by Aria Cole
“What’s up?”
I tightened my jaw, averting my eyes across the room, landing on the vanity and all her pink, girly shit spread out around the mirror. A small hook held a few strands of necklaces, one brilliant and very familiar blue sapphire staring back at me.
“You kept this?” I fingered it between my rough fingers.
“Sure. First piece of jewelry I ever got from a guy. Of course, I kept it.” She stepped closer, hovering at my shoulder. I sucked in a breath of her warm honey scent.
I wanted to bury myself in her and never look back.
“Also, the last piece of jewelry.” She turned away, but I caught what she’d said.
“How the hell don’t you have men stepping all over themselves to give you fine jewelry?” I took the necklace off the hook and draped it over her shoulders.
Goosebumps raced across her heated skin as my fingers worked the clasp.
“I guess I had a pretty high standard to live up to.” Her words caught me a little off-guard. What she meant by that comment, I wasn’t sure.
“Full moon tonight.” I finally let the necklace drop and spun her. “Bet we could find Gemini tonight.”
Her eyes held mine for long beats, my finger rubbing the small stone lying against her chest. “Show me.”
I nodded, looping our fingers softly and treading out of her room and down the stairs.
We walked into the warm summer night, our eyes instantly in the sky as we walked across the farmyard toward the pasture. A couple horses heard us coming and perked up, all ears as they watched our approach.
A shiver raced through her body, and I tucked her closer, pulling her under my arm and covering her with my body. I had been running hot as a furnace since she’d shown up on my ranch. I’d been trying to keep my cool, but Eden didn’t make that easy.
“I see the Big Dipper,” she offered.
The wind picked up, strands of her soft hair breezing across my face.
I loved being surrounded by her, I loved her stuff in my house, the girly makeup and smells, hell, even her giggle made my knees weak.
“Listen, Eden—”
“So, I was thinking I should get a job.” We both spoke at the same time, but it was her comment about the job that stopped me cold.
“What the hell for?” That may have come off a little harsh. Hell, I’d just gotten her back, I didn’t want her skirting off to a job every day. Without me.
Eden quirked an eyebrow at me. “Why not?”
“Well, I’ve got everything you need here. I can find a job for you in the barn if you really want to do some work,” I teased.
“I bet you could,” she retorted. “I just feel so useless here. I haven’t even been here for a week, and I’ve run out of things to do.”
“I can think of a few more things that need doin’.”
Her eyes hung low on mine, like a rubber band pulling us together, tension so thick with innuendo it felt like my heart might hammer out of my chest. She took a step closer, spine straightening and tits thrusting out, heaving with every breath. Dammit, she was beautiful. Why a woman like her ever stopped to talk to a man like me, I’d never understand.
Eden crossed her arms, tilting her head to one side before finally replying, “You sure run hot and cold, don’t you, cowboy?”
I choked on the laugh that bubbled out of my throat. “Say again?”
“You heard me. Hot and heavy one minute, then cold as a fish. Your mood swings are whiplash-worthy.” Her eyes searched the sky, avoiding me as she spoke.
I cupped her chin, forcing her to meet my eyes. “Sweet Eden...” I regarded her wearily. “I promised your brother I’d protect you. Pretty sure his definition of that did not include your lucious pussy coming all over my fingers.”
She rolled her eyes. “That’s such a shit excuse.”
“Care to explain?” I closed the distance between us, hands hovering at her waist, the soft wood of the paddock fence pressed against her back.
“My brother gets to move on, do whatever the hell he wants, but I'm just stuck here? Treated like a child who can't make her own decisions? I’m a woman, Nash, you said it yourself. I’m going to need you to treat me like one.”
My nostrils flared with her words; her irritation was palpable. Fuck, I hated her upset with me. I hated the way she set my balls to burnin' whenever she was around too. “Don’t think I don’t know you’re a woman, Eden.”
“Then stop treating me like a child!”
“Stop acting like a child.” I burrowed my face in her hair and nipped at the hollow of her neck. I had half a mind to show her exactly how I wanted to treat her. All painfully hard ten inches. I was going to have my work cut out for me restraining this little filly.
“Me, a child?” she hissed. “You made me come at your kitchen table and then walked away. You acted like it never happened!”
“Like it never happened?” I dropped my hands and stalked down the fence line. “I couldn’t forget if I tried! You know what it’s like to have the memory of you fucking my hand in my head all the damn time?” My chest heaved, my eyes widening as I turned back to her. “The sound of you coming in my ear on fucking repeat. Trying to stop myself from coaxing that sweet noise out of your mouth again.”
“You’re fucking ridiculous,” she bit out, crossing her arms and forcing the flesh of her tits to push over the neckline of her low tank top.
Those spaghetti straps.
God curse those spaghetti straps.
My cock throbbed, my fists clenching and unclenching at my sides as every fucking nerve in me told me to cover her with my body, sink my tongue into her pussy and feast until she was crying my name.
“If you want a fucking job, you can have one right here. Make pottery, plant a garden, sell lemonade for all I give a fuck, but I don’t want you leaving my sight. Not yet, maybe not ever. Your brother gave me a job, and I plan on doing it, Eden. I’m a man who stands by his word.”
“What about what I want?” she broke in.
“We’ll work on that.”
“Work on that? You can’t just lock me up and protect me forever.”
“Why not?” I dared.
“Because, because… Grrrr! I hate you, Nash Campbell.”
I laughed, moving closer to her. “We’ll have to work on that too.”
“I don’t want to.” She was still glaring at me. So damn cute.
“I was serious about you doing whatever you want around here.” I cupped her jaw, running my thumb across the bow of her lips. “You have free rein. I’ll give you whatever you want, Eden,” I murmured against her lips. “Everything I have is yours.” I traced the elegant bow of her lips. “Always has been.”
I cupped her face, tongue probing her lips before splitting the seam and plunging in fiercely. With my lips pressed to hers, she moaned, giving in to the sweet seduction, tension bouncing between us in waves.
Eden Sutherland was tough as nails and had me hard as a rock just thinking about her thick hair wrapped in my fist as she took me in her mouth.
Sweet, innocent Eden.
Chapter 5
FIVE
Eden
“Hey, sweet boy, did you miss Mama?” a woman crooned just as I turned the corner into the barn.
I stopped dead in my tracks when a gorgeous woman decked out in riding gear turned and smiled at me. “You must be Eden.” She thrust out a hand. “Hi, I’m Raven.”
“Hi.” I smiled politely, unsure what to think about the stunning curtain of dark hair that framed her striking face. She looked more like a goddess than a mortal. My stomach instantly churned with jealousy to think that she and Nash had spent time together, maybe more time than I’d like to think.
“I’ve been boarding Jet here for a few months now. I don’t get out as much as I’d like, though. Nash told me he was having a guest stay with him for a while. I’m assuming that’s you?” She smiled warmly.
“Yeah, for a while. I’m hoping I can get my own pl
ace soon.”
“Over my dead body.” Nash came around the corner, a bale of straw on each shoulder. His soft plaid shirt rode high on his waist, creamy golden skin and deep V muscles exposed. A rivulet of sweat dripped down toward his pelvis and melted into the waistband of his low-slung jeans.
What I wouldn’t give to lick the path that little bead had followed.
“Can’t keep a woman down, Nash.” Raven turned back to her horse and started cooing.
“No plans to keep her down, only want to protect her.”
“He’s got some deluded sense of obligation to my brother—” I explained.
“Maybe it was the fact that he actually said, ‘Nash, will you take care of my sister while I'm gone?”
I frowned as he approached, tossing the bales onto the ground and wiping at his forehead with the back of his gloved hand.
It was torture hating a man that beautiful. I narrowed my eyes at him just for good measure. Could not have him thinking he had one up on me just because he was walking around looking all sweaty and mouthwatering.
“Got news for you, Eden.” He pulled me into a hug, more brotherly in nature, except for the zing of heat that sprinted between my thighs. “You’re gonna have to get used to me, at least until your bro is back.”
I grunted when he pushed a hand into my hair and ruffled it just like he’d done when we were kids. “I don’t know if I’m going to survive the next few months.”
Nash winked at me, then bent to pick up the bales of straw and carry on to the pickup truck he was loading.
Raven and I both turned, watching him walk away, whistling softly as he went.
I shook my head, frustrated and yet still unable to pull my eyes from his retreating form.
“He looks at you like he wants to eat you, you know.”
“What?” I nearly choked on my own tongue.
Raven turned, eyes sparkling down at me before she rolled them. “Never seen him act like that with anyone. It’s like he lights up when you’re around.”
“Oh,” I breathed, directing my gaze back to Nash as he tossed the bales into the bed of the pickup and turned to stalk back to us.
“Don’t be talkin’ about me, ladies.” He winked as he walked past me.
“See?” Raven said under her breath after he’d passed.
“For as long as I’ve known Nash, he’s always been…complicated.”
“Complicated or not, girl, that guy is in deep.” Raven opened the swing door, leading her horse out of the stall and down the long hallway.
“Have a good ride,” I called after her.
“You too!” Raven turned and blew me a kiss right before she mounted and trotted off out of the yard.
“You gonna stand here and watch me work, or you game for a ride?”
I shook my head, chuckling. “What’d you have in mind?”
“Gotta deliver this load to the feed store. Thought we could stop by a few places and get you a couple things. Hate to say it, but you kinda stick out like a sore thumb around here.”
“Me?” I laughed, following him.
“Gonna need some shit-kickers on those feet if you’re gonna spend any time around here.”
“Listen, I’ve avoided cowboy boots since the time I was thirteen. I don’t think I need to try that trend now.”
“Not a trend, Eden, it’s a necessity on the ranch.” He opened the door for me, hand grazing my waist as I slid into the passenger seat.
My stomach swam with butterflies the entire way to town.
It was only a few miles before we were pulling into the feed store, Nash cutting the engine and heading to the front office to talk with the guy behind the desk. They both returned to unload the pickup truck a minute later, and then Nash was back, sucking all the air out of the cab of his truck and making the secret spot between my thighs damp all over again.
“Ready to buy a few things?” he asked, the way he looked back at me so warm and engaged. Like he really cared what I said, like he wanted to hear the thoughts in my head.
“If you say so.” I dug through my purse and yanked out my bank card. “Can we stop at the ATM first, though?”
“Nope, everything's on me.”
“No way. I have plenty of money in the bank my mom left me, and Colt gave me access to his bank account. I don’t need your money, Nash.”
“Not about you needing it, Eden. It’s about me doing what a man does and providing for you.”
“Providing for me?” I growled, cheeks burning with frustration by the time we pulled up in front of the western store. “I don’t want to be provided for, Nash. I’ve never wanted to be provided for. I don’t want to be protected, babysat… What don’t you and my brother get about that?”
He narrowed his eyes before he pushed out of the cab, stalking around the front to open my door. He reached up, lifting me out of the truck, his arms wrapping around me.
I shrugged out of his embrace, spitting over my shoulder, “I’m paying for my own stuff.”
“Like hell you are,” he muttered as we stepped into the store.
“Nash, afternoon,” the gentleman behind the counter greeted.
“Bill.” Nash nodded to him, steering me to the boot section.
“These are cute.” I paused near a pair that had rhinestones splashed across the toes, polished silver details around the edge.
“If you’re singing at the Grand Ole Opry, maybe,” he quipped, pulling a plain, brown pair from the shelf. “These should do.”
“Those are the same color as horse shit,” I argued, pulling a pink pair off the shelf next to them. “What about these?”
“Oh, for God’s sake. I’m gonna go grab some rope. I’ll leave you to it.” His hand brushed across my waist, a small gesture of possession that made me yearn for more. Damn, I hated that he had the ability to twist me all up inside, make me want him and hate him all at the same time.
I plopped down on the bench, kicking off my shoes and sliding on the first boot.
“Can I measure your foot?” A young guy slid to his knees in front of me, hands on my bare foot as he spoke. I cringed instantly. The only touch I craved was Nash's, and this kid’s felt cold and clammy. Young. He was probably just out of high school.
“I know my size. Thank you, though,” I replied sweetly.
His hands tightened on my foot. “Boots fit a little different from the shoes you’re used to. You may need to size up. Just let me size you.” He slid my foot into the metal tool that measured my foot, his hands hovering at my ankles, fingers sliding across the soft skin and making me resist the urge to recoil.
“Eight and a half. Pegged you for a nine, so I was close.” He smiled up at me just as Nash’s shadow fell over both of us.
“Oh, I guess you're right. I usually go for an eight, so I guess I will have to upgrade. I’ve never had cowgirl boots. This is all pretty new to me.”
“Well, they look good on you.” He slid the pink boots onto my feet, and my dress hitting just above my knees completed the summery ensemble. “We could hire you to be boot ambassador. Just you walking about lookin’ cute in the boots all day would drive customers in.”
“Wait, are you hiring? Because I have been looking for a job—”
“Got her from here, thanks.” Nash placed a heavy hand on my shoulder, speaking softly in a show of affection.
The teenager’s eyes darted from mine to Nash's before he bolted to his feet and sped away, not even bothering to say a word as he did.
“That was a jerk move, Nash,” I seethed under my breath, shoving the shit-brown boots back on the shelf and the pink box under my arm. I stormed all the way up to the counter before I smiled at the man behind it. “Just these.”
“This too.” Nash spoke behind me, tossing a rung of soft rope on the counter
My stomach coiled just at the sight of it, fantasies running unabated in my brain.
I fought Nash to swipe my credit card at the counter. But in the end, I lost, the man puttin
g the purchase on Nash’s account.
I barely contained the groan when Nash pulled me by his side and walked out the door, ushering me into the cab of his truck eagerly, before sliding in on the driver’s side and firing the engine to reverse out of the lot.
“You deserve a punishment for that, Tiger.”
Chapter 6
SIX
Nash
I clutched at the steering wheel, the memory of that little weasel-faced asshole’s hands around Eden’s ankles making red seep into my vision. I wanted to pummel the little fucker into the wall behind his head, but I didn't think Bill, the owner, would much like me spraying his walls with a teenager’s blood.
“I told you I was looking for a job, Nash,” she finally drawled from beside me.
“The fuck you are.” I spun into the farmyard, throwing the truck into park and hauling her, and our purchases, out of the cab. She didn’t struggle, only followed me deep into the barn as I twisted through the maze of halls and into a stall I’d converted into my office.
“Sit,” I growled.
Her eyes flared, but she did as she was told. “I don’t know why you’ve got a problem with my getting a job. I could ride a bike there every day. You could practically throw a stone from here to there and hit me, you caveman.”
Her words only fueled my rage.
I worked slowly, taking advantage of the dimly lit room to move around her, knuckles brushing against her skin as I unwrapped the rope, letting it drop heavily on the floor behind her.
She finished, but then she spoke again. “I mean, I worked through my first year of college. I can wait tables or sell people those cute boots.” She pointed her toes in the air, admiring the new purchase.
She jumped when I caught both of her wrists and held them behind the chairback, winding the rope around the soft flesh.
“Nash?” she breathed, thighs suddenly shifting, her voice lowering an octave.
I still didn’t speak.
I was still too pissed.
She’d deliberately disobeyed me. I’d goddamn told her no working, at least not yet, not now. We could figure out something for her to do, and I sure as hell would be encouraging her to sign up for classes in the fall. But why the hell was she fighting me so much on this job issue?
