by Cat Miller
“Beau, I can get in by myself. I didn’t break anything,” she told him, but he silenced her with a look that said he was not in the mood for an argument.
They rode back to the ranch in silence. Beau seemed to be in deep thought. Kesslyn was busy wondering at his mood and the way he kept peeking over at her with those serious brown eyes. What was he thinking? Was he angry with her?
Once home–funny how she thought of it as home now- he wordlessly escorted her to her bedroom. She thought he would say goodnight and leave, but he surprised her by following her into the room and closing the door behind him. He stood there watching her with that brooding mask she couldn’t interpret. He was close. So close that if he were any other man she might feel intimidated by his sheer size, but Kesslyn had no fear of Beau. If he hurt her, it would be when he broke her heart.
“Do you know what I thought when I saw you fall from that horse today? Do you know the first thought that struck me when her hooves came back to the earth to trample you?” he asked her quietly.
“Thank goodness I’m finally rid of that annoying yankee?” she tried to make light of it.
Beau wasn’t amused. He grimaced at her bad joke.
“I thought I’d never get a chance to do this again.” Beau cupped Kesslyn's face and kissed her.“I can’t fight this Kesslyn. I don’t know what you’ve done to me. I never thought I’d ever feel this way about anyone. I tried to be a gentleman. I tried to give you space when you seemed to need it. But I can’t fight the need to kiss you and hold you any longer. I don’t even want to fightit.”
Kesslyn was stunned. She gaped up at him. There was sincerity in his eyes.
“If you don’t want this. If you don’t want to take a chance with me, then I need you to tell me now. I swear I’ll leave, and I’ll respect your wishes. It’ll kill me, but I’ll do it. The next time you see me, I’ll just be Beau the foreman.”
Kesslyn’s heart was suddenly pounding in her chest. Taking this step with Beau would mean never going home. Taking this step with Beau could also mean heartache. Was she willing to take the chance? She opened her mouth to answer, but he stopped her.
“Wait. Don’t say it. Let me kiss you one more time.” He took her mouth more forcefully this time. All of his hopes were wrapped up in that one kiss, and they poured over Kesslyn like summer rain. The kisses ended slowly with him placing several smaller kisses on her lips before he finally gave her a chance to speak.
“I want this, too, Beau. I want you.” She didn’t know what else to say. She was so afraid of the future. Everything was so uncertain, but Beau made her feel safe.
“You do?” he asked as if he couldn’t believe she’d just agreed with him.
“I do. I want to give it a try, Beau. You aren’t the only one wondering what’s happened to you. I’m feeling the same thing.”
Beau crushed her to him. He hauled her over to the bed and pulled her into his lap. He was kissing her fiercely. Burning her up with the force of his desire. Kesslyn tugged at his shirt, pulling it from the waistband of his jeans. After everything she’d been through in the last couple of years and her close call today, she needed to feel something other than sorrow and fear. She needed to like she was living again.
Beau peeled away her top and quickly freed her breasts, cupping one in his big hand and kneading it firmly. He moaned when she left his mouth to nibble a path up his jaw to his neck. Her hands explored his chest and stomach. Hungry and aching to feel him inside her again, Kesslyn’s fingers went to work on his pants, freeing his needy flesh. She pumped him slowly. Driving him insane.
In a frenzy of kisses and roaming hands, they undressed each other. Beau laid her back on the big bed and climbed over her, making a home for himself between her legs. His hot sex was nestled against her bare pussy.
Their mouths clashed. For a while, they lay there discovering each other. Savoring being together in an actual bed with plenty of time. Their mutual desire was rising like the sun over the ocean. When the anticipation grew to an unbearable high, Kesslyn pleaded with Beau to give her what she needed.
“Please, Beau, I need you inside me. Please.”
Beau slid the head of his cock over her clit a few times. Teasing her. Making her squirm before he guided the head of that magnificent beast to the center of her need and pressed forward, slow and steady, making her writhe. Kesslyn watched beads of sweat pop out on Beau’s brow. He was taking it slowly. Pumping his hips in a steady, easy rhythm. Holding back. He was driving her crazy.
“Beau, please, baby.” Her head thrashed on the pillow.“Harder. Faster. Fuck me.”
He groaned.“Kesslyn, you were thrown today.”
He gave her three hard pumps of his hips, and she knew he wanted to let loose as much she wanted him to, but he settled back into his steady pace. Fucking her slow and easy. He was afraid of hurting her.
“Just do this my way. I’ll take care of you. I promise.” He kissed her with the same edge of desperation she was feeling.
That wasn’t what Kesslyn wanted to hear. She felt fine. A few bumps and bruises weren’t that big of deal. She pushed at his chest. Beau backed off quickly with a look of concern on his handsome face.
“Did I hurt you? Kesslyn, I’m so sorry. I knew it was too soon. What the hell is wrong with me?” he berated himself.“It’s just that you make me crazy and . . .”
“Shut up. I’m just fine,” she cut him off.
Kesslyn shoved him over onto the bed and crawled on top of his big body. Straddling his hips, she lifted up and seated herself atop him. Burying him deep, where she needed him most. Keeping eye contact, she began to pump her hips. Their smooth, warm flesh gliding together as she rode him with abandon drove her higher and higher.
“Oh fuck. So good. Kesslyn, yes!” Beau held her hips and guided her movements.
His thickness filled her completely. She wouldn’t hold back. They were so completely joined, and she never wanted it to end, but Beau pulled her forward for a deep kiss. The change in position brought her clit in contact with his shaft with every thrust, sending hot sensation to every nerve. She wouldn’t last much longer that way. Her hips pumped faster. Beau began thrusting upward to meet her and Kesslyn felt herself begin to fall.
“Oh god, Beau, I’m gonna come. I can’t hold it back.”
“Thank fuck!” He hissed and rolled her beneath him. He fucked her then. Giving her the pounding she needed. Kesslyn screamed her release to the rafters.
Sometime later, Kesslyn laid peacefully in Beau’s arms. No one in her experience had ever come close a man like Beau Knox. Nobody. She’d never felt desire so overwhelming, as volcanic as the attraction that burned between them. The urge to press herself against that wide muscled chest was irresistible. Saying no when he asked her to take a chance with him had been impossible. She wasn’t even afraid of the future anymore. Beau did that for her. She was safe with him.
****
Beau couldn’t get enough. He’d woken Kesslyn twice during the night to take her again. He held her close and moved inside her, never breaking eye contact. Her eyes rounded. Ripples of pleasure flowed from Kesslyn and into Beau. Her muscles clinched around his cock, and Beau shouted as he came with her.
He watched her climax under him, and something in Beau snapped. Emotions flooded his chest and threatened to drown him. She made him feel tender and warm, possessive and protective. He was shaken by Kesslyn. The woman was like a battering ram to the solid shell around his cynical heart. Her lips were so softon his skin as she kissed her way across his chest. Her body so perfect under his hands. No, he didn’t think he was ever going to get enough.
The next evening Beau and Zeus were galloping across the pasture nearest the big house when he caught sight of Kesslyn sitting relaxed on Butterscotch’s back. She was brave, he’d give her that. He didn’t think another woman would be riding an animal that had thrown her and bolted the day before. Beau wasn’t pleased to see her out riding so soon. She had some nasty bruises and a
few scrapes that needed time to heal.
She hadn’t seen him yet. He slowed Zeus to a trot and took her in from a distance. Tendrils of rich auburn hair fluttered out in the breeze as Kesslyn surveyed the pastures around them and the cattle in the distance. Beau could imagine her looking out over this vista everyday while taking stock of her domain. He was surprised to realize how very much he wanted that to happen. Not only for the welfare of the town, but for Kesslyn, because she seemed lost and in need of an anchor. This land could be her anchor, her new home. Beau also wanted it for him, because he’d come to the conclusion at some point during the small hours of the morning that he needed Kesslyn.
He wanted more than the chance he’d asked her for. Beau wanted to love her. He already did if he were being honest with himself. Now he completely understood Deacon’s need to tie himself to Rissa in such a damn hurry. It was like a primal need to claim the female who’d claimed you without even trying. He didn’t want to move too fast and make Kesslyn bolt back to her life in the city so far away from him, but there was no doubt in his mind that he’d drag her fine ass down the aisle if she gave him half a chance. Even though he knew she could do better than a small town cowboy. He would be her cowboy, and he’d make damn sure she never regretted choosing him.
He chuckled to himself. Deacon was going to have a field day with this. There would be no end to the ribbing Beau would receive after he tried so hard to talk Deacon out of his hasty marriage. He looked forward to it. Kesslyn would be worth all the teasing Beau would endure.
He felt sure she wasn’t contemplating selling the ranch. Hodges had called Beau several times to suggest he do whatever was necessary to keep Kesslyn in Texas. Several other concerned townsfolk had called to ask if the rumors were true. Kesslyn had never mentioned she wanted to sell the W. She hadn’t even hinted at ever leaving. He was convinced everyone was being paranoid, but he planned to ask her about it when he found the right time. He would let her know what people were saying once she felt a little more secure in their relationship. He, for one, wasn’t worried about Kesslyn leaving. She wouldn’t have agreed to be his woman if she were planning on skipping town. He knew for a fact that she was making plans to upgrade equipment, and she was looking into enrolling in a course in animal husbandry and agriculture. A person about to sell it all and run back to the city didn’t do things like that.
For Beau, the necessity to keep Kesslyn in Walker Creek was about far more than the desire to protect his job or the town. It was about the burning want for the woman herself. Now he just needed to convince her that she needed him, too.
If things didn’t work out the way he hoped they would, Beau didn’t know what he’d do. He wouldn’t be able to stay on as foreman at the W. No way could he see her every day and not take her into his arms and kiss her lush mouth. It wouldn’t be possible for him to watch her with another man. The idea made him furious. No, he wouldn’t survive that, and neither would any man who captured Kesslyn’s heart with Beau around. He’d have to move on, find another job in another town. He never thought he’d leave Walker Creek, Texas. So he’d better get down to the business of winning the heart of the yankee who’d stolen his.
This had all happened so fast Beau could hardly wrap his head around it. All he knew for sure was that in a matter of days this sexy redheaded yankee had slipped under his skin and straight into his heart. He’d never wanted a committed relationship of any kind. That had all changed the night Kesslyn walked into Hooligans and danced away with his future in the palms of her hands.
****
The first month on the ranch passed quickly. Kesslyn was meeting with Mr. Baird several times a week to go over the W’s financial statements and her investment portfolio. She was finally starting to see the bigger picture. She’d discovered that her grandfather had an account for the ground rents paid by the town’s business and public buildings. Russell, Sr. hadn’t needed the money so he invested it back into the town. This was where the money for police vehicles and public works donations came from. The people paid the Walker estate ground rent, and her grandfather just gave it right back. Kesslyn wished she’d known him. He might have been stubborn, but he was a good man. Just like her father.
She was elbow deep in purchase orders and spread sheets in her office at the ranch. It had been her grandfather’s office. She’d taken it over recently and had Mr. Baird’s assistant delivering anything she needed to review. The frequent trips to Mr. Baird’s had become tedious. The man meant well, but he treated her like a child. He went over every document as if she couldn’t read it herself without a hand to hold. Kesslyn was confident in her ability to decipher the numbers. She was learning more and more about the industry every day. So things were coming together.
There was a knock on the frame of her open door. Kesslyn looked up to find a mighty fine cowboy standing there with bunch of wildflowers in a vase. She and Beau were thick as thieves. They spent all of their spare time together. Sometimes they even left the bedroom.
Kesslyn was hopelessly in love with Beau, but she hadn’t given him the words yet. It had happened so fast. She didn’t want to scare him away. He hadn’t exactly said the words either. They both danced around it. They were giving it try. Taking a chance. She thought he loved her too, but she didn’t want to be the first one to say it.
Beau sauntered into the room and placed the vase on her desk. He leaned over the desk and kissed her soundly.
“Thank you. To what do I owe the honor of a midday visit?”
“I’m here to ask my girl out on a date.” His smile had the power to take her breath away.
“You are? Just where are we going, cowboy?”
“Tomorrow is the Fourth of July, if you haven’t noticed. There’s a day long shindig in town every year. It’s a long day but it’s a lot of fun. I’d be honored if you’d be my date. I’ll make all of those salivating cowboys jealous as hell.” He chuckled.
It was true. The cowboys in town had taken a liking to her. She couldn’t go anywhere in town without receiving an offer for a date.
“Maybe once I make it good and clear you’re my girl they’ll back off. If not, I’m gonna have to start banging heads together.” He wasn’t smiling any longer. Kesslyn laughed out loud. She liked it when he got possessive. She’d be happy to inform the ladies of Walker Creek that Beau was off the market herself.
“Why, thank you, darlin’. I’d be honored to go to the shindig with you,” she said in her best fake accent. It sounded very Scarlett O’Hara.
“Thank you, ma’am. It’s a date.” He chuckled at her bad imitation.
He swept her up out of her chair and sat down. He settled her on his lap straddling him. Oh, my! He was at attention. Beau kissed her and slid his hands under her shirt to cup her breast. It was a long time before she got back to work.
****
Kesslyn dressed for the festivities with the warm summer day in mind in cream colored shorts and a black tank top with the Baltimore Ravens logo emblazoned across the chest. Her fingers brushed lovingly over the purple, black, and gold reminder of her hometown.
Eyeing her reflection in the mirror, she tried to see herself through Beau’s eyes. It was the first time in her life another person’s opinion had mattered to her, other than her parents, of course. Self-consciousness was a new and unwelcome emotion. She couldn’t help comparing herself to the willowy, golden creature that was Luann.
How was she supposed to win her cowboy’s heart with that woman chasing him around? She wasn’t sure, but she had to try, because Beau already owned her heart. She hadn’t ever believed in love at first sight. She still didn’t, not really, but she knew the spark that flared between them that first night had quickly spread to a blaze that consumed her.
Spending time with Beau had only strengthened her want for him until she couldn’t imagine being without him. He felt it too. Kesslyn could tell by the way he held her and looked into her eyes like he was trying to figure her out. Their physical attraction
was off the charts. That was a good beginning. She had a foundation to build on at least. If she was patient, sexual desire might grow to something more for Beau. She prayed it would.
In the meantime, they were becoming a great team with him running the ranch and her running the business. She was glad to have a cook and a cleaning crew that came several times a week. Kesslyn was so busy learning the ropes that she didn’t have time to make home cooked meals or clean laundry. So she totally understood why her grandma always kept a staff.
Kesslyn looked down at the hardwood floor on the way to the stairs and imagined her father running on these very boards as a child. A sudden image of a little boy with Beau’s blond hair and brown eyes popped into her head, and she staggered. She shook the thought away. It was too soon for her to start dreaming of her own babies running those halls. They were both in deep but they were still just dating. It wasn’t a done deal yet. She had to wrangle that cowboy if she wanted to have his brown eyed babies. And that’s exactly what she wanted.
SIX
Kesslyn had seen fireworks on July fourth every year since she could remember. She grew up walking distance from the inner harbor in Baltimore where there were fireworks every year. But this experience was different.
Walker Creek had a full day of activities on Independence Day that began with a parade at noon. After the parade, everyone headed over to the town square for the fair. There were booths with food, crafts, and games. Kesslyn had the best pecan pie she’d ever tasted at Molly’s Notcha Momma’s Desert tent. Beau got the Dr. Pepper cake and insisted she taste it when she made a face. It was a deliciously moist chocolate cake that she would never turn down again.
There was a dunking booth with Sherriff Shaw on deck getting all wet to raise money for the fire station. She thought every citizen he’d ever given a ticket to must have been in the line for a chance to dunk the man. The sheriff was teasing whoever stepped up to take a shot at him and taking his dunkings with grace. Kesslyn made a mental note to see what exactly the firehouse was in need of. It made her feel better about having all of that money if she spent some of it on good works.
