by Shayna Ryan
Melanie, now there was a mess. He hadn’t spoken to her since the day she dropped by his cabin to talk about their kiss in the barn. It would have to be dealt with, eventually, but he wasn’t ready to hear what she had to say yet. Unless she came to tell him that she and Marty were through. But would it really change anything, now that things were heating up between him and Cass?
Cass. The thought of her made him smile. He never expected to come back to the ranch and find Melanie’s little sister on his romantic radar. But he couldn’t deny the fiery attraction between them. He’d been physically attracted to plenty of women in his day, but Cass had so much more going for her than her looks. She was the total package, and her fiery spirit further enticed him.
The rumble of his stomach reminded him that it was now late in the day and he hadn’t eaten anything yet, so he turned Gobie back to the barn. When he arrived it was empty, with no one else in sight. As he untacked and put away his horse, it occurred to him that everyone had probably gone home to get ready for the cookout.
There were lots of people out in the little dirt road that ran through the cluster of cabins when he arrived home, and he could see that the cookout was starting to warm up. He took a quick shower before heading out the door to join the crowd.
Some of the folks that he had met already waved to him as he meandered over to Ramiro’s place. Rosa hadn’t been kidding about smelling the grills once they got going; the scent of meats cooking permeated the air, and his stomach rumbled harder. He couldn’t wait to eat.
He spied Ramiro on his front porch, with his back to the street, talking to someone. As he approached, Billy realized he was talking to Marty, and Melanie was by his side. Billy berated himself for not realizing she might be at the cookout tonight, but it was too late to avoid her, so he plastered a smile on his face and climbed the steps to join the group.
“Billy!” Ramiro was glad to see his new friend. “So glad you made it! Rosa told me you stopped by earlier. We kind of threw this idea of a cookout together just this morning. I was gonna drop by and invite you tonight, if you hadn’t joined the party by then.”
“Thanks, man.” He could feel Melanie’s eyes upon him, and he hesitated a brief moment before greeting Marty and her.
“Hey, guys, how’s it going?” he asked both of them but he was careful not to look at Melanie for more than a beat. She looked worn out and miserable and he wondered if it was over their improper moments in the barn, or something else entirely.
“Billy, welcome to your first cookout on the ranch. Come summer, someone’s hosting one every weekend, it seems.”
“Thanks, Marty.” It felt like Melanie’s gaze was boring into him. It had to end; it would be a long, uncomfortable night for both of them if she kept this up much longer.
She spoke to him first. “So I hear you and Cass had a good time last night.”
Billy nodded. “We sure did. Where is she, anyway? Is she coming tonight?”
“I don’t think so. She left a little while ago to go out with her friends for the night.”
It was quite a letdown to hear that Cass wouldn’t be at the cookout, but Billy knew he didn’t have a right to expect her to be there. It would have been nice, though.
He was anxious to break away from Melanie, so he excused himself to go mingle with the other ranch hands. When he glanced over his shoulder as he made his way down the steps, he caught Melanie staring at him with a forlorn expression on her pretty face. He gritted his teeth as he quickly faced forward again. If she didn’t knock it off, Marty was likely to notice her interest in him. Her behavior angered him a bit. What right did she have, sulking around like that over him, when she was the one still in a serious relationship? But as the memory of their kiss flooded his mind, he softened. Maybe there was still hope for them. Or maybe she was just feeling guilty about their indiscretion the other night.
It was hard to push thoughts of Melanie out of his head that night. Far too frequently, he’d glance up from a conversation with one of the other ranch hands to find her staring at him, and her gaze wouldn’t waver when he looked up. He debated pulling her aside to tell her to knock it off, or else Marty would suspect something, but he didn’t see a good opportunity to do so without calling more attention to themselves.
“I’ve got a sister who would just love you!” gushed one of the ranch hand’s wives as he chatted with a group of folks from the ranch.
“Hush now, Jessie. I hear tell he’s been carrying on with the younger Haffner girl. I don’t think he’s up for grabs!”
“Eh, if the younger one doesn’t get her hooks into him, the older one looks like she’d like to!” someone else interjected.
The men broke into uproarious laughter and the few women in the group chuckled as Billy felt his face flush. So everyone knew about him and Cass, and had noticed Melanie’s interest in him.
“There’s nothing going on between Melanie and me,” he said firmly to the group.
“Too busy with the blonde?” a man joked with a wink.
Billy leaned towards him, his eyes blazing with anger. “What ‘the blonde’ and I are up to is no one’s business but our own. You got that?” he asked the group at large.
Everyone was suddenly interested in looking anywhere but directly at him as they nodded their heads and mumbled vague apologies. They had taken it too far, and they knew it.
Disgusted, Billy walked off and headed back to his cabin. He was done with the cookout. They could keep their gossip to themselves. He didn’t think he could face Marty again that night anyway. It was only a matter of time before the rumors about him and Melanie reached his ears, and what a fine mess that was bound to be.
He turned on his little radio in the cabin to try to drown out the noise of the cookout. It did the job, but it didn’t lift his spirits. His eyes caught sight of the bottle of Jack Daniels whiskey he kept on top of the fridge, and he rifled through the cupboards until he found a shot glass.
He sat down at the table with the bottle and the shot glass, assuring himself he’d only have a few shots. It was rare for him to drink hard liquor, but tonight seemed like the perfect night for it.
The liquor burned on its way down, but the feeling it gave him was well worth it. He welcomed the fuzziness that overcame his senses; it dulled his frantic thoughts about Melanie and Cass. As he continued pouring himself more shots, a muddled alarm in the back of his brain sounded to remind him he’d pay for it all in the morning, when he awoke with a terrific hang over, but he didn’t care. It had been such a tumultuous week in so many ways; a little hangover was a small price to pay to numb the stress he had been feeling about the Haffner sisters all week.
At some point he fell asleep with his head on the table, and the whiskey bottle still in his hand, because that’s how he found himself when a knock on the door woke him. He blearily studied the clock on the wall, and was surprised to see it was 2:00 in the morning. The alcohol was still coursing through his system, and he drunkenly stumbled across the room to turn the radio off before he opened the door.
“Hey, Cass, you couldn’t stay awa-” The words died on his lips when he realized it wasn’t Cass at his door, but Melanie instead. She looked ravishing in a long belted leather duster and her cheeks were colored by the nip in the air.
“Hey, Billy. Mind if I come in?” she asked quietly.
Dumbfounded, he clumsily gestured for her to enter. She breezed past him and sat down on his bed, pulling the duster closer to her as she tried to warm up. Billy lowered himself back into his chair at the table and poured himself another shot.
“This is certainly unexpected,” he mumbled. He didn’t understand why she was there, but his muddled brain vaguely recalled that they needed to talk about something. What, he couldn’t quite recall in his drunken state.
“Aren’t you going to offer a lady a drink?” Melanie asked.
“Sorry. Where are my manners?” He went into the kitchen, pulled out a drinking glass, and poured her half a gl
ass of whiskey. She accepted it without comment and took swallowed most of it down with one gulp. Billy settled back down at the table.
“You gotta stop it, Mel,” he told her suddenly.
“Excuse me?”
“The looks. Those looks you were shooting me all night. Marty’s gonna kill me if he finds out what happened between us.”
“That’s what I’m here to talk to you about.”
“The last thing I need is the ranch manager thinking I’m after his girl!”
“I know,” she said quietly, “and I’ve been thinking about what happened between us the other night.”
“You and me both. I see you’re still with Marty,” he added bitterly.
“That’s not fair, Billy. You show up, out of the blue, and expect me to just fall into your arms. It’s not that simple; Marty and I were happy, until you came here, and we have a history together. He’s a good guy, and I can’t just kick him to the side. He deserves more than that.”
The air was thick with tension as silence overcame them.
“Why are you here, anyway? Don’t you want to be home, or with Marty?” She didn’t reply right away, but drained the last of her whiskey instead, gesturing for him to pour her some more. He obliged without thinking about it, then poured himself another shot as well. The bottle’s contents were quickly dwindling.
“So what’s it gonna be?” They couldn’t continue on this way, with the longing looks and the tension between them.
“What does it matter to you? Aren’t you with Cass now?” she demanded angrily. “You expect me to just toss Marty aside, but meanwhile, you’re starting things up with my sister.”
“Cass and I are…well, I don’t know what we’re doing,” he admitted frankly.
“So you’re not serious?” she asked cautiously.
He shrugged noncommittally. “Too soon to know.”
“Okay then.” Melanie sucked in a deep breath, as if to steady herself. Billy watched her as she rose up from the bed and crossed the little cabin towards him. He assumed she was leaving and pushed his chair away from the table to see her out.
She moved in front of him, and the tenderness in her eyes rekindled all the feelings towards her that he had been working so hard to bury.
“Melanie…”
She placed one finger to his lips to shush him, then pushed him back down into his chair again. With the other hand, she slowly undid the belt to her duster. Because of his drunken haze, it took Billy a moment to register that she was completely naked underneath it.
-8-
The leather duster fell to the floor as Melanie straddled Billy’s legs and sat in his lap, facing him. He stared at her glorious naked form, soaking in every detail of her. She was more beautiful than he had even imagined.
She removed his hat, and placed it on the table behind her. With one hand she softly caressed the side of his face. He closed his eyes and leaned against her soft palm, treasuring her touch. Slowly, she moved her hand down to his shirt and began unbuttoning it ever so slowly.
“But Marty-”
“Marty’s not here right now,” she replied huskily, nuzzling his neck and planting a trail of soft kisses down it while she finished unbuttoning his shirt. When the last button was undone, Billy slid his arms out of it and threw it to the floor.
Melanie ran her hands up and down his chest as their lips met. Insistent need surged through him, and he pulled her closer and caressed her bare back as her naked breasts pressed against him. He couldn’t believe this was really happening. After all the years he spent dreaming of Melanie, here she was, naked in his lap.
He could stand it no more, and he broke their kiss to lavish attention on other parts of her. She threw her head back as his mouth worked its way down her neck, across her sternum to one pert breast. His greedy mouth found a nipple and teased it with his tongue while he used one hand to caress her other breast. Melanie writhed in his lap, eager for more. He was all too happy to oblige.
Despite his drunkenness, he managed to sweep her up in his arms and carry her over to his bed. He laid her down gently, and she giggled as she kicked off her cowgirl boots. It seemed she was feeling the whiskey too. Her nimble fingers undid his jeans and worked them down until Billy impatiently yanked them off. As eager as he was to have her, he was determined to make this last. He had waited a lifetime for this moment, and he intended to savor every second of it. He played with one breast and made slow, lazy circles on her toned stomach with his tongue. She mewled as she pushed his head down, eager for him to sample her most intimate parts.
It excited him infinitely more to see how much he was turning her on. He slid his mouth back up to meet hers, and slid his hand down to explore her where she most yearned for his touch. He gasped when he discovered just how ready for him she was, and with a sly grin she wrapped her hand around his manhood and began pleasuring him manually. As his breath began to quicken, she shoved him back, flat on the bed, and placed him in her mouth.
Billy could hardly cope with the waves of intense pleasure that overcame him as she used her velvety tongue on him. He had enjoyed the company of some very orally skilled women in his day, and none of them came close to Melanie’s abilities. When he realized he was approaching the point of no return, he hastily pulled her away.
She released him gently, and laid her head upon his stomach so she was gazing up at him.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Billy thought his world would end if she changed her mind, but he had to be sure.
Melanie didn’t answer him, but kissed his stomach instead and then rose above him so she was straddling him. Her eyes never left his as she gently lowered herself onto him.
Billy would have traded every time with every other woman he’d ever had for this one time with Melanie. He held her hips, and bucked beneath her, matching her frantic pace. He watched with fascination as she threw her head back and moaned loudly, lost in her own pleasure as their bodies blended together as one.
When it was over, he held her in his arms and stroked her auburn hair as he whispered to her all the things he had always longer to tell her. The alcohol still coursing through his veins made him bold and uninhibited, and he told her far more about his feelings for her than he ever intended to. Finally, his voice trailed off as he drifted off to sleep with the woman he had loved from afar for over a decade.
Waking up the next morning was sheer torture. Billy clasped his eyes tightly closed after a brief peek at the world resulted in searing pain. His head throbbed angrily, and his mouth was parched. He rolled over, looking for Melanie, but she was gone.
He was disappointed, but not surprised. It’s not like she could go casually strolling out of his cabin in the morning light for all to see. With a grimace he remembered Cass. What had he been thinking? He didn’t want to hurt Cass, but he wouldn’t have undone the passionate night he spent with Melanie for anything. He would do his best to let Cass down gently. He felt sorry for the pain the news of their union would cause Cass and Marty, but there was no denying the love that he and Melanie had for each other. They would probably have to move, and go work on another ranch to avoid the tensions their union would cause at the Haffner ranch, but it would be worth it if they could be together.
Groaning, he rolled out of bed and cradled his head in his hands. He slowly made his way to the bathroom, cringing with every step. It’d be a long time before he touched a drop of whiskey again, that was for sure.
In the medicine cabinet, he found a bottle of aspirin and forced himself to dry swallow three pills, followed by a mouth full of water from the bathroom sink. His stomach clenched in protest, but he managed to keep it all down. Getting to the kitchen was a difficult process, but he made it to the sink to get a glass of water. As he leaned against the counter for support while he drank the water, he spied a note on the kitchen table.
He hurried to grab it as he was anxious to read it, but the pounding pain in his head couldn’t be ignored. After he swiped it off the t
able, he shuffled carefully back over to his bed and gingerly sat down.
Billy, It was all a big mistake. It was an incredible, passionate, wild mistake. I’m sorry. I just can’t do this. He cursed and slammed his fist down on the mattress as he read the note over and over, hoping the words would change. They didn’t, of course, and he was crazed with anger and grief. How could she possibly call what they shared last night a ‘mistake?’ They had expressed the bond between them, the bond that developed in their younger years, yet she was dismissing it as a ‘mistake.’
He dragged himself out of bed once more and took his anger and frustration out on the mostly empty bottle of whiskey on the table. Sheer willpower got him through the motions of grabbing the bottle off the table and bringing it to the sink. Cursing under his breath, he dumped the remaining contents of the bottle down the drain. He had no more use for that devil’s brew; all it did was cause trouble. It was beer in moderation from here on out.
It was impossible to decide who he was angrier with- Melanie, for putting him through hell while she tried to choose between him and Marty, or himself, for sleeping with her. If he hadn’t been drinking so heavily, he doubted the whole incident would have happened to begin with. What a fool he’d been.
His cell phone rang, and he answered it quickly so the horrible, loud ringing would stop. It wasn’t helping his splitting headache.
“Hello?” If someone was calling for his help with something around the ranch, they were in for a sorry surprise. He was in no shape to do much of anything at the moment, especially physical labor.
“Hey, stranger!” It was Cass. “I grabbed your cell phone number off my dad’s phone. I hope you don’t mind.”
“No, no, that’s fine; I don’t mind at all.”
“Are you okay? You sound sick or something.”
“I’ve got a super hangover,” he confessed.
“Poor baby. Too much booze last night, huh? Melanie’s got the same problem this morning. I guess she drank too much at that cookout. Did you go to it?”
