A Rancher's Love (7 page)

Before, New York seemed like a great place to get started, but then Washington was a state that was free of state taxes so at least she wouldn’t have to worry about state taxes. New York was heavy on the taxes, especially in the city,

“You’re drifting,” he said after some measure of silence. She figured he was silent because he knew the words he wanted to utter could be taken negatively. She would admit she was hurt. But he was right.

“You have to find steady ground at some point; preferably sooner.”

“I know,” she huffed. “I’m sorry. It’s just I’m lost, Dean. I lost a lot within a short time span and I wasn’t prepared for that. I’m trying to find my way, okay? I know what I want I just don’t necessarily know the best way to make it a reality.” Everything she thought might work always turned out to be a dead end.

The reality show was going to be her ticket because she knew if she got in she could make it work, she could win that thing, or at least get close enough to the finish line to have it make a difference. Starting her own shop with that show on her portfolio would be a great business public relations builder. But then she got lost, then she had that accident and then she had to figure out what the backup plan was. There was no backup plan because that was the backup plan. She never thought she would be out of the kitchen. She had been working for as long as she could remember, yet after the Enrique issue she hadn’t been able to get another job in the Keys. She lost her condo because the owner decided to sell. Her boyfriend married her mother, and she just felt alone and lost. The only backup plan she had for the disaster that had become her life was that reality show. She didn’t have a backup for the backup.

“So stay here and figure it out.”

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A Rancher’s Love ~ Capri Montgomery

“I can’t stay here forever. Like you said, I’m drifting and I need to find steady ground.” She shrugged. “We should get out of these wet clothes and head back to the house.”

“Go on in,” he gestured to the shed. “There are two robes in there. Neither has been worn yet.”

“Okay, thanks.” She left him outside while she went in to strip off her wet clothes and change into something dry. She didn’t realize how difficult getting wet clothes off could be. Those clothes were clinging to her body as if they wanted to become a permanent part of her body. Eventually she managed to get everything off, feeling a little cold from the combination of being naked and wet. She felt vulnerable. She felt lost.

Dean stood outside the shed waiting for Zoe to finish. His thoughts were going from one topic to the next, but all of those topics involved Zoe. He shouldn’t have said anything, but he had. He was angry that she still wanted to leave him. When he told her he loved her he wasn’t implying that they should figure things out. He already knew exactly what he wanted. He wanted to make her a part of his family, a part of his home. Hearing her talk about leaving just reminded him that she would soon be gone again, to a place where he wouldn’t know how to contact her if her cell phone had trouble again. She would be lost to him, and that thought had his heart beating double time. He needed to be with her, wanted it desperately and the thought of her leaving hurt.

The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. What he wanted to say, or more like what he meant to say, was that she was drifting, but that his ranch could make a good home. He hadn’t exactly said that. She had come out of the shed, wrapped in the beige shower robe and told him it was his turn. She looked sad, which wasn’t his intention in the conversation. He didn’t want to push her away, yet he had the feeling that’s exactly what he had done.

He changed in solitude with his thoughts and then they walked back to the house together.

Sometimes he kept an extra pair of clothes in the shed, but he hadn’t been focused since she left. The result of his discombobulated thoughts was the two robes in the shed. He had taken one out, and by the next day he forgot so he took another. He had almost taken out three until Jasper stopped him and reminded him that he had already taken two out. That was earlier in the week and had he stayed on track, without intervention, he would have had every bathrobe in the house relocated to the shed.

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“She’s already gone home for the day. I’ll fix you something to eat,” he moved around the kitchen, pulling pots and pans out as he went.

“I can cook.”

“I want to fix it,” he glared at her and she held up her hands in surrender.

“Okay. You fix it then. I’m going to take my case upstairs and get freshened up. Is the spare room still available to me?”

He would prefer her to sleep in his room. “Of course.” He refrained from saying the words he really wanted to say. He refrained from telling her just how much he would want her to sleep with him, not just sexually, but just her presence, he needed her presence in his bed; to hold her all night. Admitting his love for her was only the beginning. Keeping her, convincing her that they could have forever together, was going to be the difficult part. She was determined to go it alone and he wanted her to go the distance with him. He wanted her to let him help her, but the distance his ranch sat from any city was just too great for her to open a shop and have to commute every day. She wanted a bakery and he wanted to help her reach that goal, but he also wanted her. He didn’t want long distance. He didn’t want to see her once or twice a year until they drifted apart. He wanted her here, with him, on his ranch and in his bed.

“You’ve always been up to the challenge,” he told himself. “She’s worth fighting for;” those words were his promise to himself that he would fight for her.

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A Rancher’s Love ~ Capri Montgomery Chapter Six

“I
t’s been a week,” Dean said as Zoe stood at the kitchen sink washing the dinner dishes.

“Are you telling me it’s time for me to go?” She laughed. “Don’t worry. I’ve picked my destination.

I just have to book the tickets and hotel room.”

That was not what he meant. “I want you to stay.” He spit the words out because skirting around his feelings with her wasn’t helping things. She obviously wasn’t going to pick up on his subtle invitation so he had to stop walking on eggshells, being afraid he would upset her independent spirit. Clearly she had grown up nearly taking care of herself. She felt as if she had to prove something to everybody, maybe more so to herself.

“And do what, Dean? I haven’t done one, single, solitary thing to contribute around here.”

“That was redundant,” he scowled at her. She had done something. Not only was she contributing to his happiness, she had cooked him dinner, made sweets for the ranch hands, and driven Jasper nearly crazy with her insistence on helping with the cleaning. Or more like her insistence on cleaning certain areas of the house before Jasper arrived. Jasper was not happy with that at all.

“What are you, an English teacher now?” The tone in her voice wasn’t humorous.

“Stay,” he pleaded with her. “Don’t leave me again; please?”

“I have to work. I can’t just sit around on my butt all day and do nothing. I need to go out there and build a career so I can support myself.”

“I have money.”

“And it’s your money!” She took a deep breath and settled. “I’m sorry.” She turned back to the dishes in the sink and finished washing the last plate. She let the water out, dried out the remaining droplets in the sink with the dishcloth, but she made no effort to move. She just stood there, staring off into space.

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A Rancher’s Love ~ Capri Montgomery He stood from his chair and walked over to her, placing his big body behind her smaller frame.

“What are you running from, Zoe? What are you so afraid of that staying isn’t even an option for you?” He placed one big hand on her hip as the other trailed a feather line up her arm. He pulled her body back the half inch it took to make her rest completely against him, trapping her between his body and the sink. He lowered his head, letting his breath fan against her ear and he could feel her trembling against him. “Tell me?” He said those words so softly, his voice a husky deep tone laced with arousal. They needed this conversation, but standing there with his body pressed against hers he realized how much he ached for her.

They were taking things slow which meant she slept in the guest room and they hadn’t made love. He wanted to, but he wanted to wait for her to come to him.

“I don’t want to be her.”

“Who?” He slid his tongue over the curve of her ear and she trembled on a sharp exhale. “Who?”

“My mother,” she finally said breathlessly.

“You’re not her.”

“If I let you support me,” she trembled once again in his arms as his hand on her hip slid to her belly.

Slowly he let his fingers caress her, and learn her body through her clothes. “If I let you support me then I am.” She managed to say as she placed her hand over his. She wasn’t trying to stop his movements. In fact, he felt her press her fingers into his, applying pressure, pushing his hand toward her body, not pulling it away. She liked his touch and knowing that put a smile on his face.

“You’re not her, and my helping you wouldn’t make you her. I want you here. I don’t want you to leave. And if that means opening a bakery on my property so you’ll stay here then I’ll open one.”

“I won’t have any business,” she reached one hand down to his thigh and caressed his leg through his jeans as her head fell back against his chest. “I’ll still be a burden.”

“The ranch hands can start buying some of those treats they love. I’ll start buying them if it makes you feel better. But make no mistake about it,” he moved his hand up over her breast, squeezing gently, caressing her softly. “Your being here is all I can think about. You would be contributing something much more important than money. Please think about it, Zoe.” He placed a succulent kiss on her neck as he let his hand caress her breast. He took the other hand off the counter because he no longer needed it there. That 48

A Rancher’s Love ~ Capri Montgomery hand was needed in far more interesting places so he brought it to her body, sliding it down to her center and caressing her.

“Oh,” she moaned.

“Stay with me, please?”

“Dean,” she panted.

“Please? At least think about it,” he sucked and licked her skin, needing her so desperately he thought he might explode on impact.

“Tell me you’ll think about it. Please think about it?”

“Dean…”

“Say yes,” he squeezed both regions harder, eliciting a sharp cry of arousal from her. “Say yes.” He needed to hear those words. He needed to know she wouldn’t leave him. God, he needed her.

“Yes!”

Maybe it was manipulative, maybe he should have had this conversation without touching her body the way he was touching it, but he couldn’t keep his hands off her. He was perfectly capable of doing more than one thing at a time. He had only asked her to promise to think about it; that was the only commitment he had asked for because when she made that final decision he wanted her to stay because she wanted to stay as much as he wanted her to. He would settle for nothing less.

He rocked his pelvis against her. His erection rubbed against the top curvature of her behind.

“Dean,” she whimpered as he fumbled with the button on her jeans, and then the zipper. He wanted her so badly he couldn’t stop. He would if she asked him to, but if she didn’t he was going to go all the way.

He used his foot to kick her foot, edging her to spread her legs and she did. He removed his hand from her breast long enough to work her jeans and panties down her hips to her thighs where he left them.

His fingers traced a delicate trail up and down her folds, over her clit.

“Dean! If you…I’m…oh God, I’m going to come if you don’t stop doing that.”

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“Do you want me to stop, baby?” He slipped one finger inside of her. She was so wet and warm. He circled his finger inside of her before slipping it out and easing it back in. “Do you want me to stop?” He started to pull out again and she covered his hand with hers, pushing him harder against her.

“No.” Her voice was raw with passion. “Please don’t stop.”

He slipped another thick finger inside of her, spreading them slightly as he wiggled them inside of her. His thumb pressed against her sensitive clit. He could feel her rocking her hips to meet each thrust as her hand gripped his wrist and the other hand held onto the counter in front of her with a death grip.

“Oh, yes, please…” she rocked against him. “Harder.”

He could comply with that request. Her moisture was making it easy for his fingers to glide in and out of her. He picked up the pace, pushing harder against her swollen sex until she shattered in his arms in one loud, explosive orgasm.

He couldn’t wait to take her. He wanted to bed her right, but he couldn’t wait. He quickly retracted his hand, placing one against her shoulder and edging her to bend over. After making sure she was stable enough to hold on to the counter with both hands he undid his own jeans, pushing them down his legs and then he slipped his penis inside of her, so fluidly, so swiftly that he nearly came on the spot. From her position, with her jeans wrapped around her thighs and her legs spread she felt so good as he slipped in and out of her.

He sunk one hand in her curly hair and pulled her head back, attacking her neck with feverish kisses, sucking and nipping the skin with his teeth as he pushed into her with such force, such decadent passion that he could feel her climax building again.

“Dean! Yes! Oh Dean yes! More!” He could feel her muscles clenching around him. “More, please;”

she nearly whimpered with need.

He brought one hand down to her center and pressed his middle finger against her clit, hard and she came loud and clear. Her screams of ecstasy sent him over the edge. His movements becoming faster, harder, more uncontrolled until he exploded on one gargantuan climax of his own. His grunts and growls were primal, possessive. He had claimed his mate’s body. Now he just needed to claim her heart.