by Susan Arden
It made perfect sense. Carolina had seen his study at his house. It was a repeat of his office. Becca had acted so surprised. Now, she understood why. “Is that why you keep her on?”
“It isn’t optimal,” he said with bitterness in his tone.
“How else can you keep watch on her? Does she suspect anything in turn?”
“No, otherwise she would’ve disappeared. I’ve installed hidden cameras in my study, hoping to catch her on video feed. But she’s pretty slick.” Matt’s frown turned black. “Pisses me off how we’re stuck eyeballing cattle to distinguish which one is which, but we don’t have a choice. It’s why I spend so much time at the office. I’m giving Becca the opportunity and the means to incriminate herself. The information that’s on my home computer is a set-up. Eventually, she’ll do something dumb.”
No wonder Matt was so gung-ho on doing more than sprucing up the ranch’s Wi-Fi. “Can’t you just fire her?”
“So she can go and repeat this on another ranch? She’s not working alone. I’ve tried to talk to my dad and uncle about who she’s hooked up with. But Becca’s got this way with people.”
Good Lord, she’d been fooled. “You’re right,” Carolina muttered. “The woman has mastered the art of giving good face.”
Matt steered her into the interior pen. There was the heifer in the birthing area. Her belly was terribly swollen. It was painful to watch her move. He said solemnly, “Tell me what you think?”
With a critical eye, Carolina studied the heifer. “How long has she been licking her belly and wringing her tail?” It was the first stage of labor and she noted the time on the wall clock.
“The log detailed she was separated from the herd last evening.” Matt had a clipboard in his hands and read the note. “At five, began lying down this morning. Discomfort since sunrise, at least.”
The cement floors were new. “This is an improvement over the last place I calved.” She met Matt’s eyes.
“We installed new plumbing last year. Hot and cold water runs all the time, unlike the Wi-Fi. We might scare off some vets, but we’ve got all the equipment and devices required to ease the birth including mobile sonograms and pregnancy blood testing.”
“No wonder you didn’t mind if I left my van in Miami.”
“Carolina, I didn’t bring you here for this birth. We’ve had a few too many calls and I decided enough was enough. Check around if you’d like and you’ll see for yourself, we didn’t just go out and purchase all this equipment in the last month.”
“Matt, I spoke out of turn. Regardless, I’m happy to be here and part of this.” Of course, a man interested in the tech side of his business, would also make sure Evermore’s entire facility was cutting edge. It translated to better care for his animals, a wrap-around approach, and spoke to the type of person McLemore was deep down. “May I?” she asked, intending to probe the heifer.
Matt handed her a pair of gloves. “Do you want help?”
“Not this time.” Carolina ran her palm along the tight belly of the heifer. “She’ll probably take a while, at least six hours.”
“We’ll be back by then.”
Matt wasn’t exaggerating about the problematic birth. Carolina pushed out a heavy sigh, “She’s small for her size. I hope her pelvis is larger than it looks. Anyone examine her yet?”
“Brock had her brought in this morning but he’s got his own birthing issues. His wife, Trish, is scheduled for a C-section today. They’re in Clarkesville. He won’t be back for a couple of days, at least.”
“How nice that your cousin is married to the ranch manager.”
“For a little over a year. First child and all that.”
*
Matt’s gaze slipped to her mouth. The temptation to do more than stare was like a flashbang in his skull. For the last hour, he’d revisited the things she’d done with that luscious mouth of hers last night. What he’d like to do to return the favour. The possibilities were so vast. Hands-down, he craved Carolina. Had to sample those lips of hers. Without a qualm, he lowered his mouth to hers, savoring the lush sweetness. He pulled her against him as she looped her arms around his shoulders.
“Hey there.” Brandon came into the pen area.
Instead of repelling apart, they stopped kissing only to find his brother undeterred.
Brandon knelt by the heifer. “She’s near.”
Matt squeezed Carolina’s waist before unhanding her. He turned to his brother. “Who’s looking after the heifer with you?”
“Rory. We’re taking turns. We had expected this one would take all night but things are changing, rapidly by the looks of it.”
“She’s relatively small, isn’t she?” Carolina said. His brother shot her a look, then glanced back at Matt.
“Carolina’s a vet and I don’t want you telling that to anyone else. Not yet.”
Brandon rose, holding his brother’s gaze, and nodded. “Got it.”
Matt punched him on the shoulder. “We’ll see you outside.”
He guided Carolina the long way, out the back door and across the yard to his office.
They burst into the reception area that was devoid of people, until his brother headed out into the hall.
“Morning,” he spoke through clenched teeth to Miller.
“I need — ”
“Not now. I’ve got important business to attend to.” Matt strode past him, with Carolina in tow.
“Come find me,” Miller said. “Need to talk about the cell tower contract.”
Not even talk of Wi-Fi could diffuse this firestorm of desire in his veins. Matt brought Carolina inside his office. He clasped her around the waist and swung her against the wall. She came willingly.
He sought her undivided attention. Needed it more than he had previously been willing to admit. She was the first person, he’d unburdened his concern over what was going down on the ranch. This thing with Becca was coming to a head. He had to execute control instead of losing his temper. To openly accuse a person of a crime required rock solid evidence. More so when it involved a woman who had lived close by. Becca had been born and raised in Annona. Her people weren’t well off. Not that it was an excuse for doing this sort of foul play with his cattle. The callousness of it lit Matt’s anger right up.
“Talk to me, McLemore,” Carolina whispered.
When his anger rose like a phoenix, talking was the last thing he wanted to do. “Kiss me.”
“I’m not sure—”
Matt didn’t wait for her to finish. He devoured her lips, savoring the taste and texture of her mouth, the way her body fit perfectly against him.
She pulled away. “What do you want?”
“Everything you’re willing to give.”
“That goes both ways, you know.”
“Yeah?” It felt so good to disappear into a zone of urgent need this woman capably provided. Matt lowered his mouth an inch above hers. “You’re mine, all mine for the next two weeks.” He recaptured Carolina’s mouth again and worked the top button of her jeans. He journeyed his palm against her belly and lower, into her panties, past her curls, and there, in between smooth wet flesh.
Surprise skittered across Carolina’s face that quickly turned into a half moan. “Please,” she begged.
He gave her what they both wanted, not stopping until he’d wrung another orgasm from this little firecracker. The hardness housed in his jeans practically begged for release. “That’s just a taste of what I’ve got planned for you, sugar.”
“Why just a taste?”
Carolina was like no other woman he’d ever met. Sure, there’d been plenty who had wanted hot, hard sex on the fly. But it was how his body responded that was night and day. He couldn’t deny her anything, so it seemed.
“Don’t move.” He picked up a leather chair and placed it against the door. That should ward off any unwelcomed intruders.
With a commanding tug, Matt pushed her against
the wall as his fingers worked her zipper.
She was so unbelievably hot. He tossed his hat, then hers onto the chair by the door. In one swift motion, he tugged Carolina’s faded jeans down her legs. He clamped her foot between his boots and jerked her foot free. Matt unzipped his jeans and yanked both pants and boxers down his legs. Lifting her knee, he pressed her calf around his hip. His muscles tightened at the contact of her soft wet skin on the head of his cock.
They both groaned. There was no going slow. Matt plunged roughly, deeply inside her. He flexed back and forth, thrusting in and out of her heat. All jacked up, he pumped fast then faster. In time, Carolina’s head and shoulders thudded against the wall.
“Get there, baby!” His body was on meltdown, his muscles burned, and he thrust deep, impaling her.
Carolina convulsed around him, a slick furnace taking him deeper. He felt her tighten. This was her moment. She arched her beautiful neck. Her sexy fragrance threaded into Matt’s mind, unlocking his self-restraint. He gave in and sucked that precious point on her throat that made her cave. Carolina whimpered and clung to him. They were one in this feral pleasure, and he nipped her flesh. He was coming home. Fueled by a fiery urge to take Carolina, keep her, own a piece of the sanctuary she offered.
In the aftermath of their love making, Matt desired something that had no logic. Instead of trying to talk, which was impossible, he kissed Caro again, cupping her face, consumed in the feel of her incredible body.
“That was very, very nice,” she whispered against his mouth.
Nice hardly explained what it was. He kept her pushed up against the wall, still embedded in her. He was tempted to tell her that he was fast-becoming a greedy bastard. But Carolina lowered her leg that had been wrapped around his waist. Their bodies came apart. Efficiently, she removed her other boot and pulled off her jeans. Matt didn’t look away as she walked to the bathroom. Her body held him captive, and one he’d never get tired of exploring.
Chapter Twenty
Dressed, Matt kissed the side of her head. They exited his office. He needed two of himself as he considered the timeline. It wasn’t yet seven and Miller’s door was shut. There were voices inside. “Don’t you need to speak with your brother?” Carolina asked, adjusting the hat on her head.
“I’ll get with him later.” The cell tower contract hadn’t changed. He got out his cell and sent Miller a text. “Set up meeting with dad and Calvin.”
Outside, the air was heating up and dust was beginning to swirl with each of their steps. The men had already left. No hardship there.
“What are you thinking with that smirk?” she asked.
“I won’t have to endure another session of the men on this ranch ogling your ass.”
Carolina’s eyes widened and her cheeks turned pink. “Hey, I didn’t ask for the attention.”
She wasn’t the type. Wasn’t the kind of woman who like to play that game and it was a part of her that he enjoyed. Sure in her own skin. A twinge speared him in the ribs. That idiot warning not to get embroiled in something with an expiration date.
As he and Carolina approached the horses in the pen, he opened the gate and asked, “Need help mounting?”
“Let’s see who can get seated first.” Carolina tossed the reins of Skyfall back. She used the horn to hoist herself upward, gracefully lifting her leg across the saddle.
“Hard-headed from morning to night,” he replied with a wry grin.
“Thank ya, kindly,” she mocked drawled, sitting high and waiting for him to mount.
This ride wouldn’t require any special skills as long as she didn’t intend on roping cattle. He swung Kyro around and came up alongside Carolina. “Let’s go, baby.”
They trotted past the gates into the open pasture and Matt kicked up their pace a notch. The ground rose, then flattened out. Their horses canted in a rhythmic trot across a good acre, past newly sheared grass. Hay bales were lining up and in a month this task would end. Then the slow steady melding of summer weeks would gather and their primary objective would become irrigation.
They slowed to a walk. Carolina took out her cell and snapped photographs of the herd. These were Simbrah steer and would be sold as beef. The last of the herd in this section. “Any illness in this herd?”
“Not any steer. Or young bulls.”
He enjoyed the look of Carolina in a saddle, the rocking of her hips to-and-fro. It was no wonder men were captivated by her curves. But for other reasons, he took out his cell and snapped a couple of photos of his own.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“You’ve got hips that were made for riding.” He smiled darkly. “Woman, you’d tempt a saint.”
“Get your head out of the gutter, McLemore, and you won’t need to be saved.”
“Who says I want saving?”
She frowned. “No one is past redemption.”
Matt used his knees and Kyro took off. Over his shoulder, he supplied, “I’m saying it’s too late.”
Out here, surrounded by the clear blue sky and the golden earth, he absorbed just how different Carolina was to any woman he’d ever met. From the fact that her eyes weren’t just dark gray. When he stared, really stared into her eyes, what he found was stunning. Her eyes were a mixture of swirling color: blue and green, turquoise and gold. Her eyes like her personality made him see fireworks.
“No fair!” She thundered by, trying to outrun him on his own blind race to where, he didn’t have a clue.
And that’s when the thought combusted in his skull. With Carolina, a man could go down for the count without realizing it until it was too late.
As if pushed to the brink, Matt gave into the fire in his veins. He pressed Kyro onward. When he caught up to Carolina, he pointed. “Over that ridge is the northern acreage. Race you to the top.”
It was an unfair challenge but Matt couldn’t resist tossing fuel to the burn pile of his hunger. Both he and his horse were on the chase of two supreme fillies. Kyro was very interested in tracking Skyfall. Matt let Carolina take the lead, enjoying the chase. Hearing her laughter made something in him do more than stir. It was like quicksilver in his blood. When enough distance lay between the teams, only then did Matt nudge Kyro onward. Easily his stallion overtook the younger horse.
It took some quick maneuvering to keep Kyro, who was snorting and biting at the bit, pulling against the reins, to prevent the stallion from biting the filly to mark her. No different than Matt had been this morning with Carolina, minus the horse bite.
“You’re a damn good rider, Dr. Rodriguez. And that’s not just for a city slicker.”
“It’s really exhilarating to be out here. On Skyfall.” Carolina patted her horse and smiled. “Oh, what’s going on over there?”
He glanced over his shoulder at the crew hard at work. That open and inviting expression on Carolina’s face made him want to pilot her away from the shirtless men working on the fences. “There’s the fence maintenance crew. Not much to see really.”
“Not much to see?” she echoed. “Hello? They’re working. I’d like to see what’s going on.”
“But there aren’t any cattle,” he reminded her.
“Your dad is there. I’ve got to build a connection that goes beyond polite conversation.”
“That’s wise,” he amended. “Always three steps ahead.”
What Carolina said made sense, except for some idiot reason, it struck him sideways. Harder when he took her over to see his father then his brothers had to get into the act, explaining what was going on. Within five goddamn minutes, every man on the crew had something he wanted her to see. Hell, how many hammers did they think she’d find interesting?
His father’s gaze locked with his. “Best get hold of yourself. She’s just curious and isn’t that what you want in a woman?” The old man’s bushy brows and pursed lips sent a silent message and Matt shut his trap.
As soon as Carolina was at his side, he
growled. “C’mon, you can take a look at the cows over in the next pasture.”
“Is that where the straggler is located?”
They were too close to this work crew for her to examine a fallen cow. “If my father sees you near injured cattle, it won’t go over well.”
Carolina’s brows drew together. He could see her struggling. “What do you suggest?”
“I’ll text Rory to check out the straggler. We can get comparison samples from the herd to the west.”
It took three hours to weave and separate the cows in the heard. They were looking for one specific cow. But it wasn’t like he could stop and check each cow’s tag. To locate the comparison cow to sample they had to closely observe each one of the fifty. “That one,” Carolina called. “It’s her!”
“You sure?” Matt used his knees and Kyro’s skill as he tossed a rope for the cow that she’d pinpointed. They checked the cow’s tag on the spreadsheet.
“It’s the cow,” he agreed.
It took another thirty minutes to collect samples for blood, fur, skin, hoof, and saliva. From the saddlebags, Carolina removed and opened several cold packs. She placed them in the ziplock bag. “We’re done, here.”
They took off their latex gloves, which he stowed in the pouch on his saddle. “Better take these,” he said, holding out a pair of Evermore work gloves.
“Thanks. They’re pretty nifty.” Carolina pulled them on. “They’ve got the ranch brand.”
“Cory’s idea,” he supplied.
As they rode back to the crew, he pointed out landmarks, various herds and their activities while answering Carolina’s questions about the ranch routine. Scaling a ridge, they caught up with the crew far too quickly for Matt’s taste.
“Just in time,” Stephen said, hoisting a jackhammer over his shoulder.
At the sound of the lunch bell being rung, Matt didn’t waste another sun-kissed moment. “Let’s go find a place to eat.”