Branded (8 page)

“Cole?” My name came over the cell. I’d forgotten to answer the damn phone after I’d accepted the call.

“Yeah, Doc.”

“I’m going to send out Avery to check some of the other cattle. I’m worried about the bacteria spreading. Your boss would have my hide if he lost any cattle because of this. You might want to rustle up some of the others to test the herd. It’s going to be long day.”

I didn’t hear the rest of what he said. Callie pulled her T-shirt down and grabbed a band to pull up her hair.

She turned without a backward glance and headed out of the barn. I wanted to say something but couldn’t. It was best if she left.

But damn if I didn’t want to believe that even though I had a ton of work to do.

I finished up with the doc and then called Harmon and Tiny to gather the guys.

Then I texted Callie:
Where did you go?

Promised to help Gran with some charity stuff,
she texted back.

Right.
I didn’t say you could go.

??? I don’t need your permission, jerk.

I have work to do, but when I’m done, we are talking.

She typed back an angry emoji and,
Mood swings, much? Find someone else to annoy.

…

Nine hours later, we’d tested most of the herd, and none of them were sick. And the mom of the calf was fine. Mr. Llewellyn was worried because we couldn’t figure out where the bacteria had come from, but we were all breathing a bit easier.

For an old guy, he worked just as hard as everyone else. Herding the cattle, giving them boosters of antibiotics just in case. It had turned into a long, hard job no one had expected, but it worked out for the best.

“Good job today, son. You catching on that the calf was ill may have saved the herd. Thanks for that.”

“I guess rattlers are good for something after all. I might not have noticed if it hadn’t been bitten.”

“Make sure you bag everything and burn it. Don’t want to risk the other animals picking it up.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You coming up to the house for dinner tonight?”

I took off my cowboy hat and wiped my forehead with the sleeve from my shirt. Didn’t do much good, the shirt was as wet as my skin. “If it’s all right, sir, I’ll take a pass. I’m thinking shower and then sleeping until tomorrow. That is after I check on the horses.”

Her grandfather chuckled. “Can’t say I blame you. We worked hard today. I may have my dinner in the bath. That is, if Helen lets me in the house. She may make me shower out in the pool cabana.”

This time I laughed. Mrs. Llewellyn did like to keep a clean house.

An hour later, I’d showered. My bones were tired as hell. But my cock was hard.

I texted Callie:
Where are you?

Studying. And I’m not talking to you. Stop texting me.

Didn’t blame her for being mad. I’d been a jerk. But this thing with her had only been going on for twenty-four hours, and I was already twisted up. Might be best to let it go. But that wasn’t going to happen.

What are you studying?

Sigh

I snickered.

Come on. I’m sorry. I was an asshole. Why don’t you bring your books, and I’ll help you.

You don’t even know what it is.

I need to see you. We can just study.

She didn’t text back.

So I typed:
You’re mad. So rant. I can take it.

WTF is wrong with you? You’re the one who told me you’d had enough. Then you kissed the shit out of me and took a phone call. And I told you I’m BUSY.

You wanted what I gave you. We’re not doing this on the phone. 30 mins. Bring your books and laptop.

Go F yourself.

I laughed out loud. Maybe it was a little sick, but I liked when she was all fired up.

28 mins.

I shoved my phone in my pocket and took off for my uncle’s house. My sister was at her first slumber party. She’d become friends with one of the girls she’d met while helping Mrs. Llewellyn with charity work. They talked on the phone constantly. Her mother was nice, as was her father. The girl had spent the night at our house two nights ago. She hadn’t balked at the simple three-bedroom ranch house. They’d had fun and I hadn’t seen Addy that happy in a long time.

I’d talked to the parents again when they’d picked up her friend. Then before I let her go to the party tonight, I’d made Ads pinky-swear there would be no boys involved. And that she’d text me every two hours to check in.

I still hadn’t heard anything from Callie. So I sent her another text:
Meet me at the ranch house. Please. See, I can be nice. Now get your ass over here.

The princess was about to go to a whole new school. And I couldn’t wait to play teacher.

Chapter Eleven

No way in hell I was letting the cowboy order me around. This was just sex. I didn’t like bossy assholes trying to tell me what to do. Sex in the barn, well, that was definitely my kind of thing, and what he’d done to me later in my bedroom… My traitorous body warmed uncontrollably when I thought about it.

I was in the kitchen grabbing a water from the fridge when he texted me another ultimatum. I didn’t want to be turned on, but I was. What kind of punishment was he thinking about? And I also did need help with my finance homework. And he’d signed an NDA, so he couldn’t tell anyone what I was studying.

“Hey, hon, will you be here for dinner tonight?” Rosalee asked. I nearly jumped out of my skin. Thank God, the fridge door hid me.

I thought about Cole’s order and checked the time on my phone. “I need to run some errands and visit a friend of mine. But I’d love to take something to go.”

“Sure. I’ll make you up a little basket.”

“You don’t have to go to all that trouble. I can do it,” I said.

“Shoo. Shoo. You know I don’t like you messing around in my kitchen. Only your grandmother is allowed in here. Give me ten minutes and I’ll have it ready.”

Rosalee was part Mexican and part German, you just didn’t mess with her or her kitchen. When I was a kid, I’d tried to be helpful and put the dishes away once. I put the forks in the wrong drawer and thought she was going to have a cow. After that, I was only allowed in when my grandmother could supervise. Between the two of them, they made Bethany’s OCD look silly.

“Yes, ma’am.”

I ran back upstairs to throw my books and laptop in my backpack. Then I decided to change. I threw on some short shorts, flip-flops, and a top that tied under my breasts. I’d spent enough time outside that I was no longer blindingly white.

I thought about putting makeup on, but I didn’t think Cole cared about that sort of thing. The shorts alone were enough to make him suffer.

Twenty minutes later, I pulled my car up in front of the foreman’s house. It was a quaint three-bedroom red-brick house with black shutters and cream trim. My grandfather made sure all the houses on the ranch were kept up. He liked things to always look nice.

I stood on the front porch but paused before I knocked on the door. What if someone saw my car and wondered why I was down here? I was a selfish bitch sometimes, but I would never do anything to harm Cole and Addy. Even if he did piss me off every other minute. My need for more of what he was willing to give me really could cause a world of hurt. That knowledge sank into me like a lump of not-so-great cookie dough.

I should go. Let the contract be broken.

The door opened before I could turn around and leave. He leaned on the doorframe in his low-riding jeans and nothing else. No shirt. No shoes. And all I could think about was servicing him. Eating him up from the top of his head to his toes.

“Afraid, Princess?”

I cocked an eyebrow. “As if.”

“Then come on in.” The challenge was there in his eyes, like he knew what I’d been thinking and he didn’t care. I was entering the lone wolf’s den, worried I might actually be dinner.

“You’re late.”

I glanced down at my phone, shaking ever so slightly in my hand. Warmth uncurled low in my belly.

“Just barely. I was worried what might happen if someone saw my car.”

“I saw you through the bay window.” He shut the door. “If anyone asks, just tell them you were here to see my sister. But no one ever comes out here. You don’t need to worry.”

I took a deep breath.

“I brought dinner.” I held up the basket.

He took it from me. “Hmm. Your poor time-management might be forgiven if Rosalee threw some cookies in here.” I followed him into the kitchen.

I’d noticed that he kept things pretty clean. I wasn’t sure what I’d expected, but even though some of the furnishings were kind of dated, it was well kept.

“It’s a possibility,” I said about the cookies.

“So why are you mad?”

“I don’t know, maybe because you referred to what happened between us as scratching an itch.”

He grunted. “Yep. I was tired and a jerk. I’m still tired, but I’m sorry.”

I sat down on one of the barstools. “You’re probably used to this sort of thing, but I told you I…uh, don’t have a lot of practice with sex.” Truer words were never spoken. “What happened was more intense than— I’m making a mess of this. I want to keep going. I just felt like maybe, from the way you were acting, that I hadn’t— This is so embarrassing. Maybe you like women with a little more experience.”

He’d been holding a bottle opener, and it dropped out of his hands. He came around the corner and put his hands on my shoulders. “Babe, you are more than enough woman for me. I was a jerk. It was intense, and it was more than I was expecting, too. It scared the hell out of me.”

“It did?”

“Yep.”

I took a deep breath. “So does that mean we get to do it again?”

“Oh yeah,” he said. “But first we’re going to eat. You need your strength.” He kissed my cheek. “Do you want a beer or a soda?”

“Beer.”

“So what are you studying?” he asked as he set out plates and silverware on the bar. Then he put the food containers on there.

I sighed. “If I tell you, you have to pinky swear you won’t tell anyone.”

He gave a slow grin. “Pinky swears are kind of sacred in the Keller household. Addy has to tell me the truth about everything if we pinky swear.”

I shut my eyes. “Well, this is a secret that only one other person knows. It would kill my family if they found out.”

He frowned. “You can tell me. Really.” He held out his pinky. “I swear.”

It was silly, but I wrapped mine around his. “Thanks.”

“I sort of messed up with school, especially with one class. It’s the first time I’ve ever failed at academics.” I threw my hands in front of my face. “It’s so embarrassing. Shit. I can’t even get the words out.”

“Hey.” He came back around and took me in his arms. “I won’t judge you. No matter what.”

“Finance. It killed me. I flunked the final and the class. It just didn’t click with me, and I feel so stupid. I always felt like I was someone who could learn anything from a book. Like I might not be perfect at it, but I could figure it out. But it’s like reading Japanese or something to me.”

He guided me back to the barstool. “Well, that’s definitely something I can help you with if you want. My major, when I was in school, was finance and accounting.”

“Huh. I figured you were into agriculture or something. You seem to know so much about running the ranch.”

He coughed. “Can I be honest with you about something? And you swear you won’t say anything?”

What could it be? “I signed a contract that says I can’t say anything about what we do or talk about. So whatever your secret is, it’s safe with me. And I just bared my soul to you, so it might even make me feel better.”

“Hell, I don’t know much about ranching. But I do know how to run a business. I’ve been learning since I was a kid by working all kinds of odd jobs everywhere from in garages and pet stores to restaurants. I even spent a summer working at a call center for a cable company. But I’m good at organizing things, and that’s all the ranch needed. Well, the records were organized, but they needed an easier system than paper ledgers. The animals like me, which is sheer dumb luck.”

He paused. “Sorry. This is about you. That was my long way of saying I can help. I promise. I also tutored on the side in school to make extra cash.”

“You’re the only one who knows. I couldn’t even tell my friend Bethany.”

He took my hands in his. “And you’re worried your grandparents are going to disown you if you fail a class? You’re just on probation, right? They didn’t kick you out?”

I shook my head. “Nah. I’m not worried about being disowned. I just don’t want to disappoint them. They have such faith in me, and they want me to take over the empire some day.” I pulled my hands from his.

“That’s a lot of pressure to put on yourself.”

“It is what it is. I’m privileged. No one knows that more than I do. I will live up to their expectations. I have to. My future has been planned out for me since my parents died.”

“Huh. I get the feeling what they want and what you want are two different things.”

He had no idea. “Doesn’t matter what I want.”

“Yes, it does. Your grandparents would understand. They would want you to be happy.”

“Again, I know. They’d be really sweet about it. But they’d also be disappointed. I can’t do that to them. I just have to suck it up and put my big-girl panties on.”

He chuckled. “I like your panties just fine.”

I slapped at his arm, and he leaned over and kissed my cheek. We ate in silence for a bit. But there was one more thing I needed to say.

“Back to what we were talking about before I did my school confessional, I’m worried about causing trouble for you and Addy, or your Uncle Charlie, if anyone finds out. But then, part of me needs to see this through, whatever this is. It’s selfish. You were right about the caring part of me. I can’t just turn that off. And I care about all of you. So you’re going to have to be the one to end it. And we can still be friends. Though, it’s going to be tough for me to keep my hands off you.”

He was throwing away the trash as I gathered up the dishes we’d used and put them in the sink.

“When I signed the contract, I agreed to the risk,” he said. “But you aren’t the only one who is selfish. I can’t keep my eyes or my hands off you, either.” I was rinsing off the dishes to put in the dishwasher when he wrapped his hands around my exposed belly. “Been working my ass off all day and I’m tired as hell, and still I’m hard as rock for you.”

I pushed myself against him and warmth spread through me. It was a powerful feeling that I could make him like this.

That his body wanted me.

He let go and popped me on the ass. It was light and didn’t hurt, but I had to give him a tough time, more because he’d backed away than anything else. I swatted him with a dishtowel. “Hey. No hitting.”

“Oh, babe. When I really spank you, you’re going to love it.”

Holy hell. My panties were already wet. I’d always thought that stuff was sort of dumb. I mean, why would anyone like pain when pleasure was so much more fun? But the idea of Cole’s hand on my ass…well, it did bad, bad things to me in a very good way.

“But first, I’m going to help you with your homework.”

“Le sigh.”

“Come on. I’m going to rock your world with numbers.

I snorted. “I’d rather the other kind of rockin’. But whatever.”

“Oh, that will happen, but anticipation is a good thing.”

An hour later, I jumped up off the couch, needing to stretch my legs. We were in the living area. There was a flat screen and some worn leather couches that seemed great for Sunday naps. True to his word, Cole had helped me through some of the tougher problems. Now he was checking over my last few answers.

I was curious about the bookshelves on either side of the television. There were classics mixed with bestsellers and horror novels. I picked up a Thomas Hardy novel. “Are these books yours or Charlie’s?”

“The westerns and some of the classics are my uncle’s. The one you’re holding is mine.”

“You’re like some kind of renaissance guy. You know business stuff, you’re good with animals, and you’re also well-read. I haven’t known you very long, but I’m impressed by you. Besides, you have a really nice cock.” That last part just fell out of my mouth. But dammit, I’d spent an hour next to half-naked Cole knowing he had a hard-on for me.

I mean, how much was a girl supposed to take?

That crooked smile of his nearly did me in. It definitely did things that dampened my panties.

“You know I’m not good for you, right? I can’t ever be the sort of guy your grandparents would want you to date.”

I shrugged and rolled my eyes. “It’s just sex. I know. I know. Let’s get on with it.”

He laughed out loud and set my laptop on the coffee table. “You better come save your homework.”

I did, and then I bent over, my ass in his face, and made a show of shutting the laptop.

“I’m a bit rough. You deserve someone who is gentle, and I’m not sure I can be that guy.” His hand ran up the inside of my thigh, and my body trembled.

One touch and I was goner.

Oh, hell yeah. More please.

“I don’t need gentle. I like what we’ve done so far. If gentle means less than that, I’m not really interested. I want more.”

He grunted. “I’m going on record as saying you might be better off with one of those country club boys you’re so fond of.”

I punched his arm. “That’s just mean. You know those guys are a bunch of boring asses. Why would you want to pawn me off on someone who probably doesn’t have a clue about sex other than getting himself off?”

“You didn’t seem to mind the one who took you to a concert on his private jet.”

“That one is a friend. I could have fucked my way through half the country club, but until I met you, there was no one I desired in that way. No one who made my panties wet or my breath catch. I tried to have sex with pencil dick, but did I mention the part where he came about three seconds after he entered me? That’s why it hurt a little that first time with you. I think I was technically still kind of a virgin.”

He pulled me on top of him, my hands against his chest, my legs straddling his thighs.

“No one has ever made me wake up so hot and bothered that I had to get myself off in the shower,” I said. “I woke up wanting you. That’s never happened.”

He emitted a sound that was suspiciously growl-like, and then I was in his arms, his lips pressed against mine. He slipped his hand to my ass.

Yep. This is what I desired. I gave in to the sensation of his fingers squeezing me tightly. He trailed his lips down my throat and brought one of his hands up to untie my shirt and push my bra down. Teeth nipped at the bud, and my sex contracted. I hissed.

“That what you want, baby?”

It was impossible to form words, so I moaned.

He slid his hand down inside my shorts and rubbed against my sex.