by Becky McGraw
Dean had all night, and he owed her for being pissed at him when he came in when he was already upset with his family. He was going to teach her a lesson about patience. He folded his arms and waited. Her stomach continued to quiver for a few minutes, then her breathing slowed and her forehead wrinkled. Her jaw finally relaxed and her teeth loosened on her lip.
“What are you doing?” she asked in a hoarse whisper.
A smile curved his mouth, but he didn’t answer. He did, however, shove his hand under the waistband of his pajama pants to fist his erection when her hips moved as if she were itching for him to be inside of her. She was probably itching just as badly as he was right about then. Feeling her tight walls squeezing his cock was the ultimate goal, the reward for his own patience. But they had a long way to go, before that happened.
Dean upped the ante. He got up off the bed and knew she realized it. He walked to the bedroom door, and opened it then went outside, closing it behind him loudly enough that he knew she heard. He heard a whimper of protest from behind the door. Dean grinned as he walked to the kitchen to get himself a snack. His mother had made cherry cobbler today, and that was his absolute favorite.
He took his time getting there with anticipation building inside him too. He could only imagine how Tina felt. Tied to the bedpost, wondering where the hell he went. He chuckled as he opened the door of the refrigerator and leaned inside. He shoved things around looking for the baking dish he knew his Mama always used for her cobbler, but he didn’t see it. That was damned weird. He shut the refrigerator, then saw an empty carton of vanilla ice cream on top of the trash. They fucking ate it all?
Dean walked to the sink and looked down. Sure enough, the empty casserole dish was sitting there. All that was left of the cobbler was thick gooey cherry filling around the sides and pastry crumbs. Disappointment filled him as he turned away from the sink, then a thought hit him. That was something else his wife was going to pay for. He grabbed the dish from the sink and headed back to the bedroom.
He would have his cherry cobbler in a way much better than a bowl. He opened the door and she gasped. Dean shut the door and locked it then walked over to Tina, who was grumbling as she struggled with the rope ties. She had managed to push the blindfold almost to her hairline.
“I thought I told you to be still,” he said sternly.
“You tied me up and left me,” She accused, struggling again.
“And I’m going to spank your ass if you don’t settle down,” Dean growled yanking the blindfold back over her eyes.
She gasped, bit her lip then finally relaxed. Dean smiled and sat the cobbler dish down on the other side of her on the bed. He could definitely get to like this. Tina Dixon was going to love it by the time he finished with her. Dean leaned across her to swipe his finger through the cherry filling then brought it to her mouth. He circled her lips with his finger, and her tongue came out to make a pass over her lips.
She sucked in a breath and her body tensed. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“Sorry isn’t going to fix this. You thought you didn’t leave me any, but there’s plenty left for me to teach you a lesson about being greedy,” he said and smeared some of the filling on her neck down to her collarbone. “That wasn’t right, because I love cherry cobbler,” he said as he lowered his mouth to her neck. Her breath hitched, and she moaned when he licked the trail up to her earlobe. The sweet taste of her skin mixed with the sweet filling excited his taste buds into a frenzy.
“Fucking love it,” he said gruffly, as he nipped her earlobe.
Dean leaned up to swipe his finger into the dish again, then slowly circled her nipple with it. Tina groaned loudly, and he leaned down to her ear. “Don’t you dare scream, or I’ll gag you, I promise,” he warned and a low-pitched moan sounded in her throat as she nodded.
He smiled and lowered his mouth to her breast. He ran his tongue around her nipple in slow monotonous circles until she squirmed, then he nipped it. Tina didn’t scream, but he glanced at her face and saw she wanted to. Badly. Her lips were pinched, her nostrils flared, and her breathing was swift and shallow. Dean smoothed his hand down her flat stomach to shove his hand between her legs. He dipped a finger inside of her and her thighs clamped around his hand, trapping it there. She whimpered and moved her hips against him.
“Open your legs, Tina.” She shook her head, and grumbled.
Dean pulled his hand away and she huffed out a frustrated breath. He didn’t touch her, just waited. Her knees finally relaxed and she slid them apart, but he could see her fingernails curled into her palms above her head. She was frustrated. Well Mrs. Dixon had no idea what frustration was yet.
“Good girl,” he said with a laugh.
He dipped his finger into the cobbler leftovers then slathered it on her clit. Her hips jerked and she tried to get away. “Nooo…” she protested in a harsh whisper, arching her back.
“Oh, yes, baby,” he drawled, as he stood and shoved his pajama pants down his legs. “And shh…” he reminded as he knelt between her knees. Dean leaned over her to scoop up more of the cobbler and painted it down her body. From the dip at the base of her neck, between her breasts to her navel, where he left a huge dollop.
“Your belly button is so damned cute,” he said leaning down to swipe his tongue inside. Tina giggled and wiggled, but Dean gripped the back of her thighs to hold her still until it was licked clean. “Best damned cobbler I’ve ever had.” He lowered her hips, then licked every inch of her up to her throat. He ran his tongue over her lips, then closed his mouth over hers in a soft sweet kiss that went on forever as he soaked up her taste. He swallowed her moan, then with a growl, he nipped her lower lip as he pulled way, and she groaned.
Dean swiped more cobbler from the dish, as he kissed his way back down her body. He moved where he really wanted to be and shoved her knees apart. Dean smoothed the gel along her folds with his finger, then took a dip inside her body.
“Dean, that’s enough,” she growled, writhing her hips.
“Remember, no screaming,” he said as he lowered his mouth and made a pass over her sweet clit with his tongue. She didn’t scream, but she let out a long low wail that vibrated through his body and settled in his groin.
He lifted his head. “Quiet!” he hissed and smiled when she bit her lip and nodded.
Opening her pink folds, Dean slowly licked her from bottom to top. By the time he reached her clit, her body shook violently. But she didn’t wail, and she didn’t scream. Her chin dropped to her chest, she clenched her teeth and he saw the most incredible look on her face.
Ecstasy had never looked more beautiful. He sucked her into his mouth, and the sweet flavor of her orgasm mixed with the cobbler there, and he took her higher. She threw her head back on her shoulders and shook harder. But she didn’t scream. Dean dropped down and entered her sweetness with his tongue, and she finally broke. Tina sobbed, then wailed her release and the sweet sound danced through his soul. Her body finally went limp, and he released his grip on her thighs to move up her body. Leaning down, he dropped a gentle kiss on her mouth, then another, before he untied her hands and rubbed her raw wrists.
He had to get something better if they were going to play like this again. It made him angry to see the welts he had put there. He lifted her wrist to his mouth and kissed it, then lowered her arms to her heaving chest.
“You okay, buttercup?” he asked, moving to lay beside her and pull her into his arms.
She didn’t speak, she just nodded. He kissed her cheek, then the corner of her mouth, before he hugged her to his side. When he released her, Tina didn’t just settle at his side like he expected, she shot up and scrambled on top of him to straddle his waist.
“Ut uh, it’s my turn,” she said hoarsely.
Dean grinned when she leaned over him to swipe her finger through the cobbler, dangling her beautiful breast near his mouth. She ordered him to put his hands behind his head and Dean complied. He had a feeling, before this nigh
t was done, he would never think of cobbler the same way again. And every time he ate it from here on out, he would think of his delicious wife, and get hard as he was right that moment.
Tina Dixon was his new favorite dessert.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Dean kneed Blaze and he danced to the left to catch a bronco who had broken from the herd. He, his brother and father were moving them to an adjacent pasture. It had only taken two weeks for the herd of twenty horses to chew through every last blade of grass in the pasture. With the rain they’d had recently, the pasture was also now a big mud pit.
Now, they had to reseed the pasture. Seed cost money.
Dean had apologized to Cord for going off on him for buying this damned rough stock instead of the beef cattle he’d told him to buy. But dammit, the way things were going he’d been right. Managing this rodeo stock was a lot of work, and they didn’t have any help. They hadn’t even started using the dummy to see if they could even buck well. Cord told him that every head he bought was proven, had been successful at various levels of rodeo competitions. But Dean wanted to see it for himself. According to his brother, Zack and Ryan were coming down next weekend to work with the bulls using the remote controlled dummy they had bought.
They couldn’t afford to hire any hands, so those two better get out here to help, or their bulls wouldn’t be bucking. It was enough for the three of them to make sure the animals had enough grazing. The ten bulls were in the biggest pasture and were doing a good job of clearing it too. If they didn’t start supplementing the natural grazing with feed and hay they would have a barren ranch before long.
The hefty lease check from the rodeo company that his brother had thrown in his face the night he got back from Dallas was getting smaller and smaller by the day. Cord’s two friends were bringing the retired breeder bull out this weekend with the cows that they’d bought too. More mouths to feed.
Dean was going to go with the flow, his new mantra, but he didn’t like it. He just hoped switching the ranch from beef cattle to rodeo stock didn’t finish sinking their boat. It had enough holes in it already, and Dean had been bailing as fast as he could for years. But at least now he had help, and maybe Cord was right to look at a change. It burned his ass to say it, but they needed to do something to get out of the financial rut they’d been in for three years. Like Dean was trying to get out of the personal rut he had fallen into.
It was an every-day, all day fight to maintain the motivation to do that. Just this morning, he called the attorney’s office to see if they’d gotten the DNA results back yet. The secretary told Cord he was out of the office in court and said he would call him back when he was available. To Dean’s way of thinking, considering the price he was paying the man, he should always be available. But then everyone was paying the same hourly rate with the man. He didn’t get priority. And neither did Tina either evidently. Her guardianship order hadn’t been signed by the judge yet. They were playing the waiting game and Dean was losing patience.
He’d done everything the attorney had asked him to do. The week after he got back he took Jeremy to a local lab to have his blood drawn, and had it overnighted to the other lab. He’d signed the paperwork the attorney faxed to him and overnighted it back. Hurry up and wait was getting real old, real fast. Dean wanted this over with. Wanted Cindy out of his and his son’s life for good.
“Dean, look out!” Cord shouted, just as one of the broncs reared, flailing his sharp hooves and baring his teeth. Blaze snorted, then reared too. Dean used his body to try and push him back down to the ground, but he just reared higher until Dean was almost vertical.
Dean shoved off against the saddle, because he knew if Blaze went over backward he would be crushed. He hit the ground hard, jarring his teeth then rolled to the left, about the same time that Blaze landed and rolled the other way, thank God. If he’d have rolled the same way as Dean, he still would have been crushed or trampled. Blaze got up to his feet, danced around wild-eyed for a second, then took off back toward the barn. Damned barn sour fucking horse, Dean thought as he sat up to cradle his shoulder, biting back a moan.
Cord’s horse slid to a stop, and he vaulted out of the saddle, then knelt beside Dean. “Are you okay?” he asked with concern.
“Think I dislocated my shoulder,” Dean said with a grunt.
“If you were paying attention, you would have seen that coming!” Cord grated.
Dean’s phone went off in his pocket, but he couldn’t let go of his shoulder just yet. “Answer that will you?”
“You can call them back later,” Cord said as he grabbed Dean’s good arm to help him to his feet. “Now how the hell do you think you’re going to get back to the ranch?”
“Ride double with you?”
Cord laughed and shook his head. “I don’t think so, bitch.”
“Well you better call Tina,” he said then groaned. “No, don’t call her.” Dean closed his eyes against the throbbing pain in his shoulder. That pain would move to his ass if his wife came out here. She would probably mother him to death like she was doing Jeremy. Of course Jeremy was loving it since he hadn’t had a mother in his life in so long. He thought about it, and there wasn’t anyone else he could call. “Fuck, you have to call Tina to come out here in the golf cart, or ride back to the house to get the truck. Either way she’s coming out here, I know her. Just call her.”
Cord saluted and pulled out his phone. He dialed, then waited. A smug smile eased up the corners of his mouth. “Hello, Tina. Your dumbass husband has hurt himself and needs you to come out in the golf cart and help him.” Holding the phone out from his ear, so Dean could hear her yelling into the phone, Cord laughed and waited until she wound down. “No, we don’t need an air ambulance honey, he just has a little boo-boo on his shoulder. I’m sure an icepack and a kiss from your pretty lips would fix it.”
She started ranting again and Cord held the phone out again. Dean flinched as he listened to the ten-pounds of dynamite in a five-pound sack that was his wife. God he loved that woman, but she scared the shit out of him sometimes. When he saw her reading to Jeremy night before last before he went to bed, Dean finally admitted to himself that he loved her.
Other than his sister-in-law Hope, he hadn’t met a better woman in his life. She was real, and she actually fucking cared about people. But Dean was scared to tell her, because he wasn’t sure she felt the same way about him yet.
“Yeah, be sure and tell Mama too,” Cord said, before he hung up the phone.
“You are a bastard,” Dean growled, hugging his shoulder.
“Takes one to know one, brother.”
Dean’s phone went off in his pocket again, and he said, “Answer my damned phone. It could be the attorney calling back.”
Cord huffed out a breath, then leaned down and shoved his hand into Dean’s pocket. He pulled out the phone and pressed the button. “Hello?” A moment later his brother’s eyebrows lifted, then slowly fell as he listened to whoever was on Dean’s phone. “No, this is his brother Cord,” he said and his eyes met Dean’s. “Dean can’t hold the phone right now, so I’ll tell him. Shoot.” The longer his brother listened, the more concerned Dean got.
“Who’s on the damned phone, Cord?” Dean demanded, as he held his elbow to his chest.
“I see. So what now?” Cord asked and Dean’s heart shot to this throat. If the attorney had told Cord what Dean wanted to hear, there would be excitement in his tone. Happiness. His brother’s voice was too serious for it to be good news he was hearing.
“Tell me what he’s saying!” Dean demanded. He let go of his arm to grab for the phone and pain shot through his collar bone and up to his ear. Dean moaned, sat back down and held it to his chest again. Cord disconnected the call and took a deep breath, while he stared at the woods. Definitely not good news. “Tell me what the fuck he said!” Dean shouted.
Cord finally looked at Dean, and his eyes were watery. “Jeremy isn’t your son.”
Dean suddenly
didn’t feel the pain in his shoulder anymore, the pain in his chest was more intense. “Did he say anything about custody?”
“Cindy’s attorney has refiled the custody petition, but your attorney has asked that the judge order Bobby Jones to have a paternity test too. He thinks Jeremy can stay here until they get those results back.”
Dean looked down at the ground, trying to wrap his mind around Jeremy actually not being in his life anymore, but he just couldn’t do it. A white card laying on the ground caught his attention, and he picked it up.
With everything on his mind, Dean had forgotten all about the woman he met in the elevator when he was in Dallas. He held the card up to Cord, and he took it.
“Call that woman. She wants to talk to you about a harassment suit against Laramie. I forgot to tell you.” At least maybe one of their situations might work out okay.
Dean had a really bad feeling he had just lost his battle to keep his son. He needed to just start preparing himself to let him go.
***
Dean had been in bed four days. His shoulder had to be feeling better. His heart is what Tina was worried about. She had never seen a man hurting so badly. And he wouldn’t talk to her or anyone else about it. He hadn’t said two words to her since she’d picked him up from the field in the golf cart, even though she’d done everything she could to pry out of him how he felt. What he was thinking.
Cord had filled her in on what the attorney said, or else she wouldn’t even know that much. Her new husband was a stubborn son-of-a-bitch when he was hurting or angry. Tina knew Dean was both right now, because Mr. Cranky Pants was back in the building again. If he wasn’t tight-lipped he was a grumpy bastard to her and everyone else. Tina about had enough of it.
