by Ashlee Price
I was nervous for what was to come. There was a fear that someone would get hurt but the Callahans were not going to leave or be pushed out. I would always stand by them as they were the only family that I had ever really had. Now that I had fallen for Gemma, a notion I had come to as I read the message on the wall. I couldn’t lose her and as she slept on the couch beside me, I knew that whatever happened, we would have to take care of them.
“I am going to go upstairs to check on Leanna. Keep an out while I am gone.”
I nodded my head and then looked down at his sister as he left the room. Some of her hair had fallen into her face and as I pushed it back, she whispered my name softly in her sleep. My heart clenched with the sound of my name on her lips and there was nothing I could do to stop the yearning I felt from that one sound.
“Go back to sleep Gemma. Everything is fine.”
As soon as I said the words, there was a loud crashing sound as fire broke through the window. My body went into action. I yelled out to Marcus, but he was already coming down the stairs with Leanna fast on his heels.
“Now, Billy.”
Everything happened so fast after that. Everything was a blur, but the plan was in motion as Marcus’ house burned to the ground as more cocktails smashed through the windows. The women stayed behind one of the vehicles as me and Marcus took off towards the figures trying to escape. They couldn’t though. Things were put in place to stop that from happening.
***
“Officers, I don’t know what else to tell you. That is the truth. All we were doing was protecting our loved ones.”
The sheriff’s deputy looked skeptical, unable to get the aftermath out of his head. But there were laws of property in Texas and it looked like something for the ‘stand your ground’ policy. He wanted to ask more, some answers in the back of his mind didn’t mesh, but not tonight.
“You folks have been through enough tonight. Come back tomorrow around ten and we will take down your official version of what happened. Mr. Sanders was an upstanding citizen and there will be a lot of people scrutinizing these proceedings. I have to make sure everything is wrapped up.”
The deputy pushed them to leave the scene of the crime. There was a burnt house and several bodies around his small town and to say that it was a mess was an understatement.
Chapter 10 – Gemma
I had never been so scared in my life, but through it all, Billy had made sure that I was okay. I didn’t want to know what happened, all I knew was that it was over and that was enough for me. Marcus’ house was not the only one that saw damage. The ranch was hit, though only one burning bottle was thrown at the main house before the brothers came out of the woods behind the attackers, pinning them down and getting the information that was needed.
From what the police had said, there was several dead and I shuddered to think about if one of them would have been one of my brothers or Billy. I knew that I was safe now, but the thought haunted me and it made me realize that if I had died or Billy had died, I would have never had a proper kiss with him.
In the first moments when I was standing on the porch, unsure where the men were and where the next flame was going to hit, I thought of that one sad fact and as soon as I seen him again after the police sent them back to the ranch where the rest of us women were waiting. Billy had told me to go there and that we would be safe while my brothers went down to answer some hard questions.
So when I saw him, I made sure that I would never have to have that feeling again. Now I knew that we were supposed to be together and he was the one, I didn’t want to wait another minute before I kissed him. It had just been proven to me that anything could happen and all I wanted to do was feel his lips against mine.
My arms entangled his neck and I pulled him down for more as there were several whistles around us. I didn’t care. All I wanted was Billy’s touch.
When it settled down some and people were finally ready to go to sleep as the sun was starting to come up, I pulled Billy along with me downstairs. His room had been given to Marcus and his family because it was bigger and I was more than happy to welcome him in with me.
I didn’t need to say a word because as soon as the door closed behind him, Billy was kissing me again. The one in the living room hadn’t been enough for either one of us. I didn’t want him to stop kissing me, but I wanted more and I wasn’t going to get it the way I was dressed.
Pushing back on his chest, his eyes almost glowed in the creeping light. I pulled the short dress I had to borrow from Leanna’s stash at the ranch and I heard the gasp from his lips before he pushed me down onto the bed.
There his hands were all over me and I couldn’t help but feel my own excitement. I wanted him, more than anything I had wanted in a while. It had been such a slow progression. A week he had been off work and he had been with me almost every day. I had gotten to know him at the same time I was checking out the hard body that now pressed against me in a manic need. There was no slow go to his action now. It was like my permission had opened a floodgate that was not able to be stopped any longer.
His hands were everywhere and I couldn’t think. All I could do was feel, and even then, it didn’t seem to be enough. “Please Billy. We have waited long enough.” The days felt like months and I needed him badly. There was no other way around it and he delivered beautifully.
Billy’s lips found mind for a moment that stretched out as his tongue entangled with my own. He was laying over me, surrounding me with his manliness and as he nestled in between my legs, driving me crazy. His hips pressed into me over and over again. I only had my panties on and it wasn’t enough to stop me from feeling what I so desperately needed. We had the same need as his hands got harder as they gripped my hips.
When his mouth pulled away from me, all I could utter out was more. It wasn’t enough, even though I was already overwhelmed beyond anything I had ever been before. I had known it would be different with Billy, I just didn’t know how different.
Billy pulled down the last piece of clothing I was wearing and I caught the glint in his eyes when he his fingers went back to the unveiling and felt how wet I was. I was beyond ready, nothing more needed as he started to pull his own clothes off in a jerk. As he came back to me, my eyes were closed, but they flew open when I felt the heavy thickness pressing against me. Then there was pressure and I gasped as my slickness allowed him entry.
His head went down on mine, as his hips thrust in fully. It was fast and too much all at once.
“Billy!”
Another inch or two as his hips ground against me. I was filled to the brim, while my insides quivered. Every squeeze of my walls made him groan in the most delicious way and pushed me to do it several times, until I had pushed him too much. Sitting up and back, he pulled me to him and started sawing in and out of me quickly.
I could no longer think of teasing him when I was so quickly pushed past my limit. I begged him to go harder. I just needed a bit more and then I had more than I could handle. Screaming out his name one last time, Billy ignored my pleas and went faster.
Billy bear-hugged my thighs, almost pulling me from the mattress as he took more and more as my need swirled around him. I could feel it making it easier to enter. Again I felt the stunning waves of pleasure fall over me and again his name was screamed loudly. That time though, he dropped my legs and covered my mouth.
“We are not alone here Gemma.”
I had forgotten or didn’t care, not really sure which one it was. I couldn’t stop the sounds and neither could his hand over my mouth. Then he was pushing hard one last time and it was Billy that couldn’t control the low groan that was a lot louder than I had been a moment before. I put my hand over his mouth and squeezed him tightly, milking every last bit of his hot seed out of him. I have never felt so complete and when he tried to roll off, I clamped down on him until he groaned. I could feel him throbbing with each clench of my inner muscles.
“Gemma. I need a minute.”
It was a time before I was lucid again. My plan backfired, but I didn’t mind so much, barely able to move from the spot next to him, my head rising and falling with his hard chest.
As I lay there, I thought about the fact that he would soon be gone back to work. I didn’t want him to go. I didn’t ever want to not feel that way again. Life was too short to not be with the one I loved, whether I was supposed to love him or not. I didn’t know if I could take weeks without him being next to me. I knew that I didn’t want to wait weeks for him to do that to me again.
“I don’t want you to go.”
“I’m not going anywhere Gemma.”
“You are going to stay here on the ranch?”
“If I got to be a cowboy to be with you, then so be it. Has to be better than floating in the ocean for two weeks at a time, not able to lie next to you and feel you against me.”
He kissed the side of my neck as I sighed as my eyes closed.
“I couldn’t imagine it either. I am glad you are my cowboy Billy. I don’t know what I would do without you.”
“You never have to find out Gemma. I promise.”
~THE END~
Cowboy’s Loving
Introduction
The Callahan boys are still bachelors, but Paul is finally ready to settle down. His work on the ranch keeps him busy most days, though, and he had less time for love than ever before. When he sees his older brother married off and happy, he wants the same thing. Paul just doesn’t know where he is going to find it.
Then he meets Katie and everything changes. It doesn’t matter that she is out of his league; he longs for her in a way that he has never experienced before. Paul’s biggest problem is that he finds it hard to think – let alone talk – in front of her.
But he is not the only one who is feeling inexplicably drawn, and Katie is determined to take matters into her own hands if Paul can’t realize what it is they both truly want.
Katie may have to leave him behind to go back to her life in the city, but she will always remember loving her cowboy.
Chapter 1
“It’s not like we can just give her what she wants. I am thirty-four years old and it’s not like I haven’t been looking. There is just no one here that interests me.”
Scott shook his head and agreed. They were both feeling the pressure to get hitched after their oldest brother did. The fact that it was their mother’s request that they all do the same, made it even more stressful.
“They can’t all be like Davina. Besides, Marcel had to go to the city to find her. There is just too much work here to be done. I barely ever get to get out, let alone find the woman to marry and have children with. She thinks that it’s going to be like her and dad. I try to tell them that they are now the exception.”
Paul wholeheartedly agreed. He’d tried to tell her the same thing, but you couldn’t tell Elna anything that she didn’t want to hear and she didn’t want to hear about how they couldn’t do something. She really expected them to all go out and find a mate. It was the way she had raised them and like all of her requests, she expected this one to be listened to as well.
It wasn’t the first time the two brothers had lamented over her orders and her idea that it was all just going to work out the way she wanted it. Both Paul and Scott worked the family ranch and since the Callahan Ranch was one of the biggest ones in the state, even with ample help, the two brothers were there 6-7 days a week when it was light out.
Paul in particular was feeling the pressure as the second born son. It was also what had happened to Marcel and how in love he was with his new wife. Davina already had a kid on the way and he had been over there a couple of times for dinner in their new house. It was impossible for Paul to not feel a little jealousy. He wanted what his brother had, not an unknown feeling, but it was made stronger when he seen the two of them so happy together. It made him think that maybe he was missing something big and the best thing he could do was do what Marcel did and find him a bride. Though Paul was afraid of city girls, not having much in common with them and couldn’t see his life with one.
“Marcel is happy Scott. It makes me wonder if mom is right and that a woman is exactly what I need.”
“He is happy, but speak for yourself on the rest of it. Me and Darla have been dating for over a year now.”
“So why don’t you ask her to marry you then?”
Scott shook his dark head and smiled back. “There is no way I would want to marry her. She is just for now.”
“Well we aren’t getting any older brother, maybe we should be thinking about more long term. Everyone in the family likes her and she already knows the business.”
Scott couldn’t articulate why it was that he had never thought to marry Darla, but he knew that she was not the one. The reason he stayed with her was that the sex was pretty good, but there was never any soft words of love afterward. Just blissful sleep. “Trust me brother, she is not the one for me. You can ask her if you want. She has always made a comment about how cute my older brothers were.”
Paul shook his head, the older blonde was not his type, but she had always seemed to suit his younger brother. But he was right, she was not really marriage material, or at least not what he had in mind anyways.
“Well we have to at least act like we are trying. Elna will be back this weekend and I think she expects us to have something more to tell her than, we can’t be bothered.”
“You tell her what you want Paul, I am going to bring Darla and give her the illusion.”
Paul shook his head, but had to hand it to his brother, it was a good plan. All she wanted was the idea that it may happen, though it wouldn’t work forever. It would however get her off his back about finding someone for now, though Paul didn’t have a girlfriend. He had an ex, but the family disliked her already, so she was not an option. Even if he could stand to be around her after what she did to him.
Sighing he got back to feeding the cattle, unrolling the large roll of last year’s hay. There was plenty of fresh if they would venture out, but as it started to get cold, the cows got lazy, which was just as well since he didn’t want to go out anyways. There was plenty of hay if they chose not to go out, so he was there in the middle of them unrolling it as they came forward to eat.
There was still several parts of fence that needed to be fixed and since Scott was going to handle the feed run to town, Paul decided he would start on his own task after he was done there. It didn’t take long to make sure that all were accounted for and that there was enough water for the day. He started towards the house and changed his boots before getting to the barn to saddle up his horse.
Colt was ready to get out, antsy as he buckled the straps around the underside of the horse. He tried to calm him, but the horse seemed as anxious as the man felt as of late. He knew that he shouldn’t let it bother him, but it was like a looming problem that he was still unsure how to solve.
He let the mare around the corral for a few minutes before he moved in and grabbed the reins. There was something strange in the air and Paul started to feel it too. He was feeling the restlessness and maybe the two were playing off of each other from familiarity, but one way or another, Paul was ready to go.
Jumping up on his back, the two took off and Paul let the animal steer the way. He wasn’t pressed to do anything in particular, so he let Colt take him far past his own land and into some of the unclear land that the government owned and the cows fed at. It was some time later before he finally stopped the horse, seemingly hell-bent on driving himself into the ground. Something had gotten into the horse and he wasn’t sure what it was. But P
aul felt the same restlessness that Colt felt.
As the horse slowed his walk to cool down, Paul got off and walked beside him for a minute. He wanted to get rid of his own energy now that the mare had gotten rid of hers. Paul held the reins loosely and then let the horse get a ways away from him. Paul still wasn’t sure what was wrong with the horse, but he followed the meandering animal away from the direction they had been going to only moments before.
Paul was about to catch up with the horse and turn him back towards the ranch when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. There was someone coming towards them from the woods and by the looks of them, something was wrong. The figure was limping and Paul knew that he had to help them.
As he walked closer to the figure in hurried steps, the horse was already there, nudging the person until a small hand patted his head. Paul stopped for a moment when the person looked up at him and he seen bright green eyes staring back at him. “Miss? Are you okay?”
Chapter 2
Katie nodded her head that she wasn’t. It had turned into one of the worst days and nights of her life and the only saving grace that she had found was the fact that there was a man and a horse suddenly in front of her and the forest had finally broken into some sort of civilization.
She couldn’t talk. Her mouth too dry and the man started asking her a barrage of questions. Instead of answering she looked to his horse and found some water in the saddle bag. No good cowboy would leave without something to drink and Paul was no different. After taking several drinks with him watching her in amazement, Katie finally answered some of his questions.
“I stepped on some kind of trap while I was hunting.”
He looked at her a little incredulously and she tried not to take offense. “I take it women don’t do much hunting in this area huh?”
Paul shook his head. This was not really the place to hunt. He and most others had enough meat from their animals, though there were a few that would go out for a deer before winter hit. When Paul looked at her, he didn’t see a gun or any other kind of equipment, but he did see that she was injured.