Saving Her (Her Protector Book 2)

by Katy Kaylee

  This time when my orgasm hit, I felt him stiffen as he came with me, both of our bodies locked together in perfect union. It went on and on, stars sparking and shocks running up and down my skin in aftershocks of climax.

  Finally, I floated back to earth, back into my body, to the cramped farmhouse bathroom with the chipped porcelain vanity and old medicine cabinet.

  I kissed Jake, slow and sweet and so full of all the emotion that was still swirling like a whirlpool inside me that it made my chest ache with the fullness of it.

  “That was…”

  “Incredible.” Jake finished with a soft laugh.

  “Yeah. That. Exactly that.”

  “Did I hurt you?”

  I gave him a look, a small smile still curving my lips. “Haven’t we been through that already?”

  He just shook his head, not saying another word as he stepped back.

  Jake picked me up in his arms again, carrying me to the bed and I let out a breathless laugh.

  “You know I can walk now, right?” Not that I was really complaining. It felt altogether too good to be held against his big, warm body. Safe and secure. Nothing in the world could touch me when I was in his arms.

  “I like carrying you.” He said simply and I couldn’t argue with that. I liked it too.

  He laid me down, and crawled in beside me, holding me tight still as if he never wanted to let me go. I liked that, too.

  We lay there in silence for a long moment before Jake started talking. He told me all about when he was a child, growing up on the ranch. He he’d fallen in love with it the first spring when he’d helped his grandfather birth a foal.

  He told me about growing up in Solace, about how everyone knew everyone. He talked about getting in trouble and yelled at by Agnes Lockley for tromping through her gardens. He talked about his favorite teacher, Mrs. Petherick. He told me stories about Sheriff Copper, who had just been a green officer then.

  He told me all about what it was like to go to high school there in town. About his friend, Dominic, about the Calhoun’s, who had gotten into plenty of trouble of their own, even then. And then he told me about Valerie.

  It was hard to imagine the girl he described as the same woman I’d met in the bar that night and it was easy to see that Jake had painted his own picture of her. I thought it would make me jealous, hearing about his ex, but there was no passion in his voice as he spoke about her. No interest.

  The only emotion was when he talked about when they’d split up, when he’d discovered that she’d been cheating on him from the beginning, and then, it was only bitterness. Bitterness and resignation. And I think, relief. The same relief that I felt when I thought of Elliot.

  His voice changed as he talked about his father. I could hear the obvious affection in his words, in his tone. I could hear how heartbreaking it had been when his dad had died.

  “I never really thought about the ranch as a business until then, you know? It had always just been a job to me.” Jake said softly, playing with a lock of my hair, “But then the bills started coming, just days after the funeral and I had no idea. I don’t think this place has ever been in the black. I didn’t realize how much debt the place was in. He’d basically been giving away the place for free to people.”

  “It’s getting better.” I told him, feeling the movement as he nodded his head above me.

  “I know. It is. But I also know if I don’t turn things around soon, then…well, the Calhoun’s won’t have to do…whatever the hell they were trying to do out there today. Because the ranch will be theirs.”

  “Don’t say that, Jake.” I sat up enough so that I could look down at him, meet his gaze eye to eye. “Don’t give up. We’ll fight for it.”

  “We, huh?” He grinned at me, slow and sexy, “I like that.”

  “Yeah, of course. I’m going to help you, Jake Gallagher. Whether you like it or not.”

  “I think I like it. I like it a lot. I like you a lot, Zoe.”

  My breath caught at the sudden darkness in his eyes and I let myself fall back against him.

  “I like you too.” I whispered, but it was so far from the truth. I more than liked him. I was terribly afraid I was coming to love him.

  He paused for a moment and I knew he was waiting for me to say more. For me to tell him about my past like he had just told me about his. But it was impossible. The words stuck in my throat like bile. As much as I wanted to tell him the truth, I just…couldn’t. Instead, I took the cowards way out, and I leaned forward, kissing him again. Distracting both of us and desire rose up one more.

  * * *

  Jake

  I laid in the bed, Zoe held tight in my arms as she slept peacefully. I looked down at her, nestled so sweetly against me. No trace of the day’s ordeals remained on her face, the only evidence left was the bright white bandage wrapped around her arm.

  Beth had stopped by and check Zoe out for a concussion but she’d given her the all clear. Even still, I could keep seeing it. The moment that Zoe had disappeared off the horse’s back.

  Fear clogged my throat all over again and my hand was shaking as I reached down, sweeping the dark hair away from her face and tucking it behind one ear.

  Zoe was starting to get a slight tan from her time working out in the sun and it made her look like was made of gold. Glowing. Ethereal. Otherworldly. Like she was only moments away from slipping through my fingers.

  It made me hold on even tighter to her. I couldn’t imagine my life without her in it. Hell, I didn’t even want to contemplate that.

  We had fallen into a comfortable routine over the past months. She would help him around the ranch, talking to bill collectors and suppliers, handling the book keeping. Thought of the bank accounts made my stomach twist into knots as it always did.

  I knew I was going to need more money if I wanted to keep the ranch out of Calhoun’s clutches. Hell, if I wanted to keep it at all. I knew at the rate things were going I would have maybe a year or so before the bank would start to knock on the front door.

  The Calhoun’s. I wanted to knock some sense into the lot of them. Wil at least seemed to realize that they had gone too far this time, but Lucas had seemed more than intent on hurting Zoe whatever his brother said. And I knew Ian would just go along with Lucas. That boy had always been slower than the rest, not that I ever held it against him. He just didn’t have it in him to stand up to Lucas.

  And their father was no better. Just like Lucas, only older, even more stubborn, and somehow meaner in his own way. Crueler.

  Growing up in town with the Calhoun’s, going to high school with them, I’d seen first hand just how Howard Calhoun dealt with his sons when he thought they were acting up and it was usually fists first, words later. Obviously a straight that Lucas had picked up along the way.

  It still made me furious, the way he’d threatened Zoe. But then I remembered the way she’d shot right back, standing up to the bully, fearless. So strong it dazzled me.

  And she’d stood up for me, too. No one had ever stood up for me, except for Beth from time to time. But it was always me looking out for me. No one else ever had, not until Zoe. The little spitfire. She was at least a hundred pounds lighter and a foot shorter, and still she hadn’t backed down.

  Warmth filled me and my heart melted even more as I held her tighter against me. This woman. This incredible, fascinating, frustrating woman. She drove me crazy and at the same time soothed some of the wild edges inside me.

  Even after all this time, she still rarely talked about her past. Sometimes, I felt like I hardly knew anything about her. Whenever I brought it up she would stop talking or change the subject altogether.

  That niggling doubt grew inside me a little more every time. I’d already had my heart broken once by a beautiful woman that had lied to me and betrayed me. I knew that if the same happened with Zoe, it would be so, so much worse. Because what I had felt for Valerie was nothing compared to how much I cared for Zoe.

  It ha
d hit me, today, chasing after her, thinking about her getting hurt, or worse. I couldn’t stand the thought of losing her. I wanted her in my life. I wanted to really make a try of things between us. Not just fun. Not just casual. Because nothing about what I felt for her was casual.

  I leaned down and kissed her cheek in the dark, loving the way she curled against me like a contented kitten. I lay there, just like that, holding her close and thinking long into the night.

  23

  Zoe

  “No, not like that. Like this. Nice and gentle.”

  I glanced over at Owen as he corrected me, biting back a small smile as he demonstrated the correct way to rub down the horse with hay.

  I snuck Josie a sugar cube but she wouldn’t take it. Just shook her head before nuzzling against me. Ever since that afternoon with the snake, she’d been refusing any treats from me. Jake said it was because she felt guilty about the whole thing, after which he usually added something along the lines that she should be.

  But it had been weeks and she still wouldn’t take any treats. The old horse would nudge me with her shoulder and rub her velvet soft nose against me in a gesture of affection, but I still felt like she was unnecessarily punishing herself.

  “It’s not your fault, Josie. I don’t blame you at all, not one single bit.”

  “You just have to let her come around in her own time,” Owen said, nodding slightly with a look of wisdom far too old for his years. “She just feels bad, that’s all. Horses are stubborn, and sometimes they take longer than people to get over things. But she’ll get there. Just give her time.”

  “How did you learn so much about horses?” I asked, grabbing another handful of straw and rubbing it across the horse’s haunches. Now that cooler weather had set in, the animal’s fur had started growing in thicker in patches and could be itchy and uncomfortable. Josie practically purred as we rubbed her fur.

  “Mostly from Jake,” Owen said with a shrug. “and from Westley. That man is like some sort of horse whisperer.”

  I bit back a smile at the awe in the teenager’s voice.

  “Yeah, I’ve noticed he does have a certain way with the horses.”

  “It’s more than that. It’s almost like…like he can talk to them, you know, with his mind!” Owen grinned, but the expression slowly fade dot be replaced with an embarrassed scowl. “You probably think that’s stupid. My dad says I’m stupid all the time.”

  I felt a flash of anger at Owen’s father, “No way. I don’t think that’s stupid at all. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it myself.”

  “Really?” Just that quickly, with a little bit of belief, he was all smiles once more, “I think that would be so cool, to be able to talk to horses.” He trailed off into silence again, that scowl creeping back onto his face, and I couldn’t help thinking about what he’d said about his father, remembering my own childhood, remembering the look on Owen’s face when he’d heard me play piano.

  “So, Owen, have you given any more thought to piano lessons?”

  “My dad would never let me, and I couldn’t afford to pay on my own.”

  “No charge.” I said emphatically, “and your dad wouldn’t even have to know. We could practice during your lunch break, here at the ranch.”

  “Really? My lunch break,” he looked around bashfully, “I usually take my lunch break on my own.”

  “Yeah, really.” I didn’t know what made me make the offer, I just knew I needed to take a little bit of the weight off of his young shoulders. Because I knew what it was like, to feel like all your hopes and dreams were so far out of reach, far beyond the reality that you knew. And I had also seen him sneak away to take his break, coming back still looking hungry.

  I glanced down at the clock on my phone.

  “Come on, it’s almost lunch time. We can have your very first lesson right now.”

  “Now? I don’t know…”

  “There’s no time like the present, that’s what Mrs. Magney always used to say. She was my piano teacher.” I said, patting Josie once more as I lead her back into the stall. She gave me one more guilty nuzzle and I left three sugar cubes surreptitious on the top rail of the stall where she would find them.

  “Come on, Owen.” I said, not giving him much of a choice as I turned and headed back towards the farmhouse. “Let’s teach you the piano.”

  He followed me, reluctantly at first, stopping at the front door and looking around surreptitiously.

  “Don’t worry,” I said, knowing instinctively what had that look of panic cropping up in his eyes, “Jake is in the office and Westley is out checking the fences. You’re secret will be safe, I swear.”

  He let out a sigh of relief and it had me shaking my head all over again. I didn’t say another thing about it though as I walked over to the piano, opened the lid, and gestured for Owen to take a seat on the bench.

  “Me? I thought maybe I’d just watch.”

  “Music is a hands on sport, Owen. The only way to learn is to do.” I nodded again and this time he sat down. “Now, you get familiar with the piano here, and I’ll go put some lunch together for us. You probably left yours out in the barn.”

  “Right. I did, um, leave it behind.” He nodded eagerly and I turned away before he could see my bittersweet smile.

  There was far too much similarity between this poor boys’ life and my own chaotic childhood. I knew exactly what it felt like to skip meals, to go hungry, to be forgotten and ignored and neglected by the ones who should have taken care of me. Who should have loved me.

  As I grabbed what I could find from the fridge, I paused when I heard the first few tentative notes. They were random at first, slow and discordant, but started to come together as Owen found a simple three note melody.

  It was a happy little progression in the key of C, sounding almost like a childhood lullaby and again, that bittersweet ache filled me. The likely hood of Owen being sung lullabies as a child was probably just as dismal as mine had been. Which was to say, non-existent.

  I let him play around a little longer as I listened unseen from the kitchen. It was obvious that the kid had an ear for music and melody even if he’d had no formal training.

  After a few more minutes, I grabbed the two plates and brought them into the living room, handing one over to Owen.

  “Thanks, Miss Brown.” He said excitedly and even after a year it still took me a few extra moments to realize he was talking to me. In my mind, I would always be Zoe Carlyle.

  “Just Zoe is fine.” I said, taking my plate over to the chair next to the piano. We sat and ate and I watched him play, watched him more confident as I showed him different chords and notes.

  Watching him play and discover the joy of creating music, it was like I was looking at myself as a kid, just trying to escape the chaos of my home life, to escape a parent who was a user and an addict.

  It gave me a whole new appreciation for Mrs. Magney and the chance that she had given me for a new life that I never would have gotten without her. Without her patient teaching and lessons.

  “That’s really good, Owen,” I said, grinning over at him, “You’re a natural.”

  “Come on.”

  “No, I’m serious. You have a natural ear. Once you learn a little more of the basics, you’ll be well on your way to Mozart.”

  “What’s Mozart?”

  I stared at him with my mouth open in shock.

  “Who.”

  “What?”

  “No, he’s not a ‘what’. Mozart is a who. He was one of the great composers.”

  Owen just shrugged and I shook my head.

  “Okay, next lesson is on Mozart.” I glanced at the clock, “It’s time for me to get to work. And you too. Josie will be waiting for you. Give her an extra apple for me, will you? She deserves it.”

  “Sure thing, Miss Brown.”

  I flinched at the name but didn’t correct him again as Owen jumped to his feet and raced to the front door, but before he left, he pau
sed and turned back, giving me a bashful look.

  “Thanks for the lesson. Same time tomorrow?”

  “You got it. Be ready for an education on Mozart.”

  He laughed, then grew serious again, donning that look that made him look much older and wiser than his years.

  “You know, you would be a great mom.”

  I was so shocked and warmed by his words that all I could do was nod and toss him a wave as he disappeared outside.

  With a sharp exhale, I dropped down onto the now empty piano bench that Owen had just vacated. My fingers found the keys, playing effortlessly as my thoughts swirled.

  I had always wanted children, but the timing had never been right. Elliot had always put her off, even from talking about it, whenever I had tried to bring it up. He would always say the same thing. We could talk about it after we were married. We could talk about it after he got the promotion. How could we even talk about having kids when we didn’t have enough money.

  I knew they were all lies and excuses but I went along with it, hoping that after we were married he would come around. I knew now, looking back, that never would have happened. Kids would never have fit into Elliot’s lifestyle.

  The music swept up and over me and I lost myself to it for a moment, but a sudden thought had me jolting so hard that the notes came out in a ear-piercing jumble of discordant chords.

  I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had my period. Mentally, I tried to do the math. I had been so wrapped up in living my new life here at the ranch that I hadn’t even thought of it. But now, sitting there, I realized with a shock that I was several weeks late.

  My pulse skittered and my breath heaved out of my lungs in suddenly nervous pants. It had to be something else. The fear and stress of the last year finally catching up to me. I had lost a lot of weight while I was on the run, eating only when I could scavenge food. I knew that could slow or stop it all together.