by Jill Sanders
Ryan nodded, but the thought of his father still loomed in the back of his mind.
“So…” Reece broke into his thoughts, “are we ever going to talk about it?”
Ryan looked over at his brother and instantly knew what he was talking about.
“What do you want to know?”
“Why?” He could see the sadness in the matching green eyes.
Ryan looked down at his beer and felt his stomach roll. “How about a walk?”
Reece nodded and then followed him off the porch. When Ryan’s boots hit the driveway, he turned towards the far field and knew his brother would keep pace with him. They walked in silence for a while as the crickets and frogs chirped around them.
When he reached the wooden fence, he turned and leaned against it. His brother stood beside him, his hands buried deep in his pockets.
“Do you remember when dad sent me into town to get the feed?” Reece nodded his head, and Ryan looked out towards the house. The lights and sounds coming from the back porch were comforting. “Well, before I left, he cornered me in the barn. He’d found our stash of money and had somehow found out about our plan to leave.” Ryan glanced at his brother.
“I thought you’d taken the money.”
“No, he had it. The son of a bitch hit me again a few times before I left. He told me that if I was serious about leaving that I’d better do it quick and if I dragged you into all this, he’d hunt me down and kill me himself.” Ryan sighed and remembered the fear that had crept into him that day. Even though Reece and he had been tall back then, neither of them had the build their old man had at that time. He looked at his brother and realized that they both had that build now, a little too late.
“What happened?” Reece asked, walking over and leaning on the fence next to him.
“I drove into town and crossed off the idea of leaving.”
“Then?” Reece started to break in.
“I bought a six-pack and went to our drinking spot.”
“The old cemetery on Birch?”
Ryan nodded his head.
“Good place.” Reece smiled.
“Yeah, well, it ended up not being so great that night. I guess there was a major sting going down. Over two dozen police officers dressed in black swarmed me and took me to the station in Houston. I spent the night trying to explain that I wasn’t in on any drug deals. Finally, about three in the morning, they started believing me. The next morning when I called dad and explained, he chose to let me rot in the city with no money and no way back. Actually, he told me if I stepped foot on his land again, he’d shoot me.” He shook his head, remembering the betrayal. “I guess he believed the police. He bitched about having to get the truck out of impound.”
“He never said anything.” Reece was looking off towards the house, and he saw anger in his brother’s eyes.
“I figured. By the time I’d heard he’d died, I was already undercover. Then when I went to find you, you were off the radar.”
Reece nodded. “I hate the old man even more, now.”
Ryan nodded his head in agreement. “You know, he always played it up in front of you that I was his favorite, but behind your back, he would cuss at me and tell me I should be more like you. He was always pitting us against each other.”
“It never worked.” Reece turned to him and smiled. “No matter what he did, in the end, he could never put that wedge between us.”
“Never.” Ryan smiled.
Chapter Ten
Nikki watched the two brothers return from their walk and smiled when she saw that they were laughing and smiling at each other. She was thankful that neither one of them looked like they had taken a direct hit by the other.
She’d been worried when she’d seen them head off across the yard together. Lauren, Alex, and Haley had all stopped talking and watched the pair disappear as well. The sisters had looked at one another and smiled a little, which had reassured her that everything was going to be fine. But she still hadn’t been able to pay attention to the conversation she was having with the group.
She had basically held her breath, straining to hear anything from them across the fields. When they stepped onto the deck, she looked into Ryan’s eyes to see if she could guess what had transpired, but all she could see was happiness.
When he walked over and stood next to her, he took her hand in hers.
“Well, I don’t know about everyone else, but I’m beat. I haven’t had a full day on the back of a horse in years. I think we’re going to call it a night.” He looked to her and she nodded.
“Thank you for dinner. It was very much appreciated.” She smiled at Lauren.
“You’re welcome. I’m happy you enjoyed it.” Lauren walked over and kissed her on the cheek.
After saying their goodbyes, he took her hand again and walked slowly towards the truck. It was killing her to know what had happened between him and his brother. When he opened her door, she put her hand on his arm to stop him from walking around the truck.
“Is everything okay between you and Reece?”
He smiled and nodded. “Yeah.” He shook his head and looked back towards the house. She could still hear laughter and voices coming from the back of the large place. “It amazes me.”
“What?” She stepped closer to him as he looked back towards her.
“They do.” He nodded towards the house. “How they are all so forgiving. Do you know that so far no one has demanded an explanation from me. They haven’t been rude or even shown me that they were upset.” He chuckled. “Except Lauren punching me.” He rubbed the arm that his cousin had hit the day they had arrived. She knew that there hadn’t been any power behind it, and that it probably hadn’t even fazed him.
“They love you.” She smiled and reached up to wrap her arms around his shoulders. She watched his eyes soften.
“Yeah. Our whole lives we dreamed of having love like that.” He shook his head and she watched as a small crease formed between his eyebrows. “It’s kind of overwhelming to have it now.”
She smiled. “You’re lucky.”
He nodded and smiled down at her. When he leaned down and placed his lips on hers, she felt herself start to melt.
When he pulled back, she could see the heat in his eyes and her heart skipped a beat.
“Nikki,” he said before crushing his lips to hers again. This time the softness was replaced with an urgency that she felt pour from his lips. His hands wrapped around her hips, pulling her closer to him. Every inch of him was hard and felt like heaven against her soft, waiting body.
When they heard a cough, they pulled apart.
Haley and Wes stood a few feet away, each holding a sleepy boy in their arms.
“Sorry.” Haley chuckled. “We weren’t expecting dinner and a show.”
Nikki watched Ryan glare at his cousin, then without a word, he helped her into the truck as she tried not to laugh.
Ryan gripped the wheel harder and tried not to think about what he wanted to do to Nikki when they made it back to the house. It had been pure torture to sit across from her the whole night. She looked so soft in the cotton dress. Her hair had been loose and flowing around her shoulders. But it was her lips he kept looking at and desiring. Her eyes had searched his out all evening, and he could see the matching desire she’d been feeling.
At several moments during the conversation, he’d had to stop himself from daydreaming about what he wanted to do to her. He’d never felt this distracted before. Never. A part of him screamed at himself to run away, while the other part, a more predominate part, told him to grab hold and never let go.
He pulled the old truck to a stop in front of the small house, spraying gravel under the tires as he stopped. He thought he heard her chuckle, but then he pulled her across the seat and covered her mouth with his.
Her taste. Just her taste was what he dreamed of. The feeling of her was a bonus as she wrapped her arms around him, burying her fingers into his hair. Her teeth scraped
his bottom lip, causing a shiver to run thorough his entire body. His hands cruised up her legs, feeling the softness of her under his coarse fingers. When he gripped her soft butt in his hands, she moaned and moved slightly against him, causing his arousal to push up against her softness. His head rolled back as she started raining kisses along his jaw.
“Nikki, my god.” He thought of telling her to slow down, but then she nibbled on his ear and he lost all willpower.
Her hands pushed his shirt over his head and then ran over his chest and arms. He wanted to feel her against him, moving. He pulled the short sleeves down off her shoulders until her soft breasts were freed. Leaning in, he put his mouth to her and tasted the richness of her bare skin.
Her fingers gripped his hair even more as he used his mouth and tongue on her. When he nibbled lightly on the tight bud, he heard her cry out his name.
His hands moved higher under her dress until he felt the soft silk that covered her sex. She was already wet and hot, waiting for him. Gently, he pushed the material aside and ran his fingers over her slick heat, then pushed slowly into her and felt her convulse around him.
Then she was pushing him back against the seat and reaching for his jeans. He laughed, realizing she was trying to get his buckle loose and knowing they were sitting out front of the house in the truck, but then she freed him and wrapped her fingers around him and he lost all ability to think.
“I need you now,” she whispered next to his ear. “Now.” She moved again and straddled his hips until he held her still.
“Wait.” He looked up at her. “Back pocket.” He held her hips above him.
She frowned then reached around to pull the small package out of his pocket. Then she smiled and ripped open the foil. When her fingers pushed the rubber on him, his eyes closed with pleasure. Then she moved back to him and slid slowly down on his full length.
He leaned back and watched her throw her head back as she started moving over him. Her bottom lip was between her teeth, and she moaned with pleasure as her hips moved back and forth. His hands guided her and held her up and pushed her down to the beat she enjoyed.
Her legs locked tighter around his hips when he leaned forward and took her into his mouth again. Her soft skin was heated and tasted so sweet on his lips. When he felt himself starting to slip, he reached around and touched her, knowing it would force her pleasure at the same time. Watching her face as she exploded around him, he followed her into heaven and knew without a doubt that he no longer wanted to run from what he felt for her.
The next few days, Nikki wasn’t left alone long enough for her to think about what had happened between Ryan and her. She wanted more than anything to just lock herself away and make a mental list of items she needed to consider.
The one and only relationship she’d ever committed to had been a disaster, and her father’d had to rescue her.
But every time she wasn’t with Ryan, she found herself in the company of Lauren, Alex, or Haley. They kept denying it, but she knew it was Ryan’s doing that there was always someone with her.
She went on daily rides with one of his cousins or they would drive her into town. She had even visited Holly’s coffee shop and bookstore. It was a wonderful place and Nikki instantly melted into it. She could spend hours there reading or having a cup of coffee. She’d enjoyed going with Lauren and her kids for the kids’ reading hour.
Holly had hired two sisters, April and Karlene, to help run the business. Nikki had enjoyed visiting with them and hearing how they’d moved into town a few years apart from one another. They had both gushed about falling in love with the small town and never wanting to leave. Both of them had found local men to settle down with and were happily married now.
Between Holly and the sisters, Holly’s ran so smoothly that they were thinking of extending their hours.
Nikki had enjoyed her time there so much that they’d gone back a few days later. Then it was Alex’s turn to babysit her, and she had taken Nikki to several other small shops so she could purchase some personal items. She felt bad for spending money on lip gloss, makeup, and new undergarments, but Ryan had insisted that she buy whatever she wanted with the money he’d given her.
For lunch that day, they had stopped in the quaintest diner she’d ever eaten at, a place called Mama’s. When the doorbell chimed as they walked in, every head had turned towards them.
“Don’t mind everyone.” Alex smiled at her and shifted her daughter in her arms around her growing belly. “They’re just curious about you.” She smiled then shocked her by saying in a loud voice. “Everyone, this is Nikki. Nikki”—she nodded her head towards the crowd—“everyone.”
Several people chuckled, others nodded and waved towards them.
“What you doin’ standin’ in my door?” A very large black woman walked in from the back room. Her thick southern accent was heartwarming. Her hands went to her hips, then she smiled and rushed across the room and took Alex’s little girl, Laura, from her. Laura had immediately put up her arms, waiting for the woman to take her. Nikki had tried to get little Laura to let her hold her during their shopping trip, but the little girl had clung to her mother instead.
“Mama, this is Nikki.” Alex smiled and rubbed her lower back when the weight of the little girl was gone.
“Course it is.” The woman smiled and nodded at her. “Now come on in. You must be hungry.”
Nikki nodded and followed them towards a back booth. She couldn’t help notice that several people still watched them, but she tried not to let it bother her.
She’d lived in a large city her entire life. Small-town living was something new to her and after talking to the West sisters and Ryan, she knew that around these parts, everyone was always in everyone else’s business.
Actually, every time she was with another woman, they seemed to talk about the other people in town and what was happening.
She’d heard all the stories of how several of the couples had gotten together. She’d heard how Grant, Alex’s husband, had been shot. And she’d heard how Travis had come back Fairplay and won the hearts of Holly and everyone else here as he worked hard to renovate the town and repair the damage from a tornado that had ripped through it several years ago.
As they drove through town, she had seen the construction that was still taking place on an old theater. Most of the building was covered with white plastic, but the old theater sign had already been replaced with a newer one.
When they sat down, Alex talked to Mama, whose name was really Jamella. She’d heard how the sheriff and Jamella had hidden their relationship from the town for years. Nikki couldn’t believe it. Here she was, being introduced to the town for the first time, and everyone already knew about her and Ryan.
She wanted a moment alone with Jamella to ask how they had done it, but the woman was too busy filling orders and chatting with the customers.
By the time their food arrived, a half dozen people had stopped by their table and talked to them. She’d answered as many questions as she could, leaving out the parts she and Ryan had agreed to omit from their story.
Jamella, the sheriff, and Ryan’s family all knew to keep their eyes out for any strangers in town, but other than that, Nikki left it up to Ryan to convey the trouble they were in to the townspeople.
“Grant has filled me in a little on you,” Alex said, sipping her tea across the table from her.
“Oh?” she said, taking another bite from the wonderful turkey sandwich she’d ordered.
Alex nodded her head and handed her daughter another French fry. She watched as she dipped it in catchup and licked every bit off it again. “She takes after her daddy.”
Nikki smiled.
“Grant told me about visiting you and your dad in Houston when they were kids, what your dad did for a living.” Alex frowned and looked down at her plate. She shook her head. “We never thought that Ryan would be doing the same thing.”
Her eyebrows shut up. “He doesn’t. My father
was a detective. Ryan is...” She dropped off and looked down at her food.
Alex leaned forward and whispered, “A detective. According to Grant, your father was undercover narcotics like Ryan,” she whispered and looked around.
Nikki shook her head. “No, my dad didn’t work in narcotics.”
Alex sat back, and her eyebrows shot up. “Hmm, maybe Mr. Holton told Grant wrong.”
The entire trip back to the ranch, Nikki thought about the conversation. Of how she’d been raised. Of what her father had told her he’d done for a living up until he’d been injured. Everything inside her told her that what Alex had said was the truth—her father had lied to her for her entire life. How had she not seen it?
She had Alex drop her off back at the house, stating she had a headache and wanted to lie down for a while, which hadn’t been a complete lie.
Since Ryan still had her unregistered cell phone and the small house didn’t have an outgoing line, she paced the floor and waited for Ryan to come in from the fields.
A few hours later, she heard the first crash of thunder as the skies opened up and flooded the ground in typical southern style. Houston had several storms like this every year, but somehow looking out across the fields and seeing the sky open up, it was a little more nerve racking.
With each loud crash, she became more on edge, knowing Ryan and the men were out in the mess. By the time she watched the old truck bounce up the road towards the house several hours later, she had nibbled all of her fingernails down.
She rushed to open the door as he ran through the downpour and shook off just outside the door on the covered porch. He looked up and smiled after shaking the rain from his hair.
“Work day was called off due to the weather.” He smiled and pried off his boots and tossed them by the front door. Then he peeled off his soaked jacket and hung it on the hook by the door. When he looked up at her face, he frowned.