“Three, maybe four months now.” I shifted on my feet, trying to look anywhere but at her tits as they rose and fell, the water splashing across them as the tank continued to fill.
“Dad won’t call the cops or the livestock commissioner unless he loses the herd. Are they stealing cattle?”
I shook my head. “We’ve been able to recover them each time. Whoever is doing it is just cutting wires and creating more work for us.”
Since coming to Thornbrush Ranch, I’d learned Chuck was a proud and private man. He took care of his own—land, horses, and cattle included. Lina was right. He wasn’t going to involve law enforcement unless it was absolutely necessary, especially after everything they went through last year with Hazel Miller and Jesse Matheus. More reason for me to station myself out here tonight.
“I don’t think this is just some kids fucking around.” She brought the bottle back to her mouth. My eyes couldn’t help following her movement, watching her plump lips wrap around the top of the bottle. My cock was growing uncomfortably hard by the second. Her throat bobbed, swallowing it down. I involuntarily gulped.
“I don’t think so, either,” I managed to say. “The guys and I are going to take shifts until we get more cameras up.”
Her mouth popped off the bottle. Goddammit! Why was she torturing me? At this point, it felt like she was doing it onpurpose. A bead of whiskey slipped down her plump bottom lip, her tongue darting out to catch it.
Fucking hell!“Are we done here?” I snapped, impatient.
Her eyes dropped to my pants. She had to see the hard-on behind my zipper. I needed to move, to get away from her. Otherwise, I was going to combust.
“Are you staying out here tonight?” she asked.
“What’s it to you?” I knew I sounded like an asshole, but I needed to be done with this conversation before I did something I’d regret. Why did she care what happened on her dad’s ranch while she was away? We were handling it.
Her brows pinched, her mouth pressing into a firm line. “It’s my family ranch, you dick. I think I have a right to know what’s going on here. And if there’s anything I can do to help, I’m going to fucking help!”
She took another gulp of the whiskey like it was her lifeline. Like it was the only thing keeping her from jumping down my throat.
“You going to be out here all afternoon?” It was already getting late in the day, and I couldn’t have her distracting the guys while we had a job to do. I couldn’t have her distractingme.
“For as long as it takes me to cool down. Areyougoing to just argue with me and give them a show?” She pointed the mouth of the bottle toward Marshall and Jace. “Or are you going to do your job?”
I scowled at her. “Only if you let us doourfucking job,” I said, turning away and marching back to where the guys quickly pretended they were busy at work.
My hands balled into fists. I wanted to storm back over there and either climb into that tank with her and have her grind that wet pussy against my belt buckle until she came, or pull her out of that water and tie her to a fence post until she begged for my cock.
“I’m taking the first shift!” Her voice rose behind me.
“The hell you are!” I hollered, my shoulders going rigid to keep myself from turning back around to face her. Of course she’d demand to help with the night watch.
“Try to stop me, cowboy!”
Shit! I was going to have to fight her over the first watch, wasn’t I? Maybe tying her to a fence post wasn’t such a bad idea.
lina
The water might have cooled my heated skin from the hot sun, but it did nothing to lower my body temperature. I knew he felt my eyes on him. He kept lifting his cowboy hat to wipe his brow, casually checking over his shoulder to see if I was still there—pretending that he wasn’t looking. His T-shirt clung to his back, and his muscles flexed and bulged while he rolled out the wire across the fence posts.
The new ranch hands were more blatant about their perusal. I winked at one of them—the handsome blond one with the mustache—when his lips curved in a grin.
Sipping the whiskey, I could feel my stress melting away. I wouldn’t drink enough to get tipsy, especially if I was coming out here later tonight. Just enough to relax and not feel as though my brain were going ninety miles per hour all the fucking time.
Dad wasn’t going to like that I volunteered to work a night watch, but he wouldn’t demand I stay away, either. He knew once my mind was set on something, he shouldn’t waste his breath.
I turned off the spigot and let the water wash over my chest. My nipples pebbled beneath my swimsuit, peeking up over the waterline. I took another swallow of the bottle, savoring the burndown my throat, but all it was doing was making me hotter and building this insufferable arousal Reed stirred in me. I needed relief.
I rubbed my thighs together in the water and ran my hand down my chest, feeling the stiff peaks while I watched them repair the fence.
I smirked when the blond hand stopped to stare. Reed barked at him to get back to work and then turned to glare at me.
Running my hand up and down my chest, over my cleavage and neck, letting the water cool my heated skin, I let him see where my fingertips traveled.
