The Right Ranger (The Men of at Ease Ranch)

by Donna Michaels

  “He said it was and made sure to save you some from last night’s dinner.”

  “I was going to make some pancakes, but to hell with that. I’m having cannoli for breakfast.” She grinned as she put on a pot of coffee and grabbed two plates. “I hope I’m not eating alone, though. I won’t feel so guilty.”

  Beth grinned. “If I must. Far be it for me to let you walk on the wild side of breakfast alone.”

  She laughed. “I appreciate the sacrifice.”

  The next half hour, over coffee and cannoli, Haley and Beth talked about their childhoods, and their conversation reiterated things that made sense about Cord.

  He’d already told her about the death of his father when he was a teenager, but Beth went into it in more detail, explaining how he’d stepped up to take on the responsibility of helping his mother and grandmother and watching out for his sister. Responsibility was important to him, and the fact he wasn’t frivolous with his wants. It was ingrained in him to take care of others. Especially family. Family came first. Family meant everything to him.

  The men he served with were his family.

  Drew was his family.

  But who took care of Cord?

  Her heart broke a little for him, but she’d never let him know that. The last thing the independent man would want was anyone feeling sorry for him.

  “What did Cord do for fun when he was growing up?”

  “Boss me around.” Beth sighed. “Seriously, he didn’t. He had part-time jobs after school, then joined the Army right after graduation.”

  She frowned. “Didn’t he date?”

  His sister shrugged. “Yeah, but nothing serious. He was too caught up in taking care of me and my mom and my grandmother, he had no room for another woman in his life,” Beth said. “But if there’s anything else you’d like to know about him, ask away.” The woman winked as she bit into her second cannoli.

  The allure of having a pipeline into the enigmatic Warlock’s past was almost too incredible to pass up, but it still kind of felt wrong, so she sighed. “I’d better not. Somehow the bugger would know.”

  Beth snorted. “True. God, I hate when he does that. I couldn’t get away with anything growing up.”

  Haley smiled, her heart going out to the teenage Beth. “That had to really suck.”

  “Oh, it did. Big time. But I understand why he was so protective. I just wished he would’ve let me live my life. Make my own mistakes. Stumble and learn to right myself.”

  “You seem to have done all right for yourself,” she pointed out, feeling a weird need to defend the well-meaning control freak.

  “I have, but that’s because I decided to go out and do what I wanted without checking with Cord first. Or letting him know until after the fact.”

  Haley snorted. “Love it. Ask for forgiveness, not permission.”

  “Exactly.” Beth grinned, reaching for her coffee. “Speaking of permission, I contacted everyone on our list and they all enthusiastically jumped at the chance to set up tents here during that Sunday of your grand opening weekend.”

  “What?” She stilled. “All of them? There were twenty-two vendors on that list.”

  “I know. And they all want in. They really loved the idea, and they’re excited to have you join their business community.”

  She sat dumbfounded, just staring at the smiling woman. “How did you ever pull that off?”

  Beth chuckled. “I’d love to take the credit, but it all goes to you. They were thrilled that you wanted to continue to contribute to the local economy.”

  “Wow.” She sat back in her chair and blinked again. “I don’t know what to say.”

  “I do. Good job, Haley.” Beth reached out to pat her hand. “You work hard and are fair, people around here notice that. You should be proud of it. Own it.”

  “Thanks. I’m not used to that type of recognition.” Or compliments. Drew had hated the long hours she’d put into the cattle ranch. But he’d been deployed half the time, and it had become her life. It was hard to let it drop and travel around the world with him, so she eventually stopped.

  “Well, it’s deserving, so get used to it,” Beth said firmly, sounding so much like her brother it made Haley smile.

  “Thanks,” she repeated, then stood. “How about I give you a tour so you know exactly what Haley’s Haven is about?”

  After a quick cleanup, she grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and led Beth out the door. Excitement rushed through her veins, and she knew it wasn’t just from getting to show her friend her new dream. It had to do with a certain Ranger who had put his life on hold to help her out, in more ways than one.

  She was looking forward to helping him out later, too.

  He was pretty serious about working. But the place was ahead of schedule, thanks to the Mitchums helping Cord out over the weekend. And since they were due out the upcoming weekend, maybe she could persuade the man to slow down a little.

  When they were alone.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Cord knew Haley was approaching even before he heard her talking to his sister. His whole body shifted to alert mode. Awareness trickled through him in a heated, tingling sensation that twitched his favorite body part to life.

  How the hell could he still be hungry for her? Especially after enjoying breakfast in bed that morning. Damn, he was hopeless. A smile tugged at his lips. Yeah, hopelessly in lust with the woman. She revved his engine like no other. Somehow, their second night had topped their first. Each time got better and better and did nothing to lessen his appetite for the responsive, giving, and demanding woman.

  “And last but not least, this is the old barn. I’ve nicknamed it Old Redder for obvious reasons.” Haley’s voice drifted to him, along with his sister’s laughter. “Cord has been working hard in here, repairing long neglected issues. Right now, he’s working on the stalls, hopefully ridding them of all things spider and critter related.”

  Lizzie’s presence helped curb his appetite. Last thing he needed was his sister catching sight of his condition. Christ, she’d turn his self-indulgence with Haley into a relationship, and his mother would catch wind and have him married off before he could blink.

  “I hate spiders, or anything with more than two legs, unless it’s a dog, cat, or horse,” Lizzie said, and he could picture disgust wrinkling her forehead. “My brother is an ace spider remover. He had a lot of practice with me.”

  He exited the stall. “Hey, Lizzie,” he greeted, pulling his sister in for a hug as he smiled at Haley. She had this soft look about her face that said she’d been thoroughly satisfied and wasn’t going to apologize for it. Well, neither was he.

  He struggled with the notion that maybe he should give her a hug as well, after all, she’d given him a hell of a lot more than that a few hours ago. But he didn’t want his sister to get the wrong impression, so he let his gaze linger on her a little longer before releasing his sister.

  “Lizzie’s right,” he said, nodding to Haley when she handed him a bottle of water, and ignoring his sister’s pleased grin. “She was forever giving me a damn heart attack with her screams while growing up. I remember this one time, I found her on the kitchen counter, trying to scale the refrigerator because there was a tiny spider on the floor.”

  “It was a jumper.”

  “Eww.” Haley shivered, running her hands up and down her arms, exactly like his sister. “They’re the worst.”

  Hiding a smile, he uncapped the bottle and drank the water while listening to the women.

  “Tell that to my brother.” Lizzie grimaced. “He was highly agitated with my suggestion of removal.”

  He snorted. “Burning the house down was not an option.”

  “Why not?” His sister blinked, totally serious. “If it has twice as many limbs as me, it has to go.”

  “Sounds reasonable to me,” Haley stated, with a lift of her shoulder.

  He knew when he was outnumbered. And right now, he was definitely outnumbered. He
shook his head and set his empty bottle down against the outside wall of the stall. “Well, you’ll be pleased to know that, up to this point, all spiders have been removed.”

  “Super, then we can stay right here.” Lizzie smiled. “The place looks really great, and from what you’ve told me, and the plans I’ve seen, it’s going to be a wonderful place for people to board their horses.”

  He nodded, pride washing through his chest, but not for him, for Haley. It was her idea. Her dream, and she was making it a reality. He was just a worker doing what he was told. She was the one who planned, researched, then planned some more, and was now making it all a reality. “It was all Haley.”

  Lizzie nodded. “She’s something else.”

  “I know,” he said, gaze trained on the woman whose chest rose as her lips parted and warmth flooded her incredible brown gaze.

  God, she was beautiful. He liked that look on her. He liked it a lot.

  “Well, I’d better get going,” Lizzie announced. “I have a few things to take care of now that we have a vender count and I’ve seen the layout.”

  He forced himself to transfer his attention to his sister. “Okay. We’ll see you this weekend.”

  “Oh, right, about that.” Lizzie blinked. “The guys wanted me to tell you they have an inspection late Friday, so they thought they’d stick around At-Ease and make the session, since they missed it last week. So we’d come out first thing Saturday morning. Is that okay?”

  “Of course,” Haley replied, then glanced at him. “You should attend the session, too. I feel bad you all missed it last week because of me.”

  “Hey.” He stepped close, despite his sister’s presence. “It wasn’t because of you.”

  “Cord, you were all here laying the fences I needed done by next week. Of course it was because of me.”

  He shook his head. “The sessions aren’t mandatory and we don’t always make them, isn’t that right, Lizzie?”

  “Yes.” His sister nodded. “Cord’s right. They don’t go to them every week.”

  He noted Haley’s relieved breath before she nodded, too. “Just promise me you’ll make this week’s, okay?”

  It was his turn to nod. “Okay.”

  “All right, I’m going to get going. Thanks for the coffee and the tour.”

  He watched his sister pull Haley in for a quick hug before she waved to him and left. “Sounds like Lizzie’s got some good plans for your opening.”

  Haley’s warm smile returned. “Yeah, can you believe she got all twenty-two venders to agree to show up and man a table? She’s a miracle worker.”

  “So are you.”

  “Me? I haven’t done anything. You’re the one busting your ass.”

  She didn’t see. Her humility humbled him at times. He’d never really met anyone like her, outside of Lizzie and Jovy. Haley had always been special, and the more he was around her, the more he realized there were a lot of facets to her, too.

  He was impressed with each of them.

  “So, Cord, my spider-slayer, critter remover, orgasm creator extraordinaire, tell me something?” She set her hands on his chest and slowly pushed him backward into the stall he’d vacated.

  He knew he had work to do. It wasn’t something he’d ever strayed from, but his body was calling the shots now.

  “Anything.” He’d tell her fucking anything if she kept looking at him like he was the special of the day and she was famished.

  She leaned in to kiss a path to his ear. “I was wondering…” Her soft lips pulled his lobe into her warm mouth and sucked.

  His dick went from alert to active duty in a split second as all the blood rushed to help with maneuverers. “Anything,” he repeated, running his hands over her hips and around her ass and pulled her in tight.

  “Mmm…” Her breath was warm on his neck and sent shivers racing down his spine. “With you, the possibilities are endless.” She ran a hand down his chest, then abs before, holy shit, she dropped to her knees and unbuttoned his jeans. “Since you had breakfast in bed, can I have lunch in the barn?”

  He sucked in a breath as she freed him. “I shouldn’t…I have work to do.”

  “From the looks of it, so do I.” She smiled wickedly up at him as she leaned in and took a long lick of his throbbing erection.

  His world tilted. Ah hell, that felt good. Reaching out for something to hold, he set his hands on her head.

  “Correction,” she muttered against his length. “There’s enough here for breakfast and lunch. I’m going to have brunch in the barn.”

  He chuckled, but then choked on an inhale when her warm mouth closed around him. Fuck, yeah. His head thunked against the stall wall as he closed his eyes and wrapped his hand around her ponytail.

  Maybe he had time for a quick brunch.

  …

  By the time Thursday night rolled around, Cord noticed a significant change in Haley. She smiled more, laughed more, joked more often. Her exuberance was contagious, and lack of inhibition was a gift. All week, they worked side by side but stopped to enjoy each other whenever the whim hit them. Which was often and everywhere. Old Redder. The new barn. The arena. Front porch swing. Just about every room in the house. And his personal favorite, right now in the back yard with a million stars as a backdrop to the goddess who had just ridden him until they were both gasping for breath and completely spent.

  He watched her resting on top of him, her ragged breaths warm on his chest where he held her against him. His hands were full of her soft, supple curves that were still trembling with aftershocks. She brushed her thumb back and forth across his chest, her light strokes keeping time with her inhales. The woman was killing him without even realizing it. She concentrated on her task, her sole focus on her breathing, and he knew firsthand how engrossed she got in the details. Damn, he really loved when he was her sole focus.

  Tightening his hold, he kissed her head. “You were amazing.”

  “Mmm…” She kissed his chest. “You, too, cowboy.”

  She was like the night air surrounding them…fresh, warm, and welcoming. So unselfish and giving. But they’d shared more than work and their bodies that week. She’d opened up and talked about her childhood.

  Surprisingly, so had he. By rights, it should’ve freaked him the hell out how easily she got him to talk about his past, his family. But it felt right and natural, and gave him the opening to ask her questions. For the first time in his life, he wanted to get to know more about the woman in his bed. But she wasn’t just any woman, not that there were many, this was Haley, the woman he’d admired for over half a decade. His desire to know everything about her grew each day. He wanted to know more.

  Rubbing his palm up and down her arm, he decided to give it a shot now. “It’s so peaceful here.”

  “I know.” Her contentment washed over him.

  He decided to push further. “How did you come to live with your uncle? I know you’re mom died when you were younger, but what about your father? You don’t talk about him.”

  She stiffened for a beat then relaxed. “My mom kicked him out after she discovered he had a girlfriend on the side.”

  Damn. Cord’s insides fisted tight. Her own husband had cheated, too.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. The news reiterated he was doing the right thing by keeping that knowledge to himself.

  “Me, too,” she replied, still stroking his chest. “I stayed with my aunt, then my mother’s other sister, until my uncle took me in.”

  Her father leaving. Mother dying. His gut twisted just thinking about the young girl being shipped off to stay with one relative after another, until her uncle had stepped up to take her in. God, she must’ve felt so alone. He could relate to being raised by a single mother, but at least he’d also had his sister, and he talked about that with Haley without even realizing he was opening up.

  It hadn’t felt like such a bad thing. In fact, it had felt good. Damn good. And each time they talked, he opened up just a little more,
especially noticing when he did, she followed suit. And that was his goal. To help Haley. He wanted to bring that sparkle back to her eyes. To show her support, something he realized, she’d severely lacked in her life. He basked in her progress. He felt good for her and wanted to continue to help her.

  Not just for her, but for him, too. It was weird, but her triumphs felt like they were his, no matter how small. He wanted to share them with her. Wanted to share his with her, too.

  So he decided to do just that. “I know it’s short notice, but do you want to come to At-Ease with me tomorrow night? I’d like to show you around the ranch. I’m sure the others—”

  “I’d love to,” she cut him off, lifting up to smile one of her special, brilliant ones that warmed him from the inside out. Soft hands slid to his shoulders and her thumbs brushed the sides of his neck. “Thanks for asking.”

  Then she was kissing him, and he could feel her elation in that kiss, feel her open up and share even more of herself, when he had no idea there was more of her to share. And son-of-a-bitch it was addicting. He wanted more. He wanted to do things to make her this happy all the damn time.

  When she broke the kiss, he didn’t release her, happy to have his arms around her. “You should pack an overnight bag, just in case we get tied up after the session. Unless you’d rather we come back here?”

  She shook her head. “No, I’d like to stay the night.”

  He kissed her nose. “Good.” Then he swatted her ass. “But we’d better put in a good day tomorrow. Boss Lady might not let us go if we’re not finished.”

  She laughed. “Yeah, I heard she can be a real bitch.”

  He chuckled. “I heard that, too.”

  “Hey.” She smacked his shoulder. “So is payback.”

  Adrenaline rushed through his veins. “Yeah? Bring it.”

  The thrilled that flashed through her eyes sent a reciprocating one through his already invigorated body.

  “Oh, I will,” she said, challenge and mischief resonating in her warm tone. “Trouble is, you’re not going to know when.”