Page 117 of The Mountain Echoes

I giggle. Yeah. Giggle. I wave a hand. “Get going, Mister.”

“You better be ready to make it rain dollar bills, darlin’. This show don’t come cheap.”

I snort but sit back on the bed.

He removes his shirt first. I’d already unbuttoned most of it, shrugging it off his shoulders and letting it fall to the floor like it’s a damn Oscar-worthy moment.

Then he starts to unbuckle his belt—slowly, theatrically—eyes on mine, the whole time. “Now, just a warning. Once this belt hits the floor, things might get dangerous.”

“Dangerous?” I don’t think I’ve ever had this much fun while having sex.

“I can’t be held responsible for what happens when the jeans come off,” he teases. “Might blow your boots right off.”

“I’m not even wearing boots.” I wiggle my toes.

He tosses the belt on the bed. “We’ll leave it here, in case…we need it.”

I lick my lips.

“Now, darlin’, if someone had told me that you’d be into BDSM, I would’ve said, ‘Hell no.’ But here you are, getting wetter.”

My breath catches. I’m more aroused than I’ve ever been, and that’safterhaving a mind-shattering orgasm.

“I’ve always wanted to try,” I confess.

His eyes soften with acknowledgement of how much I’m giving him by telling him this. Our sexual fantasies are our closest-held secrets. Sharing them is terrifyingly intimate, and yet, I did so easily with Maverick.

“We’ll break you in slow and easy.”

He pops the first button on his jeans with deliberate flair, then the second—his expression mock-serious like he’s starring in some low-budget cowboy cabaret.

“This here’s Wrangler,” he drawls. “Premium cut. Button by button, baby.”

And just like that, he lightens the moment.

“Oooh, I’m trembling.”

“You should be,” he deadpans.

He pushes his jeans down. I can see him hard beneath his boxers.

“Still got those dollar bills?”

I lean forward, bite my lip again, and whisper, “I might even have a five.”

He whistles. “Well, hell. Guess I’d better step up my game.”

And just like that, the laughter turns softer, the air charges differently between us.

He’s naked within seconds, closing the distance between us, his smile fading into something deeper.

“Only ever wanted to dance for one woman,” he murmurs as he crawls up the bed to me. “Guess I found her.”

My heart does a full-on stampede in my chest.

As soon as he’s over me, I push, and he lets me. His head falls onto the pillow.

I straddle him, my thighs spread wide.