CHAPTER 18
Hunter
“HEY, SUNSHINE,” I CALLED while walking in through the front door. “Guess what?”
“You’re tracking mud all over the floor again?” Mrs. Jones answered for Kia, who was already sitting at the table eating dinner after a long day of work.
The woman didn’t even look up from what she was doing and didn’t see the face I made at her or that I wiped my shoes on the mat a second time before crossing the space between the front door and the dining room.
“No, actually,” I said slowly, pulling out a chair and seating myself, “I was going to tell Kia that I have a surprise for her. But if she’s not interested . . .” I trailed off, reaching for the pork roast on the table.
“A surprise?” Kia’s face lit up, and she dropped her fork, her food forgotten.
Her face was freshly scrubbed, and for a moment, I was entranced by the healthy glow emanating from her skin. Her spirits had come way up since the first night we’d made love in the stall, which was nearly a week ago. She’d thrown herself back into the ranch work wholeheartedly and came to sleep with me every night, which delighted me. A part of me knew I should make her sleep in the house—where it was warmer, more comfortable, and in case of a wolf attack, much safer—but I couldn’t bring myself to send her away. Plus, I enjoyed her company and our nightly candid chats in the barn, where we shared our most intimate sexual fantasies and created a menu of the type of erotic activities we wanted to try.
“Well, that is what I said.” I served myself a scoop of mixed vegetables. “But I can see you’re hungry, so maybe we’ll just wait.”
There was silence for all of thirty seconds before Kia blurted out, “What kind of surprise is it?”
“That would be telling,” I said, waggling my eyebrows, a habit I knew pushed Kia’s buttons.
“Oh, for Christ’s sake,” Kia huffed, tossing down her napkin and standing up. “Let’s go see what it is, then. This’d better not be some kind of prank.”
I grinned and hurried after her so I could open the front door for her. “This way,” I said. Taking her by the hand, I started leading her to the stables.
“What? Have you finally decided to install a bed or something?” Kia teased.
Then she fell silent as I led her to Twilight’s stall. Inside was a beautiful chestnut quarter horse with large, dark eyes and a splash of white on its nose.
“Say hello to her,” I prompted. “She’s our newest cutting horse trainee.”
“She’s beautiful.” Kia gently stroked the horse’s muzzle, and the animal closed its eyes, seeming to enjoy the attention. “What’s her name?”
“I thought maybe you’d like to decide.”
Kia pursed her lips, studying the horse in the lantern light I held aloft, and then said, “I think Sunset. Her coat is a nice deep color, and sunset comes before twilight.” She smiled, but it quickly disappeared as she turned to me with a frown. “How much—”
I placed a finger to her mouth to silence her. “This isn’t charity, Kia,” I said, knowing what she was thinking before she even said a word about it. “I’m an investor, remember? And in order to make sure this business is profitable by the end of the month, I decided it would be in the best interest of the ranch if I replaced Twilight.”
The left corner of Kia’s mouth curled up. “Are you done lecturing me yet?”
I dropped my finger from her mouth, grinning sheepishly. “Sorry. I just didn’t want you to bite my head off.”
Kia lifted my hand and pressed a kiss to my knuckles. “I’d never bite your head off,” she said seriously. “Now, other parts, however . . .”
She waggled her eyebrows in a perfect imitation of me, and I laughed.
“All right, you little vixen,” I said, taking her by the hand and leading her back to the house, “let’s go finish dinner before Mrs. Jones comes out here and finds us in some kind of compromising position.”
My cell rang, so I quickly pulled it out of my pocket, giving it a glance. It was Matt returning my call.
I kissed her on the nose. “Go on in, darling. I have to take this call.”
She slapped me on the ass. “Don’t take too long, cowboy,” she replied before striding away, leaving me gawking at the sexy jiggle of her ass.
“Damn, woman!” I yelled out to her. “Have I told you that you have an amazing ass?”
She laughed huskily. “Yep. Every time I’m riding you. Hashtag, tap it,” she responded loudly before disappearing into the house.
“What the fuck, Matt?” I hissed into my cell while walking far enough away from the house so that my conversation couldn’t be overheard. “I left you a voice message hours ago. Thank God I wasn’t fucking dying.”
“I’m at a poker tournament,” he growled. “What’s up?”
“Something strange happened to me during sex.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake! You called me to brag about your latest kinky conquest? I don’t have time for this shit, Hunter. I have to get back to the tournament.”
“Matt, will you shut the hell up and just listen? It’s not about sex. It’s about a hallucination that I had during it. Well, it’s that . . . and the incessant ranting of my inner wolf about her being our true mate.” I launched into telling him about the light show I had experienced while making love to Kia. I detailed the strange vision of the swirling kaleidoscopes that formed two separate figures before merging into one, drawing all the colors into a big sphere that eventually burst into shimmering light. “So, am I going batshit crazy? And what the fuck is a true mate?”
“Well, first, you are batshit crazy. I’ve been telling you that shit for years.”
“Fuck off,” I grumbled.
“Look,” Matt started, “on a more serious note, your wolf might be right about her being your true mate. Because that little light show that you saw? Well, Gunner told me he experienced the same shit with Celine, but he didn’t understand what it was. So, he called Eli.”
“And?” I prodded impatiently.
“Eli told Gunner that every pure-blooded shifter has a true mate—the one person who completes them. You know, equivalent to that sappy soul-mate shit. But—”
I cut him off. “That makes no sense. Why would I have a vision like that if I’m not a pureblood?”
“Are you going to let me finish or not?” Matt barked.
“Go ahead,” I growled.
“As I was about to say, Eli got his info wrong. Celine had to set him and Gunner straight. She told them that all shifters, regardless of whether they are purebloods or hybrids, have a true mate. The problem is that not very many ever find theirs.”
“Holy shit!” I exclaimed.
This news wasn’t good on many levels. But most importantly because Kia had been terrified and traumatized by what she called a monster. I knew there was no way in hell she would accept the fact that I was a hybrid wolf-shifter, much less want to still be with me.
“Yep, holy shit.” Matt started laughing. “Damn! I can’t wait to tell the rest of the guys that you found your mate and that you’re officially off the fuck-everything-that-moves team. So, is she a hybrid?”
“No. She’s human,” I muttered.
“Wait . . . what?”
“You heard me,” I replied, “and the most fucked-up part is that, when she was young, a shifter killed her mother.”
“Damn, bro!” Matt exclaimed. “So, when are you going to tell her you’re a hybrid shifter?”
Never.
Damn . . . my life is so fucked right now.
CHAPTER 19
Kia
“MISS NASH!” MRS. JONES called from the front porch. “Phone call for you!”
I looked up from the hoof I was currently cleaning out and then stood up so I could peer over the rump of the palomino I was grooming. Sure enough, Mrs. Jones was standing there, waving at me.
“I’ll be right there,” I called. Then I bent my head to the task. I finished with the hoof I was working on and patte
d the palomino’s shoulder, leaving her tied to the corral post. I’d make this quick and then get back to the chore, so I could get all the horses groomed before Hunter came back from training.
“Do you know who it is?” I asked Mrs. Jones as I jogged up the steps.
“He said his name was Drew Stevens, your personal assistant.”
Drew was my right-hand man, and while I was in Texas, he was handling my business and personal financial affairs. We’d also agreed that while I was away, he’d contact me only in an emergency. Anxiety fluttered in the pit of my belly, but I refused to let it show, simply thanking Mrs. Jones and heading to the phone in the living room. I sat down in the recliner and picked up the phone, wondering what Drew could possibly be calling me about and why he didn’t ring my cell.
Damn. My cell is probably dead. The last time I used my phone, the battery was low. I couldn’t remember if I charged it or not.
“Hello?”
“Kia!” Drew sounded relieved. “I’m so glad I finally got you on the phone. Your cell kept going straight to voice mail. Listen, I tried to make one of your condo loan payments today, and your bank said there weren’t enough funds in the account.”
“Shit!” I pinched the bridge of my nose, already feeling the pressure building up in my sinuses. I’d had Drew pay all my bills for me out of my savings account, and I guessed there was less money than I’d thought. “Is the payment past due yet?”
“No, you’ve still got a day,” Drew said. “Do you want me to get on the phone and ask for an extension?”
“No.” I’d already been late once or twice before, and I didn’t want to get in bad standing with any of my creditors. “Um . . . use my credit card. There should be enough on there to cover it.” I told him where to find it and then hung up the phone and put my head in my hands.
Two more weeks. Only two more weeks, and then I can get back home and start making some money. But do I really want to leave?
I was actually starting to enjoy the simplicity of ranch life. While I did miss my photography, there were no high-maintenance models for me to deal with. No high-stress gigs or tight deadlines while I was out here. There was only wide-open space, farm animals, good Texas food, and Hunter.
Hunter.
I was going to miss him like hell when I left. I’d never had such a thorough and attentive lover in my life, nor slept as well as I did after a bout of lovemaking with him, which was saying something, considering I was spending most of my nights on a stable floor. When I wasn’t working, I was with him, and when I was working, I often found myself daydreaming about him.
Is this what love is?
I walked back out to the corral in a daze. I’d never been in love before, never allowed myself to get close enough to a man for such a thing to happen, and the idea both terrified and thrilled me.
But, mostly, it just made me sad because I knew a relationship between Hunter and me would never work. He was a cowboy, and I was a New York City girl. I knew he was never going to give up his ranches to move to the city with me. And, even if he were willing, I wouldn’t want him to. It was clear as day to me that he belonged here, and I wasn’t going to keep him from what he loved.
CHAPTER 20
Hunter
“DARLING,” I MURMURED INTO Kia’s hair. “You have to tell me what’s wrong.”
Kia responded by burrowing her face more firmly into my chest, turning her cheek toward my armpit so that I couldn’t meet her gaze. “I don’t have to do anything,” she muttered.
I gently slid two fingers beneath Kia’s chin, forcing her to meet my gaze. “Kia,” I implored, “you’ve been moody for the last couple of days, you haven’t wanted to have sex, and you’ve hardly spoken two words to me.”
“Maybe I’m on my period,” Kia said snidely.
She tried to turn away again, but I held fast.
“No, I don’t think that’s it.” While the dark cloud of emotion that had settled over Kia could certainly be explained that way, my sense of smell told me that time of the month hadn’t arrived yet. “Something’s been bothering you for the last couple of days, and you won’t tell me what it is.”
Kia simply glared at me, and I met her stare evenly, not willing to back down.
Finally, she sighed and dropped her gaze. “Hunter, do you love me?”
“What?” The question caught me off guard.
She met my gaze again, a challenging look in her eye. “It’s a simple damn question.”
I didn’t say anything for a few moments, not sure how to respond. “I guess I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “I’ve never been in love before.”
Kia bit her lip. “Neither have I. But I do know I’ve never been this close to anyone in my life.”
She stroked my bare upper arm, and my inner wolf howled in response, making me want to arch my back in pleasure.
“Yeah, same here.” I wasn’t sure where this conversation was going, and I also wasn’t sure I liked it, but I wasn’t going to risk hurting Kia’s feelings by saying so.
The truth was, I knew I was falling in love with her, but I didn’t know if I was ready to admit it, not after the story she’d told me about the shifter who’d killed her mother. There was no way I was going to commit myself to a relationship with her without telling her what I really was, and I didn’t know whether or not it was safe enough to do that. Though I’d always considered myself pretty tough, Kia had wormed her way into a place inside me no one had ever been before, and I wasn’t sure if I would survive rejection from her.
“I don’t think this is a good thing,” she whispered.
“What?”
“These feelings we’re developing . . . I don’t think they’re a good thing,” Kia repeated. Determination hardened her eyes, the earlier sadness completely gone. “In two weeks, our bet is up, and no matter which way the chips fall, I’m going back to New York, and you’re staying here.”
Anger blazed in my heart at the idea that Kia was going to leave me, and my wolf roared in displeasure, but I managed to rein in my emotions. “You could always stay here,” I blurted without thinking.
Kia arched an eyebrow. “You’d want me to leave behind my life’s work for you, wouldn’t you?” she sneered. Then she rolled out of my arms and stood up. She brushed the hay from her clothing and straightened her shoulders. “Well, I’ve got news for you, Hunter. I’ve got no plans to give up my photography career . . . just like you have no plans to give up your life as a rancher.”
She set her jaw, daring me to challenge her statement, but I said nothing. She was one hundred percent right, and I wasn’t about to do her the discourtesy of lying or making false promises.
When it became clear that I wasn’t going to answer her, she relaxed a little. “The sooner we both come to terms with this, the better,” she said quietly. Then she turned on her heel and walked out.
I stared up at the wooden slats of the ceiling for a long time, and by the time I fell asleep, I still didn’t have an answer for her.
CHAPTER 21
Kia
I WAS COLLECTING EGGS from the chicken coop to sell at the weekly farmers market when I heard the sound of a car pulling up at the front of the house. A rooster tried to peck at my hand, and I swatted him away before collecting the three eggs from the nest in front of me. Gathering up my basket, I headed around the front to investigate.
I wonder who it could be.
Hunter had sold two of the horses and was out delivering them to a rancher who lived several hours away, so there was no way he was back already, and Mrs. Jones had gone to visit her sister and wasn’t due back for at least two hours. But my question was answered quickly enough when I spotted the black sedan out front, and my spine stiffened involuntarily as the dark-haired man got out of the car with briefcase in hand.
“Miss Nash!” Samuel Bradley called, flashing me a perfect smile.
He was wearing sunglasses today, so I couldn’t see his eyes, but I was sure they were just as i
cy and crafty-looking as they’d been the last time he was here.
“Mr. Bradley,” I responded coolly, planting myself between the car and the porch steps in a way that made it clear I wasn’t about to invite him inside. “I can’t imagine what possibly could have brought you here today.”
“I just wanted to come by and see if I could discuss some of the finer points with you in case you do decide to sell.”
“If I do decide to sell, it certainly won’t be to you,” I informed him coldly.
“And why exactly,” he said slowly, “is that?”
“I instinctively dislike you, and I don’t do business with people I don’t like.” That wasn’t entirely true. I worked with models and fashion reps all the time that I detested, but that was a different career, and besides, it sounded like a Texan thing to say. I was certain Hunter would be proud.
Stop that. I don’t care whether or not Hunter would be proud.
It had been three days since I last slept in the stables, and the two of us had maintained a respectful distance.
That is a good thing.
I was determined to ignore the constant ache in my heart, demanding I take him into my arms and never let him go. If I kept ignoring it, it would eventually go away.
Mr. Bradley flashed me a sharklike grin that sent a shiver up my spine. “Well, that’s a pretty silly way to do business, especially considering you’d be missing out on a hell of a deal without even knowing what it was.”
“And what deal would that be?” I asked, intrigued in spite of myself.
“Well, I’d really prefer to go inside and discuss it.” When I hesitated, he scoffed. “Please, I’m not going to bite. And it’s not as if you don’t have any means to defend yourself,” he said, eyeing the gun holstered at my hip.
I’d taken to carrying it ever since the last time he visited, not wanting to be caught defenseless again while I was alone on the ranch.
“Fine.” I stepped aside, giving him access to the porch steps. “You first.” No way was I giving this man my back.
He flashed me another smile and then moved past me, heading up the steps and letting himself into the house. I led him to the dining table and thought about offering him tea or coffee but then decided against it, not wanting to leave him alone for a moment.
Operation Wolf: Hunter ~ Sedona Venez Page 10