“Why in the world why I use you for your money, Phoenix? I did start talking to you on the pretense that you were a mere mortal man and not a superhero billionaire.” She laughed, and so did he.
But Phoenix knew she was after a man with money. He did think she’d be on cloud nine, knowing the man she was plotting to trick into marriage was more than a little wealthy.
So her reaction was confusing, to say the least. He ventured further as he asked, “Does the smell of oil bother you?”
“I don’t recall ever smelling it.” She looked at him with a curious expression. “Why would you ask that?”
“There’s a house in the middle of that oilfield that I live in,” he said. He had a beach house too, but he was planning on tricking her into thinking he really wanted to have a family and live in the stinky oilfield house.
“I thought you had a beach house with a dog. Isn’t that where we’re going? Because I brought bathing suits and shorts with that location in mind.”
“I wanted to take you somewhere special to me. The place I want to make my real home. I want to live in the middle of the place that made me who I am today.”
“Well, if you’re all into that place then, by all means, take me to see what you want to do with your life, Phoenix.” She laid her head back on the headrest and closed her eyes.
The guilt was beginning to pile up inside of her. The man was either being real with her, or he was a fantastic liar. Either way, she was getting tired of the charade. And she had to wonder if he was too.
“Cait, by the end of this weekend I hope we find ourselves a lot closer. I have to be honest with you. I’ve never been this interested in anyone. If you have the same vision I do, then I don’t want to wait,” he said, making her open her eyes to look at him.
“Phoenix, you should be very careful what you say to me. I may seem tough, but I’m just human. If you cut me, I do bleed.” She eyed him warily.
Cait knew that if he gave her a phony marriage proposal, she’d lose the feelings she’d come to have for the incredible man. She still had hope that he’d see fit to tell her the truth and things could begin to go in the right direction for them.
He could be her Prince Charming. But he’d have to end the bet to do it.
Chapter 29
Arriving at Ethan’s grandmother’s house had Kel feeling a bit nervous about getting that close to the man who was trying desperately to dupe her into a roll in the hay. She knew introducing her to his grandmother and some other family members was going too far, but she wasn’t ready to call him out on the bet just yet, curious to see how far the man would go.
The estate he took her to was enormous. As they drove up a winding drive, a few deer with their fawns frolicked alongside them for part of the way. “How cute they are, Ethan. Are they pets?”
He had no idea. He’d rented the place for the weekend and had actors waiting for their arrival. But he could improvise, so he said, “My grandmother has a way with wild animals. While those deer are not pets, they’re her friends.”
“A Dr. Doolittle?” Kel asked with a grin on her face. She was certain Ethan was kidding with her.
“I guess you could call her that,” he said, then wrapped his arm around her and kissed her cheek. “I can’t wait for you to meet my Granny, Kel. I think you two will hit it off. She’s a real spitfire.”
“And why’s she in America?” Kel asked. “Since you’re from Scotland?”
“Oh, she’s American. You see, she’s my step-grandmother. My blood grandmother died at only 47. Grandfather married a few years later.”
“Oh? Is he here too?” Kel asked as she looked at the fancy entrance of the home. A red rose-covered arch formed the entrance that was filled with more red rose bushes. While it all looked inviting, Kel knew it was full of prickly thorns and one shouldn’t stray from the narrow pathway that led to the green painted wooden door.
“He’s dead too. Six years ago. That’s why Granny moved here.” Ethan got out of the car and held out his hand for Kel to take. “Don’t mention him, Kel. It makes her sad.”
The door swung open just as Kel got out of the car and an old woman shouted, “There he is! My big boy!”
Kel marveled at how old the woman looked.
She was ancient!
The old lady strode right up to Ethan with an odd hobbled gait and kissed Ethan smack on the lips. His eyes went wide as did Kel’s as the old woman even tried to slip him the tongue, a situation which he expertly handled, pulling her to one side as he introduced Kel, “Granny, this is my girl, Kel.”
Without so much as a glance, as the old woman’s eyes were glued to Ethan, she said, “Great. Hi, Kel. Come on inside, Ethan; your cousins are visiting me this weekend. I bet you’ve missed Herbert and Crenshaw.”
Kel laughed, as their names sounded like the title of a law firm. And she earned Ethan’s granny’s attention for that. A scowl moved over her wrinkly face, prompting Ethan to take her hand and lead her away from Kel. “I have missed the boys from my youth very much.”
“Crenshaw’s a girl, sweetheart,” Granny corrected him.
Ethan was stuck as to what to say. He should’ve known the sex of his own cousins, after all. But when the other two met them at the door, he found it easy to fix his little mistake. They both looked like men. Odd men. One wore a helmet like a bicycle racer would, in electric blue. He had on a tight little unitard in the same color. The other wore blue jean overalls and had a stick of some kind he was chewing on. The ragged cut of his hair, the shapeless clothing, and the fact that they both had manly features made it impossible to figure out which one was the female out of the two.
Looking at Kel over his shoulder, he whispered, “See why I called them both boys, now?”
She nodded and tried not to laugh at the weird-looking duo. “’Sup, Ethan?” the unitard-wearing man called out as they walked into the house.
“Not much.” Ethan looked at the old woman, who was clinging to him, for some help getting which guy that one was.
“Oh, Herbert, do you have to use such language?” she asked the helmet-wearing man playing the part of Ethan’s cousin.
“Sorry, Granny,” Herbert said then set his eyes on Kel. “Howdy, pretty lady.”
Kel smiled. “Hi, Herbert.” She extended her hand to the other she then realized was the woman named Crenshaw. “Hello, Crenshaw. How are you?”
Holding onto the straps that held up her overalls, she didn’t bother to shake Kel’s hand. Instead she turned around with a huff. “She ain’t so great.”
Ethan looked at Kel with a frown. “Don’t listen to her. You’re fantastic, love.”
Granny patted Ethan on his arm. “Never mind her. She’s had a crush on Mr. Tall and Handsome here since they were kids.”
“Not your blood cousins, huh, Ethan?” Kel asked, as they had no accents at all.
“Oh, yes, they are. My uncle moved here before they were born. He married a woman from the hills of Tennessee,” Ethan lied.
Kel was a little taken aback but shrugged it off as she leaned in to whisper, “I suppose their mother’s blood line was a bit muddled with incest.”
“Well, to be truthful, that runs on both sides.” Ethan stifled a grin as he followed the cousins to a large room with more red roses, filling vases around the room.
The expression that covered Kel’s face nearly made Ethan laugh, but he managed to hold it in. He’d told the little acting troupe to lay it on thick, and they were off to a remarkable start.
When Herbert shouted at the top of his lungs, “Shit fire and save the matches!” Kel froze as she watched the man’s arms fly into the air as if he was praising God or something.
Ethan leaned in close to whisper, “He has Tourette’s Syndrome. Please don’t be offended by anything he does or says. He can’t help it. Things just burst out of him.”
“Oh,” she whispered back as she watched Herbert walk in a circle three times then sit on the sofa. “And the circling behavior? W
hat’s that called?”
Ethan had no idea, so he made something up. “Poor guy thinks he’s a puppy sometimes.”
“That’s awful. How’d that happen? Did he have an accident and damage his brain? Is that why he wears a helmet?” she asked.
“No, he wears a helmet because he thinks it looks cool, Kel. You should compliment him on it,” he told her as he held back the urge to laugh. “And the Tourette’s is genetic. We have 12 people in the family who have it.”
“So anyone could get it then?” she asked him as her head swam.
“Yes. One in my family never knows if any of their children will end up with it. The luck of the draw, I suppose.” He took a seat as the woman playing his grandmother took hers after a lengthy time of trying to ease her crooked body into the chair.
Kel couldn’t help but notice the hump that was already beginning to form on Crenshaw’s back. “Is the hump thing something a lot of your family has too?”
“Mostly only the women,” Ethan said as he sat back and pulled her close to him.
“Well, I think if it’s caught early enough, doctors can do something about that.” Kel looked around the room at the many roses and wondered why in the world one would have so many of the same flower around the inside and outside of the house.
“I don’t know. Crenshaw wore a brace for most of her younger years. It didn’t seem to help her any,” Ethan said as he watched frown lines form in the middle of Kel’s forehead.
He was happy with her reaction to the mess of a family he’d created. When his fake granny let a whirlwind of gas blow her up off her chair a bit, Kel gasped as the old woman said, “Soap!”
The others echoed her, leaving Kel stupefied. Granny decided to explain, “I have terrible insides, honey. If I apologized every time gas escaped me, then I’d never stop. So we came up with one word. Soap.”
“Soap,” Kel said. “How um, uh, clever. Yeah, that’s the word I was looking for, clever.”
“She’s a sweetheart, isn’t she, love?” Ethan cooed in her ear.
Kel didn’t think the old woman was sweet at all, but she nodded. “Sure is.”
Ethen pushed it a bit further as he asked, “Think you could get used to this?”
Kel stared at him without blinking and wondered why he’d ask such a thing. Was he really going to go so far as to give her what he thought she wanted, a marriage proposal?
Chapter 30
No one was around as the car stopped in front of the ranch house in Montana where Griffin lived. Jess loved it. There were cows and horses in the pastures that were on each side of the road they went up. A mountain was the backdrop behind the sprawling home.
“Griff, this is gorgeous,” she said as they got out of the car and went inside. “And no one’s here at all, you said?”
“They’re gone for the weekend. I’m sorry you’re going to miss seeing them. But they had work to do. It’ll just be the staff and us.” He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close after he closed the door behind them. “Think you can handle yourself appropriately?”
His breath was hot on her face. Their lips were a fraction of an inch apart. “Maybe.”
“Too bad,” he whispered. He planned on trying hard to get her to give into him, while making her think life with him meant some pretty disgusting things. “I should show you around.”
“You should,” she said with a sigh. It was hard for her to hold him off when he was up on her that way. She really wanted him, but it was the idea of the bet that stopped her.
He took her hand, leading her through the large and dimly lit house. “Through here is the way to get to the back of the house where the milking barn is. That’s where the money is made.”
“Milking?” she asked.
“Yeah, milking,” he said with an evil grin. “I’ll show you. There’s a video out there. It helps the bulls get randy.”
“Randy?” she asked, as she didn’t have a clue what he was talking about.
“Horny,” he said.
She laughed. “And why would they need to be horny, Griff?”
“Because we have to get them to give us their sperm. That’s what we sell.”
She stopped and looked at him as if he was insane. “No, you don’t. Come on; stop messing with me.”
“I’m not messing with you,” he said as he pulled her along. “And everyone in the family has to know how to do it. No one gets out of the dirty work.”
“You can’t mean that you take the bull by the …” Jess cupped one hand to show what she meant. “Do you?”
“I do mean that. There’s a chute that holds them still for that. And once you start fondling them, they calm right down and actually seem to enjoy it. As you can imagine, the females of the family manage to get them to give more sperm with their tender touch than the men do.” He laughed, and Jess gagged.
“You’re messing with me. I know you are. There has to be a machine that does that,” Jess said as she shook her head. “People don’t do that for real.”
“There are other ways to get it, but our way works the best. We get a lot more than other producers do. And all because we aren’t afraid to get our hands dirty.” Out a door they went, and into a fenced area that had a large barn at the back if it. “I’ll let you watch the video first, then you can try it.”
“No way in hell, Griff!”
“Baby, come on. You’re into animals anyway.”
She stopped dead in her tracks. “Not into them in that way! That’s bestiality, Griff. It’s sick!”
“It’s not considered that, and it’s not sick. It’s profitable.” Pulling her along with him, he continued to take her to the barn.
“How about I watch you jerk the cow off?” she asked as they got to the barn where she could hear the cattle mooing.
“We don’t jerk off the cows, Jess.”
“Bulls. Whatever. You know what I’m saying. Let me watch you do it.”
He eyed her as he opened the large door, letting a burst of livestock odor pour out. Griff wasn’t about to put his hands on any bull’s cock, but he was about to watch Jess do it. “Inside, baby. You see, I’m itching to see if you can do this. It’s a thing each family member has to do, and I wanna see if you have what it takes to be a Houser.”
Jess eyed him and was unsure if he was being serious or not. He’d overheard them talking about the phony marriage scam. Was he into it, or was he going to try to use his own fake marriage proposal to win the bet he had with his friends?
“I’m not about to put my hands on a bull’s anything, Griff. Furthermore, I’m not interested in being a Houser.” She leveled her eyes on him and put her hands on her hips.
“You sure, baby?” he asked as he gathered her up in his strong arms. He’d heard her and her sisters loud and clear. He knew she wanted to get married.
When he moved his mouth past hers and went straight to her neck to kiss and nibble it, she couldn’t help wilting in his arms. He did know how to work her body; that was true. “Griff,” she moaned as she ran her hands over his tightly muscled back.
The bulls that were in the pens began to get louder as they mooed. Griff whispered in her ear, “We’re making them get all hot and bothered, baby. That’s a good thing. It’ll make your job easier.”
Pressing her up against the wall, he kissed her long and hard. He was going to work her up into a frenzy and win the bet while he planted the seed of doubt in her head about making him her husband.
Jess was finding it harder and harder to keep her wits about her when Griffin kissed her and handled her in a way that made her insides turn to butter. His mouth was hot and demanding as he kissed her. His strong hands gripped her waist, pulling her up. She wrapped her legs around him and felt the swell of his cock as he pushed it against her.
They were completely alone, save for the bulls, and she was losing the battle. Moving her hands through his thick hair, she moaned as he rubbed himself against her. Over and over, his throbbing cock moved, making
her lightheaded and all thoughts ceased, except the one. The one that told her to let the damn bet go and find out what Griff could do for her.
Raking her nails along his back, she gasped when he bit her lower lip then nibbled his way down her neck. “Griff …”
“Shhh,” he said as he kept going. “Just let things happen, baby.”
Her brain was swimming in a sea of lust. Her body was on fire, and Griff was the only man who could douse those flames. She knew, without a doubt, that he’d be the best she’d ever had. And she’d held off for as long as she could.
When his fingers moved down her throat, all the way to the top button of her shirt, she let him unbutton it. Each button got him that much closer to the prize. Stopping to cup one breast, he groaned with how good it felt in his hand.
Griff had to admit that things with Jess were going great. If he could have gone back in time, the one thing he’d have done was make sure he hadn’t overheard the girls’ conversation about roping them into marriage to pay their bills.
And with that thought, he lost the feelings he’d had. He let her breast go and stopped kissing her neck that was so sweet and tempting. Griff reminded himself that the woman who was holding him was a money grubbing liar.
“So, you ready to get handsy with one of the bulls? I’ll let you pick him out.”
“Griff, no,” Jess whined. She was wondering what the hell had happened. They’d just been making out hardcore, and she’d been about to give into him.
“Yes, Jess,” he said as he stepped back, moving her legs off him.
“Griff, what’s wrong?” she asked as she knew something had to have gone through his head that had him stopping. Then she knew he’d been thinking about the marriage thing and it’d shut him down.
All she wanted to do was end the charade. Tell him she knew about the bet and how they’d gotten back at them for it. But Griff seemed set on trying to make her whack off a bull as he dragged her along with him to the first pen. “Come on. You have to do this. If you want me, then you’ll have to do this.”
Stopping short, Jess made a drastic decision. She was going to tell him the truth. Tired of keeping so much bottled up was taking its toll on her. “We need to talk.”
The Naughty One: A Doctor’s Christmas Romance (Season of Desire Book 2) Page 58