by Ali Parker
He ground against me, and I could feel his cock pushing at my entrance. The two flimsy layers of material between our parts suddenly felt like way too much, and I slipped my thumbs into my waistband, trying to wriggle out of mine without dislodging him from his position on top of me.
He laughed and gave me a little more space, peeling out of his boxers as well. His eyes bored into mine as he grabbed a condom off the coffee table and tore into it. When had he thrown it on there? I completely missed that move.
He pushed into me in one quick movement that left me gasping. It ached having him inside of me, but it felt so good as well. I moaned, long and low, as he started to move. I could tell that neither of us were going to last very long, but that was okay. Like he had said, that wasn’t what this was about. It wasn’t a sweet and tender love-making session. It was sex. Raw, carnal, and fast.
He slammed his hips into me, making me cry out with each thrust. I clung to him as he drove into me, his hand coming down to rub roughly at my clit, making me shiver and gasp. I came hard, falling back against the couch with a breathy sigh of relief as my body relaxed, all tension gone.
Luke thrust into me twice more, his movements rough and out of sync with his earlier ones, and then he came as well, his head thrown back on a throaty groan.
And it was over, just like that. I came crashing back down to earth and realized exactly what I’d done.
Not that I had any real delusions of professionalism, but it was one thing to accidentally insult a client and another thing entirely to sleep with him. Was this going to make things awkward between us now? Not that they hadn’t been to begin with. Ugh, I might have just screwed up this whole job, right when I was so close to having Duck trained the way that he wanted.
Luke pulled away, stripping off the condom and tying it off. As soon as he was off of me, I was grabbing my panties and the rest of my clothes, ready to get out of there.
Probably the worst of it was remembering Dad warning me about this. He had told me to be careful, and I had been anything but.
“That was—fun,” I said lamely, as I tugged on my jeans, doing up the button. I stopped just short of saying that we should do it again sometime.
“You don’t have to run off,” Luke said, looking amused.
“I have things to do,” I lied, but even I could hear that the words were hollow with untruth. God, he totally wasn’t going to buy that. I laughed nervously. “What I mean is, I’m sure you have things to do.”
Luke frowned, his brows drawing together. I turned away from him as I buttoned up my shirt.
“So I guess I’ll see you on Wednesday,” I said, hoping he wouldn’t contradict me. What the hell was I going to tell Nina if he said he thought it was best if I quit coming over here? She’d want to know why. She’d want to know what I’d done.
I had no intention of telling her that I had slept with one of our clients. Especially not after I’d been so vehement that I wasn’t interested in him, or at least that he wasn’t interested in me.
This whole thing had come out of the blue. That was the only reason I had done it. It was like I’d been tricked into it. It wasn’t my fault.
“Brea,” Luke said, following me toward the door. There was a note of urgency in his voice, but I couldn’t for the life of me imagine what he might want to say. Maybe he just thought he seemed like a better guy if he protested a little. If he at least pretended like he didn’t want me out of there right away.
Duck started barking, and normally I would have knelt down to say goodbye to her, but not today. Instead, I just glanced back over my shoulder at Luke. “That’s not what this is, remember?” I said. “I’ll see you Wednesday.”
And then, I fled. He didn’t follow after me, and I couldn’t decide if I was disappointed about that or not.
That wasn’t what this was.
13
Luke
I slept like shit on Monday night, so it wasn’t really a surprise that I overslept my alarm on Tuesday morning. I woke up to Duck pawing at the door and whining. No doubt, she needed to go outside. But miraculously, the floor was still dry, and she made it outside before she let loose.
I stood yawning on the porch until she came bounding back to me, ready for breakfast and praise.
Maybe Daddy was right in hiring Brea. It certainly made things easier, not having to worry about Duck. And she was good with the pup, too. She was making real progress. This only proved it.
God, she’d made things so awkward with the way she left the night before, though. I didn’t know what I’d expected. I wasn’t usually the kind of person to cuddle or anything like that. But I didn’t think she’d bolt out of there the way she did.
As though she thought the whole thing was a mistake. As though she regretted that it ever happened.
I’d wanted to enjoy the afterglow. I didn’t know if it had actually been great sex or if it was just that it had been so long since I’d stuck it in someone, but I’d come pretty hard. It had seemed like we were totally in sync, that our bodies moved perfectly together. Sometimes, that first-time sex could be so awkward, and I guess with Brea, I’d expected nothing else.
But I was wrong, and I couldn’t stop thinking about how good it had been. Or what her face had looked like when she tossed those words back over her shoulder at me, “That’s not what this is, remember?” She’d made me sound like such an ass. Here I’d been, thinking we were on the same page.
With a shrug I shook my head. It didn’t matter now. What was done was done, and she’d said that she would still be around the following day to continue Duck’s training. It wasn’t like we’d been great friends to begin with, although it had been nice to have her over for dinner.
I vowed to forget about her for the day and focus on my work. First, I got Duck and I both fed, and then I headed out to the barn. Tanner was already there, whistling away as he groomed one of the horses. He smirked at me when he saw me come in.
“Late night?” he asked.
Raising an eyebrow at him, I played it cool. “What makes you say that?” If I’d been out at the bar, he would have seen me, so he had to know I’d just stayed home.
“You’re late getting started,” Tanner pointed out. “That’s not usual for you. And besides that, your pretty little pup trainer is late as well.”
“She’s always late,” I said. But I knew he could hear the defensive note to my voice, and I knew exactly what he was insinuating.
Sure enough, he laughed, but he let the matter lie.
“You know, we should go out again sometime,” he said, leaning against one of the stall doors. “You can’t stay holed up at the ranch on your own forever. We’re family. We need to spend time together before I have to head back home.”
“Yeah, maybe,” I said noncommittally. “We have a bunch of work that needs to get done at this time of year, though. All the planting and whatever. Getting ready for that is proving to be more time-consuming than I expected it to be, and with you leaving in a few months, we need to get ahead.” It involved a whole new order sheet, full of seeds and things like that.
“That’s what I’m here for.” He smiled and got busy.
I had so damn much to do. I knew which field we were planning on leaving dormant for the year, and I knew which one we had left dormant the previous year. And I knew the basics of what should go where. But I wanted to ensure that we didn’t have a failed harvest all because I had screwed up something stupid, so I was being extra careful with everything.
“Thanks, man.” I nodded his way.
“If you need any help with that, you know where to find me,” Tanner reminded me. “Or hey, we can talk about dirt as we sip beer, that’s always an option too.”
“I like to keep the shop talk to the shop,” I told him. “I don’t want to go to the bar to talk about crop rotation.”
“Fair enough,” Tanner said. But I could tell it wasn’t the last time he was going to ask me to hang out with him. “Are one of your broth
er’s coming back in time for the planting to start?” he asked. “Your dad mentioned that he probably would.”
I made a face and looked away. “Doubtful,” I muttered, not even sure which of my brothers Daddy might have thought would be back here. Mason apparently had too much of his own work to do at the Brock family farm. They were planting corn for the corn maze, plus pumpkins, plus all sorts of other crops that would appeal to harvest festival-goers. And Ted, well. Who knew what was going on with Ted? I still hadn’t even heard from him.
He lifted his hands. “Look, I can tell it’s a sensitive subject, but that’s the kind of thing that you may want to get real answers on. Because we may need more help around this place if they’re not coming back for planting.”
I scowled at him, but then I sighed. “I’ve never had to hire someone before,” I told him. “I wouldn’t know the first thing about it.”
“Is that what the hold-up is?” Tanner asked in surprise. “I can help you out with that. Just, if you want. I think it would be a good move though. Take a bit more of the stress off, and then if one of the current hands quits, God forbid, then we don’t have to worry as much.” He paused. “As it is, we’re pretty much up shit creek if we lose one of them. I’ll be here to help until you don’t need me. You know that, right?”
“Yeah, I know,” I said, rubbing a hand over my face. It was something I’d realized right from the start, from when Daddy had left. But there were so many other things that I needed to focus on, things that were happening now, rather than things that were possibilities in the future. I couldn’t seem to stay on top of it all.
“Do you want me to figure something out?” Tanner asked. “I can ask around town if you want. But I think a lot of the good options have already been snapped up.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I’ll figure something out. I’ll talk to my brother Mason if I have to.” Not that I thought that that would do anything. He was pretty set on the fact that he had work to do at the Brock family farm. But if any of the family was going to help out, he was the closest one. And family loyalty had to count for something, right?
“What happened to all your brothers anyway?” Tanner asked. “How did they just end up deserting you here? My damn brothers are all still around the area. I don’t think those fuckers are ever going to leave home for good.”
I sighed. “Well, it all started with David. He met a girl, a music producer, and he ended up going off to Nashville. They’ve built that recording studio here, the one I pointed out to you on the first day that you were here, when I gave you the tour. But he’s gone pretty much all the time. They’re doing a big tour right now to celebrate his first full-length album coming out.”
“He’s the oldest, right?” Tanner asked.
“Yeah. And then Ted is my next oldest brother. He’s the one who’s supposed to be taking care of this place. But he and his wife, Lauralee, are off on a sort of extended honeymoon at the moment. He’s the one who’s supposed to be back in time for the planting, but he was supposed to be back weeks ago now and keeps pushing his return out further and further. Who the fuck knows.
“That’s pretty cool, though,” Tanner said, sounding intrigued. “Getting away is hard to do in this life. I’m glad to see your mom and dad get out of here for a while. My parents haven’t done shit ever. Not my whole damn life.”
I shook my head. “Yeah, I mean, it’s cool,” I said begrudgingly. “But he basically just dumped all of his responsibilities on me and left.”
“And then your other brother? Mason, did you say?”
“Yeah, Mason. He’s just up the road. You’ve probably seen him around town.”
“Not yet. I assume he’ll look like the rest of you though,” Tanner said. “What’s his story, he decided that he needed to strike out on his own?”
“Nah, he met a girl as well,” I sighed. “Abi Brock, don’t know if you’ve met her. But she was trying to save her family farm, and he got involved with that originally, and then they ended up getting married, and now he’s got all sorts of plans for improvements over there. So technically, he still works over here, but—I’ve haven’t seen him lately,” I shrugged.
“Ouch,” Tanner said, shaking his head. But then, he grinned. “So it sounds like you’ll be next, eh? Find a girl and run off somewhere? Leave the farm behind?”
“Of course not,” I snapped. “This place has been in our family forever now. And my dad raised us to do our work to keep the place from going under, just like your dad raised you, I’m sure. I could never abandon it. Not like everyone else.”
“My dad did the same. Must have been something our grandfather instilled in them.” Tanner thought for a moment and then frowned at me. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but it just sometimes seems like you don’t exactly want to be here.”
“I don’t always want to,” I admitted. “But like it or not, this is home. This is the lot that I’ve been handed.”
“I don’t know,” Tanner said, shaking his head. “It sounds to me like you and I need to go out looking for the right woman for you.”
“Right. Even if I wanted to go searching for her, and even if I thought I could find ‘The One,’ I don’t have time for it,” I pointed out. “I’ve got the farm. I’m the last one left.”
“The farm isn’t going to keep your bed warm at night,” Tanner pointed out.
“It is if we can turn a profit,” I retorted. “It is if keeping the farm running is the only way that I can pay the bills and keep a roof over my head.” I shrugged. “I’m getting used to it. I’ve got responsibilities here, ones that I can’t just drop so that I can go chasing skirts.”
Besides, I don’t feel much like chasing skirts. A specific skirt, on the other hand. Or rather, a nice booty in a pair of short shorts perhaps.
I didn’t know where the thought had come from, but I pushed it away as fast as it came. The last thing I needed was to make things even more awkward between Brea and I by suggesting that we have a repeat of the previous night. Whatever it was that I had felt, she clearly hadn’t enjoyed herself. She had disappeared in a flash as soon as she could.
Still, I would have given anything to know what she was thinking. I still hoped I hadn’t done something wrong. But I supposed I’d see the next day, when I saw how she acted toward me. For now, there was no point in dwelling on it.
“I’m going to saddle up Ponte and take him out to the north field so I can have a look at that one fence,” I told Tanner, trying to make an escape. Maybe once I got doing something, or got out of this conversation, I could stop thinking about the sexy dog trainer. “I think we can get away with running a little chicken wire if that is how the coyotes have been getting in, but I want to get a look at that ditch and see what’s what.”
“Sure thing,” Tanner said. “I’ve got my list for the day, but let me know if there’s anything that you need help with.”
“Will do,” I said, nodding and heading off.
14
Brea
I smiled over at Nina as she scratched Pepper behind the ears. “It’s nice to have you here with me on this one,” I said, only partially joking.
“Hey, I keep telling you that if you’re having problems with Luke, you just have to let me know,” Nina said, grinning over at me. She stood back up and put Pepper through another set of activities.
This was Tuesday’s house call, the one that was taking me away from my work with Duck for the day. Originally, I was supposed to take the call on my own, but at the last minute, Nina’s appointment for the morning had canceled, so she’d decided to come along with me.
It was probably a good thing, in the end. Mrs. Robbins and I didn’t exactly get along. I’d tried my best to keep my opinions to myself, but I didn’t understand why a sixty-year-old, not so active woman would get a puppy. It just didn’t make any sense. Didn’t she realize how much energy her pup was going to have, and how much effort she was going to have to put into training the dog?
Apparently not.
I should be happy that people seemed to have no clue about puppies. It was what kept us in the training business. And puppies made for adorable little clients. Training them to be hunting dogs could be a little tricky at times, but house-training was a breeze for me at this point. I’d gone through the sit, stay, and heel commands so many times I could probably train dogs in my sleep.
And anyway, puppy calls were much better than the ones where people had adopted, say, a seven-year-old dog that they wanted to teach how to fetch or play Frisbee. You just had to realize that after a certain age, well, you really can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
I wondered why that was so hard for people to grasp. Didn’t they realize the saying was common because it was so true and relatable?
“Just what is going on between you and Luke anyway?” Nina asked, glancing over at me. “You could have gone over there today, you know.”
“I know,” I said. “But I just thought I’d give Duck a little break.” I thought I’d give myself a little break, more like it. After the night that we’d had, I would have been embarrassed to show my face over there today. And I hated that.
I didn’t want to feel like I had ruined that job. From the way it had ended, once I had gone back through and analyzed it, I didn’t think I had. Yet, all the same, it just felt so wrong. Still.
“Hey, Space Cadet,” Nina said, waving a hand in front of my eyes. “Everything okay?”
In the end, despite my intentions, I just couldn’t lie to her. She had been my best friend forever now, through thick and thin, and besides, it was her company I was jeopardizing. Her clientele that would be thinking differently about us if the news got out that I had slept with Luke.
