by Natalie Dean
“Oh, is it?” she fluttered her eyelashes at him and if that didn’t just make his heart jump. “I guess I wasn’t listening. Now come on.”
Who was this woman?
He had no answer, and he found himself watching in awe as she calmly walked around several bales of hay, then some planks, before going up close to one and leveling her gun.
Three more shots and then more cursing, and Bryant belatedly saw someone stomping off the field.
“Do you think it would be poor sportsmanship to take them all out?”
“All who?”
“The other team.”
“Keiko, there’s no way you can—”
“Duck.”
He didn’t know what drove him to obey her as soon as the words left her mouth, but he did. The next thing he knew there was the sound of hay crunching above his head, the pop of a gun, then the sharp snap of a paintball hitting armor.
“Dude, that was insane. Good shot.”
Bryant looked over his shoulder to see a large man standing on top of the hay bale, nodding his head appreciatively even though he was out.
“Thank you,” Keiko answered before looking to Bryant. “You bought us a three-game package, right?”
He could only nod as he got back up to his feet. “There’s usually more people as we get later into the afternoon.”
“All right, I’ll stop for now then. I’ll have my fun when there’s more people for everyone.”
And without another word, she walked over to the sidelines and sat down.
“Really?” Bryant asked, so surprised by the turn in events that he didn’t know what was up and what was down. “Just like that?”
“You heard the rules. Poor sportsmanship is frowned upon here. Taking out an entire team of people in five minutes who just came here to enjoy themselves doesn’t sound like good sportsmanship.” She waved her hand at him. “Now go, enjoy yourself and bag a few hits of your own.”
He wanted to argue with her, he really did, but she was already laying back on her elbows with her gaze on the sky, a blissful expression on her face.
Bryant was beginning to get the feeling that he was completely out of his league.
True to her word, Keiko really did wait until the later afternoon matches to actually try, and boy was she something.
She wasn’t infallible, especially once the employees started playing, but dang if she wasn’t unnervingly good. By the time their full package was over, Bryant had been hit a handful of times, almost all in spots around his armor, while Keiko had taken a grand total of three shots. When everyone was filing out, he even overheard a couple of the other team bragging about how they’d managed to get a hit on her.
And it was indeed a bragging right, because Bryant had been next to her the whole time as she’d calmly taken shot after shot after shot, cutting across the field and using the terrain to her advantage without even ending up breathing hard.
Somehow, he managed to wait until they were all the way in his car before turning to her with a mix of wonder and shock. “What just happened in there?”
She blinked at him, looking happy and sated like she had just enjoyed a good movie rather than trouncing a good amount of people at a game they were very good at. “What do you mean?”
He narrowed his gaze at her. “You know exactly what I mean.”
Surprisingly, a soft laugh left her mouth. “I do. It’s nothing that exciting, really. My father wanted me to be able to provide for myself if I was ever in a bad situation or if there was some sort of national emergency. I’ve been hunting and handling different rifles of his since I was eight years old. Once I was a teenager, he got me used to other types of guns at the shooting range. They were never much my thing, but I still appreciate the knowledge. Especially since it turns out that the paintball rifle isn’t that much different.”
Bryant couldn’t believe it. A lot of the things that he had assumed about Keiko were very suddenly being proven wrong, and he didn’t know what to think of it. He was frustrated that she defied his ability to figure her out when his “thing” was understanding and schmoozing people, but he was also incredibly intrigued. What gave her the right to be so… so… unpredictable.
“Well, you certainly have talent.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that. Although, I do wonder why you even brought me here. I take it by your question and the look on your face that you didn’t know about my affinity for guns, so that does leave your purpose in question.”
There she went again, seeing through him like he was cellophane. Normal people didn’t do that, and yet she said it so flippantly, like it was just a thought off the top of her head.
He had to say something however, so he decided to go with mostly the truth. “Honestly, I thought that maybe you might be a little… uptight, and some adrenaline could let me know the real you.”
“Ah, that is a classic strategy. Fear and excitement are powerful bonding emotions.”
“Yeah, bonding emotions.”
He pulled out of the parking lot and once again, he found he had no idea how to drive their conversation. But instead of stressing him out. It was almost… nice? Often when he was talking to people, he felt like they were working through a script that he had been able to read way beforehand. Usually, nothing surprised him and everything was predictable. But with Keiko, it was like he was experiencing everything for the first time. It was chaos, but it was fun. He found it challenging.
And sure enough, she continued to surprise him by starting up a conversation with him on her own, talking about fun or exciting things that she had noticed on the paintball battlefield. It was through her little stories and factoids that he realized that she did indeed have a good time. And, although the little outing didn’t go exactly how he had planned, he found his chest swelling with pride that she enjoyed herself. For some reason, it felt like an accomplishment.
By the time they got to her apartment building, the conversation was winding down, but he found himself not wanting it to end. He didn’t want to go to his penthouse in the city and spend the night alone, facing the no-doubt hundreds of work emails and new business propositions that were waiting in his inbox.
His mind rattled through a dozen or so excuses to extend their time together before he finally settled on one.
“You know, with as good as you are, don’t you think it’s a little mean how much you let me get hit?” He gave her a wounded look. “I’m gonna have some real welts and bruises tomorrow.”
She gave him a look that he began to recognize as her being mischievous. On anyone else, it would be a sort of pleasant grin, but he was beginning to understand all those little micro-expressions on that pretty face of hers.
“I’m sorry, am I misremembering it, or were your exact words ‘I’ll watch out for you’? That doesn’t imply that you need to be babysat.”
“Babysat? Ow.”
She just shrugged, not looking even the slightest bit guilty and stepped out of the car. Bryant was disappointed that it hadn’t worked, and they indeed were going to part, but that feeling quickly faded as she leaned back into his open window.
“Well, aren’t you coming?”
“Huh?”
She gave him a serious look. “If you’re going to try to guilt me about your oh-so-egregious boo-boos, you should really work on your follow-up. Come in, and I’ll give you some witch hazel and vitamin E oil to put on them.”
“Oh, witch hazel? I’m not sure what the big man upstairs will think about that.”
“Funny, I would have thought you’d be all about anything that the ‘big man’ doesn’t like.”
“Come now, that makes me sound predictable.”
“And you aren’t?”
“Ouch. That hurts worse than the bruises.”
“I’m not surprised. They do say that a rich man’s ego is his most fragile point.”
Bryant laughed, putting the car into park and getting out. “You know, with the way you’re tearing me down,
I’d almost think you didn’t like me.”
“And by the way you’re smiling, I’d almost think you like it when I bring you down to earth a little.”
“Oh, is that what you’re doing?”
She shrugged and led him inside. Strange to think the last time he had gone into her apartment he had been drunk off his feet, because he was noticing all sorts of things about it.
It wasn’t that it was a slum, but it was just so… so… old. There was a sagging sort of oldness to it and everything was so closed-in. Her place was nothing like the ranch, which was sprawling and open and free. Sometimes, when he was particularly exhausted from the coldness and bustle of the city, he would wish he could go back home.
But the issue was that going home inevitably meant running into his family. Even the last couple of times he had visited just to see the horses and check in on Bart had ended up with terse or uncomfortable conversations.
Ugh.
“Stay here, I’ll go get what you need from the bathroom.”
Bryant nodded and sat down on her couch while she went off. But he grew antsy too soon, his adrenaline from the exciting paintball session still coursing through him.
He would normally poke around, snoop nosily at any pictures or personal effects, but Keiko’s apartment was bare. He decided she must have moved in fairly recently, because it didn’t seem lived in at all. The only room that seemed remotely habituated was the bathroom with its old and impressive claw-foot tub.
So, it was while he was sitting there, twiddling his thumbs, that an idea came to him. Some people might think it was mean, and it certainly wasn’t polite, but it was so perfect that the next thing he knew, he was standing up and pulling his shirt off.
While he wasn’t nearly as jacked as his brothers—especially Bart, who was basically just a mountain of muscle the last time he saw him—he did spend plenty of time in the gym to keep himself fit. Being in top shape was a point of vanity, for the most part. His brothers all stayed strong and powerful as a result of their work on the ranch. The last thing he wanted was to look scrawny next to all of them and give them another reason to look down on him.
He smiled to himself as he turned to face the corner that Keiko would no doubt be rounding at any moment. He could see the moment in his head now. It was easy to deny attraction and handwave away temptation when everyone was fully clothed. But he’d learned that showing some skin could go a long way in the game of seduction.
And… it was kind of strange, but he wanted Keiko to want him. He’d had plenty of trysts and girlfriends and lovers, but he had always been confident that they definitely wanted him. But with Keiko, she reacted as if he was just another, everyday person and not a handsome billionaire who had been on about a dozen magazine covers.
Her lack of interest hurt his pride just as much as it challenged him, which he knew was strange, but he didn’t feel like questioning it.
Sure enough, he heard Keiko’s steps around the corner and then she was in the living room. She was already prattling out directions when her eyes landed on his torso, and suddenly several things happened at once.
She let out that same adorably startled sound that she had made that night at the wedding and everything fell from her hands. Her eyes went wide and one of her hands went to her mouth.
Finally, he got the reaction he had been hoping for.
Taking a step towards her, he sent her his most charming smile. He wanted her to know that he would take care of her. That he would treat her right and make sure she left the experience happy, sated, and maybe with some nicer furniture.
Slowly, he bent to pick up the items that she had dropped, standing up and closing the remaining distance between them to place them back in her hands.
“Well, aren’t you going to take care of me?” He said as he gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. He couldn’t help but wonder if anyone had ever held her tenderly. Showed her that she was desirable and admirable and worthy of so much magic.
She stared at him for a long moment, almost too long, the tension mounting between them. Bryant wondered if he should just kiss her, but she hadn’t spoken yet, and he always liked to make sure that his partners were one hundred percent on board and into what was happening.
Then, just as suddenly as the whole thing had happened, the moment broke. Letting out a strangled sort of gasp, she shoved the items back in his hand and took several large steps back.
“You need to go.”
Very abruptly, Bryant realized he had somehow made a grave misstep. Confusion swirling through him, he stood there for a moment, surprised.
“I said go! I need you to leave right now!”
Right. If she wanted him out of her house, he needed to get out. Grabbing his shirt, he hurried out, wondering what had just happened and how Keiko just turned everything he knew on its head.
Not for the first time, he was pretty sure that he had just ruined everything.
8
Keiko
Keiko wondered if she was in over her head.
When she had imagined what it would be like to bring the errant Miller son back into the fold, it hadn’t involved seeing him shirtless or having him be so charming and humble. But that was exactly what had happened, and her mind kept flashing to that fateful moment.
She’d come around the corner, and he had just been there.
He wasn’t as tanned as his brothers, or as big, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t absolutely striking. Keiko could see every cut of his muscles, every rippling striation as he breathed, and even a small appendectomy scar low down on his belly.
He was a dream, and she knew that many people would have welcomed with open arms what he was offering. But what she was completely surprised by was how much she wanted to reach out and touch him. To feel exactly what Bryant Miller was all about.
She wasn’t going to lie; the sensation had her shaken. She wasn’t a nun, by any means, but she’d never been so viscerally attracted to a man like that. It was as if the entire world had vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving just the two of them.
Temptation had slid along her tongue and trickled down her throat like honey. But she clamped down on that hard and barely managed to yell at him to get out.
…but would she have done anything if he hadn’t? She didn’t know, and that upset her more than she liked to admit.
She trudged through her weekly tasks but received no satisfaction from the routine. She was distracted, frustrated. She tried her best to keep it together, but as her confidence in herself flagged, she grew more and more restless.
It didn’t help that every time she closed her eyes, Bryant was there.
She didn’t like that. She didn’t want to be one of his thralls, all caught up in the flesh and desire and forgetting about the things that mattered, about the eternal things. By the time Thursday rolled around, she was a right mess and decided some time on the ranch would help her.
Normally, she would go to Dani’s and they’d ride some horses around. Her family had an especially old and gentle horse who was perfect for a leisurely trot, that had always liked Keiko. But Dani was still on her month-long honeymoon, which meant that the Miller ranch was the more viable option.
Maybe, if she was lucky, she would find Missy there in the stalls. She didn’t muckrake nearly as much as she used to considering she had her own rescue business now, but she would still lend a hand from time to time.
Nodding to herself, Keiko got into her car and headed over. She knew she should probably text first, but chances that Missy had her phone on her and was getting a signal were few and far between. Besides, if the Amazon-like woman wasn’t there, there was still a chance Chasity, Sophia, or even one of the boys would be willing to show her around.
She made it to the ranch in record time—not that she was trying to. She guessed that subconsciously she just wanted to get there as soon as possible. When she arrived, she parked in the little dirt lot for the workers that came from town then headed tow
ards the barn.
Sure enough, Missy was there, but she wasn’t raking out one of the stalls. Instead, she was standing beside a stack of carriers, letting the inhabitants out one by one.
“What are you doing?” Keiko asked curiously, coming up behind Missy as she gave the cat she was releasing a treat, then watched it slink off into the deeper parts of the barn.
“Just bringing some of the barn cats home. They’ve all had a good recovery.”
“Were they sick?”
She shook her head. “No, they were having so many kittens that it was getting to be too much, and some of the girls were starting to have more and more rejections. I fixed about five of them and have been taking care of them for the past week. I’m letting them out now, and then I’m going to see if I can round up a new crew.”
“Wow, I didn’t realize there were so many here,” Keiko said, coming up alongside the carriers.
She had expected the felines to be on edge, as cats often were when they were carted anywhere, but all of them seemed relaxed enough. Missy really did seem to have a way with creatures. Keiko wished she could say the same, but unfortunately most animals seemed to find her decidedly average.
Except for that one horse on Dani’s farm, of course. He was the best.
“Well, they’re not all in this barn. They go out in the fields to hang with the horses. All in all, I’d say there’s maybe fifty or so in our area, but that number’s been climbing since I’ve come here and gotten them all flea and worm medication, so now I gotta make sure they don’t overpopulate.”
“Fifty, that seems like a lot to take care of.”
“Well, I’m not going to fix every cat. I just don’t think that’s possible. But I’m definitely getting all of the older girls who are getting worn out, and most of the tomcats. Did you know a cat can get pregnant even while they’re nursing?”
“Uh, no, I didn’t actually. That seems very exhausting. I’m grateful I’m not a cat.”
“Right? The always-landing-on-your-feet thing is nice, but I’m not sure it’s worth it.” The blond chuckled, and she finally looked to Keiko. “So, what brings you here? I rarely see you out of town without Dani. You missing the ranch life with her being gone so long?”