His Heart

by Laney Powell

  “Good to meet you,” Axel said. “Let me get Jensen—” he turned around and waved at the man who was still in the truck. The door opened and a tall, well-built man in a baseball hat got out. He walked up the drive with a gait that reminded me of a big cat. Axel looked back at Gran as the man got closer.

  My heart beat faster.

  “Mrs. Webber, this is Jensen Briggs. He’s our newest victim out at the ranch. Jensen, this is Mrs. Webber, who will work us to death today, and her granddaughter, Carissa.”

  I stuck out my hand and looked up into the most amazing green eyes I’d ever seen. I stared and then reminded myself that I needed to breathe. His tan face was chiseled, with a sharp jawline, straight nose, and high cheekbones.

  Holy hell.

  Chapter Five

  Jensen

  As our eyes met, and I thought we smiled at one another, I took her hand but couldn’t say anything. She was tall, but not too tall. I’d say 5’7’ maybe? She had light brown hair that was streaked with blond, pulled up in a high ponytail. It looked great on her. Her eyes, which crinkled with her smile, were a toffee brown, warm and inviting.

  Carissa. The name rolled like warm honey through my brain. Carissa was nicely built, and her smile could light up a town. She wore a faded gray tee shirt and jeans. There was a smudge on her cheek from what I guessed was the moving we’d been pressed into helping with.

  She was beautiful. The most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. In that moment, when I touched her hand, electricity shot through me, as though I’d put my hand on a socket.

  “Jensen,” I got out.

  “Nice to meet you,” Carissa said. Her smile widened, and I felt my cock stir. I hadn’t been interested in women in what felt like forever. No bandwidth for it.

  But now, seeing Carissa smile, all the past was forgotten. All my anger, all my bitterness over the divorce—it was gone. She was like seeing the sun come out after a hell of a storm. Whoa. Was this all it took?

  It seemed too easy.

  “Thank you for coming,” Mrs. Webber said. “We appreciate it.”

  “It’s our pleasure. Lead the way,” Axel said. “May as well get to it.”

  The women turned and went into the house. I found that I was following Carissa, and as we went up the staircase toward the attic, I couldn’t help but admire her ass. I didn’t think there was anything else I could have looked at in that moment, honestly. It was perfectly rounded in her worn jeans. I wanted to reach up and grab it, bring her close to me, run my hands up her shirt, see if her skin was as soft and golden as it looked. Carissa was —

  “I’m sorry?” I said to Mrs. Webber, realizing she’d said something. I dragged my eyes away from her granddaughter.

  She smiled at me in a knowing fashion but didn’t say anything other than directions as to which pieces of furniture needed to be moved. Axel and I spent the next two hours going up and down the stairs, and I welcomed the physical activity. I’d been on a horse the last week, and my ass was sore. My arms and back were sore, and my arm had been feeling good despite all the soreness from a new activity. Everything was sore. The good thing was that the furniture wasn’t that heavy, and my arm managed to perform like it used to. Sort of.

  I kind of thought that Axel was aware of my limitations, like I was with his limp. He’d said it didn’t hurt, didn’t bother him, he just had a different gait now.

  Being off a horse, doing more of what I was used to doing regarding hard work—it made me feel better. Because the horses would still be there tomorrow to torment me physically. When we were finished, and all the pieces were out in the garage out back, Carissa appeared in the doorway of the garage.

  “Gran has some tea and cookies If you’d like them.” She smiled. “I think you’ve earned a bottle of whiskey, but since we have none, you get tea and cookies.”

  “That sounds great,” Axel said.

  The three of us headed back to the house, Axel quizzing Carissa about why she was here. I listened carefully, watching the way she moved, the way she spoke, the way she tucked the stray hairs behind her ear. She was graceful, and every move she made drove me wild. I was glad he was doing the talking, because I wasn’t sure I’d be able to be coherent.

  I wanted her. Badly.

  Mrs. Webber had a plate of cookies and glasses of tea, which she insisted on bringing out to the porch. Which is how I found myself facing the most beautiful, sexy and distracting woman ever, without a fucking thing to say.

  Come on, moron, I thought.

  “How did you end up here?” Carissa asked me.

  “I was a Navy SEAL, and when I retired, I was at loose ends.” There was no need to bore her with all my ridiculous baggage. “My former CO knows Freeze—”

  Carissa held up a hand. “Say no more. Within an hour of meeting the guy, he’d hired me. He’s very persuasive.”

  “I’m glad he was,” Axel broke in. “He’s been worried since Tom Panning retired. Pris and I told him that we’d be fine until we could find someone new, but he’s like a dog with a bone. Once he gets hold of something, he can’t let it go.”

  “I’m happy to do it,” Carissa said. Her smile was warm and genuine.

  “Are you free this week?” Axel asked. “I’m asking now so you don’t have to have Granddad up in your face, asking when you’re coming out.”

  “That’s up to Gran,” Carissa said. “I’m just the labor here.”

  “How about you have Freeze call, and we’ll work it out. I’m not having the sale until next weekend,” Mrs. Webber said. “There’s plenty of time for you to help him,” she said to Carissa.

  Oh, holy fuck. That meant Carissa, with her hair and her smile and her perfect ass were going to be around on the ranch. I needed to make sure I kept myself far away. I was a busted-up, forcibly retired washed out guy, and I was in no place to be thinking about starting something new.

  Although when I considered my reasons for why I needed to stay away from her, I couldn’t quite muster up a stirring defense for them.

  She was just so… perfect.

  “All right. Thanks again,” Axel said. We said our goodbyes and headed back out to the truck. As he started it up, Axel said, “I think I remember seeing Carissa here when she was a kid. She used to come and stay with her grandmother.”

  “Oh, she’s your age?” I asked. Axel was thirty-three. I had nothing against a woman who was older than me.

  Axel shook his head as we headed out of town and back to the ranch. “No, she’s younger than me. I don’t remember by how much.” He turned to look at me briefly and grinned. “She’s pretty cute.”

  “She is,” I said carefully. I wasn’t getting drawn into this—ever since the divorce, hell, even before it was final—I had people trying to set me up. I’d turned them all down. I was barely good for me. I didn’t want to drag some unsuspecting woman into my mess. Not even one as amazing as Carissa.

  “Well, it will be nice for Pris to have another woman around. She was complaining that with the three of us, she felt like she might die from all the wayward testosterone.”

  I laughed out loud. I liked Pris. She was tall, a little taller than Carissa, and she had a wide smile that totally transformed her face, which looked rather serious most of the time. Even though she was a member of the family, I could see the nurse side of her in most of her interactions. She took no nonsense, not from anyone.

  I also liked that she was like me—someone who was not from a ranching background in any way whatsoever. She’d slipped me some cream to use after the riding lessons had started last week. “It’ll save your ass,” she said.

  “What, she doesn’t like being around all the manly men?” I said, still laughing at my conversation with Axel.

  “The fact that she hasn’t killed me, or Granddad, is a testament to how patient she is,” Axel laughed with me. “Seriously, though, thanks for coming with me today. I know this isn’t really part of the job, but it’s easier to go along with Granddad when he’s got a
burr under the saddle.”

  “I’m learning that,” I said.

  “So, what made you decide to take him up on the offer to come out here?” Axel asked.

  We hadn’t had a lot of time to talk, because there was work to be done, and the cows were busy moving all over the grazing land on the ranch. The calves were getting older, which meant they were feeling their oats, so to speak. You had to move fast and pay attention, or you’d get a horn in the ass for your troubles.

  “You mean Freeze didn’t tell you?” I asked.

  Axel shook his head. “You wouldn’t think it, but the man can keep a secret. He told me he’d found someone that he thought would work, and I said OK. I trust him,” he looked at me then.

  I recognized it for the accolade it was. He was letting me know that he trusted me as well, based on his grandfather’s say-so. It made me feel… I didn’t know what it made me feel.

  I shrugged. “I got hurt in our last mission. That wasn’t the career ender, though. While the doc was checking me out, he noticed that my arm was responding sluggishly. That, and I’d been numb, since the last mission. So he did some more tests. Not telling me what they were for, of course,” I grumbled. “Then he tells me that with my job, even though PT could get me almost back to my former self, that wouldn’t cut it for the SEALs.”

  Axel made a noise that sounded like a grunt.

  “With that, I had to find something new. I wasn’t going to retire in fifteen years like I thought I was,” I shrugged, looking out the window. “I got my disability discharge, and that was that. Freeze’s offer came at the right time.”

  “I get it. Me and my new knee get it,” Axel said, patting his leg.

  I’d seen him limping, but I didn’t ask for anything more than he told me about it. It wasn’t the kind of thing you asked. Even if he hadn’t told me earlier, I would have known he was in the ranks at some point. It was the way he looked around, the watchful air he had around the ranch, for his wife. So his admission made sense. Your sense of watchfulness—that never went away.

  “Yeah, well, tough breaks. I was glad Freeze reached out.”

  Axel nodded again, and we talked cows for the rest of the ride home. That made me glad, because it gave me time to think about Carissa Webber. To see her hair moving back and forth across her neck, her ponytail bobbing.

  Her ass. Her smile.

  Jesus, I told myself. You got it bad. And that shit stops right now. Because someone like Carissa, young, beautiful—she wasn’t for the likes of me.

  Nope. Pull it together, Briggs. You have a job, and she’s not it.

  As we drove down the drive toward the ranch house, I had the strangest sensation. Like I was coming home. But I hadn’t had anywhere I called home in years.

  Weird. I shook my head as I got out of the truck and went to the stables to take care of the horses. And did my best to push the thoughts of Carissa Webber right out of my head.

  But after dinner, after I’d gone back to my cabin, it wasn’t so easy. I kept seeing glimpses of her, like flashes. Her smile. The ponytail bobbing in front of me. The way she looked in faded jeans. And before I knew it, my cock was hard and aching at the thought of her. I lay in bed, cock throbbing, and finally gave in. Reaching down, I took my cock in hand and closed my eyes.

  I saw her ponytail sweeping across her back, her naked back, as I mounted her from behind. Her head came back, and she moaned.

  “Oh, Jensen.”

  “You like that, baby?” I asked. Running my hands up her hips, I took her ponytail in my hand and gently pulled it as I thrust my cock into her. She was wet, and she pushed her ass toward me, seeking even more, just like I was.

  “God, yes,” Carissa breathed.

  I kept moving in and out of her, not letting go of the ponytail, one hand on her ass. Her back was slick with sweat, and she gleamed like the sun in my bed. Spreading my legs further, I increased the tempo until I was pounding into her, and her breath came in little gasps with each thrust.

  Then I felt her pussy clench around my cock, pulling me in deeper, and Carissa pushed against me harder. I couldn’t last any longer—I came when she cried out and went stiff for a moment.

  Opening my eyes, I could feel that I was sweating. Jesus, that was pretty imaginative, even for me. I got up and went to the bathroom to clean up. I would have to avoid looking at her ponytail—because after this, I’d never look at it the same.

  Chapter Six

  Carissa

  I watched both guys go to the truck. Jensen Briggs turned, just once, so fast that if I hadn’t been looking, I would have missed it, and looked at me. A bolt of primal heat went through me, going right to my core. I felt wetness between my legs and resisted the urge to press my legs together.

  He was so damn hot. Like, mouthwatering levels of hot. No! No, no, no! I scolded myself. I was on a hiatus from all men. I’d only just barely gotten away from a guy who told me he loved me and then left me like a used tissue to deal with his mess. It was pure luck that I hadn’t been home when the scary guys had come looking for Stephen. Mel was going after Stephen legally, not me. I wasn’t going to suffer financially. And I’d gotten away before anything bad happened with the scary guys, despite Mel’s concerns.

  But it was obvious that I let love blind me. An accountant, not seeing her boyfriend lying and losing money? Not noticing the difference in him, when I dealt with people who were cooking their books, as Freeze had teased me about, all day long?

  What would I ignore if I went for a guy who looked like Jensen? Who made me all dizzy and out of sorts just by shaking my hand and sitting across from me?

  The disastrous possibilities were endless.

  No, I would look from afar—from a very safe distance. I might even have a few fantasies. But that was it. Jensen Briggs was not for me. I couldn’t be trusted with my own best interests. I was in no shape to get involved with anyone else. I was going to help Gran and do some remote work to add to my savings, since once I was finished helping Gran, I was homeless and needed somewhere new to live, and that was it.

  A thought hit me; one I hadn’t thought about before. Thank God Stephen and I hadn’t combined finances. He hadn’t wanted to, although over the last six months, he’d asked about it. But I had been busy at work, and just hadn’t gotten around to it.

  Oh, my God. If I’d combined money with him, I’d be broke and homeless. I did have something positive that came out of this—I wasn’t as screwed as I could have been. I laughed to myself.

  “What’s so funny?” Gran asked.

  Looking over at her, I said, “I was thinking about how sad it was that the positives of my situation were that I wasn’t hurt worse.”

  Gran sniffed. “I’d agree with that. I have another one. That you didn’t marry him. That he didn’t steal more than the rent money. That his dumb ass didn’t come back and sweet talk you into taking him back.”

  “That wouldn’t happen, Gran.”

  “Well, sweetie, love is a powerful thing. Stranger things have happened.”

  “Not with me,” I said. “I loved him, but that is done.”

  “You sure about that?”

  I nodded. “I’m so angry at myself for not seeing it. I mean, look at my job, Gran! I should have seen it!”

  “Love is blind so we don’t kill one another, honey.”

  “That’s pretty cynical, Gran.”

  “No, it’s really not. It allows people to go along and get along and love others despite their foibles and shortcomings.”

  “Yeah, well, I’ve been pretty blind,” I said.

  “It happens to the best of us,” Gran replied.

  “Did it happen to you?” I demanded.

  “No, but things were different then. You generally married the first person you fell in love with. Now, you have more choices.”

  “Do you wish you had more choices?”

  Gran shook her head. “No. I’m very happy with the choices I made. Your grandfather was a wonderful man
. I’m fortunate that we chose well with one another—I have friends who didn’t. But they were the ones getting divorced in their fifties, after a lifetime together, and wondering what the hell happened. That didn’t happen for you, Carissa. You didn’t tie yourself legally to this scumbag.”

  “There is that.”

  “See?” Gran stood up. “There’s a silver lining in everything! Now let’s go get some more of the boxes, since we’ve managed to get the hard work done for us.”

  “I wouldn’t say that,” I said, getting up to follow her. We worked for the rest of the day, and when I fell into bed after a shower, I kept seeing Jensen Briggs and that searing look he’d shot me right before he left.

  The next morning, Gran and I were up early. We were so close to getting the attic cleaned out, and by dinner, we’d done it.

  “Tomorrow, I’m going to price things,” Gran said.

  We’d moved everything out to the garage, and some of the neighbors had lent Gran extra tables to put all the stuff on.

  Whatever else she was going to say was cut off by the phone ringing. Gran answered it, and I heard her laugh, and say, “Sure. I’ll send her out.”

  She came back into the dining room. Sitting across from me again, she said, “That was Freeze. He wants to know if you’ll come out tomorrow.”

  “Aren’t we pricing?” I asked.

  Gran waved a hand. “I can do that on my own. I probably should. You go. You can earn some extra money. Save for a down payment somewhere.”

  “Yeah, that will be nice. I have some work to do tonight, too.”

  “I thought you were on vacation!”

  I grinned. “My boss emailed and begged me to do some remote work, and dangled more money in my face.

  “Take it!” Gran said.

  “He’s the cheapest partner in the firm, so I know he’s desperate. I plan to.”

  “Oh, that’s good,” Gran said. “I was worried about what you were going to do being off for a month.”