He wasn’t smiling now. “Your parents will kick you out? Immediately?”
“They don’t believe in empty threats. I was in high school when they packed up all my sister’s clothes in boxes and left them in a neat stack on the front porch for her.”
“Which college didn’t she want to go to?”
Emily kind of liked his sarcasm. “She was in the appropriate college, actually, but she got pregnant.”
Graham was perfectly still for a moment. Then very deliberately, he pushed the comforter off himself and turned so he sat on the edge of the vehicle. He was tall, so his feet were on the ground as he glared at her lake. “That’s a hell of a time to tell your kid she’s got to find her own place to live. This is who you’re dealing with?”
“They were willing to help her, but they demanded that she name the father. She refused. It was an ultimatum, tell us or else. They didn’t see why the boy shouldn’t have to help, or why he shouldn’t face any consequences. They wanted the boy to take responsibility.”
Graham’s profile had that marble-statue hard look again. “I can agree with that much, but punishing the girl when she needs support is complete bull. That’s not the time to throw out your own damn daughter, for fu—for God’s sake.”
Tarzan would be a fiercely protective father some day. It wasn’t something Emily had looked for in a man before, but it was so easy at this moment to look at Graham’s profile and imagine him twenty years from now. He’d be very little changed, physically. He was already a man with no trace of boyishness left. Twenty years from now, he might have some gray in his hair or some crinkles at the corners of his eyes. He’d be just as handsome, just as protective, and if he had a nineteen-year-old daughter who needed him, there’d be no conditions set first, no criteria that would entitle her to his best effort.
This night was changing her life. Graham was setting the bar so high. No wonder the plans she’d made for her future had never included a permanent relationship. She hadn’t met Graham yet, so she hadn’t known what was possible.
The vertigo didn’t take her by surprise this time, but it was still scary, and it kept her silent.
Graham looked at her out of the corner of his eye. “Sorry. They’re your parents.”
“You’re not supposed to apologize when you’re right.”
“Ah, Emily.”
“Someone taught me that. Can’t remember his name right now…” But Graham was still looking so deadly serious. She patted his arm, maybe a bit of a horsey pat. “It happened years ago, so it’s not as shocking to me now as it is to you. But you’re right about how badly my mom and stepfather handled it.”
“Did they learn from it? Do you think they’d be as harsh with you over college? You’re not dropping out. You’re just going to get your diploma in September instead of at a ceremony in May.”
“I’m afraid it’ll be easier for them now that they’ve done it once. They are not going to have two daughters break their rules. One was unacceptable. Two will not be tolerated.”
“Then you know what to expect. A predictable enemy can be planned against.” He winced at his own words. “Sorry. Again. They’re not your enemy. They’re your parents.”
“I know what you meant. My sister handled it better than they did. She’s a great mom.” Emily scooted over to sit next to him, her legs dangling over the edge as she nudged him, shoulder to shoulder. “She’s a good sister, too. I sure learned a lesson about birth control. She made sure of that before she left. You’ll notice that in the front seat tonight, at that certain moment in the dark, I said ‘protection,’ not ‘Benjamin.’”
There was a moment of electric silence.
“They kind of sound similar. Thought maybe you hadn’t caught that.”
Yeah, I went there. C’mon, don’t be sad on a great night.
“You are something else, Emily.” Graham both laughed and gave his head a little shake of disbelief, but then he bent his head and kissed her sweetly. The comforter was now a tangled heap behind them, so Graham grabbed one of the new towels and wrapped it around her shoulders. “I’m still worried about you tomorrow. Do you have anywhere else to live?”
“Honestly, now that I’ve made this decision, I’m not worried at all. I’m excited, so excited. If I can’t find a friend’s house to crash at, I can sleep in my truck for a few days. That’s the worst-case scenario.”
“I don’t want you to have to sleep in a truck.”
“If I’m not willing to do that, then I don’t want it badly enough, do I?” She looked at her lake. It was still perfectly smooth, but she was going to stir things up. A triple cartwheel, why not?
She hopped off the SUV and landed, barefoot, on the cold earth. It was shocking on the soles of her feet. It felt good. “I feel like the weight of the world is off my shoulders now, not on them. I knew the solution was so obvious. Just take one little online course over the summer, obvious, obvious, obvious. But when everyone around you thinks this big, expensive, life-changing plan is necessary, you start to wonder if you’re the crazy one. I’m so glad I met you. I just needed to hear you call an online course an online course. That put it all in perspective. I’m not crazy. Thank you.” She was keeping the towel around herself tightly, the ends in her fists, but she leaned forward and kissed Graham as sweetly as he’d kissed her. “Thank you.”
“Come here.” He put his hands on her hips and pulled her to stand between his knees.
Yes.
“Let’s talk about timing. If you think your parents are going to kick you out in a knee-jerk reaction, can you keep your plans a secret until you find a job?”
“I’d have to find it by Sunday. That’s when I’m supposed to drive back to Oklahoma.” Even as she spoke, all the little pieces were falling into place. She tapped his shoulder in excitement with her fistful of towel. “Actually, the timing is perfect. I can stay at my cousin’s house. It wasn’t an option when I graduated from high school because my aunt and uncle lived there, and they weren’t going to defy my mother. But it’s been only Luke living there for years. He just got married, right before Christmas, and he’s off on his honeymoon. He won’t care if I crash there while he’s gone.”
“This is a key-under-the-doormat kind of thing? You’ll be able to get in?”
“If it’s even locked, yes. I was going to spend the weekend there, anyway. One last chance to ride before going back to school.”
“Horses again.”
“You laugh now, but you’re going to love riding, too.”
Graham was silent, but she let him get away with it this time. She was feeling bubbly, almost giddy with relief that she was going to stop playing by her parents’ rules, but Graham was still anticipating danger for her. That sobered her up a bit.
“Instead of leaving Sunday for Oklahoma, I’ll just stay on longer at Luke’s.” But she didn’t want to sober up. She wanted Graham to smile against her lips again, so she kissed him. And she kissed him again, a little less sweetly, a little more sexily. When he took over, kissing her a little longer, tasting her a little more, she whispered, “I’ll be just fine as can be.”
It changed his kisses. He kissed her cheek, her temple. He smoothed her hair back and started finger-combing the worst of her tangles out. He was fussing over her. Loving her.
There was no vertigo. It didn’t scare her at all to be taken care of by Graham.
“Don’t spend the next three months worrying about me,” she said. “I just thought of the perfect plan.”
“Let’s hear it.”
“The timing is perfect for everything. The week before the wedding, Luke and my uncle were getting into it pretty hard in the kitchen. I told you my aunt and uncle took off once Luke turned twenty-one, right? They’ve been traveling all around the world, coming home only for roundup and Christmas, big events like that. T
rey, the other brother, finally came home for the wedding, but it was his first time home in ten years. Ten. So, the gist of the conversation was that Luke is done with being left to run the whole thing three hundred and sixty-five days a year. His new wife is in charge of Texas Rescue and Relief—do you know it in Chicago? It does a lot of emergency work, natural disasters, stuff like that. Anyway, Luke’s wife works in downtown Austin. They want to be able to go back and forth between the ranch house and her place downtown. I think that’s fair, don’t you?”
“Here, sit on my knee so your bare feet get off that cold ground.”
Emily tried to play it cool when she was secretly thrilled. That gruff order meant he wanted to hear the rest of her story, and he wanted to make her more comfortable while she told it. She let him settle her on his thigh. He kept his arm around her waist.
“But my uncle, he’s not going to come back to ranching. He knows ranching, he’s good at it, but it’s never been his passion. My mom says his father had guessed that and was afraid he’d sell the place, so the will included Luke and Trey, even though they were just itty-bitty at the time. Anyway, so there I was in the kitchen with the guys, and my uncle says to Luke that he’s already put in twenty-one years, running the place until Luke could inherit it. He won’t return until he’s taken twenty-one years off.”
“Damn. Does your whole family go so hard-core with the ultimatums?”
“Pretty much. My mother always says I’m too stubborn, but she doesn’t seem to see that I come by it naturally.”
“You’re confident.”
“I’m stubborn.”
“It’s attractive on you. You’re going to need it to make this move.”
She was reduced to that satin ribbon again, not from a sexy embrace this time, but from a compliment that made her worst trait sound like her strength. Her smile felt a little wobbly. “Have I mentioned that I’m glad you walked into my life tonight?”
Silence. The warm hand on her waist was solid, though.
“So, Luke’s ultimatum was that if Trey and my uncle aren’t going to help, then they’re going to sink some of their share of the profits into hiring more people to work for them. For starters, they’re going to hire one more hand now that the holidays are over. I could be that one. They haven’t even advertised the job yet. I’m the most qualified applicant they’ll ever get. Lord knows I’ve mucked out enough stalls in their barn for free. It won’t kill them to pay me instead of hiring an outsider. I’m a shoo-in.”
But the more excited she got, the more subdued Graham got.
“What do you think?” she asked.
“I think I should keep my opinions to myself,” he said. “You don’t need my help. I don’t know how a family ranch runs, but you do. I don’t know your family, but you do. I’ll say this much—the only thing anyone can do is trust their own judgment and go for it. Just don’t forget that there are always two possible outcomes. It will work, or it won’t. You have to be ready for the ‘won’t.’”
“I like your opinions.” He had one hand on her to keep her balanced on his knee, but his other hand was resting lightly on his other thigh. Emily gently slipped her fingers over the back of his hand and under his sleeve again, running her fingers a little way up his forearm.
“You don’t think there’s a chance it won’t work, do you?” He turned his hand palm up. Her fingers slipped down the smooth inside of his arm. “I vaguely remember being that optimistic, back in my twenties.”
“Back in your twenties? What are you now? Sixty?”
“Thirty…” His voice trailed off a little, the most unsure she’d ever heard him sound about anything.
Surely the man knew how old he was. “Thirty-what?”
“Just thirty.”
She laughed a little, all part of this wonderful, bubbly, freedom-filled night. “You said ‘back in your twenties’ like it was eons ago. To paraphrase what some guy told me tonight, you’re not missing out on life. You’re only thirty.”
He moved his arm so her fingers had nothing to do, but since he’d moved it in order to touch her face, knuckles smoothing over her cheek, she didn’t mind.
“Eight of those years were in the Marine Corps. And since then—” He hesitated again. “I didn’t intend to meet a beautiful woman tonight and have her relying on my opinions to change her life.”
“But you did, and I’m glad. Your take on the master’s degree was perfect.” She looped her arms around his neck, as if that would keep him close. It was an odd thing to think. It wasn’t like the man was going to stand up and dump her off his lap and walk away. But he was backing out of the conversation, and she didn’t want him to go.
He’d hinted at something about his time after the Marine Corps. “What were you doing in Chicago that was so awful it drove you to drive all the way to Texas?”
He was silent, but she had the feeling this was one of those deliberation points. She saw the subtle change in his expression as he made his decision and looked directly at her. Captain Graham, maybe, was going to lay it on the line. “I was getting an MBA. You are taking advice on the master’s degree from a man who just dropped out of a master’s degree program.”
She sat back a little, she was so surprised. In the moonlight, those pasture-green eyes were almost gray, but the look in those eyes was still so direct, so unflinching, even when he was telling her something he thought was negative.
He spoke a little more softly. “I could try to make myself look better and tell you I’m taking a sabbatical.”
“Don’t do that. You look too good already.”
His smile came and went too quickly for her to catch it with the pad of her thumb.
She traced his serious bottom lip instead, the way he had touched her mouth when she’d first told him he would be coming back to ride horses with her. “But it’s not a sabbatical, is it? You don’t belong there, and you’re not going back.” The way he watched her lips form every word made her feel like she was saying something erotic.
He stopped staring at her mouth. “I know what your parents would think about you going horseback riding with a man who dropped out of his graduate school and doesn’t have a job. I’d have to agree with them.”
She frowned and put her arm back around his neck. “But you do have a job lined up. You finished your time in the military, you worked at a safe job you hated and you tried graduate school. That’s not so awful.” She wanted to kiss him, but she kept looking in those gray-green eyes, looking for some sign that her point was getting through to him. “Now you’re going to work with your uncle in the middle of nowhere for three months. It sounds like you need the break to reboot. Reset.”
She couldn’t stand being this close and not kissing him, just a gentle press of her lips on his soft lips. “After that, you’re going to come and find me.” Another kiss. The man had such a hard body, a hard expression, but such soft lips. “I’ll be right here, or somewhere nearby, and I’ll have the horses ready.” Another kiss.
He remained silent, but he kissed her back. Every time.
“I am going to make you feel so good, Ben Graham.”
She could make him feel so good right now. She’d love to lay him back right here in the cargo area, right here with the old duffel bags and the new bedding. With her hands, with her mouth, with her body, she’d make him forget every worry. She wanted to smile over his lips the way he’d smiled over hers, then give him one glorious moment of pure pleasure.
But he was torturing himself for some reason. He wouldn’t let her take that burden off his shoulders, not even for a night.
Someday. Three months from now? But at this moment, she couldn’t continue to sit on a muscular thigh and be protected by a warm hand and have her every kiss returned. It made her want more. She needed to do something with all this physical passion. It was all mixed up with
her exciting new plans. She was not going to waste another year of her life. Not even one semester. She was going to start living now. She was going to break that calm surface. That triple cartwheel was so close she could taste it.
A triple cartwheel. She’d never pulled one off before.
No time like the present.
“I know the perfect way to celebrate. It’s kind of a bucket list thing around here that I never got to do. We should join the polar bear club. Go swimming now, while it’s winter. We’ll celebrate not finishing our master’s degrees.”
“Plunging into freezing water doesn’t sound like a celebration.”
“You’re a big chicken if you don’t do it once you’re challenged.”
“You’re crazy, Emily Davis.”
“I double-dog dare you to join me.”
Silence.
“Silence is not an answer, Graham. This is an official double-dog dare to keep up with me.” She pushed off his knees, backed up a step and took the towel off her shoulders. She tossed it into the SUV, then started pulling down the zipper on the side of her dress. “You’re too slow. I’ve got less clothing to take off than you do.”
She let her dress drop to the ground.
Damn him, he was doing that marble-statue thing. She’d wanted to see his eyes bug out of his head. She wasn’t sure how much he could see in the dark, but her bra was pretty much just a thin bit of something see-through. He must have felt that there wasn’t much to her bra in the front seat, but he hadn’t seen it yet. In bra and panties, she turned toward the lake and started walking. Faster. A lot faster. It was cold.
He didn’t exactly shout after her, but he used that Marine Corps tone on her again. “Get back in the car.”
“That command didn’t work last time you said it, either.” She looked over her shoulder as she kept walking. “But it is sexy in an over-the-top, macho kind of way. What else you got that’s over-the-top and macho?” She turned around and walked backward, keeping one arm over her breasts in that skimpy bra. “Let’s see it.”
Lost in Cottonwood Canyon & How to Train a Cowboy--Lost in Cottonwood Canyon Page 34