by Lori King
“I think I’ll just head back out to the west pasture. Maybe check the lines. It feels awfully good to be in a saddle again.” He gave Zoey a playful wink and she knew that the subject of her seduction wasn’t done yet. She watched as he went back out the front door, letting the screen slam behind him.
“I’m sorry for that, Zoey, if I had known that he would try to…” Tanner stopped and Zoey jerked her gaze back to him.
“Try to what? Seduce me? Do you honestly think that I’m that easy, Tanner? Just because I flirted with you one drunk night at Robin’s? Well, I’m not. I’ve had plenty of experience fending off lonely cowboys trying to get into my bed. I can handle Dalton.”
The timer on the stove buzzed and she hurried into the kitchen to pull the bread from the oven. The scent of cinnamon and sugar perfumed the air, and she sighed with pleasure at the golden brown loaf as she put it on the counter.
“You made bread?” Tanner sounded so surprised that she laughed.
“Yes, and chili too. I’m going to grab my purse, and shoes. I want to get back here in time to sneak in an afternoon nap before dinner.” Without letting him respond, she headed down the hallway toward her room. There was no way she would ever be able to admit how much of a lie her rant was. She wanted both Keegan cowboys, and the idea of one of them staking a claim on her made her pussy wet and her tits swell.
She knew that it was wrong, but an idea tickled the back of her brain all the same. Dalton lived in the apartment over the garage, which meant that if she made her way into his bed one night, there was no way Tanner would ever know. For a brief moment she considered the same could be said in reverse if she found herself in Tanner’s bed, but she nixed that idea quickly. Tanner wasn’t interested. He had made that clear. If she wanted to ride a Keegan cowboy, it would have to be Dalton.
*****
“So, have you slept with him yet?”
Zoey choked on the gum she was chewing and Rachel handed her a glass of water. “I’ve only been there one night, Rach! Are you serious?”
Rachel grinned, her brown eyes twinkling. “It took me less than two hours to get naked, so I have a warped frame of reference.”
“Yeah, well your men brought you here with the express intent of getting you naked. Tanner doesn’t see me as anything more than a younger sister he’s responsible for.”
“Ha! That’s rich!” Rachel laughed loudly, and Zoey glared at her best friend. “You need to open your eyes, woman. That man is hopelessly in lust with you. He looks at you like a steak cooked to perfection on a starving man’s plate. I swear I was looking for burn marks on your ass earlier when you guys got here because the hot look in his eyes as he watched you walk away from the truck should have left scars.”
“Shut up,” Zoey grumbled.
Rachel was seated in a padded rocking chair with Juliet suckling at her breast happily. Zoey couldn’t help the surge of jealousy that went through her. It was easy for Rachel to say things like that because she was happily married to four men. No such luck for her best friend. Zoey had a feeling she was destined to a life of being the best friend, and not a wife.
“Does that hurt?” she asked as her curiosity finally got the best of her.
Rachel smiled down at her daughter, “It did at first, but not really anymore. Maybe I got used to it, I don’t know. I like being able to breast feed her. It’s our alone time without all of the daddies involved.”
“But I fed her with a bottle, and I know the guys do too.”
Rachel snorted, “Oh yeah, believe me I pump too. Breast milk freezes, and sometimes mommy needs time away from being the milk cow.”
Tanner’s voice drifted through the front door and Zoey sighed. “I guess that means our visit is over. The Master is calling me.”
“You know you can come over any time. Mom might be here, but that doesn’t have to stop you from visiting.” Rachel gave her a concerned look.
“I know. Wait, where is your mom?”
“Napping. She took Jules for me last night so I could have a whole night of sleep.”
Zoey laughed at the blissful look on Rachel’s face, “You mean to tell me that with four men in the house you’re still the one to get up every night with the baby?”
“Of course. They love Juliet to pieces, but they all sleep like freaking rocks. They wouldn’t wake up if the house was burning down.”
“Zoey? We need to go.” Both women turned as Tanner stepped into the living room. When his eyes landed on Rachel whose boob was unashamedly out for her daughter’s feeding, he actually flushed and shuffled awkwardly. “Sorry, Rachel, uh Zoey, we better get going.”
“It’s okay, Tanner, it’s just a boob,” Zoey said with a laugh as she waved to Rachel, “I’ll call you later this week.”
“Sounds good, don’t let the job get you down, Zoey. Not when so many other things in your life are looking up,” Rachel responded. When Zoey snorted in disagreement Tanner gave her a frown and a questioning look.
There was no way Zoey was going to touch that subject with a ten foot pole so she ignored it and stepped past Tanner onto the front porch. Mack Thompson was standing at the foot of the steps, and Zoey gave him a grin.
“Hey, Mack, I haven’t seen you for a while. Where have you been hiding?” she asked the enormous man.
Mack was six foot five and built like a locomotive. He had muscles on top of muscles that should have looked intimidating with the red bandana tied over his blonde curls. Instead, he looked almost angelic when he smiled because his two deep dimples appeared and his crystal clear blue eyes sparkled.
He held his hand out in a gentlemanly fashion to help her down the steps and she giggled but accepted it. “Zoey, aren’t you looking beautiful. I actually had to take a quick trip to Chicago to pick up my brother. He managed to hurt himself and needed a place to stay for a bit while he recovered.”
“I didn’t even know you had a brother, I’m sorry to hear he’s injured. What happened?”
“He plays pro football, and he took a hard hit. Tore the ligaments in his shoulder, so he’s down for the next eight to twelve weeks,” Mack answered.
“Ryker and Sawyer make quite the pair exchanging moans and groans over their injuries,” Hudson said as he came out of the barn and stepped closer to the three of them. “Hey, Zoey, I didn’t realize you were with Tanner today.”
“Hey yourself, handsome. I’m just tagging along. I have to go to the Merc, Tanner doesn’t exactly keep his cupboards stocked. So Ryker, huh? I’ll have to make up a casserole for you two bachelors and drop it off to say hello,” she said, smiling up at Mack.
Beside her she felt Tanner tense from head to toe, and she had to bite back a laugh. Maybe there was something to what Rachel said. Tanner seemed slightly jealous of the attention she was giving Mack, and she wondered how he would feel if she actually pursued the big man.
“Ryk would love that I’m sure.”
“Good, then I’ll stop by one evening later this week. I better go now before Tanner turns purple. I seem to be frustrating him to no end lately. Bye, guys.” She headed for the truck without saying another word to Tanner and hefted herself up into the seat while he said his goodbyes.
They were nearly to town before either of them spoke.
“Do you have a thing for Mack?”
Zoey was stunned that he asked, and she turned to stare at his profile. His knuckles were white where he gripped the steering wheel, and his jaw was clenched, but otherwise there was no expression on his face.
“I don’t know. He’s good looking that’s for sure. Why do you care?”
Tanner grimaced, “I guess I don’t.”
After a few more moments he turned and met her eyes. “I care.”
Just like that, he stole all of the air from her lungs. She felt warm and cold all over, and her stomach flipped over. “Why?”
“Zoey, I didn’t mean to hurt you at Robin’s that night. You were drunk, and it wouldn’t have been right for me to take adva
ntage of you. You deserved better.”
Zoey’s back went up, “I deserved to be shot down? Embarrassed? Shamed in front of half the county? Yeah, great, thanks. I’m so glad you were trying to do the right thing.”
“Stop, don’t be like that. I really was trying to be a decent guy.”
“You wouldn’t even look at me, Tanner. How is that being a good guy?”
Tanner’s eyes flashed golden and he gave her a hard look before turning his eyes back to the road and parking the car. Zoey reached for the door handle, but stopped when he grabbed her chin.
“If I had looked at you, you would have been able to see the truth on my face. You would have seen how much I wanted to scoop you up in my arms and cart you away to my bed. You would have known that I was desperate to peel those skintight jeans off your sexy ass and taste you. That all I could think about was sinking my cock into your tight pussy and fucking you until you screamed my name. That’s why I didn’t look at you. I had to be strong, because in that moment, you were weak.”
Tanner’s hand dropped and he flung his truck door open launching himself out of the cab. Zoey watched as he extracted a credit card from his wallet and stomped into the small grocery store with it. Once he was out of view, she slowly climbed out of the truck herself, wobbling on legs that were distinctly unsteady.
Tanner wanted her. Not just for a housekeeper and cook, he said he wanted to sleep with her. It was music to her ears, and yet she had no clue how she should proceed. Should she beg him to carry out his illicit fantasies, or pretend he never spoke them?
She was just stepping into the shop when he reached the door to leave. “I took care of whatever the bill is already with Hal, so just get whatever we need and I’ll be waiting in the truck when you’re done.”
Then he was gone, disappeared down the sidewalk to The Garden Hut. Leaving her stunned and horny in the middle of the only grocery in town as though he had never spoken those life changing words. What a disaster her life was turning out to be.
Sighing heavily, she forced herself to complete her shopping, grimacing as the total appeared on the cash register. The owner of the Mercantile, Hal McCrite, gave her a wink and a smile as he input Tanner’s payment information and helped bag her purchases.
“So you’re living on the Triple T then, are ya?” Hal was a portly man in his late sixties who had a handlebar mustache and three chins. He was kind, but nosey, and everyone knew he had a thing for Dottie who owned the Ice Cream Shoppe.
“Yes, temporarily. My building was one of the ones bought up by Schmidt.” She turned away to help put the groceries back into the small cart, hoping he would drop it.
Of course he didn’t, and Zoey felt a hot blush creep over her cheeks when he said, “I didn’t realize you and Tanner had taken up.”
“We haven’t “taken up”. He’s just a friend helping another friend out of a tight spot.”
Hal’s smile spread eclipsed only by the long ends of his mustache that desperately needed trimming. “Sure, sure. I understand. Have a nice day, Zoey.”
Zoey shoved the cart in front of her, declining the bag boys offer to help. She’d had more than enough help for the day. All she wanted to do was go back to the relative privacy of the Triple T, and hope everyone in Stone River forgot about her. It wasn’t until she was out the door and in front of Tanner’s truck that his words whispered through her brain again. He eased out of the driver’s seat and over to her side to help load the groceries into the back of the truck.
“Jesus, did you leave anything in the store?” he muttered and Zoey’s temper cracked.
“Well maybe I would have if you’d had anything in your God Damn kitchen besides meat. Humans aren’t able to survive on meat alone, you know? And where do you get off saying something like that to me and then just climbing out of the car like it wasn’t anything. You don’t work a girl up and then walk away. It’s just plain wrong. Did you ever stop to think about how I felt? Did you ever consider that maybe what you wanted was the same damn thing I wanted? Huh?” By the end of her tirade Zoey’s voice had risen several octaves, and Tanner’s eyelids had lowered until he glared at her through narrow slits.
She glanced around her, seeing for the first time that there were several people standing on the sidewalk listening to her tantrum. Embarrassment flooded her and she dropped her head.
“Shit. I’m sorry.”
“I should hope so. Get in the truck, and we’ll continue this conversation at home,” Tanner’s voice was hard, and his demand was cold.
Zoey hurried to do what she was told praying that she hadn’t just screwed up the smidge of a chance she had with Tanner. After he opened up to her, she had no right to yell at him like that.
The two of them rode home in complete silence, and Tanner unloaded all of the groceries alone while growling at her to stay out of his way. She chose to remain quiet as she put the food away, still wondering if he would address it, or pretend it never happened.
When she shut the cabinet door for the last time, she let out a groan of frustration. Her eyes were burning with the need to have a good cry, but she refused to give in to it. Turning around, she let out a gasp of surprise finding Tanner standing a few feet behind her watching her.
She stared up into his hard expression and swallowed hard when he started to move closer.
“What do you want, Zoey?” he asked softly from only inches away. The tips of her breasts brushed against his chest, and even though there were several layers of fabric between them, she felt them harden.
“What do you mean?” she stammered, staring up at his lips. She couldn’t drag her eyes away from them.
“You asked me if I ever considered what you wanted, so now I’m asking you. What do you want?”
Her mouth dropped open, but she wasn’t able to force out words.
“Come on. Where’s that bravado you had back in town?” The corner of his lips curled up in a mocking smile and she went for broke.
“Kiss me.”
His sharp inhale and flaring nostrils were the only indication that she caught him off guard. He hesitated only a moment before dropping his mouth to capture hers in a hard lip lock.
Fire coursed through her veins as his mouth moved on hers, branding her and making her ache. It blew her fantasies out of the water, and she clung to him. Her arms wrapped around his neck as he pressed her back into the cabinets. She could feel his thumbs pressing into her hips just above her hipbones. If he held her any tighter she would have bruises in the morning.
His tongue slid past the barrier of her teeth to dance with hers, and she moaned into his mouth, opening wider to give him access. She could feel the hard length of his cock pressing against her stomach and she rubbed against him like a cat on a scratching post. Just when she was ready to shuck her clothes and fuck like rabbits on the kitchen counter, his hands fell away and he stepped backwards.
Zoey swayed on her feet and made a little whimpering sound of protest as she struggled to come back to earth. One look at Tanner and her heart plummeted. His jaw worked, and his now kiss swollen lips were tight with tension.
“Shit, I shouldn’t have done that.”
“What?” She stared up at him praying that he wasn’t regretting such a spectacular moment. Her worst fears were confirmed when he pushed away from her several steps.
“Christ, I know better. I need to get out of here.” And he was gone.
Zoey stood there for several minutes in shock before she slid to the floor and buried her face in her hands to have a much needed cry.
Just when she thought she was making progress with Tanner, he had to go and fuck it up. God, she could just throttle him sometimes. Leaving her horny and pissed off was not in his best interests when she was the one cooking his dinner. The moment the thought crossed her mind she let out an emotional laugh. No matter what he did to push her buttons, she cared about him way too much to consider hurting him back.
Pushing herself off the floor, she headed fo
r her room. If she was going to be miserable with her hurt feelings, then she would at least be sexually satisfied. Masturbation was rapidly becoming her favorite past time.
Chapter Six
Clint Keegan took a taxi home from the airport. It was bad enough he had to come home with his tail between his legs. He wasn’t about to be trapped in a vehicle listening to his oldest brother telling him “I told you so” all the way back.
For twelve years he had flirted with fame in Hollywood. Bit parts, the occasional commercial, but nothing meaty came his way. He dated actresses and models, but he was one of the thousands that never were discovered. Oh sure, he had an agent who thought he was the next Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt, but only until he couldn’t pay his fee anymore. Then it was “Hit the road kid, you aren’t cut out for this business.”
When he took off for California at eighteen, he knew he was destined for fame. Everyone told him that he had a movie star face, and he had starred in all of the community theater programs at home. He figured if he didn’t land a great movie deal right away, he could always pose for a few magazines or catalogues to get by. What he hadn’t counted on was the competition. In Stone River, Texas, there was no competition. In Los Angeles, California, every waitress, bus boy, hotel clerk, and phone operator was a star in waiting.
The promise he made to his mother a few years ago when pops had his heart attack had snuck up on him. Now he was thirty, and he knew in his heart that his acting days were over. In truth, he was tired of the game. He missed home, but he would never admit that to his family. Not that it would make a difference. They always thought he was a dreamer, and his choice to run away to be an actor solidified that assumption for them.
Clint hadn’t even spoken to Tanner in six or eight months. Hell, he hadn’t talked to Dalton in almost a year other than the occasional email. A heavy ball of guilt sat in his gut. It was as much his fault as theirs. He hadn’t wanted to admit to them that he was still a struggling actor when they were doing so well. Dalton was a doctor, and Tanner owned the ranch for fucks sake. Clint was just the failure who could make people laugh.