by Marla Monroe
“Hi, Sierra. Good to see you again. What’s this?” Thorne asked, nudging Rollan back so that the two women could follow them inside.
“I hope we’re not interrupting anything,” she said. “This is my sister, Sedona.”
“Hi, Sedona,” Thorne said with a wide smile. “I’m Thorne, and this is my partner, Rollan. Rollan, this is Sierra.”
“Nice to meet both of you,” Rollan said, nodding his head toward them. With his hands full, he couldn’t shake hands. He wasn’t even sure that’s what they did around here when a woman was involved.
“Come on in, ladies,” Thorne told them.
“Oh, I’ve got something else in the truck to get. Go ahead, and I’ll be right back,” Sierra said.
“Wait, and I’ll come get it for you,” his partner said. “No need for you to carry anything. What is all of this anyway?”
“We brought you something to eat,” Sedona answered with a broad smile. “It’s like a ‘thank you’ gift and a ‘welcome to the community’ gift all rolled up into one.”
The two women followed them to the kitchen where he and Thorne set the dishes on the counter. It smelled delicious, but he didn’t want to ask what it was. That might be rude. Evidently Thorn wasn’t shy about asking.
“Really? That’s amazing. We were just complaining that we didn’t have anything good to eat. We’re getting tired of sandwiches. What is it?” he asked.
“It’s a garden casserole our mother used to make. Don’t let it fool you, though. It’s got plenty of meat in it,” Sierra said. “At the end of the year, mom would gather the last few things in the garden and make a casserole with ground beef in it. It’s wonderful. Two big, growing men like you two may need to open a can of beans or maybe make mashed potatoes to go with it, though.”
Rollan decided that maybe he was in love with Sierra already. The thought of real home-cooked food had his mouth watering even though he hadn’t tasted it yet. Anything was better than more sandwiches, soup, or burnt offerings.
“Thorne, get out there and help her, man,” Rollan barked out.
His friend gave him a smart salute then followed a smiling Sierra out of the kitchen. He turned to Sedona and saw how much like her sister the young woman was. It was obvious by the fewer lines around her mouth and at the corner of her eyes that she was the younger one.
“We really appreciate the food, Sedona. You have no idea how bad of cooks we are,” he said. “Can I get you and your sister something to drink? We actually have ice tea besides beer.”
Sedona laughed. “Thanks, ice tea sounds good. It’s not unheard of for Sierra and I to pop a cold one after working out on the ranch. There’s nothing like an ice cold beer after a day of eating dust out in the boiling heat.”
Rollan skipped the part of them drinking beer and focused on the working out in dust and heat on their ranch. Why were they out there working?
“You and your sister work on your ranch? What do you do?” he asked, trying to avoid pissing the pretty young woman off. He did know better than to insinuate that a woman couldn’t pull her own weight.
“Everything,” she said. “We’ve only got a few hundred head of cattle and five horses, but it’s still a lot of work. Then there are the chickens and the milk cow.”
“Don’t you have hired hands to help?” he asked.
“Oh, yeah, but it takes more than two men to get it all done.” She sipped from the glass of tea he’d handed her.
Before he could ask any more questions, Thorne walked in carrying a small box with Sierra following close behind. He eased the box onto the counter on the other side of the sink and inhaled, closing his eyes as he did.
“They made two homemade apple pies for us, Rollan. I’m in love. I’ll marry Sierra, and you marry Sedona,” his partner teased.
“Sounds good to me. We can have a double wedding,” Rollan said, winking at Sedona.
The young woman blushed at the teasing. He looked over to where Sierra leaned against the opposite counter and found her smiling just before her face fell. Then she pasted an obviously forced smile on her face again. He couldn’t help but wonder what she’d thought of that had caused the sudden change.
“Why don’t you ladies stay and eat with us? There sure looks like there’s plenty to go around,” Thorne suggested.
“Thanks, but we’ve got to get back. I need to milk Annie and feed the horses,” Sierra said.
“Annie?” Thorne asked.
“She’s our dairy cow. She has to be milked twice a day,” Sedona told them.
“So you produce your own milk. That’s great. I hadn’t thought about doing that,” Thorne said.
“Well since we can’t cook, I doubt there’s a reason to keep one,” Rollan pointed out, shaking his head.
“We’ve got chickens, too,” the younger woman added.
“How in the world do you manage all of that and the ranch with just two hands?” Rollan asked.
“We aren’t afraid of hard work. We work just like the hands do.” It was obvious that Sierra had taken offence to what he’d said. Thorne frowned at him.
“I didn’t mean to insult you, Sierra. I just meant that it’s a lot of work even for three or four men. It has to keep you pretty damn busy,” he said, hoping she wouldn’t stay pissed off.
To his relief, she relaxed some and nodded. “Sorry. I’m a little sensitive about it. A lot of people don’t believe we should have kept the ranch when our parents died.”
“Sierra’s kept it running and producing for over five years, ever since Dad died,” Sedona proudly told them. “The rest of us helped until we started college, but now it’s just the two of us and I’m about to go to college.”
“Rest of you? How many brothers and sisters do you have?” Thorne asked.
“Sierra is the oldest. Buddy, our brother, is twenty-four and lives in Dallas. Bethany is twenty and is college, and I’m the youngest. I’m eighteen,” she said with a smile.
Rollan turned toward Sierra. “Are you hiring someone to help while Sedona’s in college?” he asked.
“Maybe. I haven’t decided yet.” She eyed him like she knew what he was thinking. More than likely she did.
Rollan didn’t like that she was working herself to death. Now that he was paying closer attention, the shadows beneath her eyes were pronounced as was the tense set of her mouth. Her hands looked callused, and he could make out a multitude of small thin scars on the backs of her hands and arms. He had those as well. They came from repairing barbed wire fences and cutting bailed hay.
“Well, if you need help with anything after your sister goes away to college, be sure and let us know. We’d be happy to help out,” Thorne said, obviously unaware of the tension in the room.
“Thanks,” was all she said before turning to leave.
They followed the two women out of the kitchen into the den. Before they’d gone more than three steps into the room, Thorne stopped them.
“Oh, damn. I nearly forgot. We were going to bring this over to you after dinner tonight. The mailman left it in our mailbox by mistake.” Thorne picked up a large manila envelope from the coffee table and held it out toward Sierra.
If he hadn’t been watching her, Rollan would have missed how fast her face turned pale before she reached out with an obviously shaking hand to take the envelope. She quickly pressed it against her chest and once again pasted a forced smile on her face.
“Thanks. That happens around here sometimes, especially if they have a substitute deliver the mail while the normal guy’s off.” She drew in a deep breath. “Um, what day did it arrive?”
Thorne still didn’t seem to notice that anything was out of sorts with her. “Today. I got the mail yesterday, and this wasn’t in there.”
“Thanks. We better get going, Sedona,” she said.
“We really appreciate the warm welcome to the area. We’ll get the dishes back to you in a couple of days, if that’s all right,” Thorne said.
“That’s fine.
We put it all in dishes we don’t use that often,” Sedona said. “Hope you enjoy it.”
“I’m sure we will,” Rollan told her. “Remember that if you need anything to just let us know.”
He and Thorne watched them walk down the steps from the porch and climb into the truck. As they disappeared down the drive in a cloud of dust, he had the odd feeling that something was wrong concerning their ranch. He didn’t know what, but the way she’d reacted when he’d mentioned her having only two ranch hands then the sight of that envelope said trouble to him. Even though he’d only just met the two women, Rollan was already feeling protective of them, and he didn’t like the uneasiness settling in the pit of his stomach already.
Chapter Five
“What was that all about?” Thorne asked as soon as they’d shut the door.
“What?” his friend asked.
“Did you see how she reacted to seeing that envelope? It was like she thought it would bite her or something.”
“Yeah. Her hand was shaking when she took it. Did you notice who it was from?” Rollan asked him.
“It was from a lawyer in Riverbend. Walter Thompson, Attorney at Law was the name on the envelope.”
His partner frowned and shook his head. “Maybe it’s something concerning their ranch. I’m not sure why else she’d have gone pale like that.”
“After her tire being cut the other day, it makes me wonder if they’re having some sort of trouble,” he said.
“I was wondering the same thing myself,” Rollan admitted.
“Let’s eat. I’m starved,” he said, realizing that standing there and guessing wasn’t going to get them any closer to figuring it out when they knew so little about them to begin with.
Thorne gathered the dirty glasses and cups from their first guests to load them in the dishwasher while Rollan removed the covering from the casserole and put it in the oven, turning it to low heat. They could make some potatoes using the instant potatoes they’d bought once. They would need something more to eat besides what the two women had brought. Once everything was ready, they sat down at the table to eat.
After a few minutes, Rollan spoke up. He didn’t talk a lot but always had something to say when he did.
“They have several hundred head of cattle, five horses, some chickens, and a milk cow but only two hired hands to help them. They need at least three to cover all of that effectively.”
Thorne agreed with him, but there was nothing they could do. They had their own ranch to get up and running. As much as he’d like to be closer to Sierra, the fact remained that without a successful ranch, they had nothing to offer her, much less support her. It was the way she’d reacted to seeing that envelope that bothered him the most.
“They seem to be handling that okay right now, but whatever was in that envelope looked like it could be the end of her world. We need to find out what was inside of it. She looked a little like that when I found her throwing up outside the bank.” He couldn’t get the memory of how pale she’d been when he’d stepped out of the bank out of his mind.
“I doubt we’re going to find that out, Thorne. She isn’t going to share with us when she doesn’t really even know us.”
Thorne sighed. The water began to boil, so he turned off the heat and added the butter then the instant potatoes. Once he had it whipped up into an edible looking dish, he checked the oven and pulled out the casserole that the girls had cooked for them.
Five minutes later they were dishing up the meal and groaning over how good it was. Thorne couldn’t wait to try the apple pie. The fact that they had two of them wasn’t lost on him. It would save them from fighting over the last piece of pie. He looked up to find Rollan eyeing the pies with a smile on his face. Well, maybe not.
After cleaning up and putting away the remainder of the meal, they found a baseball game on the TV and relaxed with a beer. He wondered what Rollan had thought of Sierra. Just from the few things his friend had said, Thorne thought he liked her. He wanted to know if the other man was interested in her like he was. He could see them making her their wife, but if Rollan didn’t feel that way then it wouldn’t work. They had to both be interested in her.
“So what did you think of her?” he finally asked.
“What?” Rollan reluctantly turned away from the TV to stare at him. “What did you say?”
“I asked what you thought of Sierra,” he said again.
“She’s nice. I just wish she hadn’t gotten upset about the envelope. I don’t think she should be working that ranch without more help either.”
Thorne chuckled. “I figured that out without you telling me. She’s beautiful, isn’t she? I love her hair and those green eyes of hers remind me of grass right after it’s cut.” He smiled thinking about them again.
“I never knew you were a poet, Thorne,” Rollan said with a straight face.
“Fuck you. Honestly. What do you think of her?”
He sighed and leaned back on the couch. “I like her. She’s really pretty, and you know how I am about curvy women with plump, squeezable asses. I’m just not sure that getting involved with anyone right now before we have the ranch going is a good idea. Relationships take work if you want them to be strong and last. We’re pretty busy right now.”
Thorne knew his friend was right, but he didn’t want to wait. He’d spent more time with her than Rollan had so far. He didn’t feel the pull yet.
“We’ll see how things go. You’re right. We are pretty busy.”
The rest of the game was passed in relative silence outside of the occasional cheer for their team. He found his mind going back to that envelope and what it could mean. Normally anything that came in the mail from a lawyer wasn’t good news. The way she’d reacted further supported that fact. He hoped that if she needed help she would come to them, but he knew better. Sierra didn’t know them well enough for something like that.
“Damn, I’m tired. Guess I’m going to call it a night. Five comes early these days,” Rollan said as he stood up and stretched.
Thorne realized the ball game was over and stood up as well. He was sure their team had won but couldn’t have said what the final score had been to save his life.
“I’m right behind you. See you in the morning,” he said as Rollan walked toward the hall where the stairs leading up to the bedrooms were.
Once his friend had disappeared, Thorne walked back into the kitchen and looked out the window over the sink. The bright new moon bathed the area between the house and the first barn in a soft glow. He loved it there. Having their own ranch had been their dream since they’d been teenagers. Neither one of them had ever had a desire to go to college but had seen the need for basic office management skills like bookkeeping. God, he’d hated that. Rollan had actually been pretty damn good with it, which was why he kept up with most of the bookwork.
Turning away from the window, Thorne shuffled across the kitchen to the den and continued up the stairs to his bedroom. He and Rollan had each taken one of the larger bedrooms that shared a bath, leaving the master suite at the end of the hall for when they did find their perfect woman. He was sure Rollan would already be in the shower, so he grabbed clean underwear and went to the other bathroom between the two bedrooms across the hall from theirs. After brushing his teeth, Thorne turned on the water in the shower and as soon as it heated up some, stepped inside to clean up.
He couldn’t help but think about Sierra. She seemed so strong and self-sufficient, yet he’d seen a vulnerable side to her twice now. It made him want to fix whatever problems she had. She wouldn’t be one of the whiny, pampered women he and Rollan had avoided all of their lives with their constant need for attention and demands for things. Sierra wasn’t afraid of work, and he doubted she’d ever whined about anything in her life.
He could easily imagine those green eyes of hers flashing in anger if someone was foolish enough to get in her way or insult her family. He could also imagine them flashing with arousal as she looked down at
him while riding him.
Thorne groaned as his dick reacted to that thought. He’d had to fight the erection while she and her sister had been there, but, now, he didn’t fight it. The thought of her hair falling around them as she lowered her hot cunt down on his straining cock had his balls tightening. Her thick hair would encase them in a private curtain of pleasure.
“Fuck!” he whispered as he squeezed the base of his shaft.
He stroked up then back down with a slight twist, enjoying how the pressure fed the need. He could almost see Sierra’s sweet face as she looked down at him while riding him. He could imagine her biting her lip as she rocked her way to climax. The thought of her wearing his hat while she rode him nearly made him come before he’d even made a dozen strokes.
He pictured her throwing back her head with her eyes squeezed shut and her teeth raking her lower lip as she pounded down on him, her release so close. Thorne reached down with one hand to squeeze his balls as he pumped his cock. Fuck, he wanted her. He wanted to flip her over on her hands and knees and fuck her deep and hard. He wanted to feel her cunt squeeze his dick until he couldn’t think. He wanted to lick her pussy and have her come on his face.
Most of all, he wanted to see her as both he and Rollan stroked in and out of her with one in her pussy and the other buried balls-deep in her ass. That expression a woman got when things were too good to live through but they did anyway always did it for him. Seeing that same expression on Sierra’s face would be the most satisfying thing in the world to him.
The slow burn of his impending climax had him pumping harder and faster. His balls had already started to draw up, his cum boiling in them, looking for a way to escape. When he thought about what she’d look like with her hot, wet mouth around his dick while Rollan pumped her full of his cum sent the pleasure that had been building inside of him up his shaft and out the tip to cover his hand and chest. His toes curled as it felt to him like he was never going to stop.
