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Nan pulled back on the reins as she spotted the long cattle trailer hooked behind a Dunbar Ranch truck in the distance. It was as easy to recognize Tank, Dan’s stallion, as it was to pick him out between the other two on horseback. He sat a head taller and the back of his collar-length light hair showing below his hat glinted in the sun. As she trotted toward a copse of trees so as not to disturb them, her body hummed with a sweet rush of arousal pooling between her legs. She’d gone over ten months without sex while in New Orleans, and after two weeks of turning herself over to Master Dan, she was miserable going three days without his cock filling and stretching her pussy with his rough possession. Her flesh ached for the familiar burn of his palm or leather strap and the exultant pleasure it could bring her.
Settling at the edge of the trees, she sat and watched them unload the trailer, all the men wearing chaps that drew the eyes to their tight butts and crotches. “Damn, they can make a girl wet just watching them, can’t they, Zenia?” Nan stroked the mare’s neck, pining for Dan’s touch again. The longer she sat there, the more she wanted him, and the more she realized how deep her feelings went. For the first time in her life, she was in love and wanted more from a man and a relationship than sex and friendship. But in all the years she’d known Dan, not once had he shown an interest in settling down to a committed relationship. In fact, before Connor and Tamara ironed out their problems, Dan and Connor were the two Masters everyone at The Barn thought would remain single.
Her heart twisted and with a sigh of regret, Nan turned Zenia around and rode back to the stable at a slower pace, trying to come to terms with the possibility she’d allowed herself to fall for the wrong man. No, she amended, the right man for her, just the wrong man to expect a return of deep feelings. She’d already agreed to go to the club Friday night with Dan, but after that, maybe she should consider ending their bargain, as much as it pained her to do so. She would not make another mistake by allowing this gaffe of falling in love to ruin their friendship.
As she rode up to the stable doors, Grayson and Avery pulled in. It took monumental effort to work up a smile of welcome, but Nan figured she’d better get in the practice of hiding her feelings for the next few weeks.
Dan nudged Tank around and watched Nan ride back toward the stables without coming over. Did she think he didn’t know she was there? He was more attuned to her now than he’d ever been. Maybe because he’d missed her so much when her short vacation turned into a ten-month absence, or because of the way he had vacillated between anger and concern when she’d cut off all communication. Discovering he had taken their compatibility as Dom/sub when at the club and their otherwise easy, comfortable friendship for granted hadn’t sat well with him. Neither had the nightmares plaguing his sleep since learning what had befallen her in New Orleans. Realizing how close he’d come to losing her, maybe never seeing her again, had left him shaken, and aware of just how deep his feelings ran.
Which was why he’d been so pissed when she’d insisted on returning to her apartment alone after spending two nights in his bed. No matter how much he’d wanted to argue, entice and demand she let him stay with her, he couldn’t fault her determination to get her life back. Wasn’t that what he set out to help her do with his bargain proposal? She was on a fast track toward that goal and that should make him happy, shouldn’t it?
“Are you going to sit there staring all day or get back and start the grill?” Caden drawled as he slammed the back doors of the cattle trailer closed.
“He’s mooning over his girl. I love it. Another one bites the dust.” Connor smirked, tipping his hat back and looking up at Dan with laughter in his blue eyes.
Dan dismounted, replying, “Nan isn’t interested in settling down like her friends.” But I might be. Wouldn’t that be a kicker, if, after all these years, he wanted to give a serious, committed relationship a try just to get refused by the only woman he could imagine himself being happy with for the long run?
“Are you sure?” Caden asked, cocking his head.
He thought of her insisting on going it alone to test the safety of the new locks he’d installed. “Yeah, pretty sure.” He nodded toward the young heifers the brothers had sold him at a discounted price. “I appreciate the livestock, and the price.”
“Once you start breeding, they’ll add to your herd in no time. You may find yourself in need of more hands this time next year,” Connor said.
“I don’t have the time or the acres for too many more. My goal is to keep a certain head count and still have a profitable number to take to auction. Go get your wives and meet back at my place. Like you said,” he tossed out as he mounted up again, “I need to get the grill going.”
“We’ll be there in fifteen.” Caden waved as he and Connor got into the truck.
After riding over to Bertie and having a few words with his foreman, Dan kicked Tank into a full run, eager to spend as much time with Nan while she was still agreeable to their bargain as he could.
Tamara’s look held skepticism as she asked Nan, “Are you sure that’s all there is to it?”
“What else would there be?” Nan hedged. “You know me, and Master Dan. We’re happy with the way things are.” She picked up her beer and took a swig of the cold brew, hoping to wash down the lie. Her eyes kept straying toward the front doors of The Barn as she waited with damp palms and a rapid pulse for Dan to arrive. Other than the cookout on Wednesday, she hadn’t seen him all week. They talked every day, and today he had wanted her to drive to his place and then ride out here with him, but she declined. Until she knew if his feelings mirrored her own, she didn’t want to get too comfortable sleeping with him. Returning to her solitary bed after just two nights in his had been hard enough.
“Sure you are.” Sydney shook her red head. “You two are as stubborn as Caden, and I didn’t think anyone could match him when it came to fighting a relationship.”
Avery grinned. “From what Grayson said, you two fell the fastest for each other.”
As they bantered, Nan glanced again toward the doors, this time with an electric jolt sizzling through her veins as she watched Dan enter. The loud, pumping music faded to the background, along with the chatter and sounds of sexual activities reverberating around the cavernous barn as she ogled his sexy saunter straight for their table. His thigh muscles bulged under the snug denim with each long-legged stride and the black tee molded in a tight stretch over his wide shoulders and around his thick biceps. Without his hat, his wavy hair shone bright under the high rafter lighting, accentuating the darkness of his eyes and face, eyes that never looked away from her as he approached.
“Holy shit, girlfriend,” Tamara breathed. “If you don’t want him, I’ll take him.”
That ridiculous statement drew Nan’s attention for a second. “Sure you would. Would that be with or without your husband?”
“Speaking as one who enjoyed the pleasure of a ménage once…”
“Hey!” Avery interrupted Sydney with a mock scowl. “What did I tell you about bringing that up? Sheesh, can’t you forget you once had my Grayson’s hands all over you?”
Sydney rolled her eyes, her lips twitching at Avery’s mock outrage. “It was before you even came along. Hello, Master Dan.”
“Ladies.” Without wasting time, Dan grabbed Nan’s ha
nd and hauled her to her feet. “If you’ll excuse us. I’m later than expected and would like to get a small matter taken care of before escorting my sub upstairs.”
“What small matter?” Nan set all her reservations about her feelings aside and followed him over to the bar, her pulse tripping with excitement and a touch of apprehension. She couldn’t read his expression or mood, but her body didn’t seem to care. As soon as he’d wrapped his large hand around hers, her girly parts fired up on all cylinders, ready and eager for anything he wanted.
As they reached the bar, he pressed her back against the smooth oak edge, the thin sheath she wore with only a thong underneath offering no protection against his hard, muscled frame. Bracing his hands on the bar top behind her, he gazed down at her with a frown dipping his dark brows. “I’m not the only one unhappy with the way you kept me and your friends in the dark about the abuse you suffered in New Orleans. It was wrong of you to not only shut out everyone you’ve known for years, but to hide what happened, as if you were ashamed.”
Nan winced at the censure in his tone and the hurt behind his words. “I’m sorry. I’ve had a lot to deal with, as you know, and…” She sucked in a breath as he reached for the hem of her dress and pulled it over her head, cutting off her sentence.
