Must Be Doin' Somethin' Right [The Chisholms of Texas 3] (Siren Publishing Classic) (15 page)

“You’re right, Abby. I should have asked what you wanted to do. But, baby, I knew you were smart enough to figure out that you needed to move to the Ranch with me. I’m sorry I didn’t let you say it, though.” Dillon said all this with a smile on his face as he managed to get out of the hole he had dug for himself.

“I’m going to head on out. I’ll check the phone records tomorrow and see if we can come up with something. If anything else happens, let me know as soon as possible.” With that, Sheriff Decker left.

“I’ll just stay here until you get packed and follow y’all back to the Ranch.” Rio’s tone brooked no argument. He sat down on the leather couch and flicked on the television while he waited for them to pack a few things so they could head back.

“Come on, baby. I’ll help you pack up the essentials. Remember, we can come back in a couple of days and pack the rest so we don’t have to get everything tonight.” Dillon went to the extra bedroom and pulled out Abby’s two old suitcases from the closet. He followed her to the bedroom, where she had been making a few piles of clothing on the bed. Setting the largest suitcase on the bed and opening it, he let Abby pack it full of clothing before he closed it and brought the smaller suitcase out and opened it. Abby filled this one with her toiletries from the bathroom. She grabbed her Kindle and her iPod and was ready to go. Dillon put the suitcases in the back of his pickup truck and locked up the apartment for Abby. Dillon and Rio bookended Abby on the way to the Ranch. Rio drove past Dillon’s house with a wave and left them alone.

Dillon opened the larger garage door and waved her into the garage to park beside him. The third stall held his pride and joy, his 1955 Knucklehead Harley Davidson. He hit the remote to shut the garage door, exited the truck, then pulled both suitcases out of his truck bed, carrying them through the mudroom and house to the master bedroom. Abby followed closely behind him. Setting the suitcases on the bed, Dillon made quick work of emptying out several drawers for Abby and gathered some hangers for her to use.

As Abby started to unpack her large suitcase, she began to realize what she and Dillon had agreed to do. They were going to live together.
Shit.
Was she ready for this? Was Dillon? They still had so much to work out in their relationship. What if they botched this and broke up? Abby didn’t want to think of leaving him, of ending things between them. She loved this bossy man with all her heart, but she didn’t want to lose herself in the process of building a life with him. Looking back on it now, Abby realized that that’s what had probably happened to her mother. She didn’t want to live like that. She wouldn’t.

* * * *

“I’ll make room in the bathroom for your stuff. Are you okay? You’re awfully quiet.” Dillon was worried about Abby. She was never this quiet. Even when she was angry, she didn’t pull back into herself like this. He was almost glad this asshole had called tonight. It had forced the issue about her moving in with him, a goal he had been trying to attain for a couple of months. He knew Abby’s objection to moving in with him wasn’t because she objected to people living together before they were married. It was more like she felt that they, as a couple, weren’t ready to take that next step. They agreed it was the next step, they just disagreed on how to get there and at what speed. Now that she was safe, they could go after this stalker with both barrels and erase that look of fear from her eyes.

“I’m fine. A little wiped out, I guess. Too much excitement.”

“Let’s get the rest of this unpacked, then I can tuck you in and you can get some sleep.” Dillon’s woman was hurting and afraid and he needed to take care of her even apart from the sexual aspect of their relationship. He wanted to cosset her and hold her in his arms to keep the world at bay. He understood her need for control, especially because of what was going on right now in her life, and he would do his best to give her some in the coming days as they dealt with this situation, but her safety was nonnegotiable and he would do as he saw fit to protect her. Step one was to get her in his home and bed on a full-time basis. Being away from her sucked. He didn’t sleep worth a crap when she wasn’t in the bed beside him and she had told him she felt the same. Now, neither of them had to worry about sleepless nights.

“Do you want one of my T-shirts to wear tonight?” Dillon was expecting her inhalation of surprise. As a general rule, unless one of them was sick, he didn’t allow her to wear anything to bed with him. He wanted her to know that he realized she probably wasn’t up to making love and that he was okay with that. He knew that she needed to feel safe more than he needed to be inside her body.

“Sure. I’d appreciate that. Thanks.” She watched him with wide eyes as he stepped over to the dresser and pulled out a dark-green T-shirt. It was too big for her, of course, but that’s why it made the perfect sleep shirt. She took it into the bathroom with her and he could hear her moving around, putting things away and brushing her teeth.

When she came back into the bedroom, Dillon told her he was going to lock up the house for the night and turn on the security system and left the room.

On his way back from checking all the locks and arming the system, he grabbed his Ruger from the lockbox in the den’s closet, making sure it was loaded. He would put it in the drawer of the nightstand beside the bed until this whole mess was over. He’d feel a lot better once Rio had gone over the security system for the house. Until Abby had come along, he hadn’t used the system, as it seemed a little like overkill. The Ranch already had a security team that patrolled the grounds twenty-four-seven. However, as soon as Abby had started staying the night, he had started using the security system as an extra layer of protection between her and the world. She was too precious to him to take any chances.

When he reentered the bedroom, Abby was propped up in bed reading on her Kindle. She looked up at him and raised one eyebrow when she saw the Ruger in his hand. “Just an added precaution. Tomorrow, I’ll take you to the shooting range Rio and his team use just to go over the fundamentals of firing the thing.”

“You’re scaring me, Dillon. This guy will back off now that I’ve moved in here. He’ll see I’m already involved with you and go find someone else to turn his attention to.”

“Just humor me, baby. Okay?” He didn’t want to see the fear in her eyes, but he needed her to know just how serious he, Rio, and Decker thought this threat was.

“All right. Since you asked so nicely, I’ll let you show me how to shoot someone. Shit. I can’t believe I’m even having this conversation. My life isn’t like this. It’s calm and boring. I lived in New York all of my life and the most exciting thing that happened to me in nearly twenty years has been a hangnail. Now I’m learning how to shoot a gun for self-defense. It’s surreal.”

“Will it bother you to shoot a gun? You know, because of what happened to your mother?”

“I don’t think so. It wasn’t really the gun that killed my mom. It was the thug behind it. It wouldn’t have mattered what kind of weapon he used. He intended to kill her and it was just coincidence that he used a gun to do it.”

Dillon turned off the lights then shucked his clothes and climbed onto his side of the bed. Reaching for her, he pulled her gently into his body. She rested her head on his bicep and turned toward him, laying one hand on his abs, which flexed at her touch. With her body so close, he could feel his own body start to react to her touch. His groin started to tighten and he tamped down his reaction. He pulled the covers up around their snuggling bodies and tucked her head under his chin. “Dillon, don’t you want to…?” She had obviously seen the semierect state of his cock before he’d gotten the covers up and over himself.

“No, baby. You need to rest. You’re under a lot of stress and you need to relax. Let me just hold you. Get some sleep.” Dillon would never let Abby know just how much he wanted her right now. He wanted to lay her out like a banquet and feast on her for hours. He wanted to stamp his brand on her and make her come, screaming his name. He wasn’t going to do any of that, however. He was going to hold her in his arms until she fell asleep and then, hopefully, he could fall asleep, too.

They lay in each other’s arms in comfortable silence. With Abby tucked safely into his side, Dillon eventually fell into sleep. He was awakened several times by Abby’s restless movements. After this had happened several times, Dillon could feel the tension in her body as she tried to lay still.

“What’s the matter, baby? Why can’t you sleep?” he murmured to her. Her restless movements had reawakened his cock and his groin was tightening in desire.

“I don’t know. I just can’t seem to make my brain stop turning. I keep thinking about what the caller said and wondering what he meant. Is he coming after me or will he let this go? I hate not knowing. I don’t like not knowing what’s going to happen next. I guess in my own way, I’m just as much of a control freak as you are.” She spoke softly, maintaining the intimate atmosphere of their conversation.

“Funny. I think it’s natural to be confused and anxious in this situation. I’d be more worried about you if I thought you were just ignoring what’s happened and going about your life. This way, you’ll be more careful about your safety.”

They continued to lay there for a few more minutes. “It’s no use. I can’t get to sleep. Maybe I’ll just take my Kindle out to the living room and read for a while. Let you get some sleep. Both of us don’t have to be awake and worrying.”

“I think I know a way to get your mind off what happened tonight,” he murmured as he brushed his lips against her neck, causing goose bumps.

“Oh? And what might that be? I thought I was too fragile for sex.”

“I think if you just lay there while I work, that you would be fine. Let me take care of you, baby,” he responded, even as he threw back the covers and moved his hands down her body, across her spectacular tits, over to the womanly curve of her abdomen, to her neatly trimmed mound. Moving his body between her thighs, he spread her legs with his broad shoulders, fondling the curls covering her moist folds, bringing his fingers to her opening. He entered her with one finger, thrusting in and out, then added a second finger and felt her tight opening clamping down on them. Continuing to thrust his fingers in and out of her pussy, his thumb found her clit and stimulated it directly. He could hear her soft moans as he picked up the pace of his thrusting, curling his fingers whenever he drew them back. With a final brush over her swollen clit with his thumb, she arched her hips into his touch and released a soft groan of completion.

Before she could thank him for bringing her to such sweet release, his tongue took the place of his fingers. As his tongue swirled through the swollen lips of her pussy, she attempted to turn away from it. Holding her still with one hand, he continued to lap up her juices as her passion flared again. His tongue went deep, entering her without warning. She gasped at the sensation, her hands going to his hair to pull his mouth in tighter to her silken cunt.

He continued to lave her pussy and eat the cream left by her passion. Once again, she was lifting her pussy into his mouth, wanting release. His fingers held her lips open as his lips moved to her clit, sucking it into his mouth where he gently abraded it with his teeth. She came apart in his arms, crying out his name over and over again. Dillon continued to lap up the cream caused by her orgasm until she had quieted again.

With one last gentle kiss to her mound, he moved up her body, still covered by his T-shirt, and gave her a passionate kiss on her lips. Settling at her side, he pulled her body into the shelter of his own bringing the covers up around them. Looking down at her, he saw a satiated and replete woman that was fast asleep. Shifting his rock-hard cock to a more comfortable position, he held the woman he loved more than his own life. His eyes drifted to the drawer on his nightstand that held the gun as he thought about how best to keep Abby safe.

Dillon escorted Abby into Chaps & Spurs on Friday night. After delivering her to the table of women already assembled, he gave her a hard, hot kiss and sauntered up the stairs to meet his brothers to play pool. Walking toward their table, he noticed that Rio had joined the group after all. He and the rest of his brothers had been trying to get Rio to join them for pool on Friday nights since Rio had taken over as head of security at the Ranch months ago. Rio joined the brothers sporadically but certainly couldn’t be called a regular. When Rio first started working at the Ranch, Dillon thought he saw some chemistry between Rio and his sister, Jessie. He even saw them dancing on a couple of occasions over the past few months.

It appeared his brothers had already played a couple games before he arrived. He and Abby got sidetracked in the shower as they were getting ready to come into town for the night, and his brothers looked at him knowingly as he sauntered up to them.

“Look what the cat dragged in,” drawled Xander. “Thought you weren’t going to make it. Again.”

“I said I’d be here, didn’t I? Did y’all miss me?” taunted Dillon.

“Not really, asshole. Xander is killing us again. We could use some light entertainment and your love life fits the bill.” Ryder always complained when Xander was running the table. Xander ran the table a lot when the brothers got together to play, so it was sort of a running theme with Ryder.

“I keep telling you, dipshit. Practice once in a while and you might just beat me one day.” Xander had a pool table at his house and Jordan liked to play so Xander got a lot of practice. Xander was amused by the fact that Ryan and Ryder owned a nightclub with fourteen pool tables and never practiced on them. It was a long-standing, but lighthearted, argument.

“So,” Levi stepped in. “I hear Abby moved in with you last Wednesday. Kind of unexpected, wasn’t it? Something going on we should know about?”

“Not totally unexpected. I’ve been asking her for months, you know.” Not all of his brothers knew the circumstances leading up to Abby moving in so suddenly. He wanted to tell them, but he wanted to do it somewhere more private. That stalker could be anyone, and Dillon didn’t want him to overhear any of their strategies for catching him.