Chiseled and Cherished (Moon Ranch Book 3)

by Em Petrova

  He huffed with irritation and pushed out of the chair. He paced to the window and flipped back the curtain. “Your mother would never give up on Trent.”

  “I’m not giving up on him, Dad. I’m being realistic. Our being angry doesn’t help Trent. Us believing him doesn’t help either. Right now, it seems like he could be looking at doing time for all these crimes, and we can only let him know we love him and—”

  Her father spun from the window, and the curtain swished back into place. “That man who hauled him in is in Stokes.”

  With her stomach in the soles of her boots, she stood to face her father from across the room.

  “If I see him, I’ll bash his face in.”

  Okay, she definitely could never bring Asher home to meet her daddy now. Not that the option was possible, but still, there would be no shaking her father from his beliefs.

  “It’s not likely you’ll ever see him. You hardly leave the house, Dad.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “You’re not going to harp on me again, are you? I told you before that I don’t need to be social. My old buddies don’t understand how it feels to lose a wife.” His voice cracked.

  Suddenly, Kinsey felt her heart breaking all over again. For the loss of her mom, who might know how to better deal with her father, with Trent…and with Kinsey’s feelings regarding Asher. But her mother wasn’t here and Kinsey’s superhero cape had gone missing. She couldn’t save the day and wouldn’t even try.

  “Dad, I’m sorry about Mom, the same as you. But what I see is you hiding in a dark house instead of trying to make yourself feel better. I’m not saying forget Mom—but she wouldn’t want you stuck in the house either.”

  He drew back his shoulders.

  “As for Trent, well, he got himself into this trouble and I’m tired of trying to make sense of the stories he’s told us.”

  He pointed a finger at her, rage mottling his face. “You’re giving up on your brother!”

  She spread her hands. “I can’t help him. If he made a bad choice in friends, then he’s got to deal with the repercussions. If he actually committed all these crimes and has just been feeding us bull—”

  “You’re wrong, Kinsey!”

  “Am I?” She cocked a brow. They glared at each other for a long minute. Finally, she turned toward the door. “I’ll see you later, Dad.”

  He didn’t move to stop her from leaving. After she slammed the door, she glanced back at the house to see the light she’d turned on switch off again, casting everything in darkness.

  Maybe what she needed wasn’t to go home—it was some girl time. A long talk and at least one margarita with her friend Kelly.

  * * * * *

  Loud banging on Asher’s bedroom door had him leaping to his feet before his eyes fully opened. Heart jumping, he strode to his door and whipped it open. Zayden stood there, eyes bloodshot.

  “Coyote attacked Brennah’s dog. Get dressed. We’re meeting Dane and hunting these things.”

  His brain didn’t wrap around the words until he pulled his jeans over his hips. Brennah’s dog? Dane bought her a guard dog weeks ago. The German Shepard was still just a pup. Had it survived the attack?

  He yanked a shirt over his head and grabbed his hat. With it in place, he met up with Zayden and Mimi in the mudroom. Zayden tossed him a coat, which Asher put on. Then he grabbed his rifle in the corner.

  “Take care, boys,” Mimi said.

  Asher gave her a nod and followed his brother out of the house. “Is the dog alive?”

  “Barely. Brennah rushed it to her clinic and is performing surgery right now. Dane said it was pretty bad. It’s time we take care of this once and for all.” Zayden’s jaw set with determination.

  Asher held the same mindset as his brother. Even if he didn’t want to take a shot at a coyote, he had to, in order to protect not just the cattle but pets.

  They drove to Brennah’s. Dane stood outside waiting for them, his shotgun in hand. As soon as they gathered together, Dane crooked his head toward the creek. “They ran that way after I fired a shot at them.”

  “How many?” Asher asked.

  “Four or five. Not quite sure. It was dark and the rain makes it difficult to see.”

  “The dog?” Zayden’s question had Dane shaking his head.

  “Dunno yet. Brennah’s a good surgeon, but the dog was pretty ripped up. I think he tried to challenge the predators. I think they were going after the pigs.”

  “Damn. Let’s go.” Zayden took off, with Asher and Dane flanking him. This wouldn’t be the first time the three of them took matters into their own hands. Asher dug a flashlight from his pocket and waved the light beam over the trees.

  “No sign of them.” Dane’s voice sounded gritty.

  “They wouldn’t have stuck around long, if Dane shot at them,” Zayden added.

  “In weather like this, more ’n likely they’re already warm and dry in their den.” Asher’s statement had Zayden nodding but Dane looking more determined.

  “We gotta search anyway,” Dane said.

  “You’re right. We don’t want any circling back to the barn and Brennah’s pigs.” Asher cupped a hand to his mouth and gave a screech like a dying rabbit call. Back in their boyhood days spent hunting on the mountain, they all had perfected certain calls.

  Cocking his head, he listened for a response to his call but the rain prevented them from hearing anything. After a couple hours in the downpour, light dawned on another gray morning, and they gave up and went to Brennah’s house for some hot coffee.

  Dane called Brennah while Zayden rifled through the woman’s refrigerator for milk. Dane pulled the phone from his ear. “It’s on the second shelf. The middle of the alphabet.”

  Asher and Zayden gave him confused looks.

  “Her fridge is alphabetized.”

  “Even Esme isn’t that crazy.” Zayden located the milk and poured a generous amount into his coffee.

  “Since when do you have cream in your coffee, Z?” Asher sipped the drink that braced him for the day they’d barely begun.

  “Since we have milk in the fridge. It’s nice to grow up and be in charge of your own life, ain’t it?”

  “S’pose so,” he muttered and took another sip.

  Dane hung up the phone and retrieved his own mug. “Brennah says that Reese made it through surgery. But animal bite marks can mean infection later, so her prognosis is guarded at this time.”

  “At least you won’t be looking at a hefty vet bill, man.” Asher thumped Dane’s shoulder.

  “Yeah, we got Esme, who works at a credit union and is getting her master’s degree for finance and Brennah as the Moon veterinarian. Now it’s your turn to find a woman who can do this family some more good, Ash.”

  He gulped his coffee. “I can probably get us a stripper.”

  “Fuck that,” Dane said immediately. “I’ve had enough of strippers.”

  They shared a laugh at the expense of Dane and his ex-wife.

  A knock came at the door, and they exchanged glances. “Who the fuck would be here at this time of the morning?” Dane started to the front door. A moment later, he poked his head into the kitchen. “Ash, it’s for you.”

  Surprise hit him. Either it was one of the ranchers from the coalition come to give him a report of another attack overnight or—

  He stopped in his tracks as he saw the familiar, ugly tan shirt.

  “Kinsey.”

  She turned to look at him. Dane stood there a second before he took the hint and left them alone.

  “Was there another attack?” Asher asked her.

  Her lips parted on an O of surprise. “Another?”

  “Yeah… Brennah’s dog just came out of surgery.”

  “Oh God.” She rubbed at her forehead. “This is getting out of hand, and I don’t feel like I’m doing my job.”

  “Did you check the traps this morning?” He saw something in her gaze, a light he hadn’t seen there before.

  She
shook her head. “Not yet.”

  “I’ll come along if you want the company.” Being alone with her probably would land him in more trouble, but he always finished what he started, and he had promised to help her with the coyote matter.

  “Yes, I’d like that.”

  Asher walked back to the kitchen and told his brothers he was leaving. After he settled in next to Kinsey in her Jeep, she twisted in the seat to stare at him.

  “I owe you an apology, Asher.”

  The corner of his mouth quirked. “Does that mean I get a favor from you?”

  “Not if it’s what I think you’re about to ask for.”

  He reached out and curled his hand around her nape, pulling her across the console as he moved toward her too. When their mouths were a breath away, he gazed into her eyes. “One kiss,” he rumbled.

  Her chest heaved. “Just one.”

  * * * * *

  One kiss stretched to another and pretty soon Kinsey trembled for more of Asher’s touch—all over her body.

  She pulled away and ran her tongue over her lips, tasting him. “We’d better check those traps.”

  “After that, head to your place.”

  She blinked at him. “What?”

  “I want to take you in a bed, Kinsey.”

  Heat wormed through her belly and morphed into a fire ball. The dark statement resonated through her mind and body. In a bed. In her own bed.

  Without responding to his words, she drove to Drover’s and the few traps they had set there. As they made their way through the field and then along the creek bank, rain pelted the top of her hat and dripped onto the shoulders of her coat she’d donned.

  Asher walked close enough that she grew aware of his body. His size. His masculine scent.

  “Kinsey.” His tough tone drew her to a stop. She glanced up to see him pointing toward her trap.

  “I got one!”

  “You did. That’s a big one too. I’ll go back to the Jeep for the crate and we can get him into it.”

  The next half hour they worked to sedate the animal and slide him into the crate. Carrying it out between them took some stamina on her part, and by the time they reached the Jeep, her arm muscles ached from the workout. Asher opened the back of the Jeep and they lifted the crate inside.

  “We’ll take this one back to the office for now. The boss will want to check it out before making arrangements for it to be released in the game sanctuary.” Excitement quivered in her voice, and she couldn’t help but smile at Asher.

  The grin cutting a path across his cheek also revealed that devilish dimple. Just the sight of it had her itching to get to her apartment…and into his arms.

  After reaching the game commission office and spending far too long speaking to her boss about the next steps of the release, Kinsey couldn’t get out of there fast enough. On the way out the door, Branson caught her and pulled her aside.

  “Is that Moon I see sitting in your Jeep waitin’ on you?” He pitched his voice low, but not low enough to keep the dispatcher from glancing at them.

  Kinsey collected her wits. “Yes, the veterinarian’s dog was attacked overnight, and we’re going to look into things there.”

  “But you clocked out. You’re taking a half day.” Branson arched a brow at her, and she gave him a shove in the shoulder.

  “Get your mind out of the gutter, Cody. And you’d better get ready for my questions about that date with the waitress.”

  That shut him up long enough for her to get out the door. In the Jeep, she looked at Asher.

  His eyes burned into hers. “Why are we always in a vehicle when I want you this bad? Hurry up and drive.”

  Her mind spun. She was making a conscious decision this time—not giving in to her lust and having an impromptu roll in the grass or a backseat fuck. Planning changed everything, including how she had begun to think about Asher.

  She drew to a stop in front of the house that had two apartments within. “This is me.”

  “Mmm. And I can’t wait to see all of you, baby girl. Show me inside.”

  Excitement gave her a giddy feeling as she led the way to the door and unlocked it. She’d lost her mind. Temporary insanity would hold up in court, so surely it could apply to her current situation, right?

  He braced a hand on the door above her head, leaning in and giving her a smoldering look. Then he pushed on the door and walked her backward inside. He slammed the door behind them and took one step toward her.

  “Nice place you have,” he said without looking away.

  “You haven’t even seen—”

  He crushed his mouth over hers, cutting off any words and all thought. Desire curled her toes in her boots, and she grabbed his shoulders to haul him closer. The moment their bodies brushed, a shivery moan escaped her lips.

  “Which way’s the bedroom?” he rasped between deep passes of his tongue in her mouth.

  She gripped his coat and walked him toward her room. This morning she’d been so tired after staying up late talking with Kelly that she hadn’t made her bed. Now her laziness seemed helpful as he clamped his hands on her hips and bore her backward onto the mattress.

  Need splashed over her senses, and her breaths came faster. His stare burned into her as he plucked open her shirt buttons and slid a fingertip over her bra. Her nipple hardened further, and need blasted through her core.

  She shoved his coat off his shoulders. “You’re wet.”

  “I’m about to see if you are.”

  She knocked off his hat and it tumbled to the floor. His jacket and shirt followed. Next he worked off her boots, cursing at the double knots that took too long to release. She giggled—at least until he removed her bra and lowered his mouth to the tip of one breast.

  Her insides clenched, juices squeezed from her pussy, and she arched up to meet his lips and tongue. As he drew one nipple fully into his mouth and sucked hard, she cried out.

  He skated one hand down her stomach to her uniform pants. After only seconds, he glided them down her hips.

  “You’re getting better at this,” she moaned out, going for his belt.

  He flashed a grin. “So are you.”

  When she opened his fly and slipped a hand into his boxers, enveloping the thick length of his erection, he closed his eyes on a shudder.

  “Haven’t stopped thinking about fucking you, Kinsey baby.”

  “Then shut up and do it.”

  They shared a grin. In a flurry, he stripped off the rest of his clothes, and she shimmied her pants and underwear off her ankles. He stopped, gazing down at her through lidded eyes.

  “Spread your pretty thighs and show me how much you want me.”

  Her stomach dipped at his command. Slowly, she parted her knees, opening to his gaze.

  He ran his tongue over his lips, reminding her how good he was with that tongue. From deep inside, her own desire took hold and she abandoned what shyness she might have once known with Asher.

  She thumbed her pussy lips apart, revealing the soaking inner folds to him. Air brushed over her hard clit and made her whimper. “Taste me, Asher. Bury your tongue inside me.”

  “Jesus Christ, honey. I thought you’d never ask.”

  He dived between her legs, hitching them high to bare her to his mouth. The point of his tongue working over her slick pussy brought another cry from her. She pulsated, and seconds later felt his fingertip probing…not at her pussy but at her backside.

  She stilled.

  “Nobody’s ever touched you here, I’m guessin’,” he rumbled without lifting his head.

  “N-no.”

  “If you don’t like it, just tell me and I’ll stop. I just need to see…” He brushed his fingertip over her netherhole again. And again.

  The tightening in her lower belly told her she liked it far more than she ever dreamed. The forbidden touch and the simultaneous swirl of his tongue across her clit had her shaking in seconds.

  He circled her pucker faster. Her insides cl
enched as if inviting him in. Then he eased inside her.

  “Asher!”

  “Does it feel good, darlin’? Hell, you’re tighter than I expected. Fuck, I’m gonna blow just thinking about filling your ass with my cock.” He withdrew his finger and plunged two from his other hand into her pussy.

  She tossed her head back on the bliss of that invasion and when he clamped her clit in his lips, she couldn’t stop the screams from coming…or her orgasm from rising up, fast and hard.

  * * * * *

  Fuck, he just wanted to bury his cock in her and not surface for days. Weeks, even.

  With shaking hands, he positioned a condom and braced himself between her splayed thighs. He didn’t want to admit to this weakness he had for her. Hell if he knew how to stop either.

  He gripped his cock at the root and directed it toward her slick, hot pussy. “Watch me take you, baby. Watch my cock fill you up.”

  She breathed faster as she directed her gaze between their bodies. He slowly guided his cock head inside her and paused as it stretched her.

  He bit off a growl, and she released a throaty moan. The next second, she shoved onto him, taking him right to the hilt. Liquid heat enveloped him from base to tip, stripping away all his power.

  Pulling out, he watched ecstasy play over her beautiful face. Then he slammed in again.

  “Kiss me, Asher. Kiss—”

  He cut off her plea by claiming her mouth in a long, rough caress of far too much emotion to be called lust.

  Passion, then.

  You ain’t kiddin’ yourself, man. You’re starting to fall for this woman.

  He growled and thrust his cock deep in her pussy again. The intense need began to build from his spine, enveloping his balls and driving him to take what he wanted—now.

  She clung to his shoulders and bit into his lower lip. The sting ignited him further, and he churned his hips even faster. The moment he felt her start to quake in his arms, he opened his eyes and captured her gaze.

  “Come for me. Come for me now.” His demand shot her over the ledge. Her inner walls clamped on him rhythmically in a release that yanked him in with her. He collapsed forward and found her lips. A sweet link he didn’t want to let go of.