Taboo Step Surrender (Steamy Twenty Book Box Set)

by Steply, Virginia

  I stepped into the dark, loud building and oriented myself. I found the café I was looking for and headed towards it, conscious of all the male eyes on me. It was frightening and exciting, and by the time I got to my destination my heart was beating a little faster, and I felt the tingle of adrenaline electrifying my body.

  There was a long line at the café counter, and I lined up at the end with a gaggle of smelly, bleary-eyed truckers.

  "Hey there, little girl," one of them slurred at me. I was shocked when I smelled his breath in my face. He reeked like booze.

  The rest of them turned and chuckled.

  I shrank away from them, not wanting to be so close. But at the same time I couldn’t be too far away so as not to lose my place in line, which was getting longer by the second.

  "What's wrong?" the drunken trucker slurred again, "am I too hot for ya?"

  Then he reached over and grabbed my ass.

  I shrieked and slapped him away, my heart suddenly pounding with fear. My attempt to drive him away only emboldened him, and he staggered towards me, his big hand closing around my forearm. The rest of the drivers laughed.

  "I'd like to take you back into one of those little rooms they got here," he sneered, "or maybe take you into one of the showers, then get you out of those clothes."

  "Stop it! If you don't let go of me, I'm going to scream," I said with terror in my voice.

  "Let's just hear you try it," he growled, pulling me in close.

  "Let go of her!" a voice rang out from behind me.

  The crusty trucker looked over my shoulder, his eyes wide with surprise.

  "I said, let go of her," the voice bellowed again. It was deep and strong, but without the roughness and gravel of an older man.

  "What’re you goin’ to do about it, stranger?"

  "I'll fuck you up, that's what!" Then the man stepped right between me and the trucker, pushing us apart. He stood only inches from my aggressor, his gaze level with his, even though the truck driver was twice as big as he was.

  "Did you hear that?" the trucker chortled, turning to look at his compatriots, "this little runt is going to fuck me up." But when he turned back to the young man there was a hint of fear in his eyes--the man hadn't moved an inch.

  "Hmph," the drunk grunted, pushing past my hero and rudely bumping his shoulder in the process. “I’ll be seeing you around, little girl,” he said wickedly to me with hate in his eyes as he stepped out of the line and walked away.

  I almost collapsed with relief, and the handsome young man caught me before I toppled over.

  "Whoa," he said, “easy there.”

  I was surprised to find myself in a man's arms. When I looked up at him, finally registering his muscular features and sun-weathered skin, the scruffy blond hair poking out of the edges of his cowboy hat, I was speechless. My rescuer, whoever he was, was gorgeous. He looked to be only a few years older than I was, but he was already self-assured and rugged, older than his years.

  And he reminded me of a lot of the boys back home, the ones who were going to take over their fathers’ ranches some day, who were used to working from sun-up to sun-down, who drove mud-splattered trucks and swaggered around with a can of Skoal in the back pocket of their Wranglers. It brought me back to another world.

  My rescuer blushed a deep red before righting me and letting me go.

  "You okay, ma'am?"

  "I-yes, I'm fine. Thank you."

  "I can't believe no one else did anything," he said while shaking his head sadly. He looked around at the clamor around us; no one had even noticed the incident.

  "Thanks again," I said, my eyes roaming over his body quickly. He was muscular, but not heavy, and his clothes, a pair of tight Wrangler's and a well-worn button-up shirt, flattered his lean body.

  A sheet of cold tingles washed over my body as I suddenly recalled the feel of his hard muscles pressing into me. I realized I was panting, and I tried to slow my breathing. But I was still electrified by the terror I'd felt earlier, and the sudden, overwhelming surge of attraction I faced only added to the confusing mix of emotions that were coursing through me.

  This dusty young cowboy, whoever he was, was the most attractive man I'd ever met, and he'd just saved me from something awful, I had no doubt.

  "Ma'am, are you sure you're all right?" he asked as we finally reached the counter of the cafe.

  "I am, thank you." I knew I should have tried to think of something else to say, but I was still in fight-or-flight mode, and just calming myself down was enough of an effort.

  My rescuer didn't seem like he was much for words either, and by the time we had ordered our food he still hadn't said a word.

  "I better make sure you make it out of here okay," he finally said, as I turned to leave.

  "Okay," I said, "I'm sorry."

  "About what?" He sounded confused. I wasn't sure either, but it had been the first thing that popped into my mind. God I can be stupid sometimes. It didn’t help that he made me nervous—I always lost my tongue whenever I was around guys I was attracted to.

  We pushed out of the dark, loud truck stop and back into the bright sunlight outside. He walked me to my truck, which happened to be right next to his big, blue Dodge Ram.

  He tipped his hat and climbed in, and instantly I felt pressure to come up with something to say.

  "Wait!" I blurted out in a panic. "What's your name?"

  "Luke," he answered. He didn't ask for mine before he fired up the engine of his truck and sped off, leaving me there in the dusty parking lot, alone.

  I couldn't help feeling terribly disappointed as I got back into my vehicle and drove off. Of course, I didn't know the first thing about him; least of all whether he had a girlfriend, or whatever. Stupid me: I was once again taking a random, meaningless encounter and building it up into something romantic in my head, because I always overthought everything. I'd done that so many times before.

  But that feeling I'd felt between us: the tension and electricity in the air, was that all in my imagination?

  It couldn't have been. Every time I walked into a crowded lecture hall or a party, I always hoped I'd find somebody, and I'd have that feeling.

  I was looking so hard, and it never happened.

  Of course, until today.

  I sighed. And of course, the one time I actually did meet someone, I totally blew it.

  You didn't blow it, I told myself. He didn't even want to talk to you. Maybe he was just shy, I consoled myself. But probably not. Most of the boys back home had been macho blowhards, like their fathers, not stereotypical quiet cowboys, like the kind one sees in Hollywood movies.

  My phone spoke to me in its weird, robotic female voice, telling me to turn off the freeway and onto a heavily wooded, county dirt road.

  I was getting close to my stepfather’s ranch, but I was too preoccupied to care. I kept thinking about Luke.

  A big tractor-trailer roared past carrying a load of logs, and I pulled the truck way to the side to let it pass, almost ending up in the ditch.

  But it barely pulled me out of my thoughts. All I could do was think about Luke and my failures. Finally the violent blast of a semi horn startled me out of my reverie for good.

  I had just turned a blind corner, and suddenly I was face-to-face with another log truck speeding my way; there was nowhere near enough space on the road for both of us.

  Time seemed to come to a stop as it hurtled closer and closer, and I could see the surprised expression on the driver's face as he stepped on the brake.

  There was now way either of us could stop in time, and at the last second I steered the truck into the ditch.

  I wasn't going very fast when I hit the embankment, thank God there weren’t any trees in my path and I didn't roll over. The semi roared past with just inches to spare, creating a dust storm all around.

  The semi finally rumbled to a halt behind me, and I pushed open the door, my heart pounding in my throat for the second time that day and my body
shaking with adrenaline. I stepped out onto the dusty dirt road and fought the urge to vomit. I watched as the truck driver ran towards me.

  "Jesus Christ," he gasped, "are you alright?"

  "Yeah..." I said, fighting nausea. I reached out and grabbed his arm, steadying myself as I resisted the urge to retch.

  "You’re not hurt or anything?"

  "No, I don't think so. I, I hit the ditch going pretty slow."

  "Alright ma'am, there's no phone service out here, but I’ll gladly make a call for you when I get to Evansville. I'll call the tow company, first. You'll need a tow out of there, that's for sure."

  "Thank you so much," I said, managing a smile despite the nausea and disorientation. "Could you also call a number for me as well? It's my stepfather’s. He lives outside of Parker." I grabbed a pen and paper from the cab and wrote down the number and handed it to him.

  "Absolutely, miss."

  I watched as he climbed back in his big-rig and drove away, leaving me alone in the middle of the woods. The air suddenly seemed colder, and the forest bigger and wilder, now that I was in the middle of nowhere alone. It was so quiet; I could hear the wind whispering through the pines all around me. I looked around at the towering trees and tried to enjoy the stillness, but after everything that had happened today, it seemed more ominous than peaceful.

  Oh well, I thought at the time, at least my stepfather or the tow company would be here soon.

  An hour went by, and nothing.

  I paced around, getting bored. I tried to sit in the truck, but it was tilted over at such a crazy angle that I couldn't stand it for long. I ended up leaning against the side of it, looking up and down the road, kicking pebbles. Finally, after what seemed like forever, I heard a truck barreling down the road.

  For a brief, hopeful second, I thought it was the same blue Dodge that Luke had been driving. And then it became obvious that it was the tow truck that was speeding towards me. It noisily came to a stop, and a friendly-looking man jumped out, leaving the engine on.

  The expression on his face changed when he saw just how stuck my truck was. He walked slowly around it, and then went back to his wrecker to shut off the engine. "It looks like you got yourself in quite a pickle, ma'am," he said, shaking his head ruefully. "I can try to pull out your truck, but I'm afraid it's going to roll over when I do."

  I groaned. Of course there was some kind of pain-in-the-neck complication to emerge at the last minute.

  "So what are you going to do?" I asked, trying not to let my irritation creep into my voice.

  "I dunno. I'll wait until the Thompson boy gets here. He’s supposed to come fetch you."

  ‘Thompson boy?’ I said quietly to myself. ‘What does he mean by that?’ Thompson happened to be my stepfather’s last name.

  But before I could say another word, Luke's blue truck came barreling around the corner--my jaw just about hit the ground. His head popped out of the door and he jumped down onto the dirt, eagerly ready to save me again.

  "Hey Cal," he greeted the driver.

  "Hey Luke," the driver said, looking relieved, "just the man I needed to see."

  Then Luke noticed me, and we stared at each other for a long second.

  "How do you do?" he said, formally and a little stiffly. He extended a hand. "We met before," he ventured.

  "I know-" I began. And then it dawned on me that Luke must be my stepbrother. He was my stepfather's son, the one he spent long hours on the phone with every couple of weeks back in Arizona. I'd even talked to him before, when I was younger and we had a landline. I'd pick it up, and a very polite voice with a deep western accent would ask if he could speak to Mr. Thompson. I remembered having a sort of bizarre crush on him, probably because he was so foreign and so far way, but then we all got cell phones, and I got caught up in high school things, and I ended up forgetting all about him.

  I tried not to stare at Luke as he and Cal discussed how to pull my car out of the ditch. Even in his dusty work clothes, Luke was totally gorgeous. His body was powerfully built, with hard muscles carved over years of hard work. And he seemed totally at ease dealing with what seemed, at least to me, like a nerve-racking situation. Every so often a sly smile would pull at the edges of his beautiful mouth, and his sexy eyes would flash.

  I sighed out loud because as my rotten luck would have it, Luke was Off-Limits. The one time I meet a guy, and there’s no way I can be with him. He was my stepbrother, after all. And even if he weren't, he would be out of my league.

  My pouty mood was interrupted when Luke and Cal began to nod and look my way, as if they were concluding their conversation and agreeing to a plan. Then Luke jogged over to me.

  "We're going to pull your truck out sideways," he said. An hour later, the truck was back on the road. Disappointingly, it looked like the front end was a little smashed.

  "Take her back to the shop," he told Cal, motioning towards my truck, "I'm sure Rico can work his magic and put it back together again."

  Cal laughed and tipped his trucker hat. "Thanks for all your help, Luke," he said, climbing back into the tow truck.

  I climbed into Luke's pickup, and we drove quietly for a few minutes.

  "You sure need a lot of rescuing," Luke finally said.

  "I'm so sorry," I began, but Luke laughed, cutting me off.

  "I can't believe I finally met you. I can finally put a face to that voice on the other end of the telephone."

  "You remember me answering the phone when we were kids?"

  "Of course. Every time I called I wondered what my stepsister in Arizona was like."

  "Am I different than you expected?" I asked.

  Then Luke looked at me in a way that sent a delicious chill running down my back, and right at that moment I wanted him to kiss me. He moved his hand unexpectedly towards me, but a second later I realized he was only reaching for his phone. God I was a wreck around him--I knew I was bound to make a fool of myself sooner or later.

  After another twenty minutes of driving and idle chit chat, we started passing pastures full of grazing cattle, and soon we were at the ranch house.

  There was a whirlwind of new faces and introductions as I met everybody, and a few minutes later my stepfather arrived. He brought me in close for a hug, and it felt like for the first time in my life I had come home.

  There was a big, loud family dinner later that night, and I realized that everyone looked up to Luke. He had taken their struggling ranch and made it profitable and successful again. His hard work and ingenuity, beginning as a teenager, was literally responsible for the food on the table in front of us. Now the Thompson Ranch was one of the most successful in Suffolk County, and everyone in the community respected Luke and looked up to him.

  ****

  The next day found me bored and roaming around the ranch. I'd forgotten how dull it could be away from everything in the city, and I started thinking again about what my friends were doing in Mexico. Of course, I could always help out with the myriad chores that needed to be done around the place, but my stepdad and his new wife, Hannah, wouldn't have it. After my long, stressful drive here, I needed a day to recuperate they said.

  I found myself following Luke around as he mended a decrepit-looking fence on the northern boundary of their property.

  "There's not much to do around here," I complained. Luke looked at me flintily.

  "Miss the big city?"

  "Yeah, sort of. What do you do around here, when you have time off?"

  "Time off..." Luke said, looking at the bale of wire in his hands and then far away at the barn, which needed to be repainted. "Uh, I don’t know. I like to hunt and fish, I guess. My father and I used to go hiking, before he left for Arizona. One time, we hiked into the Gallatins for two weeks with our mules and horses."

  "Two weeks? That's a long time. I did an Outward Bound class with my school once. It was like ten days."

  "Yeah? So you don't mind roughing it?"

  "I had a ton of fun! I haven't d
one anything like that in forever, though."

  "My family's got a little cabin out in the woods past Steven's Pass. I have to go up there tomorrow. Maybe you can join me."

  At that moment a shiny pickup flew down the road towards the ranch house. It stopped in the yard, then started up the road that lead up to us and the fence.

  The big new Ford rolled to a stop next to us, and a stunning blonde in a cowboy hat rolled down the window.

  "That city girl chatting your ear off, Luke? Don't forget to run that new irrigation line."