Tall, Dark and Paranormal: 10 Thrilling Tales of Sexy Alpha Bad Boys

by Opal Carew

  His voice carried from outside as he spoke to the horses.

  She’d had to run, that night, but never again. She’d tell him how she felt about him, and see if he…ran.

  He came inside carrying her bedroll and the saddlebags Sayde had packed for her. “There’s an outcropping for the horses.” He flexed his bare fingers near the fire. “You look like something serious is on your mind.”

  “It is. I…” She wasn’t ready to dive in head-first. “Where did that metal box come from?”

  He walked over to it, unfastened the lock, and lifted the lid. “I hauled it up here one year after I found this cave. Keeps food safe from bears…” He turned toward her. “Um, I mean, raccoons.”

  She laughed. “I did my research, Thad. I know there are bears and wolves and cougars.” She pulled off her gloves and her hat. “I’m guessing you’re a good shot, so I’ll try not to be too worried.”

  He strode to her and straddled the log, facing her. “You know I’m curious why you’re here. Why you didn’t just call me last week. Or wait until next week when I was back on the ranch. Why head up here to find me?”

  “I don’t even get a cup of coffee first?” She sighed, her joke echoing through the cave. “Sorry, I’m a bit nervous.”

  Taking her hand, he ran his thumb over her knuckles. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m damn glad you’re here.” He slid a little closer. “Still cold?”

  She nodded and scooted toward him.

  He moved in, one leg behind her, the other pressing hers to the side as he pulled her back against him. “Better?”

  “Mm-hm.”

  “Now do you feel more like talking?” Thad’s breath blew softly on her temple.

  “I have to know. Is…she gone?”

  “Melissa? Yep. The day I brought home the paperwork, she left. But not before reminding me that I wasn’t to blame for her death.”

  Cheyenne frowned. “Why did you think you were?”

  “You want the long story or the short one?”

  “Long, of course.” She snuggled in. “We’ve got all week.”

  “Whoa.” He pushed her off him, a fierce scowl on his face. “We’re only gonna be talking all week? No fun stuff?”

  She smacked his leg and lay back in his arms. “I didn’t say that. Let’s save the fun stuff ’til after we’re all talked out.”

  He let out a slow breath. “When Sayde promoted me to foreman, she told me to update the furniture and appliances in the foreman’s house. I was lost, but I didn’t want to fail at my first assignment from the boss lady.”

  She giggled. “You don’t subscribe to decorating magazines?”

  “Not hardly.” His chin brushed against her hair. “Melissa’s family owned the furniture shop in town, and she took pity on me. She came out to the house, took measurements, and came up with a whole plan for me.”

  “That’s sweet.” Cheyenne could easily see how Melissa fell for the quiet cowboy. The same way she herself had.

  “Yeah, until her family found out we were dating. They’re big money, all about appearances. But Melissa wouldn’t budge, and we were married six months later.”

  “Wow, that’s fast.”

  “Yeah, but sometimes it happens like that.” He kissed the top of her head. “Like lightning.”

  Cheyenne knew the feeling. It’d happened like that for her, too. With Thad.

  “So that beautiful, talented rich girl married this dirt poor cowboy, and we scraped every penny we could save so we could buy our own ranch one day. But Melissa would come home with boxes of stuff.”

  When he was silent for a long while, she asked, “Stuff?”

  “Yeah, like things her family gave her for when we had our own place. Decorating stuff, antiques, so many things that we didn’t have room to use them or display them, so she stored them upstairs. The bedrooms were near filled with it.”

  “She was going too fast?”

  “For me, yep. I told her we had years before we could afford anything on our own. She said she understood, but every once in a while, I’d find something else in the kitchen, or another box upstairs. It made me feel…I don’t know.”

  “Like you were holding her back?”

  “Yeah, I guess.” He sat quietly for a long time. “Then we had the argument about the plate.” His voice came out so low, she knew this was the final chapter. “The day it happened, she had gone in to town for something, I don’t know what, and I’d decided to surprise her with a fancy supper to celebrate. Just for no reason except I loved her.”

  Cheyenne rubbed his thigh. She couldn’t be jealous of their relationship, but it was still a little hard to hear it from his lips.

  “When she came in the house, she saw that I had her grandmother’s plates on the table. I had to tell her I broke one of them when I was taking them out of the hutch.” Behind her, he stiffened. “She started crying. Her grandma gave them to us as a wedding gift. They were irreplaceable, and I was a jerk for being so careless.”

  She closed her eyes, bracing herself for what would come next.

  “I told her—in my understanding husband’s voice—that it was just the pregnancy hormones making her so upset over a plate, and that I’d find a replacement on Ebay.”

  Cheyenne groaned before she realized she’d let out the sound.

  “Yeah, big idiot, huh? So she said she needed to take a walk. I let her go.” He fisted his hand. “Why did I let her go?”

  She nodded. He wasn’t looking for an answer.

  “A few minutes later, Clint called. Told me she’d asked him to saddle Wise Acre for her, and she’d ridden off toward the north.” His breathing grew uneven. “You know the rest of the story.”

  “I’m sorry, Thad. I wish it had been different.”

  “Me too, but it took five years and a ghost to get me to move on.”

  She sat up and spun around to face him. “I forgot to tell you what I found out.”

  “About?”

  “The money Melissa left you. In the trust fund?” She opened her eyes wide. “There was a section in the documentation that stated the money needed to be withdrawn within five years of the date of Melissa’s death, or the money, along with the interest it had earned, was to be reabsorbed by the family.”

  “You’re shitting me, right?”

  “No. No shit. I think the family intentionally kept that from you. But somehow, Melissa must have known. Maybe she even put it in her will herself to make sure you got your own place. And Thad, five years was…”

  “Last week.” He flung his leg over the log and sat facing the fire.

  She gave him some space. He had to be thinking the same thing she was.

  That was Melissa’s timeline.

  ****

  Thad couldn’t wrap his mind around it all—the money, the five year limit, Melissa’s presence. But he could easily change his focus to Cheyenne’s coming all this way to see him. He fed the fire as she explored around outside the cave.

  “So, what do you eat when you’re up here?” She poked her head into the cave opening.

  He shrugged. “Oh, you know. Snakes, squirrels, sometimes a porcupine if I get lucky.”

  Her face fell, and he had to hide a grin.

  “Glad I brought a stash of granola bars.” She mumbled the words as she entered the cave and pulled the makeshift door closed.

  “Honeybee, with what I brought, and what Sayde packed in your saddlebags, we have enough steaks, bacon, chicken breasts, and eggs to last us the rest of the week. They’re all in the strongbox on dry ice.

  She flung her hand to her forehead. “Thank goodness. I feared I might starve.” She shrugged out of her coat. “Not that I couldn’t afford to lose a few pounds.”

  The temperature in the cave had risen to near-toasty, and he was in his flannel shirt and jeans. “You’re perfect.” He set another log on the fire and walked over to her. “You stay just the way you are.” He wrapped his arms around her and picked her up, swinging her in a circ
le. You are one fine specimen of womanhood.”

  She held onto his shoulders, laughing. “So poetic, Thad. Can I help you with anything?”

  “I’m going to start the beans warming. Then I’ll put some bakers in the coals and cook up a couple thick, juicy steaks.”

  “My mouth is watering.” She batted her eyes. “But not for beans.” She wiggled her hips, brushing herself against his big erection.

  “For bakers?”

  “Nope.” Her hand snuck between their bodies and her fingers slid into the waistband of his jeans.

  “For steak?”

  “No. Not that either.” She went deeper.

  Her touch, just tickling his shaft, sent chills racing through him, followed by flares of heat. “Let’s set up the bedrolls and let you have what your taste buds desire.”

  Chapter Twelve

  “Finally.” Cheyenne poured as much drama into that one word as any actress could.

  He smiled. “You make me laugh, Cheyenne Redford.” His voice echoed in the small cave.

  She took both his hands in hers. “You make me happy, Thad McCade.” Her face sobered. “Really happy.”

  “Mmmm. Let’s bedroll-up first, and talk later. Okay?”

  “Okay.”

  He opened both their sleeping bags and laid them on the cushioned floor of the screen tent. When he stepped out, he unbuttoned the sweater she had on over her layers. Peeling off the sweater, he shook his head. “You bundled some, huh?”

  “Yes. It’s cold.” She looked uncertain.

  “I’ll keep you warm.” He looked around then dragged the shock-corded tent closer to the fire, with the opening facing the warmth. He pulled a folded blanket from his saddlebag and laid it over the top of the tent. “There you go. Cocoon.”

  “Now I’ll peel off my many layers.”

  She did have layers. Funny, serious, lawyer, ghost chaser. All of them made up one impressive woman.

  She stopped with her jeans halfway down her long thighs. “You’re not participating in this bedrolling-up session?”

  “Ah, hell yeah.” He tugged off his boots and socks, jeans and long johns, flannel shirt and thermal undershirt.

  They stood naked, facing each other. “Ladies first.”

  When she bent to step into the tent, he swatted her ass. She squealed.

  “Been waiting to do that for a while, now.” He slid in beside her. The blanket kept the warmth in, and her skin glowed with the flickering firelight. “You’re so beautiful, Cheyenne. Smart and successful.”

  “Remember when you told me you didn’t feel like we belonged together because of our different lifestyles?”

  He’d been such a goddamn fool. “Yeah.”

  “Look at us now. We’re just two people in the wilderness. Naked. That’s how it should be. The start of a relationship, I mean. Leave the past out of it. Leave the rest of the world, too.” She ran her hand along his hip. “That’s why I came up here, Thad. To get back to the very beginning.”

  “I want that too, Cheyenne.” He wanted more from her, but he didn’t want to overload the situation.

  “Let’s start with this.” Her hand glided down, her touch like silk on his stomach, then on his hard length.

  “Good start.” He flopped back onto the sleeping bags and ran his hand over the soft skin of her back.

  “You would say that.” She bent and licked him.

  His hips jerked and heat spread in his balls. “Right now, I’d say just about anything you wanted me to, honeybee.”

  She giggled as she took him deep in her mouth.

  The vibration rattled through him, flashing hot like fireflies up his spine.

  Cheyenne made love to him with her mouth. She lapped at him and teased him, tickled him in spots he didn’t know were sensitive. Taking his sac in her hand, she licked each side, slowly, while rolling his balls gently between her fingers.

  He’d never experienced a sensation like that. So intense, so complex.

  Still cupping his sac, she took his shaft into her mouth and down her throat. Swallowing around him, she found a rhythm, sucking, swallowing, breathing, humming, all the while treating his balls to pleasure that curled them up tight to his body.

  When his mind flared like a thousand spotlights, he erupted, his staff sending bursts of his cum into her mouth, down her throat, where she moaned and swallowed, kissed and caressed.

  “Oh Cheyenne, you are a major talent.” Had stupider words ever come from his mouth?

  She snuggled in. “Thank you. Coming from you…” She wagged her brows at him. “That’s a lovely compliment.”

  He rolled her on top of him, pressing their skin tight against each other. “You make me laugh, Cheyenne.” How could he convince her to move closer to him? Like into the same house? He cupped her cheeks and kissed her, slow and sweet, showing her how much he adored her.

  She returned the kiss with such warmth, he wanted to ask her right then.

  “Wait here.” She jumped off him, crawled out of the tent, and bent over her clothes pile, digging for something. In seconds, she stood, holding a three-pack of condoms. “Found them.”

  “That’s all you brought?” He braced himself on his elbows, watching her. “Looks like I’m going to have to make a run to the gas station.”

  She laughed. “No, I have a full box.” She climbed into the tent. “And just how far away is this gas station?”

  “Oh, about seven, maybe eight hours’ ride.” Thad pulled her down onto him then rolled them so he was on top. “But it’d be worth it.”

  “It would.” She ripped open a condom packet and held the rubber circle up. “Because I want to have you inside me every hour of the day and night, Thad. I need you.”

  ****

  Cheyenne let the words pour out of her. Something about this man, his stubbornness, his sense of right and wrong, his loyalty. She didn’t want to be without him.

  Thad lifted himself from her, his hard cock pressing against her mound. He rubbed up and down a few times, hitting her sweet spot and making her breath catch. “I want you, Cheyenne. Put that thing on me. Now.”

  His hungry stare, his powerful words, made her core quiver and her pussy juice for him. She rolled on the condom and immediately guided him to her opening. “Now. Fast. Please.” She wanted nothing more than to be overpowered by him.

  With a slow push, he sheathed himself deep in her, pumping quickly to go even further inside, make room for himself in her waiting body.

  When he was fully encased inside her, she spread her legs and wrapped them around him. With a tug, she pulled him in even more. Inside her, the beautiful ache of her body accommodating his thickness, his length, sent jittery pleasure up her spine to dance in her mind.

  “You’re so tight. Hot and perfect, honeybee.” He moved, slowly at first, then began to rock into her, letting her slide off him and pull him back in with her legs.

  He leaned down and took her breast in his mouth, suckling her, licking and biting.

  The sensation flittered through her, concentrating in her belly, turning her brain into a spinning mass.

  “You want fast?” His words, whispered against her breast, sent shivers along her skin.

  “Yes, and hard. Fast and hard.” She laughed at the silliness of her words.

  “Any other critical instructions here?” He smiled up at her, holding her nipple between his teeth.

  “Make me howl like a wolf, then purr like a cougar.” She shrugged, feeling too love-drugged to care how goofy that sounded.

  “We’ll both howl.” He reared up onto his knees, picked her up by the hips, and began jackhammering into her. “We’ll howl like the moon was full tonight.”

  She hung on to the bedroll under her as he slammed into her, wild and unfettered.

  With teeth bared and the firelight behind him, Thad looked like he belonged up here, feral and free on his mountain.

  Squeezing herself tight around him, she let the moment surround her, let the man she co
uldn’t live without take her where she needed to go. Her body convulsed with her sudden climax, sending her shooting out of her body, circling the moon, and letting loose with a loud animal cry.

  “That’s it, Cheyenne. Let it loose. Let yourself…” With a jerk of his hips, he shouted with everything he had, his cry echoing with hers around the cave. He pounded into her a dozen more times, then pulled out, collapsing onto her and rolling to her side, his head on her chest. He panted, loud and fast, for what seemed like forever.

  “C’mere.” He tugged her on top of him, holding her head over his heart, smoothing her hair as both their heartbeats slowed.

  “Wow. Guess it must be all the fresh air.” She kissed his chest.

  Thad chuckled, the sound rolling from deep inside him. “Must be. That and our wild naked primal…what was all that you were saying before?”

  “I don’t know. I talk too much. A hazard of my job.” She could lay here with him for the rest of her life.

  “I think it’s perfect. You like to talk. I don’t. But you seem to get me to say more to you in one minute that I usually say in a whole day. We’re good together.”

  Her heart thudded. “We are good together.”

  “Move in with me.” His body stiffened.

  She froze for a minute then shifted so she could look into his eyes. He was dead serious. She didn’t know how to respond. “I assume you mean at the ranch, not here in the cave, right?”

  He nodded.

  She swallowed. This was not a topic to joke about. “I do a lot of traveling. Have to be in hotels all over Montana for days at a time.”

  “I’ll wait for you.” His whiskey-brown eyes reflected the firelight. Intensity filled his gaze.

  She couldn’t resist. Even this early in their relationship, and with the shaky start they had, this felt right. It filled her heart with joy, and was the perfect thing for him to ask her. “Yes. I’ll move in with you.”

  He smiled, then dropped his head back, laughing. When he sat up and pulled her onto his lap, he kissed her cheeks, her nose, her chin. “You’ve made me a very happy man, Cheyenne. And I promise to make the rest of your life, the best of your life.”