by Cora Seton
“The tractor and lawn mower, as well as tools and all the other stuff I need to keep this place up and running.”
The moment Jax led her into the big barn, she picked up the rich scent of horses, hay, and manure. It had been a long time since she’d been around the pleasant smells of a ranch and they immediately took her back to her days as a teenager when hanging out with her friends and having a good time was all that mattered to her. It seemed so long ago, she barely remembered that time in her life.
Skye shook off the bad memories and fell into step beside Jax. The inside of the barn was mostly taken up with the horse stalls, but beyond those, there were two store rooms at the far end for riding tact, feed, and other supplies. A set of double doors covered the back wall. All the stalls were empty except for four of them, two on either side of the wide, central corridor.
“Where are all the other horses?” she asked.
“Out in the pasture. My ranch hands come in early and let them out. But these two,” he gestured first to one horse on the left, then one on the right, “have some health issues that I’ve been keeping an eye on, so they have to stay in for a while. The other two are their best friends, so I let them stay in here with them.”
Skye couldn’t help smiling at the thought of horses having best friends. How cute was that? She stepped closer to the first pair of horses he’d mentioned to get a better look. She didn’t see anything wrong with them. Then again, she really didn’t know what she was looking for. While she loved horses, her experience to them was limited to going riding on a friend’s ranch when she was sixteen.
“They’re so beautiful,” she murmured. “Are they going to be okay?”
“Yeah, they’ll be fine. Nothing serious.” Jax unlatched the door on the first stall and walked in, attaching a lead line to the big black stallion’s halter and leading him out. “This is Big Joe,” he said, patting the horse affectionately on the shoulder. “He tends to get a little frisky with the mares. Don’t you, boy?” When the horse snorted in answer Jax gave Skye a wry smile. “Big Joe got himself kicked in the leg the other day by a mare who thought he was getting a little too fresh.”
As Jax brought Big Joe out into the main corridor and attached him to an eye hook in the wall, Skye saw the big horseshoe-shaped wound on the upper part of the stallion’s right rear leg. It was scarring over, but still looked painful to her.
Jax filled a plastic bucket with water and added some kind of green goo to it, then gently began to wash Big Joe’s wound.
“This would have healed up two weeks ago, but Joe also likes to roll around in the mud,” he said as he dipped the sponge in the water again. “He just about got the wound infected, too, which is why he’s grounded in his stall now. Another two weeks and he should be fine.”
Skye ran her hand down the horse’s strong neck, feeling a little tug on her heart as she watched Jax carefully tend to Big Joe. It was clear to anyone that he adored these horses, and since she was a huge animal lover herself, that made Jax even more attractive in her opinion.
As he worked, they talked about the time and commitment it took to keep a ranch like his up and running. In addition to taking care of the horses and the small herd of cows he had, he also had to maintain the barns and outbuildings. But even though it seemed like another full-time job in addition to the one he had at the fire department, she could tell from the way he talked about the place that he loved it.
“I think I spent more time here as a kid than I did at home.” He tossed the sponge in the bucket and grabbed a towel from the shelf, then tenderly wiped down Big Joe’s thigh. “I have so many happy memories associated with this place that I knew I could never sell it when my grandparents passed away and left it to me, no matter how much hard work it took to keep it going.”
Jax finished up with Big Joe and led him back into his stall, then moved to the next one. The chestnut mare inside regarded Big Joe for a moment before coming over to greet Jax. “This is Star,” he said as he ran his hand down the horse’s rich, brown coat. “She and Big Joe have this love/hate relationship going on. He loves her, but she hates that he loves all the other mares, too. She’s the one who thumped him in the leg. I think she was probably aiming for his ass.”
Skye laughed as she caressed the mare.
“Here.”
Jax handed her a nugget-shaped treat for her to give Star, then offered one to Big Joe before walked over to the stalls across from her. Skye’s hand stilled on the mare’s neck, her eyes going wide as he opened the gate and led out a dappled gray mare. The horse’s belly was absolutely huge.
“Don’t tell me this is one of Big Joe’s conquests!” she said.
Jax chuckled as he snapped the horse into the same eyehook Big Joe had been attached to. “No. Lulu’s heart belongs to Ghost.” He motioned toward the regal looking white stallion in the stall beside the pregnant mare. “But she’s getting close to giving birth, so I’ve been keeping her inside.”
Skye slowly moved closer, not wanting to spook Lulu as Jax examined the horse. She smiled as he murmured soft words of assurance to the mare.
“You were absolutely born to do this, weren’t you?” she said.
Jax’s mouth edged up. “Probably.”
“If you love ranching so much, why become a firefighter? It has to be difficult to do both jobs,” she observed.
He caressed Lulu’s nose with a shrug. “I’d just run the ranch if I could, but I need a steady paycheck to help me cover the cost of this place. I enjoy being a firefighter, too, so it works out well.”
Skye took one of the grooming brushes off the shelf and gently ran it down Lulu’s back. Even though she hadn’t been around horses in over a decade, the move came naturally, reminding her again how much she’d missed home.
She glanced at Jax. “How did you go from working on oil rigs to becoming a firefighter anyway?”
“I came back to Dallas when my grandparents passed away to find out that they’d left me the ranch. I think it was their way of getting me to come back home and settle down,” he said, glancing at her over Lulu’s back. “It worked, too, much to my mom and dad’s delight. I didn’t have the heart to go back to working on oil rigs and let someone else run the place. That said, I also knew I could never afford to keep it without a steady job. That’s when Dane mentioned the fire department was looking for people. I gave it a shot and never looked back.” He shrugged. “Like I said—I enjoy the work, I’m good at it, and it gives me a chance to work with Dane, who, when he’s not being a butthead, is my best friend.”
Taking Lulu’s lead line, he walked her back over to her stall, then gave her some extra hay to munch before securing the latch on the door.
Skye wandered over to Ghost’s stall to give him a pat on the neck. Up close, he was even more magnificent. “It’s been so long since I’ve been around horses that I forgot how amazing they are.”
Jax came to stand beside her. “You want to go for a ride before we hit the mall?”
Skye’s first instinct was to say yes, but she quickly caught herself. She hadn’t ridden on a horse in a long time and wasn’t sure she was confident enough to jump on one just like that.
“That’s no problem,” Jax said when she told him as much. “We can ride together.”
As in her sitting in front of him with his arms around her? What woman could pass up an offer like that?
She smiled. “Okay. If you’re sure you don’t mind.”
But Jax was already leading Ghost out of his stall and saddling him up with smooth, experienced hands. When he was done, he turned and held out his hand.
“Ladies first.”
Pulse skipping a little, Skye kicked off her flip-flops and took his hand, letting him help her up into the saddle. Jax swung up effortlessly behind her, then took the reins and gently nudged the big horse in the ribs. A moment later, they were trotting out of the bar and into the pasture.
She hadn’t ever ridden with a guy like this, but she had to admit
that sharing a saddle with him was very sexy. She loved leaning back against the solid wall of muscle that was his chest and the way his strong arms wrapped around her so he could hold the reins, but she loved the way her ass snuggled up against his blue-jean-covered hard-on even more. And there was no mistaking that he was at least semi-erect. She bounced up and down against his shaft with every trot. Between his cock rubbing against her butt and the saddle horn pressing against her pussy, she had to catch her lip between her teeth to stifle a moan.
Then there was the fact that she wasn’t wearing a bra, and while she wasn’t well-endowed compared to a supermodel, there was some serious jiggling going on which made her breasts practically bounce against his biceps. Her nipples tingled so much, it was all she could do not to give them a squeeze.
Luckily, Jax kept up a nonstop commentary as they rode, pointing out different projects he was working on and naming the other horses in the pasture that lifted their heads to watch them pass by. It didn’t stop her from getting excited, especially when he leaned forward and put his mouth close to her ear when he talked or flexed his muscled thighs against hers as he guided Ghost where he wanted him to go, but at least she had something to focus on other than how wet her panties were getting. She was definitely going to have to wash his workout pants before she gave them back to him.
By the time he guided Ghost back into the barn and helped her out of the saddle, her knees were so weak from being aroused, she had to hold on to a stall door as Jax fed and brushed down the stallion. If their ride had lasted any longer, she probably would have orgasmed right there in Jax’s lap. And likely would have fallen off, too. As if coming from a horseback ride wouldn’t have been embarrassing enough.
Star and Lulu gave her knowing looks. Like they were saying, “A good ride will do that every time.”
Jax closed the door on Ghost’s stall, then turned to look at her. “You ready to go?”
More like ready to come, Skye thought. But she probably shouldn’t say that out loud. So instead, she smiled and nodded, falling into step beside him as they left the barn.
Thank God Jax didn’t realize how turned on she was. That would have been beyond mortifying. She seriously needed to get a grip on herself, and fast. Jax was her brother’s friend—and hers. Plus, he was helping her out of a bad situation. She didn’t need to complicate things by fantasizing about him like she was some kind of sex crazed nymphomaniac—even if the sight of him did make her melt.
Chapter Five
‡
Skye hoped shopping would get her mind off Jax and her body’s insane sexual attraction to him. It didn’t.
The moment they got to the mall, she had to go straight to the Victoria’s Secret store because she couldn’t get any other clothes until she had a bra and a fresh pair of panties. She was stripping off the workout pants and T-shirt when it struck her that she was separated from Jax by nothing more than a few feet of distance and a half-door he could easily peek over. Not that he ever would, she was sure. But it was still a turn-on to be standing there naked so close to him.
Her clit tingled as she wiggled into the first pair of panties she’d picked out—hipsters with a cute lacy border. She wasn’t as in love with the color now that she was wearing them, but she couldn’t put them back. They would be a wet mess. She left them on, telling herself she’d grab a few more in other colors. Ignoring the urge to caress her clit, she slipped into the bra and gasped as the silky material came into contact with her nipples. They were so sensitive they hurt.
“You okay in there?” Jax asked from just outside the door, making her jump. “You didn’t stick yourself with a needle of anything did you?”
“No, I’m good,” she called back. “Just about done.”
Fortunately, the bra fit fine, so she didn’t have to try on a bunch of different ones. She took off the tags from both the bra and the panties so she could give them to cashier, then did the same with the pair of Victoria Secret’s signature Pink boyfriend lounge pants and tee before pulling those on, too. Shoving her feet into the new flip-flops she’d grabbed, she picked up Jax’s clothes and the recent additions to her wardrobe and slipped out of the dressing room.
Jax turned to face her, his eyes caressing her in that same way they had last night when she’d walked into his kitchen in nothing but his dress shirt. She stared back, clutching her new undies in one arm and his borrowed clothes in the other, heat pooling between her thighs.
Jax was the first to recover, stepping forward to relieve her of his clothes. “Let me get those. You ready?”
“I just need a few more things,” she said.
As he followed her through the store, Skye resisted the urge to look over her shoulder to see if Jax was checking out her ass, which was currently sporting the word PINK across it in bright blue letters. She picked out two more bras and half a dozen panties, then headed up to the counter to pay.
Skye thought the cashier would take issue with her wearing half the clothes she was buying, but producing the price tags was good enough for the woman behind the counter. That didn’t keep the woman from eyeing them curiously as she rang up Skye’s purchases. No doubt trying to figure out what the heck the story was between Skye and the hot cowboy firefighter at her side.
The remainder of the shopping trip wasn’t quite so eventful. Skye shopped as quickly as she could, but it still took a few hours to get everything she needed, including a conservative skirt suit set and matching pumps for her meeting at the bank. Jax didn’t say anything as he added yet another shopping bag to the bunch in his hand when they walked out of the last store, but she could tell he wasn’t a fan of marathon shopping.
Skye spent a good portion of the drive back to Jax’s ranch trying to understand why she was so hot for Jax. Having a teenage crush on him might have been part of it. That and the fact that he’d grown into one of the hunkiest guys she’d ever met. It was possible it was also because he was being so nice to her just when she needed it. But seriously, getting wet in the dressing room just because he was on the other side of the door? That was crazy. Even now, sitting in his truck with him, she had to resist the urge to squirm in the seat to ease the throbbing between her legs. She was going to need a cold shower—or two—before having dinner with him tonight or she might jump him before they even finished eating.
But when they pulled up in front of his house, Skye found the perfect thing to crush any arousing thoughts she might be having—Dane. Her brother was leaning back against his truck with a pissed off look on his face.
Jax cut the engine and reached for the door handle. “I’ll handle this.”
“No,” she said quickly. “I appreciate it, I really do, but I have to deal with him at some point. It might as well be now.”
Grabbing as many bags as she could carry from the seat beside her, Skye climbed out of the truck and stomped around the front to face her brother. Behind her, she heard Jax’s door slam shut.
“Your boyfriend called me,” Dane said without preamble, not even bothering to look at Jax. “He said you gave him my phone number for emergencies, and since your number is out of service, he called me. He thinks you’ve had a nervous breakdown or something—quitting your job and dumping him so you could move back to Dallas to make cupcakes.” He swore. “Cupcakes, Skye. Are you fucking serious?”
She tightened her grip on the bags, fighting the urge to smack her brother with them. God, she was so tired of his crap. “Yes, I’m very serious about making cupcakes. And Jordan isn’t my boyfriend anymore. The only reason he’s upset about me dumping him and moving back here is that he’ll finally have to pay someone to manage his investment portfolio instead of having me do it.”
Dane snorted. “I wouldn’t bet on that. He seemed pretty upset when I told him you were staying with a friend at his ranch. He asked me if you two were an item before you went to New York. He was worried that’s why you left him. I told him that was crazy, that there was nothing going on between you and Jax, but after
I got off the phone with him, I started thinking maybe he was on to something.”
Skye gaped at him. “What the hell is wrong with you? You know Jax and I were never together before I moved to New York.”
He shrugged. “Do I? You were crushing on Jax like crazy back when we were in high school. Maybe you two hung out together without me knowing about it. Maybe you came back in between semesters in college to see him. Hell, maybe you two have been sleeping together on and off for the past ten years.”
Her face flamed scarlet. She couldn’t believe Dane would say something like that in front of Jax. “You’re a complete ass, Dane, you know that? I never slept with Jax, not that it’s any of your business.”
Unable to even look at him anymore, she turned and stomped toward the house, her flip-flops slapping loudly against her feet.
“You are not staying here tonight, Skye!” Dane shouted.
She whirled around to tell him to go to hell, but Jax beat her to it.
“That’s enough, Dane,” he said. “Skye wanted me to stay out of this, but I’m not going to stand here and let you treat her like this. Skye can stay wherever the hell she wants. And if she wants to stay here, she’s more than welcome.”
Skye bit her lip. Dammit. She appreciated that Jax was standing up for her, but she hated coming between them. They’d been friends since they were kids.
“Dane, please—” she began, but her brother cut her off.
“Get the hell out of my way, Jax!” Dane ordered. “This is between my sister and me. It’s time she grew up and dealt with life instead of running away from it like she did when she left Dallas. And if I find out I was right about you sleeping with her, I’ll kill you!”
Skye might have gasped, but she wasn’t sure. Because before the sound left her lips, Dane drew back his fist and threw a punch at Jax. It clipped Jax on the jaw, but he shook it off and gave as good as he got, his fist snapping out in a jab and catching Dane right on the chin, stunning him and sending him stumbling backward. But her brother was almost as big as Jax, and didn’t go down. Instead, Dane snarled in rage and slammed into Jax, driving him to the ground. Jax immediately flipped him, sending Dane rolling across the gravel.
