One Last Sunset (The Long Ranch Series Book 1)

by Prince, Michel

  “We’ll manage.” Sunny smirked at Mel and softly brushed his finger against her bare shoulder. “Mel found us some food. Guess my lunch break will be a bit long.”

  “Sounds good, I’ll send Clay to pick you up when it’s clear.”

  “Ten-four, we’ll keep the radio on if anything changes.”

  Walt went back to checking in with others around the ranch.

  Sunny leaned against the counter.

  It was then Melody noticed Sunny had ditched his boots and jeans in lieu of a towel, currently wrapped around his waist and tucked tight at the side of his hip. She ran her fingers down the ridges on his belly until she found the hip divot. Unlike his hands, his skin was smooth, tanned, and with just a small strip of hair from his belly button under his towel.

  “They know we’re together,” Sunshine said as he rested his hand on her hip.

  “We have at least an hour before they get here.” Melody tilted her head to the side and tugged on the towel. It fell down and pooled at their toes. The gasp that escaped Mel’s lips made her face heat up.

  “You strip me, then act surprised that I’m naked?”

  “That wasn’t what surprised me.”

  “I told you my problem wasn’t a lack of wanting.”

  Melody saw the long shaft staring straight at her, thick and swollen with a girth. She should’ve guessed. He must have been in pain trapped in those jeans. “I see that.”

  “You know what I see?” he asked as his eyes found hers.

  She lost the ability to look away from those deep blue pools.

  The pad of his thumb stroked her lower lip. “I see the most delicious woman I’ve ever seen. With a mind sharp enough to keep me on my toes for decades, a kiss which makes me forget the rest of the world, and a body…” Sunny blew out a breath as he embraced Melody.

  His fingers tickled along the top the blanket making her nipples harden against the rough fabric. Tracing the outline of her breasts, he had her biting her lips.

  “Now, I wonder, what could we do with that hour?” He smiled and released the little tuck holding the blanket tight to her body.

  “Something tells me we’ll figure it out.”

  * * * *

  “I promise, Tina. I’ll get your garden done tomorrow before lunch,” Sunny assured the Spelman grad who wanted to get her winter plants in the ground. Or his planters since the soil wouldn’t grow anything. He’d been able to get one of the boxes completed after being ‘rescued’ by Clayton.

  Tina Long had a calm demeanor in contrast to Walt who seemed to feel he had the weight of the whole ranch on his shoulders. The petite woman couldn’t be more than five one, with shoulder length hair usually corralled into some sort of binder to control her curls. With skin the color of dark honey and eyes to match she stood out among the Longs.

  The three children she’d bore took on their father’s coloring with her eyes. Dark and light with personalities that didn’t match either parent. Vanessa, or Nessa, was the most boisterous of the bunch. Currently, she was using Sunny as a jungle gym. Climbing up his back and demanding rides.

  “Walt was supposed to build it for the last six months. If you get it done before next spring, I’ll be happy. Besides, this weather came out of nowhere,” Tina replied with understanding eyes. “I’m just glad you went with Mellie. If she got stuck out there alone, the boys would have never forgiven themselves. What was she doing out there anyway?”

  “Something to do with cattle around here. Doc’s had some sick ones.”

  “Walt didn’t say anything. Nessa,” she scolded her daughter. “Uncle Sunny and I are talking.”

  “Wanna ride,” she cried a little bit too close to Sunny’s ear. “Unc Sun, pleeeeeessssee…”

  “I told Walt to just buy her a pony and get it over with.” Tina grabbed the toddler from Sunshine’s back and placed her on the ground. “Junior, come get your sister please before I sell her to a band of gypsies.”

  The oldest of Tina’s children came out of the house to the porch with a snap to the screen door. At only six Sunny could already see the Long genes taking hold. He grumbled a bit, but tugged the three year old out of the room.

  “Did Walt say if they needed any help with the cattle?” Sunny asked while looking out toward the main barn. Storms can cause all sorts of problems.

  “I haven’t heard from him since he went out to check on the herd.” Tina waved Sunny inside and he followed. “I thought you couldn’t help with that type of stuff?”

  “Shouldn’t would be a better way to explain it. Let’s just say running to the cabin had me relearning how to breathe. It’s not like you can just wrap me in plaster of Paris and call it day.”

  “Stubborn ass just like the rest. Now you’re stayin’ at your mama’s.”

  “Right now, yes.” Sunny ran his hands under the water in the kitchen sink and used the scrub brush to clean under his nails.

  “Do you have a truck to get back out here?”

  “No ma’am.”

  “If I remember correctly, your daddy and you didn’t get along when you were younger. That changed?”

  “Not really.”

  “Why don’t you stay with MeMaw? I know she’d love the company and then you could just take a gator that works and come back and forth.”

  “MeMaw?” Sunny asked while drying his hands.

  “I’d have you stay here, but until I kick the youngest brother out I have a full house. Or you could stay at the cabin. Clay wanted it fixed up. Are you working for the money or the excuse to not be in the house?”

  Sunny ran his hand through his hair and rocked back on the heels of his boots. “Nothing gets past you does it?”

  “I remember when Luce was sick.” Tina walked to the table and poured two glasses of lemonade. “You saved us, the guys couldn’t handle it, but I think part of you being here was because how she was and your family wasn’t.”

  “She was a wonderful lady.” Sunny confessed and placed the cooled glass on his neck before taking a salutatory swig.

  “Hard shoes to fill, believe me.”

  “I think you’re doing pretty good.”

  The screen door snapped back. “Please, Tina sucks,” Clayton said as he entered the kitchen. “Don’t you?” he continued to tease like everyone’s favorite little brother.

  “So that will be two shakes of rat poison on your chicken today?” Tina snapped back.

  Clayton repeated the action of hand scrubbing they’d both learned as children from Luce. “Can I have it on my biscuits?” he teased, looking over his shoulder at Tina. “Something about the melted butter and rat poison reminds me of when I was young and your husband wanted to get rid of the competition.”

  Clay was the tallest of all the Long’s. At six three and built like a brick shithouse, everyone thought he’d be a shoe in for the NFL. No one ever considered the coddling he got as a child would make him soft as baby shit. Mercifully, for Sunny, Clay toughened up after multiple ass whoopings. Too bad, he’d been in high school when his brothers had been away at college and it had been too late.

  “He did chase JT away.” Tina smiled. “One down.”

  “He didn’t chase JT away…JT ran toward—” Sunny elbowed Clay in the gut and he gasped. “Where’s the love, man? I saved your ass the other day.”

  “I swear you guys gossip like a pack of hens,” Tina scolded and passed Clay plates. “Set the table.”

  “Didn’t you give birth, so I wouldn’t have to do this anymore?”

  “No,” Tina replied plainly, then turned to Sunny. “You’re staying for dinner, right?” Although this was a question, only a fool wouldn’t assume it was an order. Tina may be little, but she filled Luce’s shoes as if she too had been five ten and two fifty.

  “Yes ma’am,” he said. “It’d be better than sittin’ on your stoop waiting on my dad.”

  Supper at the Long’s hadn’t changed with the generational shift. Laughter and discussions on the day filled the room. The
youngest Long, Quentin, was new to solid food and the star of the meal in his high chair.

  During the meal, Sunshine couldn’t keep his mind from thoughts of Melody. The taste of her skin, the feel of her body and the smell of her hair. Never feeling out of place at the Long Ranch had always been the best part of coming there, but would it be the same if he attempted the transition from everyone’s favorite brother from another mother to actual brother? Tina had fell into the family without a hitch, but he had history. The guys knew about him. He didn’t have a degree or a spotless past. There was also his glaring melanin deficiency to consider.

  “I think Sunny should stay with MeMaw,” Tina announced at the table.

  “Have you asked her?” Clevon asked as his forehead furrowed. He had a commanding presence at the head of the table.

  “Well, I don’t have room here, the only other option is Clayton pay him to fix up the cabin.”

  “He wouldn’t have to pay,” Sunny spoke up. “Just staying there would be great.”

  “Um…” Clayton looked at Sunny, then to Walt who gave a knowing smirk. “See, that cabin…”

  “Is empty.” Tina scowled. “You want to move out there and in the few times a week you go out there you don’t get much work done. Sunshine on the other hand might be more motivated. Especially, since he’d be getting paid and have all day to work.”

  “Again…” Sunny began, only to have Tina’s hand go up and he knew to shut it.

  “The sooner that cabin is livable. Then why would you stick Sunny there?” Clayton asked.

  “Sunny doesn’t have a stick up his…” Her head turned to the side to see Vanessa and Junior staring at her. “You’re right Clay, how about you move out there and Sunny can stay here.”

  A horn honked as a flash from headlights cut through the windows.

  “I better go.” Sunny got up and cleared his place. “Thanks for dinner.”

  “Wait,” Walter called as Sunny was half out the door. Another loud beep echoed through the air. “You can move in tomorrow. Clay will run you by the grocery store before he brings you out. Tina’s right, how about you fix it up and make it pretty for the princess here.”

  * * * *

  Mel sat staring at the fax machine all day. With little to do until the next round of vaccines, the clinic had gone from too much work to zilch, in less than twenty four hours. She had to respect Doc’s reason for putting the moratorium on the all procedures until this was solved. She just wished she were back at Texas Tech where the equipment needed to run the tests would have taken her a few hours instead of waiting on others. She hated depending on others when she was just as capable to perform the task. At least when the equipment was there.

  Everything she’d found on the internet led to the same thing. Contamination of soil and water. That funny smell, the guys watching her from the truck… all of it made her uneasy.

  A flash caught her periphery as sunlight reflected off a windshield. Across the street, her cousin’s truck was pulling into the local hardware and supply store. Sunny popped out of the driver’s door instead of Walt.

  Since a watched fax would never print, she took leave of the clinic and crossed the street. Sunny was unhooking one of the flat bed carts from the others when she tapped him on the shoulder. “Hey,” she said with a bit of a smile. “Supply run?”

  “Kind of. I’m fixing up the cabin.” He blushed. “Clay wants to live there and since I’m only in town for a few weeks they figured I could do the work in exchange for living there.”

  “Right.” Mel tried to tamp down the gut ache she felt from the few weeks comment. As long as he was on her ranch, they could be together…It was then she realized he hadn’t so much as kissed her cheek or gave her a hug. They’d had sex. Had they even really talked? Weren’t they more than just—

  “Look, Mel,” Sunny began.

  At his expression he wore, the gut ache she was feeling increased.

  “What happened…it can’t—”

  “Are you serious? You…” Mel looked around to make sure no one was in earshot, then lowered her voice. “Wow—well, I guess old Sunny’s back, isn’t he?”

  “Old Sunny? What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “It means you have a rep. Guess MeMaw’s right, you can’t change an animal’s nature.”

  “Can’t change…” Sunshine bit his lip, then reached for her. “How about you—”

  “No, how about you instead. I can’t believe I slept with you. Came on to you. I should have known.”

  “Should’ve known what?”

  “I grew up with you, Sunshine Parker. I know you better than you know yourself,” she sneered from hurt. Her chest felt as if it were filled to the brim with fire. There was a part of him she knew deep down that wanted to settle down. Maybe she’d been deluding herself. But the fantasy of riding off with Sunny as they built their own house on the Long Ranch kept her childish dreams alive. Even as she said the words, she couldn’t believe they were coming out, “You’re a Parker and I knew better than to even think you had the capacity to love for more than a few hours.”

  Taking off across the street, a horn honked and tires screeched. Tears were muddying her eyes and all she wanted was to be away. Away from Sunny and her stupid thoughts that they could be more. That she was more to him than another conquest. She was sure at this point, he was scared she’d tell her family, but she couldn’t handle the embarrassment. Admitting she’d slept with him, then faking they’d been stuck playing cards for a few hours in the cabin was too much. There’s no way the boys wouldn’t figure it out. Even though she’d never followed Sunny around too much growing up, the boys would soon make the connection anyway.

  Suddenly, she felt two hands grabbing her upper arms and flinging her around. She was pressed against the side of the clinic. Her breath caught as she felt a hard leg spread hers while her shoulders pinned hard against the building. With tears streaming down her cheeks, she tried to see who was attacking her. White hair with tanned skin was all she could make out.

  “Mellie, if you want to be treated like a grown up, start acting like one,” Sunny barked. “I want to be with you.” His Southern accent was laced with a deep growl.

  “I’m just not going to be out in public before I get the sack to ask your damn daddy for permission. And yes I’m a fuckin’ Parker which means I’m a damn coward when it comes to all things Long.” With a hard push, he released her and started to pace as his fingers tangled in his hair.

  She wiped at her eyes trying to clear out her vision. The stone lodged in her throat sent fire shooting in every direction, which made it hard to focus on what she needed or wanted to say.

  Hands surrounded her face as Sunshine’s strong lips claimed hers and she didn’t know if the building or his cock was harder. Either way, being pinned between the two sent rushes of electricity through her body. Her nipples scratched against the fabric of her bra crushed against his firm chest. Spinning from emotions crashing like waves, all Melody could do was grip Sunny’s arms praying she’d be able to stay standing.

  Leaving her lips, he trailed kisses down her neck as his hand untucked her shirt and kneaded her engorged breasts. “I want to hold your hand in public,” he whispered before nipping her earlobe. “Claim you as mine and mine alone, but I can’t right now. I don’t have anything to offer.”

  “You’re all I need,” she cried.

  “But you deserve more than a broke down cowhand that’s only way to make a living is being gone two thirds of the year.” His head rested on her shoulder. “Melody, please be patient. You still need to see if you can stand me for more than a few hours here and there.” Stepping back, so they had space between them and he could look her in the eye, he let his hands slide down her arms slowly. As if he were treasuring the feel of her body. He reached the edge of her short sleeve shirt and captured her hands in his. The cool pools of his eyes shimmered. “We also need to see if we can go more than five minutes without trying to jump each other
.”

  “I remember quite a few years when we could do that.”

  “That was before…” His hands outlined the air around Melody’s breasts and hips, then came back to cradle her face. “I knew I was moron when I was younger, but if I would have had any idea you were going to turn out this hot, I might of never left Tender Root.”

  “My dad says you’re a wanderer like JT.”

  “That’s what I mean. I go to him right now asking to date you and he’ll say…hell no.”

  Damn, she hated the cowboy code. Sure, her brothers had bible study with God only knows how many girls, but that didn’t mean they wanted to see them again. Worse yet, meet their family. Sunshine knew hers and she did know him. He wasn’t lying. Could he really care enough to go her father?

  “You’re more than sex to me, Melody. I could get that anywhere.” His thumb stroked along her cheek to clear the last remnants of her tears. “We need to go slow. Our families have history. They may think this is incestuous.”

  “It could be good. You’re already family to them.”

  “Blood brothers and all those ties can be cut pretty quickly.”

  “Not to sound like a twelve year old again.” Mel’s voice scratched a bit. “Are you my boyfriend?”

  “No, not until I ask formally, I don’t want to do this wrong.” His hand caught her chin as she looked at the ground. “I refuse to have a secret girlfriend. That doesn’t mean I’m sleeping with anyone else. Unusual for me, I know.”

  “Hey.” Mel smacked at his chest.

  “I’m rarely in a city for longer than five days.” He leaned down and kissed her lightly. “There’s barely enough days left in my lifetime to discover all I want to know about you.”

  “In and out of bed?”

  “Have we made it to a bed yet?” he teased, then kissed her one more time.

  Her head spun and her body tingled in remembrance of their afternoon. Letting out a gust of air as if breaking their touch caused him physical pain, he pulled back. “I need to get these supplies and head back to the ranch before Walt thinks I ran away. I’m a wanderer, right?”