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My house was eight thousand square feet but felt more like a closet. The open floor plan wasn’t enough space or freedom at the moment to keep the weight of what I was feeling from suffocating me so I left the house, made the short drive to the stables, and saddled up Kolby for a ride. It was dark, the ranch was quiet, but night riding was one of my favorite things to do.
Being out on the ranch, rushing down the trails with the rhythm of my horse and the still of the night, was exactly what I needed. I traveled down the easiest path, taking into consideration the late hour and minimal visibility for myself. Kolby would be just fine and I usually did okay since my other senses heightened with the lack of vision but I couldn’t risk another injured horse. Kolby and I had traveled along this trail a million times so we navigated with ease, mostly from muscle memory.
What I was hoping was the crisp night air, the steady rhythm of Kolby’s hooves on the hard cold dirt trail, and the dark skies would be enough to wipe out the memory of Shore’s lips on mine, the soft feel of her breasts brushing against my chest, and the low throaty moans of her voice that never escaped because our mouths were in a tug of war.
Damn, I enjoyed that kiss too much.
My property was dark as hell and I couldn’t see much beyond what was right in front of my face, but we survived. By the time I returned to the stables after the hours-long ride, I still didn’t feel any more at peace. My body was buzzing with adrenaline and still anxious as hell knowing I had to go back to the house where my problem began and ended.
Shore Manchester, who was likely still out cold from the moonshine she drank too much of. After removing Kolby’s tack and getting him situated in the stable with some extra hay to replenish what I burned off with our ride, I was in my truck heading back to the house with my mind on how the hell I was going to survive the next few days with this very tempting woman in such close quarters.
My mind drifted to her failed attempt at patting my thigh and my dick hardened instantly in my jeans. The feel of those soft fingers landing against it a few hours before was on constant rotation along with the sweet and spicy taste of her tongue against mine. I groaned in irritation as I parked and headed inside, needing to shower but refusing to because I knew how that would end. My dick in my hand while I imagined it was Shore I was stroking and not my fist.
Instead I quietly walked through the house, peeked into the room where Shore was indeed still fast asleep, then headed back to the kitchen where I grabbed a beer and planted my ass on the sofa. I wasn’t getting in my bed after a ride and no shower so the rest of my night was going to be spent right here.
By my third beer I still had a mind full of questions that shouldn’t have been circulating. Could there be something with us? Would she be open to the idea of us? If not, would she be open to allowing me to fuck the idea of us out of my system? She would thoroughly enjoy the last one but I couldn’t rightly come out and ask if she was willing. I called the one person I could trust to be honest even if I didn’t like the honesty he would offer.
“What’s wrong, Wilde?” My brother’s groggy voice flowed through the phone and I cracked a smile. It was after midnight which meant I shouldn’t have been calling him. Most nights I was asleep by nine.
“Relax, nothing's wrong. Well at least not anything you need to worry about. I just needed some advice.”
I heard shifting and then a female's voice mumbling in the background before I had Garrett’s again. “From me?”
“Yeah, is that so hard to believe?”
“Shit yeah, it is. I’m no longer worried about you being up this late. I’m more concerned that you’re calling me for advice. Let’s hear it.”
I chuckled and finished the beer I was working on, placing the bottle on the floor. “There’s a woman here at the ranch with me…”
“A woman? How the hell did you meet somebody when you never leave the ranch, Wilde? Have I been gone that long to miss all that?”
“This is all Ms. Mel. I’m doing her a favor. Long story, but one of her guests ended up here for the week instead of the B&B.”
“At the ranch? And you agreed?”
“I already said it was Melvina’s doing. You think I had much of a choice?”
“Not if you want to keep your ears out of the danger zone, you don’t,” he said with amusement taking over the grogginess that existed moments before. “So what’s the deal with this woman? She giving you hell and you’re trying to decide how to put her out and not piss off Ms. Mel?”
I wished it were that easy. “Not exactly.”
“Then what’s the…oh fuck, you don’t want her to leave. You want her to stay?”
“Yeah I do and I don’t know how the hell I’m so damn attracted to this woman.”
“Tell me what she looks like and I’ll tell you how?” he said and laughed.
The idea of discussing Shore’s looks had a frown etched on my face. “It’s not just about what she looks like, which is the part that has me so damn twisted up. There’s something about her. Something I both like and don’t like all at the same time.”
“You’re talking crazy, Wilde. You either like the woman or you don’t.”
We sounded like a couple of grade school boys with this conversation but there was no other way around it.
“I likeher. But I don’t like that I do. Feelings such as these never work in my favor.”
“You don’t want them to,” he said through a sigh. “That ranch is your life, Wilde.”
“It’s supposed to be yours too,” I shot back in a moment of annoyance.
