“That’s a start,” I replied. I had abandoned all hope at this point, to be honest. I didn’t want to come right out and ask Hank for the money, and I didn’t have to. He just flat out didn’t have it, just like me. I had stayed up all night, my head filled with images of packing up the farmhouse, filling up my truck with all our belongings, and finding somewhere else to board the horses. I had no idea where we were all going to go.
It was too much. It was only two o’clock and I was craving the taste and numbing effects of the whiskey I had been leaning on so heavily over the last few days.
“Thanks, Hank,” I said, standing up and putting my Stetson back on. “I better be going. I’ve got a lot to do today at the farm.”
“Sure thing, son. You holler if you need help around the farm. We’re here for you, son.” Hank shook my hand, and I avoided his eyes, knowing what I would see there.
Pity. And that was the last thing I could face.
My boots carried me down the hall and out of Johnson’s place. When I got in my truck, I put on my sunglasses, pulled my hat down low, and went about the business of pushing all the overwhelming fear and sadness as deep into my soul as I could.
I put the truck in gear and headed to Evan’s bar.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Lee
Eva and I sat in a booth at Quattro, the restaurant at the Four Seasons hotel in Houston. She had insisted that this was the place to carry out the dates she was booking for me. The first one was scheduled for tomorrow night with Dixie.
Eva had booked the room for two days, and she told her husband she was having a girl’s night in the city, so here we were, enjoying the hotel together before it all went down. We had just checked in a few hours ago, and after working up an appetite by fucking like rabbits in the suite, I had insisted on having lunch before continuing. Sex with Eva had a way of leaving me starved.
The restaurant was expensive and lavishly decorated. I was a little uncomfortable with all this upscale fancy bullshit, but I was good at not giving a shit what people thought about me, and that attitude seemed to work in this place. My aloofness was mistaken for wealth, apparently. Wealth was never something I was comfortable with, but Eva seemed to have other ideas for my future.
She was convinced we were going to make a fortune together. I still wasn’t so sure, but I was willing to give anything a try.
I stared across the table at her, her clear, bright green eyes shining back at me, full of excitement and dollar bills. I smiled at her, shaking my head.
“I can’t believe you’ve never run your own business before, Eva,” I said. “You’re a natural.”
“I do have good business sense. It’s true.”
“I can see that. So, do you have any special instructions for me regarding Dixie?”
“Yes, I do, in fact! I sent out a questionnaire to all the interested ladies, asking them about their preferences and boundaries.”
“Of course you did,” I said, winking at her. She shrugged and brought her wine glass up to her lips. I watched with pleasure as she licked a drop of red wine from her lips, my cock hardening in my jeans with anticipation of the caress of those lips later. I never tired of Eva’s body, every inch of her turned me on. Her lips were moving, and I struggled to comprehend what she was telling me. I couldn’t get back up to the room with her fast enough.
“Dixie loves being kissed on her neck,” she said. “She also loves it from behind, apparently. And she requests that you wear your hat and boots at all times.”
“Jesus Christ,” I murmured.
“We’re selling a fantasy, Lee, remember?” she said.
“Sure, I remember,” I mumbled, as I looked around the restaurant for our waitress. “I need another beer.”
“Wow,” Eva whispered, her gaze trailing behind me. “That’s quite a fat lip.”
I turned around and locked eyes with a man in a dark suit walking by. He was tall, with slicked-back black hair, slender, and indeed, he was sporting a big fat lower lip, with an angry slice right up the side of it. His green eyes met mine, his gaze sharp, angry, cold. He looked away, passed our booth, and sat in the booth behind us and pulled out his phone.
The waitress walked up to him first, and I heard him growl at her as he asked for a whiskey. She jumped at the loudness of his voice, quickly walking away to get his drink.
“Great,” I murmured to Eva. “I’ll never get my beer.”
“He looks like he needs a drink more than you do,” Eva joked.
“Yeah, I guess so,” I nodded.
“I’m going to the ladies room, I’ll be right back,” she said, grabbing her bag and leaving me alone in the booth after planting a quick kiss on my cheek. I watched her ass wiggle away, and reached down to shift my growing erection.
The waitress brought the whiskey for the man in the suit, and quietly asked if she could bring him anything else.
“I’ll fucking tell you if I want something else! Fuck off!” he yelled. What a fucking dick, I thought. The girl left his table, quickly coming over to me. I grinned at her, asked for my beer, and thanked her quietly when she brought it back.
The dick at the next table began screaming into his phone.
“This place is a shit hole, Janet! Couldn’t you find a better hotel in Houston?” he screamed into the phone, turning the heads of everyone within ear shot. He ignored his surroundings, obviously comfortable infringing on the space of everyone around him. “Are you kidding? No way am I keeping that piece of shit property. I’m selling it as soon as possible. In fact, I’ve already made arrangements to have the house demolished, and all the trees cut down and sold for lumber. I’ll sell the land to a developer afterwards. I couldn’t give a shit about what my uncle would want.”
He’s one of those assholes, I thought as I listened to the stranger. Houston used to be a nice place to live, with nice neighborhoods that weren’t overly developed with condos and high-end retail shops. But in the last few years, like every other place in the country, every little piece of land was being bought and developed by some greedy corporate fucks that didn’t even live there, or care about the communities they were destroying. It was disgusting, and I was thankful the destruction hadn’t affected Sugar Hill just yet.
Listening to this guy go on and on about how much he hated it here, how he hated this land he had, and his incessant ranting and raving - well it was no wonder someone had beat him up. I wanted to punch him just because I had to sit next to him and be subjected to his loud phone call in such a fancy restaurant.
That was the thing about rich people. They all seemed to be assholes and they acted like they owned every place they walked into. They had no regard for any one else.
As I watched Eva appear around a corner and sashay back to me, I vowed to never be a dick, no matter how much money we made together.
“You ready to go back to the room?” she asked, her pretty eyes flashing seductively, as she slid into the booth sensually.
“You bet your sweet ass I am,” I replied, my cock raging in my jeans.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Ruby
I picked up on the first ring.
“Crit, are you okay?” I asked.
“Of course, why?”
“Well, I saw what you did to Lincoln,” I replied, accusingly. It was good to hear his voice, but his nonchalance was driving me crazy. I’d been pacing in my room all day, waiting for him to call. I’d called him when I woke up, but he didn’t answer, and he didn’t call me back for hours - in contrast to the hundred times he must have called me yesterday, I feared he had given up on me. “I was hoping you could tell me why punching him was necessary.”
“Fuck that guy. Ruby, you have to stay away from him. He’s bad news.”
“Why did you fight him? Did he hurt you?”
He scoffed, and I could hear him smile through the phone. My stomach flipped as I pictured him in my mind. I wanted to kiss him full on the mouth and never stop, I wanted to lose myself und
er him, around him, and feel his touch all over my skin
“I’m fine,” he finally answered. “Not a scratch on me. Are you okay?”
“Yes, Crit, I’m fine. Listen, I’m sorry,” I said, the words rushing out before I could even believe I was saying them. “I hate fighting with you. I had no idea about the farm, about Olly dying. Crit,” I said, my voice lowering, “you could have told me.”
“Some things I just have to deal with alone, Ruby. I appreciate it, though. You’re a sweet woman, babe. But don’t you worry, I’m going to figure all of this out, and everything is going to be just fine.”
I smiled, not surprised one bit that he would maintain his usual stance of being the one in control. From what Lincoln had told me last night, it sounded like this time Crit wasn’t in control. But the confidence he was exuding was just the way he moved through the world, no matter what he was facing. I thought about how he had held the family together after his parent’s death, and realized he was right. I had no doubt he would figure this all out on his own, and everything would be okay.
“Even if there’s nothing I could do, I could listen. I’m here for you, Crit, whether you want me to be or not.”
“You know I want you, darlin’. There is one thing I need from you now, Ruby.”
“What’s that, cowboy?” I asked, my body coming alive at the sound of his voice, at the return of the easiness between us, the joy and closeness that I so craved to feel with him, putting me under its spell once again.
“Just don’t go out with that city fella. I need you to promise me, Ruby.”
“Perhaps I could think about agreeing to that,” I said, teasingly. “I might need you to come over and help convince me, though.”
A low growl sounded in my ear, and I smiled, knowing exactly what that familiar sound meant. I could almost feel his cock growing in my hand.
“I’m on my way.” The phone clicked in my ear, and I threw it down on my bed.
“Everything’s going to be okay,” I whispered, talking to myself in my bedroom mirror. “Patience, Ruby. Patience.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CRIT
I couldn’t get to her fast enough. I wanted to forget about everything, pretend, just for a few moments, that there was nothing wrong, nothing making me feel trapped or hopeless, that none of this was even happening. Ruby was my only escape. Somehow she seemed to effortlessly make everything disappear - with just a smile, a caress of her gentle hands, or a soft, sultry moan.
By the time I got to her house, I was throbbing with anticipation. She greeted me at the door, a fiery tornado of sensuality, pure sex, and heartbreaking sweetness.
I glanced at her sleeping father on the couch, and we quietly stole away to her bedroom, falling onto her bed wordlessly. I didn’t want to talk. I didn’t want to think. I just wanted to feel her.
Her kiss was gentle, soft, searching and loving. As our clothes melted away and each inch of her milky skin was exposed, I felt every worry-filled thought float away, until there was nothing left but our two souls on a shared journey into the blissful magical ecstasy that only we could find together.
“Ruby, Ruby…” I whispered in her ear as I sank into her, needing to be as close to her sweetness as possible, to fill her surrounding me, enclosing me with her love.
Our hips rocked together, our hands grasping flesh, and the love flowing between us like two people that were meant to be together forever.
By the time we lay spent, panting and snuggled close together, I believed with all my heart that no matter what happened with the farm, I had found my true home right there in Ruby Rae’s arms.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Ruby
This time, when Crit left my house, he did it with such loving tenderness, I felt like my heart would break as I watched his truck back out of my driveway.
I could still feel his caress on my skin, his lips on mine, his throbbing masterpiece still moving inside of my body. With a promise to return as soon as he could and a last, lingering kiss, he had disappeared, once again leaving me alone and able to think about nothing but him.
Crit Hope was without a doubt the man of my dreams. I didn’t care if he lost the farm, if he was homeless and moved in with my dad and me, I didn’t care where we ended up, as long as we ended up together, as long as I got to fall asleep in his arms every night for the rest of my life, I would be happy.
He was all I needed.
My father stirred as I closed the front door, and I stared at him, lost in his usual drunken stupor, sleeping away what was left of his life in an effort to make it all go faster.
I couldn’t understand it. I wanted nothing more than to find a way to slow everything down so I could cherish every moment of my future with Crit. I sighed, and padded back down the hall to my room.
My phone was ringing when I entered my room. I picked it up and saw that it was Lincoln. I hadn’t talked to him since I watched him be led away to his hotel room, and I had no interest in talking to him now, let alone seeing him again.
I picked up on the third ring, as soon as the protective side of me kicked in.
“Lincoln, hello,” I answered.
“Hi, Ruby,” his voice was low, and he sounded a little tired. “Thanks for getting me back to the hotel last night.”
“It was no problem. I trust you made it to your room okay?” I asked.
“I did. Did you take a taxi home?”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry about that. I feel like an ass. Why don’t you let me make it up to you? I’ve got some business back in New York for a few days, why don’t you come with me? We’ll leave tomorrow. I’ll get you a room at the Waldorf, and I can assure you it’s nothing like the dump in Houston.”
“The Four Seasons is hardly a dump,” I replied.
“Whatever. Come to New York with me. I’ll show you a great time, I promise. You said you’ve never been,” he said.
“Actually, Lincoln, I’m sorry, but I think it’s best we don’t see each other again.” I was turning down a free trip to New York with the richest man I had ever met and the part of me that had been poor all my life was kicking the other half. I kept Crit’s face front and center in my mind, and listened to the icy coldness that crept into Lincoln’s voice.
“Is that so? Your cowboy got to you, did he?”
“Crit is not my cowboy, Lincoln. He has nothing to do with it,” I lied. “I just don’t think we’re a good fit. Thank you for everything, though. That trip to Dallas was really fun.”
“Are you seriously turning me down? Do you have any idea who I am?”
“I think I’m beginning to, yes,” I said, rolling my eyes. I was so tempted to tell him to leave the Hopes alone. It was obvious he had so much money he was only causing trouble because he was an asshole. The steely nastiness that I heard next only proved it.
“You have no idea. This whole fucking town doesn’t know who they’re fucking with!” He was yelling into the phone now. “I’m going to destroy Crit Hope and that fucking farm of his.”
“Why, Lincoln?” I asked, unable to hold my tongue any longer. “What’s in it for you to do this to someone you hardly know?”
“Sometimes, you just need to put people in their place. And Crit Hope is one of those guys that needs to learn who to respect.”
“So, because you have more money, he needs to respect you?” My heart was racing, and I realized just how screwed up this guy was. “What about you respecting him?”
“He would be wise to respect me because I own his land now. He’s got nothing without me.”
“But that wasn’t his doing. His father died before —,”
“—tough shit!” he roared. “You have to be prepared at all times. If he was any kind of responsible businessman, he’d have been on top of this long ago. Way before my uncle died.”
“I can guarantee you that Crit is the most responsible person I know. If he had known —,”
“—and whose fault is tha
t? Mine? Fuck no! Fuck that hillbilly buffoon!”
“Lincoln, please —,”
“—no! You’re going to choose him over me, Ruby? Not that I give a shit, because I eat girls like you for breakfast. But you have no idea what you’re giving up. A girl like you will never have an opportunity like this again. You’re going to live to regret this.”
“You know what, Lincoln? What I regret is ever speaking to you in the first place. You may have money, but you are sorely lacking in integrity and manners!” I was livid now. How dare he insult me like that. He had no idea what I went through, how hard my life was, or even what kind of ‘opportunities’ that may come my way. He was nothing but an arrogant prick.
“Do me a favor, Ruby,” his voice lowered to a menacing sneer. “When you’re living in a shack out in the woods, and your precious cowboy is impregnating you with his penniless heir with his poor man’s sperm, think of me, will you?”
“Kiss my ass, Lincoln!” I hung up the phone with shaking hands. What a disgusting piece of shit, I thought, as I threw the phone on my bed. How could I have ever gotten in a car with him? Was I that fucking gullible to not see through his act? Was I that blindly distracted by shiny things?
I picked up my phone and dialed Georgia’s number. It was time for Ruby Rae Rust to take the bull by the horns.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
LEE
Dixie was a wild cat in the sack. She was an entirely different person away from her rich, socialite friends and once she let her hair down, she became much more likeable.
I had been nervous wreck when she arrived. Eva had left hours ago, insisting she didn’t want to wear me out before the client arrived.
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