by Lee Savino
Max switched on the light and let me go with a light shove. He was getting more handsy by the minute, as if he was testing the boundaries, seeing how much he could get away with.
He looked around, and whistled.
Because, there was all our stuff: the Bible, which I didn’t even need to carry on my head anymore; the crop; the flogger; the lunge whip; all the straps. And the harness, hanging from a hook on the wall.
Max walked to it and touched the straps. I cringed. It obviously didn’t belong to a horse—it was too intricate, the distances between the buckles too small.
“My goodness.” A shark-like smile hovered over Max’s lips. “What is this?”
“It’s none of your damn business,” I snarled. I wanted to run, but I didn’t want to leave Max in here alone. If he tried anything, I had to be here to stop it. I had to protect the ranch, for Steele.
Max tutted. “My brother’s business is my business, sweetie. You’ll learn that very soon.” He sighed. “We own this place together, did you realize? All of our inheritance, locked into this land. Not worth much, unless Steele sells. And he doesn’t want to sell.” He gave me a sidelong glance. “There’s no money for you, sweetheart.”
“I’m not here for money.”
“No? You’re smarter than Victoria then. Took her a while to figure that out.” He turned and suddenly his whole focus was back on me. “What is it you want then? Is it possible my brother is so lucky, he found someone as kinky as he is?”
I realized he had my harness in his hands. I froze, torn between wanting to snatch it back, and wanting to run.
“If it’s kink you want, you may as well scene with me. I’ll give you what you need,” Max went on.
What the hell? I felt like I was going to be sick.
“What do you say, little one?” The endearment sounded wrong coming from him. “Shall I show you what you’ve been missing?” He prowled forward, looming over me. “Steele never was strict enough with his submissives. That’s why Victoria left. If she’d been mine, I would’ve broken her properly.”
“You’re a monster.” I was shaking, but something made me stand my ground. “This is between me and Steele. What we have is ours, and it has nothing to do with you.” I worked up my nerve and snatched the harness out of Max’s hands, holding it close. “It’s time for you to leave.”
“So feisty. This is exactly what I mean.” Max made his move, tugging me against him. He grabbed a fistful of my hair, yanked my head back, and brought his head down to mine. Instead of kissing me, he nuzzled my jawline.
I turned my head and snapped my teeth. I bit nothing but air, but he let me go.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” a voice boomed.
I tore my face away from Max. The barn door was wide open and there was Steele, silhouetted in the doorway.
All the air rushed out of me.
Steele strode across the room, and hauled me away from Max. Then he turned with a snap and landed a punch, right in Max’s face.
Max staggered backward. He put a hand to his nose. “Hello, brother. Your little toy and I were just getting acquainted.”
“You liar!” I yelled. “He grabbed me.”
Max winked at me. “She told me she liked it like that.”
My mouth fell open. Fucking asshole. What if Steele believed him?
“That’s a lie,” Steele snarled. And he launched himself at Max again.
This time, Max got a few punches in. Both brothers were tall and strong, with vicious fighting skills. And Max was younger. But Steele was bigger, and fought like an enraged bull. He grabbed his brother and slammed Max’s back against the wall. “Tell me why you’re really here.”
Max grinned through a bloody mouth. There was no sign of the pretty city boy anymore. “Heard you had a pretty young thing around. Wanted to see if you’d share.”
Steele made a sound of disgust and slammed his brother against the wall one more time before backing away.
“Steele!” I rushed to him and threw my arms around him.
He held me tight, his big chest heaving. “What did he do to you, little one? Did he touch you anywhere?”
“No. I’m okay. You got here just in time.”
Steele cupped my face. “I’m so sorry, Carrie. I never should have left you by yourself.”
“It’s not your fault,” I said. “I was safe here—or I would’ve been, if it wasn’t for your brother.”
“He’s no brother of mine.” The look Steele gave Max scared me. It was so cold, so full of murderous rage. “I won’t forgive you for this,” he told Max. “You and I are over, for good.”
Max pushed himself up from the floor. For the first time, he looked uncertain. “Forgive me if I overstepped the mark,” he began. “I was just having a little fun. I thought she was like Victoria.”
“She’s not.”
“I didn’t realize she was so important to you—”
“Didn’t realize the woman I live with is important to me?” Steele cut in. “What a bunch of horseshit. You turned up and thought you could fool around with someone you thought wasn’t strong enough to fight you off.” He turned to me. “Is that about right, Carrie?”
I nodded.
Max straightened his suit jacket. He was more beat up than I’d realized. He had a split lip, a cut across his cheek, the start of a black eye, and his cuff was torn.
And he was laughing. A crazed chuckle escaped his bloodied mouth. “Guess you found one worth fighting for,” he said.
“What the hell?” Steele thundered. He was mad enough to cuss.
“I never thought I’d see the day. Not after you moped around for years over Victoria.” Max shook his head, still chuckling. “Congratulations,” he said to me. “What’s your name again?”
I made a sound of disgust. Steele stepped between us. “Get out.”
“Seriously?” Max looked like he was going to start laughing again. Mad Max. Ugh. “Thought we were brothers. Thought you and I were all we had.”
Steele shook his head. “No. No more chances, Max. I’m done with you. Done with your drinking and trying to poach my women. Done with your demands. You’re gonna leave right now, and I’ll never see you again. I’ll pay you your half of the inheritance, sometime in the next week, right into your account. And that’s it. I ever see you on this property again, I’ll kill you with my bare hands. I swear it.”
Max’s nostrils flared—the same as his brother’s. He looked from me to Steele. “So it’s like that, then,” he murmured. A little more blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
“Yeah. You don’t come here and harm my girl,” Steele said. “Now, go. Get out of my sight.”
With one final nod, Max strode out of the barn.
Steele and I stood, looking at each other in silence, until the door of the truck slammed, the engine started up, and the vehicle moved across the gravel track.
“He’s gone,” Steele said, then he took me in his arms again. “I’m so sorry, babygirl,” he muttered, over and over, his breath warm in my hair.
“You’ve got nothing to be sorry for,” I said. I hooked my fingers into the waistband of his jeans. “Let’s go inside.”
Steele looked like hell. Under the kitchen lights, I saw he had dark shadows under his eyes, and his face was pale and drawn.
“I’ll fix some food for us, then we’ll talk about everything,” I told him, suddenly feeling like the grown up.
He sat down on the couch, and picked up Max’s whiskey glass and examined it disgustedly. “I never thought he’d turn up here.”
I took it from him gently and dropped it in the bin. Then I let Steele have some time to himself. I knew what he’d said to his brother was a big deal, and he needed to process it.
I heated up a steak pie and roast potatoes. By the time he took his place at the table, he’d perked up a little, and we dug into our food. Turned out, I was starving. I’d lost my appetite while he was away, and it was back with
a vengeance. I was bursting to ask Steele what had happened in Texas, but I knew he’d tell me when he was ready. He didn’t like to discuss serious stuff at the table. He preferred to talk when we were physically connected, so he could check in with how I was feeling. Another one of the things I loved about him.
When we were done, I lit the fire and we sat down together. I felt bad that he’d come back to that situation with Max. I rubbed his thigh, wondering if he’d been happy before he’d opened the barn door.
“What’s wrong, baby?” he asked.
I sighed. “ I feel guilty that you’ve disowned your brother because of me.”
He gave a sigh, too—a drawn out one, full of sorrow and resignation.
“The truth is, I didn’t tell you the half of it.” He squeezed my hand. “I hoped I wouldn’t have to share the tawdry details with you. Max and I have always been more rivals than brothers. He competed with me for Dad’s attention. When we both got equal shares of the inheritance, he made it clear he wanted out. He even got Victoria to work on me. She didn’t want the ranch, either.”
“Did he and Victoria…” I couldn’t finish it. I couldn’t imagine someone cheating on a man as great as Steele.
“Yeah. That was the last straw that broke my relationship with her.” He rubbed his face with a rough hand. “She and I had been unhappy for a long time, though. I think she did it as a way out. Or maybe as a way to wake me up, make me stake my claim and do what it took to make her happy.” He took my hand again. “But I didn’t want her. And now I know why. Max did me a favor, getting her out of my life.”
“Maybe that’s what he was trying to do again.” I couldn’t believe I was standing up for Max.
Steele snorted. “Maybe. I just never thought he’d turn up here. I never would've left you alone if I’d have known…”
I took his face in my hands and turned it toward me. “Now, you need to stop feeling guilty,” I told him. “You couldn’t have predicted this.” I dipped my head and kissed him, and his big chest rose and fell.
“I love you so much, little one,” he said.
I grinned. “I know you do. That is—unless you’re going to get back with Victoria?”
Steele shook his head. “What?”
I swallowed hard. “Max said he met her recently, and learned she was single again. Which is apparently why he was going to see you. He said she was your first and only love.”
Steele’s nostrils flared, and he exhaled hard. “He said that to test you. Victoria and I were lovers, but we weren’t in love. She liked the idea of being mine and living on the ranch. But not the reality. I realize that now.”
“Really?”
“I was alone when I was with her, Carrie. And when she left, I built up my walls.”
“Steele walls?”
He tweaked my nose. “I always thought it was my lot in life to be alone. Never met a woman I truly clicked with. Until…” He stroked my hair. “Until a little ragamuffin turned up on my doorstep one day. And it turned out she was my soulmate.”
My heart lifted right up and I threw my arms around him. We kissed again, deep and long.
When we finally pulled apart, I looked at him seriously. “Now, are you going to tell me where you’ve been?”
He gave a deep nod, and nerves flickered in my stomach as I wondered what he could be about to say.
But he flashed a smile. “I think you’re going to be pleased with this.” He picked up his phone from the coffee table and scrolled through his apps until he got to his photo stream. As I watched, burning with curiosity, he located a video and pressed play.
My mom’s face filled the screen. She seemed to be sitting in the parking lot of Target, and she looked more bedraggled than I remembered. Maybe she’d looked like that for a long time, and I hadn’t noticed. Her hair was frizzy and the roots badly needed retouching, and the smoking wrinkles across her upper lip had gotten deeper. Her eyes were pink from crying, as was the tip of her nose.
“Carrie, honey—” She blinked rapidly. “I’m so sorry I sent that stupid message the other day. Enzo made me do it. But that was wrong. I never should have put him ahead of you. Or any of the guys I’ve been with throughout your life. You’re the most precious thing to me in the world. The only precious thing. Enzo’s gone now. He’s not coming back. I know I’ve been a terrible mom and I don’t deserve to have you as a daughter. I don’t expect you to come back to me. But if you could forgive me some day, that’s all I could ever ask of you…” She broke off and started sobbing. The video ended.
“She was real sorry,” Steele said. “I didn’t scare her. We went out for a walk together and had a chat. She feels very guilty about what she did.”
“I know she does,” I said. “She doesn’t usually apologize for anything.”
Steele rubbed my back in comforting circles. “You don’t have to rush to forgive her, you know. She’s not expecting that from you.”
I nodded. “It’ll take a while. That’s for sure.”
“I told her about our life up here, how you were. She said you always loved horses.”
“Told you!” I said triumphantly. “You thought I was lying, didn’t you?”
A smile tugged at his lips. “I didn’t know what to think. She said she was real happy we’re together. That I was obviously a good guy. And I reminded her of a young Robert Redford.”
I burst out laughing. “Yeah, that sounds like Mom.”
“And she gives us her blessing to get married, and hopes we might see it in our hearts to invite her,” he continued.
I bit my lip. I didn’t even know what to say about that.
“I also took Destiny back to her mom, and we had a long chat. She’s just got out of rehab. I told her she needs to take responsibility for her daughter, and not leave her with strange men. She agreed and cried a lot.” He shrugged. “Sounds like she meant it.”
“I sure hope so,” I said. “The main thing is Destiny’s not with Enzo. What happened to him?”
Steele’s expression turned cold but his voice was gentle. “You don’t need to know.”
My eyes widened. “Did you kill him?”
“He decided to take a vacation in Mexico. A long one. He might never be back.”
I opened my mouth to ask more questions but Steele lifted my hand and kissed it. “It’s late, babygirl. And I can’t wait to hold you in my arms. Shall we go to bed?”
More questions burned on my lips, but Steele was looking at me so tenderly. And did I really need to know what had happened? All that mattered was that Daddy had taken care of it.
Daddy would always take care of everything.
That night, I got tender Steele. He turned off the lights, and he gently undressed me, tracing his lips over every inch of my body. Saying how much he loved me; how precious I was.
He took his time, driving my desire for him, teasing me until I was ready to scream. When he finally entered me, it felt like home. He and I were the whole world, and nothing else mattered.
Nothing would tear us apart again.
Chapter 21
Carrie
The next morning, I woke up in Steele’s arms, surrounded by his smell. He’s back, I thought, and a grin spread across my face. The two nights we’d been apart felt like a year.
“I’ll never leave you again,” he’d promised me as we drifted off to sleep last night. “If I ever have to go away again, you’re coming with me.”
My whole body buzzed with relief and happiness. The shock and stress of the past couple of days was already fading away. For the first time since we’d met—since that day he’d found me curled up on his porch—I didn’t need to worry that my past was going to catch up with me. I could just look to the future, with him.
Steele and I were together again, and nothing was going to change that.
As we mucked out the horses, Steele seemed wired, excitable. I wondered what he had in store for me.
“How did your training go while I was away?” he
asked, while I was brushing Megan’s mane.
I stilled. It had occurred to me that he hadn’t mentioned it so far. I’d thought he’d forgotten about it amid all the events of the last couple of days. How naïve I was.
“It’s been going well,” I told him.
He nodded, prompting me to say more.
“I wore it for an hour both days, just like you told me to.”
A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “And did it turn you on, little one?”
“Maybe,” I said, my cheeks warming.
“But did you touch yourself?”
“No. I was a good girl. I knew my daddy would punish me if I did.”
He looked at me suspiciously. “And how do I know you’re telling the truth?”
A little tremor went through me. “Because I always tell the truth these days—since you trained me.”
“Let me see,” he demanded. “Go get the plug, and go through to the bedroom.”
He led Megan back into her stall, and I went inside.
The plug was already in the drawer of my nightstand. Steele looked pleased.
“Now, take off your jeans and panties, and show me how you inserted it.”
Hurriedly, I stripped off, then I lay down my back and spread my legs. Steele watched me with a critical eye.
I rubbed the end of the plug over my pussy, and in seconds, I was wet, turned on by Steele’s attention, by the hunger in his eyes.
When the plug was thoroughly coated in my wetness, I began to push it into my little hole.
I heard his breathing getting heavier, and saw that telltale stormy look come into his eyes.
With a little pop, the plug went in, and I let go of it, arousal instantly flooding my body.
“You’re very wet,” he murmured.
“Mmm,” I said.
“Were you wet yesterday, and the day before?”
“Yes.” I squirmed on the bed, uncomfortable about lying there spread out like that, but well aware what the punishment would be if I decided to move without his permission.
When he laid his hand flat on my pussy, my whole body jolted.
