Branded as Trouble

by Delores Fossen

  Wynn took hold of her shoulders, pulling her back up. In the same motion, he lowered her to the seat. She struggled a little at first, no doubt trying to get back to what would be a fast undoing for him. But when he kissed her, she slid right back into it. Wynn did some sliding, too. He pushed up her top, unhooking her bra so he could kiss her breasts. The fire was making them very needy, very fast, but that didn’t mean he was ready to give up all foreplay. Especially when this foreplay was something he’d really missed.

  It wasn’t just the way she tasted. Or the soft feel of her skin. It was that silky sound of pleasure Carlene made when he took her nipple into his mouth. The sounds went on for only a couple of seconds, though, before she apparently reached her threshold for foreplay.

  The battle began to get her out of her jeans. It wasn’t pretty. Wynn cursed when he banged his funny bone against the dash. Carlene didn’t fare much better when her foot got tangled up in the steering wheel. Wynn nearly jumped out of his own jeans when she accidentally blew the horn. But he didn’t let blaring horns or bruises deter him.

  He finally shimmied her out of her jeans. Out of her panties, too. And he took another moment to admire the view. It was a painful moment because his erection was aching now. That could possibly be because during the jeans battle, Carlene had elbowed him in the groin.

  Pushing the pain aside, Wynn got the condom on and then pulled Carlene onto his lap. This was his favorite way of having sex with her. Maybe because they’d had so much practice at it. Body to body and face to face where he could kiss her when he pushed right into all that tight heat.

  Kissing her mouth might be like birthday cake, but being inside her was like every holiday rolled into one. Unforgettable. And just plain fun.

  She moved the right way, sliding back and forth in just the perfect rhythm. Slow at first. Then, faster. Then, much, much faster. He needed that pace, that friction, but he knew what Carlene needed, too, so he slipped his hand lower. Between her legs. He touched her in a spot that he knew would send her soaring. Of course, the added benefit to that was Carlene would cause him to soar right along with her.

  So, he touched. Kissed. And took the fun to the last, final stage. Carlene did, indeed, send him soaring.

  * * *

  HER BUTT WAS jammed against the steering wheel. Normally, Carlene would have done something about it. Like move, for instance. But she wasn’t sure she could move just yet.

  The climax was still rippling through her. The first big jolt was over, of course, but she was getting some nice aftershocks. Plus, she was in Wynn’s arms, pressed against his body, so there were perks to that, too. Kissing him was one of them, so that was what she did. She kissed him and let the dreamy feel of pleasure wash over her from head to toe.

  Wynn didn’t seem to be in a hurry for her to move so she lingered a while. What she wanted to do was linger more than a while, but the butt cramp she suddenly got upped the urgency for her to get off his lap.

  “I guess I’ve let those muscles get out of shape,” she grumbled.

  “Nothing wrong with your muscles or your shape.”

  He kissed her, bringing back the dreamy feel, but when she pulled back and their eyes met, Carlene knew that dreamy was going to go on the back burner for a bit. Wynn wanted to talk now. Or, rather, he wanted to listen while she told him what had happened to her. That didn’t seem like a conversation they should have while she was naked, so she started to dress. That had a twofold purpose. She really did need to put her pants on, and if she was dressing she wouldn’t have to look him in the eyes when she told him.

  “Do you remember the day you left?” she asked, but didn’t wait for an answer. “I was at the ranch and watched you drive away.”

  “You waved to me,” he said.

  Carlene nodded. She had cursed him, too, but he probably hadn’t been enough of a lip reader to know that.

  “Anyway, I was okay for a day or two,” she went on, “but then I started crying and couldn’t seem to stop. Joe got worried and called Mila. She came over, took one look at me and got me into her car. She told Joe that she and I were going on a girls’ trip. Where we went was to a hospital in San Antonio.”

  “I’m so sorry,” he said, and that definitely wasn’t his charmer tone. She could hear the sadness, the regret. Not exactly a good finish to the best round of sex ever had in a truck.

  “We should finish this conversation at the ranch,” she suggested.

  He stared at her as if he might challenge that, but he zipped up and got them moving. It didn’t take them long, especially now that there wasn’t a raging, hungry heat inside them. It was only at the dormant raging stage right now, although she figured a kiss would ignite it again. But she doubted Wynn was going to kiss her until she finished airing her dirty laundry.

  Once they were back at the house, Wynn disappeared into the bathroom for several minutes. Enough time for Carlene to fix them cups of hot chocolate. She considered adding some tequila to hers, but admitted the booze would be just a crutch. No, it was best to get through the rest of this while sober. And, besides, tequila and hot chocolate would probably taste disgusting.

  “Do you hate me?” Wynn asked when he came back into the living room.

  “No.” That was the truth. Carlene sat down on the sofa and patted the spot next to her. After pausing, Wynn joined her.

  She waited until he’d had a sip of his hot chocolate before she continued. “I saw some doctors at the hospital in San Antonio, and I mentioned that I was having some very depressing thoughts.” It hadn’t helped that she’d still been crying nonstop. “Anyway, I believe they thought I was suicidal. I wasn’t. At that point I was just really sad and congested from all the crying.”

  “The doctors thought it was more serious?” he asked.

  Carlene hated the look on his face, and she knew he was blaming himself. Back then, she’d blamed him, too, but she knew now that it wasn’t his fault. Since she could have, indeed, gone with him on the rodeo circuit, this was on her shoulders.

  She nodded. “The doctors sent me to what they called a mental health resort. Sort of a spa with counselors. I was there for a month.”

  Now, the profanity didn’t just stay in his eyes. It traveled to his mouth, and to stop him from giving her an apology she didn’t want, Carlene kissed him. She didn’t make it a long one, though. No French involved. That would only lead to sex, and she needed to finish this chat first.

  “I got the help I needed there,” she assured him. “And the counselors helped me work through what I was feeling.” Carlene took a deep breath. “Now you know. I wasn’t woman enough to go on without you.”

  “That’s BS.” He added a bunch of other curse words, too. “You did go on. You rebuilt the ranch.”

  “Yes, but only after I went crazy.”

  No more cursing, but he did make a soft grunt that sounded as if he was agreeing with her. “After I left you,” he said, “I purposely rode bulls named Ball Buster and Lucifer. That was my version of having a breakdown. I paid for it, too, by getting one concussion too many.”

  Sheez. That didn’t sound like a breakdown. It sounded crazy. “Were you hurt bad?” He shrugged which meant the answer was yes. “How bad?” Carlene pressed.

  He dragged in a long breath. “Bad enough that I had to stop riding. But I was ready to stop,” Wynn quickly added. “I’d made it to the top and still had enough of a brain left to know that the top wasn’t where I wanted to be. Maybe it was never where I wanted to be.”

  Carlene frowned. “But you’re the one who left,” she pointed out.

  “Yeah, because I thought I’d lose it if I stayed here, if I didn’t give my dreams a shot. And I knew if I lost it, that I’d take you down with me. I thought if I left, that would be the best thing for you.”

  So, that’s what had been going through his m
ind. It was possible Wynn had even told her those things, but Carlene had been too heartbroken to hear them. She sure as heck heard it now, though. Heard it and understood it.

  “You should hate me,” Wynn said.

  She huffed. “Already tried that. Didn’t work. In fact, the only thing that’s worked is this.”

  And she slid her hand around the back of his neck, pulled him to her and kissed him. There was one thing better than truck sex and that was couch sex. They could save the bed for later, if they had enough condoms.

  Carlene was about to ask him about the condom count, but Wynn took over the kiss and reminded her that talk was sometimes overrated. He kept kissing her and started to get her naked.

  But a sound stopped them.

  Someone was tapping on the door.

  As they’d done in the truck, Wynn and she flew apart, their attention going to the small glass panels on the front door. The glass was plenty clear enough for Carlene to see who was doing the tapping.

  Not Roman this time.

  But Joe.

  “Interrupting anything?” Joe asked, when he opened the door and stuck his head inside.

  Yes, he had definitely interrupted, but if Joe noticed, he didn’t seem concerned. He came in almost sheepishly, holding his cowboy hat in both hands and looking like a man on the verge of maybe doing some groveling.

  Yep, it was groveling, all right, because it started almost immediately.

  “I owe you both a big I’m sorry, and that comes from the bottom of my heart,” Joe said.

  Carlene had never understood that expression and wondered if apologies from the top of the heart would be any less sincere. Either way, Joe seemed to mean it.

  “You came all this way to say you’re sorry?” Wynn asked.

  “That, and I had a little business to take care of. I’ve been trying to fix things, you see. I just came from talking with Garrett Granger, but he and Roman won’t sell any land. They will, however, lease us enough acres for you to raise those rodeo bulls.”

  Wow, she hadn’t expected that, but she was certain that Wynn was grateful. So was she, because this meant there’d be enough land for both Wynn and her to carry out their plans.

  “There’s more,” Joe went on. He took an envelope from his coat pocket and put it on the coffee table between the two cups of hot chocolate. “That’s the deed to the place. It’s in both your names. But there’s also a check so that you can build a second house. I suggest you put the second one all the way at the back of the property line.”

  The line was nearly a half mile away from the ranch house.

  “That way, you and Wynn will never have to see each other,” Joe added. “You can run the front part of the ranch with your cows, chickens and goats.” He made a face, though, when he mentioned that last part. Once a cowboy, always a cowboy. “And Wynn can run the back half of the ranch with his bulls.”

  Obviously, Joe had given this a lot of thought. Maybe more thought than Carlene had been giving it in the last couple of hours.

  She looked at Wynn to see what his feelings were about this, but he was looking a little sad or something.

  “I don’t want your money,” Wynn told his uncle.

  Joe nodded. “I figured you’d say that, but it’s not my money. It’s yours. I’ve decided to give you your inheritance early. And it’s not as if I’ll miss it. My daddy left me a pretty good chunk of cash, and I’ve got plenty to live the way I want. Now I want the same for you two. I know this doesn’t make up for what I did. But maybe it’ll fix things the right way.”

  He gathered them both in his arms, kissed them on their foreheads and then turned and headed for the door.

  “Wait.” Wynn stepped in front of him. “You’re just leaving?”

  Joe blushed a little. “Got a hot date tomorrow, and I don’t want to miss it. Besides, I’d imagine you’ve got plenty of details to start working out. Building that house, buying those bulls.” He smiled at Carlene. “And you can get started on those goats. I’m expecting you to send me some of that cheese you learned how to make.”

  “I will,” she assured him, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “You’re sure you have to go? I could fix you some hot chocolate...”

  “Thanks, but no thanks. Gladys—that’s the name of my hot date—won’t like it if I miss my flight. I need to be at the airport in an hour. And no, don’t offer to drive me because I got a rental car. Stay put, get those plans done and then you two can start your lives far apart from each other. Just the way you want,” he added.

  They stood there, watching him leave, his final words practically echoing through the room.

  Just the way you want.

  Yes, two days ago Carlene had wanted just that. To be far away from Wynn. And while this new plan wouldn’t exactly put them “far” apart, they would have plenty of space between them.

  Plenty.

  The wave of doom and gloom came, but unlike the last time, Carlene knew she wouldn’t just give into it. Nope. She could stand on her own two feet.

  She snapped toward Wynn. “It’s all right if you go. I swear, I won’t fall apart.”

  He frowned. Really frowned. He glanced at the envelope Joe had left before his attention settled on her.

  “I could probably say a lot of things.” His voice was tight, like that frowny expression on his face. “Some of those things would be right, some could be wrong.”

  She steeled herself for the wrong things, although she hoped they would be right. But Wynn didn’t say anything. He pulled her to him and kissed her.

  He made it openmouthed.

  And long. And really hot.

  He made that kiss exactly the way Carlene wanted it to be, and he pulled back just short of breath-gasping time.

  “Was that the right thing to say?” he drawled.

  She nodded. “Perfect.”

  He kissed her again. And again. The next one, though, involved him maneuvering her to the couch. Not for that envelope, though. He went after her top. She went after his jeans.

  “I don’t want a second house,” he said through the kisses. “I don’t want a life apart from you.”

  “Good,” she managed to say. “Because that’s exactly what I don’t want, too.”

  “Perfect,” Wynn repeated, and he proceeded to show Carlene that her memories of couch sex with him had definitely not been exaggerated.

  * * * * *

  The Granger siblings thought they’d left their ranching days behind, until fate sends them home to Wrangler’s Creek, Texas—and into the passionate arms of those they’d least expect...

  Don’t miss any of the stories in the irresistible Wrangler’s Creek series by USA TODAY bestselling author Delores Fossen.

  Lone Star Cowboy (prequel novella)

  Those Texas Nights

  One Good Cowboy (novella)

  No Getting Over a Cowboy

  Just Like a Cowboy (novella)

  Branded as Trouble

  Order your copies today!

  “Clear off space on your keeper shelf, Fossen has arrived.”

  —New York Times bestselling author Lori Wilde

  The McCord Brothers are the most eligible bachelors in Spring Hill, Texas. But these cowboys are about to get wrangled by the love of some very unique women—the kind who can melt hearts and lay it all on the line. Be sure to collect all of the titles in this series!

  What Happens on the Ranch (digital prequel)

  Texas on My Mind

  Cowboy Trouble (novella)

  Lone Star Nights

  Cowboy Underneath It All (novella)

  Blame It
on the Cowboy

  Complete your collection!

  “The perfect blend of sexy cowboys, humor and romance will rein you in from the first line.”

  —New York Times bestselling author B.J. Daniels

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  ISBN-13: 9781460397947

  Branded as Trouble

  Copyright © 2017 by Delores Fossen

  The publisher acknowledges the copyright holder of the individual work as follows:

  Just Like a Cowboy

  Copyright © 2017 by Delores Fossen

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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