by Casey Elliot
She wasn’t entirely sure that smell would ever come out. She didn’t even know if she could wash these things. This season’s Jimmy Choo’s went down the drain. She growled and took one final look at her crap-covered shoes before looking up, a scowl plastered across her face. Screw it. She just needed to get to the truck.
Her walk was heated, angry. Where the heck was her freaking boyfriend anyway? If he had been around, he could have just brought her shoes.
“But, you should have worn comfortable shoes, you dummy,” the independent side of her growled, annoyed at her temporary bout of stupidity. She wanted to lie down and give up, the more her feet ached, the more the pain shot up to her back, and the more foul crap-smell that filled her nostrils. But, just as her composure was starting to falter completely, she saw it... the truck.
She smiled and staggered toward it, looking like a mess of a woman – almost zombie-like – as she limped toward the red Ford. She was only around five feet away from it when she saw something that made her stop dead, though. She wasn’t sure if it was the movement or the sounds that got to her first. Honestly, she didn’t care.
Right there, smack dab in the grass parking lot… in the truck she’d helped him buy, so that he could go country was some random chick making out with her boyfriend.
“What the heck?!” she shrieked, alerting the sweaty couple to her presence.
“Crap!” she heard Patrick scream, as he pulled away from the woman. He hopped out of the truck with wide eyes. “Babe! Don’t freak out. It’s not like that.”
Chapter Two
“Let’s hear it for Jax, riding Lightning Bolt!” The bell dinged and Jax felt the beast kick and flare beneath him, his groin and legs vibrating, as the bull powered its way out of the gate.
Eight seconds. That’s all he had to stay on, but at that moment, eight seconds felt like a lifetime. It always had when he was on top of a bull, riding a beast he knew he had absolutely no control over, but it was even worse this time.
His mind was double-timing it, squeezing as many thoughts into those eight seconds as humanly possible… eventhough it was something he didn’t really want to think about… even though it was the whole reason he was on the bull in the first place.
Usually, his mind cleared, and all he thought about was holding on for dear life, but this time, it seemed like putting his life in such a fragile position and feeling so small was exactly what made him think about it all…
his dad.
The amazing, incredible father that had raised him to be the man he was today.
He was gone… forever, and all it had done was left Jax shattered and confused.
The worst part was that his family hadn’t been banding together. His older brothers only cared about the money he left behind; his business. They had no interest in celebrating the life that was Jameson Turner; in remembering him. The only thing they cared about was who was getting the estate and all that came with it.
That’s where they all were. They were with their father’s lawyer, meeting and kissing butt, hoping that one of them was the heir to the estate. Jax wanted no part of it. He wanted no part of them.
So, here he was, doing something that his dad and he loved to do... the rodeo.
When the bell dinged again and he slung himself down the rope of the bull, the crowd went wild. He didn’t care, though. He wasn’t in the mood. Instead of lavishing in it like he normally did, absorbing all the female attention that surrounded him, he only threw his arm up in recognition of their cheers and ran off toward the fence into the bleachers.
He jumped up on the metal and slung his leg over just before hopping into the stands, immediately brushing shoulders with crowding people as soon as his feet aimed toward the steps leading out. He had to deal with grabs and pats from random strangers, as he walked through the crowd – noticeably, the more-than-usual crowd of women, as his body aimed toward the steps.
He cringed, the gorgeous women surrounding him, tempting him more and more by the second. He didn’t want to go there, though. He didn’t want tonight to be another trophy for the shelf. No matter how much he wanted to kiss away the pain and confusion he felt, and the anger, he couldn’t forget the anger.
He picked up the pace, knowing that if he didn’t, he would have turned back around and picked one of those blonde hotties up front to take back to his trailer. He knew that the faster he got away from the stands, the faster he got to his truck, which would also mean the faster he got to his trailer, which was parked just a half mile away.
He liked to have it parked by the pit’s grounds, so that he could compete in every rodeo he had time to compete in. He was getting good; really good. In fact, he almost had a bit of a local celebrity-status.
He pulled his hat off and wiped away the sweat dripping down to his brow, still stepping heatedly toward his truck, that is, until he heard a wailing cry sound out in the air. His head whipped around to find a woman crouching onto the parking lots’ pavement bawling into her knees.
“Ma’am,” he started, taking steps toward her as her wails grew in intensity. “Ma’am…” He bent down to her level, a foul crap-smell hitting his nostrils. “You okay?”
She shook her head.
“Step in crap…?” he asked, almost with a smile, but he stopped his words, not really sure if it was a laughing matter, considering how upset she seemed.
She nodded. “Yes…” she cried some more.
He sighed and grabbed her shoes. “I can get these cleaned off for you,” he said. “You want a drink while you wait?”
She looked at him hesitantly, her expression concerned. He pointed off in the distance. “That trailer is mine. I compete here in the rodeo. My name is Jax Turner. You can get in my truck and I can drive you to my trailer, I can get you a drink – a nice closed beer, no danger – and I can clean these off for you without ruining them.” He laughed. It was strange running into a woman that didn’t know who he was.
He remembered seeing her earlier that day. She was gorgeous; loose curls, medium dark-skin, and with a sexy figure. She looked a little hoity-toity to be at a rodeo, but she looked good doing it. So, she had earned a pass from him. She smiled at him, but shrugged it off before he could even talk to her, which was weird.
Women didn’t usually shut him down before he’d even spoken.
Not unless they were married, and the lack of a wedding ring on her finger told him that she wasn’t. He got used to looking for those sort of things, after all. Well, before ever approaching a woman.
She still hadn’t spoken to him. She just continued to stare at him, her mascara-stained cheeks and puffy red eyes aimed directly at him. She seemed to have dried her tears up for the time being, though, so it didn’t appear that she felt completely frightened and threatened by him – which was good… really good.
“Sure…” she whispered, and he smiled in response.
She wasn’t sure why she had said yes. She knew that in all reality, it wasn’t the safest or anywhere near the best decision in the world, but after the afternoon she’d had, she was fine with a little danger.
The man was hot, and she knew he was a competitor at the rodeo. She remembered him from earlier that day. He was the gorgeous cowboy that had smiled at her right before everything had hit the fan.
He had driven her to his trailer, which was just off of the grounds. It was small… so small that she had to wonder what rodeo competitors got paid, and if that was his only job. She didn’t care, though.
She took beer after beer from him, which was something else that probably wasn’t the safest or anywhere near the best decision, but it made her feel better; getting drunk with a man as sexy as this one. He was sweet too; at least, he seemed it. He had completely cleaned her Jimmy Choo’s with shoe cleaner, and had them looking good as new in less than thirty minutes while she sat on the couch.
Once she’d had a drink or two in her, she spilled the beans about what had happened earlier that day; how crappy her boyfriend
had been, how he’d been making out with some random rodeo chick in the truck she’d helped him buy, how she told him to take a flying leap and go screw himself when she found out, even after he begged for her to forgive him.
She wanted no part of it.
Cheating was something she would never forgive and forget. She had told herself a long time ago that if a man cheated on her, it’d be over. She stood by it, eventhough some piece of her hadn’t wanted to.
“You feeling a little better at least?” Jax asked from the small laundry area between the living room and kitchen, just after putting his shoe cleaner back on the shelf. She had to admit, she did feel better. The effects of the alcohol were starting to kick in a little bit, but that wasn’t it. It was him. He had made her feel better.
She nodded. “Yeah, actually.” She grinned up at him, a feeling washing over her, darkening her expression. “I have a question…” she trailed.
“Yeah?” he asked.
“When you were smiling at me, were you trying to flirt with me?” She stood up from the couch and took a step closer to him.
He smirked and nodded. “Have you seen you?”
She wasn’t sure what was about that response that fueled her, but it had. She took another step closer, nothing but an excited sense of courage fizzling inside of her. Was she really about to make the first move? Was she really about to push the boundaries with a total stranger just because she was upset and wanted a distraction? Was she really about to make another bad decision?
The answer was, yes. It was a heck yes.
She knew that on the moment that her back was against the front door of the trailer, his lips on top of hers, and his hand sliding down her neck, holding her into place. The kiss was passionate, lustful, and eager. Their tongues battled and dueled as moans elicited from each of them until he pulled away, gasping.
“You’re so freaking gorgeous…” he said, his accent coming through a lot more than it had before. She felt a shiver roll down her spine at his words. She liked hearing that. She hadn’t even realized she hadn’t heard it nearly enough until they dripped seductively off of his tongue. She locked arms around his neck, tightening her hold, pulling him into another kiss. “You’re going to make me lose control if you keep on with this.”
“So, lose control…” she breathed. “Let’s both lose control…”
She could feel it in his fingers, and the way they touched her. She could feel it in his lips as they slammed against hers. He was starved to lose control just like she was. There was a desperation in his touch, as if he was constantly looking for bare skin to press and stroke, as they fumbled together against the door. It almost made her heart clench to know that he might have needed a distraction just as much as she had.
She let her fingers travel down his chest and, in a hurry, grasped at the hem of his shirt and pulled it over his head, pulling away from the kiss just long enough to rid the garment away. She’d immediately missed the feeling of his lips on hers and growled to voice it. He chuckled deep in his throat, as she pulled him back toward her and basically assaulted his lips.
Her fingers grazed his bare flesh, reveling in the hardness of his muscles, which only tensed even more the more she touched him. He groaned at the feeling, “Bedroom,” he said.
She nodded quickly; eagerly even.
It wasn’t like the bedroom was very far. They were in the tiniest trailer known to man. If this had been normal-Brianne, she probably wouldn’t have been caught dead in a place like this or anyone living in a place like this, but he was hot and she was pissed, so for a one-night stand, it seemed acceptable… maybe even appropriate.
He moaned into her mouth and moved his fingers down her back until he reached the curve of her butt. She felt him smile against her lips just before his firm grip cupped her cheeks and pulled her up to carry her toward the bed. She smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck again just before throwing her legs around his hips tightly.
“Dang, you really have a nice butt…” he marveled, as he caught her lips in another hard kiss and carried her to his bed, carefully laying her down.
He slid over her curvy body, relishing in how amazing it was that his body fit against hers almost perfectly.
“You’re so dang beautiful…” He cupped her cheek and leaned down to kiss her once again, but this time, it was tender, and just then, all ounce of insecurity was gone. She felt like she had just been set ablaze; like she was being worshipped.
She knew that she was completely at his mercy now.
Chapter Three
It was like the attic had thrown up all over the brother and sister, as the two of them continued to go through their dad’s things. It had been a few months now since he’d passed, and it just seemed like it was time.
Jax dragged box number twelve from the back corner of the large attic and slid it over to a spitting image of himself, only a lot younger - and female. She was wearing a white cowboy hat just like the one he always wore. It was their dad’s competition hat. The one he’d worn in his very first cattle wrangling competition. It was his lucky hat.
He smiled. She looked good in it; almost like he had when he was around the same age, especially with her short blonde hair only just barely poking out the sides.
She looked up at him and grinned. “Remember this?” she asked, holding up a photo of Jax, his older brothers, her, and their dad all crowded around in a fishing boat. Jax was in the middle holding up the biggest fish he’d ever caught, even to this day.
He smiled. “That was my twentieth birthday.”
“That was a good day.”
He laughed low in his chest.
“You remember that day?”
She nodded.
“That was seven years ago. You were only five.” He grabbed the picture from her hand and looked at it fondly. Cleaning out his father’s stuff was something he had never dreamed of doing so early in his life. He was only twenty-seven for Christ’s sake. In his mind, parents weren’t supposed to pass until the children were old and greying themselves. But, he knew better. He knew life didn’t happen that way. He knew it was just some stupid, idiotic, fantasy he’d created in his own head.
All he could do was thank his lucky stars that his mom understood not to push him to do this right after he’d passed just a few months ago.
“So, do Jimmy and Jonathan not want to come help us?” she asked, her ignorance adorable to him.
Jax sighed and crouched to sit down beside her, nudging her playfully as he did. “They’re just busy.” That wasn’t true; at least, not really. That was their excuse. It was always their excuse. They never had time with anyone – at least, not any one of them. They were only interested in their father’s company, and the money that came from it, not the actual foundation of it.
“How’s it coming, guys?” a familiar female voice called from the stairs.
“It’s coming,” Jax yelled in response. It was only a second or two before he heard footsteps growing louder and louder, as they climbed the steps.
“Janie, can you go set the table for dinner?” their mother asked as soon as she poked her head into the attic space they’d been sitting just across from. Almost immediately, in perfect obedient fashion, the girl nodded with a smile and jumped up. Heck, she had even dashed away before either of them could even so much as say thank you.
“Remember how much trouble you and your brothers used to give me to do that same chore?” She held a faint half-grin on her face, but he knew she was only partially joking. He and his brothers were buttholes growing up; he was the first to admit that. Heck, they still were buttholes.
“She misses your brothers,” his mom sighed before taking a seat beside Jax, who was still hunkered over with the photo in hand.
“I know.” He did. He knew all too well because he had been in the same boat for so many years. He missed them too. The only thing was that Jax missed who they used to be. Not the men that they had become. “Too bad they don’t really give a crap
about family.”
They were greedy; selfish and uncaring.
She scoffed. “Well, they’re going to have to change that real quick if they want the ranch.”
Jax’s brows twisted in confusion, and immediately Julie’s eyes widened. She hadn’t meant to say that.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Mom, what does that mean?”
She sighed. “The first one of you three boys to have a child and start a family of their own is the heir.”
“What kind of medieval crap is that?”
She looked at him warningly. “Watch your language!” She smiled fondly, her eyes starting to glisten. “Dad always loved family, you know that… he just wants his sons to experience that.”
“Sorry…” he sighed, just before sitting the photo down. “You know I don’t want the place. It seems like more trouble than it’s worth to me, and I’m not going to impregnate some woman just to get it.”
She laughed and smoothed his blonde hair from the bangs to the very back, parting it as she went. “You always were the sweet one…” She grabbed hold of his cheeks and squeezed, pulling his face closer to her. “Start a family some day.” She kissed him on the cheek.
“Maybe one day; I don’t know. I don’t think I’m the type,” he laughed. “But, I just don’t see them doing any of that, Mom…” He didn’t. He couldn’t imagine any of them having a family; not yet, anyway. He was irresponsible and the other two didn’t give a crap about family; that much was clear. When they were old enough to stop being ranch hands, and the real money started rolling in, they changed. They basically shut everyone out, bought brand new cars, got fancy wardrobes, and decided to be buttholes.
Jimmy – or as he calls himself, James – most definitely thought he was supposed to inherit everything. He was the oldest. It made sense; at least, to him it did. Jax chuckled. He was willing to bet every dime he had in his pocket that the both of them would be trying to get woman after woman just to knock one of them up, so that they could get their cash.