The Weston Front

by Gray Gardner

  No one had seen me. Thank God. It really bugged me that I was so scared, though. It was my vacation, wasn’t it? Couldn’t I do harmless things and enjoy myself? Shit. I knew I was in trouble. Why did it also feel a little exciting? Gross. I needed to seek therapy after this trip.

  I ran through the ranch and didn’t stop until I was safely in the cabin. I tossed my stuff on a table by the door and immediately grabbed a beer from the fridge. The touch panel screen flashed so I swiped my finger across it and was suddenly looking into the very angry face of Weston Hamilton.

  “Blake Campbell? West Hamilton, here. I hope you’re out enjoying yourself on our little ranch. I’d like to show you an interesting picture I saw today.”

  An aerial picture of us on the hike flashed on the screen. So, that was a spy helicopter? Come on! This was getting out of hand. And I couldn’t even see myself in the photo.

  Then he continued. “Nice shot, huh? I simply can’t wait to hear how your day’s been when I get back. I hope you give me every detail because you know I don’t like being lied to. And you know how much I love that ass of yours. Well, you can put it together. I’ll be over as soon as I land.”

  I slammed my fist into the screen, cracking it, when suddenly I heard a low chuckling behind me. Wheeling around, I was surprised that I felt a little disappointed that it was Rowdy and Caroline. He was laughing; she was staring at me, mouth agape.

  “Oh, hey,” I breathlessly said, taking a long swig of my beer as my cheeks felt very warm.

  “Uh,” Caroline began, frowning. “I can put it together…and to me it sounds like you did something when he told you not to and he’s going to spank you or something.”

  “What?” I asked in an inhumanly high voice. Jesus, she was astute. I waved her off and shook my head. “Yeah, right. That’s not…it wasn’t…”

  “Why is that so hot?” Rowdy asked, rubbing his jaw and drooling at Caroline.

  “You aren’t laying a hand on me, cowboy,” she said, laughing anyway as he approached her. “Rowdy! I mean it! Blake help me!”

  She squealed with laughter as he grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder.

  “You’ve been doing some things that I think need to change. This is for your own good,” he smiled, winking at me as Caroline banged her fists against his back and they disappeared into her room.

  I wasn’t sure whether or not to call the police or laugh my ass off. The muffled sound of skin striking skin filtered out into the kitchen, followed by the sounds of what apparently was someone getting her brains screwed out. I exhaled and grabbed a few more beers, then headed for my bedroom. A bath and a buzz were definitely in order.

  Chapter Ten

  “Sounds like someone is getting her brains screwed out.”

  “God!” I gasped, jerking my body around as something warm and rock hard pressed up against me. I pushed up to a sitting position and brushed loose wisps of hair out of my face. It was dark out. I was in a tank top and my pajama bottoms. I’d been asleep and now woken up by a very sexy, very shirtless West.

  “When was the last time you ate?” He frowned, assessing the empty bottles amassed on my bedside table as the moonlight filled my room with a silvery glow.

  “What?” I asked, rubbing my sleepy eyes as I checked my Ironman watch. Midnight. He hadn’t even been gone twenty-four hours, like he promised.

  “Do you usually drink your dinner?” he asked, standing with his hands low on his hips, his black Nike cloth pants hanging even lower. Good Lord…

  “How was your trip?” I asked, giving a big, fake smile.

  “I think the question is, how was yours?”

  Groaning, I fell back onto the mattress and threw a pillow over my face. He wanted to do this now? I felt the mattress dip down under his weight, then his arms around my waist. He felt so good that I had to moan with pleasure as he hugged me to his chest.

  “Let’s begin with how you decided to just leave the ranch,” he calmly said, his lips pressed against my head.

  “West…”

  “And then you were pretty sharp in your texts.”

  “Come on…”

  “And then I had to fire four hosts because they let you go on a very dangerous hike…”

  “No!” I shouted, pushing out of his arms and sitting up. Crap! “Please, please hire them back! That tall one, the brunette lady told me I couldn’t go but I went anyway with a jacket and a hood! Don’t fire them, please! They did their jobs!”

  He was leaning back against the pillows, arms folded over his chest and a victorious smile across his stupid face. I suddenly fell back onto my knees.

  “You didn’t fire anybody…did you?”

  “Of course not,” he smirked, raising a brow. “But I’m smart enough to know that you’d be sweet enough to save the jobs of total strangers…to your detriment.”

  “I really hate you. You know that, right?” I frowned, arms crossed over my chest. God, I was an idiot.

  “If you were anybody else I’d believe that,” he grinned, leaning forward and snagging my wrist. He pulled me towards him and though I resisted, he had me on his lap with his arms securely around me in about two seconds. He kissed my forehead, my cheek, my neck. “But you’re my sweet girl. My very naughty, very sweet girl. Aren’t you?”

  I inhaled his now familiar scent as I closed my eyes and relaxed a little. He was right. I was his and there was no going back. It was exciting and scary all at once.

  “Tell me you’re mine,” he repeated.

  “You’re mine,” I grinned, giggling as he squeezed my sides and ran his whiskers along my neck. “Okay! I’m yours!”

  “Now tell me what a bad little girl you were today,” he mumbled, lifting me up a little and licking the nape of my neck.

  “West…”

  “I want to hear it from you, Blake,” he said, his voice vibrating against my neck and sending shivers all over my body.

  “Fine. I decided that today I would participate in an activity that didn’t involve anything you’ve gotten mad about. No horses, no vehicles small, large, or otherwise, no water to drown in, I wasn’t alone, and I didn’t have a gun! It was a slow, walking trip with thirty other people! I did what you wanted, damn it!”

  He turned my face up so that I could see the adoration in his eyes.

  “You’re right, Sweetheart. But I didn’t want you to go on that hike because we’ve had some bear sightings on surrounding properties. Didn’t you notice the hosts were all armed?” he said, a look of pain crossing his face as he peered down at me.

  “West, if you get scared about something, just tell me like a normal person. If you’d said,Hey, Blake, there’s bears on the hike, I wouldn’t have gone! See how easy that was?”

  He sighed and held me close to him, making me crazy with anticipation.

  “You’re right,” he finally conceded. I was shocked but didn’t indicate my surprise. “I’ve told you before, Blake, I’m new at this. I don’t really know what to do so I just try to control you like I control a business…”

  “Okay, there’s your first mistake,” I smiled, running my fingers lightly across his chest. “There’s no controlling me, West. There’s no controlling any woman.”

  “Then how do I get you to do what I want?”

  “Seriously?” I asked, looking at him, appalled. “Do you even hear yourself?”

  “I’m just kidding, Blake,” he chuckled, grabbing the back of my head and bringing me down for a kiss.

  “You’re not funny, West,” I replied against his lips. I kissed him, though. It got heated very quickly.

  He suddenly had me on my knees on the bed, kneeling behind me with his hands firmly on my hips. I gasped when he yanked down my pajama bottoms and whimpered when he stroked his finger up and down between my legs. Man, I was such a slut.

  He leaned over and kissed my shoulder.

  “Your hot little pussy is already so wet. Is that because you’re excited about seeing me or is it because you’re
about to get a spanking?” he whispered, sucking on my earlobe and sending shockwaves through my body.

  “West!” I protested, unable to move out from under him as I clawed at the headboard. Did I even want to get away? Yes…maybe. When his hand smacked down hard on my ass I knew it wasyes. When he drove his cock into me and groaned louder than I did, I knew it wasno. When he timed each thrust with a hard smack to my ass I became totally confused.

  Then he reached around and pressed his fingers between my legs and I had a screaming orgasm. So did he. It was so good and so loud that Rowdy and Caroline were knocking on our door, expecting to find us in the middle of a fight. They finally burst in and found us panting, me sprawled across West’s chest, the sheet pulled up around us, with sated grins on our faces. They both looked shocked, then quickly apologized and backed out of the room.

  “Well, you did it,” I sighed, running my finger across West’s chest as I lay on it. “You made Caroline Rohm speechless.”

  “Rowdy was too,” he grinned; kissing my head before letting his head fall back in exhaustion. “One way or another I think you’re going to kill me.”

  “Will you die a happy man?” I lazily asked, snuggling up under his arm as he settled the covers around my shoulders and made sure I was comfortable.

  “The happiest.”

  We joined Caroline and Rowdy in the kitchen the next morning, sipping coffee and laughing about the night’s events…sort of. It was nice to have everyone happy and content, though. It felt good to feel happy and content.

  I was pouring my second cup when West frowned at the wall.

  “What’s with the touch screen?” he asked, all god-like in his low riding pants and no shirt and messy hair and flawless everything.

  “I got your little video message,” I grumbled, contentment evaporating.

  “We all did,” Rowdy chuckled, jerking back as Caroline smacked his shoulder.

  West failed at hiding an amused grin as he looked down at me. “So you smashed it, huh?”

  I suddenly felt a little guilty. I mean, those things had to have been expensive. They were state of the art. I sheepishly looked down at my slut-red toes peeking out from my baggy pajama pants. “I’ll, uh, I was planning on paying for that,” I softly said.

  He leaned down and caught my eyes, looking way too pleased with himself. “You certainly will,” he replied in a deep voice, raising a knowing eyebrow at me.

  “Hey, you keep your fucking hands off of her!” Caroline suddenly interrupted, stepping in between us.

  “Caroline,” Rowdy said, reaching around and grabbing her arm. “He would never hurt her. Did I hurt you last night?”

  For the first time, like,ever, Caroline’s face colored and she sucked in a shocked breath. Then she quickly scowled at West. “She’s little, okay? And you’re a big strong man, we all get that!”

  “Caroline!” Rowdy said, pulling her behind him as he headed for her room.

  She dug in her heels and defended me, which did feel kind of nice even though I knew it wouldn’t help.

  “Don’t hurt her!” Caroline ordered again before the door slammed and they were in her room. I had the feeling she was talking about more than physically. I think West did, too.

  He exhaled in annoyance and pulled his vibrating phone out of his pocket. He spoke sharply and quickly, then hung up and smiled down at me.

  “I have a million fires to put out since I was gone yesterday. Want to meet up at lunch?”

  I know I must have looked confused because the endearing look he gave me was borderline sympathy. He ran his knuckles along the side of my face.

  “I’ve got an idea how to settle everything. You know, since you’re such a country girl.”

  Uh-oh. That sounded mildly condescending. I would end up regretting making statements about how I was better suited for ranch life than all of the other guests by the end of the day, for sure. I didn’t answer him as I turned and hurried into my room. Now I was nervous.

  “We’ll meet for lunch and then we’ll do everything you want to do this afternoon,” he grinned, pulling his t-shirt on and sitting on the bed to slip on his socks and tennis shoes.

  “That,” I began, frowning as I stared at him, “That doesn’t sound like you’re mad at me.”

  “I’m not mad at all,” he chuckled, standing and running a hand down my hair. He leaned down and kissed my forehead. “But those touch screens are about a hundred bucks a piece. What if everyone smashed them when they lost their tempers?”

  My mouth fell open as anger began to seep in. He wasn’t being fair.

  “I don’t think everyone here has an unreasonable billionaire boyfriend,” I spat, hands on my hips.

  He grinned and leaned in the doorway. “I’ll see you at lunch. Now, tell me the rules you’re to follow until then.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” I said, proud of myself for the evenness of my voice. I wanted to scream and smash the flat screen sitting on the wall in my room. God, I did have a temper problem.

  “Tell me,” he warned, using a tone. I pressed my thighs together as they tingled. Damn it!

  “Ugh, fine! The totally arbitrary parameters you’ve set up for a grown woman are: no riding horses birthed in the last half century, no vehicles for on or off road, no water activities, no guns, no hikes, and I’m not to remove the tight leash tethering me to you!”

  I grabbed the door and slammed it in his face. That made me feel a little better as I heard him laughing all of the way to the front door. He was totally infuriating. No wonder he’d never had a girlfriend.

  The shower calmed me down a little. I tagged along with Caroline and Rowdy to breakfast. Then I got a phone call from my dad about hurrying up with the employee reports. I excused myself from a boring morning of watching Caroline and Rowdy have fun and went back to our cabin to get my laptop and finish up.

  My dad was a good guy. He worked hard and he totally didn’t understand vacations. I didn’t mind doing the work, though. He’d given me the job when there were a number of other candidates. Nepotism? Sure, but it’s not like I was raking in millions. I was making about as much as a teacher.

  The hairs on my neck suddenly prickled and I knew that West was just standing there. Staring at me. Judging how to deal with me. I had no idea how he was so quiet. He was a big guy.

  Turning with a smirk, I found that I was totally, unequivocally wrong.

  A huge, huge, fuckinghuge brown bear was sitting on the edge of our deck. Staring at me. I paused for about a tenth of a second before letting out a shriek and running through the sliding glass door. I slammed it shut and locked it. Yeah, like that would keep a half-ton bear out of the cabin. Oh shit, what about the other guests?

  The touch screen! I cursed myself as I tried swiping at it to get someone on the line and warn them. Shit! It was too far gone. I grabbed my phone out of my back pocket and quickly dialed West. No answer. Then I dialed Rowdy. Christ, answer your phones!

  I had to get on the iPad to hunt down the number for the front desk. Penny the incompetent answered, so I quickly shouted something totally intelligible about abearanddangerand sendeveryone who had a gun.

  I looked out of the window and found the bear heading towards the cabin next to us. What would it do there? Maybe everyone was at their activities? My mind scrambled around and latched onto something from the first day. An emergency phone? Yes! In the middle of the guest cabins was a land phone for emergencies!

  Carefully and with my heart beating rapidly, I poked my head out. The bear was still sauntering away on my left. Peering around the large field surrounded by cabins and pine trees, I found a telephone pole with a red flashing light and a covered phone. I didn’t even think twice. I raced as fast as I could to the phone. Was the bear behind me? I glanced over my shoulder. It had stopped, but it wasn’t gunning for me. Yet.

  Tripping over my boots I fell knees first and skidded across a rocky path, then leapt back to my feet and dove for the phone. I picked it up
and was immediately connected to the emergency center for the Bar H Ranch.

  “There’s a bear!” I shouted, just as the bear fully turned and starting heading towards me. Oh shit. I continued quickly. “A big brown bear at the Adventurer’s Guest Cabins! I don’t know who else is…”

  At this point the huge animal was now loping towards me so I squealed and dropped the phone, quickly searching for an escape. Should I climb a tree? No, you idiot! Bears climb trees. Should I just run and hope to lose it? Yes! I ran for the cover of the pine trees just as a Hummer and a Polaris flew over the hill in the distance.

  Good response time, sure, but the bear was still heading straight for me. I huffed as I slid over small rocks and pine needles, clawing for the tree trunks and trying my hardest to get away. I heard gunfire. Oh crap, I didn’t want them to hurt the bear! My heart raced as I continued to climb the steep hill. No time for compassion! There is a bear!

  I finally reached a couple of boulders and leaned back against them to catch my breath. The sun shone through an open patch in the pine trees and I was suddenly dripping with sweat. I was scared to look back and see if the bear was there. Was I ready to die? No, I was ready to run. Something rustled through the forest behind me and I shrieked as Rowdy startled me and swept me up into a hug.

  “Jesus Christ!” he huffed, still holding onto me as he pulled a radio off of his belt and spoke into it. “I’ve got her. She’s fine. I’m coming down.”

  “Rowdy,” I croaked, as he set me down and looked me over. He grinned and wiped some dirt off of my face.

  “You’re safe,” he nodded, taking my shoulder and helping me down the steep, rocky hill. “We got the bear with a tranquilizer gun and we’re shipping it off to an animal reserve tomorrow. They’ve been searching for this particular bear for weeks…how’d you come across her?”

  “She came across me,” I huffed, still trying to catch my breath as we stumbled out of the trees and were bombarded with a mass of hosts and guests and other various staff members.