by Em Petrova
Maybe he could find the path his brothers had through the dark woods of a relationship. If he never had to walk away from Kinsey again…
She flicked her tongue against his, and his balls clenched tight. A groan left his throat, and she answered with a feminine whimper. Now that sound, he knew. When she teetered on the verge of release, she made that noise and melted against him.
Like now.
Her inner walls pulsated with her orgasm, and he reared back, bucked into her once and let go. The spurts went on for what felt like long minutes, and her kisses never slowed. A sea of passion flooded him, along with the protective feeling he’d experienced more than once now.
He gathered her against him. Burying his face in her hair, he drank her in. She gripped his shoulders, tugging as if to bring him closer, and he let his muscles relax a bit more and pressed her down into the hay.
She grunted as he crushed her. Chuckling with a true happiness he hadn’t believed he’d experience after walking away from her last night, he braced himself on his elbows again.
“I like feeling your weight on me, but that was a bit too much.” She grinned, and his heart battered his chest wall.
He smoothed her hair back from her face and kissed her again, this time a gentle teasing of lips and tongue.
When he heard the scuff of boots on the floor below, he stilled and pressed a fingertip to her lips.
“Where the hell’d he go? Son of a bitch.” Zayden’s irritated tone almost made Asher laugh, but he controlled the urge until his brother left the barn again.
Kinsey tremored with a laugh she didn’t release and then pushed on his chest. “We have to get out of here.”
He stamped a kiss over her mouth again before shifting to his knees. “Baby, we need more places to hide. It seems like there’s no place we’re safe from being caught.”
She sat up and brushed some hay off her arm. “Maybe that’s the thing—maybe we shouldn’t try to hide anymore.”
* * * * *
Kinsey tipped her head up to the sky. The stars over Stokes always seemed to twinkle brighter than anywhere else on Earth. But here on the Moon Ranch, the vast beauty of the night sky stole her breath.
Asher lay beside her in the thick grass, hat off and weapon within reach. When he insisted she come with him to listen for coyotes on the boundary between their ranch and Brennah’s, she’d readily agreed. She’d spent all day with the man and wasn’t ready for their time to end. That had to say a lot for the state of her heart, even if she still didn’t fully want to believe her emotions were real.
But they are.
Some rustling noises along the trees had her twisting around and Asher sitting up and reaching for the rifle. Holding her breath, she waited to hear the weight of coyote footsteps on the ground or a howl, but nothing came.
Asher relaxed. Together, they said, “Deer.”
He smiled. “You know your stuff, Kinsey.”
“Thank you.” Pleasure at his praise trickled through her. She eased back down, and he did too, slipping an arm beneath her head as a pillow.
She snuggled closer. “Will you return to enforcement?” she asked after a long minute of silence.
His biceps tensed under her head. “No. I don’t think so.” His reply came quietly.
“I see.”
Seconds ticked on. At last, he said, “No, you don’t see. But I’ll tell you.”
She sensed something bad. Maybe even something to do with her brother that she definitely didn’t want to hear about.
“Someone was killed,” he said just when she thought she’d go crazy waiting for him to speak.
Icy dread hit her veins. “Killed?”
“Yeah. I caught the fugitive but he refused to cooperate. They rarely do. Then he pulled a weapon and just as I got mine up to fire a shot and stop him, he pulled the trigger. His aim wasn’t as good as mine, and only after I saw the body lying on the concrete behind me did I realize what happened.”
She shifted to get a better look at his face. “Who was the person?”
“His daughter.” His throat worked.
“Oh God.”
“She came to bring him home from the bar, where I caught him outside. She died right there and I couldn’t do a goddamn thing.”
“How horrible.”
“Just touching a gun feels bad to me right now. Even looking down the sights at an animal that’s about to attack my brother’s cattle…” He sighed. “My boss let me go. Told me not to return until I could hold a gun without shaking.”
“It’s understandable, Asher. You suffered a bad shock.”
“I don’t like to think I’m so weak.”
She pushed onto her elbow to look down into his eyes. “You’re not weak because you felt something when a person got killed.”
“I…have dreams.”
Oh God. The poor man. Tears jumped into her eyes, splintering the faint starlight from overhead. She laid her head on his chest and placed an arm over him, holding tight.
“What can I do to help?” she asked.
“Nothing. I’m broken. Was never built right in the first place.”
“Why do you say that? There’s nothing wrong with you, Asher. You’re a good man.”
He grunted. “Tell your daddy that.”
She sighed. “My father will come around or he won’t. If he wants to believe Trent’s a saint and not at all responsible for his crimes, then that’s on him. And hating you for doing your job is plain stupid.”
“I can’t get between you two, Kinsey. I won’t break up a family.”
Her throat thickened with tears that she didn’t want to release. “It hasn’t been a family in a long time.”
He brushed his hand over her cheek, and she leaned into his comforting touch. “I know that story too well. I never had much of a family my whole life.”
“But now you do, right? You’re close to your brothers.”
“Always was. Mimi too.”
“Just because it isn’t a conventional textbook family doesn’t mean it’s not a good one. Sometimes we choose the people we want to call family. They don’t even have to be blood.” Her heart throbbed with the truth—Asher could easily be her family. She wanted him in her life for the rest of her days.
An owl hooted in the distance. Asher’s gaze found hers and held. “Would you choose me, baby girl?”
A hot tear escaped the corner of her eye and trickled down her cheek. She nodded. “I would.”
“How do you know you’re not choosing wrong?”
His question edged into her heart and nestled close to the places where her father and Trent were held dear. She couldn’t imagine the three lives ever touching each other. And she’d forever be pulled in separate directions.
Asher sat up, nodding. “See what I mean? I’m no good for you, darlin’. Come on, let’s get you back on the road home.”
* * * * *
Mimi held out a plate of food, and Asher took it. The buttery scent of eggs wafted into his nose, but his stomach didn’t respond with a growl for Mimi’s home-cooking as usual.
Zayden looked up from his half-empty plate. “Damn, bro, did you sleep at all?”
He picked up his fork but didn’t dig in yet. “Not much.”
“You stay up all night hunting coyotes? I thought I heard you come in just before dawn.”
He nodded. “Thought I’d keep a watch in our field. Brennah’s too.”
Dane gave him a dip of his head. “We appreciate it.”
“I didn’t see anything. Thought I had one called in at one point, but it never came close enough to see.”
“You keep at it and you’ll learn their routines in no time.” Zayden took a big bite of toast and chewed.
Mimi placed a hand on Asher’s shoulder, and he looked up into her bright blue eyes. Something about her penetrating look made him feel like he was a child again, trying to slip a fib by her. He never could—none of them had.
He twisted his gaze to his p
late. She couldn’t know for sure that he hadn’t put his heart into searching out the predators last night—or any night, for that matter. But the look in her eyes told him she guessed.
At this point in his life, he felt like he had no path to walk. No direction, no headwind to blow him onto a course. Without his job, he was just another no-good Moon. But bail enforcement had taken him further off course than anything else yet.
In between, he’d filled his time with seducing Kinsey. But now even that seemed wrong.
Dane let his fork drop to his plate and leaned forward. “What the hell’s going on, Ash?”
He stuffed scrambled eggs in his mouth to keep from replying.
“Maybe it’s about that woman he’s been workin’ with.” Zayden cocked a brow.
Pushing out a breath through his nostrils, Asher tried to think up a way out of the spotlight.
This time, maybe he should just face the Moon posse staring him down.
He pushed his plate away and met Zayden’s gaze and then Dane’s. Finally, he looked into Mimi’s eyes. “You’re right. I’m having some questions concerning Kinsey.”
Dane picked up some toast. “What kind of questions?”
“Hell, I don’t know how to put any of it into words.”
His brothers exchanged a glance.
“What the hell is that? Why are you looking at each other?”
Mimi offered him one of her soft, comforting smiles. “You like Kinsey?”
He grunted. “It’s complicated.”
“What he means is he doesn’t want to tell you he likes her in his bed,” Dane said.
Zayden chuckled, and Asher avoided Mimi’s stare.
“That ain’t all that’s between us,” he muttered.
“And here come those questions,” Zayden added.
Asher shook his head. “We’re enemies.”
Mimi’s brows shot up. “Enemies how? What did you do, Asher Moon?”
No point in holding back now. “Her brother was one of the fugitives I hunted.”
“Oh shit.” Zayden rubbed at his jaw. “That’s heavy. What did the guy do?”
“Drug charges, intent to sell. And a hit and run resulting in a homicide.” He didn’t want to think about how Kinsey would feel if she knew he’d shared this information with his family. The details felt private, despite them being public knowledge to anybody who knew where to look.
Dane released a low whistle. “Shit, that’s rough. And you hauled this guy in? Did it all go down before you came back to Stokes?”
“Yeah. I didn’t even know Kinsey then. We met at a party.”
“I’ll bet it was some party.” Zayden grinned at him over his coffee mug.
Asher grunted. “I told ya it’s not all physical. I’m attracted to her mind.” He waited for his brothers to start elbowing each other and cracking up with laughter, but to his shock, they didn’t do that. In fact, a silence descended over the table.
“It’s fucked up…right?” He looked between his brothers.
Dane issued a low rumble. “I thought so too. Then I met Brennah.”
Asher stared at his uneaten food. Dane too? If Dane experienced the same, Zayden probably did as well.
He drew his plate closer and began to eat again. “She’s too good for me.”
“Nah, bro, it’s all us Moons who aren’t worth it, but for some reason these women stick around and keep tellin’ us otherwise. And this l’il lady’s one of them.” Zayden reached across the table to pat Mimi’s hand.
“What do men know anyway? Leave it to us women to figure out your worth.” With that, she took a big bite of toast and jam, ending the discussion with the last word as usual.
His brothers finished their meals and stood to carry their dishes to the sink. “We could use your help soon as you’re done, Ash,” Zayden tossed over his shoulder on the way out of the kitchen.
“I’ll be out in a minute.”
When he and Mimi were alone, she met his stare. “Why can’t you ever do anything easy, Ash? Only you would be responsible for hauling in the brother of the woman you’re falling in love with.” She gave him a sad shake of her head.
“Good question, honey. Believe me, I’d like to do things the normal way for once.”
Her blue eyes sparked. “Then you are falling in love with her?”
He considered her question. “Can’t say I know what love feels like.”
“But you like spending time with her.”
He set his fork on his empty plate and pushed back from the table. “I don’t like bein’ away from her.” When he caught Mimi’s smug smile, he couldn’t help but let his own spread across his face. “Need more coffee before I go, honey?”
She held up her cup. “Just a warmup if ya would.”
“Sure.” He crossed the room and placed his plate into the sink with the others and then grabbed the coffeepot. He splashed some rich brew into Mimi’s cup and bent to place a kiss on her cheek. “Stop lookin’ so full of yourself. It’s nothing new for you to know everything going on in this house.”
She gave him a wink. “Outside of it too. Don’t forget that, young man. Plus, an old lady like me is allowed to be smug once in a while. I earned it. Now get outside and help your brothers.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He chuckled on his way out the door, settling his hat as he went.
The fresh mountain air cleared his head a bit, and he hoped some manual labor would help too. He’d been sunk deep in his own thoughts and troubles for too long now. Time to work on letting it go, starting with that woman’s death.
He hadn’t’ been the one to pull the trigger. The entire loss resulted from her being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and deep down, Asher knew he shouldn’t bear the burden of Sterling’s bad decision. Plus, there had to be a way to cast off the memories of the woman lying dead on the pavement or her father’s anguished scream, and he aimed to find the solution fast.
Following his brothers to the paddock, he wondered if maybe them needing his help was real or if they were only humoring him. If they really did need him on the ranch, would he stick around and make it his life’s work?
“Remember when we were kids and we said we would someday come back here and make this land into something?” he asked them.
Zayden grunted. “I do. I’ve thought about it a few times since returning too.”
“Yeah, it feels surreal, don’t it?” Dane’s long strides matched Asher’s.
“It does. Dunno how I feel about it.”
Zayden clapped him on the back. “Hang with us and you’ll get used to it.”
“Speaking of, what are we doin’?” They came up to the paddock. Early in the morning, one of his brothers had cared for the horses and turned them out for exercise.
“We’ve got some saddle breaking to do. Who’s up for a bruised ass?” Zayden grinned.
Asher stared at the challenge ahead of him. “I never got to do the honors, since I was youngest. Let me.”
When Zayden waved for him to go into the paddock first, Asher grabbed a rope off a hook on the barn wall and headed through the gate. The horses shifted around, but not even the young ones ran.
“They don’t look too spooked,” he called out.
“We’ve been working with them a while.” Dane settled on the top rail to watch, and Zayden leaned his elbows on it.
Asher coiled the rope, getting the right grip for tossing it. His first attempt fell short, and the horse trotted out of reach. Behind him, he heard his brothers’ laughter.
“Go on—make fun o’ the guy who’s out of practice. I’d like to see you two take off after a fugitive.” He sliced a grin in his brothers’ direction and slowly eased toward the horse he intended to catch. This time it tolerated his closer proximity, but the moment he tossed the lasso, it bolted to the side.
Dane’s whoop of laughter echoed across the paddock.
“Funny, huh? You’re talkin’ to a guy who road your fiancée’s llama.”
“For all of half a second.”
“I still got on it.” Asher threw again. This time, the loop fell over the horse’s neck, and he yanked it tight to hold it in place. The horse, though young and small, still sported enough strength to drag Asher a few feet. He dug in his boot heels while his brothers collapsed in hilarity.
Gently, he reined the horse in, foot by foot, until he could stretch out a hand and allow it to get acquainted with his scent. When he stroked its mane, his brothers stopped laughing and took notice that maybe he wasn’t as much of a screwup as they originally believed.
The rest of the morning he spent trying to place a saddle on the horse. It didn’t like the girth strap and went into a bucking fit, which had them all laughing. As soon as the horse settled, Asher took the lead rope and led it around the paddock a dozen or so times. Each time he passed by his brothers, he gave them an I-told-you-I-could-do-it look.
“Think we should keep him on?” Dane’s question had him throwing a look over his shoulder. Were his brothers discussing asking him to become a permanent fixture on the Moon Ranch or being smartasses?
He continued around the perimeter of the paddock again, and his brothers tracked his progress with the horse. Most of his life, he didn’t give a damn about their opinions of him. But for some reason, right now he wanted to pass whatever test they were throwing his way.
The more he worked with the horse, the more comfortable he grew too. If he couldn’t commit to doing a very good job for the coalition, then at least he could do this, right?
Thinking on that more, he realized that his heart wasn’t in it for more than one reason. Not only did he not want to lift a weapon, but he wanted to respect Kinsey’s wishes. Knowing if he shot an animal he’d be on her bad side left him taking no action at all.
Damn, women really twisted a guy up, didn’t they? If he knew what he was getting himself into back at Kelly’s party, he wouldn’t have eyed up Kinsey’s curves in that hot pink dress.
Like he could have stopped. Hell, he wasn’t kidding anyone—not even himself.
Zayden waved him over, and he led the horse that direction. “Lookin’ real good. Maybe tomorrow you’ll have an easier time saddling her.”
