The Cattleman (Sons of Texas Book 2) (27 page)

“Yes,” she said in a keening voice. “Oh, I wish you were here…”

“Put some of that hot stuff on your middle finger and slide it inside, baby. Tell me how it feels.”

“It’s—it’s hot!” she blurted. “Oh, God, it’s so hot,” she whined.”

“Is it tight?” he breathed, barely hanging on to control.

“Uh-huh.”

“Move your finger in and out, baby…Like you do when you let me watch you do yourself.” Seconds passed while he visualized her showing him how she pleasured herself. “Are you doing it?”

Her shallow breathing came across the phone line. “
Uh-huh.”

“Does it feel good?”

“Not as good as you….I wish you were here…”

He pumped himself rhythmically, recalling how it felt to pump in and out of her. “Can you do two fingers?”

“Uh-huh.…but it isn’t the same.”

“I know darlin’, but just think about how it feels when you’re on my lap, when my whole ten inches is up inside you.”

“Ten inches?”

“Shh. Don’t spoil my illusions. Are you stroking yourself? Are you good and hot? Are you thinking about my cock? How deep it gets when you’re on my lap? That’s how we’re gonna do it when you come out on Wednesday….I’m gonna push it clear up in your belly….”

“Oh, Pic….Oh…” She made a little sob.

“Easy, baby, easy,” he breathed. “Don’t stop. Concentrate. Just rub yourself and think about how it feels when I’m buried to the hilt and your sweet pussy’s stretched all around me.” He paused a few seconds, stroking himself. “Now, baby, pull your finger out and find your little clit…” Seconds passed. “Did you find it, baby? Is it swelled up and slick? Did you rub some of that hot stuff on it?”

“Yes,” she whimpered.

“Shit. I can feel it on my tongue. Damn, I wish I was there. I’d suck it ’til you scream….Pretend I’m there, baby. Pretend I’m
teasing it with the tip of my tongue. Just spread that hot jelly all around it and add a little pressure. Rub in a slow circle, like I do.”

A sob came across the line. Oh, yeah. She was close.

He lowered his voice almost to a whisper. “That’s it, darlin’….Just keep doing that…I’m with you all the way….Know what’s going on in my head right now?”

“What?
”

“I’m thinking about how your pussy feels like velvet against my tongue. How sweet you taste…how you smell.…Can you feel that quickening in your clit, like you can’t wait for me to fuck you?”

“Oh, Pic….I wish it was you—”

“Are you close, baby?”

“Oh!” she cried out. “Oh, Pic!...Oh! Oh! Oh!...”

“Don’t stop, don’t stop….I’m
coming, baby.” He pumped himself violently and let go, grunting and straining as he filled the front of his shorts with semen.

Silence for a few beats. Then, “I dropped the phone,” she said shakily. “Are you still there?”

“I’m here,” he said. “I’m a mess, but I’m here. Lord, darlin’. I wish you could see what you’ve done to me. I nearly fell off my chair....You don’t even have to be with me and I come apart. Did you make it?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Was it good?”

“Not like when you’re inside me. I wish you had your arms around me. I miss you.”

“I know, sweetheart. I miss you, too.”

As his strength returned and his brain started to function again, he grew curious. Mandy seldom called him. And so far, she hadn’t had much to say. “Why did you call, darlin’? Do you need something?

“I need you. I just wanted to talk to you. I called on your office phone earlier and got your dad. He said you were out showing the photographer around the ranch.”

Plop!
Pic’s stomach dropped. His mood changed instantly and his dick wilted. “Yeah. I drove her up to the mesa to get some pictures.”

“You got some good shots?”

“You know how it is up there. I think it’s beautiful, but I don’t know if she was impressed. She’s from down at Austin. A lot more to look at and take pictures of down there.”

“If it’s so much more scenic down there, maybe that’s where she should’ve stayed.”

Oops.
Mandy rarely extended her claws. “Darlin’, is something bothering you?”

A big sigh came across the line. “No. I’ve just been kind of blue ever since you left yesterday.”

He had sensed that when he left her. And though he had mulled over where their relationship was going all the way home, he still didn’t know the answer to the question. Other than asking her to marry him, he didn’t know what he could do. Given his present position with the ranch and his past personal history, the very process of him getting married again was too complicated to think about. “Don’t be blue. We’ll spend the whole day together Wednesday. We’ll find a spot where we can do for real what we just did on the phone.” He chuckled.

She laughed. “We’ll be surrounded by people.”

“Maybe we can sneak off to the barn and find a private haystack.”

“Oh, you,” she said, laughing more and sounding as if she was returning to her usual upbeat attitude. “You don’t have haystacks at the Double-Barrel.”

True enough. The Double-Barrel’s hay was processed into giant rolls. He laughed with her. “Damn, I forgot that.”

“Well, I’d better let you go. I need to pull myself together. And Johnnie Sue will have your hide if you’re late for supper. Thanks, by the way, for making my day.”

“You’re very welcome, darlin’. I’m up for pleasing my woman anytime, anywhere, anyhow. You improved my day, too. Can’t wait for Wednesday. What time will you be out?”

“Early
, I suppose.”

“Good. Make it before daylight. The house will probably have a bunch of women in it cooking, but nobody will be in the office. Dad will be cooking outside, so he won’t be coming in. I’ll be locked and loaded, baby. Be sure to wear something that’s quick and easy for me to strip off.”

She laughed again. “I’ll put some thought into that. Well…I’ll let you get to supper. ’Bye-bye.”

“’Bye—”

“Pic. Wait. I—I…”

He closed his eyes and held his breath.
Please don’t say it, Mandy. Just please don’t say it.
“What is it, baby?”

“Oh, never mind…. Just…just have a good evening.”

Normally, he hated when she started to say something, then halted and said, “never mind.” Today he was glad. “I will.”

They disconnected and he sat there, phone in hand, thinking. One of these days, she was going to say it. And she would expect to hear him say it back. Then, what would he do?

He sat a few more minutes, his thoughts veering to the solution to both his and Mandy’s problems. It was damn inconvenient for them to live thirty-eight miles apart. Marriage. And a prenuptial agreement. He never thought of marriage that he didn’t think next of a prenuptial agreement. He didn’t know if Drake had asked Shannon to sign one, but he knew one thing for sure. No way would Pic Lockhart ever say “I do” again without that piece of paper.

He closed his eyes. The day’s tension had drained away. He could easily go to sleep right where he sat. But he couldn’t. Dad
—and Zochi—would be waiting for him. He pushed himself to his feet, returned to the bathroom and washed himself. Then he put on clean shorts and prowled through the closet for clean jeans.

His thoughts shifted to Mandy’s best friend, Gail. And Mike Norton. Had Mike been in the bunkhouse Saturday when Zochi paraded around only half-dressed? Had he said something to Gail about Zochi?

Hell, yes….

And just like that, the reason for Mandy’s call became clear.
Shit.

The picnic. Mandy. And Zochi.
How would he escape entertaining Zochi at the picnic? And if he couldn’t, what the hell would he do with her and Mandy both? He puffed his jaws and blew out a breath. He had been looking forward to the picnic. Now he dreaded it.

Chapter 17

The next morning, Pic was up before sunrise and headed to the kitchen for coffee and breakfast. The aroma of sausage filled the kitchen end of the house. He hoped Johnnie Sue had made his favorite breakfast—cream gravy and her melt-in-your-mouth biscuits to go with that homemade sausage
he and dad made themselves out of lean wild hog meat. The closer he got to the kitchen, the more his mouth began to water.

The housekeeper usually said good morning and reported the weather or some other bit of information when he entered the kitchen, but this morning, she was as silent as winter fog.
Oh, hell.
Was she still pissed off because he had reprimanded her about her attitude toward Zochi?

This was a problem. He had to fix it. “Johnnie Sue,” he said, “I know you’re upset about what I said yesterday about cooking for Zochi. I was harsh and I’m sorry. Let’s bury the hatchet and not let it keep going on.”

She finally looked up at him. “That’s fine. I accept your apology.” She began to sniffle.

Oh, shit.
Pic hated when women cried, especially if he was even partially responsible. He put down his mug and looped an arm around her bony shoulder, gave it a little shake. “Come on, now. There’s no need to cry. Everything’s okay.”

“I don’t understand,” she blurted, quivery-voiced. “I thought I was doing a good job here. I thought you and Bill Junior were pleased with the way I’m running things. I’m spending under the budget y’all gave me.”

“No, no, no, Johnnie Sue. Don’t worry about that. We are pleased. You’re doing a helluva good job. And we don’t want you to change a thing. You and I just had a misunderstanding about our guest.”

Johnnie Sue removed her glasses and wiped her eyes with the tail of her apron. “I don’t know what’s to understand. Anybody with two eyes can see what’s going on. Mrs. Lockhart sent that girl here to cause mischief. No man could ever find a better woman than Mandy. I don’t know why Mrs. Lockhart can’t see that. Or why you can’t see it”

Pic looked at her wide-eyed. Why the hell was she sticking her nose into his relationship with his girlfriend? He couldn’t fathom why she thought what happened between him and any woman would affect what was expected of her. All he knew was he couldn’t let this flap continue and disrupt the running of the household. “Look, I know Mandy’s a good woman. Better than I deserve. And nothing’s gonna change between her and me. It’s not your concern to worry about things like that, Johnnie Sue.”

“I have to worry about it. I like it here and I don’t want to see anything happen. This is the best place I’ve ever worked. Nobody has ever treated me as good as you and Bill Junior treat me. You’re like my family.” She broke into full-fledged tears.

Shit
. This was going from bad to worse. He couldn’t argue that a sort of familial relationship had evolved between Johnnie Sue and his dad and even himself. He and Dad had come to rely on her grouchy mothering. Now, Pic didn’t know what to do. He patted her shoulder. “Come on, now, there’s nothing to cry about. Let’s don’t blow this all out of proportion.”

“
As long as we’re talking, I might as well say what’s on my mind.” She tore off a sheet of paper towel and wiped her glasses. “I didn’t just get off the boat, you know. I’ve seen a thing or two in my life. That girl’s a sex bomb. She’d screw a fencepost. I don’t know her, but I can tell.”

Jesus Christ!
Pic suppressed a gasp. His face heated.
Shit!
The housekeeper was plainspoken, but he had never heard her say anything like that. What could he say? What
should
he say? How could he get out of this conversation?

“I’ve watched the two of you,” she went on. “You look at her like she’s a big
piece of chocolate cake. What man wouldn’t? I’ve seen that hungry look in her eyes, too. My God, what woman wouldn’t look at you like that? You’re young and good-looking. You ain’t lazy and you’re kind-hearted. You’re every girl’s dream, Pic Lockhart. But you’re blinder than a bat.”

Pic felt as if he had stepped on a merry-go-round that had no brake. “Those are nice words, Johnnie Sue, but I doubt if too many women are going to sleep at night with me on their minds.” He pulled his own handkerchief out of his back pocket and offered it to her. “Come on, now. We’re getting ready for a party. We’re all supposed to be happy, okay?...I can’t wait for a serving of those beans you’re gonna be cooking tomorrow,” he added stupidly.

She pushed his hand and his handkerchief away. Instead, picked up the tail of her apron again, wiped her glasses again, then her eyes. “You just watch your step, Pic. You’re like a son to me and I don’t want to see you screw up.”

He had to get out of from this conversation. “Don’t worry about me, Johnnie Sue, okay? Look, I know you’re busy getting the food together for tomorrow. How about I just grab a cup of coffee and go on over to the office. I’m already running late. I need to make a couple of calls before the day gets started.”

She shook her head. “I already cooked breakfast for Bill Junior. Sausage and gravy and biscuits. I’ll put on a couple of eggs for you. Only take a few minutes. I don’t suppose that princess will show up before the middle of the morning. I made her a separate little pan of gravy without the sausage. She can eat that and biscuits and I’ll poach her an egg. Surely she can eat a poached egg.”