Catching Ember (Buckle Up Series Book 1)

by Beverly Preston

  Ember cringed spotting several inky blots of mascara on his pressed white shirt. She forced her gaze beyond the tan skin of his throat to his dazzling blue eyes. “Sorry. I think I might’ve ruined your shirt.”

  A chunky wave of dark hair fell over his forehead. His brows furrowed sweeping over her features with curt fascination—followed by a spike of irritation.

  “Really? That’s all you have to say?” he grumbled, straightening his back to a sitting position.

  Noting the damage to his jacket, she made an apologetic face pointing at the ripped seams near the shoulders. “And the jacket.”

  “Damn it all to hell.” Annoyance coated his groan. Taking note of the tremors still quaking through her limbs, he added briskly, “You’re okay. It’s gone now.”

  The gorgeous stranger sat back on his haunches. Perched between her thighs, he rested a palm on each knee. The hem of her dress kited up to her navel during the commotion.

  At that precise moment, they both realized she was laid out in front of him like an all you can eat buffet.

  The sea of blue heat tucked behind his thick, dark lashes turned lazy and compliant. Every muscle in his face softened as his gaze coasted down her torso to her thighs. She lay there, panting shamefully, turned on far more than she would’ve ever admitted.

  Ember struggled to categorize the amount of embarrassment pummeling her conscience. Her thin white panties had gotten wedged between her cheeks during the ruckus. Everything was now outlined and on full display. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew she should move, but couldn’t force herself to react. Paralyzed by an intense pull of fascination, she reveled in the sight of his hard muscles that had just been pressed against the length of her body, rolling back and forth on the concrete.

  He felt like…heaven.

  She squirmed a little under his scrutiny.

  His left brow perked in approval right before his eyes squeezed shut as if forcefully clearing the vision from his mind.

  Forcing a swallow down her parched throat, Ember released an awkward, shaky laugh, blurting out the first thing that popped into her head, “Thankfully I’m wearing underwear. That would’ve been embarrassing.”

  Hushed amusement rustled in his chest. He opened his mouth, contemplating a reply, but couldn’t manage a single word. He assisted her to a sitting position, slipping his long fingers behind her head checking for blood.

  “Yeah, that might’ve ruined my whole day,” he murmured, coasting his palms down each arm, inspecting her body as if she were a fragile piece of art that had fallen to the ground.

  “You’re…you’re probably going to have nightmares,” she stammered awkwardly.

  “You have no idea,” he replied abruptly, hands resting on the tips of her shoulders.

  Caught in an awkward embrace of sorts, the scent of coffee on his breath swirled around her. She lingered over his masculine features, landing on his wide, firm mouth. A dose of yearning hit her hard. It’d been months since she broke things off with her last boyfriend, nearly a year, and even then, his kissing skills were at best mediocre. In fact, everything about him was just ordinary. Especially sex. He could talk a good talk but couldn’t walk the walk.

  However, the man sitting before her oozed enough testosterone to make her head spin, her core clench, and her heart thump faster.

  In a daze, Ember reached forward and dragged her thumb over a smear of raspberry lip gloss on the collar of his shirt where her mouth grazed his throat during their tumble. Hints of his warm, spicy cologne still danced on her tongue. He began to jerk away from the connection but froze beneath her touch. His blue eyes locked on her mouth, following her tongue as it slid over her bottom lip, turning his expression pliant.

  “I’d hate to get you in trouble. I umm, I got a little lip gloss on your shirt.”

  “No trouble,” he replied. The pad of his palm turned a lazy circle over the tip of her shoulder, casually inspecting the mandala lotus tattoo.

  Suddenly, his hand dropped away, acting as if the ink on her arm had burned his flesh. All the softness surrounding his handsome features vanished.

  His attention turned straight and cold.

  Impenetrable.

  “I hollered at you. Why didn’t you move?” he grumbled in a chiding tone. Moving to his feet, he hauled Ember to a standing position.

  Finding her footing, she brushed the grime from her legs and arms, taking inspection. Her knees, elbows, and shoulders were scraped up a bit, but not bleeding too badly.

  Busted tables and chairs scattered around them in mangled chunks. The umbrella she’d been sitting under had been shredded to bits and strewn across the parking lot. The iron fence demolished beyond repair.

  Spotting her phone under the bumper of a parked car, Ember waved her hand at the device. “I had my earbuds in. I didn’t hear anything. That was crazy. Why on earth would a bull be running free in the streets?”

  Frightened customers began to emerge from businesses lining the street. Cameras in hand, they recorded the wreckage. An employee stuck his head out the door, asking if anyone needed an ambulance and assured the police were on their way. Both shook their heads, stating they were ok.

  “It was more like a stampede.” His gruff tone was full of aggravation. “There were five longhorns. Somebody’s got some explaining to do. Must’ve broke free from—” The aim of cameras drew his attention to the street. His hands flew straight outward before landing on top of his head. His mouth dropped open, a murderous growl boomed from his throat, “Son-of-a-bitch! My car!”

  A sleek silver Mercedes parked across the street was mangled in ruins. The hood had been trampled, side mirror dangled by a wire, and the windshield caved in, covering the front seats in glass.

  “I take it that’s your car?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he bit sharply behind gritted white teeth. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

  He paced in a full circle, raking his long fingers through waves of thick brown hair, nearly yanking them from their roots. After a few turns, he paused, casting a scowl her direction.

  Eyes wide, she pursed her lips and shrugged, stating innocently, “Hey, don’t look at me. It’s not like I was waving a red cape.”

  They started toward the car to inspect the damage when the sound of galloping horses drew their attention. Two cowboys, one not much more than a boy, rode in the ditch alongside the street.

  “Well, don’t you look all respectable.” The cowboy snickered, leading his horse around them in a quick circle. “You going to a funeral or something?”

  “I’m workin’. That your cattle, Beaumont?” He didn’t wait for an answer, merely lifted his chin toward his mangled car. “You’re gonna be owing me, and the nice people of Fort Worth, some repairs.”

  “I gotta sick feeling that fancy car is gonna be the least of my worries,” he reckoned, taking closer inspection of the coffee shop. He looked down and frowned. “Good Lord, what has happened to you? First the suit, now this. A chick car? You’ve up and gone pussy on me.” Tipping his hat toward Ember, he offered a polite, “Pardon.”

  Moving toward his car, he yanked the tattered suit jacket free from each bulky shoulder, tossing it on the crumpled hood. “What the hell happened, Beaumont?”

  “Cattle got loose from the slaughterhouse. Got spooked by a woman walking a dog the size of an armadillo. Thankfully, no injuries.”

  “Yet.”

  Beaumont called to the young boy, “Trey, get down off that horse.” Turning his attention to the man beside her, he scoffed, “How ‘bout you get your pretty little ass up here and help me wrangle these cattle before things get worse. That is…unless you’re afraid of getting dirty.”

  Ignoring the sarcasm, he assisted the boy from his horse, and hiked a boot into the stirrup.

  “Yeah, screw it. I’m not gonna make my meeting anyway.” Texas manners kicking in, his tone turned neighborly, almost friendly. “I’ll give you a hand.”

  “Head on inside,
Trey. I’ll be back to get you after I get this mess settled or have one of the hands pick you up.”

  Beaumont reached into his wallet, flipping the boy some cash. The money no sooner left his hand, and the boy took off, eager to indulge in a caffeinated beverage.

  “Wait!” Ember lurched forward and latched onto his wrist, warmth sinking all the way to her bones. “Thank you…for saving my life.”

  Glancing over his shoulder, he hit her with a vague yet penetrating stare. Some sort of shared chemistry arched dangerously between them. She felt hot and suffocated. Her typically spot on intuition, obliterated by a turbulent ocean of blue heat.

  “No problem, Ember,” he grumbled with a nod.

  The material of his light gray pants stretched over the long dense muscles of his thigh as he hoisted himself into the saddle, blessing her with a stunning departing gift.

  A great view of his fantastic ass.

  Chapter 3

  Ember

  Ember stood at the edge of the street, watching him ride away before making her way back to the demolished patio. Pausing mid-stride, a frown weaved across her forehead. “Wait a minute. How did he know my name?”

  Employees cleaned up the wreckage, up righting a few remaining tables and chairs that weren’t destroyed. Gathering the contents of her bag that had been strewn across the patio, Ember replayed the insanity, trying to remember if she’d mentioned her name.

  One of the workers picked up her now empty Frappuccino and offered to make her another. She declined with a shake of the head, murmuring to herself, “That explains it.”

  Ring ring ring.

  Trotting toward the parking lot, she hinged at the waist, retrieving her cell from beneath a parked car. There was no need to even look at the screen, she knew who was calling.

  Ember took two deep breaths, attempting to settle the adrenaline still coursing through her blood before answering. “Hey, mom.”

  “What’s going on? Are you okay?”

  “Everything is fine.”

  “Everything is not fine,” June insisted. Panic in her rushed voice began to subside merely hearing Ember’s voice. “I just had a crazy vision of—”

  “Mom, really. It was nothing.”

  “So, something did happen? I knew it! My sixth sense is never wrong. I didn’t expect you to arrive at the ranch for another hour, but I had a vision of a cow and a fence—”

  “You and your sixth sense.” Ember freed the disheveled dark mane from the top of her head. “I don’t know how I ever managed to sneak out of the house in high school.”

  “I hate to disappoint you, sweetie, but you didn’t get by with anything. I knew every time you snuck out your window.” Satisfaction practically shined through the phone. “My intuition is spot on. Now stop avoiding the question or I’m going to get in my car.”

  “There was a little stampede. A cow—” Ember avoided the term bull, holding back details of the large, pointy horns. “—jumped the fence at the coffee shop, but I’m fine.”

  “Oh no. Do you need me to come get you? I’m going into session with the Millers right now, but I can cancel the rest of my day.”

  “We’re not going to have this conversation again. I’m going to be fine and you’re going to stop being ridiculous. I’ve lived on my own for the last five years. I’m fairly certain I can manage the next four months.” Reining in her insolence, she softened, “Mom, I know you’re worried, but I got this.”

  “I understand you want to do this on your own, but—”

  “Need. I need to do this on my own. I’m not trying to be rude or start another argument, Mom, but you had twenty-six years to set things straight and you opted to keep the fact that you knew who my father was for—”

  “I’ve told you a dozen times, I only knew his first name. The man was a rancher. He raised cattle to slaughter. I don’t even eat meat and the idea of killing something for a living…I would’ve never been able to conform to that kind of lifestyle.”

  “So, he was good enough to bang for the night, but getting to know him because he’s a cattle rancher was out of the question?”

  “It was one night, one amazing night I might add. Life is too short to be restrained by convention or obligation. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that I didn’t fit into his world and he in mine.” Defeat filtered through the phone. “Back then, I didn’t even know how to use a computer. Cell phones were the size of a brick and rumored to cause cancer. There was no way of searching for someone you wanted to find. And to be honest—”

  “Yeah, it would’ve been nice if you were honest,” she countered.

  Her mother’s frustrated sighs filled a long gap of silence. Ember wasn’t being fair, and she knew it.

  “Ember, I was always honest with you about your father. Well, almost always.”

  “Yeah, until we ran into him at a restaurant in Austin five years ago and you failed to mention, Oh yeah, by the way Ember, this is your dad.”

  “What did you expect me to say? I was in shock. Look, I’m not going to look back on my life and wonder should’ve would’ve could’ve. It just happened. And I have loved every second of every minute of the results that sparked from that one night of passion.”

  Ember dropped her face in the palm of her hands, shaking her head, willing the image from her head.

  “Honey, you were meant to be.”

  “And what about me? What about my should’ve would’ve could’ve? Did you ever stop to think that maybe running into him that night was a sign? It was my twenty-first birthday! Maybe I was supposed to meet him, get to know him before he died?”

  “No, I was, I—” Tears choked her emotions, stealing her voice.

  “You what, mom? You’re the one who’s always preaching the universe always provides. That universe applies to me too.” Ember tapped the palm of her hand to her chest in three rapid successions. “Maybe running into him was a sign, hitting you smack dab in the middle of your forehead, that I was supposed to get to know him. Now, I’ll never have the chance.”

  “Sweetie, all I can do now is say I’m sorry.”

  “I’m just.” Sorrow and irritation melded with understanding. “Disappointed, Mom.”

  “I fully recognize your frustration.”

  Spotting a familiar white Range Rover parking along the street, Ember cut the conversation short. “I gotta go. JC and Chloe just pulled up.”

  “Remember to allow yourself into this space with an open heart, accepting and compassionate.”

  “Mom, I was raised with feelings, remember. I’m going into this with an open mind. I committed to the next four months and I hope to stick it out. Do I expect to fall in love with the ranch? No, definitely not. Will I agree not to sell it? I’m not making any promises, but I want to know who my father was and from everything I’ve gathered, this ranch was his life.”

  “I know this won’t be an easy journey, but always communicate with patience and respect and—”

  “Mom,” Ember interrupted, cutting off the speech she’d already heard that morning. “I’m sure the Millers are waiting for you. Go save a marriage, okay. I’ve got this.”

  “Please keep me informed.”

  “Will do,” she assured.

  By the time Ember gathered up her things and slung the strap of her purse over her scraped up shoulder, JC had already hopped out of the vehicle, grabbed Chloe from her car seat, and rushed toward her.

  “What the hell happened? Are you okay?”

  Chloe squirmed on her mother’s hip, desperately stretching her little arms outward. Her bright tiny-toothed smile instantly thawed Ember’s angst.

  “Emer! Emer!” the little girl squealed in delight. The B they’d been working on was lost to excitement.

  Ember met JC and her husband in Malibu while teaching a yoga class for expecting couples. They formed a friendship, sharing an instant bond, which led to private classes and a part-time nanny position after Chloe was born. JC’s husband, Reed, grew up n
ear Austin. The couple kept two homes, one in California and another in Texas, traveling back and forth for work for her illustrious modeling career and his architectural firm. Ember nannied for them when they stayed at their home in Malibu.

  “Hey, sweet girl.” Ember happily retrieved the eager toddler from her mother’s arms. She placed a kiss to her headful of dark wavy locks before greeting JC with a much-needed hug. “You’re never going to believe it. I was sitting on the patio meditating—”

  “You were sitting here? At this patio?” She pointed at the destroyed space. Slanting her chin toward her chest, JC’s green eyes pulled wide with alarm, peering over the rim of her sunglasses. “There’s nothing left of it!”

  “Five minutes ago, it was a peaceful sanctuary, but then it turned into a rodeo.”

  The sound of police sirens halted their conversation. Chloe frowned, throwing her hands to her ears. Her delicate pink lips made the perfect shape of an O.

  “It’s too woud. Too woud, Emer!”

  Ember pulled the toddler close, pressing one ear to her chest and covering the other with her hand.

  “Let’s sit in the car,” JC shouted over the commotion.

  They moved to the quiet confines of the luxurious vehicle. Taking full advantage of being in the front seat, Chloe climbed over the console and into her mother’s lap, happily taking control of the steering wheel.

  “Did you say stampede?”

  “Yeah, it was crazy.” Ember bent forward, relishing in the air conditioning blowing from the vents. The cool air carried the subtle scents of new-car leather and powdery baby lotion. “One minute I’m getting into my zone and the next I’m being thrown to the ground by a complete stranger.”

  “Holy s.h.i.t. That explains the scratches and blood. Ember, you’re lucky you didn’t get seriously injured. This could’ve been bad.” JC stretched behind her seat, rummaging through Chloe’s diaper bag to retrieve a baby wipe.