The bear scampered off with the last banana in his mouth. When he turned to see his baby, she was frozen, her chest heaving. So brave. His Charlee had always been fierce. And so many times she’d stood up for him. Not that he’d needed it or asked her to do it, she’d just been that scrappy little lioness, ready to do battle for him if she had any clue someone was trying to take advantage or harm him.
“What am I going to do with you?” He swept her up in his arms, his lips colliding with her. After he’d kissed the living daylights out of her, he buried his face in her neck. “You should have come back in the tent and kick the crap out of me to wake me up.”
“Hold me tight.” She was shaking like a leaf.
“We’re moving in the cave. I’ll set up the tent in the back, and we’ll build a fire in the front. I’ll keep you safe,” he promised.
Charlee let him take care of her. He fixed her a place to sit first, then got busy moving what they’d need. When he finished, she launched herself back into his arms, and he cradled her to him. Raining kisses on her face, he calmed himself by running his lips over her skin, thanking God that she was here with him, safe and sound.
Sometimes there are moments when reality blurs with dreams, when something so perfect happens that we are afraid to breathe, to blink, for fear the joy will fade and we’ll find our arms empty. These were Charlee’s thoughts as she clung to him.
He was Justice and he was not. The way he pressed her to him was impassioned. Reverent. His kisses were laced with fire, but also with something akin to desperation. Charlee had never seen him act in such a way, she had no idea he could be so ardent, yet so tender. Truly, she’d never ever expected to be the recipient of such feelings.
Heck, if Charlee had known she could illicit this type of response from him, she’d been out hunting bears before now.
“I’m okay,” she murmured, touching his cheek. Even though his caresses weren’t meant to arouse, Charlee’s body reacted. Her nipples peaked, aching as she clasped him around the neck and molded her body to his. “I’m still here.”
“And I want you to stay here, Charlee. I don’t want you to leave me again.” Justice found her mouth and poured himself into the passionate kiss. All she could think about was the possibility that Justice might care for her, really care for her. Not just as a friend, not as a friend with amazing benefits—but love. This kiss felt like a silent declaration of love. Could she be imagining it?
Drowning in the euphoric possibilities, she let herself go, giving herself to him fully, putting every bit of adoration and devotion she could into the kiss. Justice groaned, gathering Charlee even tighter in his arms. She reveled in the thrill of his attention, each kiss becoming gentler, more exquisitely tender than the last until he let their lips slowly separate, and he stared at her in the flickering firelight.
Charlee felt a bittersweet poignant jolt of hope. The way his eyes were locked with hers, it was as if he were looking into the depths of her soul. “You want me to stay?” The question slipped from her lips unbidden.
“Yes, I want you to stay.” He picked up her hand, gave her a sweet smile and placed a kiss in the middle of her delicate palm. “From listening to you talk to Cyrus, you can pretty much work from anywhere, can’t you?”
“Yes, that’s right.” The idea of returning to Bronco filled her with dueling emotions. Living in the same town as Curtiss Parker and all the bad memories was one thing, but living near—or possibly with—Justice was something else entirely. Dare she dream? “Can we talk about it?” She wanted to hear his thoughts, to know exactly what he meant before she laid bare her soul and left it unguarded and vulnerable.
“Sure, I want to talk about everything.” He pulled the covers over them. “But for now, let’s sleep. Rest. Tomorrow we can begin anew.”
* * *
Morning broke in a blaze of color. They rode northwest from the camp. “I’m not really ready to go back. This has been idyllic. I’m afraid life will interfere, take what we have away from us.”
“I won’t let that happen.” He assured her. “This is too important.” The path they were following began to narrow. Temperatures were even warmer today, the weather report he’d called up on his phone showed that it could climb into the sixties. Texas weather was all over the place, like the old timers said—if you don’t like the weather in Texas, just give it a minute, it’ll change.
On either side of the path, the land had begun to rise. They were riding downhill into Cave Canyon. “Look over there, Justice. Do you remember what we did on those rocks?” She pointed to several huge boulders resting against a limestone wall. “I bet if we were to look, it’d still be there.”
Justice laughed. “Let’s see.” He pulled Cochise to a halt and grabbed Shasta’s bridle, steadying her horse while Charlee dismounted. Justice dropped the reins, knowing both horses were trained to ground tie. “Wait up,” he called. She was already dashing over, anxious to see if the carving they’d made over a dozen years ago was still there.
“We used to play cowboys and Indians and pirates if the water was flowing. I can remember once you told me this was Jurassic Park and we hid behind these rocks and pretended to hear velociraptors coming through the brush.” She smiled as images from their past danced through her mind. There were so many nooks and crannies to hide in, shallow caves to explore. This was a magical place.
Justice snorted. “And once you made me play Captain Hook to your Peter Pan.”
“We had fun.” She pulled him around to the backside of the rock and sure enough there it was.
HERE THERE BE DRAGONS, Justice had carved and underneath she’d added…
Go Ahead Make My Day, Sulphur Breath. Both of them laughed. “You’ve always had an attitude.”
All of a sudden, Justice felt like they were being watched. Wary since their encounter with the bear, he scanned the top of the canyon. What he saw made his blood pressure spike. “Look,” he whispered, touching Charlee’s arm. “Be slow and quiet, we have a visitor.”
Charlee leaned back against him and let her eyes follow his pointing finger. On the ridge above them and to the right stood a magnificent white horse. “Oh, my,” she whispered in awe. “He’s gorgeous. I want him!”
Justice chuckled. “I tell you what, if you say you’ll stay with me, he’s yours. You can spend the summer luring him with your considerable charms and when you do, we’ll gentle him and break him to saddle. How about that?”
“Some men tempt women with diamonds and gold.”
“Hey, I’m Justice King, I wasn’t born yesterday.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her neck. “Besides, I know you as well as I know myself. Diamonds and gold don’t matter a whit to you. A horse on the other hand…”
“Makes my heart flutter, like you do.” She turned her head and kissed his lips. Almost. Almost she told him she loved him. She had to bite her tongue to keep from saying it. Knowing how near she was to confessing, she pulled from his embrace. “I guess we’d better go. I need to get this information so we can head back, check the report, and I can make my recommendation.”
“Okay, we’ll both do what we need to do. Just remember, you’re sleeping in my arms tonight.”
Charlee found she didn’t have any desire to argue with his logic. They finished riding through the canyon, and she took enough photos and videos to map it. It wasn’t the right time of year for anything to be nesting or hatching, no young in any dens, so she hoped that the flooding wouldn’t disrupt the ecological makeup of the canyon while they were diverting Lavaca Creek to fill the sinkhole. “This should work, Justice.”
As they neared the sinkhole, Justice was anxious to see if it had grown. “I hope so, Charlee.” To his dismay, it had, expanding another twenty feet or so and taking out about half of the other lane of highway. “This thing has got to be contained or it’ll swallow the county.”
There were only a few men working, prepping sandbags. All of the heavy equipment and concrete barriers we
re on the ground and waiting for placement. “Just as soon as we get the report, we’ll start. Depending on the engineer’s take on this, we may have to put up some barriers in the canyon to direct the flow and possibly dig some channels to insure the water goes right where we want it, but I promise you that in a few days the sinkhole will be filled and road construction can begin. Soon this will be just a bad memory.” She also hoped the report yielded the info that the sinkhole wasn’t due to fracking or injection drilling. But whatever would be, would be.
“Come on, sexy.” He held out his hand. “Let’s go home.”
* * *
Justice didn’t really want Charlee to leave, but she told him she needed to get back to her computer and finish mapping the canyon so that when the report came in, there would be no delay. He took the opportunity to connect with his folks, to make sure Shiloh had delivered the parents in one piece. He had and now his little brother was on his way to Wyoming to see some girl named Faith. Women sure can wreak havoc in a man’s life. Jase was on his way home. Justice talked to him, and he seemed to be in good spirits. The twins were also on their way back to El Camino. It seemed their apartment had suffered from an invasion of bed bugs and was in need of fumigation. Justice told them they were sleeping in the barn. Best of all, Cade and Abby were flying in. Soon, the house would be full again. There would be one extra, if he had his way.
Justice wanted Charlee in his bed.
Charlee was busy also. She couldn’t remember being this happy. She’d practically danced back in the hotel room and the first thing she’d done after completing her work was to call Hampton. Hampton and Weber had become essential to her. Ever since he’d helped her locate her mother and stood by her during her passing and the loss of the baby, he and his partner had become a part of her life. Charlee had visited them many times, celebrating birthdays, holidays, being there for one another when they were sick. She’d sat with Weber at his father’s funeral and visited Hampton’s mother in the nursing home. So, it made sense that she would want to tell these two men who’d always wanted what was best for her that she had reconnected with the man she loved.
To her delight, Hampton surprised her a few minutes later with a call back. “Hello? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong, it seems like everything’s right, and we want to see it with our own two eyes. Let your man know we’re coming down in a few days, and we want to take you two to dinner.”
“Great!” The idea thrilled her. “That’s amazing! We’ll drive over to Chris’s at Bryan-College Station, the best restaurant in the area.”
Now, if things with Curtiss Parker were only this easy. Charlee debated visiting him again, but when she called, he was in surgery. An emergency appendectomy. Oh well, if she was going to be staying, there’d always be another day.
Ring! Ring!
Glancing at the read-out, she saw it was Justice. Yay! “Hey, handsome.”
“Awww, thank you, gorgeous. The report’s here and it looks like Greek to me.”
“Good! I’ll be right over. Hang tight.” She was walking as she talked.
“Drive safely.”
The drive to the ranch took her by the water tower and today the words didn’t look like epitaph to a friendship—they looked like a promise. When she passed by the clinic her father was standing outside, and she couldn’t drive by without stopping. Her mood was just too good to spoil it by being negative, so she swung in. “Hey,” she said as she rolled down the window.
“Charlee, hello! Want a cup of coffee?” He looked hopeful.
“I don’t have time today, I’m working. Would you take a rain check?” She saw his face looked flushed. When she’d seen him the other day, Charlee had been sad by how much he’d aged.
“Certainly.” He patted the top of the car. “I’m just grateful you’re giving me another chance.”
As she waved and drove away, Charlee smiled, grateful for her own second chance with Justice.
When she arrived at El Camino, Justice was standing out by the gate. When she drew closer, he held out his thumb. She stepped on the break and stopped right by him. “Need a ride?”
“I was waiting on you,” he announced as he opened the door of her Jeep and crawled in. “Put it in park.” He indicated the gear shift.
When she followed his instructions, he leaned over, close enough to feel her breath. When she brought her tongue out to taste her lips, a low growl came deep from Justice’s throat, which made Charlee’s heart beat double time and the place between her thighs pulse with anticipation. “Wanna kiss?”
“I’d pretty well kill for one.” Just having him near burned her.
“No homicide necessary, I think I can give you what you need.”
Charlee marveled at what a turn her life had taken. If he only knew the elaborate scenes she’d made up in her mind, all revolving around Justice. When she would masturbate—and God knew she did—it would be Justice’s mouth she’d imagine on her breast while she toyed with her nipples. And when she put her fingers up inside of her, moving them in and out, it was Justice she imagined touching her, kissing her, making love with her. “Can you give it to me twice?”
“It’s a date.”
Charlee was so aware of him she was quivering, pure desire coursing through her veins. Needing to touch him, she let her palm smooth over his cheek, committing his dear face to memory. “A date?” She let the pad of her thumb slide over his lower lip, and he dipped his tongue out and touched it. Carlee felt her clit pulse in jealousy. How she would love to go on a real date with him, where he picked her up, took her somewhere in public—not as his best buddy but as the woman he couldn’t take his eyes off of, the woman he wanted more than his next breath. Ah, well, she’d certainly never ask. He would if he wanted to, and if he didn’t, she’d enjoy him any way she could get him.
“I promise to show you the time of your life.” With that promise, he sat back, and Charlee drove on to his office, eager to see the read-outs.
Once they were in his office, he handed her a folder, and she crawled into his big chair, sitting with one leg underneath her. Studying the report, she traced lines with her finger. Justice waited. Charlee spread it out and stood up, looking at the big picture.
“Good news.” She looked up, watching his face. “The sinkhole isn’t your fault. The water table has fallen due to the drought and the growing populations down south, most likely the Huntsville and Houston area. With the absence of underground flow, the honeycombed top strata couldn’t support itself, so it collapsed.”
Justice felt like a ton of weight had been lifted from his shoulders. It wasn’t so much the money, it was knowing he’d done something to hurt his land, his environment. “So, what’s next?”
Charlee returned to the report and used his calculator for a few seconds. “I say we call Cyrus and have him and the crew finish up the prep work. When he finishes, we can place the barriers and turn Lavaca Creek toward the canyon. We’ll gauge the rate of flow and that way we’ll know when to remove them before we flood the pasture.”
“What about the road?” He wanted to get all of this done and off his mind. He had more important things to do—like woo this woman.
“Hold on, let me show you something.” She used her tablet to call up a map of the area. “I marked the known King’s Highway remnants. Now, let’s download this current report and overlay it.” She made a few adjustments. “You can see where the sinkhole extends underground and where the bedrock is the thickest. I’ll need to get Cyrus to review this, but I propose to leave the current roadbed here,” she pointed on the map, “and swing it over to this point over in the section of your land that is on the north side of the 21, and then curve it around this stock pond and meet the existing roadway here.”
Justice studied the map. “Do you know how many acres I’ll be losing?”
“Altogether,” she punched a few numbers in the calculator, “it looks like you’ll lose about twelve acres total counting right-of-way. A
lthough, you will be reimbursed, not as much as you could get on the open market. But it won’t be a total loss.”
She waited for a few minutes while Justice digested the facts. “Let’s do it,” he said.
Charlee was relieved. “Let me give Cyrus a call. We’ll drive out there as soon as you’re ready.”
While she placed her phone call, Justice made one of his own to the Legend steakhouse on the square. It was the fanciest Bronco had to offer, but he wanted to show off his girl to the hometown folk.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Who knew she was such a ‘girl?’ Charlee had been looking through a surveyor’s transit toward Cave Canyon, helping Cyrus determine where to lay the trench when Justice had casually asked her a question. “Will you have dinner with me tonight?”
Such a casual question and one most women hear many times, but coming from his lips it was magical. Not wanting him to know just how much his invitation meant, she tried to act causal. “Sure, I’d like that. Want me to pick up hamburgers on my way home? We can have a picnic on the bed.”
Justice considered her suggestion for a moment. “As intriguing as that sounds, and I am visualizing licking chocolate malt from your nipples…” The sensuality coating his words made Charlee shiver. “I thought we’d have a steak and a few drinks at Legends. Before I take you back to the motel and ravish you. Can I pick you up at seven?”
Charlee blushed and looked around to see who had heard. They were alone. She smiled. “Sounds perfect. I’ll be ready.” Thoughts were swirling through her head. What would she wear? The people of Bronco would see them, and she wanted to look perfect. No more tomboy Charlee Parker, she wanted everyone to see gorgeous Cha’risa Cortez—including Justice.
Loving Justice (El Camino Real Book 2) Page 15