Must Be Doin' Somethin' Right [The Chisholms of Texas 3] (Siren Publishing Classic) (11 page)

“I know how to handle Diablo, Dillon. I’ve spent quite a bit of time with him over the past two years. He and I have an understanding. He doesn’t kick me and I don’t try to ride him. It’s worked well for us. The way you behaved when you took me out of his stall was much more dangerous than my staying there and giving him the last of his shots.”

“I realize that now. I should never have acted that high-handed with you while you were doing your job. I do trust you. I trust your skills as a veterinarian. I never would have hired you otherwise. Levi told me you spent a lot of time with the horses during your internship. I knew you had a special affinity for the horses here, I just didn’t realize you were something of a horse whisperer. You never said anything, and I guess I never asked. I was trying too hard to avoid you so that I wouldn’t have to deal with an aching cock. I don’t think you realize how much being close to you affected me back then. Hell, even now with you all righteously pissed at me, my cock is hard.” He said as he gently pulled her back against his muscle-bound body so she would feel his hard shaft against her lower back.

“Maybe we shouldn’t be seeing each other outside of work. I can’t afford to have you act like that again. As it is, the whole ranch is going to know how you acted today and a lot of people are going to assume you don’t trust me to do my job. It’s been bad enough these past two years having some of the men resent my presence here. You just made it a thousand times worse with your behavior out there today. It will get even worse when people find out we’re sleeping together,” she said in a tired voice as she pulled away from him so that they were face to face.

“No, baby. That’s not the answer. Please. After having you these past weeks, I can’t go back to just being your coworker. Look, you knew I was an overbearing bastard when you accepted the job. You told me off when I needed it during the internship. I expect that to continue now that you’re a full-fledged vet and my coworker. I’ll do whatever you need me to do to show the hands on the Ranch that I have complete confidence in your abilities. Just tell me what you need me to do. I’ll call a ranch-wide meeting and announce to everyone just how wrong I was. Anything.”

“Shit! Anything?” she asked dubiously.

“Anything, I swear,” he replied readily.

“I wasn’t finished giving Diablo his vaccinations. I had one more injection to give him, and I left it in his stall when you pulled me out of it. I need to redraw the vaccination and go give him the shot. Will you leave me alone and let me do it? Let the hands see that you trust me to know how to handle Diablo?”

“Yes, baby. Let’s go do it right now,” he suggested easily.

“No, not now. At 5:00 p.m. when most of the hands are coming in from their day and getting ready to go off shift. I want the largest number of people there that we can get for this show of support. I want you in the barn, but I want you to stay as far away as possible. Everyone needs to know that you know what I’m doing and have complete trust in my ability to keep myself safe. Are you willing to do that?”

“Abby, is that really necessary? Can’t I just do a memo or something?” he asked, a bit uncomfortable with her plan.

“No, Dillon. You need to learn to separate your dominance in the bedroom from your work with me. I may put up with you calling the shots when we have sex, but I am not willing for you to take that attitude with me in the workplace. You either need to accept that or we aren’t going to be seeing each other again and I’ll find another job.”

“Okay, okay,” he said, trying to appease her as he pulled her back into his arms. She let herself relax against his body and he could feel her erect nipples stabbing at him through his shirt sleeve. “I’ll do it. I’ll also try to curb my more domineering tendencies in the workplace. In the bedroom is another story,” he said with a smile.

“As long as you don’t try to use a whip or anything like that, I don’t mind you calling the shots in the bedroom. At least most of the time,” she said with a smile, “but I’m not going to be abused.”

He gave her a leering smile in return, which caused her to pause and ask with trepidation, “You won’t want to do that, will you, Dillon? I wouldn’t be able to handle that at all. I’m telling you that right now. No whips and chains. Ever.”

Laughing lightly, he assured her, “Have you liked what’s happened between us so far?” She nodded. “Have you enjoyed what we’ve done together?” She nodded again. “What I’ve done to you? What I’ve had you do to me?” he asked slyly, pulling her closer to his body for a quick but thorough kiss.

“You know I have, Dillon,” she admitted breathlessly.

“Then you’ll enjoy what I plan on doing to your beautiful body in the future,” he reassured her. “I’m not into whips and chains. I’m not going to spank you. Although you could probably get your way if you really wanted me to there. Anything we do, you’ll enjoy as much as I do,” he promised as he took her mouth in a devastating kiss. “I also plan on fucking that pretty ass of yours, but you’re not ready for that yet. I’d like to take you to my house right now and fuck you into oblivion, but we both have work to do. Did you bring some extra clothes like I told you to so you can spend the night with me here at the Ranch?”

“Maybe it would be better if we met at my apartment for now. I don’t need everyone at the Ranch knowing that we’re sleeping together after what happened out there today,” she said lightly.

“Baby,” he said with a smile and a shake of his head, “everyone in Deseo already knows we’re sleeping together. My Harley is parked overnight at your place several times a week. Your car is parked outside my house overnight several times a week. I’m sure the grapevine has already made its way through town and through the Ranch. Plus, after the way I just reacted in the horse barn, those out here who hadn’t heard we’re sleeping together know without a doubt now. Hell, my parents probably already know.”

“That may be, but your mother doesn’t strike me as the type to go around gossiping.”

“She’s not, but there’s no shortage of busybodies in town who like to share any tidbit they can about her children. She’s probably already gotten several calls from ‘well-meaning’ friends. Given that, and my bringing you to Sunday lunch, she knows we’re romantically involved. Don’t worry, baby. She knows I wasn’t a virgin when we met. I promise to make sure she knows you didn’t steal my virtue.”

To which she replied, “Hummph.”

* * * *

He liked the fact that Abby was modest enough to be dismayed that people knew they were sleeping together, but he had no intention of hiding their relationship. She was his and he wanted everyone to know it. He was going to stamp his brand of ownership on her so that all the men around Deseo would know she was off the market and belonged to him. His mom already knew he’d found “the one” and, knowing his parents’ relationship, his dad probably did as well. They wouldn’t think badly of her just because she was sleeping with him. They were realists and would just be thankful that he had found the person he was going to spend the rest of his life with.

“Look, Abby, the reason I came looking for you was that I made a picnic lunch for us to share. We don’t have as much time as I would have liked because of everything that happened, but I have sandwiches and fruit in the basket. Want to eat at our desks before we get back to work?” he asked, pointing to the picnic basket that was on his desktop.

“Fine,” she said, still a little peevish. “I’m not happy about everyone knowing my business, Dillon. I think we need to be careful about public displays of affection, especially here at the Ranch. I don’t want anybody to think I only got this job because I’m sleeping with the boss.”

“Okay, baby. No PDA. Can I kiss you in here when nobody’s around?” he asked with a smile.

“We’ll see. What kind of sandwiches did you make?” she asked as she giggled at his hopeful smile.

“Roast beef, what else? Are you coming home with me tonight, or do I have to drive all the way into town before I can fuck you?” he asked in a cajoling voice.

“Language, Doctor. What would your mother say about your potty mouth?” she reprimanded him with a smile.

“You’re the one that says ‘shit’ in every other sentence. Besides, if my mother knew how much pain I’m in when I go longer than twenty-four hours without sinking my dick into your hot pussy, she’d take my side. She’s a mom. She hates to see her kids in pain,” he told her loftily.

“You’re coming into town tonight anyway. It’s Friday night and you have your pool game with your brothers,” she replied knowingly.

“I was going to skip it tonight. I need to be inside you something fierce. I don’t think I could concentrate on pool. It’s been two nights, Abby,” he said in a full-out whine. Last night, they stayed up late talking and had just decided to go to bed when the foreman at the Ranch called about the mare having trouble foaling.

“Too bad. I feel like going out and dancing tonight. Since you won’t let me dance with anybody else, you’ll have to do it yourself,” she chided him. “By the way, thanks for the flower. It’s beautiful.”

He stilled behind her. Although she was eminently worth the effort, he hadn’t gotten her any flowers. “What flower, baby?”

“The one on my desk. It’s a wild rose, isn’t it? It’s beautiful.”

“I didn’t leave you any flower, Abby. Where did you find it?” He stepped closer and saw the rose she was talking about floating in a rose dish.

“It was on my desk. You mean you didn’t give it to me?” She looked a little wary.

“No, baby. Someone here at the Ranch must have a crush on you. Was there a note or anything?” It was a simple enough gesture, but Dillon couldn’t shake the slow slink of dread that began to crawl up his spine.

“No. Nothing else. Just the rose in the dish.”

“Have you received anything else from this admirer?” Dillon didn’t like this. The vet office was always locked. The door locked when it closed, and it closed automatically unless it was propped open. Nobody but Dillon, Abby, Xander, Levi, and a few select other people had the keycard necessary to get in here.

“Why? You jealous?” She gave him a smile that faded as she watched his serious face.

“I don’t like it, no. Nobody should have access to this office. It locks when we leave. How did this guy get into the office to leave that?”

“Oh. I hadn’t thought about that. You’re right. They shouldn’t have been able to get in.” She was watching him closely, probably trying to get a clue as to why this seemed to bother him so much.

“You didn’t answer me. Have you received anything else?” He spoke gently.

“No. Nothing else.”

“What aren’t you telling me?” She was holding something back. He could tell.

“It’s probably got nothing to do with the flower.”

“Tell me, Abby.” He didn’t like the idea that she wasn’t telling him everything.

“Shit. I’ve been getting these phone calls. At first, the other person hung up right away and I thought it must be a wrong number. The last few, though, the person stayed on the phone and there was just the sound of breathing. I hung up when they wouldn’t talk to me. It’s probably just kids.”

“Last
few
times? Dammit, Abby. Why am I just hearing about this now? I’m with you nearly every night. How could I not know about these calls?” He and Abby were together nearly five nights a week. How could she have been getting harassing calls and he not know it? He didn’t like this. Not at all.

“Well, I think it’s because the calls always come on a night we’re not together or before you get to the apartment.” She said it like she was just putting things together in her own mind. “How would someone know you’re not with me? How would they know I’m alone? It’s just a coincidence. It’s got to be. Why would anyone purposely harass me like that?”

“Have you ever done the star-69 thing on your phone after one of these calls?” He wasn’t liking this at all. Was it just a secret admirer, or was this more sinister? He would get Rio on this right away. Rio Andrade was one of Dillon’s best friends, a former Navy SEAL and the head of security for the Ranch. Although the phone calls weren’t going to the Ranch, someone had gotten through a locked door to deliver that rose.

“No. I didn’t think about it. Should I have?” She was beginning to look concerned, and he didn’t want to scare her until he looked into this a little more.

“No, baby. It’s all right. You didn’t have any reason to think it could be important. Just—in the future, if you get one of these calls, hang up right away and do the star-69 thing and write down the number. If we need them to, the police can track down who’s making the phone calls that way.”

“Oh. Okay. I’m sure it’s just some teenagers having fun. They’ll move on to something else and the calls will stop.” She seemed pretty sure that the calls were innocuous, and he tried to tamp down his fear that something else was going on here. He needed to contact Rio and get him in on this. There’d been a breach of security here when whoever it was got into the clinic and left the rose. They had drugs in that building and, though they were in a med room that was also locked, the Ranch limited access to the office for a reason. Rio needed to know about this soon.

“I’m sure you’re right, baby. Look, I need to let Rio know that someone was in here. He should be able to find out whose keycards were used and when. I’ll go talk to him now.”

“Okay. I have some more vaccinations to give before I finish Diablo’s at five. Don’t forget you agreed to be there. I’ll see you later.” She gave him a kiss and sat down at her desk to pull up the next round of vaccinations as he left the building. He looked back at her sitting at the desk and saw her shiver once. She wasn’t as unaffected as she wanted him to believe. He needed to talk to Rio.

Dillon was angry. Royally pissed, as a matter of fact. Rio had downloaded the data about the keycard access to the veterinarian offices and found out that Frank Childers’s keycard was the only one used to open the door besides Dillon’s and Abby’s in the past twenty-four hours. It had been used at 11:17 a.m. when both of the vets were out in the horse barns.