by Jillian Neal
Ignoring his irritation that his father was trying to purchase him a new feeder for a moment, Grant tried to remember who Wes Ablekopp might be. “From Scottsbluff?”
“Yep, that’s the one.”
“What the hell was he doing all the way over here?”
“Does it bother you if he curses in front of you, darlin’?” Grant’s father asked Kaitlyn. Once again her sweet giggle eased his annoyance.
“No, sir. I like how honest he is. Trust me, it’s refreshing.”
“If he gets too big for his buckskins, you let me know.”
Kaitlyn shot Grant a mischievous grin that he swore reached through his chest and gripped his cock. “I promise I will, Mr. Camden.”
“That’a girl. Anyway, Abelkopp’s selling off all of his land, his equipment, and all of his stock. Got 350 head. More’n most ain’t calved. Got a dozen prize bulls, too. Be hell getting ‘em over here, but if you want ‘em, he ain’t asking near what they’re worth.”
“Why’s he selling off cheap?”
“I asked that. He’s in a bad way. Marital troubles. His wife never quite took to ranching life. He’s moving her back to the city trying to save the marriage. He says he don’t have much hope. I feel for the guy. I really do. I’d like to help him out if we can.”
“I don’t know, Dad. It’s like I told Luke, if I burn it all back and run cattle on it I can’t go back to corn. We’re out if the markets change.”
“Yeah, I know that, too, but keeping your stock outta your corn keeps you working round the clock. Diversifying is great, but so is settling down … maybe takin’ a load off now and again … maybe making me some more grandbabies, if that’s what’s in the cards.”
Gall surged through Grant. If his daddy didn’t shut his mouth, he was gonna scare Kaitlyn off. Five minutes ago, she was talking about when she had to leave the ranch. “You got any more plans for my life I oughta know about?”
“Take it easy. I wasn’t trying to ruffle your feathers. I just wanted to tell you about the sale. He says he’ll sell ‘em to you before he calls the auctioneer if you want ‘em. I ain’t trying to plan your life for you. I’m trying to help.”
“When’s Abelkopp want an answer?”
“I’m sure he’ll give you a week or two. I got his number.”
“I’ll think on it. Still don’t know which ends up just yet.”
“Well, when you get it figured, let your old man know. We’ll help you move ‘em.”
“All right, fine. Thanks, Dad.”
“Your brothers said you all were thinkin’ about going to Saddlebacks.”
“I ain’t even gotten a chance to ask her if she wants to go.”
“Go where?” Easing beside him, Kaitlyn laced her fingers through his. A steady calm washed through his weary veins as soon as their skin connected.
“Remember the bar with the church sign? My brothers think a few drinks and a few dances with you would do me good tonight. You interested? If you don’t wanna go, we can just stay here. Either way suits me fine.”
“Dancing sounds like fun, but I’m still kind of a fugitive, aren’t I?” As soon as her teeth sank into that bottom lip Grant knew she was nervous.
“I was just about to say the same thing,” Ev sighed. “I doubt anyone all the way out here knows who she is, but you know I don’t care for any of my kids to invite trouble to supper.”
“We’ll do whatever she wants, Dad.”
“Let me know what you decide about the stock. Your mama’s got supper on. I’m gonna go eat. If you need us for anything, call us.”
“Will do,” Grant noted the wistful look Kaitlyn’s beautiful blue eyes as he saw his father out.
“I doubt anybody from the Lincoln police department has even heard of Pleasant Glen, sugar. Your daddy included. But now that I think about it, I have a better idea if you’re wanting to get away from the ranch for a little while.”
“I have a really hard time hearing in bars, so I’ve never actually been to a honkytonk before, as lame as that probably sounds to you.”
“You grew up on an asphalt farm, peaches, why would you not going to a honkytonk make you lame? Ain’t nothing about you that’s lame.”
“Dancing with you sounds so sexy. I’d love to go, but I am a little worried someone might see me.” That intoxicating heat painted swirls in her cheeks once again.
“Sexy, huh?” Jerking her into his arms, he brought her lips back to his and ravaged her mouth like a man possessed.
Her inquisitive little fingers stroked over his chest. She trembled in his arms. God, she was exquisite. He had no idea how to explain that to her. He only knew how to show her. “Damn, I need you,” he grunted.
“I thought we were going to a bar?”
He caught the note of curiosity in her tone. “Maybe later, or some other day. Tonight I’m gonna take you out dancing, and then I’m gonna take what I’ve been wanting since the moment I walked out this door in the morning.”
“How are we going to dance if we aren’t going to the bar?”
“Let a man give you a few surprises. I can be damned near romantic when I put my mind to it, and when I’m hard up enough to drive fence posts with my dick.”
She dissolved into hysterical giggles while he located clean clothes to wear and packed a few supplies. “When we get back will you also tell me what all of that was about corn and cattle?”
“I’ll tell you anything you want to know, sweetness. Ain’t a real pleasant conversation so I’d much prefer to have it after our date, if it’s all the same to you.”
“Should I change for this date? I have a few sundresses in my suitcase.”
“Sugar, if you take them clothes off now, I make you no promises we’ll ever make it out to the truck. Just don’t mention to me again whose jeans those are. ‘Sides, I like you in my shirt.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Where are we going exactly?” Kaitlyn asked him for the third time in the last two miles. Not taking any chances with her, he’d driven one of Luke’s old Fords instead of his new truck.
She was twirling those curls around her index finger over and over.
Holding his hand out for her to grasp instead, he grinned. “You nervous or excited about where we’re going?”
“Both, I think. I don’t know much about country life, so if we’re going out to gather eggs or feed cows or something I’ll be terrible at it, and you keep driving further and further away from town.”
Chuckling, Grant shook his head at her. “You’re the cutest thing I’ve ever laid eyes on. Have I told you that today?”
“You told me I was beautiful, which I much prefer to being cute.”
“You are beautiful, but you’re also cute. Just have to get over it, peaches. And by the way, you saying you’d be terrible at feeding cattle, three more strikes. First off, egg gathering usually takes place in the mornings, so I’m told. I wouldn’t know because chickens are evil and I don’t want nothing to do with ‘em unless they’re fried and on my supper plate.”
“How are chickens evil?” He earned himself another giggle.
“Just trust me on it, they’re evil.”
“So, just cows for you then?”
“Used to be cows and corn, not sure that’s how it’s gonna be anymore though.”
“Am I allowed to ask more about what your dad said now? I wish I could hear your mom as well as I hear your dad.”
“Believe me, if Mama needs you to hear her, she’ll get your attention. And you’re allowed to ask anything you want, sugar. I’ll always shoot straight with you. You know that.”
“I know. I love that. So, are you going to buy that man’s cows?”
“Not sure,” Grant sighed. “Sounds like I could get them cheap and the corn markets took a huge dive two years ago and they haven’t recovered. Been rough being a corn farmer lately. Family wants me to burn back the downed corn and run cattle on the land instead.”
“What do you want to do?”
Drive you to Vegas tonight, marry you, fuck you constantly for the next several months, put babies in that sweet belly, and grow old with you. Nothing else even matters. He sank his teeth in his tongue to keep from voicing any of that. “Not sure. Dad was right, it was a mighty effort to keep the cattle outta my corn. Beef market’s been up for a while, but it’ll fall at some point. It always does. It’s like I told you, ranching’s a crap shoot on a good day.”
“Well, what does your gut say? I thought you always went with it.”
“I do, but there’s a good bit at stake. I have to do right by everyone that depends on me.”
Kaitlyn considered his words. His deep graveled tone pricked with tension. She knew what it felt like to be the one stone in the dam keeping the water from drowning your family. She knew it and yet she was sitting there in his truck pretending her family didn’t exist. Promising herself that the next day, or maybe the next, she’d ask Grant to take her home just long enough to make certain her parents weren’t coming apart at the seams, she laced her fingers through his.
“What was that about the man’s wife, the one who’s selling the cattle? Why didn’t she like ranch life?”
Grant glanced her way. Concern shadowed his eyes. He worked his jaw almost like he was considering not answering despite his promise that he always would. “Ranching … it just … it ain’t an easy life I guess. People get in it not realizing that every animal depends on you. When it’s hot as hell like it was today, twisters, rain, when there’s three feet of snow on the ground, when you’re sick and tired, you still don’t get a day off. Plus, living out in the country can get kinda lonely. There ain’t a coffee shop on every corner. Not a lot of places to go if you get stir crazy and sick of looking at steers. Closest neighbor’s miles and miles from your homestead. Just ain’t always easy.”
“Do you ever wish you hadn’t been born into a ranching family?” She already knew the answer. She’d spent hours in his truck the day before watching his eyes light up every time he discussed being a cowboy and growing up on the ranch. He needed to say it out loud so he’d be reminded of how much he loved it.
“Nah, never. I love it. Cattle rancher through and through. Never even considered doing anything else. Never even want to.”
“Then there’s your answer. When you talk about the cows, your voice sounds passionate, like even when the weather’s terrible or something else is wrong it still makes you smile. When you talk about the corn, it just doesn’t sound that way. Plus, you said cattle rancher through and through, not corn farmer.”
“You’re beautiful and smart.”
“Thank you. Not sure how smart I am, but believe me, I know the difference in having a job you do because other people think you should and having one you love.”
“Do you love working at Chully’s, baby?”
“I love to cook. If I’m in a kitchen, I’m usually happy, unless it’s my parent’s kitchen, and there’s no happiness anywhere in that whole huge house. But restaurant work can be weird.”
“Weird how?”
“Like one time this woman ordered the country fried steak burned. So, the waitress hands me the ticket, and I just assumed she wanted it really well done. She sent it back because it wasn’t black. I put it back on the fryer. She sent it back again, still not burnt enough. By the fourth time, she stood up in the middle of the lunch shift and started screaming at me. I took the plate, put it on the fryer and burned the hell out of it. Then Mr. Chully walked in and got huffy because he saw the steak and thought I’d overcooked it. I tried to explain. The waitress finally just took it back out to the lady. She ate the entire thing, like it was delicious.”
“Next time I’m in Chully’s I’ll have a talk with him about letting morons yell at my baby. I won’t have that.”
“Thank you, but it’s not his fault people are insane. It’s all part of the job. I could tell you dozens of stories. But I have another question.”
“What’s that?”
“Do you ever get lonely, like you said?”
“Yeah.” His one word answer spoke volumes. Another truth revealed itself to her. She never wanted him to be lonely again.
When he threw the truck into park, she forced herself to be present in this moment with him. He’d never be lonely on her account, not if she had any say over her own life, which she still wasn’t certain she did.
They were parked in front of a tiny watering hole barely bigger than the swimming pools at the club. “Oh my gosh, are we really going to skinny dip?”
“Like I said, if you’ve a mind to strip for me, sugar, I ain’t gonna try and stop you. But the sun is gonna set over them hills in about ten minutes and you said you wanted to dance. I figured the radio on this old truck would work a little better than the juke box at Saddlebacks and the back of a pickup’s as good a dance floor as any. I brought some quilts and we can go for a swim afterwards if you want.”
“I don’t know if I can skinny-dip. I’ve only been in a pool twice in my whole life. My mother would never let me go. But this is the most romantic thing in the world. I love it.”
“I told you I’m a regular Redneck Romeo. How come you weren’t allowed to swim?”
“She was convinced it would make my hearing worse.”
“It won’t, will it?”
“No. People who have eardrum damage can’t get their ears wet. The problem with my ear is a nerve issue. Swimming won’t hurt me. I just don’t know how to do it.”
“I’ll teach you. I’d never let anything happen to you, sugar. You know that, right?”
“I know, but can we dance first?”
Chapter Twenty-Three
“All I could think about all damn day was having you back in my arms,” Grant grunted as he lifted his lips from hers, turned his head and went back for more. They’d gone from dancing to Tim and Faith to making out in the bed of the truck. Didn’t get any better than that if you asked him.
That shiver that he swore shook him to the core whipped through her when he worked the buttons of the shirt she was wearing open. The sun sank low on the horizon bathing them in the last of its fiery glow.
“I missed you, too.” She wriggled in the back of the truck trying to get even closer to him.
“I’m right here, sugar. I’ll always be right here. Jesus, just let me touch you.”
She made quick work of the buttons on his shirt as well, pressing her palms to his pecs, spinning her thumbs around the disks of his nipples, rendering him weak with needing her. Dispensing with her jeans took him precious little time. His hands sought her creamy thighs and the wet heat he knew he’d find there.
“Look at you in nothing but my shirt and a naughty little bra and pair of panties, so damn gorgeous.”
“These aren’t naughty,” she teased.
“Says the woman who could tempt a saint. They’re sweet and innocent. Remind me exactly what I’m taking from you and keeping all for myself. It’s like I told you, peaches, ain’t nothing naughtier than a good girl who knows how to misbehave.”
“I definitely want to misbehave.”
Thankful they were miles from the nearest human being, Grant’s approving growl scared a few birds out of the nearby trees. “You want to be a bad girl for me, baby?” He tempted her mound through the lacey panties.
“Don’t stop. Please,” she whimpered.
“Want me to touch you? Want me to take what I want?” Running his fingertips under the crotch he hissed at the slippery connection. “So wet for me. So fucking hot and sweet.” The lips of her pussy were creamy and fevered.
She spread her legs further. Her hands landed on his cock, still trapped behind his zipper. Before he could stop her, she had his fly open, freeing his steel-hard strain.
“So fucking hard for me. Drives me wild,” she came right back.
“Christ almighty,” he shuddered as she dipped her hand down his briefs.
Stroking up and down her slit, he felt her bloom for him. Pressing two
fingers in her gently, he longed to stretch her again with his cock.
Remembering what he’d learned that morning, he kept his fingers moving inside of her and slicked his thumb with her honey. Tenderly he swept it over her clit, making her cry out his name.
“It’s all for me. All mine.” He knew she didn’t need the reminder but dammit, he needed her to have no doubts. There was no going back.
“Feels so good,” she gasped. Her body cantered against his hand. She abandoned his cock, lost in the pleasure he provided. Perfection.
“I’m about to fuck you in the back of this truck, sugar. If that ain’t okay with you, speak up now.” He spoke directly into her left ear.
She gave no verbal response. Instead, she sat up, scooted the lacey panties down her legs, flung them out of the truck, and threw her leg over his, centering herself against his cock.
“I think making love in the back of a pickup truck means I should get some kind of honorary country girl status, or something,” Kaitlyn sighed. She was still mostly naked and plastered to his body as the darkness tucked them away from the world around them. Grant was rubbing her bare ass, back and forth, tenderly over her cheeks and she was loving every minute of it. Relaxation and contentment filled her so fully she had no room for worry or stress.
“Just give me time, sweetness. I’ll make you a real country girl.” He brushed another kiss on her cheek.
“How do we do that?”
“First thing we have to do is get you nekkid in the creek. Think of it as a country baptism.”
“You promise not to let me drown.”
“I can’t even believe you just said that.”
“Sorry. I know you wouldn’t. Just a little nervous. How deep is that creek?” She studied the waves of white moonlight as they danced across the surface.
“You promise you trust me?”
“Yes.”
“Then come on.” He patted her backside.