“And, she loves it?” I pressed, holding onto that one point.
“Well, of course. When you grow up with a life like hers, you hang onto a home when you find it.”
I ignored his last comment, unconcerned with what life she’d had, my mind racing at a hundred miles per hour. What had the will said? I had to find a woman who loved the ranch as much as my grandmother had. Based on the way Gwen had defended my grandparents, it would have been a fair guess that she loved them, too. And if that were the case, what were the chances that she didn’t love the property as much?
Slim to none, if you ask me.
After all, I knew what it was like to find a home in the ranch. When my parents died, I’d had nowhere to go. Admittedly, I’d loved the ranch more than anything as a boy, but I’d grown out of that. I wanted bigger and better things, and I made it my life’s mission to get them. My success hadn’t simply fallen into my lap. Gwen, on the other hand, seemed rather content to feed horses on the grounds for the rest of her life.
It occurred to me then, quite shockingly, that the stunning blonde might actually be my ticket to getting the ranch. Perhaps my coming out here wasn’t such a waste after all.
“Son,” Mr. Owens broke into my thoughts. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I grunted, waving him off dismissively. “I, uh, should probably get back to cleaning up. This is an expensive suit, you know.”
Mr. Owens stood from the bed. “I’m not so sure I like that look in your eye, boy,” he said gently. “I hope you aren’t planning on getting into trouble while you’re out here.”
“Me? Trouble?” I gave him a grin and saw the corners of his mouth twitch. Though he didn’t quite smile, I knew Mr. Owens had plenty of memories of me getting into trouble as both a boy and a teenager. After all, on more than one occasion, I’d begged him to cover for me. “Don’t worry about me.”
As he walked out of the room, he mumbled something that sounded like, “That’s a part of my job description.”
Choosing not to linger on it, I went back to thinking about my plans. I could still get the ranch if things worked out the way I wanted them to — and I couldn’t really complain if Gwen was my only option, pail of water aside. Granted, we hadn’t gotten off on the right foot and she’d made her dislike of me quite clear. I glanced down at my suit. There were still dark patches here and there, but I was dry for the most part.
Still, ever since moving to the city, I’d gained a few skills with women that I didn’t have before. I knew I could get her to change her view of me. All I needed to do was turn on the charm, and I was certain that we could come to some kind of arrangement that suited us both.
Chapter 5
GWEN.
The sun was beginning to set by the time I was done tending to the horses, color breaking across the horizon in soft pinks and vibrant oranges. Summer was here, and that meant a whole new routine. I’d spent the better part of the day clipping the horses’ manes to make sure they didn’t overheat. Once that was done, I activated the misting system. Their appreciative neighs as they trotted to and fro in front of the sprinkling water were enough to bring warmth to my heart and a smile to my mouth. By the time I’d set them loose for the evening — better for grazing at this time of year — I’d all but forgotten about self-important Nicholas Parker.
That was until I turned the corner and bumped into the man so hard that I stumbled. I cried out in surprise and fright. If it weren’t for his hand darting out toward me, I would have fallen on my ass. Instead, I managed to grip onto his wrist and steady myself right in time. It didn’t skip my notice that the man was built like a wall: tall, broad, and tough.
“Are you all right?” he asked gently.
“What’s the matter with you?” I cried out, tugging my hand back as if he’d shocked me.
Nick raised his hands in surrender, giving me a chance to take him in. He’d cleaned up and removed his jacket, leaving him in only a light blue button-up that was far too tight around his arms, revealing bulging biceps. With the sun behind his head, he looked entirely too sexy, which annoyed me even more. Why were the angels with actual sculpting skills always assigned to the biggest jerks? I thought.
“Don’t you know it’s rude to go around sneaking up on people? This isn’t your property, you know.”
His eyebrows shot up and I could swear I saw a twitch of amusement on his lips. Great. So now I was funny?
“I’m sorry,” he offered genuinely, miles politer than he’d been earlier that day.
“Why are you being so nice all of a sudden?” I narrowed my eyes, crossing my arms over my chest. His eyes dropped, and I realized I’d pushed my breasts up, revealing a little more cleavage than I’d like, but I daren’t remove them.
“Uh,” he ran a hand through his hair sheepishly. Sheepish wasn’t a look I’d ever imagined Nicholas wearing, and the surprise was enough for me to hear him out, skeptical though I may have been. “That’s actually why I came out here. I figured I’d find you with the horses since you hadn’t come in yet. Mr. Owens told me you work here.”
“Yeah, and what of it?” I arched an eyebrow.
Nick seemed to backpedal somewhat, unsure of how to proceed. I felt a tiny trickle of joy in the pit of my belly, knowing that I’d made him uncomfortable. He needed to know that just because I was prepared to stand there, waiting and listening to what he had to say, didn’t mean that I was happy about it. From what I knew of him so far, he was a total asshole. I was going to make damn sure that he knew exactly how I felt about him.
“Well, I wanted to say that you were right,” he finally forced out. “I shouldn’t have been so disrespectful — not to you and not to the ranch. I’m sorry.”
“Oh,” I breathed. I don’t know what I was expecting, but an apology wasn’t it. “Right. Okay.”
“Okay?” he asked in a lower, huskier tone. He took a step toward me, and I took an involuntary step back. “What does okay mean?”
Something about the way he was looking at me made my core tighten, and I had to suck in a deep breath. “Uh, that it’s fine. I guess we were both a little hotheaded earlier.”
“Yeah, I guess we were a little hot,” he murmured, taking yet another step toward me.
This time, I didn’t move away from him. We were close enough that I could almost feel the heat emanating off of him and smell the pine scent of his cologne engulfing me, reminding me of nature, which I found strange since he was from the city. Perhaps he was still one of us, after all.
My thoughts couldn’t stay in one place, and I knew I was only trying to distract myself from the warmth that spread out through my entire body at being within such a close proximity to him. Around us, it had gradually grown darker, the grays of dusk disappearing to be replaced with the silvery lines of moonlight. A strange current of electricity seemed to spark in the air around my head, charging my heart until it became harder to breathe. The fact that Nick kept looking down at my mouth didn’t help. I wondered if I was imagining it, but then he began leaning in.
“I actually said hotheaded,” I whispered a second before his lips crashed down on mine, even though he was right and it was hot. My cheeks were hotter than ever.
I knew I should have pulled away, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. The truth was I didn’t want to. There was a war raging within me between the part of myself that wanted to slap him, the part who had thrown a pail of water over him earlier that very same day, and the part of myself that thought he was hot as all hell and a really good kisser, too. He seemed to coax my lips open, but he needn’t have bothered. A soft gasp escaped me as his hands found my waist, and he took the chance to dart his tongue between my lips.
The part of me that desperately wanted Nicholas was winning. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer to me while our tongues danced. My core tightened yet again, and this time, moisture pooled between my legs. Nicholas moved his hands up my back, and I may as well not have been wearing clothes f
or the reaction my body had to him. Goosebumps rose in the wake of his fingertips, and I released the tiniest of moans against his mouth before I finally pulled back, breaking away from his mouth.
“No,” he whispered. “I meant hot.”
“Yeah,” I nodded. “Me, too.”
Crickets were chirping in the woods that surrounded the property, and it was as if we both realized it at the same time because we gazed over at the fields. It occurred to me that we’d been kissing right outside the stables and anyone could have seen us — the ranch hands and even Mr. Owens. Nicholas came to the same conclusion, but he had a different solution from what I’d expected.
“Do you want to go inside?” he asked. “We could go up to one of the guest rooms.”
I tugged my lower lip between my teeth nervously, and Nicholas followed the motion with his eyes, making my stomach do a somersault. It took everything in me not to reach out for him, fervent with the desire bubbling beneath the surface of my skin. That alone would have been enough to convince my body, but my mind couldn’t help but think, what are you doing?
Nick Parker was a complete stranger — well, sort of. He didn’t know it, but we’d met before. But that was beside the point. The fact that he didn’t even know he’d met me before was more than enough reason for me to say no to this. Still, even as I thought it, I was having a hard time looking at his eyes and not his mouth, remembering what the heat of his mouth had felt like against mine. My heart fluttered away in my chest, reminding me of a small bird’s.
“Are you okay, Gwen?” Nick murmured, breaking into my thoughts.
“How do you know my name?” That was when it hit me: I hadn’t even told this man my name! I’d had his tongue down my throat without us ever having introduced ourselves. It just all seemed so wrong.
“Mr. Owens told me.” The sheepish expression returned to his face. “Wow. I just realized.”
“Yeah, me, too.”
“Well, I’d like to formally introduce myself. I’m Nicholas Parker, but you can call me Nick.”
“I’m Gwen,” I whispered. “Gwen Parker.”
“You know, that name really suits you.”
Before the light could go out inside me, Nick gave me a smile. I knew that this was it. This was the smile. All men like him had one, that one that charmed women into taking their clothes off and getting into all sorts of trouble. This was the smile that made their knees go weak.
And, oddly enough, I didn’t mind it anymore.
Sure, he was annoying, but what did that matter? In no time, he’d be back in the city. Why couldn’t we have a little fun while he was here? I thought. It wouldn’t hurt anyone, least of all us. Besides, I’d never done anything like this before and I found that I really, really wanted to.
“Let’s go inside,” I suddenly said.
“Are you sure?” Nick blinked in surprise.
“Now,” I slipped my hand into his, shocked by how warm it felt, and turned to lead him back toward the house.
Somewhere along the way, we weren’t walking anymore. Our feet crunched in the now-dewy grass and our steps quickened until we were practically running toward the house like lovesick teenagers. From out of nowhere, a giggle escaped my mouth when we ran up the front steps. Behind me, I thought I heard Nick laugh, too, and I couldn’t stop thinking that he had a sexy laugh. It was deep and rich, like melted chocolate.
We raced upstairs, still hand in hand. I knew there were guest bedrooms, and I knew which room belonged to Nick, but I didn’t want to go to those rooms. If I was going to do this, I wanted to be in my own room. It might have been the sense of safety that came with being in a familiar place — even as a tiny voice in the back of my mind told me that it was a bad idea.
My door opened to a room decorated with pastels and creams, light and airy. It smelled like vanilla because I worked incredibly hard to make sure that it didn’t smell like mothballs the way the rest of the house did. That was probably the only thing I didn’t like about living at the ranch. It hadn’t been that way when Lorraine was still around, and I wished I knew what she did to get rid of it because I would start doing the same thing.
Once we were there, the laughter and giddiness of moments before faded away. I turned to face Nicholas. I was aware that we were probably the most feminine space in the entire house, but he didn’t seem to care. No words were said. I think we didn’t want to break the moment.
He shut the door behind him and let go of my hand only to close the distance between us. My mouth was suddenly dry, and I darted my tongue out to moisten my lips, feeling the warmth spread throughout my chest as Nick’s eyes caught the movement. He raised his hand to swipe away a loose strand of my blonde hair, tucking it behind my ear.
In spite of myself, I leaned into his touch, closing my eyes. I sensed him even with them shut. I wasn’t sure if it was the warmth of his body or the scent of his cologne, but when Nick leaned in to press his lips to my jaw, I knew he was there long before I felt the brush of his mouth working its way down my throat. I sighed in pleasure as every nerve-ending tingled. My neck was my most sensitive spot. Nick caught on quickly, pressing small open-mouthed kisses along the curves of my throat and working his way down to my collarbones. I simply tilted my head back, revealing more and more of myself to him.
Eventually, it wasn’t enough. I wanted to reveal all of myself. I reached up and began unbuttoning my blouse without ever opening my eyes. Nick’s mouth followed my action until he was kissing his way down the center of my chest, following the buttons as inch after inch of my pale skin opened up to him. At the same time, I felt his strong hands move behind my back. He unclipped my bra in one fluid motion, and while I should have been appalled with his level of practice, I found it even sexier.
What was wrong with me?
“Nothing’s wrong with you,” Nick whispered.
I realized I’d said it aloud and snapped my eyes open. Looking down, I could see Nick on his knees before me, kissing his way down the line of my belly, his tongue flicking out every so often. He met my eyes, and impulsively, I ran my hands through his hair, soft and thick. Meanwhile, Nick’s hands deftly unbuttoned my jeans; before I knew it, they were on the floor, leaving me standing in nothing but an innocent pair of white cotton panties. I bit down on my lip.
“Yeah,” he breathed. “There’s definitely nothing wrong with you.”
“You know,” I murmured. “I’m feeling like you’re seriously overdressed here.”
If I thought that might make Nick undress or let me undress him, I was wrong. Instead, I was rewarded with that same twitch of amusement as he hooked his thumbs into the waistband of my underwear and pulled them down off my legs. The movement was so sudden that I fell backwards, landing on the bed with a cry of surprise. The mattress sank, and I giggled hysterically, no longer keenly aware of my own nudity.
That was until Nicholas descended on me. I could feel the heat of his breath between my thighs, and I gasped as he blew against my molten center. The scent of my sex hung in the air and when I looked down, it was in time to see Nick gently pushing my thighs apart. I sucked in a deep breath as he blew across my pussy, but it wasn’t enough to sooth the fire burning within me.
“I want you,” I suddenly whispered. “I really want you.”
“Oh, is that so?” he murmured.
I wanted to smack him then. Really, I did. Of all times, was he really choosing to be cheeky now?
But no. It was as if Nick knew that he was annoying me, knew that he was driving me insane, because that was when he chose to bring his lips down on me. I moaned as I felt the tip of his tongue teasing my slit, my hips bucking up toward his mouth involuntarily. I knew I was dripping wet, and I could hardly keep still. Nick knew what to do because he took my thighs in his huge hands and held me still as he began his assault on my pussy. I could hardly contain myself, reaching down to sink my hands into his dark curls if for nothing more than because I needed to hold onto something, anything to keep me ste
ady.
That didn’t work, of course, and the next thing I knew, Nick was circling my sensitive slit with the tip of his tongue. When he slid one finger into me, I thought I was going to explode. He added a second, sliding into me easily because of how wet I was. I released a cry as he began pumping them in and out of me, getting faster and faster. It felt as though there was a volcano inside me and the pressure was building and building and building, until finally...
“Nick!” I screamed as my orgasm washed over me, thrashing wildly up against him.
I was no longer in control of my own body and behind my shut eyelids, all I could see was the blinding white light of pleasure. Eventually, he slowed his strokes until he stopped altogether. My clit pulsed with sensitivity, and I could only whimper as he removed his fingers and his mouth. He kissed his way up my body, dragging his hard muscular form along mine as he went until our mouths found each other.
Breathlessly, I returned his kisses, though I was exhausted. My body was singing with pleasure, and I struggled to keep still, moving up against him. He was still fully dressed, but Nick didn’t seem to mind simply kissing me.
“That was amazing,” I finally gasped as he broke away.
“I’ll say,” he murmured, smiling down at me.
The image of a pompous jerk all but faded away as I stared up into his eyes. There was a strange warmth in them that I never expected to be there. And as he held me close against him, I felt myself drifting into an easy sleep.
Chapter 6
GWEN.
When I woke up, it was to total darkness and total loneliness. Nick had covered my body with a blanket before he’d disappeared, but I found myself wondering why and where he’d disappeared to. Something about the ranch house didn’t quite feel right. I looked over to the window, and I could swear I could see light shining through. Cautiously, I climbed out of bed, keeping the blanket wrapped tightly around my naked body, and went over to see what was going on.
Outside, there was a shiny corvette parked in the gravel driveway. My brows knitted together as I took it in. There were two shadows coming from the porch, and I could hear the distinct sound of muffled voices.
Secret Series: A Stealthy Billionaire Romance Box Set Page 3