After the Sunset

by Mary Calmes

  “Okay,” I breathed.

  “When he throws you out on your—”

  “Hey.”

  Looking up as Rand joined us, I noticed how huge the man’s smile was. The brilliant turquoise eyes were brimming with warmth and happiness, just dancing.

  I was captivated.

  “Did ya see me?” He waggled his eyebrows.

  I shook my head, and the smile became absolutely evil. He was very happy with himself.

  “We don’t go around hitting people,” I scolded him.

  “Well then, maybe people shouldn’t go around hittin’ people that other people think hang the moon.” He cocked an eyebrow at me.

  I stared up into mischievous blue eyes and realized that the way the man was looking at me, there could be no mistake about what I was to him.

  Carly sucked in her breath.

  He stood there staring down at me with possessiveness, heat, and plain old joy.

  “Invite Glenn and Rayland home with us.”

  “I did already,” he told me, reclaiming his seat beside me, lifting my broken leg back into his lap as Everett put a plate down in front of him. “They’ll be right behind us when we leave, and Zach’ll meet us there too.”

  Chris was there a second later with a small Ziploc bag full of ice. “Here boss, for the hand.”

  “Thank you,” he said, eating with his left hand as he iced the knuckles of his right. Dusty brought his coffee and orange juice.

  “Man, I am starving,” he said, smiling around the table at his men as they all took seats, having moved from where they were sitting before to be close. “Hey, Ev, I saw the bull riding, not too bad.”

  “You would’ve won,” he answered Rand.

  “Yes, sir, I would’ve,” he teased him. “But I don’t suspect that Stef’ll want me to ride the bull anymore, so we’ll have to make sure you win next year.”

  “Yessir,” Everett agreed.

  Rand turned to Chris and then Dusty and complimented each of his men in turn. And I watched Carly listen and take in the scene in front of her, lingering, hovering there to see the men vie for the attention of the man who was their world. Because without Rand, there was no ranch, and without the ranch, they had no home. He was the nexus of everything, and the longer she stood there, the more she understood. The man was the same, and I was an extension of him to them. That I was a man made no difference.

  Her concerns, the prejudice she was speaking of might have mattered if Rand were dependent for his livelihood on one place or if he did business in only his town or the next, but he had been smart when he decided to grow his father’s ranch, and made sure he explored all his marketing options far and wide. And whether people knew it or not, Rand was a shrewd and disciplined businessman. He had good instincts, and he understood people, and lately, since he had a partner who knew acquisitions, he had become downright deadly in financial matters. There was nothing the man was missing except children. And he even had a plan for that with the help of his little sister, who was also my—

  “Oh, shit.” I jolted, remembering that I was supposed to call Charlotte.

  Rand turned to look at me. “Did you just remember that Char’s goin’ to the doctor this Wednesday?”

  “Yeah,” I breathed, staring at him.

  “Well, she called me when she couldn’t get a hold of you, and I told her what you were up to, so she’s comin’ for a visit this weekend, and we can talk about things.”

  “Oh, God,” I groaned. “Maybe I’ll sleep in the bunkhouse, and you can tell her I ran away to join the circus.”

  He smiled at me. “She’ll find you wherever you go ’cause she loves you probably more than her husband or her mama or me.”

  I loved her just as much.

  His smile was lazy and wicked. “She was fit to be tied.”

  “Crap.”

  “Maybe you best get her some jewelry,” he offered, “or a car.”

  I nodded as he cackled.

  “Rand.”

  He looked up at Carly.

  “I hope you’re happy.”

  “I am, thank you, and I wish the same for you.”

  She nodded fast before she turned and walked away.

  “You take care now,” he called after her before turning back to me. “I think when I explain things to Char, I’m gonna be in the same doghouse as you.”

  “Nope, death trumps secrets.”

  He brushed my hair back out of my face and looked at me before his brows furrowed.

  “It’s just a black eye. You should have been more worried about me on the bronco.”

  “You decided to ride the horse, Stef. That was your choice. You didn’t choose to get hit.”

  “I—”

  “Rand, you fuck!”

  My cowboy turned his head and gave a sputtering, fuming, red-faced, pissed-off Gil Landry his attention.

  “I’m gonna call the sheriff and—”

  “You won’t do shit, Gil,” he yelled over to the other man. “You hit Stef first, and I already stopped in town and saw Austin before I came out here. He told me to have you give him a call if you felt the urge to talk to him.”

  Gil was stunned.

  “You know the sheriff here?” I asked Rand.

  “Of course. We used to go fishing together when we was young. Now we hunt every winter. You met him before, Austin Cross. He has those speckled hunting dogs.”

  “Oh.” I did remember.

  “He looks flabbergasted,” Everett said.

  I turned to look at him. “What?”

  “I don’t have much call to use that word, and so… Gil Landry looked flabbergasted.”

  “That’s a good word,” Dusty agreed. “I like splendid. I don’t think splendid is used enough.”

  Everett nodded. “How ’bout, the boss threw a splendid punch.”

  “Yes.” Dusty nodded. “It was splendid.”

  I rolled my eyes as Rand started to chuckle while he ate.

  “None of y’all is right in the head,” Pierce muttered under his breath.

  It was hard to argue with him.

  After breakfast, Rand started ordering everyone around, and they moved fast since they were used to it, and then he and I went together to talk to the rodeo coordinators. Hud Lawrence was thrilled to see Rand, and Rand shook Katie Beal’s hand for being the one to call and let us know about the rodeo in the first place. I watched her stare up at him in awe, and I got it. If you had an idea in your mind of what a cowboy was supposed to look like, with the hat and the Wranglers, the jet-black hair, and the killer blue eyes, Rand Holloway embodied that ideal. The look she gave me, like good job landing that one, was adorable. It never ceased to be interesting, the acceptance of my lifestyle from some people, the anger from others. I myself had never cared who anyone slept with, and it still amazed me that some people did.

  As Rand helped me back toward the trailer, his strong arm wrapped around my waist, I felt more like me than I had in days. And I got it. When I was with Rand, the tender, loving man he brought out in me was who I really was. I was still selfish, still opinionated and quick to get a rise out of, but with him, I was better. He brought out the best in me. What more could I ask for?

  Chapter 10

  GETTING home was indescribable. Rand put me on the couch to rest since I had fallen asleep in the truck on the ride home. I had no idea why it was that going someplace always took longer than getting back.

  “We stopped a lot more times than you did,” I told Rand.

  “I’m sure you did.”

  “I was thinking I should cancel class tomorrow,” I told him as Tyler came in the back door and yelled for Rand.

  “I think that would be best.” He smiled down at me, brushing my hair back from my face, the look in his eyes still the same as it had been for the entire ride home.

  “I’m fine,” I told him. “You want me to get up and make you dinner just so you can see?”

  He shook his head before he leaned over and kissed
my forehead.

  “Rand!”

  “What?” he snarled at Tyler, which was funny because he had been so tender only seconds before.

  “Your mama called to say that she’ll be here tomorrow, and Everett called to tell me that Rayland and Glenn are comin’ for a visit as well—what the hell is goin’ on?”

  “I have things to discuss with everyone, even you, old man, and Stef here is fixin’ to butt into your life as well.”

  Tyler turned to look at me. “What are you gonna do there, Stef?”

  “I had no idea you had children,” I told him.

  He squinted at me. “And so you’re thinkin’ to do what with that information?”

  “Invite them to the ranch, of course.”

  “They won’t come.”

  I grinned slowly. “Oh, no?”

  He rolled his eyes, and Rand chuckled above me.

  “Stef is irresistible, you know that.”

  “I—”

  “There’s Glenn and Rayland,” Rand interrupted him as lights illuminated the front windows.

  I realized how much I wanted to close my eyes.

  “Come on,” Rand said, bending to scoop me up into his arms.

  “What’re you doing?”

  “We’re gonna all rest tonight. I don’t feel like talkin’ to everyone while we’re all tired and short-tempered. I’ll talk to Rayland and Glenn some, and then turn in.”

  I opened my mouth to interrupt him.

  “Yes, I know, put out extra towels, washcloths, and the water pitcher with the glass that fits in the top that we use for company.”

  “Okay,” I sighed, rubbing my eyes hard with the heels of my hands.

  “Stop. Just close ’em.”

  “I missed you. I wanna see you.”

  “You can see me in the morning,” he said as he picked me up and pressed me against his chest.

  Leaning my head into his shoulder, I kissed the line of his jaw. “You don’t have to take care of me. I’m not your wife.”

  “Where the hell did that come from?”

  Instead of answering, I nuzzled my face under the collar of his shirt, inhaling his musty scent, licked salt from his skin, tasting him before I opened my mouth and bit down gently.

  “What’re you doing?” he groaned, steadying himself on the stairs.

  “I’m not weak. I can take care of myself and you if you let me.”

  “I know what you can do, Stef,” he whispered, looking down into my eyes. “But just lemme take care of you, just this once.”

  The way he breathed in, the squint of his eyes, the press of his lips together, the cording of the muscles in his jaw, all of it together told me that I had scared him perhaps more than I knew.

  “I want a hot shower, and then I want to get into bed with you.”

  “Will you let me help you?”

  “I’m counting on it.”

  The shudder filtered through his strong solid frame, and I felt like I could breathe for the first time in days.

  Watching Rand made my heart hurt. He was so gentle, talking to me, gentling me like he did the horses, keeping up a running monologue as he explained about wrapping my leg in a garbage bag so I could shower.

  Normally I would have tried very hard to seduce him. As he bent to wrap my leg in plastic, had I been a hundred percent, I would have shoved my groin into his face without invitation. As it was, the process of getting me into the shower and then back out exhausted me. I had existed on maybe three hours of sleep a night, and between that and my injury, I was ready to pass out.

  Rand towel-dried my hair and then shoved me down on the bed. He had put me in a pair of sleep shorts and nothing else and so swaddled me under the down comforter and tucked it over my shoulders and under my chin. He kissed my forehead and told me he’d be back with water. I muttered my agreement, and my eyes fluttered closed.

  When I woke up several hours later, starving, I found Rand beside me, sitting there reading a book. First, he kissed me, which was amazing all by itself, and then he brought me food and made me take more drugs. Granted, it was only Tylenol, but since I had never been one for anything harder than alcohol, it was enough to keep whatever residual pain I had away. The roast beef sandwich was good, and sometimes plain potato chips are like a gift from heaven. The sun tea along with it, and I felt like a whole new person. Once Rand was back, I thanked him and asked if he would be able to read with me wrapped around him. He just patted his chest.

  “Thank you for taking care of me,” I said as I put my head on his chest, my hurt leg between his two good ones, and shoved my groin into his thigh.

  He nuzzled my hair, and then when I tipped my head up, he kissed my nose. “I wish I had been there the whole time. Please, Stef, please don’t ever leave without telling me where you’re going again. I really need to know where exactly you’re at when you ain’t with me.”

  I nodded and pressed a kiss to the underside of his jaw.

  He kissed my hair, inhaling me at the same time, and I could feel the tiny tremble snaking through the man’s big body.

  “I’m okay.”

  There was only a nod against my head. He loved me very much, and when I tilted my head back again to speak to him, he bent and kissed me.

  His kiss was possessive, telling me without words who I belonged to. His hands were on my face as he moved my head so he could kiss my chin, jaw, and throat. It was wet and hot, and I whimpered as I rubbed my hardening cock against his thigh.

  “What do you need?”

  He reached down and gripped me through the thin cotton of the sleep shorts, and I made the garbled noise in the back of my throat. It felt so good.

  I was rolled onto my back, and he slid the shorts down so that my now leaking cock bobbed free. He bent my knees as he slid down between my legs, hands on the back of my thighs as he leaned over me and took my hardness down the back of his throat.

  “Fuck, Rand.” I arched up into him, gasping, my back bowing off the bed.

  The man’s mouth was so hot and wet, and he sucked all of me, and I could feel the muscles in his throat contracting. I had gone days without him, and my body knew what it wanted, what it had to have.

  “Oh God, Rand, please turn me over and fuck me. I need hard. I want hard.”

  I was flipped gently to my stomach, and I lifted up on hands and knees, trembling with anticipation.

  His hand went to the back of my head and he buried my face in the comforter at the same time there was the cool smear of lube on my entrance.

  My whimper was loud as I felt the head of his enormous cock prod me.

  There would be no foreplay, no preparation, no slow slide of fingers pushing into me, scissoring and stretching. There would be nothing but all of Rand’s long, thick, erection thrusting deep inside me.

  “Hurry,” I begged him, even though it was muffled.

  He plunged into me, and I howled with pleasure and release and need. No one would have ever believed that a man in pain, exhausted and bruised, would want to be fucked so hard he cried out. But to simply submit, to give up and let my body be ravaged so my mind could rest, to so trust another person that you gave them every little part of your soul, that was what I had to have. I took Rand Holloway into my body, my heart. There was nothing he didn’t have, no part that was left unclaimed.

  “Please,” I cried and felt the tears flooding my eyes, rolling down my cheeks. “Oh, Rand, don’t ever leave me.”

  He pounded into me, and the lovemaking became a blur of kissing and biting and licking and sucking and always, always, the deep, hard, thrusting that made my world a rhythm of heat until I screamed out that I was going to come. His fingers, wrapped around my dripping cock, brought me to a shuddering release, and I closed my eyes so tight there was only black for long minutes before I was aware of hot cum filling my ass and running down the backs of my thighs.

  We stayed together, locked, my muscles rippling around him, his cock throbbing inside me, both of us trembling and h
eaving for breath.

  “Rand?”

  “You’re the only one who makes me lose my fuckin’ mind.”

  “I love you,” I panted as his lips closed on the back of my neck, sucking hard.

  “And I love you back,” he growled, licking the sweat off my shoulder before he eased slowly, gently from my still-clenching channel.

  He collapsed on the bed beside me, and I dropped down on top of him, curling my smaller frame around his massive one as he tucked my head onto his shoulder.

  “Jesus, Stef, I love you more than anything. I will never, ever, let you leave me, and you gotta never think that’s gonna change. We’re gonna fight, but there will not come a time when I want you anywhere but at my side. You hear me?”

  I nodded.

  “Say it.”

  I smiled into the hollow of his throat. “Rand Holloway loves me.”

  “Yes, I do.” He hugged me tight. “You’re my whole life.”

  I fell asleep naked and sticky, wrapped in the strong arms of the man I loved. There was no better thing in the world.

  Chapter 11

  HE WAS surprised. Whatever Rayland Holloway had expected on the Red Diamond was not what he found. Breakfast had surprised him. I cooked, Rand made coffee, Tyler joined us, and so did all the unmarried men. The married men rode in from their houses that were built on Rand’s land far enough away to give them privacy. In the two years I had been there, Rand added Tyler’s house, and Mac’s, since he was foreman, and Tom’s, who had come to Rand with a family, and his cousin Chase’s as well. Chase had met a woman in Winston, and because he and his wife were an interracial couple, it had been hard to find an apartment in town. So Rand had built them a house. All married men, he said, got houses. I thought Everett’s might be next if he ever got his act together.

  But Tom and Chase rode in, and they, too, greeted Rayland and Glenn when they reached the house. Everyone checked on me, winced at the eye, surveyed the cast on my leg, and said in various ways that they were glad I was okay.

  “Can’t have nothin’ happen to you, Stef.” Tom grinned at me. “I like my boss the way he is now. I ain’t ready to have him back how he was.”