“Harmony ain’t ranked, Maverick.”
Oh she’s ranked all right. A perfect fucking ten.
The way the three-man, scratch that, three-person teams work is like this. Each rider is ranked and the toughest division is called 14 Class…the one we’re in.
Hank and I are both ranked with five’s and, Clint, who was to be our third rider, was ranked a four. In other words we barely made it…at least the top level that is.
There are levels below, but we always only wanted to be the best of the best.
What Hank is trying to say is that woman, Harmony, isn’t ranked then we’d be in Open Class, or Ten Class, but you can’t talk about class without seeing just how much this woman has. Even on top of a horse she exudes simple sophistication in a way only a cowgirl can.
“Harmony?” I bark.
“Yeah, I said Harmony…as in my sister.”
My eyes widen as the can falls from my hand.
“I thought your sister lived in New Zealand with your folks.”
“Come on, man. She’s eighteen now. She didn’t want to live in the middle of nowhere. She wanted to get out and explore the world.”
“So she came to a tiny border town?”
“It’s a start.”
“How long is she staying here?”
“Why do you care?” His words aren’t laced with an accusatory tone…yet, but damn, they’re close.
“We’re running out of time, Hank.” I’m not sure if I’m referring to our chances at a cattle penning title or my own at having a family.
What in the hell’s wrong with me?
I’ve never had these kind of thoughts before.
I was never in a rush to think about finding the woman of my dreams because I knew that kind of stuff was just something invented by the likes of Hallmark and Harry Winston.
Until now.
No. I refuse to believe it.
But I can’t refuse to acknowledge what’s going on inside me.
This isn’t something I can try and logically ‘think’ myself out of.
This is beyond my control, something deeper than a donkey kick to the groin…and yes, I’ve had more than I care to admit.
But it’s very, very clear that that area still works just fine, all right.
I’m standing at attention, stiffer than a flagpole and I want her sliding up and down the top, opening her wide before I fill her deep.
“Harmony’s never competed.”
“I don’t care. I’d compete for a chance for her…I mean a championship with her and us…I mean if we get her on our team we can win this title.”
I feel Hank’s gaze shoot lasers into me even though I don’t turn to meet it.
“She’s never competed. They won’t let us drop down to a 10 Class so we’ll be competing against the best…with a complete rookie. They’ll drop us from the competition in the first round of qualifying, like a bad habit.”
The only thing that’s been dropped, is my jaw on the pine boards of the deck below…and for the life of me I can’t seem to get it back up.
“I know the organizers and the other riders. I’ll pay the fine and we’ll be just fine with her…more than fine.”
“So what? We’re going to separate the cattle from the herd and send them her way.”
“Oh, I’ve already picked the prize from the herd.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
I swallow hard, trying to get a hold of myself.
“I’m just saying I already decided that of all the competitions that we could compete in at the Stampede we picked out cattle penning. Don’t act like you don’t remember.”
“Oh, I remember…it just seemed like you were talking about something else…buddy.”
“Always. So if she’s never competed before then she can help us.”
“Well, I guess we are in a pinch so we can see if she’s available.”
She’s not available. Not anymore. She’s mine.
CHAPTER 2
Harmony
My fingers curl into a white-knuckle death grip on Daisy’s reins as Maverick raises his right hand, motioning me over with four fingers.
The sun is shining right in his face, causing him to squint...but something tells me it’s not just the sun, not with the way I can see the intensity in his glare from all the way over here.
His rugged jawline shoots forward and down as he bares his teeth so he can whistle sharply, with that perfect mouth of his…the one I’ve wanted to claim as mine for years now.
I’d seen him in pictures…working with my brother on hot summer days, his shirt off as sweat ran down his muscular body.
In the winter, my brother sent me a video of his ranch and as he panned his camera phone side to side I got a glimpse of his best friend there on his property, helping him out. Even just a few seconds of Maverick shoveling snow was enough to melt me in more ways than he could have known.
Those big, thick back muscles of his flexing as he made quick work of the fluffy white power that needed moving so the animals could get out of their pens and stretch their legs.
And I had to stretch my legs at the sight of it, my panties moistening, sticking to my pussy, as the sight of the steam coming off him in sub-zero temperatures reminding me just how much of a hot-blooded beast he is…an animal.
And he was bringing the same out in me.
I would say it was around the first time I started noticing boys, but the truth was I never noticed boys at all…or other men.
Just him.
My brother’s best friend.
The one he’d told me story after story about. How he’d constantly helped my brother out time and time again. How he’d be out late into the night helping bail hay or feed animals, only to wake up in the middle of the night when one of the mares went into labor so he could be there to help with the birth.
He was a true horseman and the reason I was so inspired to learn to ride.
My parents had left the States when we were young, deciding Canada truly offered the freedoms the California ‘police state’ could never quite live up to. Although they loved Canada, they proved to be rolling stones and eventually made their way to New Zealand, where they settled...for now.
But being here now, smack dab on the U.S. - Canada border in Montana felt like a true paradise.
It wasn’t just the fresh air, non GMO produce, or completely grain fed beef that had the blood rushing through my veins at the peak of my physicality…it was him.
And I knew what I wanted to happen when it came to my physicality…and how I pined to get physical with him.
When I heard he was down from Calgary, as was often the case, I immediately knew it was time to stop wishing and take action.
But the sight of him motioning me over and the sound of his whistle piercing the open space between us like some sort of primal mating call, has me completely frozen in my tracks…or should I say Daisy’s.
He motions again, this time with a big arm gesture as he stands, the sight of his tall frame reminding me just how masculine he really is, and the reaction that provokes in my body.
My heart jumps in my chest and my throat goes dry. I want to whistle back, just to let him know I acknowledge his request for me to come to him…but I can’t.
I can’t think. I can’t speak. And I sure as heck can’t whistle.
I keep my fingers wrapped tight around the reins, trying to brace myself as I feel my balance wavering.
He whistles once again, but this one is even more commanding than the one before.
And like the alpha male in any situation, the other animals fall right in line.
Daisy whinnies and turns her head to him, quickly taking off in his direction.
Her speed has the wind blowing through my hair and brings me back to the present, giving me a rush of adrenaline as Daisy darts straight toward him.
The sound of her hooves galloping toward him produces a rhythm in my ears, but what I really want to hear is
his voice, in the flesh, for the first time.
He raises one hand and places his palm forward in a stop gesture, and I pull back on the reins as Daisy pulls up just short of the deck.
His eyes stayed locked on mine the entire swift ride over, but now I can see just how intensely he was staring at me, which causes my cheeks to heat.
He reaches one of his long arms toward me, taking the reins and looping them over the edge of the deck as his other hand extends, waiting for me to accept it.
I should be panting for air after that blazing ride over here, but instead my breath stalls.
“Take my hand. I’ve got you.”
Words I’ve been waiting to hear from him and only him.
I do as he says, feeling the multitude of callouses from his large digits as he engulfs my tiny hand, the spark of a thousand hammers slamming down on anvils shoots through me from his touch.
His oversized hand swallows mine up as I swing my far leg over and in one motion he pulls my body off the horse and into his.
My chest presses against his stomach and I feel his firmness grind into my own stomach.
He wants this just as much as I do.
“Uh hum,” my big brother says, clearly seeing exactly what’s going on, but can he really see the future, the family, the vision of children speeding through my mind a million miles a minute?
I can barely process what’s happening and in no way can I comprehend what this man’s doing to my mind, my body…everything.
They say people who meet their celebrity crushes are often let down by the real life version of someone they lust after, idolize, and fantasize about.
Not me. Not now. Not ever.
Maverick’s not exactly a celebrity in the cattle penning world, but he’s not that far off either.
What he definitely stars in are my dreams, and the fact that he’s yet to let loose of my hand telegraphs maybe I’ll soon be starring in his…or even better I can run my hands across his chest as we lay under the moonlight staring up at the stars on the open prairie.
It doesn’t matter that there are wolves, coyotes, and every other kind of predator imaginable out in these parts. It’s all irrelevant when you’re lying with the alpha protector that is Maverick.
“Maverick, this is my sister, Harmony…my little sister.”
“You sure look grown up to me,” he says, looking down at me with those dark eyes that I just want to get lost in.
“Whaddya say?” Hank’s had enough, standing abruptly.
“She’s old enough to pen with us.” He pauses. “You know how to pen cattle?”
“I’ve never tried,” I say softly, my voice trying its damnedest to betray me.
“Then I’d say it’s time to learn,” his deep baritone suggests in such a way that leaves little room open for interpretation.
“Yes. It’s time.” Little does he know in due time I want nothing more than for him to learn something else as well…a secret, and something I’ve been saving especially, and exclusively, for him.
But he can go first, because I’m not about to expose to him that I’m some inexperienced kid and ruin my chances with him forever.
Because forever is exactly what I want…with him and only him.
CHAPTER 3
Maverick
My lasso raps around the carved wooden steer head attached to the sawhorse out back of Hank’s property.
It’s two thirty in the morning and I can’t sleep. All I can think about is her, and I’m trying my damndest to burn off the energy that she’s infused me with, but it’s no use.
The three of us did a few quick dry runs, as quick as we could, as the sun went down and there was still light in the sky.
The speed at which she picked it up, the intensity of her focus, and her ability to make changes on the fly has me ready to fly her to some tropical destination and put a ring on her finger forever.
I unhook my lasso and swing it again, another perfect throw.
I can’t stop thinking about how well the three of us worked as a team earlier this evening, or technically yesterday now. And the thing that really stood out was the two of us.
Not only is she the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on, but she’s truly my partner. She wants to be my partner just as much as I want her to be…if that’s possible.
My desire for her is overwhelming, unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.
And seeing that Hank’s her brother I know the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree. Their parents are good people and I know she’s been raised right.
And I can’t get my raised cock to go down for the life of me.
I was tempted to try and unload the cannon, but with Harmony in town she has no choice but to sleep in the room right next to the one I take when I’m down for a visit.
She’d think I’m some kind of monster if she heard the noises coming from me as I released the intense pressure in my groin to the thought of being inside her.
And if I screamed her name?
Forget about it.
She’d call the cops for sure, knowing that I’m an absolute psycho.
It was just another reason why I was outside. No way could I trust myself, knowing that she was literally just a few feet from me separated by only a wall, sleeping peacefully like the innocent angel she is…likely in some lacy white panties or…less.
Fuck!
I have to get these thoughts out of my head.
It’s just that I have no template on how to deal with this type of thing. I mean, I’ve had women trying to claim me for years, but I was never interested in a single one. It’s one of the benefits of being a cowboy. I was never in a million years tempted to enter into a relationship with any woman, and being alone makes me more unavailable to them. If they can’t find me they can’t bother me.
But Harmony…damn, she bothers me in a whole other kind of way, a good way…a way where I barely know which way is up. My mind is spinning constantly. Scratch that…my entire world.
That’s never happened and I don’t like not being in control, but something about her being the catalyst of all this doesn’t bother me one bit.
If I’m honest with myself I’m embracing it. I’ve never felt like this in my life and it’s not just new, but I know it’s also lasting.
Hell, I’ve cut myself with knives, been stepped on by horses, thrown from horses, thrown from bulls, and damn near shot once…but none of those experiences has brought out as much feeling in me as this one little woman who galloped across the prairie and into my life.
And she will be in my life, in all ways…and always.
I’m going to make damn sure of that.
I’d known of her, but I hadn’t known her for more than just a few hours…yet still I knew without hesitation I’d fight to the death for her. It must be a protective paternal instinct because I was absolutely sure that I was going to make her my woman and raise a family with her that my body and my mind were focused on keeping her safe at all times.
My nostrils flare at the thought of something ever happening to her. I look up at the house, at her window. It’s completely dark, but damn how I want to go in there and fill her guest room with fireworks.
But how in the hell was I going to pull this off?
No way in hell could I just go up to Hank and say, “Oh by the way…your eighteen year old sister? She belongs to me, a thirty-two-year-old guy that most women her age would say is old enough to be a dinosaur.
It’s like we’re from two different worlds and the exact same world at the same time.
Right place, wrong time?
I don’t think so.
I’m fit as a fiddle and can keep up with anyone, despite their age. I still have a lust for life, a thirst for adventure, and the desire to travel…and I want to do it all with her.
My thoughts were irrational and I can only imagine how Hank would take the news, especially considering we have our opening round qualifier for the cattle penning contest today at n
oon.
After we all wake up this morning, not that I plan on getting any sleep, we have to drive up to Stavely, Alberta where the qualifiers will be held over three days.
Once we win there then it’s off to Calgary for the actual Stampede. And I know we’re gonna win, because we’re an unbeatable team…as long as Hank doesn’t catch on before we get a shot at the title.
Brother's Canadian Cowboy Friend (A Man Who Knows What He Wants Book 107) Page 2