by Evie Nichole
Aria cut the throttle as they hit the top of the hill. The four-wheeler shuddered to a stop. Laredo reached up and wiped the moisture from his eyes. The valley looked like a war zone. There were three gooseneck trailers with trucks, and cattle were bawling and wandering everywhere. It was like the worst roundup day conceivable.
“What in the hell?” Aria shouted. “What are they doing?”
Laredo felt grim. “Looks like they’re returning what they stole. I’m sure the brands have been changed and we’ll be getting a complaint soon enough about stealing Flying W cows.”
“Why?” Aria pulled out a phone and started taking video. “They can’t get away with this! It’s ludicrous.”
Laredo pulled out his phone and snapped off a few shots as well. It was tempting to drive down there and start yelling and shouting and telling those assholes to get off his land. But that would likely have a mixture of results, and most of them could be bad.
Then Laredo heard sirens. “The police should be here shortly. We have to go find them and show them what we have.”
Aria nodded her head. He could not see her expression in the dark. It was disconcerting to have no notion what she might be thinking. “There’s only one way out for them from here.”
“Then, where did they come in at?”
“From your side of the fence.”
That was news to Laredo. As far as he knew, there was no way for a rig that size to get back here. “What? How is that even possible?”
“They come down that opposite hill into the valley. They’re cutting through the pasture itself, but they can’t make it back up the way they came in because there’s no road. No road, no traction. That means the only way out is that access road that allows your guys to get to the fence line through my property.”
Right of way was a pretty common thing when land was not accessible through the usual highways. Clouds End and the Hernandez operation had always had friendly agreements between them that way. But there were just as many negatives with the shared fence line between the Flying W and the Hernandez Land & Cattle Company.
“Hang on!” Aria told him.
She fired up the ATV and took off toward the sound of the sirens. The rising sound of shrieking electronic siren seemed to have a profound effect on the illicit cattle operation going on below. Apparently, none of the Flying W hired men were willing to take a chance that their policeman boss would bother to bail them out of jail for thieving. There were some shouts and a lot of engine roaring as the operation kicked into high gear.
Aria and Laredo were already speeding across the pasture on the four-wheeler. He hated to think what their speed was at the moment. It was like a potential ATV accident waiting to happen. The night wind whipped past Laredo’s face as he struggled to keep his seat and see where they were going at the same time. No helmets? No problem. If they stopped fast, he was going to launch into the air and fly about a million feet anyway.
His stomach gave a little heave as they hit a low spot and then abruptly started climbing. Suddenly, he felt the tires beneath them spin as they hit a road. The lights of the house became visible. The land flattened out, and they started hauling ass as though she were trying to find the top speed and push it higher.
Laredo spotted twirling lights and red-and-blue vehicles in the yard at Clouds End in front of the barn. He took a chance and lifted his arms to start waving. The emergency personnel were already staring at them. They were the only ones out here as far as anyone else could tell. No doubt the cops were thinking they’d been had.
“Thieves!” Laredo bellowed. “This way! Come around and block this road! They have to come out through here!”
There was a scramble as the four police vehicles lurched into motion. The cops jumped back inside their trucks and SUVs and floored it for the narrow gravel road where Aria and Laredo were still sitting on their ATV.
“Do you hear that?” Aria shouted.
Laredo listened. The telltale rumble of diesel engines was getting closer. He touched Aria’s shoulder. “Get off the road, sweetie! Get down off the road! They’re going to come barreling through there like a freight train.”
Anxiety twisted in his gut as he realized that they were a tiny speed bump on that big gravel road. The police cars were coming, but they weren’t going to stop those big farm trucks either.
The flashing lights sped closer, but behind Laredo, he could hear those trailer rigs picking up speed. For them, stopping would be catastrophic. The only thing they could hope was that they would piss off the cops enough to warrant chasing. But that process in and of itself was treacherous.
“Around,” Laredo urged Aria. He put his hands on her shoulders. “Go around them all!”
She didn’t question his meaning once. She turned the handlebars and hit the throttle to leave the road. They spun down into the lower side on the far side of the road away from the ranch. She made a wide turn, and suddenly Laredo could see the cattle rigs heading up the road. They were indeed picking up speed. They had to be doing at least fifty or sixty miles per hour on a narrow dirt road. One wrong move and they’d spin off the road into nowhere!
Aria gunned the engine, and the four-wheeler leaped as she headed it toward the lead of the caravan of rigs. He knew she was going for the license plates again. The police vehicles were stopping. Laredo could see the four units fanning out to form a sort of barrier across the dirt road. It wasn’t going to do anything. It wasn’t going to stop a single rig!
There was a muffled, unintelligible shout from one of the police car’s PA system. It took a split second for Laredo to register that nonsense before the first rig burst through a tiny hole between two police department SUVs.
The SUVs spun sideways to form a sort of thoroughfare. The crunch of twisted metal filled the air as the cop cars smashed against each other. The rigs kept going. They did not slow one bit. The headlights of the first one burst in a hail of plastic shards that littered the gravel road, but it did not slow them down.
“Oh my God,” Aria moaned. “Do you think they’re all right?”
“They’re fine,” Laredo assured her. He hoped he was right, but he could see the cops standing a few feet away furiously yelling into their cell phones and CB radios. “Hopefully they’re calling in reinforcements. If we can somehow find these bastards before they disappear onto the Flying W’s land, then we’ll finally have something on Paul Weatherby.”
Aria lifted her hands to her mouth as she watched the last of three rigs fly past the flimsy police barrier and turn back out onto the highway in a squeal of tires and the skidding of brakes and trailers on asphalt.
“We have to talk to the cops,” Aria decided. “Hang on one more time. I don’t want to lose you now!”
Laredo was well ready for the jolt this time as she hit the throttle and the four-wheeler shot toward the ruined police barrier. He felt the firmness of the backs of her thighs pressed against the front of his. Her back was pushed up against his chest, and his hands were locked around her midsection. The intimacy of the position was not lost on him.
Finally, they zoomed up over the edge of the road and hit the gravel with a slight shifting of the tires. Aria skillfully guided the ATV toward the police now congregating on the road beside their crushed vehicles.
“Everyone all right?” Laredo called out as soon as Aria cut the engine. “Was anyone hurt?”
“No.” A male policeman stepped forward. He seemed to be in charge. The stripes on his uniform identified him as a sergeant. “Was that your call to 911?”
“Yes,” Laredo confirmed. He and Aria dismounted the four-wheeler and stood on the road with the police. “I called because we heard them down there trying to gun their engines back up onto the road.”
“How do they even get rigs like that down there?” a female cop wheezed. She looked jumpy and shaken. “I’ve never seen anything like that!”
Aria began gesturing toward the entrance to Hernandez land many miles down the road. “They come
through the other side of the hill. I don’t know how they actually get down there. I’ve never followed the trail. But I know they must idle the engines down into the valley and then they have to really hit it to get up the hill on my side of the fence. They’d never make it back up the way they came. But this is the best way to access Hernandez land without having to go past one of the main cattle camps.”
The police were nodding. The sergeant took off his hat and smacked it against his thigh. “We’ve got units out looking for them. They can’t hide in rigs like those!”
Laredo snorted. “Until they hit Flying W land and just disappear.”
All four cops shared a look that reeked of discomfort. Then the sergeant cleared his throat. “What makes you think it’s the Flying W doing this?”
“All of Weatherby’s threats recently?” It was Aria to speak. She was getting irritated. He could see it in the way she moved and the tone of her voice. “I know he’s a captain on your police force, but do you have any idea how bad he is to deal with personally? The guy trespasses, lies, steals, and bullies to get what he wants. I’m sick of it. And you should be too. I can’t imagine he’s an angel at work.”
Laredo could tell by their looks that Paul Weatherby was anything but an angel to deal with at work, but none of these poor cops were going to say a word against him for fear that someone would tattle. The amount of fear power that man wielded was horrible to contemplate.
“Someday,” Laredo told them all. “You should consider getting together and honestly talking amongst yourselves about that man and what he has done. I bet you’d all find that you’ve been equally wronged by the man.”
“Maybe,” the sergeant allowed. “Until that time, we have to play by the rules.”
“Right.” Aria snorted and then she waved. “I’m going back to my house. You guys have fun trying to figure out how getting your vehicles crushed by employees of one of your captains on his orders is playing by the rules. I’m not going to stand for this bullshit anymore. And you can tell good old Weatherby that’s what I said.”
Laredo had never been so proud of another person before. Or rather he’d just never had that feeling that the woman he was with—that he wanted to be with—was so strong and capable. It was both shocking and gratifying. This was not a woman who needed him to take care of her. Aria was a woman who was strong and confident in her own way. This was a partner.
She climbed back on her ATV and waved to Laredo. “Let’s go home.”
Home. Did that mean she wanted him to stay with her? And why was he worrying about this right now? Didn’t they have enough on their plate without adding his strange romantic foibles to the list? Sometimes Laredo wished that life had a script. He could follow along, make the appropriate comments, and things would eventually turn out exactly as they were supposed to. Of course, there was also the possibility that by not having a script, he could eventually witness something truly unexpected in a pleasant way. Not that he’d hold his breath for that to happen.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Aria tiptoed down the hallway and avoided the creaky spot in the middle automatically. Behind her, Laredo stepped square on the bad board and a squeal as loud as a gunshot echoed through the whole house.
Aria stopped and swung around to stare at him. What the hell? She mouthed the words and then struggled not to laugh when he held up his hands as though he were acknowledging not only his mistake but also his total helplessness. Why was it so cute for a guy to be helpless? It should have been annoying, but it wasn’t at all.
Turning back around, Aria reached for the door to Bella’s bedroom. Aria eased it open and peeked inside. Moonlight spilled through the curtains and created strange watermarks on the wood floor. Bella was tucked into the bed like an angelic creature with her wild hair spread out on the white covered pillow and her tiny hands tucked beneath her cheek.
Aria stepped aside so Laredo could take a look. She realized that it had to be tempting for him to rush in there and wake up his daughter. The two had a lot to talk about. But right now, Bella was safe and sound asleep and that was what mattered most. Laredo sighed as he stared at the little girl. Then he finally nodded to Aria, and she carefully closed the bedroom door without a single sound. She’d been in this house for far too long to let those old squeaks and creaks get the better of her.
Laredo did not speak until they got back to the living room. “Thank you for taking such good care of her. I can’t believe the sirens and the craziness didn’t wake her up!”
“I can.” Aria curled up into the corner of her sofa. “You should have seen how exhausted she was when she was trying to bed down for the night in that mare’s stall. She was ready to be asleep.”
“We’re lucky to have you,” Laredo murmured.
He sat on the sofa beside her and pulled her legs into his lap. Once again, Aria wished that she wasn’t wearing blue jeans. Pajama bottoms would have been nice. Or maybe it would have been even nicer to be naked. Maybe she could be wearing just his dress shirt or something like that. A man thought that was sexy. Right?
“What are you thinking about?” Laredo murmured.
She felt her cheeks flush red. The only light was the soft yellow glow coming from the lamp on the end table. The rest of the cluttered room was shrouded in shadow. “I was wondering what you think is sexy.”
“Me?” He looked mildly surprised. Then he put both of his hands flat on her shins. She felt the heat of him through the denim and shivered. “I think you’re sexy, Aria. Pretty much anything you do is sexy. Anything you wear. Anything you say. I’d say I spend at least three-quarters of every single day being completely distracted because I’m thinking about you. And your sexiness is only one part of those thoughts.”
“Wow.” Aria could not help but be flattered and maybe just a little surprised. “That’s pretty blunt of you.”
He slid one hand up her leg toward her thigh. “Would you prefer that I be something other than blunt?”
“No.”
“Exactly.”
His hand moved to her belly. “You know, it’s very uncomfortable to recline on a sofa in blue jeans.”
“Is it?” Aria whispered. “I hadn’t noticed.”
“Hadn’t you?” He plucked at the button of her jeans until it came unfastened. The zipper was next. Soon his fingers were gently touching the lower part of her belly just on top of her plain white panties. “Maybe I just spend too much time worrying about whether or not you’re comfortable.”
“It sounds like you don’t have enough to do,” she teased. “All of this thinking about women and sexy time and stuff.”
His fingers tickled her belly and she gasped. Then his hands gently pulled her legs down until she was reclining against the arm of her sofa with her legs draped over his lap and the fly of her jeans wide open. It felt very odd and yet also delicious. His fingers were drawing tiny circles against the bare flesh of her belly, and it felt amazing.
Laredo began to slide her jeans down her legs. “I think these should come off.”
“Do you?”
“Yes. That way you and I can both be more comfortable.” His blue eyes were electric. She could not look away.
He was mesmerizing her and she liked it. The denim slid slowly down her legs and then fell to the floor. She had taken off her boots when she walked in the front door, but where had her socks gone? Her feet were bare, and that was an odd sort of intimacy she felt acutely in so many ways.
Laredo put his hands on her bare feet and began to massage the arches of both feet. Aria moaned. How could she not? Nothing had ever felt so good. Nobody had ever done such a thing for her. She wanted to be a little self-conscious about her feet in general, but the nearly reverent way that Laredo was touching her overcame any apprehensions and sent her straight to decadent enjoyment.
“You have adorable feet,” he murmured. Then, to her shock, he lifted one to his face and gently pressed his lips to the top of her foot. The tickling touch made her suck
in a quick breath of surprise. Her lips parted, and she could not decide how to react.
Then Laredo put one of her feet on his shoulder and let his hand slide up the inside of her leg. He massaged each and every muscle grouping with the kind of unhurried care he did everything else. His hands were firm but gentle. It felt as though he were making love to her with each touch of his skin to hers.
He spent some extra time on the insides of her knees. The tickling sensation soon receded, and she felt a heaviness building in her womb that had nothing to do with feet. Her core began to heat up as everything in her body grew tight and absolutely attuned to this man.
Laredo let his fingertips dance gently over her inner thighs. She unconsciously spread her legs just a little farther apart. Her knees split open farther, and she curled her toes into his T-shirt to keep her foot from falling off his shoulder. He let his hand inch closer and closer to the apex of her thighs where everything came together. It felt as though there was a point of combustion between her legs and everything was so very close to going up in flames.
Aria could not stop watching his hand. It was impossible to rip her gaze away as his index finger slipped beneath the elastic band of her panties where it pressed tightly to the inside of her thigh just beside her mound. The softness of his finger slowly teasing the tangle of hair covering her mound was almost more than she could take.
It felt as though her lungs had stopped working. She was holding her breath as she watched. Everything between her legs was going to melt into a puddle just from the anticipation of his touch. Then the very tip of his index finger gently probed the top of her slit, and she realized that she was absolutely ready to implode at that very second.
