“You and Daddy taught me well,” she said with a grin. “So you were a sharpshooter in the service?” she continued as they took their targets with them and walked back toward the horses.
He shrugged. “Something like that.”
She tilted her head to the side. “What did you do while you were in Special Forces?”
Memories flashed through his mind. The thunder of gunfire. Friends shot and going down. Agony as a bullet slammed into his knee. Crawling to his dying brothers-in-arms.
Pain seared his head and he shook it off. “Fought in the war like everyone else.”
She rolled her eyes. “Mr. Modest War Hero.”
“I’m no hero, Kait.” He took her target and rolled it up with his own. He stuffed them into a saddlebag then holstered their rifles. “I did my job.”
They both mounted their horses and she was quiet for a moment. “I want to know everything about you, Wayne. Don’t hold anything back from me.”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” he said, fighting off the familiar feelings of anger and pain when he was reminded of the war and the loss of his friends.
“I want you to tell me about it.” Her voice was firm. “I shared some tough moments in my life. I want to know what you went through.”
He raised his Stetson just enough to push his hair back in a frustrated movement. So much tension balled inside of him when he thought about that time. But she was right, if he expected her to tell him things that were hard to talk about, then he should do the same for her.
“I can’t share a lot of it,” he said and she tipped her own western hat up a bit so that she could meet his eyes. “You know, classified.”
“Tell me what isn’t classified,” she said as she studied him
“I’ll tell you as we ride.” He patted his mare’s neck. Lily started forward and Kaitlyn’s gelding, Jack, started walking at their side.
He took a deep breath. “When we were in Afghanistan, my team of six was assigned to take out an important target.”
“A terrorist?” she asked.
“That’s the part I can’t talk about, but let’s say we had our target to take out.” Somehow the bright sunshine helped pushed away the darkness that always seemed to accompany his memories of that time. “We located our target and were waiting for the right time, but we were ambushed. At least fifty to our six.”
She seemed to hold her breath as he told the story.
“We fought them off for a long time and my guys were shot up pretty bad.” He forced himself to continue as he relived that day in his mind. “A couple of guys on our team were trapped and needed help. By the grace of God, I was able to get to them and fought off the enemy. Took out a whole lot of the bad guys.
“When there was a break in gunfire,” he went on, “I helped one of my men get out of the spot we were in and to a safer area. We barely made it without getting shot. Then I went back for the other guy. Tried to get him to relative safety, too.” He rubbed his knee. “That’s when I took one in my knee. Managed to crawl back with him, but he took another bullet and died as I dragged him with me.”
The sometimes ache in his knee flared up, whether real or imagined, he didn’t know. “By the time reinforcements arrived, all five other members of my team were dead.” The backs of his eyes burned as he continued. “I was the only one who survived.”
“I’m so sorry,” she said quietly. “Tell me about the medals.”
“They’re really no big deal.” Talking about it never ceased to cause jitters throughout him. As if he couldn’t sit still. As if he could run away. “The Purple Heart was for not being able to get out of the way of the bullet that tore up my knee.”
“What did you do after you were injured?” she asked.
“I could have stayed in, but I went in to fight,” Wayne said. “I wouldn’t make much of a trainer and I never saw myself as an administrative guy. With my leg like it was, my days in the service were over. It was the end of my time and I decided to not continue.”
She nodded. “What did you do next?”
“I went to the families of the five guys who lost their lives and told their relatives how brave they were. I’ve never seen anything like what they did,” he said quietly. “Then I came home.”
By her expression he knew that she wanted to comfort him.
“It’s strange being here knowing I came back but those guys didn’t,” he said. “It made me appreciate this.” He gestured around them then turned his attention back to her. “Two things saved my life from wasting away from drinking and partying, and throwing away my life. You saved me and serving my country saved me.”
“I wasn’t here for you then,” she said, her voice small.
“We’ve already been through that.” He met her gaze. “You saved my life by what you did before you left and by what you had to do by leaving.”
She said nothing.
“I still have friends there.” He thought about the men who were still fighting. “We were a brotherhood, the closest I ever felt to family other than my own. It made me appreciate even more my brothers, sister, and aunt. We stick together.”
He continued, “I’m one of the fortunate ones. Not everyone has what I have.”
Something inside him seemed to swell as he looked at her. Kaitlyn had been the love of his life, and she still was. Even though he’d lost her for a while, somehow he’d known he’d get her back. When he’d learned she was married a part of him had shattered but he moved on. But now he had her. She was his and he wasn’t about to let her go again.
He changed the subject to some of their escapades as children and soon he had her laughing again.
The saddle creaked as the gelding, Jack, picked its way through the small canyon and sunshine was warm on Kaitlyn’s face. She’d laughed so hard at the stories Wayne had reminded her of that now her stomach hurt.
She swayed with the rhythm of the Quarter horse’s movements and the clip-clop of Jack’s hooves echoed through the canyon. She imagined that cowboys in the Old West had been right here in this very area and she pictured their horses coming to a halt and drinking from the stream just ahead, beneath the old oak trees.
“You look like you’re going to fall asleep.” Wayne’s voice roused her from her daydreaming and she looked at him. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a date fall asleep on me before.”
“Is that what this is?” She looked at him from under her western hat and smiled. “A date?”
His grin was purely sexual as he brought his mare, Lily, closer to her mount. Their knees brushed and she felt a thrill in her belly. It amazed her how just touching him could send electrical sensations throughout her body.
“Why not?” he said. “As far as I’m concerned, whatever time I spend with you is special.”
She returned his grin as Jack stopped next to the stream. “You know the sweetest things to say.”
Wayne’s mare came to a halt a few feet away from Jack, and both Kaitlyn and Wayne dismounted.
“Used to make the best mud pies here when we were young.” She walked to the stream, knelt beside it, and slipped her fingers into the mud. “The perfect consistency.”
He gave a low laugh and crouched beside her. “If you dig deep enough you can probably come up with some earthworms. Weren’t you saying how much you enjoyed them in your lunch box?”
“You’re lucky I’m not squeamish.” She picked up a handful of mud. “Or you might be eating this.”
Wayne gave her a wink. “Hungry?”
She rinsed mud off her fingers in the stream. “Not yet. But go ahead and eat if you are. I might even find a worm for you to go with your sandwich.”
“Is that right?” He cupped the back of her head with his hand. “Trying to start a war?”
“Is that what you call it?” She moved her mouth closer to his. “A war?”
“Mmmm.” He brought his mouth down and brushed her lips with his. “If that’s what it takes to make you mine.”
“It’s going to take a lot more than that,” she murmured.
He smiled against her lips. “I’m up to the challenge.”
“Go ahead,” she whispered. “Try me on for size.”
Wayne kissed her hard, taking her by surprise. He took her down to the ground so that she was on her back and he had her pinned with his big body. Small but smooth rocks poked into her back. She struggled, trying to break free, but he was too big, too strong.
“No fair,” she said when he drew away. “You’re bigger than me and you didn’t give me a chance to prepare.”
“The element of surprise is important in a war.” He kissed her hard again and he groaned as she kissed him back with as much fervor.
Heat rose inside her and she braced her palms on his shoulders. She wore a blouse that only reached her midriff and he pushed it up and over her breasts.
She caught her breath as he licked her nipple through the lace of her bra. He moved his mouth to her other breast and sucked the nipple before lightly biting it. She grew damp between her thighs and squirmed with desire. That was all it took with Wayne. Amazing kisses and the way he touched, stroked, and licked her body.
He pulled her bra beneath her breasts and sucked her nipples even harder and she reached between their bodies and grasped his cock through his jeans. He was big and hard and she didn’t want to wait long to have him inside of her.
“Come on, Wayne.” Her breath was already coming in an uneven tempo. “I want you now.”
He caught her hand in his then grasped both wrists in one of his hands and put her arms over her head, stretching her out.
“In war, prisoners are taken and restrained.” He pumped his hips against hers, rubbing his cock on her belly.
He stood up in such a smooth, fast movement that he caught her off guard. She cried out in surprise as he threw her over his shoulder.
“What are you doing?” She hung upside down, her ponytail over her head as she laughed.
He reached the horses. “Like I said, prisoners need to be restrained.”
She couldn’t see what he was doing but she heard the creak of leather and a brushing sound as he retrieved something from the saddle or saddlebags.
Blood was rushing to her head, making her lightheaded. Her bare breasts rubbed against his black shirt and the ache between her thighs increased. Whatever he had planned, she wanted him to hurry. She wanted him now.
Her ponytail swung over her head as he turned around and started walking toward the oak trees. Her heart beat faster.
And then he was swinging her down next to a tall, old oak. She saw that he was holding a coil of rope and he dropped it at her feet. She tried to make a run for it and squealed with laughter as he caught her. She struggled but he managed to get her blouse and her bra off without her being able to escape.
He pushed her up against the tree, pinning her there with one palm against her belly as he grasped the rope at his feet with his other hand. Her eyes widened. He was going to tie her up, something he’d never done before.
She tried again to break free but he caught her and then bound her to a tree as fast as a cowboy could lasso and hogtie a calf. Her arms were pinned to her sides and she was tied from her waist to her shoulders with her breasts jutting out from between the coils.
“This is crazy.” She looked at him feeling a twinge of fear and excitement. She completely trusted him but there was something about being bound and at someone’s mercy that felt thrilling. “Let me go,” she said despite the fact she didn’t really know if she wanted him to release her. She was getting more and more turned on by the moment.
He tugged off her boots and socks and tossed them beside the blouse and bra he had ditched. He unbuckled her belt and then unbuttoned her jeans and pushed them down, along with her red panties, and then her bare ass was against the rough bark of the tree. Her breathing came harder and faster as he threw her jeans and panties aside too.
She was completely naked now, bound to the tree from her waist up.
“Now that the prisoner has been restrained,” he said in a low growl, “she must be interrogated.”
“Interrogate how?” she asked as she tested the bonds.
“I have my methods.” He unbuckled his jeans and pushed them down to his hips.
His cock looked huge and hard as he moved closer to her. “I have one instrument in particular that I use.”
He grasped her legs, hooked them around his hips, and pressed his cock to her belly.
“I’ll tell you no secrets,” she said. “You’ll just have torture me.”
He lowered his head and sucked one of her nipples. She moaned then cried out when he lightly bit it again then moved his mouth to her other nipple.
“Are you certain, my little prisoner?” he said as he took his cock in his hand.
“Absolutely,” she managed to get out.
He pressed his erection against her core and she held her breath as his gaze locked with hers. He thrust his cock inside her and she cried out at the amazing feel of him inside her, heightened by his control over her.
He took her hard and fast. His expression was intense and there was sweat on his brow.
She didn’t think she’d ever had an orgasm sweep toward her so fast. It seemed to come out of nowhere yet she knew it was a buildup of everything that he’d done to her since he pinned her to the ground beside the stream.
She came hard and would have cried long and loud if he hadn’t captured her cry in his mouth.
He continued taking her for several more strokes and then he threw back his head and shouted as his own orgasm hit him.
His cock throbbed inside of her as she pulsed around him. He rocked in and out of her a few more times causing her to gasp from the way her orgasm seemed to carry on.
And then he was kissing her, his cock still inside of her. He raised his head and his blue eyes met hers.
“You might have to interrogate me again,” she said with a naughty grin.
“I intend to,” he murmured and kissed her.
Chapter 13
“I have reviewed the documents and there is no physical evidence that George H. Barrett was the sole owner of the property in question.” Judge Grayson met Kaitlyn’s gaze and folded his hands in front of him. “I have no choice but to rule in favor of Mr. Harold J. Barrett who holds the power of attorney for Mr. John J. Barrett who is the sole survivor now that George Barrett has passed on.”
Kaitlyn’s heart dropped to her stomach and cold washed over her skin as the judge spoke. Harold looked at her with a satisfied gleam in his eyes.
Judge Grayson moved his gaze to Harold. “The personal effects in the home, however, belong to Ms. Kaitlyn A. Barrett.”
Harold’s triumphant expression turned to one of shock and anger. “But, your honor, Kaitlyn isn’t even a blood relative.”
The judge calmly looked at Harold. “There is no question that Ms. Barrett is George Barrett’s daughter. I have made my ruling and you will abide by it.”
Kaitlyn felt no triumph in winning the possessions. She was too numb from the judge’s ruling that her home was no longer hers.
She was officially homeless.
Judge Grayson continued, “Ms. Barrett has five days to remove her possessions from the property before it will be turned over to you, Mr. Barrett.”
Kaitlyn felt Wayne’s presence in the seats behind her but she didn’t look over her shoulder at him. Instead she looked at her hands and fought back tears.
The judge pounded his gavel on its block and the sound seemed to echo in Kaitlyn’s ears.
Mr. Cooper put his hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Ms. Barrett, that this didn’t go the way we had hoped.”
Kaitlyn nodded.
“But if you do come across anything that will convince the court otherwise, call me at once,” he continued.
She met his gaze, still attempting to hold back tears. “Thank you, Mr. Cooper.” He walked with Kaitlyn outside of the courtroom.
Kaitlyn sat on the final large box that she’d just packed. “I don’t know how I’m going to repay you all.”
“What do you think friends and family are for?” Wayne took her by her upper arms and made her look into his eyes. “I know this is hard on you. I understand. But you need to stop fighting and stop feeling like you have to repay anyone. If it was one of us you’d be right in there helping.”
Even though she didn’t want to admit it, she knew he was right because she would be helping in any way that she could if any one of them needed her. She stood and faced him. “I don’t want you to think that I’m ungrateful. I appreciate this more than any of you can know.”
He slipped his hand into her hair and pulled her toward him and kissed her forehead.
The sound of trucks rattling over the cattle guard and coming down the road met her ears. Wayne glanced out the window. “Calvary is here.”
“All right.” She looked around her at all of the boxes.
Packing countless years’ worth of belongings from her grandparents and her father, and then her own things, had taken even more time than she realized it would. She’d already put the jewelry box and the more fragile items into her SUV along with her clothing and other personal things she would need to keep out of storage. Wayne had brought over a small trailer for the stuff she would need before anything else. The storage unit would hold everything else until she had someplace to put it all.
“Come on, honey.” Wayne raised a box and smiled at her. “You know I can use the company at my place.”
She didn’t say anything and picked up a box, too. All of Wayne’s brothers and his sister had arrived and she was surprised to see that they’d brought along a few ranch hands, too.
“We’ll be loaded up in no time,” Wayne said as they started carrying boxes down the porch steps.
Danica and the brothers greeted Kaitlyn with hugs and then they went straight to work.
Everyone talked and laughed as they loaded up Kaitlyn’s furniture and belongings and her heart hurt with each item that was packed into the trailers. She liked that no one dwelled on the fact that this whole affair meant she had lost her home and no one brought up Harold. They kept it positive and upbeat and she was grateful for that. She didn’t join in the conversation, just made sure she thanked each person individually as they worked and told him or her how much she appreciated them.
Lace and Lassos (Rough and Ready Book 2) Page 10