Unbroken: Country Fever, Book 3 (28 page)

Darcy’s eyes widened but still shot bullets. “What’s that, you heavy cow?”

For that, Claire ground her kneecap into her belly. Darcy grunted.

“You want Boomerang.”

“I have the rights to her. She’s mine!”

“Well, Tucker has the rights to his land too.”

Understanding flashed across the girl’s features.
So she’s a smart one after all.

Darcy fell still. “What do you want?”

“You call off daddy and big brother and stop hassling Tucker about signing those papers and you can have the alpaca.”

To anyone else in the world, using an alpaca as leverage would be laughable. But deep down, Claire was devastated. She swallowed hard.

“How am I supposed to make Daddy back off? I’m only sixteen!”

Fuck. I’m definitely going to need bail money.

Claire slipped off Darcy’s body and gained her feet. Her hair dipped into her eyes and she smoothed it back, still feeling the sharp pull on her scalp. “You seem resourceful, Darcy. Make it happen.”

Darcy launched to her feet, looking almost as perfect as she had on the street and before the cat fight. “When do I get the alpaca?”

“As soon as we stop seeing your family around the ranch.”

Darcy eyed her, uncertain.

Claire stuck out her hand. “Deal?”

Darcy looked at her hand as if she’d start smacking her around again. But finally, she placed her smooth hand into Claire’s. They gave a hard shake then released. Claire scrubbed her hand over her thigh. “If you live up to your side of the bargain, I’ll deliver Boomerang—” she choked on the long name, “—to the fairgrounds and enter her in your name.”

Darcy’s smile curdled the last bit of control Claire clung to. “I’ll see you there. And dress her pretty. Like photo number thirty-four.”

With that, the girl sashayed out of the aisle.

Claire looked up to see an employee staring at the mess they’d made. Ordinarily, Claire would apologize and pick up every box. But not today. Tears choked her.

Spinning on a heel, she ran out of the drugstore. She hopped into the Buick, praying it would start, and was halfway out of town before she realized she hadn’t gotten Letty any cold medicine.

The sky hung heavily, studded with so many stars, it dizzied Tucker. He closed his eyes against the assault of the small pinpricks of light and sighed.

“Always loved it up here. I’ve sat on this ridge more than one night of my life.”

Christian shifted. His arms were slung around his knees, his outline a dark blob. But Tucker detected the faint notes of Christian’s freshly showered scent. This was the third night they’d sat up here watching for his family to come and try to sabotage the things Tucker had worked for. While it wasn’t exactly a perfect way to spend time with a person he loved, Tucker was glad to steal these moments. Although Claire had been left out.

“A good place to sit and think,” Tucker went on.

“What’s there to think about?” Christian asked. His playful tone plucked at the frayed edges of Tucker’s nerves and smoothed them.

Still, Tucker felt like talking and Christian needed to hear it.

“After Heather was killed, I sat here a lot, raging at the forces that stole her from me. I didn’t know how to go on. What my purpose was anymore.”

“Raising horses has always been your path.” Christian’s low voice was balm.

Tucker nodded, though it was unlikely Christian noticed the slight movement in the darkness. “That’s true. Always will be. That’s why I’m so pissed off that people who share my blood would try to take that away from me in more ways than one.”

The air had dropped several degrees since he and Christian performed the evening chores. As usual, Claire had hung around them while they’d tucked the horses in for the night and put away the chickens. But tonight her eyes were especially haunting.

Or haunted?

“We’ll see that your family doesn’t take your ranch or injure more horses,” Christian said.

“They’ve never understood my drive to make something of this land,” Tucker went on. He plucked a few blades of grass from the earth and crushed them between thumb and forefinger. “Leon thinks hard work is defined by how much time you spend on the phone with a company willing to pay for your things. And Dale…well, he’s just a puppet.”

“What of the girl? The sister?”

Tucker pressed his lips together. “I didn’t know you knew about Darcy.”

“A bit. I hear things. Well…” he chuckled, “…Claire hears things. At the diner.”

“Yeah, about Mr. Simmons’s bunions.”

“She doesn’t like to know all of the things people tell her.” Christian’s statement was made so quietly, offhandedly. But the weight of it fisted Tucker’s gut. That Claire had been forced to make small talk with people she sometimes didn’t like and made to listen to their troubles, gossip or even their fantasies, bothered him. He’d had the funds to care for her all of this time and had been too selfish to think of it until recently.

Tenderness rose up strong in the pit of Tucker’s stomach. She didn’t have to carry platters of eggs and bacon to people to scrape up a few bucks. He had enough to keep her in furs and diamonds, even if she only wanted those things for her alpacas.

“I insisted that she quit the diner.”

Christian swung his head around to Tucker once more. In the darkness, his eyes glittered. “What are you sayin’?”

“I’ll take care of her.”

“
We’ll
take care of her.”

Tucker jerked his chin down in a nod. “That’s right. We’re in this together.”

A soft puff of air left Christian. He leaned closer to Tucker, and he couldn’t resist putting his arm around the man. The scents of his soap mixed with his musk, and strong desire heated Tucker.

He strummed his thumb down the hard ridges of Christian’s torso. Silence dominated, but as always, it was comfortable. Christian understood when he should speak up and when to remain quiet.

Through a loud chorus of crickets around them in the grass, Tucker said, “I’m done runnin’.”

Christian leaned into his side until their heads touched. “Good to hear.”

“A relief to acknowledge.” A smile spread over his face. If he tried, he couldn’t stop the pull on the corners of his mouth. He rubbed his jaw against Christian’s. Their lips were inches away. “I’m not leaving ever again—not without you and Claire in that truck with me.”

“Speaking of the truck—when you gonna get those bat marks fixed?”

Tucker gave Christian’s cheek a quick smooch. “I think of them as love taps.”

They shared a minute of laughter. Then Christian locked his arm around Tucker and jerked him into his embrace. He allowed his lover to take control—wholeheartedly giving himself.

Christian rolled him into the grass and pressed his big body over Tucker’s. As strong as Tucker, but possessing traits that he didn’t. A perfect complement.

Christian brought his hips against Tucker’s, pinning him completely. The thick length of his cock dug into Tucker’s rapidly swelling one.

He bucked upward, rubbing. Cock to cock.

Of the few times they’d been on the lookout for trespassers on the ranch, he and Christian had only fallen into each other’s arms once. Christian had submitted easily and Tucker had spent long, blissful minutes sliding in and out of his body.

But the dynamics were different tonight. A dark hunger pulsed in Christian—Tucker felt it just beneath the surface of the man’s skin.

He ground his hips into Tucker’s. The tang of crushed grass rose around them.

Christian’s eyes loomed close. Minty breath washed across Tucker’s face. Then, “Give me your mouth.”

The rough demand made Tucker as hard as the posts they’d spent erecting for the alpaca pen. He surged upward at the same moment Christian crushed his mouth down on his. The bruising collision ignited the primal instinct to grip, bite, steal this man’s soul.

Christian plunged his tongue between Tucker’s lips. Hot and smooth kisses followed. Then turned carnal once more. Christian locked a hand around Tucker’s nape and dragged his mouth to his again and again. The sharp spikes of his five o’clock shadow only spurred Tucker to be rougher, go harder.

A low rustle sounded off to the right. At the same moment, he and Christian broke away and looked in the direction of the sound.

Tucker’s heart drummed wildly against his chest from their make-out session, but he willed it to slow so he could hear better.

Christian’s fingers tightened against Tucker’s skin. “Someone’s coming up the ridge,” he barely breathed.

Tucker flattened his palm on Christian’s spine. For a full ten seconds, they didn’t breathe. Then very slowly, Christian rolled off. They gained their feet soundlessly.

In the grass, Tucker had laid a shotgun. Not that he’d ever shoot a man—relative or not—but he couldn’t very well just sit up here with a condom in his pocket as weapon. Besides, he might even spot a coyote on the prowl.

Tucker swept the gun into his hands and aimed it at the sky. Christian was tense at his side, a big cat ready to spring.

The grass swished around a person’s feet. Sweat ran down Tucker’s back and wet his waistband.

A voice drifted to them. “Guys?”

Christian cocked his head but Tucker knew instantly who it was. He dropped his gun and headed down the hill in a lope.

A few hundred yards below he spotted the dark shadow of Claire moving toward them. That jaw-creaking grin from earlier with Christian stretched across his face for her.

She sped up, but he caught her halfway down the slope.

“What are you doing here?” Didn’t she realize she shouldn’t be roaming the ranch alone in the dark?

“I’m…sorry. But I wanted to be with you and Chris tonight.” She sounded uncertain.

He grabbed her and laid a kiss on her, bending her over his arm and plundering her mouth until she made squeaking noises.

“We want you too.” Christian’s voice echoed from the darkness.

He clutched both Tucker and Claire. Their heads bent together, and three tongues tangled until Claire was shaking and Tucker thought his balls would explode.

With one quick glance of the area to ensure they were alone and safe in the fields, Tucker towed them both to the ground. A flurry of activity ensued while they stripped each other—laughing and carrying on. Until they both reached under Claire’s cotton dress and found she wasn’t wearing panties.

Tucker sobered and Christian’s expression grew intense.

“Hold her. I get first taste.” Christian stretched out between her thighs and buried his mouth in her apex.

Claire’s back arched off the ground as Tucker stripped away her dress. Then he did as he was bidden and held her down with long, tongue-fucking kisses. Fire spread through his limbs. The cooler air kissed her damp skin and raised gooseflesh in its wake. He trailed his fingers down her shoulders to the tight buds of her breasts.

She gasped as he closed his fingers around them. Pulled. Pinched.

The scents of her arousal drifted on the air currents, and his cock stiffened another fraction. Damn, he couldn’t wait to hear her come unglued. Then he was damn well going to thrust his tongue into Christian’s mouth and taste her.

Sending a glance down her body, silvery in the moonlight, he riveted his gaze to the place where Christian’s wet tongue flashed. Claire’s body tensed, and Tucker realized Christian had sent two fingers into her channel.

She hissed. Grabbing at Tucker, she yanked him down for a string of wild kisses. When he felt her loosen, he knew she was close. Right before she came, she always grew boneless. Then her orgasm would rush up on her and she’d be a straining kitten once more.

Her skin was silk beneath his palm. He cupped her breast, molded it to his hand. A flick of the tip and she was humming. He attuned himself to her, to Christian’s movements.

A cry burst from her. Tucker swallowed it and groaned at the knowledge that her sweet cream was flooding Christian’s mouth.

His lover licked her with long, smooth strokes, cleaning every drop of her come.

Claire’s body pebbled with goose bumps, and her warm pants fogged the air.

Christian raised his head and eased back onto his haunches. “Cover her before she gets cold.”

His cock throbbing, Tucker abandoned her mouth and breasts and knee-walked through the grass. The ticklish strands swayed against his thighs. He positioned himself at her center, staring at her lust-filled expression.

There was a tearing sound and then Christian slid a hand over Tucker’s cock, stretching and fitting it with a condom in one stroke. Tucker threw his head back at the feel of the masculine hand on his length. For a moment, he was transported to the living room and their sessions. Now that he had given himself, it was so much more intense.

Because his emotions were engaged with every physical inch of him.

Christian knelt to brush his lips over Claire’s. She clung to him, fingertips digging into thick shoulder muscles.