by Dani Dundee
Cal Reynolds peered over the steering wheel at the sight ahead of him. A beautiful, but disheveled, buxom blond sweetheart was waving him down. With a car stopped in the middle of the road behind her, it didn’t take a genius to figure out what was wrong.
He took his time getting out of the cab of his Ford 350, checking her out from top to bottom. Once he got out, she’d be able to see him devouring her with his eyes, so he spent a little extra time observing the curves of her breasts and the fullness of her hips in privacy.
Her top was wet down the center and clinging to a fine set of knockers. She had her wild blond tresses pulled back, but defiant curly ends had escaped and framed her face.
He knew everyone in this county, and she was definitely a visitor. No Texan girl would be dressed like that on a day like today. A city girl, for sure.
He leaned forward to get a better look. Was she backing away from him?
He sighed and opened the door. “Hey, Miss. What’s seems to be the trouble?”
Cal noticed a look of uncertainty on her face as she took another step back. “Listen, if you’re lost, I know these parts real well. I’ve lived here my whole life.”
She shook her head and spoke with a slight tremor in her voice. “I’m not lost, at least I don’t think I am. I am stranded, though. My rental car overheated and then stopped, right there.”
She pointed behind her. “And now I can’t get it started again.”
Cal took a good look at her. She must have been out there a long time, judging by her flushed face and disheveled clothes.
“You look like you need a good dose of air conditioning,” he said. “Come sit in my truck while I take a look at your car.”
She looked hesitant, so he moved away from his vehicle.
“Go ahead. Sit in there. I’ll leave my motor running, and you can watch me from your seat.”
She nodded and stepped around to get in from the passenger side.
“Are the keys in the car?” he asked.
“Yes. I left them in the ignition.”
“All right. I’ll take a look.”
Cal reached her car with a few long strides of his six foot four frame. After pushing the car seat all the way back so he could slide in, he turned the key, but got nothing. He popped the hood and noticed small streams of steam escaping. No way he could touch that, so he looked around and caught sight of some white fabric on the floor of the car. He grabbed it and used it to protect his hands while he looked inside.
The engine was still too hot for him touch anything, but after a couple of moments peering inside from different angles, he saw the problem. He dropped the hood and threw the white rag he had used onto the driver’s seat as he walked past on his way back to the truck.
“How long were you driving that car once the temperature gauge registered hot?” he asked as he swung the door open.
“I’m not sure. I stopped once to let it cool down, but I had no phone service and couldn’t call for help, so I kept going, hoping to find a gas station,” she said. “Do you have some water to put in the radiator so I can continue on my way?”
Cal shook his head and got in the cab. He needed some of that air conditioning now. “Water in the radiator isn’t going to do you any good, Miss. That engine got so hot, the valves melted.”
The young woman stared at him, clearly not comprehending the severity of what he said. “That sounds bad. Can it be fixed?”
He stared at her, not knowing how to answer. “You said it was a rental car, right?”
She nodded.
“Well, I hope you took out some sort of insurance, because that’s a mighty big repair.”
“Oh, no!” She gasped, covering her mouth. “Shit!”
She looked sideways at him. “Sorry.”
He shrugged. “Where are you headed? I could give you a lift.”
“Longhorn Dude Ranch. Do you know where that is?”
He smiled. “Sure do. Are you on your way for a vacation?”
“Not exactly. I’m here for a wedding.”
He used all his self-control to keep his face straight. He suspected he knew who this damsel in distress was, but he wanted to find out for sure.
Cal drove his truck ahead and stopped alongside her car. “Help me push this to the side of the road, and we’ll put your things in the back. What’s your name, Miss?”
“Skylar. Skylar Warwick. What’s yours?”
“Cal.” He decided not to offer up his last name just yet.
“Skylar, get in the front seat and put the car in neutral. I’m going to push from the rear, and you steer over to the side of the road as best you can, all right?”
She nodded.
They managed to get the car off the road with a few good shoves. She gathered her things from inside the car, and Cal put them in the back seat of the cab. Skylar held up her grease-stained blouse in her hands, then threw it back in the front seat with a sigh.
“Sorry about that, Miss. I didn’t realize it was your shirt.”
“Call me Skylar. Doesn’t matter. The loss of one blouse seems small compared to everything else that happened to me today.”
They drove in silence for about five minutes. Skylar looked exhausted and scared, and he decided to let her speak first.
She was looking out the driver’s side window for a good long time, when she seemed to snap out of her trance. “Do you have a cell phone? I’d like to call ahead and tell my mom what happened.”
“Your mom?”
“Yeah, she’s the bride at the wedding.”
Cal nodded. His suspicions were correct. He took his phone off the dash and started to hand it to her, when he changed his mind. “Tell you what. I know the folks at Longhorn. Let me call and tell them I’m bringing you home.”
Skylar looked grateful. “Thanks, that might even be better. I’m not looking forward to having to tell her how I melted a car engine.”
He pressed his cell screen to make the call. “Hey, it’s Cal. I’m on the way over with a guest for the wedding. Someone you might know, a young woman named Skylar.”
He looked over at her and winked. “Yeah, her car broke down on Route 4, and she was stranded without any cell service. We should be there in about ten minutes.”
He listened to the person on the other end, looked over to her, and mouthed, Do you want to talk?
When Skylar shook her head emphatically, he said, “You know, she’s fallen asleep. I guess she was out there in the heat a good long time before I happened by.”
He smiled at her, giving her the thumbs up.
“Yeah, OK. See ya soon.” He clicked his phone off and tossed it back on the dash.
“So your momma’s getting married. You must be real excited.”
Skylar looked at him for a few moments before answering, and he wasn’t sure she’d heard the question.
“I haven’t seen my mother in five years,” she finally offered. “She’s wandered around the world since leaving my father and me, and ended up meeting some Texan cowboy and falling in love. Now all of a sudden, she’ settling down on a dude ranch, whatever that is. So, ‘excited’ isn’t exactly what I’m feeling. I guess I’d say I’m curious—curious to see what kind of man inspired her to give up her gypsy life, because neither my father nor I could.”
Cal took a long look her way. Skylar didn’t look angry, but she sure seemed to have a big chip on her shoulder.
But she looked beautiful to him. The late afternoon sun coming in the window highlighted her golden curls. She had the prettiest eyes he’d ever seen—so deep blue, they were almost purple. And those curves! She was a real life Marilyn Monroe.
Cal felt his pants tightening between his legs. He shifted in the seat and hoped she wouldn’t notice.
“You live with your daddy?” he asked.
“I did until I graduated from Boston University last June. Now I have a job and my own place, but I see him a lot.”
“You don’t have a Boston accent. Is that whe
re you’re from?”
“No, New York. We moved to Massachusetts my last year in high school so I could qualify for instate tuition. B.U. is a pricey school.”
“Was that right after your momma left?”
“Oh, no. She left over ten years ago, when I was thirteen. She used to visit me once a year on my birthday until she followed some lover to Europe. When that ended, she went to Longhorn for a vacation—and fell in love in the owner.”
Skylar stopped and looked at him. “Now you know my life story, and I don’t even know your last name.”
Cal hesitated, reluctant to reveal who he was. He should have been honest from the beginning, but it was too late to do anything about that now.
Just as he opened his mouth to reply, Skylar sat up and pointed to a big sign.
“Hey, isn’t that the Longhorn Dude Ranch we just passed? I thought you said you knew where you were going,” she said, her voice rising.
“What? Oh, guess I got so caught up in your story, I missed the turn. Sorry.” He made a U-turn and a quick right into the gravel driveway toward the ranch house.
To settle the tension in the air, he pointed ahead. “Well, looky there. Seems like everyone’s on the porch, just waiting to meet ya.”
He pulled to the wide front steps, and a tall man wearing a cowboy hat and boots bounded down from the porch to open the truck door for Skylar.
“Well, well. Glad you’ve finally made it! I’m C.J., by the way, Mom’s fella.” He took Skylar’s arm and helped her out of the cab.
Cal had come around the truck and began unloading her luggage from the back seat.
He noticed Skylar smiled and nodded at C.J., but her eyes were glued to the steps where her mother was approaching with arms stretched wide.
“Look at you,” she cried, first hugging Skylar and then holding her at arm’s length. “We’ve been so worried. It’s been hours since you called to say you were leaving the airport. Thank goodness Cal found you and brought you home.”
Skylar seemed overwhelmed by the scene. She pulled her top away from where it was sticking to her and straightened her skirt.
“Yes,” she said. “I might have still been stuck out there if he hadn’t been traveling down the same road.”
All eyes turned to Cal, who stood holding Skylar’s luggage.
“Cal, bring Skylar’s things to the front guestroom, please,” her mother said.
She took her daughter’s hand and started up the steps. “Let’s introduce you to the rest of your new family-to-be.”
She stopped in front of a row of rocking chairs and four young men jumped up to their feet, taking off their hats and bringing them to their chests.
Skylar’s mother pointed to them one at a time. “Here we go. These two are the twins, Brent and Trent. And the two youngest, Brad and Lucas.”
“Nice to meet you,” Skylar said, nodding to each one in turn.
Her mother turned to face Cal, who was struggling to open the screen door while holding all Skylar’s luggage.
“And you’ve met their oldest brother, Cal, of course. What a way to meet your new stepbrother! I think this will be as story we’ll all be telling for years.”
Skylar swung around and Cal caught a look of pure fury in her eyes, which had turned deep purple. He groaned inwardly. He’d seen bucking broncos about to be roped look friendlier than that.
***
CHAPTER THREE
Skylar awoke with a start and sat up in bed. It took a few minutes for her to realize where she was. Daylight was streaming in her window, and she grabbed her cell phone from the nightstand to check the time. It was barely seven o’clock. She flopped back down on her pillow and closed her eyes. Plenty of time to get ready for the big event.
Remnants of her dreams started to drift into her consciousness, and she realized she’d been having an erotic dream. She licked the index and middle fingers of her right hand and placed them between her legs. Pushing her dampened panties aside, she slid her fingers through her wet folds. Keeping her eyes closed, she tried to return to the part of the dream she remembered.
She was in someone’s strong arms and he was kissing her, moving his hands down her belly to her sex. She used her own movements to duplicate what he had done in her dream. Skylar pinched her clit hard with the fingers of one hand while pushing two fingers inside herself with her other.
As waves of tension shot to her core, she lifted her hands to her heaving breasts and pinched her nipples until she was ready for another round. Skylar licked her juices from her fingers and brought them back to her sex, placing three inside this time and pushing up as far as her small hand could reach. She curled one finger under the familiar pleasure spot, applying pressure until her hips rocked the bed. She had to bring a pillow over her mouth to stifle the moans and shrieks that accompanied her massive orgasm.
Skylar’s eyes popped open. The face of the man in her dream had been Cal, her lying, no good, jerk of a stepbrother-to-be. Ugh, no way she’d kiss him, much less fuck him, no matter how handsome he was. She jumped out of bed, her fantasy coming to an abrupt halt.
She dressed quickly and headed for the kitchen, hoping to get a quick bite and then go horseback riding. C.J. had told her she had the run of the ranch and could take part in any of the activities they offered. She’d always loved riding during the summers she spent at sleep away camp. It had been more than few years since she’d been on a horse, but it had to be like riding a bike—you never forget how.
Skylar said a silent prayer on her way down the steps, requesting that she could slip out the back door of the kitchen and off to the stables without seeing any of her new family members. She rounded the corner into the dining room and saw her prayer had almost been answered. Only one person sat at the table.
“Good morning, Skylar! Would you like some coffee?” Her mother pointed to a serving cart with large carafe and stack of cups.
“Good morning. No, but I will have some of that orange juice,” Skylar said. She poured a glassful and sat across from her mother, grabbing a muffin from a basket on the table.
“Are we the only ones up?” Skylar asked.
Her mother laughed. “Are you kidding? They get up at daybreak around here. Everyone’s off doing what they do.”
Skylar nodded. “I was thinking of taking a ride this morning. Might be nice to do something fun before I have to face the music with the car rental company.”
Her mother waved her hand in the air, as if to brush off the thought. “C.J. will call as soon as it’s nine o’clock. Don’t worry about a thing. We’ll handle this for you,” she said.
Skylar nodded appreciatively, her mouth full of blueberry muffin. Once she swallowed, she said. “Oh, thank you. Let me know how much I owe for the repair, and I’ll send you a check when I get home. It may take a few paychecks, but I’ll send you something every week.”
“Don’t be silly. You’re our guest, and if we’d picked you up at the airport, none of this would have happened. We were just so busy yesterday getting everything ready for the wedding. No one had the time to travel to Dallas and back.”
Skylar forced a smile. As grateful as she was that her mother and C.J. would handle the car mess, she couldn’t deny the irony of her mother’s statement. She had always been too busy to take care of her daughter, so it was no surprise that she had requested that Skylar rent a car for the weekend.
She finished her muffin in three bites, downed her juice, and got up. “I think I’ll go out riding now before it gets too hot.”
Her mother nodded. “Make sure you’re back in a couple of hours. You’ve got to get ready, you know.”
“Sure, Mom.” She blew her mother a kiss and hurried out. C.J. had insisted on giving her a tour after dinner the night before, and now she was glad she agreed. She headed right for the stables, and knew where the trails were, so she wouldn’t have to engage anyone in conversation.
Skylar sighed. She needed some alone time to sort all of this out. Her mo
m. The wedding. Cal. Why was she even thinking about that dirt bag?
Skylar crossed the short distance to the stables and stepped inside. Her good luck at avoiding new stepbrothers had run out, however. Cal stood ten feet from the entrance, saddling a horse. He stopped the moment he saw her and stepped forward.
“Skylar, please let me explain. I know you’re mad I didn’t tell you who I was right away, and I don’t blame you. I wasn’t trying to trick you, I swear. I thought it would be a good joke.”
“A joke? You let me spill my guts and tell you private things I would never have divulged if I knew I was talking about your stepmother-to-be.”
“I wasn’t expecting that, really. Please forgive me for being an ass.”
Looking into his pleading green eyes framed in dark, thick lashes, it was hard to not grant his request, but Skylar forced herself to look away.
“I’m just here to get a horse for a short ride this morning. Can you help me? How about that one?” She pointed to the mare he had been saddling.
“Misty is a spirited girl. How experienced of a rider are you?”
She threw him an indignant look. “I’ll be fine. I don’t plan on being out too long, anyway.”
Cal looked skeptical, but finished tacking up Misty and handed the reins to Skylar. “I’m taking a group out in about twenty minutes. Why don’t you come along with us? There’s safety in numbers.”
Skylar shook her head. “Absolutely not. I’m riding solo.” She mounted Misty and realized right away that she was probably more horse than she’d ever ridden at camp, but wouldn’t admit it to Cal.
She let him lead the horse out, and then gave Misty a nudge. The horse responded and took off toward the trails. Skylar didn’t look back until they were well into the woods, but she had the feeling Cal was watching her ride away.
Once she realized she was out of sight, she relaxed and began to enjoy the solitude away from the hustle and bustle of the dude ranch. Besides the staff and guests, crews had begun to arrive to set up for the wedding, and the entire household seemed to be in an uproar. Skylar was glad to be able to escape for a while.