Done a Runner (Wanted Men of Bison Bluffs Book 1)

by Cynthia Knoble

  She loved these little power plays they indulged in, mostly because she always won them. Raising a saucy brow, she feigned confusion. “Oh, did you? I must have missed that.”

  “You’re such a brat,” he remarked.

  “Sounds like you want to do something about it,” she teased.

  The gleam that overtook his eyes had her fighting to not squirm before him. His authoritative look was bordering on predatory and it turned her on something fierce. “I’d love to turn you over my knee, but I have a feeling you wouldn’t take kindly to that.”

  “Well,” she began slowly, drawing closer to him to run a finger down his chest, “I have a feeling you might be wrong about that.”

  “Really?” he questioned as his eyes widened.

  “No, not really.”

  He shook his head as he grinned. “You’re something else.”

  “Yeah, but you love it.”

  “That I do,” he agreed. Taking a hold of her hips, he pressed his forehead to hers again. “Will it help if I ask nicely? Please, get on the bed.”

  She chuckled. “Against the wall.”

  “Are you ever going to let me win a round? Ever?”

  “Nope.”

  “Figured as much.”

  Grasping her hips tightly, he lifted her and held her against the wall. “Wrap your legs around me, darlin’.”

  She did as she grabbed hold of his shoulders. That gleam in his eyes persisted, informing her she was in for a wild ride. He poked her, off-center, and she shook her head as she smiled.

  “Nope, not there.”

  “You could help out, you know,” he grumbled, but grinned simultaneously. “I have to hold you up.”

  With a hugely exaggerated eye-roll, she reached between them and guided him. As he sank into her, they both moaned. Taking hold of her ass cheeks, he pounded her hard, his face pressed against her neck.

  “I could do this forever,” he whispered.

  Glad he couldn’t see her face, she closed her eyes. She could too, but it would never happen. Clutching him tightly, aware their union would end soon, she focused only on the pleasure he provided, listening to his soft grunts as he thrust into her, ignoring the tight feeling in her chest.

  31

  Looking up when Jerome, his aide, entered his office and closed the door behind him, he hoped the young man had good news for him. He could use some. Jumping through hoops for his employers, securing a permanent identity for someone not connected to one of his cases had proved frustrating. While believing he was close to getting his way, it wasn’t happening fast enough.

  Jerome crossed the floor and, standing before his desk, held out a flash drive. As he took it, he nodded to the young man, proud of his commitment, working on a Sunday morning, all to help him with what was ultimately a personal issue.

  “She’s still safe,” Jerome informed him, “and still on the ranch. The drive has information about the man who owns the ranch, and about the RCMP officers in town. Also, there’s a Witness Protection Program Coordinator there.”

  “Really? Now that’s interesting.”

  “Wait until you read about the rancher.” He cocked his head, and Jerome elaborated. “His name is Ethan Collins, and he’s a retired RCMP officer, with international policing experience. He’s also best friends with the WitPro coordinator, Boone Bukowski.”

  “Any action from Rosati?”

  “No.”

  “Well, he’s aware he’s on the family’s shitlist right now. I’m sure he’ll be smart enough to keep his head down.” He plugged the flash drive into his laptop and then dipped his head. “Thank you, Jerome.”

  “You’re welcome, sir,” Jerome said and then left the office, closing the door behind him.

  He turned his attention back to his laptop. Bending his head to one shoulder, and then the next, he welcomed the resulting cracks. His shoulders were aching, having spent too much time at his desk. As always, the urge to dive into field work nagged him, but he ignored it. Until he knew she was hidden in a truly safe location under a permanent new identity, he couldn’t leave the country.

  Releasing a deep sigh, he tried to remember the last time he’d had a face-to-face talk with her and came up short. It had been close to a year, but could have been longer. His throat thickened with the thought she wouldn’t fault him for his absence, always so understanding of how driven he was when it came to work. He was, but he shouldn’t have allowed work to come before her so often. He’d do anything for her, even quit the job he loved, if she asked. She’d never ask that of him though and he knew it. She loved him selflessly, he wondered if he was truly worthy of her devotion.

  Harping on his shortcomings wasted time better spent securing a safe place to relocate her to, and so he stifled his deliberations to concentrate on the information Jerome had uncovered. Now extremely interested to learn about Collins, he focused his attention on the screen and the biography of the man who’d hired her and opened his home up to her.

  32

  Zoë slid full plates onto the breakfast bar just as Ethan entered the room, smiling inwardly at her impeccable timing, serving his meal just when he’d finished his morning chores. He appreciatively eyed the sundress she’d donned after the shower she’d taken when he left to tend to the livestock. After washing his hands, he perched on a stool and then, grabbing her by the waist pulled her into his lap. Straddling his lap, she kissed his nose affectionately, drawing a chuckle from him.

  “How am I supposed to eat in this position?” she complained.

  “This is the best seat in the house.”

  “Regardless, my breakfast is behind me.”

  “I’ll feed you,” he offered.

  “No way. I detest being fed like a baby.”

  “Then I won’t feed you like one,” he countered.

  Wrapping an arm around her, he leaned forward, and then straightened up, a breakfast sausage pinched between the thumb and index finger of his free hand. He held it above her lips and she made an exaggerated motion of wrapping her lips around it, covering his finger and thumb as well. She sucked as she moved her mouth back down to the sausage.

  “That’s hot,” he said.

  She viciously bit off the end of the sausage.

  “That wasn’t,” he added.

  Grinning, she then sucked the rest of the sausage from his grip and proceeded to chew and swallow it as sexily as she could. Rubbing against the growing bulge in his lap, she kissed him deeply, and then straightened up.

  “Seriously, I’m hungry.”

  When she made to move off him, he grasped her hips tightly, then reached behind her. Bringing her plate around her, he smiled when she took it from him. She began to eat the pancakes she’d prepared and then stopped to address him.

  “Aren’t you going to eat?”

  “I’m waiting for you to feed me.” When she rolled her eyes, he chuckled again. As she resumed eating, he raised a brow. “I was thinking about taking you out to dinner tonight. There’s a nice Italian restaurant in Lethbridge I think you’d enjoy.”

  Stifling her near-panic at the thought of going to a more populated area, she shrugged as nonchalantly as she could. “There’s no need for you to drive that far. I enjoy your cooking so just make dinner, lazy.”

  “Lazy?” he opened his mouth in mock-indignation. “You’re calling me lazy?”

  She laughed softly. “Okay, you’re not lazy, not by a long shot. Seriously though, why drive all that way? We could just eat dinner at the diner, or at The Scruffy Goose.”

  “The diner’s only open for breakfast and lunch, and then on Saturday night for ice cream. We could go to The Goose though.”

  “All right, then let’s do that.” After eating another large forkful of the extremely fluffy pancakes she’d made, she tilted her head. “Speaking of The Goose, I was thinking it would nice if we gathered a bigger group of people to go there next Saturday.”

  “Okay, that sounds good.”

  They remained sile
nt as she finished her breakfast. He took her plate from her and then handed her his. She cut a forkful from the stack of pancakes, held it out to him, and then waited for him to chew and swallow his mouthful before continuing their conversation.

  “So, who are you going to invite?”

  “Well, Rory and Boone, of course. I’m sure Skip will want to go again, Murray and Jeff probably, but don’t worry, I’ll make sure Murray behaves this time. The pancakes are awesome, by the way.”

  “Thanks. Who else?”

  “You do want a crowd there, don’t you?”

  “Yes, I want to meet your friends. I already invited Zandra, but I don’t know anyone else. Myles, kinda, but given Zandra’s reaction to him—”

  “It’s best we leave him out,” he finished and then nodded. “Yeah, my thoughts exactly. Okay, so, I could invite the Carsons, or maybe Sawyer.”

  “How about Cole?”

  He raised a brow. “Why Cole?”

  “Oh my God, are you jealous?”

  “Of Cole? Hardly.”

  “Only of Boone then,” she teased.

  “I’m wary of Boone, not jealous, and apparently I have to keep an eye on him, at least where you’re concerned.”

  “Nonsense. I only have eyes for you.”

  He looked to the plate and then to her, silently asking for another mouthful. She cut one and then held it up and away from him.

  “So, Cole?”

  “Are you withholding food from me until I agree to invite Cole?”

  “Depends. Are you going to invite him?”

  “Why Cole?” he asked again.

  “Zandra has a crush on him.”

  “No shit. Those two can’t keep their eyes off one another.”

  She fed him the forkful and waited while he chewed. “So, if you’ve noticed Cole checking out Zandra, is it safe to assume he’s interested in her?” When he crinkled his brow, she shrugged. “Zandra mentioned he might be seeing Faye. Is he?”

  He grinned. “Are you honing in on town gossip?”

  “Hardly. I’m just looking out for my girl. So, is he dating Faye?”

  “I have no idea.”

  Cutting off another helping of pancakes, she held the forkful away from him again. “You could ask him, when you invite him to The Goose.”

  “Are we back in middle school? No way am I asking him that. If he’s dating Faye, then he’s dating Faye. If he isn’t, and he’s interested in Zandra, then he can ask her out. He’s a big boy, I’m sure he doesn’t need my help arranging dates.”

  Agreeing that his questioning Cole about his love life would be juvenile, she fed him the pancakes. Spearing another sausage, she again held it up. He sighed deeply.

  “Now what?”

  “Are you going to ask Cole to come to The Goose?”

  “Fine, I will, but only because I’m hungry. For the record, I think you playing matchmaker is a bad idea.”

  She allowed him to have the sausage, even if she didn’t agree with him. The next generous heaping forkful of pancakes had syrup running down his chin. Ducking her head forward, she licked his chin clean, feeling his slight shiver under her tongue. Straightening up again, she fed him the rest of his breakfast. After he placed the empty plate on the breakfast bar, she ground against his erection.

  “I still hated being fed, but I liked feeding you,” she informed him.

  “Me too, even if eating with a hard-on was kinda weird.”

  “Well, you wanted to be fed.”

  “I did.” He kissed her deeply, bucking his hips up as he did. Pulling back, he flashed his crooked smile. “What are we going to do for the rest of the morning?”

  “Well, I have laundry to do.”

  “Do it in the afternoon.”

  His intense and decidedly hungry look had her rubbing against him. “You don’t have anything to do this morning?”

  “Nope. I’m going to inspect the fences with Skip this afternoon, but until then, I’m all yours.”

  “Well then, in that case, this might be a good time to tell you I’m not wearing panties.”

  “Are you just teasing me again?” he asked cautiously.

  Reaching behind her, she shifted the plates to one side, and then, propping her hands on the breakfast bar, pulled herself up until she sat on its edge. Ever so slowly, she raised the skirt of her dress until she revealed she wasn’t teasing him at all. He licked his lips.

  “Damn, turns out I’m still hungry.”

  The deep rasp he employed had her instantly wet. As she slowly reclined back, she thought Sunday mornings might just become her favourite.

  33

  Riding the perimeter fencing with Skip, Ethan caught several bemused looks his foreman shot his way. Knowing he was in for an awkward conversation, for Skip would undoubtedly take the opportunity to deliver advice, he was in no mood for it. Yesterday’s conversation with Boone was enough to digest, he didn’t need Skip’s romantic pointers on top of everything.

  Spotting a downed board, he brought Horton to a stop and dismounted. As he extracted the small toolbox from the saddlebag, Skip joined him. The pair made their way to the fence in a silence Ethan welcomed but knew wouldn’t last. Skip held the board as Ethan hammered a few nails into it. Satisfied with the repair, the two continued on horseback once more.

  “Zoë’s quite the woman,” Skip began.

  “Yup.”

  Skip’s tone had been prodding but Ethan wasn’t about to take the bait. His eyes scanned the fence line before them as he felt Skip’s eyes on him.

  “Not that I’m suggesting you propose or anything,” the older man continued, “but you don’t want her to get away. You have to show her you’re interested. You know, take her to dinner, bring her flowers, things like that.”

  Ethan followed up a dramatic roll of his eyes with a hard look to Skip. “She’s not my first girlfriend you know.”

  “Oh, I know, it’s just that you’ve never kept any around for any length of time. Zoë’s special and deserves to be treated as such. Boone’s probably given you advice, but you should think twice about anything he says in regard to women. I mean, I know he fancies himself a pussy-whisperer but—”

  Releasing a disgusted noise to cut Skip off, Ethan then nudged Horton to pick up the pace, hardly believing he’d heard Skip utter the word ‘pussy-whisperer’. What the hell was going on at his ranch? Zoë had turned the entire place upside down but, despite Skip’s unwanted vocabulary, he had to admit he liked most of the changes. The ranch seemed to have a new life to it, and he credited her with that.

  After calming some yesterday at the diner, and even managing to eat part of his lunch, he and Boone had had a serious discussion. He’d managed to convey his desire to protect Zoë, at any cost, and remained firm that he wouldn’t send her away. Boone had requested he slow things down with her then, at least until they could get a handle on what was going on with her. Boone’s advice to keep her at arm’s length was solid, smart, and the right thing to do. He couldn’t follow his friend’s guidance though, try as he might. While he did succeed in going most of yesterday afternoon without seeing her, his plan to send her to her apartment after dinner hadn’t transpired. She’d donned the look, the one he was powerless against and, next thing he knew, they were in his bedroom. Last night’s steamy encounter had led to this morning’s hot scene in the kitchen. He couldn’t get enough of her, and didn’t want to slow down, no matter what Boone had discovered about her.

  Skip caught up to him and, after delivering another amused look, began to whistle The Wedding March. For fuck’s sake! Could that man not leave him alone? He clicked his tongue to encourage Horton to increase his speed again, hoping Skip would take the hint and remain behind him. Skip wasn’t making it easy for him to keep a clear head.

  34

  Knowing Cole was visiting the ranch that Tuesday morning, Zoë kept an eye out for him after finishing up the after-breakfast cleaning. Rewarded with the appearance of a pickup, she remained by the w
indow, out of Cole’s sight. She intended to allow him to perform his job before introducing herself, and then assuring Ethan invited Cole to The Scruffy Goose on Saturday. Cole leapt down from the cab of the truck and then, large bag in hand, swiftly made his way past the house to head to the barns. He moved with such speed she hoped for Zandra’s sake he didn’t do everything that fast. Snickering at her observation, she headed to the rear of the house, intent on reading on the back porch and waiting for her opportunity to speak with Cole.

  Almost two hours later, she saw Ethan approaching with Cole and, laying her book down, descended the porch steps to intercept them. When the trio met, Ethan slipped an arm around her shoulders and then introduced her to Cole. He shook her hand efficiently, and issued a warm smile. Blonds were definitely not her thing, but Cole was handsome, and it was easy to see Zandra’s interest in him.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Cole Robillard.” She couldn’t help but notice he didn’t add the title Doctor to his name, leading her to believe he was modest. He seemed friendly but a bit shy, and it deepened her opinion that he was perfect for Zandra. “How are you liking ranch life?”

  “I love it. I didn’t think I would, I’ve always been a city girl, but I really do love it here.”

  He smiled again and then looked to Ethan, as if asking permission to cut the visit short. Undoubtedly, he was busy, being the only veterinarian in the area, and she understood his desire to get back to his scheduled visits. She bumped Ethan, a silent reminder of his promise to ask Cole about Saturday.

  “Hey, a bunch of us are hitting The Goose on Saturday. We’d like it if you could join us there.”

  The invitation sounded much more casual from his lips than it would’ve from hers, and she looked to Cole for his answer. “Sure, I’d like that. Can I bring Faye along? She’s struggling a bit, being new here, and it would be a great way for her to meet some folks, you know, outside of the clinic.”

  “Of course,” Ethan replied readily, “she’s more than welcome there. Folks aren’t giving her a hard time, are they?”