by Abbi Glines
“What?” I asked, confused.
A low rumble that sounded like a laugh came from him. He tilted his head, and I realized his hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Although it was dark, I could make out highlights in his hair. Seemed like he spent a lot of time in the sun. “Am I safe to be around? That’s what you’re trying to decide, isn’t it?”
Was he safe to be around?
“That’s debatable, if you ask me,” he said.
“What’s debatable?” I asked.
He took a drink of his beer and studied me a moment before responding to my question. “Whether I’m safe or not.” He laughed again, although it was low and almost hard to hear. “You have an expressive face.”
How could he even see my face out here in the dark?
He shifted his stance and crossed his left ankle over his right one. I glanced at his boots and realized they weren’t like Mase’s boots. They were more like combat boots.
“Why are you out here in the dark?” I asked, not meaning to actually say that out loud.
He held up his beer. “Drinking my beer in peace.”
I nodded. That made sense. Maybe he didn’t like crowds, either.
“Why are you out here in the dark?” he asked.
I glanced back at the house, and there was no sign of Mase yet. “I . . . my boyfriend went to deal with something. His cousin is upset.”
The guy stared at me while he drank his beer. It made me nervous. It was like he could read all my thoughts. “But he knows you aren’t comfortable in a crowd of people you don’t know. A man shouldn’t leave his woman.”
He didn’t understand the situation. Who was he to judge something he didn’t know? “His cousin is upset. I told him to go.”
“Doesn’t change the fact that he shouldn’t have left you.”
I didn’t like this man. I would rather face the crowd than hide out here with him. “Don’t make assumptions about something you know nothing about,” I said angrily, before turning and walking back into the light, just in time to see Mase, his eyes scanning the tables for me. His long strides quickened as he walked down the steps and passed several people who were trying to speak to him. When his gaze finally landed on me, he looked relieved.
I hurried toward him, deciding I wouldn’t mention the guy in the shadows.
Mase
Aida was being dramatic. She’d started dating Heath when she came to visit us last year, but it had meant more to her than to him. She’d broken up with him a year ago because he’d cheated on her with a former friend of hers. I had warned her when she started dating Hawkins’s cousin that Heath Stout was a player. Now, a year later, she was having a dramatic breakdown? She knew he’d be here.
I hated leaving Reese, but I knew Aida wasn’t going to let up until I did. I scanned the crowd for Reese. She wasn’t where she’d said she would be. I heard my name called by several people¸ but I kept my focus as I searched for her. When I turned and saw her walking toward me, I let out a sigh of relief. She was OK.
“I’m sorry about that,” I said, as I slipped my hand back around her waist and pulled her against me. “Aida was being a drama queen.”
“It was fine. I didn’t mind at all. I just walked around and checked things out.”
I glanced back to where she had come from and saw a man walking out of the shadows. He was staring at me with an amused smirk, but I didn’t recognize him. He was dressed in jeans and combat boots and had a more impressive ponytail than I did when I pulled my hair back.
“River, come here, I want you to meet someone,” Arthur Stout bellowed. I turned my head to see Arthur walking up to me as he waved at the man with the ponytail.
River didn’t seem to be in a hurry.
Once he reached us, Arthur slapped him on the back. “Mase, meet River Kipling. He’s been running the Stout and Hawkins Steakhouse in Key West. He added fresh seafood to the menu, and it’s now our most successful franchise location. I’ve brought him here to do the same for the Dallas location. He knows his seafood,” Arthur explained. “River, this is Mase Colt. He’s our main supplier of beef cattle, other than the ones we raise ourselves. Colt ranch is about pure quality. You need to make a visit and see what he’s got going on there.”
“From Key West to Dallas. That’s a big change of scenery,” I said, not liking the way his gaze kept going to Reese or the way she tensed up beside me.
“Some scenery is better than others,” he replied, his eyes fixed on Reese. I didn’t like that shit at all.
“Expect River to come for a visit with me next week. I’ve got a few other people I need to introduce him to. Drink up, and take that pretty girl out on the dance floor,” Arthur said, before he turned to River and led him away. River took one more look at Reese and followed him.
“I don’t like him,” Reese said firmly.
I glanced down at her. “Who?”
“That River guy. He rubs me the wrong way.”
Grinning, I leaned down and kissed her lips. I wanted those lips. I also wanted her up against a wall with her short little skirt pushed up around her waist. The boots could stay on.
“I’m not a fan, either.”
Two hours later, I had forced a smile and spoken to everyone my stepdad would have wanted me to. Reese had been safely tucked at my side the whole time. I’d had to remind myself not to get furious when men’s gazes fell to her legs. She was showing them off tonight, and I had to expect that. But I didn’t have to fucking like it.
Reese had surprised me and chosen the ribs for dinner. I was positive she was the only woman eating ribs. Watching her eat a rib was sexy as hell, and I’d had a hard time focusing on my own plate of food; my eyes kept going to her mouth and the way her tongue kept flicking out to lick the sauce off her lips.
I was ready to head home and looked around for Aida. I wanted to leave her here so I wouldn’t have to deal with her wanting to come back to my place tonight to visit. I had plans for Reese and that skirt . . . and those boots.
“Dance with me,” Aida said, and her hand clasped my arm. She had snuck up behind me.
“I’m ready to go,” I replied.
She pouted. “You haven’t danced with me all night. We always dance at these parties.”
I had started to say no again when Reese stepped slightly away from me. “Go, dance. I’ll wait right here.”
“See? She doesn’t care. Let’s dance.” Aida was in a much better mood than the one I’d left her in. She was a little too happy. Her mood swings the past two days were giving me whiplash. I wasn’t used to having her around for this long; she usually only came for a few days a couple of times a year, though she did stay for a while with us last summer.
I didn’t want to dance with her. I hadn’t even danced with Reese, mostly because I was afraid she would panic at the idea of dancing with all these people here. It was obvious she didn’t feel comfortable among strangers. Dancing with Aida seemed wrong.
“Please, please, please,” Aida begged, drawing attention to herself as she pulled on my hand, trying to tug me forward. “We can leave after one dance.”
We would leave as soon as I was ready.
“Go,” Reese said, pushing me gently.
Dammit. I didn’t want to do this. Aida and I had been taught to dance by my mother when we were kids, and it had entertained Aida when she was younger. She hadn’t liked doing things I enjoyed, like fishing, hiking, and camping. Harlow had loved doing all those things with me. But Aida was always different. She enjoyed attention.
She kept pleading and pulling my arm. I wasn’t getting out of this.
“Fine. One dance,” I replied, and she beamed brightly.
I glanced back at Reese as she pulled me forward. “I’ll be right back.”
Reese nodded and smiled at me.
This was a bad idea.
Reese
“Does he always dance with his cousin like that?” a deep voice asked. Although I had only met the guy once—or twice, tec
hnically—I knew who it was without looking.
“Yes,” I replied, even though I had no idea.
They really were something. I had no idea Mase could dance like that. People had stopped talking and were watching them now. One dance had turned into two.
“He’s not real smart,” River Kipling said with a drawl.
There he went again, making me mad. I turned to glare up at him. In the light, he was much more attractive than I had realized. There was a carefree look about him, and he seemed unaffected by the party around us. “He’s brilliant,” I replied.
River grinned and shook his head. “You’re something else, Reese Ellis.”
I wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but I didn’t care. He said mean things about Mase. I didn’t like him. At all. “They like to dance,” I said, feeling the need to defend Mase even more.
“Then he should have danced with you. Shame to have you on his arm and miss the chance to spin you around the dance floor.”
Mase hadn’t asked me to dance. I thought maybe he didn’t like to, but he was putting on a show with Aida. I watched as he picked her up and did some flippy thing. The crowd clapped and cheered. “She’s better at dancing than I am,” I admitted. “I couldn’t do that kind of stuff.”
I thought that would shut up River Kipling, but I was wrong. “That looks like work, not fun. Holding a woman close and feeling your body brush against hers, the tease of knowing you can’t touch anything the way you want to.” He paused. “That’s why you dance.”
I wanted him to shut up. I didn’t need him in my ear. I was trying to find a way to fit into Mase’s world. This guy wasn’t helping by putting doubts in my head. The song ended, and Mase shook his head when Aida obviously begged him to dance one more time.
When he turned toward me, I saw him tense up as his gaze shifted to River beside me.
“Bet he stops dancing now. You’re welcome,” River said in an amused tone.
I glanced back at him as he walked off. He did fill out a pair of jeans well, and he had a swagger when he walked. But he was infuriating otherwise.
“Was he bothering you?” Mase asked, as his hands slipped around me.
I forgot the aggravating man and looked up at Mase. “No, he was just talking about how good y’all danced.”
Mase frowned at that. “Yeah, sorry she made me do two. She’s coming now, so we can go.”
I nodded.
Aida’s laughter trailed behind us as we walked toward the truck. “I love dancing!” she squealed loudly into the darkness. “We need to do that more.”
Mase didn’t respond. He walked me toward the driver’s-side door and opened it, then lifted me up and set me on the seat, as if I couldn’t do it myself.
“I can do that without help, you know,” I teased.
He leaned in. “But if you do it, your skirt will ride up, and I’ll see my freckle. Aida’s with us, so I wouldn’t be able to take a lick.”
My face grew warm, and I shivered, thinking of how good it felt when he did that. “Oh,” I managed to reply breathlessly.
“Yeah, oh,” he repeated. “When we walk through that door tonight, I’m bending you over so I can visit my spot.”
Anticipation made my breath hitch. “M’kay,” I said, not knowing how else to respond to that.
“We need to go out dancing next weekend,” Aida said as she opened the passenger door and climbed in.
Mase moved me over and climbed in beside me.
“Reese can come and watch. We can dance all night,” Aida said.
I wasn’t going to watch Mase and Aida dance all night, but I didn’t say anything.
“Glad you enjoyed it, Aida,” Mase said simply.
“I loved it! No one else dances as good as you,” Aida said. Then I felt her gaze on me. I turned toward her and saw a smirk on her face. “I guess Reese doesn’t know how to dance, since you didn’t dance with her all night.”
That stung. A little.
Mase’s hand slid over my thigh. “She can dance.”
“Oh . . . well, then, you must not enjoy dancing with her. It’s OK, Reese. He’s had me to dance with for most of our lives, and we move together like a well-oiled machine.”
I didn’t like the way she said that. There was something off about her tone.
“I love dancing with Reese. Let this go, Aida.” That still didn’t answer my doubt. I was beginning to think maybe Aida was right. He didn’t want to dance with me because he was used to showing off, and I couldn’t show off with him.
Mase let Aida out at his mother’s house with a “good night,” and I knew that was his way of letting her know she wasn’t welcome up at the house with us. I started thinking about what he’d said about bending me over, and I squirmed a little in my seat.
“I didn’t ask you to dance tonight because I was afraid you wouldn’t want to in front of all those people. You seemed nervous, and I didn’t want to add to that. But there is nothing in the world I’d rather do than hold you against me.”
He had waited until Aida was gone to explain, and I appreciated it. I didn’t want her to know I had felt intimidated by them dancing. Leaning over, I kissed his arm. “You’re right. I would have been nervous.”
“Feeling your body move against mine is the ultimate turn-on. If I’d danced with you, I wouldn’t have been able to stay. We might not have made it to the truck before I had my hand up the back of your skirt to cup your luscious ass.”
This time, I laughed. I liked that excuse; it made me feel much better. “Why don’t we go inside, and you can show me exactly what you want me to do? I remember it had something to do with me bending over . . .”
Mase’s eyes lit up with hunger as he grabbed me and pulled me out of the truck. “Not sure I can make it inside,” he said, just before his mouth was on mine. I held on to both his arms and sank into him. His kisses always made me weak in the knees. Nothing else in the world mattered when his mouth moved over mine. He made everything perfect by simply kissing me.
I let out a small cry of protest when he broke the kiss, but his eyes gleamed with excitement and possessiveness.
“Bend over, and hold on to the seat,” he said, in an authoritative tone that made my stomach feel fluttery.
“Out here?” I asked.
He gave me a wicked grin. “No one’s out here, and it’s just a little play, baby. I swear.”
That look on his face could make me do anything. I turned around and did exactly as he said.
“Fuck,” he muttered, as his hands slid up the backs of my thighs until he was pushing my skirt up and over my bottom and I was exposed. His finger ran over my freckle. I couldn’t see it, but I knew where it was. He spent a lot of time there. It was also currently a little sensitive from his lack of shaving last night.
“I don’t like you in short skirts,” he said. “Makes me worry that you’ll bend over and someone else will see this. It’s mine. I don’t want anyone else seeing it.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. He was going to kill me with his very sexy words before he even did anything.
“Spread them wider,” he demanded.
His hands took hold of my thighs and pushed them open until I knew I was completely exposed to him. I let out a whimper as his finger slowly traced the heat between my legs.
“So wet,” he whispered, then pressed a kiss to my inner thigh. “So soft.”
“Oh, God,” I moaned, feeling my legs tremble.
“I’m not God, baby,” he said, sounding amused. I grinned and held on to the seat in front of me. “But I’m about to take us both to heaven.” I heard his zipper slide down.
He was going to make love to me out here. Out in the open.
“I know I said I was gonna just play, but you’re soaking wet and smell like sweet cream. I need inside of you.” His voice was deep but gentle.
His hands grabbed my waist, and he slowly sank into me as I moaned his name. Being filled with Mase was incredible. I yearned fo
r this feeling all the time. Every time he gave me that sexy smirk or I saw his muscles flex under his T-shirt, I daydreamed about his muscular arms holding himself over me, flexing as he pumped in and out of me.
One of his rough hands caressed my bottom. “Love this,” he groaned.
I couldn’t agree more. The only thing I loved more than this was the man himself.
Mase
Over the next week, I got very little work done on the ranch. When I wasn’t spending every second I could with Reese, there was Aida, who always seemed to need me for one thing or another. Because Reese had insisted I go, I took Aida horse-back riding to her favorite spot down by the lake. Then, on another day, Aida had wanted to go to the cattle auction with me. Although I had intended to take Reese, she had said she would rather stay at the house and read so I should take Aida.
I knew Reese was trying her best to get Aida to like her. It was why she was constantly pushing me to do things with my demanding cousin. I just wasn’t sure Aida was appreciating it the way she should. Every chance she got, she complained about Reese or the time I spent with her. I was growing weary of defending Reese all the time to her. Aida was going to have to change her attitude about Reese, or I wasn’t letting her near Reese again.
If Aida thought this was a competition, she needed to know she had already lost. Aida was my cousin. She had been competitive with Harlow one time when her visit overlapped with Aida’s. Giving Harlow all my attention hadn’t gone over well with Aida then, either. But we’d been kids, and I had simply ignored her. We were adults now, and she was acting insane.
My biggest concern was that Reese was going to get bored being at the ranch all the time, so when I got the call from Harlow to invite us to Lila Kate’s first birthday party in four days, I was relieved to have an excuse to escape with Reese. It was past time Aida went home.
Blaire and Rush Finlay were hosting Lila Kate’s party at their backyard pool, and since their house was practically on the beach, Harlow was doing a luau theme. I hadn’t even realized I’d been an uncle for a year already. The time had flown by.
