A cowboy.
He made a picture, him, his horse, and his ranch.
And while I loved everything about it, it also scared me.
22
ZEB
We were backon Pike and Shadow heading back to the ranch. While I’d come home to see my family, I also wanted Cammie to myself. Returning to the house meant… everyone.
Something was up with my girl. She was quiet. Thinking too hard for someone who’d just had her pussy eaten out. I’d said something, done something. I just didn’t know what it was.
Even though I was usually away at school, I had most of the summer at home to see how my brothers and Beau interacted with their women.
I didn’t really think about how different thingswould be from being and thinking and living as “just me” to now, living and being and thinking and breathing and fucking Cammie.
She had moods and thoughts and feelings and desires that I had to meet. And learn.
I only gave her until we were back in the stable to herself. It was warmer inside, the scent of hay and the pungent and familiar tang of horses filled the air. It was quiet except for a nicker from one of the stalls.
I went to her, pulled her in my arms and hugged her. Held her soft, warm body against mine and just breathed in her sweet scent.
“What’s the matter?” I whispered against her hair, then kissed it.
She shook her head against my chest.
“Beau threatens to spank Lainey all the time. Want me to do that to you to get you to tell me what’s wrong?”
Her head popped up and she stepped back, eyes wide. “No.”
I grinned. “So that’s not your kink then. Besides being in naughty photos just for me, we’ll figure out what gets you hot together.”
“Zeb,” she sighed.
“It’s you and me, sweetheart. Look at me, I got big shoulders. I can handle whatever is the matter.”
She sighed. “My mom taught me that a woman should always be self-sufficient, to be able to make her own money.”
I nodded. “Sounds smart.”
“To have an education and a career so if a relationship falls apart,” she continued. “She’s not stuck.”
“You said Beau’s father is from her first marriage.”
She nodded. “Yeah. I never met him, but he was a horrible man. Mom couldn’t get out of the marriage easily because she had no skills, no way to work that could support her and Beau.”
Oh.
“I can support you.” I tipped her chin up so she knew I was hearing her. I also wanted to make sure she heard me. “I sure as hell am not going to beat you.”
She gave me a smile and it lit up my whole world. “I know that. I wouldn’t have given myself to you otherwise. But while I’m yours, I also need to know that I can be okay on my own.”
“That makes sense. I don’t expect you to bale hay alongside me.”
She bit her lip.
There was something else that I wasn’t getting. “I still don’t see the problem.”
