A Little Harmless Ride

by Melissa Schroeder

  “Whoa, cowboy, I can handle my own bag,” she said, annoyance filling her voice.

  “And I think Joe would expect me to show you the courtesy of grabbing your bag.”

  She rolled her eyes and walked away. He followed. He’d been right. The jeans fit that heart shaped ass perfectly. She was rooting through her purse and then withdrew her sunglasses.

  “So, where are we parked, Danny Aiona?”

  He glanced back at Eli, apparently unsure of what to say. Then he motioned with his hand. “Just right out here.”

  “Let’s go. I’m hungry.”

  * * * *

  Crysta smiled when her father texted back.

  “Your father?” Eli asked.

  It irritated her that he assumed it would be her father, but she was more annoyed that she was disappointed by his reaction when she arrived. Okay, she had been a little over enthusiastic, but she was excited. The long ride over gave her a lot of time to think.

  Her father had been right. This was a chance to start new. To take time and decide what to do with the rest of her life. Well, for the next part of her life at least. That had excited her. She shouldn’t expect Eli, a man who had worked alongside her uncle for years, thinking he would own the ranch.

  “Yes. He’s going to bed now. Kind of late for him.”

  He nodded. “He might have company.”

  She snorted. “I wish. He needs to have a life.”

  “There’s been no one since your mom?”

  She shook her head. “I know he had lovers, but no one he wanted to let me know about, which means he wanted nothing long term. He needs someone to keep him company. Besides, sex keeps you happy and healthy. It’s good for your immune system. So, he needs a woman.”

  “Not all men do.”

  “All people need each other.”

  He shook his head. “No. Look at me. Look at Joe.”

  ‘”First of all, I don’t know that much about you. Secondly, we all know why Joe didn’t have anyone around.”

  So, she had known Joe had been gay. Not everyone did, but Joe apparently trusted the Millers enough to tell them. She glanced in the back. His husband had died a few years ago, so he hadn’t had anyone around.

  “And, you do have people around. Or beings. Admit it. You would be happy to spend all your days alone, but you would always want an animal around. A dog or a horse.”

  He hated that she barely knew him but could pick up on so much of his personality.

  “Don’t look so irritated. You remind me of my father. He’s always been a bit laid back, but I know he could kill with his bare hands. Now, he just likes the quiet. He said after time in the Navy and raising me, he likes his own company. Which kind of irritates me, but I know it’s the truth. I’m a lot to put up with.”

  “I can’t believe that,” Danny piped up. She smiled back at him.

  “Aren’t you sweet, but you aren’t a very good liar. There’s one thing I know and that is… I’m a handful.”

  Eli turned off the main road and it only took only a minute or two to make it to the gate. It was open, which had Eli frowning.

  “Was that not supposed to be open?” she asked.

  “No. I like to keep it locked unless we are expecting people.”

  He drove under the arch, got out of the SUV, and walked over to the control panel. After he punched a few buttons, the gates groaned as they closed.

  “Is it that much of a problem?” she asked.

  He cut her a glance, then put the SUV in gear. “It’s a safety issue, for us and for them. Someone wanders on here, they could end up getting hurt.”

  “And you could get sued. Of course.”

  They only went a few more feet before there was a huge explosion in one of the tires.

  Eli cursed under his breath and parked the SUV. The three of them got out and congregated at the tire in the back end on the passenger’s side. It was definitely flat.

  “Well, that sucks,” Danny said.

  She laughed.

  “Get the tire, Danny,” Eli said, annoyance threading his voice.

  Danny smiled and went to do Eli’s bidding.

  Eli said nothing and got the tools. Then he squatted down and got to work. She watched as his competent hands worked.

  Crysta turned around and looked out over the land. There were storm clouds over the horizon, but it didn’t seem to faze her. She wasn’t one for rain, it always seemed to bring her down, but for some reason she felt a jolt of excitement this time instead. Maybe she was just excited about the new possibilities or the lack of sleep, but something had her heart feeling light.

  “It certainly is a beautiful view. I don’t know how people would ever want to leave this.”

  “Your mother did.”

  The flat tone had her frowning.

  “Not by choice. She fell in love.”

  “Which is more important than anything,” Danny said as he rolled the tire around from the back.

  Eli looked up at her and she rolled her eyes. His lips curved slightly and she felt a little ping in her heart. No, not good. She shouldn’t be trying to get the surly man out of his funk, whatever that might be. But for some reason she wanted to. She wanted to pull as many smiles from him as possible.

  Danny rolled the tire to Eli and they made quick work of it. By the time they were on the way, the strange feeling of need Eli touched in her was almost forgotten. As they drove over the last little hill on the way to the house, it came into view and she had a sense of déjà vu again. It was as if someone had walked over her grave—as her grandmother would have said.

  Eli must have sensed her feelings because he glanced at her. “Something wrong?”

  She shook her head. “No. Just…it feels like home. And I like that.”

  He gave her another inscrutable look, and said nothing else as he drove them on to the house.

  She pushed the worries away. If there was one thing a military brat understood, it was the excitement of a new start. Life was too short not to enjoy it.

  Chapter Five

  It felt different. Not dangerous or scary, just different. Eli leaned against the counter and sipped some Kona coffee as the floor above squeaked and groaned. There hadn’t been a woman living in the house as long as he could remember.

  “I hope you know what you’re doing, Joe.”

  There was no answer. He didn’t know if he expected one or not. Hoped for one maybe. Never in all the years since he’d arrived had he needed more guidance. The woman was getting to him in certain ways and he didn’t like it. Not at all. He didn’t know her at all and wanting her caused so many complications.

  Instead of worrying about her, he tried to focus on the troubling happenings. They weren’t big, but Joe and he were definitely security conscious. He probably needed to call Conner Dillon to ask him about the breach.

  Normally, it wouldn’t bother him that much, but to have it happen on the day that Crysta arrived was odd. Both he and Joe had a lot of old enemies and it was one reason they had implemented strict security on the ranch.

  “Is there any coffee left?”

  He had been so deep in thought he hadn’t heard Crysta approach.

  “Yep, and freshly brewed.”

  She made her way around the kitchen as if she belonged. It was something that had left him feeling slightly unbalanced. She poured her coffee and then leaned back against the counter opposite his.

  “So, want to tell me about the security issue.”

  He frowned. “Not much to tell.”

  She rolled her eyes and he wanted to smile. She had the look of her father and a bit of her mother from the old photos Joe had left of her. But, there was so much of Joe in her expressions and mannerisms, there was no doubt they were blood related.

  “Okay, sorry. Everyone at the ranch has strict orders not to leave it open.”

  “It was open the day we came.”

  He nodded. “Yes, but that was special circumstances.”

  “M
akes sense. But you keep it locked otherwise? People can just climb over?”

  Yeah, they could, but they had motion detectors. That didn’t work up front unless the gate had been locked. It had all been disabled. After talking to his head foreman, no one had messed with it.

  “There are other measures that are locked in for that.”

  He could tell she was annoyed by the answer but she didn’t push it.

  “There’s a meeting tonight with the workers. I want to formally introduce you and we need to talk about the security breach.”

  She nodded and sipped her coffee. He studied her for a second and saw the dark circles under her eyes.

  “I should have thought you would be tired. We should have waited until tomorrow.”

  She shook her head. “This is a working ranch. I want to get started tomorrow.”

  “Started?”

  “You do know I ride, right?”

  “Joe mentioned you did a little.”

  She snorted. “A little? Barrel riding champion of South Central Texas, thank you very much.”

  Her lips curved up into a cocky grin. He knew it was a bit of a challenge to him. She was there and she wasn’t going to hide away. Damn if that didn’t make her even more attractive.

  “So you want to really work the ranch?”

  She laughed. “I can deal with being in the background, but I would like to see all the land. Joe loved it so much. My mother did too.”

  “But she never came back.”

  Her smile faded a bit. “Time. That was one issue. And whatever went on before she left.”

  “You don’t know what that was about?” he asked.

  She shook her head as the front gate buzzed. He walked to the front of the house and looked at the video cam.

  Damn.

  He knew Sam Kaheaku would show up, but he had hoped it would be a few days.

  “Well, you might get an idea about what kept her away from the island. Your uncle’s here.”

  * * * *

  She didn’t like him. It wasn’t that often she made a judgment on a person within a few minutes time with them. Sure, she had met him at the reading of the will, but now, looking at the large Hawaiian man frowning at her, she felt as if he was judging her and found her lacking.

  “So, what the hell is going on here?”

  She glanced at Eli waiting to see what he would say. His expression didn’t tell her much. She assumed that was more for Sam’s benefit and not hers.

  “Not sure what you mean, Sam.” His voice held a hint of amusement but she knew without a doubt, Eli wasn’t amused.

  “With this one here finally, I figured you would be interested in talking.”

  The only sign of irritation on Eli’s face was a slight narrowing of his eyes. “Talking?”

  “About settling? After this idiocy is done, I suggest you sell to me.”

  “Why would I do that?”

  For a second, Sam looked like he was confused. He looked at her, then back to Eli. “It’s Kaheaku land.”

  “No. It isn’t. Joe did this on his own without your help. This has nothing to do with the family. He told me what you did when he came back here. I saw the way you disdained him and his life. You hated him and he didn’t want you to have the land.”

  “Our land marches side by side.”

  “And this ranch is three times as big as yours. I happen to know you don’t have the money to buy this ranch.”

  “And I will point out that I am a Kaheaku.”

  Both men turned to her as if she had popped out of thin air. They were both giving her a look that told her they weren’t happy with the interruption. She didn’t give a damn. She’d grown up in the military so a couple of Alpha males staring her down didn’t scare her at all.

  “I still live here. I own it. You might not realize it Sam but Joe and I became close in the last few years. I am pretty sure that he wouldn’t be happy if I sold to you. If I sell to anyone, which I doubt, it would be to Eli. He helped Joe build this ranch up and he has more right to it than the family that turned their back on Joe.”

  He stepped closer, his cane thumping on the Koa wood floor. He leaned closer, enough for her to feel his breath on her face.

  “He was unnatural, but you would know all about that.”

  Fear slipped down her spine. She didn’t like to be bullied and she had dealt with more than one during her teenage years. But before she could yell at him, Eli stepped in.

  “You might want to take a step back there, Kaheaku. I would hate to hurt a crippled man.”

  Eli used the same tone he had the day of Joe’s memorial service. It did more to scare her than any yelling would have.

  Sam turned to face Eli. She was worried there would be a physical fight when Sam Jr., stepped in. “Dad, we need to get on. We have that meeting later.”

  Sam stared at Eli for a moment longer, then, without another word, he turned and walked out the door. When the door shut behind Sam Jr., Crysta let out a long, slow breath.

  When they were alone, Eli said, “So, I guess we know why they didn’t like your father.”

  She sighed. “Dad said her father was worse. Which is odd because Joe had no prejudice.”

  “It isn’t common here.”

  She nodded. “I…I need a few moments alone.”

  As she started up the stairs, he said, “You know, there’s nothing unnatural about you, Crysta.”

  Crysta stopped, turned around, and walked down the last few steps. She stopped in front of him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “For not being a total bastard about me having half the ranch. And…for being the son that Joe always wanted. He loved you like blood.”

  He said nothing as she turned and made her way up to her room. She needed time alone and a little rest. She had a group of men to talk to tonight and she had no idea if they held the same feelings as Sam or not.

  * * * *

  “Did you take fingerprints?” Conner Dillon asked Eli.

  “I’m not the bloody FBI, Dillon.”

  He made a sound that told Eli he wasn’t happy with that answer. “We see nothing here other than someone punching in the code. I’ll do some work on it and see if we can figure out just who the bastard is. Anything else?”

  He thought of the tire. “Not sure.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I had a flat tire. Just from looking at it, it looks like nothing, but I’ll take a closer look.”

  “What the hell are you waiting for?”

  “Jesus, Dillon, I’ve been busy. Had to get Crysta settled, then that bastard uncle of hers showed up.”

  There was a beat of silence. “He’s the one Joe was worried about?”

  “Yeah, but I can’t see him doing that.”

  “He wants the ranch.”

  Eli thought about it. “Yeah, there’s that. But he doesn’t have the money. Also, he couldn’t run around doing this kind of stuff. He’s not physically capable.”

  “So, if you lose the ranch because Crysta runs off scared, he will be able to buy it very cheap, correct?”

  “Yeah, but if that’s what he expected of her, he learned today that it won’t happen.”

  “He threatened her?” Dillon asked irritation threading his voice. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me that first?”

  Eli sighed. “First, I thought you would want to know the security breach first. And no, he didn’t outright threaten her, but it was close enough. But he damned near called her something that would have had me ripping him apart.”

  “I understand.”

  Of course Dillon did. His wife was the heir to a large fortune, but the family wanted nothing to do with her, because her father had been black.

  “She stood her ground though, so if that was his plan, I don’t think it will work. Maybe he learned that today and will back off.”

  “Or get more dangerous.”

  That was what worr
ied Eli. They had avoided Joe, even after he became ill. Maybe in their minds, they would be able to get some of the land. Why they thought he would give them some of the land in the will was beyond idiotic.

  “True. The security is running now, but I think we need to change the code early this week. Make sure whoever had the code can’t get in again.”

  Papers rustled over the phone. “Sounds good. Do you want me over there?”

  “No. I can handle her.”

  There was a beat of silence. “What?”

  Shit. “I mean…I can handle it.”

  He was slipping up on the phone with Dillon after the first day with Crysta.

  “I’ll let you know if anything happens over here. It might all be coincidence.”

  “You do that. And, Eli?”

  “Yeah?” Eli asked.

  “Make sure to keep your head screwed on straight.”

  Then the line went dead. Dillon was irritating but he was right. There might not be anything going on, but it would be best for all of them if he kept his senses clear. He needed to get over to Oahu and blow off some steam but he didn’t see that happening any time soon. So he just needed to suck it up.

  * * * *

  Crysta was nervous. It was like she was a student teacher in front of the class for the first time. Only, teenagers were scarier than this lot. The thought had her lips curving.

  “What are you smiling about?” Eli said, leaning close enough that she felt his breath on her ear. It took all her power not to shiver and lean closer. She turned and then had to take a moment to compose herself. This close she could see the deepest blue of his eyes and they made her lose most of her thoughts. She didn’t have a doubt now that he was a Dom and seeing him this close, feeling his body heat, was enough to make her yearn.

  Oh, god.

  “I was just remembering my first day at teaching.”

  He smiled, slowly, sexy, and her heart turned over. The man could tempt a nun to sin. Over and over and over.

  “I bet you were fantastic.”

  She laughed remembering the first day of teaching hell.