by Starla Kaye
“Sorry about this,” Tanya said as she checked on the baked potatoes in the oven. “But you know your brother, once he decides something….”
“He’s determined to butt into my business.” Mandy leaned against the counter, grimaced, and noticed Tanya watching her. She knew her friend enough to know she would press her for an explanation if she didn’t just tell her. With a put-upon sigh, she said, “Yes, he did.”
Tanya’s eyes widened in surprise, then she reached back to lightly touch her jeans-covered bottom. “Ditto. Men, they can be such trials sometimes.”
They’d both been spanked and both been well pleasured after it. From the soft look in Tanya’s eyes, she knew her brother had made up with his wife. She, too, had been supremely well pleasured, even if she’d resisted for about a half second. She needed to work on her resistance to Erik.
“After he dealt with his frustration, did you two start talking?”
“Well, not exactly. But we were going to, then Drew called.”
Tanya giggled. “Sometimes getting spanked is worth it. Make-up sex can be amazing.” She patted her small rounded stomach. “Even when you’re looking blimpy.”
Mandy felt a moment’s envy. Would she ever have a child? Did Erik want children? She didn’t even know if he had family now: parents, siblings. It saddened her how little she knew about the man she seemed sexually unable to resist. Pitiful. I’m soooo pitiful.
“What am I going to do?” She voiced the question she’d meant to keep only in her thoughts.
* * *
“What are your intentions toward my sister?” Drew asked pointedly, scowling at Erik. He stood tall and intimidating in front of a stone fireplace that covered one side of the large great room.
Erik couldn’t help grinning at the gruff rancher. They had nothing in common…except Mandy. He respected the man for trying to protect his baby sister, even if she didn’t need his protection. He sat in one of the pair of plush leather chairs opposite the window overlooking the ranch yard and purposely took a couple of seconds to respond. Finally he said, “I’ve already done the honorable thing. She’s my wife.”
“She’s always been somewhat impulsive.” Drew shook his head, clearly struggling with her behavior. “But getting married the way you two did, it boggles my mind.” He looked grimly at Erik. “Needs a good butt walloping.”
“Taken care of, but for other reasons.” Erik wasn’t sure he should have admitted that, but the first hint of acceptance showed in his brother-in-law’s troubled eyes.
Drew nodded. “Maybe there is hope for you two yet.”
“I don’t give up easily. She’s going to take some convincing, but I wouldn’t have married her—even in that spur-of-the-moment wedding—if I hadn’t wanted to.” He hadn’t been that drunk. She’d been pretty tipsy, but he had a gut feeling that she wasn’t really opposed to their marriage. She was scared she’d made a mistake, but he intended to prove her wrong.
“Mandy hasn’t had much luck with the men in her life, romantically speaking. I don’t know how much you know.” Drew looked uncomfortable with the subject, but determined.
“Well, the night we met in Maui she was telling everyone in the bar that men were scum. I knew right then that someone had hurt her.” He met and held Drew’s gaze. “I’m going to do my best not to hurt her. But she’s got to give me…us…a chance. And, just so you know, I’m planning to be here until we work this out.”
Approval flashed in Drew’s eyes. He gave a half-smile. “As much as she’s avoided this confrontation, I’m thinking you’re going to need the patience of a saint.” He smiled even more in sympathetic understanding. “Probably a good, hard hand, too. She can be sort of pigheaded about things.”
Mandy stepped into the doorway, cheeks pink, obviously having overheard her brother. She leveled a killing look on him and said huffily, “Supper is ready.” She didn’t even spare a glance at Erik, but he understood her embarrassment.
“You’re not helping,” Erik grumbled and got up to follow his irritated wife. He’d be lucky if she didn’t try to slam the door in his face again when they got back to her house. Then he smiled to himself. It would be “Ground Hog’s Day” all over again. He’d go in and find her, warm her sweet bottom, and then they’d have wild monkey sex again.
The meal started off awkwardly silent as the platters of baked potatoes, green beans, smothered steak, and homemade rolls were passed around. Mandy was still upset with her brother about the ‘good, hard hand’ comment he’d made to her husband. And sitting on these hard chairs wasn’t a joy, even if the sting from her earlier spanking had faded. Her butt cheeks still remembered. She tried to focus on filling her plate and nothing else.
“Are you one of those vegetarians?” Drew questioned, sounding disapproving.
“Drew!” Tanya hissed beside him. “That’s not polite.”
Mandy looked from her frowning brother to Erik’s plate. No meat. Yet another thing she hadn’t known about him.
His left hand had been resting on her thigh, something she’d been extremely aware of. He gently squeezed her leg. “It’s not a deal breaker, is it?” he teased.
“No, but—”
He glanced at Drew. “More meat for you. More vegetables for me, since I see that you didn’t take a very big helping of the green beans. Works out, don’t you think?”
Drew relaxed, moved his gaze toward Tanya in apology. Then he noticed her shifting around on her chair and chastised her automatically, clearly forgetting the others at the table. “Stop fidgeting.”
Her face reddened and she focused on cutting up her steak. Drew seemed to realize his error and concentrated on his food as well. Mandy was mortified on her friend’s behalf. But Erik distracted her by sliding his hand up her leg, slipping it between her legs, palming her mound. Even through the thick layer of denim she felt him, felt her body’s reaction as her lower lips quivered. She sucked in a breath and reached down to attempt to move his hand away.
Of course, stubborn man that he was proving to be, he simply trailed a finger up and down her crotch area. She immediately squeezed her legs together and looked sideways at him. Through gritted teeth she said, “Could you please pass the butter?”
The devil grinned at her, pulled his hand away, and smiled at Tanya. “My wife would like the butter.”
Tanya gave it to him and looked at her, a flicker of amusement in her gaze. She knew—or thought she knew—what her husband had been doing. God, how embarrassing! Thank goodness Drew was oblivious now to all around him. Eating was a serious thing for him.
Mandy waited until Tanya returned to cutting her steak then leaned close to Erik. “You’ll pay for that later.” Then seeing both Tanya and Drew focused on their plates, she quickly reached down between Erik’s legs. Just as he’d done to her, she ran a finger in his private area, stroking his balls beneath the thick denim shorts.
He froze for a second. Then he reached down to capture her hand and draw it back on top of the table. His voice was a rough rumble as he whispered, “And you, my naughty wife, will pay for that.”
“So, Mandy, did you tell Erik that you were planning to quit your flight attendant job? That you’re planning to take over as the manager of the guest ranch?” Drew asked, pointedly looking at her.
Chapter Four
“I'm not ready to talk about it.” For the next two days this seemed to be the common statement each of them said any time the subject of her future came up. Neither of them was ready to dive into that potentially explosive problem area. Instead they had talked about everything but the differences in their day-to-day jobs. She'd thrown herself into working with the ranch guests most of the daytime hours, letting him join them or not. So far he'd only shown up to eat lunch with them in the bunkhouse. The rest of the time he'd holed up in her house using her computer and phone to deal with some “pressing business issues.” The evenings were spent watching whatever old musical they found on NetFlick—who knew they had that odd interest
in common. But she knew they couldn't avoid the subject forever.
With those troubled thoughts in mind, Mandy glanced back at Erik sitting on the sofa with his laptop firing up and punching in a number into his cell phone. “Riding lessons today, if you're interested.”
He wore what she considered his “anti-cowboy” outfit again: cutoff shorts and a muscle T-shirt that showed off some impressive upper arms. She still had trouble getting used to the difference in his attire from the ranch hands. He could care less about blending in with everyone else; including the ranch guests who donned generally expected Western clothes. But, actually, she liked the way he looked. Even more so when he was her naked, outstanding hunky surfer stud. She couldn't imagine ever thinking of him any other way. She'd definitely gotten used to spending long nights heating up the sheets with him and she would miss him when…. No, don't think about it. He had to leave sooner or later and she didn't want to face that yet.
“I think we're both pretty good in the 'riding' department.” He winked at her, flashing the dimpled smile that made her knees weak. “At least you were a little while ago.”
She rolled her eyes, although heat started pooling low in her body. She forced down the spark of desire. “Horses, Surfer Boy. Horses.”
One of his thick light-brown eyebrows lifted. “Give me a wicked wave and a surf board and I'm there. Give me a ton of smelly, sweaty beast and I'm not.”
Annoyance made her testy. “Then maybe you don't belong here. This is a ranch. We ride horses.” She snagged her straw wide-brimmed hat from a peg by the door. “We're teaching the new batch of ranch guests the basics of riding today. Tomorrow we're going on a trail ride and an overnight camp out.”
“You're going?” His brow furrowed at clearly having forgotten that she'd already told him about it. “I thought maybe you and I could go into Dodge City, find a nice restaurant. Maybe see a movie.”
She blinked at him. “Like a date?” They were so far past such a thing, but she kind of liked the idea. Except she already had a commitment, especially if she was serious about taking over as the guest ranch manager. “Never mind. I can't go.”
At his irritated look, she added, “But you're welcome to join us on the trail ride and camp out.” Never in a million years would she expect him to go.
Just as she'd suspected, he shook his head. “As tempting as that sounds, I'll pass.” He returned his focus to the laptop.
Blowing out a deep breath of frustration, she put on her hat and strode from the house. She all but slammed the door, remembering at the last second how opposed her husband was to slamming doors. She wasn't in the mood for another spanking.
The morning was already sweltering hot without the hint of a breeze. Perfect. She missed staying inside with air conditioning or lazing about the pool, which they had here on the ranch, too. But the days of just taking it easy around here when she bopped in for a few days off from her airline job were gone. At least they would be completely when she finally gave her notice instead of taking time off. She hadn't always led a pampered life here. She'd grown up with chores and still could pull her weight. When she fully took over the guest manager role, her life would really change. What about Erik? How does he fit into my life?
She thought about him sitting on the sofa, probably already lost in his business tasks. They didn't fit into each other's lives. They had great—amazing—sex over and over again. But that was it. You're not willing to even give him a chance. Now her conscience was chastising her. Pitiful.
Sweat beaded on her brow and she dashed at it with the back of her hand. She could already see the dozen guests standing around the arena fence. Three of the ranch hands stood in the arena, each holding onto a horse. Everyone was waiting for her. She jutted out her chin, put Erik to the back of her mind, and walked briskly toward them.
Erik carried his cell phone and walked to look out the front window across the ranch yard. He barely listened to Allan explaining a new game idea the “think tank” had come up with. He should be paying strict attention and he knew it, but a certain hot cowgirl held his focus. She could do some incredible things to a pair of jeans. She had one of the best asses he'd ever seen. An idea which only served to make the bulge in his shorts grow even more. He'd had a painful erection ever since he'd arrived here…at least every moment he wasn't making love to her or recovering from it.
“Are you listening to me?” Allan complained. “When exactly are you coming back to LA? We need you here, buddy.”
He tried to turn away from watching Mandy walk into the arena, but couldn't do it. Those darn big horses almost scared him spitless, not that he would ever admit it to her. He hated her being around them, even more so being near three.
“Erik!”
“Send me all of the details on the new game idea in an email.” He managed to say while his wife stepped closer to a black beast that towered over her. His stomach tensed. “I can't talk now. I have to go.” He disconnected even as Allan had shouted at him not to hang up.
Thinking about his ridiculous decision to go out and watch his wife for a while, he headed toward his laptop, intending to close the Internet connection. What he really should do is get his ass back to Los Angeles. Sticking around here wasn't getting him anywhere with Mandy. They hadn't done much more than watch some movies and spend the rest of the past two nights driving each other crazy. She was the hottest lover he'd ever had. Best of all, she's my wife. They could have wild monkey sex every day for the rest of their lives, but he knew they needed more than that. He honestly liked her sense of humor, her pride in her brother and his new animal rescue foundation, her determination to pull her own weight with the family ranch. The ranch was their biggest problem. It wasn't that he hated the place. No, the Weatherford Ranch was impressive and solidly respected. The problem was that it was in Kansas. His business was in California.
A woman's scream split the air and he looked anxiously toward the arena. Mandy was lying on the ground toward the side. The guests appeared to be worriedly watching as one of the cowboys knelt down beside her and the others were leading the horses away.
Without another thought, hardly breathing, he raced out of the house barefoot.
Well, shit! Mandy lie still where she'd fallen and kept her eyes closed. That was sure humiliating and unnecessary. She fought down embarrassment. She'd spotted the little garter snake slithering along the fence edge when she walked toward the spectators with Blackie. But she'd assumed it was headed away from the action in the arena. What was that saying about the word “assume”? Something about making an ass out of you and me. She'd certainly done that.
She shifted a little, eyes still closed. Her entire body hurt from the sudden crash to the ground. Darn you, Blackie. He might be the biggest horse on the ranch and sometimes the most ornery, but he turned into a real wus when he spotted a snake. She'd known that. Stupid snake had changed its path and caught Blackie's attention. Before she'd had a chance to yell at someone to get the snake, her horse had gotten agitated. He'd danced around, snorting as she held his reins, tossed his head and went wild-eyed, and then shoved her with his hindquarters. She'd dropped the reins and lost her footing. Then she'd fallen head first toward the metal fence and banged her head against a post. She had gone down hard, dazed more than anything. But she might have been out for a few seconds, she wasn't sure.
“Are you okay?” Chet asked leaning next to her. The foreman was good friends with her brother and he'd probably already speed-dialed Drew.
The woman who'd screamed at the chaotic moment was continuing to whimper nearby. Perfect. She'd have to calm her and the other guests down, too. Plus face the ranch hands, Chet and Drew. At least her brother and Tanya were probably halfway to Denver by now on their baby nursery shopping expedition that Drew had been less than excited about going on.
“Mandy?” Chet tapped her cheek. “I saw you move. Are you playing opossum on me?”
She nodded, which made her head hurt more. As she flicked open one
eye, she asked, “The snake?” Okay, she was a bit dizzy, but she knew it wasn't anything really to worry about. Stunned, embarrassed, that pretty much covered the situation. And she would have a headache, she suspected.
“Toby caught him and took care of the problem.” He sounded relieved. “Aaron's helping him put the horses away for now.”
She still didn't move, but she did glance up at the worried faces focused on her. “Not to worry. Just a bummer of a headache.” None of them looked convinced. She should have the horses brought back, get on with these lessons. It would be kind of like being thrown and not wanting to get on a horse again…for these tenderfoots, not her.
“We'll try this later. I just need—”
The words faded away as she heard someone running hell-bent in her direction. She raised her throbbing head enough to see Erik speeding barefoot into the arena and toward her. The tan had left his face. His eyes looked as wild as Blackie's had when he'd spotted the snake. Wonderful. Things just keep getting better and better.
He stopped and glowered at Chet, huffing out breathlessly, “I called for an ambulance.”
“I don't need one.” Mandy looked at Chet. “Cancel it. Call Drew, too, and tell him I'm fine. I'm sure one of you has already called or texted him.”
Chet jutted out his chin. “He needed to know.” But he sighed and stood. “Drew has probably already turned his truck around.” He looked warily at Erik and then started to walk off pulling his cell phone out of a holder on his belt.
“Tell him to turn around again. I'm fine.” She did not need her big brother tearing back here to take care of her when she didn't need taking care of. And Tanya had been looking forward to this long weekend trip.
Erik couldn't look more frustrated. A vein pulsed in his jaw, his brow was deeply furrowed. He hunkered down next to her. “You're not fine. You're lying on the ground and your head obviously hurts, from the way you're rubbing it.” He drew in a breath and blew it out, watching her closely. “What the hell happened? I heard a woman's scream.”
