.” If she knew any English, she couldn’t form any of the words. So she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss.

  * * * * *

  He’d just fallen into a lucky four-leaf clover field.

  Finding such a sexy, beautiful gem at the party had been a stroke of luck. Having her just as eager to sleep with him as he was with her only rang all the prize-winning bells.

  His cock throbbed with every beat of his heart, and the flavors of Maya Ray’s sweet heat on his tongue continued to torture him. He couldn’t even claim the tequila was driving him to want her—she started that back at the party with her sexy triangle of bare back. From clear across the room, Noah had seen it and wanted to put his fingers on that smooth, glowing skin.

  When he had, and whispered that line about her being his big mistake, he hadn’t bothered to think about revenge or the fact that his ex-girlfriend Shana was standing across the room watching.

  Sure, he might have showed off a bit on the dance floor with Maya Ray, but within a minute of dancing with her, he forgot about who was looking and why he cared. Maybe the tequila had been shouting in his veins a little bit by then.

  He figured out how to get her skirt off—those teeny, tiny panties too. And the tequila cleared from his mind long enough for him to drink in the fact that he had a beautiful woman on his hands. Lightly curved, with small, perfect breasts he also noticed from across the room. As he kneaded them now, he kissed her with all the desire pounding through his core.

  As she reached between his legs and literally grabbed him by the balls, he understood he’d let this little cowgirl lead him anywhere. She was still wearing her boots too.

  He looked into her eyes, which were light blue and glazed with passion. “Whattaya think about the body part under your hand?” he drawled.