Forever Wild: A Camden Ranch Novel

by Jillian Neal

  When she returned with a dozen mugs of coffee, her eyes goggled. Holly and Cheyenne were standing on chairs, singing and swaying to the beat of the terrible cover band that had started playing. Ah, to be twenty-three again.

  Melony opened a few of the gifts while the buzz of the alcohol was in full effect, meaning every vibrating sex toy she received was passed around twice. The women laughed like they were the funniest things on the face of the planet. Miranda and Indie were pleased Melony was having fun and that was all that mattered.

  When Holly and Cheyenne started lamenting the lack of men, however, Indie grew concerned. As it stood, she and Megan were going to need to hotwire the Pleasant Glen school bus to drive all of these women to their respective houses at the end of the night.

  A moment later the party erupted from the back room and spilled into the bar. Blow up genitalia and vibrators were left in puddles of margarita mix. Before Indie knew what was happening, Holly was hitting on Aaron and he looked highly intrigued by her offers.

  “You sure the Harper girls won’t mind you two crashing their party?” Ev asked Luke and Tucker as they climbed out of the truck in the parking lot of Saddlebacks.

  “She can yell at me if she wants to. ‘Least then she’ll be talking to me,” Tucker sighed.

  Luke slapped him on the back. “I bet she hadn’t thought about your spat in hours. And we ain’t crashing. They rented the back room. We’re just here to make sure everyone gets home all right and that no one’s being a bitch to Indie.”

  The cover band Ed Olsen had hired recently assaulted the air with their attempt at country music. Luke cringed at the squall of the speakers.

  “Dude, did they just rhyme Texas with Lexus?” Tucker laughed.

  “See, the girls may be more than ready to call it a night if they’ve been listening to … wait what do they call themselves?”

  “Come on, you remember, Pleasant Glen’s own Pleasant Pheasants.”

  The men heaved open the door to the bar laughing.

  Saddlebacks was packed between the Bachelorette Party, the Pheasants’ friends and family who were clearly too kind to tell the band how badly they sucked, and the crowd that had been at the rodeo over in Kempton that night.

  Luke’s eyes immediately zeroed in on Indie. Her luscious curves and long auburn hair and the most beautiful smile he’d ever seen. His visual inventory halted at those gorgeous lips. His baby was here with girls she used to despise and she was smiling. His heart tripped over its next several beats.

  “That boy better be able to run … fast,” Luke’s father growled.

  Furrowing his brow, Luke’s eyes landed on his little sister sitting in the lap of Aaron, the tattooed bartender of Saddlebacks. Luke and Aaron were good friends, but he didn’t care for the fact that his baby sister was sucking on his tongue ring.

  Indie lifted her head just then. Her sweet grin at Luke faded quickly when she saw where he was heading. She beat him to Aaron and Holly by two quick steps.

  “Uh, Holly,” she spoke frantically.

  A half moan was Holly’s only response. Luke was certain he was going to vomit. His fists clenched repeatedly by his sides while he tried to remind himself how much he liked Aaron and all that Aaron had been through in the last few years.

  “Holl, now!”

  “What?!” Holly lifted her head. Aaron blinked repeatedly, then wrapped his hand through Holly’s hair and guided her mouth back to his.

  Indie gave Luke a pleading gaze before loudly announcing, “Hey, Luke.”

  That did it. Holly jerked away from Aaron. “Is it just Luke?”

  “I’m fucking standing right here,” Luke growled from behind her.

  Indie shook her head.

  “Grant?”

  Another head shake.

  “Austin?”

  And another.

  “Brock?”

  “No,” Luke spat.

  “Oh shit … Daddy?”

  Indie nodded frantically as Holly bolted out of the Aaron’s lap. Aaron spun to meet Luke’s infuriated glare.

  “Sorry,” he offered.

  “S’ok, I guess. Holl’s a little young for you, man.”

  “Really? She looks plenty old enough.”

  “Definitely not the thing to say.” Indie rolled her eyes.

  “Aren’t you supposed to be behind the bar, Aaron?” Fury dripped from Ev’s tone as he glared at Holly. “Not hanging all over my little girl.”

  “We stop serving drinks at eleven. I’m off, sir. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend. Just blowing off a little steam.”

  “Not with her,” Ev declared.

  “Not sure if you two have noticed this or not, but she ain’t so little anymore.”

  Indie rushed into Luke’s arms, presumably to keep him from dragging Aaron out into the parking lot, hooking that ring in his eyebrow up to his hitch, and pulling his ass through the gravel, not that he would ever do something like that.

  “You two are both ridiculous,” Holly huffed. “Someday you’ll figure out that I’m not a baby.” With that she headed back into the party room.

  Galled at the interaction, Luke marched after her, towing Indie by his side. “I really don’t give a damn how old you think you are, I don’t want my sister choking on some bartender’s tongue ring.”

  “You got something against bartenders, Luke, or is it just that nobody’s good enough for me if they’re not a cowboy?” his sister sneered.

  “Drop it now, Luke, or she’s gonna blow,” Indie spoke through her teeth. “Believe me, I would know. I recognize the signs.”

  Ordering himself to calm, he drew a deep breath. “You’ve been drinking, and Aaron isn’t a guy you need to get involved with.”

  “And how would you know that?”

  “I know because he’s a good friend of mine. You stop licking his spit long enough to notice the seven nautical stars tattooed down his right arm? He’s seen things you can’t even fathom, and quite frankly you aren’t mature enough — and you sure as hell aren’t committed enough — to deal with even half of the shit he’s been through.”

  This brought Holly up short. Luke knew it would. His little sister needed to stop thinking she was smarter than everyone else. It was high time she learned a lesson.

  “What do the star tattoos mean?” Indie asked instead of Holly.

  “Means he took a platoon into battle in Afghanistan, and seven men that were brothers to him didn’t make it back home.”

  “How do you know that?” Holly demanded.

  “I come in here several times a week. I struck up a conversation when Eliza hired him. Sure as hell had to be a reason he settled in the Glen, and he looked like he could use a friend. Turned out I was right. He’s got a Black Lab and a Border Collie mix he actually rescued in the field, fed with his own rations, and talked his superior officer into letting him bring home. I take care of them and of him when things get ugly. Right now, I’m trying to take care of you, too.”

  “Fine. You’re right. I’m not really looking for the kind of relationship he probably needs, but maybe we were just blowing off a little steam.”

  “The last thing he needs is to get attached to you, Holly. You’re going back to Lincoln in a few weeks. Give the guy a break. God knows life hasn’t given him many. Now, how many of the party guests need a ride home?”

  “Megan’s the designated driver for most everyone. We’re fine.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Indie was astonished. She knew she shouldn’t be, but Luke Camden never ceased to amaze her. Somehow he was always able to see below the surface of people, past the parts they put on display, past the bravado and the anger, past the masks.

  More than all of that was the fact that he saw the realism so carefully concealed under the surface, but never judged. He accepted them and tried to help them if he could. Precisely the way he saw through the volatility and the anger she’d carried since childhood. He saw through everything heaped on her by her mother. Throug
h it all he not only saw her, he loved who she was underneath the constraining masks she showed the corroding world around her.

  The shift Indie felt in that moment, staring into his eyes, seeing the love he felt for her and the lust she had the power to ignite there in the depths was violent. It was somehow not only a mental or emotional change. It was physical. Her eager feet edged closer to him. She had no power with which to resist. Wrapping her arms around his chest, she prayed he saw the difference within her at that moment.

  She felt his throat contract against her head and the smile that formed on his solid features. “What’s my girl needin’?”

  “You,” she whispered.

  “Right here. Always. Let’s get this disaster cleaned up and I’ll take you home.”

  Home was in his arms. Did he know that? It always had been. It always would be. His tightening hold of her said he did. He understood, just like he always had. Now, she just had to figure out if there was any way possible to make this work. Could she really come back to the Glen and stay? The complications she’d clung to for so long evaporated in the heat passing between them. Didn’t she owe it to them to try?

  Luke’s smoky chuckle warmed her soul. “My God, what did you all do to this room?”

  “Had a bachelorette party,” Melony laughed. She and Tucker appeared just then, holding hands and grinning like nothing at all was wrong. It appeared their argument was over.

  “I told you chicks were way dirtier than us.” Tucker handed out garbage bags and they all began cleaning up food, drinks, sex toys, inflatable penises, and other décor.

  The sexy-as-sin smirk formed on Luke’s face as he glanced around the room, presumably making sure no one was paying him too much attention. He winked at Indie as he quickly folded a black pair of fuzzy-handcuffs and shoved them in his back pocket.

  Indie’s heart performed a high-flying kick routine. Her nipples tightened painfully against the lace of her bra and a rush of wet heat coated her panties. She’d been a touch nervous about the rope marks, but fuzzy cuffs, well no one would see any evidence of those now, would they? Images of her cuffed to his bed whipped through her mind. In an effort to speed the clean-up, she gathered everything on the food table into the paper table cloth and deposited the entire thing into one of the trash cans.

  Luke laughed at her outright. “Anxious, sugar?”

  “Those cuffs in your pocket, cowboy, or are you just happy to see me?”

  “Both.” He whispered a kiss in her hair and went back to work.

  When he held up his right arm and wound a feather boa around his hand and bicep like he was winding a lariat she laughed, but her humor was cut short when he stuck the boa in her purse.

  Sweet Lord in Heaven, they needed to leave. Now. Whatever he had planned for their evening was far more interesting than anything happening at Saddleback’s Honky-Tonk, or in the entire Midwest for that matter.

  Mercifully, a few minutes later they’d cleaned up the back room, threw all of Mel’s gifts into a few gift bags, and thanked Aaron for everything. All Indie wanted was to leave. Luke Camden, the one and only guy who’d ever held her heart, had pure unadulterated greed etched in every muscle of his gorgeous body. The lust in his eyes had darkened to an indigo fire and there was a pair of handcuffs in his pocket. The craving need resonated between them like a flash fire of electricity capable of setting the entire town ablaze.

  She held up the keys to her Camaro, smirked at his shock, and tugged him towards the parking lot.

  “You letting me drive because you’re still buzzing?” Disappointment weighted his tone. Always a gentleman, even with cuffs in his pocket, or maybe because there were cuffs in his pocket. He wouldn’t tie her to his bed if she was drunk.

  “No. I only had one shot. I hate girly drinks, you know that. I’m letting you drive because .…” she faltered. She didn’t know how to explain what was happening between them, what had happened that evening. “Because I trust you. I always have.” And because I want to tell you how much I love you. That I’ve always loved you. That I want to stay. But I don’t know how to say any of that out loud.

  Confusion knitted his brow as he studied her.

  “You’re the only guy I’ve ever let drive her.” She prayed he understood what that meant.

  The dark carnality in his eyes softened and warmed. The variant blue fire turned to pools of heated love all for her.

  “Go get in, sugar. So much I want to do to you tonight. I hope you’re ready for me. I’m needin’ you, all of you. And I ain’t asking your permission anymore.”

  “God, yes.” She all but sprinted to her car and threw open the passenger door.

  He winced when he settled in the driver’s seat. Removing the handcuffs from his pocket, he handed them to Indie. “Don’t lose those.”

  “Don’t worry.”

  Luke took a moment to rev the engine and smoke the tires, making her laugh.

  “What? You’ve never let me drive it before. It’s a damned vintage Camaro, and I know my girl made it fly. I intend to enjoy this.”

  “I was hoping you were gonna enjoy me.”

  “Oh honey, have no doubt. You’re gonna be enjoyed over and over again all damn night if I have my say.”

  “You have your say.” She’d needed this for far too long to be argumentative. Her rebellious side needed a night off, or perhaps the indulgences he offered her restlessness were just too good to ever oppose.

  He turned to stare at her as he kicked up gravel behind the old tires on her car. “Driving me wild, sweetheart. Making me hurt with it. You’re the only woman who’s ever eased the pain. You know that?”

  “I know.” Her lungs seemed to have forgotten how to draw air. They seized with longing. Her mouth was drier than the Sahara. She willed the miles of dirt road between the bar and his house away. Every fence he had to key his way through made her burn, until she was certain if he didn’t take her to bed soon she would combust. “Kiss me,” she finally begged.

  “God, I love you beggin’ for me.” He shoved the car in park in the middle of one of the Camden fields. “So fucking sexy.”

  All in one quick breath-stealing move, he cradled her body over the gearshift, mated his mouth with hers, and rasped his right hand over her breasts.

  Her hands made quick work of locating his denim-trapped cock in the relative darkness. She could feel the fevered need through the thick fabric. He rocked the strain against her palm.

  “Let me take you home, darlin’.” He spoke in the breaths between their tongue-tangling kiss. “I’m gonna make it feel so good.” Their mouths moved with magnetized force they had no hope of fighting. “Cuff you to my bed and spend all damn night having my way with you. Touch every inch of your gorgeous body with my fingers, my tongue, and my cock.”

  “Now,” she whimpered. “I need you.”

  “Oh, honey, I know precisely what you need.”

  Somehow they made it to his house, groping each other like teenagers in heat. He tore her shirt over her head and tossed it somewhere in the general vicinity of the front porch. They stumbled through the front door, tripping over each other’s feet. Frustrated with that, Luke lifted her into his arms like she weighed nothing at all.

  Natural instincts took over. “Luke, I’m too .…”

  “If you’re about to say some shit about your weight, stop now. You’re talking about the woman I love, remember? The most beautiful woman in the entire world to me, so shut your mouth or I’ll fill it full before we ever get to using them handcuffs.” His gruff tone was laced with danger.

  She sealed her lips shut and allowed herself to believe for the moment that she wasn’t too heavy for him to carry. He certainly didn’t seem to be struggling. Burying her face against his neck, she tucked herself into his protective embrace and relaxed. “That’s it. There’s my sweet girl.”

  He seated her on the bed and dispensed with her boots and jeans. Time slowed around them. His gaze sizzled over her skin. Dark fire burned
in his heavy-lidded eyes.

  “Thought you were gonna cuff me to the bed?” She gnawed on her lip. The intense study of her body made her overly-aware of being exposed.

  “Plenty of time for that, darlin’. Right now, I just want to look at you. I swear, Indie, you’re my every fantasy come to life. I’ve dreamed about having you like this, lookin’ up at me like that, wantin’ me, needing me, so damn many times, half the time I can’t figure out if I’m still just dreaming. I just can’t possibly deserve to be the man you give this to. I don’t deserve this.”

  “Luke,” emotion strangled her throat. “You do. You’re the only man that ever has,”

  “God, baby, the dirty things I want to do to you. The things I want to show you. The things you shouldn’t know. And I’m about to take them from you. I don’t deserve that.”

  “You wouldn’t be taking if I weren’t offering, so shut up and start teaching me. I need to learn.”

  His low growl sluiced through her veins and sizzled across her skin.

  “Stand up and let me look at you.” He grasped her hands and pulled her to her feet. “My God, you are perfection.” His hands followed a path forged with his eyes. Over her shoulders, along the thick straps of her favorite red bra. He tongued the lace abrading her nipples, melting her thoroughly with the rough friction.

  “Yes,” she hissed as she attempted to work through the buttons of his shirt.

  “Stop.” He jerked back, startling her. “Where are we, Indie?”

  She couldn’t help but grin. Speaking of fantasies come to life. The appearance of his dominant side stirred her very soul. “The bedroom.”

  “Right. So, you do as I say. Leave my clothes be. We got all night.”

  A part of her longed to argue. Heat radiated from his entire body, and she needed more. Her body rolled in anticipation as her hands slipped from his half-opened shirt.