A Diamond in the Dark

by Sassie Lewis

  “Okay.” Tia was a bit hesitant, but she also couldn’t wait to tell one of her best friends about her and Ax.

  “Well, there’s this guy at work, one of the bartenders, he keeps asking me out, and I don’t know what to do.” Tia could hear the anxiety in Mara’s voice. Not only did the poor girl have a prick of a father, she also had an asshole of an ex-boyfriend.

  Thomas had been Mara’s high school sweetheart. He’d been three years ahead of them at school, and they’d had a blissful eighteen months together. It was after Thomas graduated that Tia had noticed the changes in him. He had started hanging around the wrong crowd, getting into drugs, and not long after that he’d started hitting Mara. It wasn’t until he had broken her arm that Tia and Shelley stepped in. They’d known that everything wasn’t roses in the relationship, but they hadn’t realized it had gotten so bad. Tia had stood over a drugged-up Thomas while Shelley kicked the shit out of him...literally. They had never seen the dickhead again.

  Tia could understand Mara’s fear. The poor girl had the worst luck with men. She had tried to date after Thomas, but had ended up with a string of deadbeats and losers. And it didn’t help that her father was a drunk who wouldn’t protect his daughter if it meant he would miss out on his next beer.

  “Sweetie, I can’t tell ya want to do. If you like the guy, go out with him. One date does not a commitment make.”

  “But I have to see him at work all the time. What if he gets clingy or something? What am I suppose to do then, Tia?”

  “How ’bout you tell him that you’ll meet him for coffee as a friend? That way you can get the feel for things without the stigma of it being a date. You must like him, hun, or you wouldn’t even be asking me about it.”

  “Well, he is really cute. So I think that’s a good idea. Okay, now it’s your turn. Spill the beans, woman. Why were you lying to Uncle Jack about where you were last night?”

  Tia flopped back onto her bed and proceeded to tell Mara everything. From how they had gotten together in Houston, to getting her tattoo done—which she couldn’t believe she hadn’t told them about already—everything up until, and including, that morning.

  “So what did Ethan have to say about it? I’m happy for you, by the way, but I have known for years that you’ve had a thing for Axton.”

  “It’s not a thing, Mara. We’re in love with each other.” Tia huffed at Mara’s blasé attitude about everything, but then what she said was true.

  Mara didn’t seem shocked that Tia had finally gotten Axton’s attention. Mara and Shelley had spent many a drunken night cheering Tia on and giving her advice on how to get Axton to notice her. Tia had never done any of the things they’d suggested, because....well, drunk advice wasn’t always a good thing.

  One night the girls had stripped her down to her underclothes and wrapped a big bow around her. They’d been all set on delivering her to Axton’s front door until they realized that none of them could drive. Hadn’t Tia silently rejoiced that fact in the morning!

  “Tia! Ethan, how did he react?”

  “Oh, he seemed fine about it, but he told me we needed to tell Uncle Jack soon.” Fucking tears. She wiped them away, thinking maybe she needed to go to the doctor and see if she had an infection in her tear ducts or something, because the friggin’ things wouldn’t stop leaking.

  “Oh, sweetie! It’ll be just fine, you wait and see.”

  It was funny getting this advice from the one person in the group that had the emotions of a middle-aged menopausal woman.

  “Thanks, Mara. Don’t mention anything to Shelley yet, ’kay?”

  They both laughed, having learned the hard way that even though they loved her, Shelley just couldn’t keep a secret. It was never done in malice, but the moment Shelley had a few drinks under her belt her mouth just kept running, and she tended to forget that what she was saying had been told to her in confidence.

  They talked a bit more, Tia’s mood a little lighter from sharing with Mara. A girl’s best friend was her lifeline to sanity.

  Chapter 12

  Tia didn’t see Axton for the next three days. All four mares had gone into labor, and though it wasn’t that unusual for them to all foal at the same time, she just wished it hadn’t happened that week. She needed to talk to Ax. Ethan kept giving her a look...well, it could have been her imagination, but it felt like he was telling her with his eyes to get a move on and tell the family what was happening.

  She had worked alongside Axton helping to repair a downed fence, but there hadn’t been any alone time. They’d talked on the phone each night, but still she missed him. She couldn’t sleep for shit, because she kept reaching for him only to find the bed empty.

  There didn’t seem to be enough hours in the day. Along with the normal jobs that living on a ranch entailed Tia had also been busy collecting samples from some of the horses to start a more in-depth database.

  Some of the other larger breeding ranches had found out that she was an animal geneticist and had started contacting her, asking how much she’d charge to do the profiling of their stock. Tia informed them she’d have to get back to them, as she had no idea what to charge. She’d have to get in touch with others in her profession and find out what the going rate was. She started to compile a list of those that had already contacted her, and those who might be interested.

  When she had mentioned it to Axton, he said the same thing. The ranch had never employed anyone to do a genetic study of their animals. But he did say that if she started doing it for their stock, she should charge them. That was so not going to happen. The McGraettys may not be blood, but they were family. Uncle Jack had mentioned putting a lab on the ranch for her to use, which would cost a bunch. Tia didn’t think Axton realized how much some of the machinery she would need actually cost. Besides, she hadn’t gotten her qualifications for the money she could earn, she’d done it simply because the subject fascinated her and would be something useful on the ranch.

  On Thursday night she was just drifting off to sleep when a strange noise on her balcony frightened the bejesus out of her. Quickly covering her mouth, she muffled her scream as Ax walked in. He strode straight past her bed and checked to make sure the door to the hall was locked before stripping off his clothes.

  “What are you doing here? You scared the crap out of me.” She had gotten out of bed to take her nightclothes off.

  “Come here, baby, I need to hold you.”

  She walked into his arms, taking in his scent.

  “God, I’ve missed you,” he said as he buried his nose into her neck, his warm breath making her shiver.

  “I’ve missed you too. When are we going to tell everyone about us, Ax? I’m sick of sneaking around.” She dragged him to her bed. She could see the exhaustion in his eyes. Even though she was not opposed to sex, tonight she just wanted to be held in his arms. They settled in together.

  “Soon, Tia. I’m sick of it too. But not just yet, I have to go away this weekend and I don’t want to leave you here to face the music by yourself.” His fingers were drawing patterns up and down her spine. It seemed to be something he did when he was deep in thought. He especially liked the little dimples at the top of her ass. He would sometimes run his finger around them until the skin was almost numb.

  “You could take me with you,” she said hopefully.

  “I would love nothing more than to take you with me, baby, but Luke is already coming with me.”

  “Where are y’all going?”

  * * * *

  “Knoxville, Tennessee,” Ax replied. “I bought two Spanish stallions off a guy up there and need to bring them back. Luke’s coming to double-check the vet work I had done and make sure they’re fine for travel.”

  After dropping a cool four million for both stallions, Ax would do everything necessary to make sure they arrived at the ranch in top shape. They would fly out there Saturday morning. There was a rental truck all ready waiting to transport the horses back. They would spend a day in Kno
xville, then they’d spend the next three days driving the beasts back to Lewisville. It would be worth it in the end but now he needed to find some equally good mares to breed them with.

  Ax simply wanted to hold her tonight. His cock was standing at attention, but the rest of his body just wasn’t up for it. It only took Tia a few minutes to drift off to sleep, her warm, minty smelling breath reaching his nose, mingling with her honey and strawberry fragrance.

  He’d missed her more than he thought he could miss another person. A couple of nights without Tia in his bed and he felt like his world had stopped. Although he’d seen her every day, he actually missed her more because of it, missed not touching her, tasting her sweet mouth. Are men supposed to feel shit like this?

  He pulled her soft, curvy body in closer as he thought about the birthday present he was getting her. A small smile graced his face, reminding him that he had been walking around with one on Tuesday when he had run into Ethan.

  “Hey man, how you doing?” Ax said in way of greeting.

  “Good. You got a minute?” Ethan asked as he dusted his Stetson against his leg.

  “Sure. Walk with me, I’m heading out to check on some of the heifers.” Ax liked to keep a closer eye on his first-calf heifers. He figured, that just like humans having a youngin’ for the first time, it could be a little disconcerting. So he always kept them separate from the rest of the herd and checked on them regularly.

  They walked in silence for a ways before Ethan started to talk. “I see you’re in a better mood of late.”

  “Reckon I have been. Nothing to complain about. Tired as shit though. Things have been hectic for all of us this week.”

  “You got anything you want to talk to me about?”

  When Ax didn’t answer him, Ethan stopped walking, holding Ax’s arm to get his attention. “Look, Ax, I was out looking for Thunder on Sunday morning.”

  Ax couldn’t remember Sunday morning, the week had been non-stop, and it was only Tuesday. “The day the first mare foaled?”

  The lightbulb going off in Axton’s head must have been visible, because Ethan nodded as if acknowledging that Ax had finally got the time reference.

  “Yeah. Imagine my surprise when I got over to your place and not only did I find Thunder…well, let’s just say I found Tia naked in your bed.”

  Ax saw red. No one was allowed to see her naked except him. It was only Ethan’s quick reflexes that stopped Axton’s fist from connecting with his face.

  “What’s your fucking problem?” Ethan grunted as he spun Ax around, pinning his back to his chest.

  Ax needed to take some deep breaths to get his rage under control. “Fuck! Shit man, I’m good now. Just don’t say anything about seeing… Fuck, just don’t say anything.”

  Ethan let him go.

  Ax walked away, taking a few more calming breaths. He turned back to face his nephew. “So you know about me and Tia. Are you going to tell Jack?”

  “Nah, man. That’s something you and Tia have to do. But as I told Tia, you need to do it soon. Things would have gone a whole different way if it had been Dad out looking for Thunder, and not me.”

  “You’re right, and I have a plan for telling y’all. It just needs to wait ’til I get back from Knoxville, because I’m not leaving Tia here to face all the consequences alone!” Ax said as he started heading toward the pasture the heifers were in.

  “If it helps, I don’t have a problem with you and Tia. Honestly, I freaked a little when I… Yeah, well, when it was confirmed that you were together. But I’m cool with it now.”

  Ethan must have read the look on Axton’s face; he answered the why without it being asked.

  “You did talk to me a couple of weeks back about it. And can I say, Ax, a romantic writer you ain’t!” Ethan laughed as he punched Ax in the arm.

  “Shit, man! Did you read that note?”

  “Yeah. But that was a good thing. I was ready to hunt you down until I did. You love her!”

  “Like you wouldn’t believe. Some of the shit running through my head makes me check to see if my balls are still attached.”

  They had talked a little more, Ax sharing his plans for Tia’s birthday. Just over a week, that’s all he needed to wait. After that, everyone would know that the beautiful woman sleeping in his arms was his.

  In the early hours of the morning he’d woken her up to make slow, sweet love to her. Their bodies hardly moving, just the slightest of rocking. He never would have believed that simply being inside of her would have him climaxing. But with her mouth biting into his pec, muffling her scream of release, and her pussy pulsing around his cock, the climax ripped through him. His own muffled growls left his mark against her delicate skin.

  * * * *

  The rest of the week passed in a whirlwind of activity. Anything and everything that could go wrong on a ranch happened. They had gotten weevils in the feed and had to quickly change out all the feeders. Then they had watched to make sure none of the horses or cattle got sick from eating the contaminated feed.

  One of the ranch hands cut his hand open while mending another downed fence—that was the second one that week. The man had required a trip to the hospital and fifteen stitches to close up the gash.

  One of the stallions had gotten out and had bred with one of the neighbor’s mares. Mrs. White, an elderly lady, had not been impressed, going off at both Axton and Jack about her little Tullabelle—really, was that a dignified name to give any horse?—and how it had been defiled by one of their randy stallions.

  The sperm from that stallion went for a couple hundred grand a canister.

  After corralling their wayward randy bastard, Axton thanked Mrs. White for letting them know he’d gotten out. Axton assured her they would send Luke over in a couple of weeks to see if Tullabelle was pregnant, and if so, he would care for her during the pregnancy at their cost. Thankfully, she accepted his offer graciously.

  It was when they offered to take the foal, if one occurred from the coupling, off her hands, that she had hysterics. How dare they think that she would ever separate her little Tullabelle from her child! Why not, when said foal could be worth a small fortune? Mrs. White wasn’t as dumb as she tried to make out.

  To top things off an already shit week, he’d had another fight with Jack. The Three Circle Ranch wasn’t just Jack’s, it belonged to the whole McGraetty family. Well, his other brothers and sister anyway. Years ago when Axton was still young, it was decided by all of them that Ax could have the family home on the proviso Jack combined the land that he’d bought from their ma and pa, with Axton and Jack working it together. In return they paid twenty percent profit shares, split between the three other siblings.

  At the time Axton had thought it was fair. He was only fourteen and had no way, even with his portion of the inheritance, to buy the land outright. Even now, he didn’t have a problem sharing the profit with his family. What he did have a problem with was when he had said to Jack that he was going to hire another ranch hand, Jack had basically said no, and he didn’t take it too kindly when Axton had pointed out that they owned equal shares in the ranch.

  So it wasn’t until Sunday that he and Luke were able to get on a flight to Knoxville a day late, and he hadn’t seen Tia for two days before leaving. He was seriously thinking of putting his own phone tower on the ranch so he could get one of those phones with a camera on it. At least that way he could see her when they talked each night. Sometimes living in the middle of nowhere was a bitch. A cellphone worked just fine as long as it had satellite capability. Most of the fancy ones didn’t have it.

  Chapter 13

  One day. Axton had been gone for one day. They hadn’t seen much of one another over the course of the week. But that absence hadn’t left her feeling like her world was about to crumble. So why was it that she was finding it hard to be on the ranch? Was it purely subconscious? The knowledge that she couldn’t go hunt him up or catch a glimpse of him while he was walking about? Having had enough
of psychoanalyzing herself, Tia jumped into her Jeep and headed for town.

  After trying to get in touch with the girls with no success she did what any self-respecting Texas girl did when pining after her man—she went shopping for new boots.

  An hour later, and three new pairs of boots later, Tia walked out the store and smack into Jimmy. He smiled down at her like they were the best of friends and nothing had ever happened between them. His eye was still bruised. Tia took perverse pleasure in knowing that his pretty face would remain messed up for a while longer. She wondered if his balls still hurt. Biting her lip so he wouldn’t see her smile, she went to move past him.

  “What, you’re too good to say howdy to me now?” He took hold of her arm, stopping her from being able to walk past him.

  “What do you want, Jimmy?” Tia hissed, looking around to see if anyone had noticed them. Mrs. Cole was standing on the opposite side of the street, waving at her.

  “Howdy, Mrs. Cole. How’ve you been lately?” she asked, trying to sound normal.

  “Fine, thank you, Tia. I’m fixin’ to go see my sister down in Houston. The poor dear’s been just awful sick of late.”

  “Sorry to hear that, Mrs. Cole. You take care now. I’ll be prayin’ for her.”

  “That’s mighty kind of you, hun. Y’all go have fun.”

  Tia dragged Jimmy around the corner, so whatever he had to say wouldn’t be heard by the whole damn town. Freakin’ hell, she really should have been paying more attention to where she was. She’d just pulled him into the same alley they’d had the last altercation in. As she tried to move away from him, his grip on her arm tightened.

  “Jimmy, let go. You’re hurting me,” she said, looking down at the arm that he was still holding onto.

  “What, you too good to touch now too?”

  Tia had always had a bit of a temper, and with Jimmy actin’ like an ass, he was about to see it.

  “You have no right to touch me, Jimmy, so let me go.” She spoke through clenched teeth to stop herself from screaming at him.