RED HOT RANCH

by Swale, Lizzie

  “Doesn’t matter,” Aaron continued. “Call it a dickhead move if you want to. Had to deal with some stuff with my dad.”

  “Some stuff?” she asked. “Now that sounds ominous.”

  “Just the story of my life,” he said. “Old man snaps his fingers, and I come running.”

  “And then you’re gone all day?” she asked. “I pity the girl that gets herself mixed up with you.”

  Skye started to push away from him when his fingers curled around her wrist, and Aaron twirled her back to his side. His scent was clean, fresh, and he looked as if he hadn’t lost any sleep without her. Point of fact, neither had she. But now she felt as if she wanted to curl into herself and shut her eyes for a good long while.

  “You shouldn’t knock it till you try it, Skye,” he said in a soft voice.

  He sucked in a deep breath as he caught her hands in his, and Aaron closed his eyes as he started to speak again.

  “So I was mildly jealous when I saw you with him,” he whispered. “And then I’m back at the house. Listening to my father rattle off all the ways that you’re a bad call.”

  “Your old man might be onto something there,” she said.

  “No. Not by a long shot.

  Aaron pursed his lips, and she couldn’t help but feel like she was stepping out. Should she kiss him so quickly after Ben and how he had made her feel? But he had already taken off for greener pastures, and she wasn’t the type of girl to endure a kick and stay down. Should she kiss him and see where it might take them? Skye was ready for the feel of his mouth on hers when he surprised her with another chaste kiss to her fingers. Hardly seemed fitting given how she knew she must look, but his eyes suddenly sparkled into and around hers.

  “Man knows nothing,” he continued. “And it kind of got me thinking more and more about you.”

  “So did you… did you come looking for me?” she asked.

  “Did that,” he said. “Sorted Lewis and Charlie out. Rest assured that they’ve been given their marching orders.”

  Her soul lightened somewhat at the sound of those words, but for him to come out here at all meant that he had to know how she had spent her night.

  “I… maybe I should have waited,” she murmured.

  “Ben usually gets what he wants,” Aaron said. “And then he’s off to the races. But you… you already figured that much out. Didn’t you?”

  Gulping back a sob, Skye offered no resistance as Aaron folded her into his arms. She hated herself for thinking that they were so much less stronger than Ben’s, but she still let him take her into his embrace as he ran his fingers through her hair and brought his whisper to her ear.

  “Don’t feel bad,” he soothed. “Man has no scruples. You’re… you’re well rid of him.”

  Unsure if that was true, she somehow managed a smile, her grin growing brighter as he fondled her chin and cocked his head to the side.

  “So I guess I’m not about to lose my job,” she teased.

  “No way,” he assured her. “As a matter of fact, I think you’re about to get a whole lot luckier.”

  Chapter 6

  “Aaron, we’re going to be–”

  “They’ll wait. Our party after all.”

  She had barely slipped into the flowing purple gown, the bodice lined with sequins.

  The garment that he had insisted that she wear on their big night.

  “Maybe… maybe if we’re quick about it,” she moaned into his neck.

  “Pretty sure we can make that happen.”

  Flipping her bare body back to the bed, Skye dug her nails into his back as his mouth moved up and down the lines of her legs. His kiss stopped at her knees, and Skye’s back arched as his warm breath swirled against her flesh. The seconds seemed to stretch into hours, and she sighed at his foreplay. Aaron always took his time crawling up the length of her body, and Skye trembled as her body began to shudder. If they could stay like this, her soul screaming for more as she savored his touch, Skye nearly felt certain that she could marry him on this night. End the party with a bang and show his family a thing or two.

  “Aaron, I…”

  Picking up on what he thought was her cue to move deeper, closer, Aaron pushed her back into the bed, his firm hands lifting her arms over her head. Trapped under his twitch, her legs still parted eagerly to take him, and as soon as he slipped inside her, Skye relished the feel of his hardness. Let him take his time; screw the father that thought his oldest son a fool for taking her in. At least her would-be brothers-in-law were nearly on board. Well… the little one. But maybe in time, she would have everything that she had ever wanted.

  And so much more.

  “I love you like this,” Aaron whispered as he started to pump inside her, his tongue lapping at her breasts as she tried to break free. Wanting nothing more than to press her palms into his shoulders, Skye stayed against the sheets as he flooded her veins, groaning against his release as he fell into her neck, kissing quickly towards the chignon already rumpled as he clasped her in his arms and sighed against her skin.

  “I love that you’re mine,” he said. “So we can show them all.”

  Short and sweet. It always was. Which in and of itself was its own problem.

  “Aaron? Aaron, look at me.”

  He followed her order, and she centered her gaze on his eyes.

  “You’ve been so good to me,” she said. “I… I don’t really even know why.”

  “Why not?” he asked. “At the end of the day, think it’s gonna be all kinds of fun being engaged to you.”

  With that, he helped her to her feet, and as soon as she stepped back into the gown, Aaron zipped her up and smoothed the stray strands of hair against her head.

  “Ready to head out?” he asked as he tucked his piece in his pants and straightened his tie. Her mind flashed back to Ben, the lover who had stayed scarce for well over a year. Did he know that she had moved on in the wake of their lost morning after? Did it make him sad? Or was he just relieved that she had turned her attentions elsewhere? Saying that she still didn’t dream of him in the night was a brutal lie. But she took hold of Aaron’s arm with a small sigh.

  “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

  The ranch house was awash in activity. Important people from the neighboring counties regarded her cautiously as she moved through the room at Aaron’s side. Powell Senior’s glare morphed into something softer as soon as he saw her, but just as swiftly the kind gaze drifted back into his glass. The man drank deep, and Skye longed to ask him just want he was thinking when Aaron spun her towards the center of the room and snapped his fingers into the air.

  “Attention, honored guests!”

  Everyone fell silent, and Skye felt exposed in front of the crowd. Even in the designer dress. She longed for a wrap or even just a coarse blanket to wind around her shoulders. There was nothing but Aaron’s arm. He steadied her stance, and Aaron deflected the confused stares and the hushed whispers. Skye imagined a world where this could become normal, where she might even hold court in time and feel comfortable in fresh skin. Say this much for Aaron; he had come to collect her and hadn’t run scared after the first blush. So she seemed destined for this man, and the coin in his pocket, really in his father’s, that would keep her all kinds of comfortable.

  “What the hell?” Aaron gasped.

  The main door had burst open, and Skye lost her breath at the sight of Ben rushing toward her. His beard was thick, his eyes like that of a wild man, and Skye started to hide behind Aaron’s back when Ben lunged and pulled her closer to his side.

  “Don’t do this,” he pleaded. “It’s not what you–”

  Skye cut him off with a sharp slap to his face. Ben’s head whirled over his shoulders, but he never lost his footing as Skye grabbed his face and forced him to look into her eyes.

  “You come here tonight?” she cried. “Thought you had so many better things to–”

  “Not what you think, Skye!” he said. “He said… he said he
wanted you close to stick it to the old man. And I… I was paid to set the table.”

  She didn’t want his words to sink in, wanted him to be spinning a story in his favor. But as her mind worked overtime to make sense of the situation, so many things clicked into place. Why had Aaron offered her the job in the first place? Why was he was in the right place at seemingly the right moment?

  “Ben…”

  Skye could hardly form another word as she started to fall into his chest. But Aaron reached for her, his hand rough against her shoulder when Ben backed him off and glared at the heir to the throne.

  “No more,” he said. “Here.”

  Ben flung a stack of bills right back in the man’s face, and he touched his hand to Skye’s back as he extended his chin into the air.

  “I won’t let you do this to her,” he said. “Not when… not when I know how special she is.”

  And at the sound of his words, any ice around her heart that might have been meant for Ben thawed, and Skye forgot the crowded room as she lightly kissed his lips.

  Chapter 7

  Skye clung to Ben’s arm as they started to exit the party, Aaron’s rage bubbling over and seeming to swirl all around them as they took their leave of the party. In spite of the rich boy’s tricks, she felt a pull on her heart. No doubt he had only made the move out of desperation and what he thought had to look like love. Stopping in her tracks, she gently moved her fingers and gave Ben’s hand a gentle squeeze as he cocked his head to the side and looked at her with confused eyes.

  “Skye?” he muttered under his breath. “What are you… please don’t say that you’re changing your mind? Not when this has been killing me for so long.”

  She softly shook her head as she turned on her heel and extended her arms.

  “Aaron,” she started, “I… I never meant to hurt you.”

  “Didn’t you?” he hissed as he folded her arms tightly across his chest as his jaw locked and he furiously tapped his toe to the floor. Skye felt every eye in the room on her, and she didn’t want to finish this scene before an audience. Better to ask him if he would take a moment alone with her, and she tried to touch him when he flinched away from her.

  “Don’t even think about touching me you piece of trash.”

  As his voice trailed off and he narrowed his eyes, Skye felt a gulp forming at the base of her throat. So let it be in front of everyone if that was his choice. She’d still be the pariah, and maybe she could leave with her head held like something close to high if–

  “I would have given you everything,” he said. “This house. My land.”

  “Ain’t exactly yours yet, Aaron,” Jesse said. He wheeled around to face his brother, and just when she felt sure that he would go off and strike his youngest sibling in the jaw, Aaron turned back around and he snatched the sleeve of the gown that Skye never had business wearing and tore hard, shredding the fabric as Skye fell to her knees and tried to shield her exposed breasts from the gaping crowd.

  “What the hell, you son of a bitch!” Ben cried out. He looked like he wanted to seize Aaron by his throat and drain the life from his body. But instead he collapsed to her side and stripped off his coat, protecting her from the gasps and the smirks as he looked up with hate in his stare.

  “Just want her to do the walk of the shame in the proper attire,” he scoffed. “Or lack thereof. Thinks she can do a man’s work? A man would have the brains to know a chance when it came his way. This one is just fetid trailer trash.”

  Skye started to shift to her feet as Aaron’s brothers tried to hold him back, telling him to take a walk, maybe get another drink or at least a breath of fresh air. Jesse was suddenly the more insistent of the two, but all three boys fell silent as their father stepped into the fray, staring his sons down.

  Skye shuddered some at Ben’s side, and she pressed her arm to his heaving chest, whispering into his neck that they should just be on their way when Powell snapped his fingers and pointed towards the way out.

  “Think you should be on your way, girl,” he said, hardly hiding the sneer in his tone as Ben brought Skye closer to his side and peered into the man’s eyes.

  “We can find our own way,” he said.

  “Sure you can find your way around a lot of things, boy,” he said. “But just for kicks, I’ll show you out. Wouldn’t want you nicking the silver or anything else on your way out.”

  Ben marched her to the door, Powell’s breath racing down the back of her neck. She dared one last glance over her shoulder. Jesse gave her a weak wave as Oliver regarded his older brother and the girl with equal amounts of disdain. Aaron stared for the bottle as he looked out at the other girls waiting in what wasn’t quite the wings, and just as quickly as he was ready to link their lives, he moved on to what he had to think were greener pastures. Skye bit down on her tongue, fearing that she might draw blood when she and Ben were out, and she clutched his jacket closer as she looked up into Powell’s eyes.

  Don’t tell me that you’re not happy about this,” she said. “You said it was the last thing that you wanted. Well, maybe I feel the exact same way.”

  “But you gave consent,” he reminded her. “Seemed all too eager to weasel your way into this family.”

  “Until I knew the truth,” Skye shot back. “At least Ben told me that much.”

  “And I told my son that I would pick up the pieces,” Powell said. “Can tell you that I had a few sleepless nights worrying that you would make it through the other side. Not because I didn’t like you sweetheart. I actually admire your grit and hard work ethic, but I have to look like I’m siding with my son. I would sell him out right here and now if I didn’t have my other boys to think about or their mother’s memory,” he said. “But there’s no reason that you all should be caught in the crossfire.”

  “You being straight, Sir?” Ben asked.

  “I wouldn’t lie to you, Ben,” he said. “But you sticking around here won’t work for any of us. So…”

  He pressed his hands into his pockets and revealed a stack of bills.

  “So go far away,” Powell said. “Make her an honest woman. I’ll look to my other sons. And maybe someday, if you want to come back…”

  “That can’t happen,” Ben said. “But we still thank you, Sir.”

  Ben hurried her into the cab of his truck, and Skye rolled down the window as she touched her fingers to the old man’s arms.

  “Bet someday you’ll have a patch of property to rival mine.”

  “I’ll do my best, boss man.”

  Powell did not blanch at the sound of her words, and as soon as Ben drove away at a fast slip, Skye fell into his shoulder and felt his warm muscles sliding around her body.

  “You okay?” he whispered as he kissed the top of her head.

  “I think so,” she murmured. “Feel a little bad about taking the man’s money.”

  “We’ll pay it back,” he said. “When we’re far away and I don’t have to think of his hands on…”

  Ben glided off to the side of the road, his knuckles growing white as he twisted the steering wheel in his hands and released a heavy sigh.

  “And you were with him?” he muttered.

  “Yes,” she confessed. “I was lonely. I was… I was weak.”

  Ben released the wheel and folded her into his embrace.

  “Never say that,” he whispered. “I should have stuck close. Not doing that was weak.”

  “So you can let it go?” Skye asked. He tenderly kissed her lips, and when their eyes locked, they shared a smile.

  “I’ll let go of anything but you,” he said. “Skye, I–”

  “Don’t say another word.”

  Stretching forward to claim his kiss, she felt his arms growing stronger around her frame, and as soon as their lips parted, Skye stroked his cheek.

  “You have me,” she said. “Wherever I go next, I… I want it to be with you.”

  His body relaxed against hers, and Ben kissed her brow as his he turne
d back to the wheel.

  “Then let’s move out,” he said.

  They started to race deeper into the night, and Skye rested her head to his chest with a small sigh.

  “I missed this,” she said. “Only one time, but–”

  “One time counted for everything,” he said. “God knows I missed you.”

  She kissed his mouth before settling back into his strong embrace, and as they drove deeper into the moonlight, Skye basked in the right choice and the idea of the sun drifting over the horizon to light the way to a new day ahead.

  The Cabin:RESCUE

  CHAPTER ONE

  When I say my boyfriend is rich, don’t start thinking Wall Street mogul or tech billionaire, I just mean that in our city his family ranked with the elites. His great grandfather started a factory and now it employed a lot of people and made a lot of stuff and his whole family was pretty well off compared to the rest of us. It’s not like I was hurting for cash though, my father was a programmer for a big company and my mom was a dental hygienist, I didn’t want for anything growing up and I could pass for pretty high end which was how I landed Joel. We were quite the pair. He looked like one of those guys off from an Abercrombie ad, tousled hair, buff, polo shirts and khaki shorts, no tattoos, and I was an average, slender faced, black girl with an average body and thick black hair.

  After graduating from high school my parents insisted that my free ride was over, I could live at home rent free but I had to work or go to school. If I didn’t go to school I had to pay for my own cell phone, my own clothes, my own trips to get my nails done, all of it. Sure they still fed me and paid the electric bills but it still meant thirty hour weeks in black slacks, a white top, and low heels serving drinks at one of the upscale restaurants in town.

  My boyfriend Joel went off to school and thankfully the business courses he needed were offered locally so we weren’t stuck in one of those long distance relationships, but sometimes he forgot that the working girl doesn’t get four months off every year. Which is why we were arguing, something that had started happening more and more over the school year.