Ranger Trent (Shifter Nation: Werebears Of Acadia Book 2)

by Meg Ripley

  “You’re not going out tarted up like that!” he declared, rising to his feet in one fluid motion.

  “Just try and stop me,” she said angrily.

  He grabbed her hand as she made to stalk out, praying for patience. “Listen, if this is about last night, then you misunderstood. You are the sexiest woman I have ever met and that has been hell on my mind. But you are also Wade’s sister which means I can’t play around with you. And that is also why I can’t let you go out like this.”

  “What’s wrong with my appearance?”

  “Not a damn thing as far as I can see. But that red bra has to go; bulls and red you know,” he told her.

  Callie grinned at him, batting her eyes innocently. “Of course, Cade; I wasn’t thinking.”

  Then she turned and strode into the room. When she returned minutes later, he almost swallowed his tongue. She was wearing a different white shirt which was even sheerer than the last with a scrap of lacy bra underneath. He could actually see her nipples.

  He glared at her, then grabbed a jacket from the cushion and thrust it at her, “You made your point. Now put this on.”

  “No.”

  “For the love of God, put this on! Unless you want me to be so lost staring at your jugs that I rope you instead of the damn steer!”

  Callie tried not to laugh aloud at the mental image that evoked. She took the jacket and put it on.

  That day, one more team had a mare go into heat unexpectedly. Interestingly, that was the same team opposing Madeline and Moore Glenmore. Maybe there was more to Cade’s theory after all.

  Dinner that night was a tense affair with Callie and Cade eyeing each other with mutual distrust over the table. At a point, he reached for her hand and tried to hold her, she jerked it away as though stung.

  He sighed. “I’m sorry you’re upset, Callie. But I can’t believe you are angry because we didn’t have sex. So what did I do wrong?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Talk to me. What is it?”

  Callie sighed. She couldn’t very well tell him her anger was directed at herself. She still could not believe she had actually been on the verge of begging him to make love to her. Thank goodness reason had prevailed.

  “Nothing Cade. I’m just tired.”

  His hand stretched across the table again and held onto her wrist, his thumb gently stroking her pulse point and sending frissons of awareness down her spine. She rose to her feet and started carrying dishes to the dishwasher. Cade came across the table too and placed a hand on either side of her waist.

  “You’re driving me crazy, Callie. You’re driving me out of my mind,” he said, his blue gaze boring into hers.

  Callie licked her lips nervously. She didn’t need to hear stuff like that; she was falling for him, and fast. If there was one thing she had learned about rodeo cowboys, it was that they were always on the move. What would happen if she fell for him and the time came for him to follow the rodeo?

  Slowly she stepped back out of his arms, “I’m sorry, Cade. An affair just isn’t in the cards for me. I’m sure if you did one lap around this place, you would find several women willing to have sex with you for the heck of it.”

  Anger tightened his features, his jaw grinding visibly as he said, “So you’re saying it wouldn’t bother you if I was with someone else?”

  “I barely know you. Why would it?” she retorted, even though her heart was splintering into a million pieces in her chest. Then, without waiting for a response from him, she disappeared into her room and shut the door with a resounding thud.

  Silence reigned on the other side of the door for a bit, and then the door slammed shut.

  Callie lay awake all night listening for him; he didn’t return until three a.m.

  The unnoticed tiny light of hope inside her flickered out ever so slowly, leaving her dry-eyed as it died out.

  ****

  Callie was in a bad mood. Even though she would be the first to deny it, she was mad enough to spit nails! She knew why she was angry though, but she was loathe to admit it even to herself.

  Cade had been out all night and she was willing to bet he had been with some slut!

  Angrily, she jerked the door open and strode into the other room, her gaze going unerringly to where he lay sleeping. She stalked towards the kitchen and immediately proceeded to begin making enough noise to wake the dead with the clang of pots and pans.

  Cade groaned from his position on the cushion and Callie fought the urge to slap him silly as she began to rinse out some plates with angry, jerky, motions. She really needed to get a grip on her anger, she thought wildly. Today was the second to the last day of the competition. Madeline and Moore had advanced to a final stage along with some other couple. Since Callie and Cade had better scores than the other two, the other two would compete against each other and the winner would square off against Callie and Cade.

  Cade finally rose from the cushion, and disappeared into the bathroom for a shower. She didn’t realize he was done until he came over to kiss the soft skin at the back of her neck.

  Callie froze, disgust, disbelief and fury warring inside of her. Fury won. She flung the dish she was holding so hard against a wall behind her that it broke into a million pieces. Cade stilled behind her for a minute, and then he carefully detracted his arms from around her, and then gently turned her to face him.

  “Is something wrong?” he asked, holding the tip of her chin with his hand.

  She jerked her chin away as she hissed, “Why would there be anything wrong? We don’t have to be at the competition today since we only have to face whichever team wins today’s game tomorrow.”

  “Callie why are you so mad at me?”

  “Where were you last night?” she spat, her eyes like green fire.

  “I was at a tavern looking for some company, or so I thought. But I ended up not wanting anyone because they didn’t have green eyes and blonde hair. They didn’t have a waist so tiny it seemed like I could span it with one palm. They didn’t have breasts the size of small pillows. They didn’t have legs that seemed to go on forever. They didn’t drive me crazy every time they looked at me out of twinkling green eyes.”

  “What are you saying?” she whispered.

  “I’m crazy about you, Callie. It probably doesn’t make sense because I have just known you for less than a week, but somehow, I know it’s you I have been searching for all my life.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know, baby. I just know it’s you,” he murmured as he bent his head and took her lips in a slow, drugging kiss.

  Passion unfurled inside her immediately and she clung to him, wondering why the world seemed to be whirling. His tongue met hers in a wild, exotic, mating dance and Callie melted against him, her senses whirling as he deepened the kiss.

  A thought intruded and she leaned back in his arms to stare suspiciously up at him, “Then where were you all through last night?”

  “I was trailing Madeline and Moore. They have been cheating.”

  “What? How?”

  “Injecting mares to make them go into heat,” he told her, his gaze scanning her face.

  “But what if there are two mares?”

  “Then one gets a stone in its hoof and the horse is replaced with a stallion.”

  “What? Moore has been a champion several times. Are you saying he’s a cheat who probably cheated his way all those times?”

  “Definitely. I watched them inject some more mares yesterday.”

  “But the first couple got their replacement horses from the center.”

  “Yeah. They’re in cahoots with someone there.”

  “So what do we do?”

  “They ain’t competing today. I sent the video to every judge on the panel.”

  “You made a video?”

  “You bet your ass I did,” he chuckled.

  “Oh my goodness, in that case we’re already late. We gotta go,” Callie yelled excitedly as she hustled him towards the do
or, slamming it behind both of them.

  There were lots of murmurs around the field as the two ladies in the team took their places. Their time started and they chased the steer around the circle. The header threw the rope over the bull’s horns in five seconds, but when the heeler attempted to rope the steer’s legs, the rope fell over one hind leg. The bell rang for time up and they left the field dejected.

  Callie looked over at Cade, her eyes sparkling with excitement. He winked at her and murmured, “Let’s get that prize, Baby.”

  Cade had left Caesar back at the cabin and picked a mare to ride. Lateefah wasn’t showing any signs of being in heat, but since their competitors had been exposed, he wasn’t taking any chances. They had been escorted off the premises by the police and they had looked very furious.

  Callie was looking particularly fetching this morning with her hair done up in an intricate twist and left to hang down her back. She was extremely sexy; just watching her made his dick stir in his pants. He tamped down his rising arousal with difficulty and focused instead on the race.

  Callie rode out, loving the feel of the wind in her hair as she moved as one with Lateefah. The steer raced full out across the circle and Cade bent low over his Thoroughbred, swung the rope high above his head and then thrust it forward, his palm facing downwards. The rope sailed smoothly through the air and landed right over the head of the bull just as Callie’s rope caught the steer’s legs.

  The bell dinged even as the announcer crooned, “Peach team wins! Peach team wins! Just three seconds!”

  The entire crowd erupted in screamed and hoots as they were announced winners. Cade jumped off his horse, yanked Callie off of hers and melded his lips with hers in a passionate, scorching kiss to the sound of catcalls.

  He laughed down at her, swinging her up into his arms and swinging her around and around as he said, “We’re winners, Baby—we won!”

  Callie stared up at him, her heart bursting in her chest as she grinned at him.

  “We did it, we did it!”

  “Cade Gallagher and Callie Tyler also get an Integrity Award for helping us reveal the unfortunate incidence of cheating by some team members,” the announcer crooned.

  ****

  Callie was on cloud nine as they stumbled into their cabin later that night. The celebrations had gone on long into the night and it was almost daylight when she managed to tear Cade away from some rodeo buddies.

  “Cade?” she slurred.

  “Yes, Baby?”

  “This was the singular most interesting night of my life,” she announced, loping her arms around his neck and heedless of the way he jerked against her in reaction.

  “Same goes for me, Callie,” he told her, dropping a kiss on her forehead as he guided her the rest of the way to her room.

  “I don’t want it to end,” she declared passionately, hiding her face against his chest.

  Cade froze, his fevered imagination already making love to her. “Um, that’s okay. It doesn’t end; you just need to get some shut-eye.”

  He tried to detach her arms from around his neck; she held on tight.

  “Make love to me, Cade,” she said in a rush, swallowing past a sudden tightness in her chest. What if he said no? She could already see the denial forming in his beautiful blue eyes as he looked down at her and shook his head.

  Slowly, deliberately, she smiled up at him, pleased to see the quickly-masked flash of desire in his gaze as he took in the blinding force of her smile.

  “Callie—” he began in a let-her-down-easy voice.

  She didn’t let him get another word out; just took advantage of his slightly open mouth and plunged her tongue straight into his mouth. He tasted like peppermint, whiskey and chocolate all at the same time. He tasted like all her dreams rolled into one!

  She bared her teeth and gently nipped at his lower lip, before licking the spot with the underside of her tongue.

  He thrust his tongue into her mouth and kissed her deeply, his hands caressing and stroking up and down her back. He licked her lips before stroking her with his tongue, too. His mouth left hers to wander down her neck, sending shafts of pleasure down her spine.

  Callie gasped and clung harder to him, her pulse racing as he drove her wild with his mouth.

  He leaned back to lock eyes with her, “Are you sure this is what you want, Callie?”

  She grinned. Wade was right, he really was a gentleman. She wisely refrained from mentioning her brother though; fewer things were bound to cool his ardor.

  “I want this. I want you. Right here, right now,” she declared.

  Cade swallowed her words in another deep, toe-curling kiss that raised her temperature several degrees. He maneuvered her onto the bed and followed her down, kissing and licking. His hands urgently grabbed at her shirt, ripping the buttons from their holes in his impatience. She wound her arms tighter around him, arching her body upwards and into his.

  Cade rose to his knees, jerked off his shirt and tossed it away. His hands urgently wrestled with his belt, his eyes trained hungrily on her face.

  He stood up for a quick minute and yanked off his jeans and Callie used the same opportunity to get hers off.

  She lay naked and breath-taking before him and it was all he could do not to jump on her and fuck her hard until she could not sit straight for a month. Cade gritted his teeth, holding desperately to already waning control.

  He leaned down to kiss her incredibly soft breasts and she moaned, “Yes! Yes! Oh Cade, don’t stop.”

  His hand trailed down to the juncture of her thighs and his finger slipped easily inside her soft folds and the top of his head almost came off. Unable to wait any longer, he guided the thick, bulbous head of his member to her entrance, his gaze meeting hers as he slowly and surely began to enter her.

  She fit perfectly around him, her inner walls clamping down easily over his cock. He groaned low and hard as he finally sheathed himself in her to the hilt.

  “Fuck!” he grunted.

  “Well…yeah,” she moaned.

  Unreasonably, he started to laugh right in the middle. This woman would be the death of him. She joined him in his laughter, her musical voice tinkling like bells.

  Laughter fled as their eyes met and held. Cade began to move inside her with incredibly, torturous slowness. Callie groaned long and hard, and thrust harder against him, matching his rhythm. He increased his pace, one of his large palms covering hers on the bed, while the other squeezed one large, soft breast again and again.

  “Faster,” Callie grunted, mindless ecstasy driving her wild as all her inhibitions fled.

  He raised both her legs higher, changing the angle of his thrusts as he began to glide right against her G-spot.

  “Yes…right there,” she groaned.

  “You like it?” he asked, not ceasing his thrusts.

  “Yes! Fuck me!” she ordered.

  He increased his tempo, going higher and higher and faster until all her being centered on the mounting tension between her thighs. Callie gasped as tendrils of pleasure shot through her repeatedly, making her almost dizzy with mounting passion. She felt herself drifting higher and higher until she was moaning and groaning as she began to cum. Fine tremors shook her from the crown of her head to the soles of her feet, leaving her sated, spent and weak as a rag doll.

  An intense shudder shook his powerful frame and he continued to slam into her deliciously, his hands tightening on her slim, supple thighs. Soon, he was screaming her name as he came powerfully; pouring his seed into her tight, wet, willing passage until he was drained completely.

  They both drifted back to Earth slowly, gasping as consciousness returned. He stared down at Callie bemused; her blond hair was all over the bed, spilling behind her head in a mass of riotous waves. Her soft red lips were parted in remembered pleasure and her big, round breasts were heaving invitingly on her chest as though she had just run a marathon. In short, she looked like a woman who had been well and truly loved, he decided
with masculine pride.

  Her waist was so slim, it looked delicate; her skin so fair and fine it was almost porcelain and even now, with his seed still seeping slowly out of her pussy, she looked so innocent and fresh.

  He wanted to go again, but he was so tired and he suspected she was, too. All that riding earlier today; they needed to sleep a little.

  “Wanna shower together?” she asked, an inviting look in her hot green eyes.

  Cade groaned, so much for good intentions; he was rigid as a pole again. He reached for her again.

  ****

  Callie awoke with the slow, languorous pleasure of a woman who had been well and truly loved; and she had. Why, Cade had made love to her a good five times in one night. A faint blush stained her cheeks as she considered his stamina; the man was stronger than five men put together!

  Slowly, she turned around to smile at…the empty pillow beside her. Where was he, she wondered with a frown. The silence from the shower indicated that he was not in there.

  She rose from the bed, dragged on her nightgown and slowly traipsed into the outer room. Her smile died as she saw the heavy-set man sitting at the table and munching on some toast. Wade!

  “Where’s Cade?” she demanded by way of greeting

  Wade paused, his eyes narrowing on her face. Then he shook his head, “Said he had to go. He left his account number where you could send his share of the winnings.”

  He wouldn’t!

  She saw the pleased glimmer in Wade’s eyes; he would!

  “What did you do? What did you say to him?”

  “Nothing. Just thanked him for looking out for my sister like she was his own, is all. Suddenly he got a bee in his bonnet about heading out and following the rodeo. Said that was the best place for someone like him.”

  “Someone like him? What did he mean by that?” she demanded.

  “Beats me. What, do I look psychic to you now?”

  She rolled her eyes not even bothering to tell him that would be psychologist not psychic.