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“Are you going to be this much of an asshole the whole time you’re here?”
I shrugged. “Probably.”
“Then maybe we should ship you right back home because I don’t care if your cousin or anyone else fucking shoots you.”
“Wow. That’s cold.”
Rhys shrugged. “I sympathize with him. I’d like to shoot you myself.”
“You made that abundantly clear yesterday.”
“Then why are you here watching me?”
I rose to my full height and gave him a slow once-over. “Maybe I have an interest in horse training.”
“Bullshit.”
“Maybe I have an interest in arrogant, sassy cowboys.”
“Then go look for one.”
“Why do that when a perfect specimen is right in front of me?”
He closed his eyes, and I wondered if he was literally counting to ten. “Fine. Watch me, but if you do anything to spook this horse or distract me from training, I’m going to knock you right into the dirt and make you regret ever coming to this ranch.”
“Honey, I doubt that, but I can’t say I’d mind you trying.”
Rhys flexed his hands like he was thinking about punching me, but he turned back to face the horse, mumbling something about fucking stubborn mobsters.
6
RHYS
Iwas going to fucking kill TJ, and I might take out Grant afterward. Why the hell had he let this man come here? Why should we be concerned about stupid interfamily squabbles among mobsters?
I knew the answer. The only reason we had this ranch was because it served as a safehouse. Grant had some say in who came here, but he couldn’t turn down all the clients, and we’d been assured by X that TJ never harmed the innocent.
But did I believe that?
I’d seen plenty of men like TJ when my father was working for a local mob family. I knew firsthand what their world was like, and it was ugly as hell. They fucked innocent people over and preyed upon small, local businesses.
Did I dare believe TJ had never tortured someone who’s only fault was that they’d gotten desperately in debt and chosen the wrong person to go to for a loan? Had he really never killed some decent man with a family, leaving the wife and kids behind with no money, no home, no prospects?
I couldn’t be sure. No matter how fucking hot TJ was, he was mixed up with evil, and I could never condone that. Sure, someone might see that opinion as hypocritical since I was working at the ranch protecting him, but just like every other shitty thing I’d done, I’d made the decision because it kept my family safe. I would do anything for Grant and Rogue, anything at all. That included protecting them from TJ if he got out of hand.
He watched the rest of my training session with our newest mare. I tried my damnedest to ignore him, but his presence was tangible. I felt him in the air, and it was suffocating. When I turned to look at him, his gaze traveled up and down my body, heating me until my cock was half-hard. I hated that he could do that to me. I should order him back to the house and not take no for an answer. I should prove that I could beat him in a fight. That would put him in his place.
I wished I’d just shot him yesterday, but I hadn’t, and I wasn’t going to now. I also wasn’t going to go to bed that night, wrap my hand around my cock, and jerk off thinking about which I’d like to do more: fuck him until he begged for mercy or beat the shit out of him. The dynamic between us made it clear we needed to do one of the other if we were ever going to clear the air.
I had to find some way to keep myself from crossing that line, even in my fantasies.
* * *
During the next week, TJ continued to watch me work every chance he got. I tried my best to ignore him, no matter how lewd his comments got. I didn’t want him to know how much he was getting to me or how turned on I was at the suggestions he’d come up with for how I could help him pass the time while he was stuck there.
At least he stayed at the fence and never followed me after my training sessions were over. If he got into my personal space, I wasn’t sure I could keep from punching him. Sadly, I was just as likely to give into the urge to kiss him.
As if TJ wasn’t enough to deal with, we had a second client, a young man who’d turned on his repulsive family. He needed some place to hide until the few family members who hadn’t been taken out by their rivals gave up their search for him.
