MILITARY ROMANCE: The War Within Himself (Alpha Bad Boy Marine Army Seal) (Contemporary Military Suspense & Thriller Romance) (153 page)

Chapter Two

              Caleb watched Harper expertly run the table, sinking every shot she took.  With the skill and surety of lifelong experience she’d likely wipe up the floor with him, but he didn’t mind.  It felt good to be with a pretty woman who knew nothing about him or his six older brothers.  He didn’t have to talk about their weddings or babies; as far as Harper was concerned, he was the only Boone in town.

              Maybe he could be her Boone.

Just as Harper was about to sink the eight ball, a burst of laughter came from three men watching TV at the bar.  The sudden, loud sound startled her enough to make her scratch the shot.

“Take it again,” Caleb told her when she came to him.  “Outside interference.”

“Mercy.  You really are a gentlemen.”  She fluttered her long eyelashes at him.  “But since I wouldn’t give you a do-over, the table’s yours.”

Caleb liked how upfront and honest she was, and that she didn’t trade on her looks or gender to take the advantage.  Once he cleared the table and sank the eight, he gave her a direct look.  “Looks like I’ll be having the say this time, Red, and you the doing.”

Harper laughed, drawing appreciative glances from all around the room.  “I always pay my debts.  So what can I do you for, Cowboy?”

Caleb held up a finger before he went over to the jukebox and fed it some quarters.  He then returned to Harper and held out his hand.  “Do me one dance.”

She took his hand, and eyed the tiny patch of floor he led her to.  “Not much room to sashay around here,” she mentioned.

“It’s a slow song.”  Caleb turned to face her, and tucked his arm around her narrow waist. 

“That’s good,” she murmured as she shifted closer.  “Because I can’t dance worth a damn.”

Caleb intended to make a liar out of her as he moved her in a slow circle.  Whirling her to the soft sound of the crooner lamenting a lost love made him grin, but watching her expressive face grow dreamy sent a surge of hot blood to his groin.

“Tell me what you’re thinking,” he urged as he laced his fingers through hers.

“I can’t decide if I want another beer.  I should bring ear plugs next time we shoot pool.  And this might be the best night I’ve had in just about forever.”  Her dimples framed her slow smile.  “And it’s only getting started.”

“You have a lot of energy for a girl who just got off work.”  Caleb saw her brows draw together, and asked, “Something wrong?”

“It’ll keep.”  She ran her hand over his shoulder.  “You working tomorrow?”

“I work every day, Red.  You heard of Ghost Lake Ranch?”  When she shook her head some of his tension eased.  “That’s my job.”

“Ranch hand, huh?”  She rubbed her palm in a circle against his bicep.  “I didn’t think you got this fine body doing Pilates.  You like working cattle?”

“Oh, yeah.   It’s never easy, but it’s what I know, and what I love.  Plus I got the prettiest workplace in the world.”  As the song came to an end he stopped and smiled down at her.  “You’ll have to stop talking trash about your dancing skills, girl.  That was real nice.”

“I’m glad you liked it.”  She patted his chest.  “Because when I win the next one, I’m not going to ask you to dance.”

Caleb chuckled as he walked with her back to the pool table, where he racked the balls before insisting she have the break.  This time it took Harper only five minutes to run the table and sink the eight ball.  She made such short work of it that two men came over to stand beside Caleb and watch.

“That’s the prettiest pool hustler I ever saw,” one of them said.

“Best get your wallet out, son,” the other advised.

Once Harper finished the game she circled the table to replace her cue on the rack before crooking her finger at Caleb.  He went to her, and chuckled as she took the cue he hadn’t used and put it back.

“Don’t you want to give me two out of three?” he asked.

“Nope.”  She gave him a long, surprisingly serious look.  “I can say anything, right?”  When he nodded, she added, “Does it have to be here?”

“No.”  He was starting to feel a little nervous now.  “What do you have in mind, Red?”

“You’ll see.”  She tugged on his hand.  “Come on.”

Once they were in his truck, Harper directed him to drive to a cluster of cottages just on the edge of town.  Caleb knew they were summer rentals that could be had by the week, and when she had him park outside one, guessed she’d taken it until she could find more permanent accommodations.

“All right, we’re here.”  He shut off the engine and turned to her.  “What’s it going to be, Ms. Mason?”

“Walk me to the front door and I’ll tell you,” she said, climbing out.

She was going to ask for a kiss, Caleb decided, and put his arm around her as they crossed the yard.  “If you’re looking for a place to live, I can help, you know.”

“I’m sure you can.”  She stopped, unlocked the front door, and then tucked her keys into her pocket.  “Ready to pay up, Handsome?”

“You say, I do.”  Caleb spread his arms.  “I’m yours, Red.”

“Good.”  Harper smiled.  “Spend the night with me.”

#

              Any other cowboy hearing that would have been on Harper in a flash, but not Caleb Boone.  His jaw tightened, and his eyes darkened almost to black, but he didn’t touch her.

“Maybe that beer went to your head,” he said carefully.  “You feeling a little woozy?”

“Cowboy, I grew up in bars.  I could probably drink you under the table.”  She hooked her fingers behind his belt buckle and pulled him closer.  “I’m protected and I’m clean.  How about you?”  When he nodded, she smiled.  “Then we’re good to go.”

“I could be lying,” he said, almost as if he were scolding her.  “I could be a lowdown dirty dog of a man only interested in one thing.”

“If that were the case, you would have asked me for a blow job instead of a dance.”  She saw the doubt in his eyes.  “Come on, Caleb.  Don’t tell me you’ve never spent the night in a lady’s bed.”

“Oh, yes ma’am, I have – but not on the same night we met.”  Now he brought his hand to her cheek.  “Harper, I’m serious.  You don’t know me.  I could be anyone.”

“You’re a gentleman, and a good loser.  You won’t let a lady fall if you can catch her.  You’re Caleb Boone, and I want you, and you want me.  You have since you caught me in your arms.”  She walked backward into the cottage, tugging him along with her.  “Come on, Cowboy.”

He leaned back against the door to close it.  “Just answer me this:  you want to get married, have a bunch of kids?”

Harper shrugged.  “Someday, maybe, if I ever settle down.  Now?  Hell, no.  So why don’t you come over—”

Caleb stopped her words with his mouth, his tongue, and his teeth.  Harper groaned as he ravaged her with a kiss so hungry her back bowed.

He broke it off and hauled her off her feet.  “Bedroom.”

His growl made her kiss him, long and hard, before she gasped, “End of the hall.”

Caleb kept kissing her as he carried her, and once inside her bedroom had her under him on the bed in a heartbeat.  He rolled aside only enough to unfasten the snaps on her shirt and open her jeans.  Then he straddled her and stripped her from top to bottom before he stood.

“Turn the light on,” Harper begged.

He switched on the lamp on the night table before he began to strip.  Hard, coiled muscle bulged in his arms and across his broad, tanned chest, making her mouth water.  His dark eyes never left hers as he worked his way out of his boots and then his jeans.  Once he was naked, Harper smiled.

“Oh, yeah.”  She sat up and reached out to trail her fingers from his collarbones to his navel.  “Bring that gorgeous body down here to me.  I want to play with it.”

“We’ll take turns,” he told her, stretching out beside her and placing his hand on her hip.   “Damn, you’re so pretty.”

Harper tucked in her chin to watch him trace the edge of her aureole with a fingertip.  He had barely touched her, and already her nipples looked dark red and ached with every pulse of her heart.

“It hurts,” she murmured.  “Kiss it and make it better.”

Caleb cupped her breast with his hand, first pressing his lips to her peak, and then giving it a slow lick.  “Like this?”

“It still . . . ah.”  As he latched onto her and sucked she shuddered.  “That’s it.  Oh, yes.”

Caleb rolled over her to ravish her breasts with his mouth until she squirmed frantically beneath him.  He lifted his head.  “Something else bothering you, ma’am?”

She spread her legs and rolled her hips, shivering as she felt the press of his erection against her softness.  “You could say that.”

“Want me to kiss that and make it better, too?” he teased. 

As tempted as she was to feel his mouth between her legs, Harper shook her head.  “I can’t wait anymore.  Please, Cal, I need you.”

Her cowboy rolled with her again, shifting her on top of him and pulling her over his erection.  “All right, then.  Let’s dance.”

Harper braced her hands against his chest as she lowered herself onto the thick spike of his hard penis, letting her breath escape her as she sank down.  His wide girth made their fit glove-close, and as he filled her, she let her head fall back.

“You say, I do, Red,” he said softly, reaching up to cover her breast with his big hands.  “Damn, you’re squeezing me so good.  You like it?  You like my hard cock in that wet little pussy?”

Harper clenched around him until he grunted with pleasure.  “Oh, this big lovely thing is mine now.”

“That’s going to make it hard to go to work.”  Caleb smiled up at her as he slowly massaged her mounds.  “You planning on staying in bed forever?”

“At least ‘til Christmas.  Ah.”  Harper covered his hands with hers, and slowly began to rock herself over him, riding his length with smooth, slow strokes.  “If you were mine I’d be on you every night, Cal.  Swear to God.”

“Lean down here.”  He gently tugged on her nipples, and when she lowered herself, he wrapped his arms around her back, holding her to him.  With powerful thrusts of his hips, he worked in and out of her.  “Hold onto me.”

Caleb drew out of her as he shifted off the bed, supporting her in his strong arms as he turned her onto her belly. 

“Oh.”  Harper lifted her bottom, shimmying it against his erection until he fitted his thick cockhead to her folds and she could take him again.  The new angle made him feel huge inside her.  “Harder, oh, yeah.  Oh, that’s so good.”

“You say, I do,” he muttered as he began pumping into her softness with deep, hard thrusts that made the entire bed shake.

Harper swallowed a wail as she braced herself and pushed back against him, her breasts bouncing and her buttocks smacking against his belly.  Just as she thought she might explode, Caleb reached under her and rubbed a finger between her folds, stroking her throbbing clit.

“Cal.”

“I’ve got you,” he told her, his voice tight.  “Come on, Red, show me what you got for me.  I want all of it, right now.”

Harper’s muscles stretched before they went hot with pleasure.  Her climax seized her and dragged her off, shaking her like a doll and then cradling her with bursting delight.  She felt Caleb crouch over her and make hoarse, frantic sounds as he plunged deep and pumped hard, filling her with jet after jet of his seed.

They both collapsed in a panting, sweaty tangle, her breasts squashing themselves against the mattress while his chest heaved into her shoulder blades.  Just as she released her last, blissful sigh, Caleb pulled her over onto her side and spooned with her.

“Damn,” he murmured.  “You sure you want just one night?”

Harper chuckled.  “I’ll probably be too sore for this tomorrow.”  She bit her lip before she added, “Cal, there’s something I need to tell you.”

Caleb drew out of her and turned her to face him.  “Did I hurt you?”

“No, baby.”  She cupped his cheek.  “I mean about work.”

“Oh, right.  Call your boss tomorrow and see if you can take the day off.  Or the week.”  He lowered his mouth to hers.  “Maybe a month.”

Chapter Three

              “Ladies and gentlemen, the team roping event will begin in five minutes,” the rodeo announcer called out over the loud speakers.

              The afternoon sun felt hot on Caleb’s shoulders, and the smell leather, horses and roasted peanuts hovered thick in the air.  Townspeople packed the stands around the oval dirt arena as they talked and laughed and made furtive private bets.  

              Caleb looked over at Jeb Mathis, who swung down on his chestnut mare waiting in the rider’s box.  Between them a big dark steer in a reinforced chute used his bulk to test the gates separating him from the two riders.

              “Don’t break the barrier early,” Caleb warned, nodding to the rope stretched across the riders’ boxes, designed to hold them back long enough to give the steer a decent head start.  Since Jeb was riding as the header, he would be first out into the arena.  “It’ll cost us ten points – and remember, turn him left once you got him by the horns.”

              “I know.”  The lanky wrangler smiled a little.  “This ain’t my first rodeo, son.”

              “Team roping, like many rodeo events, originated from ranch work,” the announcer said to the excited crowd.  “While working cattle, two cowboys on horses are often needed to rope a large steer at the head and the hind legs.  This partnership allows for swift control of the animal between two horses, where it can be branded or given medical treatment.”

              Caleb looked out at the stands, hoping to catch a glimpse of Harper’s dark fiery hair.  When he’d left her cottage early this morning, she’d promised to see him at the rodeo, but so far he hadn’t spotted her.

                “Two minutes,” the chute operator warned. 

              Caleb checked his rope on final time, cinched his gloves and resettled his Stetson on his head before he gave Dancer’s strong neck a reassuring rub.  The spotted gray quarter horse responded with a snort and a happy shake of his head.

              A claxon sounded, and the crowd hushed as the timing clock reset to zero.

              The chute operator counted down the last ten seconds, and then released the chute gate.  The excited steer bolted out toward the center of the arena, followed by Jeb, who was already swinging a wide, flat loop with his rope.  As Caleb came up from the rear with Dancer, Jeb caught the animal’s wide head and blunted horns neatly and dallied his rope while turning the steer.

Working as the heeler, Caleb had the more difficult tasking of roping both hind legs.  He had to time the low toss of his stiffer, smaller loop to the precise moment when the steer’s back hooves were in the air.  He caught them a split second later, immobilizing the cattle’s rear end as he guided Dancer into position.  Once Caleb and Jeb’s horses faced each other, with the steer caught between them, the clock stopped.

              “Five point two seconds,” the announcer called out over the crowd’s noisy applause.  “That puts Boone-Mathis in first place.”

              After clearing the arena and shaking hands with Jeb, Caleb rode back to the waiting area while the next team entered the box.

              “And now the ladies will have a turn,” the announcer said.  “We’re proud to welcome from the Northwestern professional rodeo circuit Lilah Jones as header, and Harper Mason as heeler.”

              It had to be a mistake, Caleb thought as he stared at the female team.  Only when the heeler revealed her garnet-red short hair as she tipped her hat to the crowd did he dismount and hand off Dancer’s reins to an attendant before he strode over to the heeler’s box.

              “Harper?”

              She glanced back over her shoulder.  “Nice time, Cowboy.”  She nodded at the clock and then winked.  “Now we’re stomp it in the dirt.”

              Caleb wanted to laugh, bellow, and drag her off the horse.  The chute operator distracted him with the release count, and by the time he blinked the steer, Harper’s partner shot out.

              He watched his lover give chase, her rope swinging and her horse’s legs churning in a blur.  In three seconds she had the hind legs caught and pulled back as she dallied her rope to tighten the cinch.

              The steer suddenly bucked free, and Harper was flung backward and lost her seating, causing her horse to wheel around in confusion. 

              Caleb vaulted over the gate and got to the horse before the rodeo clowns could, catching the reins and controlling the head.  That gave Harper the chance to haul herself upright.  Her partner led the steer to the far side of the arena and watched anxiously as they got the frightened horse calmed.

              “Whoa, girl, it’s all right, you’re all right,” Caleb said in a calming voice to the horse as Harper dismounted and gave the crowd a wave and a thumbs-up.

              They walked out of the arena together, Harper’s face pale as she limped beside Caleb. 

“I’ll see to her,” Jeb said, taking the horse’s reins.

Caleb guided Harper over to the first-aid station to be checked out.  The doctor blotted the blood from her nose and felt the bridge before taking off her boot and checking her swelling ankle.

              “Looks like a bad sprain, Ms. Mason,” the older man said.  “But at least you didn’t break that pretty nose.”

              “There is that,” she said, sounding tired, and glanced at Caleb.  “Hopefully no one else wants to take another shot at it.”

#

              An hour later Harper hobbled from the arena to her truck with the last of her gear.

“You don’t have to drop out of the competition,” Brian Montlake said as he followed her.  Her manager patted his comb-over with a nervous hand.  “Rest the ankle tonight, and see how you feel in the morning.”

“It’s not the ankle, Bri,” she told him as she put her bag in the back seat.  “This is the fourth competitive accident I’ve had in as many months.  It’s time to take a break.”  She grimaced.  “Maybe I should hang it up for good.”

“No.”  The older man grabbed her shoulders and gave her a shake.  “You could go all the way to the Nationals this year, Harper.  I’m not going to let you give up.”

“Hey,” Caleb said, pulling Brian away.  “She’s hurt, remember?”

“Go screw yourself, cow-puncher,” the manager flared.  “You know, if she hadn’t slipped, she would have beaten you today?”

“Damn right she would have.  Keys,” Caleb said to Harper.  When she handed them over, he helped her into the cab and then climbed in behind the wheel. 

“Call me later,” Brian yelled as Caleb drove off.

Harper glanced at her grim-faced savior.  “I appreciate you jumping into today when my rope snapped.  If you hadn’t, I might have gotten trampled.”

“It didn’t snap.”  Caleb reached into his jacket and handed her a bundle of stiff rope.  “That’s your rope.  Look at the split.  See how the fibers look almost melted?  They were exposed to a high heat.”

Harper eyed the broken ends.  “Someone tampered with it?”

He nodded.  “I checked your saddle, too.  Two of the cinch straps were worn almost all the way through.” 

She felt horrified.  “I check that saddle myself last night, and they were fine.  Wait, where are you taking me?” she added when she saw him turn onto a road leading away from town.

“Until we figure this out, you’re staying with me at the ranch.”  He reached over and took her cold hand in his.  “Why did you let me think you were a waitress?”

“Seemed like a good idea at the time.”  She uttered a humorless laugh.  “I’m sorry.  I just hardly ever get to be a regular gal.  Listen, you can take me back to the cottage.  I don’t want to get you in trouble with your boss.”

“I am the boss.  One of the bosses,” he said.  “My brothers and I own Ghost Lake.”

Harper instantly recognized the name.  “That’s one of the biggest cattle operations in this part of the state.”  When he nodded, she shook her head.  “Damn, you’re a landowner.  And here I thought you were just some hot-looking ranch hand.”

“I am.”  He cocked an eyebrow at her.  “That ass of a manager you’ve got was right.  You and Lilah would have beat me and Jeb by at least half a second.”

“Three-quarters,” she corrected.  “We’ve been trying to get under four seconds all year.  To be so close . . . .” she shook her head and sighed.  “Your family know you’re bringing me home with you?”

“I called ahead.  Buck, our cook, is already working on a big dinner for you.”  He squeezed her hand.  “I should warn you about my brothers.  I have six of them.  One’s about to get married, one’s about to have a baby, and the rest are working on one or the other.”

“Wow, that’s impressive.”  Now she understood why he’d asked her that peculiar question last night.  “I’ve got four older sisters.  All married with kids, but then none of them went on the circuit.” 

He took another turn onto an access road.  “I’m the youngest in my family, too.”

The way he said that made her suppress a giggle.  “Being the baby sucks, doesn’t it?”

              Caleb chuckled.  “Sometimes with teeth.”

              He began pointing out their property boundaries and talking about their operation.  By the time he pulled up in front of a sprawling ranch house Harper felt a little awe-struck at Ghost Lake’s size and scope.  Before Caleb could help her out of the truck they were surrounded by a half-dozen older variations of him, including one giant-size brother named Chris who offered to carry her inside.

              “Not happening,” Caleb told him as he scooped Harper up in his arms.  “She’s mine.”                           

              Harper linked her hands behind his neck.  “I like how you say that,” she whispered, feeling mischievous.  “When do I get my engagement ring?”

              “When you get pregnant,” he muttered back, and then looked into her eyes.  “’But we could practice later, if you want.”

              Harper remembered how fast Caleb had gotten to her in the arena, and how scared she’d been until she’d seen him running flat out for her.  He’d jumped in and saved her without a single thought for his own safety.  Even Lilah had said she’d never seen a man move so fast.

              She’d never thought of herself as the marrying or mothering type, but for the first time she could see another path in her future.  One that didn’t end with her crippled and swapping tall tales in bars with her old rodeo pals.  “I’d love that.”