Caught Up

by Rya Stone

  “You don’t know that. Or that her friends won’t jump me again.”

  He planted his hands on the table, trapping her. “I know you want me.”

  “I can’t.” She closed her eyes, like that would make her words true. “I can’t want you.”

  “Look at me.” His breath wisped her cheek, and he felt her shudder. “Look at me.”

  They engaged in another brief stare-off. Brave girl. He liked that. He liked it all. He liked it so much it ached in a way he hadn’t felt since long-ago puppy love lifted its warm, wriggling head. “Give me one good reason,” he said.

  “I’ll give you a damn good reason.” Her gaze dropped to his mouth as if she were suddenly afraid to look anywhere else. “I’m trying to lease your property.”

  “There a law against us dating?”

  “No, but it’s frowned upon.”

  “By who?”

  “Everyone.” She found the courage to stare up at him again, unblinking this time “Colleagues, brokers, clients…”

  “How long have you been doing this?”

  “Land work? Ten years.”

  “And in all that time you never knew anyone who dated someone they met on the job?”

  “I’m not saying that.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “A guy I know ended up marrying a woman he leased a few years ago, but it didn’t start until after.”

  “Bullshit,” he whispered, leaning into her neck. “It started just like this.”

  Cassie went stark still as he wound his fingers into the hair at the base of her neck and tilted her head backward. She gasped, and a dangerous thrill went through him when her back arched, inviting, another part of her body admitting she liked his display of possession. And her little moan let him know she liked how he shoved her legs apart with his knee and pressed against her flesh. Encouraged, his lips moved across her skin when he spoke. “Tell me you don’t want me,” he whispered, just below her ear. “Make me believe it.”

  “This is so wrong…” Again, her body worked faster than her brain and she twisted her hands through his hair. Her sham-resistance made him want her even more. She was a professional, desperately seeking to walk a line he was hell-bent on obliterating. He had to respect that. And break it.

  He slid his jaw along hers and felt her body nearly buckle beneath him. “Tell me,” he breathed in her ear.

  “Jase—”

  “You’re trembling,” he whispered. “You’re probably wet, too. Just like you were in your motel room. And I’d bet it would take me all night to wring you dry.” He shifted and pressed both hips between her thighs. “You said no one ever made you feel the way I do, so I’ll tell you a secret of my own. No one’s made me ache like this, either, not since I was fifteen. And I haven’t even seen you naked yet.” The things he said to her, the way her body reacted to those things. And it wasn’t just physical. Everything about her drove him crazy with want. With need. With—

  “You have a kid.”

  Fuck. He jerked his head back, releasing her. “He isn’t mine,” he said. “But what if he was? Would that matter to you?”

  “It’s a big deal.”

  “Yeah, it’s a big deal. So’s what’s going on between us.” It was true. As small a thing as this…this fling appeared, it was a huge deal to a man like him. It was also something he had to manage with precision, with discretion.

  “I can’t come between a family.”

  He scrubbed both hands through his hair. How could he explain without bringing Oscar Fucking Martinez into it?

  “Cody isn’t mine.”

  “That’s what they all say,” she mumbled.

  The slicing remark made him snap back to the moment. “Who’s they?”

  “Men. When they don’t want to own up to their responsibility.”

  “You ever dated any of those men?”

  “Um, no.”

  “Then how the hell would you know?”

  She turned to the table, stunned, as if slapped. Christ. Too late. He’d screwed up. Big time. And not just with his words or his tone.

  To hell with it then…

  “What you also don’t know is that it damn near broke my heart when she said he missed me,” he said. “And even though Cody isn’t mine, I take care of him financially. That’s all he has of me because that’s all I can give. And the worst part? None of it’s his fault.”

  That rendered her speechless.

  “What?” he asked. “You can get all up in my face, but I can’t return the favor?” He needed to rein it in, but his emotions were all over the place.

  Cassie slung her purse over her shoulder and grabbed her bag. He didn’t stop her.

  “He’s not mine.” He needed her to know that at least. “If he was mine, he’d be here with me. Just leave it at that, okay?”

  “Yeah, I’ll also leave the lease paperwork.” She reached into her bag. “Here’s another card.” She flicked it in his direction and it fluttered to the floor. “Call me when you’ve had a chance to review the lease in its entirety.”

  As she walked out the door, he realized he’d had his hands down her panties before he had her phone number programmed in his phone.

  What he wouldn’t admit was that it bothered him more than it should for a guy just looking for a fling.

  Back to square one.

  Chapter Nine

  Cassie couldn’t adjust to the trees. Back home in Nacogdoches, heart of the East Texas piney woods, the trees rose straight and tall, a woodland fairy tale come to life. Two hundred miles to the south, dense fog clung to the gnarled live oaks crowding the Lucases’s rutted excuse of a driveway. Haunting and dark, the scene put Cassie in mind of Saxon Lake and the Lucas brother who’d claimed land itself possessed a soul.

  Kyle pulled his mud-splattered Honda SUV to a stop beneath the same oak she’d parked under last week, and the remnants of an overnight rain shower drip-dropped onto the vehicle. “You owe me a carwash, bi-otch.”

  “Just another perk of finding myself in the hot seat during Marshall’s Monday morning meltdown.” She eyed the Lucas residence and tried to imagine Jase growing up there. “And your car is the least of my worries. I need a verbal on at least half this tract.” She turned to Kyle. “By tomorrow.”

  “And you don’t think you can get that from Jase?”

  “The only thing I know for certain I can get from Jason Lucas has nothing to do with the minerals under his property.”

  “Well.” Her companion stirred in his seat.

  “And it’s not Marshall I’m worried about anymore.”

  “What? Why?”

  “I need to tell you something,” she said. Something she should have shared before now. “Marshall promised me a pretty substantial override if I can land this tract.”

  “I knew it!” And the glow on Kyle’s smiling face made her ashamed she’d ever thought he might be jealous. “Damn, girl. That’s exciting,”

  “Don’t get too excited. I doubt we’ll be taking a cruise anytime soon. I’m trying to get my mom into a better facility. There’s a place called Mariposa outside Houston, but…I’m probably dreaming with that one. My point is, my mom needs this more than anyone.”

  Kyle nodded. “What’s the latest?”

  “She fell out of her shower chair last night and bruised her hip pretty bad. Then they doped her up so she couldn’t call me. I didn’t find out until this morning. And they’re lucky I’m several hundred miles away or the nurse who wasn’t paying attention would have a bruise to match.” Blunt but true. And she had to secure this lease. The sense of urgency had ramped to panic levels during the call with her mother.

  “Let’s go get your mom an override.” Kyle cleared his throat and glanced at the Lucas homestead. “You were not joking about the creep factor.”

  Maybe not, but she’d definitely underestimated its full potential. “Wait till you see the inhabitant,” Cassie said, reaching into the floorboard for her bag.

&nbs
p; “Big Scary Cowboy, twelve o’clock.”

  “Would you stop that whatever o’clock stuff. It’s annoying.” Cassie looked up to see Clint Lucas shove a phone in his pocket before bounding down the rotten-looking front steps of the house, clad in a Texas A&M T-shirt and gym shorts. In addition to his casual attire, Clint also wore a scowl.

  Kyle swallowed, and his bobbing Adam’s apple gave away his discomfiture. “Does his brother look anything like that?”

  “More like he’d sneak up behind you in the dark instead of straight-up bowling you over.” She tilted her chin at Clint. And she should really tell Kyle he’d already caught a glimpse of Jase, but just thinking about the man burned. “Jase is taller and thinner.” And picturing him only helped fan the flames. “He’s shaggy and dirty,” she said angrily. “The whole bad-boy bit.”

  Kyle let loose a low whistle.

  “Yeah. And he favors tattoos and wifebeaters.” She wondered if he’d connect the description to the man at Roma’s. “He’s…he’s got this long hair he pulls back in a half-ponytail thing. He has an aversion to shaving regularly and always wears cowboy boots, even with his coveralls.”

  Kyle just blinked. Nothing.

  She made a frustrated noise and reached for the door handle, muttering, “He’s a pretty good cook, too.”

  “Oh, honey,” Kyle said. “I knew you were in trouble, but this is the good kind of trouble.”

  “Think so, huh? Wait until this one roars at you.”

  “Can’t wait.” Kyle jumped out of the SUV like the seats had caught fire.

  Oh, Lord, this could be disastrous.

  “Ms. Mitchum,” Clint rumbled.

  “You remember my name.”

  “Yeah. I also remember telling you I wasn’t interested in your lease.”

  She ignored that for the moment. “Mr. Lucas, this is my colleague, Kyle Kidd.”

  Clint glanced at Kyle and grunted. “Kyle Kidd? What the hell kind of name is that?”

  Cassie took a deliberate step in Clint’s direction. “It’s his.”

  Clint grunted in response.

  “Is there somewhere we can talk? Inside maybe?”

  Clint worked his clean-shaven jaw. “Got a few chairs on the front porch if you’re that damn tired from sitting in your car on the drive out here,” he said in that raspy voice of his.

  What. An. Ass.

  Outwardly non-affected, Cassie fanned her face with her hand. “Just looking for some respite from this humidity.”

  Clint spun and headed for the porch. Kyle bugged his eyes as they followed, and she countered with an I-told-you-so look.

  “Nice place you got here,” Kyle said, stepping onto the porch.

  Clint glared at him.

  “Mr. Lucas,” she began, “I’ve been made aware that you’ve had another lease offer on your property.”

  He crossed his arms. “Yeah?”

  “As I’m sure you know, a little competition can be a good thing from where you’re standing, and I’m prepared to make a counter offer.”

  Kyle whipped his head to the nearest dirty window. Though she couldn’t see them, Cassie knew his eyes narrowed in strained focus. Under normal circumstances, she would have found Kyle’s Snoopy Smurf act amusing, but Clint Lucas’s hulking, arms-crossed frame and serious-as-hell expression kind of put a damper on that.

  “Mr. Lucas, is there a reason you’re willing to negotiate with Reid Billings and not me?”

  Clint’s eyes narrowed. “Who says I’m negotiating with him?”

  “He did, actually. He said you had some concerns about seismic activity and drill site locations.”

  “Yeah, don’t need a bunch of idiots trompin’ all over my property, setting off dynamite and scaring my cows. I also don’t need a bunch of roughnecks and pipeliners out here all hours of the goddamned day and night.”

  “Both of those concerns, while legitimate, are miniscule compared to the long-term benefits of having a producing well on your property. In addition, those operations take less than a few months, sometimes only weeks, after which, there is very little disturbance.” As she spoke, Jase and Heath’s conversation came rushing to the forefront of her mind, and Cassie realized she had no real evidence to back up anything she claimed. She might say it with confidence, but how the hell did she know what happened after she filed a lease at the courthouse? “At any rate, your brother and I are close to reaching an agreement.” She hoped. “Lucky for you, you now have the opportunity to increase your lease payment. Either way, you’ll have people ‘tromping’ around out here, like it or not.”

  “We’ll see about that, Ms. Mitchum.”

  “The best thing you can do at this point is have some input in the matter.” And that was the truth. There would be wells drilled on his tract whether Clint Lucas liked it or not. But as Cassie scanned the dense woods, the metallic taste in her mouth told her just how much she didn’t like that idea. Her words said just the opposite. “We’ll be happy to work with you on locations—”

  Clint ground his teeth. “I’ve heard enough.”

  But she wasn’t done. She couldn’t be. Despite what she’d felt at Saxon Lake, despite the doubts she faced now, a life she cared for hung in the balance. “Is there some reason why you can speak to Mr. Billings and not me?”

  “He’s a man I can work with.”

  “And how do you know I’m not a woman you can work with when you won’t even have a real conversation with me?”

  Without another word, Clint grabbed her arm and pulled her off the porch. “You, too!” he yelled over his shoulder at Kyle.

  “Hey!” Kyle shouted.

  “Let go.” Cassie yanked out of his grip. “This is—”

  Clint’s rumble cut her off. “You want to negotiate with me, Ms. Mitchum? Come back here without him.” He jerked a thumb toward Kyle. “Then we’ll hammer out the terms of an agreement,” he finished, dragging his eyes the length of her body.

  She flamed down to her toes, convinced Clint wasn’t talking about a lease agreement. “This is the second time you’ve laid your hands on me.”

  He leaned in. “You’ll know it when I lay my hands on you, woman.”

  “I don’t think so, Mr. Lucas.” Heart pounding in anger, she spun on her boot-clad heels. Kyle hurried after. He caught up halfway down the lawn.

  “Thanks for having my back, buddy.”

  “Dude weighs like two-fifty, and I’m clocking in a hundred pounds lighter.”

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  “Cass, you’re a slam-dunk negotiator. I doubt anything anybody can say to that guy will convince him to sign a lease.” Kyle pressed his key button to unlock the doors.

  “Reid sure said something he liked,” she said, sliding into the passenger seat.

  “Yeah, well, Reid’s a prick. Birds of a feather, you know?”

  “You going to start this thing or what?”

  Kyle sat staring at the empty porch and drumming a thumb on the top of his steering wheel. “He’s hiding something. There’s a reason he doesn’t want anyone on this land.”

  There are things that go on in this county…things I don’t want you a part of.

  “Turn the key,” she said. “I’m melting.”

  He complied, still staring at the house.

  “Did you see anything through that window?” she asked.

  Kyle’s eyes met hers as he hooked an arm around the back of the passenger seat. “Empty room,” he said, reversing into a three-point turn. “Sheet on the floor.”

  “Like a drop cloth? For painting or something?”

  “Yeah, I’m sure that’s what it’s for. Clint Lucas seems really into home improvement.”

  “Then what?”

  “Don’t know,” Kyle said, approaching the creek. “By the way, how did it go with Jase last night?”

  “It went.” Her fingers dug into Kyle’s armrest as she braced for the coming descent around the next bend. “He’s reviewing the lease, and I should kno
w something—”

  Jase’s white work truck sat atop the rise of the creek bank.

  “Stop,” Cassie whispered.

  “Now what?” Kyle said.

  “Stop, Kyle.” There was no way around it. But damn. This was going to be awkward. The worst part was the fact that her belly seemed intent on performing some intricate flip-flop number, letting her know just how excited she was to see him. Jason Lucas was bad news from the word go. And all she wanted to do was disappear into those woods with him for the rest of the day.

  “Don’t tell me we’re trapped here,” Kyle said. “I probably wouldn’t mind so much if BSC hadn’t looked ready to roll our bodies up in that tarp on his floor.”

  “Listen to me.” Her hand fumbled with the door handle. “Stay in the car. Don’t roll down your window.”

  “What the—”

  “Mind for once, buster.”

  Cassie slammed the door before Kyle could protest further. She wasn’t in the mood for uncomfortable introductions and sprinted over to Jase’s truck before he had a chance to emerge, wondering if Clint had called him, if that’s who he’d been on the phone with when they’d arrived.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked, angling herself in order to block Kyle’s view as Jase rolled down his window.

  “Last time I checked, I owned the place. Sounds like maybe you need to recheck your title.”

  “You’re only a half owner.”

  He cocked his head. “And as such, it would perhaps be more appropriate to ask what you’re doing here since I’ve told you numerous times to stay away.” His clear blue eyes killed her every time, so striking beneath those dark brows. She tried to hate him, hoping that might be easier than the path they’d been going down.

  “Thank you for your concern, but my daddy took off to parts unknown when I was twelve,” she said. “I don’t need another one.”

  “I’m not trying to be your daddy.” His heated expression pulled at a certain organ on the left side of her chest, and she shoved his door back the second he cracked it.

  “I was just leaving.”

  His gaze zeroed in on the idling Honda. “Who’s that?”

  “A coworker,” she bit off, more bitchy than she’d intended. Or maybe that was self-preservation rearing its head. She didn’t need to be broken again, not by the likes of Jason Lucas. She might not recover this time.