Stand By Your Man: A Bad Boy Rancher Love Story (The Dawson Brothers Book 5)

by Ali Parker

  “Well, I like to go to the pool. As you have seen,” I smiled.

  “Yes, I have.” He raised his eyebrows at me.

  “I hang out here at the diner with my friend Jenna. Or sometimes I go meet her at her work at the salon. We go shopping. I’ve only been to the dance hall a few times, but she is always trying to get me to go there with her.”

  “The dance hall? You should definitely stay away from that place. Those men will just want to eat you alive, and then I will have to hurt them,” he said. He was smiling, but there was a bit of a possessive tone to his voice. A part of me liked hearing it.

  “What else? What’s your favorite color?”

  “Green,” I answered.

  “Like my eyes,” he said arrogantly.

  I laughed. “Like plants,” I said sternly. “What about you? Color?”

  “Blue.”

  “Like my eyes?” I raised a brow mocking him.

  “Like the big Texas sky,” he said.

  We both laughed. This was nice. It was unusual. This was the first time that we had spoken about anything besides the work we did in the lab, related to crops, and ranch stuff. It was strange that I didn’t know these basic things about him and yet he had already been inside of me. It was shameful really. I think even Jenna knew these basic things about a man before she slept with him. Was I a wild woman?

  “And what about you? What do you do, Tanner Dawson, when you are not working on the ranch?”

  “Well, I like to go to the dive bar to play pool and drink some cold beer with my brothers. Every once in a while you will also find us at the dance hall. But I think my favorite thing is going to the Heights with my brothers. Just jumping and swimming and acting like kids again.”

  I smiled. I liked hearing that about him. It was honest and to the point. I liked that going swimming and acting like a kid, being young at heart was his favorite thing. Of course I knew where the Heights was, but I had never actually been there before. Jenna had told me about it once, but we always went to the community pool instead.

  “I will have to go check out that swimming hole at some point. I’ll put it on my list.”

  “Yes, or you could just let me take you there,” he smiled.

  “Burger, fry, and a shake,” the waitress said, putting a plate in front of Tanner. “And one order of fries. Let me know if you need anything else,” she said and moved on to another table.

  “Damn this looks good. I think I could eat three of these plates,” he said.

  I giggled and dug into my fries. We ate and shared more light-hearted small talk, constantly making fun and laughing at each other. I have not laughed so hard in a long time. Not even with Jenna. Tanner Dawson was actually very funny when he wanted to be. Quite silly, actually.

  Ring. Ring.

  My phone was on the table. I looked at it, the caller ID said it was my father. I silenced the phone. The smile fell from my face. Why the hell did he have to call right now?

  “You can take that if you need to. I won’t think it’s rude.”

  “No. It’s just my father. I don’t need to talk to him.”

  He looked at me confused. “Why is that?”

  “He’s probably just calling me because he’s drunk and feeling sorry for himself because I haven’t seen him since I’ve been back. I don’t want to deal with that.”

  “I didn’t realize your family lived here. I thought you had just come here a year or so ago,” he said, looking confused.

  “My father lives here. I used to visit over the summers a very long time ago, but it’s been years. I only came here to go to school. My father and I are not on good terms on account of him being an alcoholic and all.” As soon as I said the words I regretted it. Why was I telling him so much? I didn’t like to say these things to myself, and yet I was telling Tanner Dawson? I needed to stop talking about this. I never wanted to talk about this, not even with Jenna. Why did I suddenly blurt out that my father was an alcoholic? I wasn’t thinking straight. Tanner had me going in circles, making me open up when I didn’t want to, just by being so damn charming.

  “I am very sorry to hear that, Madison.” Suddenly a very concerned look came upon his face. “If you ever need help with your father, don’t hesitate to call me. I am here for you. I want to be here for you.”

  I looked into his green eyes. They were filled with kindness and sincerity. My heart melted just a little in that moment. But then that feeling turned to anger. I didn’t need him to rescue me, I didn’t need anyone. Why did he have to push himself into my life like this?

  “We should be getting back to the lab. It’s late. I want to check on the progress of the plants. I’ll meet you there.” I said, pulling my wallet from my purse.

  “No, no. It’s all right, I got this,” Tanner said.

  I looked at him as he was pulling his wallet out of his back pocket. He was trying to pay for my meal again, and I couldn’t have that. It made it feel too much like a date. Especially because we had such a bonding conversation. I grabbed a $5 bill and plopped it on the table. “I insist. I’ll meet you there.” I walked out of the diner and into my car.

  Starting my car quickly, I drove off before he could come up to the window and try to talk. I just needed to get to the lab. I needed things to be professional between us, at least for now. Driving to the college only a few minutes away, I was nervous. Why did I have to tell him about my father? I thought about it over and over again. I had let out too many details about my life, and I wasn’t ready to do that with him. I wasn’t really ready to do that with anyone, not even myself.

  Pulling into the parking lot, I got out of the car and went inside to the lab right away. I put on my lab coat and checked on the progress of the plant I had sprayed down with water. It did look a little better than when I left. A few minutes later, Tanner walked in. He didn’t say anything. He quietly put on the lab coat and walked over to the specimen.

  “So, this is the one? It does look worse than before,” he said.

  I was very grateful that he was immediately talking about work, and not trying to pry about my father or our conversation at the diner. This was a relief for me. It was the way I needed things to be.

  “You should have seen it this morning. Here I’ll show you a picture,” I said, getting out my phone and pulling up the photo I took that morning.

  “Whoa, you’re right. Alright, fill me in,” he said.

  “Well, this morning when I saw it looking like this in the photo, I didn’t know what to do. But I thought that maybe the chemical was too harsh after all this time. So I sprayed some water on it and even wiped the leaves just a little bit. Then around lunch, I checked on it and it looked a lot better. As you can see now it looks so much better. All I can think is that it does need water for some reason. But I don’t know what? I’m thinking it could be finding the right balance of a little bit of cleaning solution added with water, or cleaning solution and then leaving it on for just a day or two and then spraying it off with water. I really have no idea.”

  “Yes, that is a tough one,” he said, looking at the crop. He pulled on latex gloves and began to examine it more thoroughly. I liked watching him work, though I hated that it turned me on.

  “What do you think?” I asked him, after a few minutes.

  “I think that the chemical might be too harsh like you said. And that this step of washing it off is definitely needed. How long before I need to do that to my crops on the ranch? Before they get sick like this one?”

  “I’m thinking immediately,” I said.

  His eyes grew wide. “You’re coming with me. We’ll take my truck.”

  19

  Tanner

  I was confused when Madison suddenly shut down on me. It was sad to hear about her problems with her father, but I didn’t judge her for it. In fact, I wanted to help her. I wanted her to know that she could lean on my shoulder anytime she needed to. I wanted to know more about everything she was going through. But instead she compl
etely shut down on me. She even got a little angry and annoyed, especially when I offered to pay for her damn fries. It was just one order of fries after all. But her throwing money on the table was a stab at me, I knew it. So I decided not to press her when I got to the lab. I would just let it go for now.

  Her news about the cleaning solution being too strong stunned me. I was really shocked to see how bad the plant had gotten, after it had been doing well for so long. Especially considering the plants we’d treated at the ranch were okay.

  Now she was sitting next to me in my truck as I drove back to the ranch. I had insisted that she come with me.

  “Now, we have an irrigation system. But it hasn’t been on since we sprayed those plants and it wouldn’t be for a few days yet. But I will need to know what setting to put it on, I’ll show you and you can tell me what you think.”

  “All right. I think probably a light irrigation, as light as it can possibly go. It is a sprinkler system and not a drip, right?” she asked. I looked at her, impressed. She knew her irrigation systems, but of course she would, she was studying agriculture.

  “Yeah, a sprinkler system.”

  “Good, because it needs to get to more than just the roots. It needs to get to the areas that we sprayed on the plants.”

  A few minutes later, I was driving the truck down the dirt road that led to the crops off the main road, and headed toward the irrigation switch system.

  I parked my truck and we both got out.

  “This is it. These are the irrigation switches,” I said, pointing to the large box. I opened it and set the switches. “I’m going to set it to the lowest setting. Let me know what you think.”

  I switched the irrigation system over to the ‘on’ position, then looked at Madison. She looked absolutely stunning in the sunlight. Her gaze was focused out on the fields, giving me a chance to really look at her without her realizing it. Suddenly the water gushed from the large irrigation frames.

  “That’s perfect. Can you set it for a 20 minute shower?” she asked.

  “Absolutely. It has a timer.”

  Quickly, I did the work and closed the box.

  “Darn.”

  “What? Is something wrong with the system?”

  “No. Looks like for some reason my brother left the tractor out here. I need to get it back in the barn.”

  “You drive that thing?” she teased.

  “Yes. Want to go for a ride? I need to get it put away.”

  “You can’t be serious?”

  “Sure I am. Come on.”

  “All right... I guess,” she shrugged and laughed.

  I climbed onto the tractor and sat in the seat pushing my body all the way to the back. I held my hand out to her and she climbed up in front of me. Sitting between my thighs. I could smell her hair, it was like coconuts. Her body was warm and pressed against me, this wasn’t going to be an easy ride.

  “Ready?”

  “Yep. I guess as ready as I’ll ever be.”

  I turned the key in the ignition and started the tractor. We both jolted back as it lurched forward. Madison was giggling uncontrollably. I put my arm around her waist and held on to her as the tractor moved forward faster.

  She was laughing the whole way, and it was contagious.

  “Here, take the wheel,” I said to her.

  “No, I couldn’t.”

  “You can and you will,” I grabbed her hands and set them on the wheel, showing her how to drive the tractor. Then I took my hands off. She drove us all the way into the barn, really getting the hang of it.

  I parked it and turned the motor off.

  “That was some good driving, you just might be a natural,” Abi said, coming out of the side of the barn.

  “Hey Abi, I didn’t see you there,” I said, feeling a little annoyed because I’d really wanted to kiss Madison in this moment while she was sitting between my legs.

  Madison hopped off of the tractor. “Thank you Abi. That is very nice of you.”

  “It’s the truth. Say, since you’ve been helping out on the ranch and all today, driving tractors and curing our crops, why don’t you stay for dinner? We always feed our ranch hands well.” Abi said.

  I turned to Abi, completely shocked that she was asking Madison to stay for dinner, but it did make me smile.

  “Absolutely. I would love to stay. Thank you,” Madison said with a tentative smile.

  “Great, dinner’s ready and waiting. Just waiting for Dylan to come in from the stables. I’ll see you inside,” Abi said. She turned with a skip to her step and walked back to the house.

  Madison looked at me arching her brows, her blue eyes sparkling. I shrugged my shoulders, letting her know I didn’t know what was up with Abi either. We walked side-by-side to the house.

  Moments later we were all sitting around the table with father sitting at the head.

  “Miss Dryer, my entire family owes you a big thank you. The work that you did with my son figuring out what‘s wrong with the crops and all—that is of great importance to us all. Thank you for your work,” my father said.

  “Yes, thank you,” the rest of my family members chimed in, as well.

  “You’re welcome, of course, but I couldn’t have done it without your son here. He really is incredibly intelligent, and knows his agriculture very well,” Madison said, looking at me proudly. I looked at her, suddenly feeling my entire body come alive. It felt good to be appreciated by her and having her praise was the best feeling I’d ever had. Why was that? I wondered what was really going on here.

  “Connor, what’s up with that Sunday flag football game? You know I want in,” Dylan said, changing the subject and taking the focus off of Madison and I, which I was glad for. I wanted to be able to look at Madison freely as she sat next to me without being under the microscope of my family members.

  “Brother, you know it’s still on. Game starts at noon, but you might have to be on the opposing team, my team is already full,” Connor said.

  “Ohhh... it would be my pleasure if it means I get to take you down.”

  “It’s flag football, not tackle, But for you I might make an exception,” Connor said back.

  “Dylan stop hogging them potatoes and hand them to Madison,” Abi said.

  “Right, right. Sorry, here you go, Madison. Abi makes some good mashed potatoes,” Dylan said, handing the platter to Madison.

  “It’s the butter. Made right here on the farm,” Abi said.

  “I can’t wait to try them,” Madison said with a smile.

  “Saw you driving that tractor, Madison. You did pretty good. You might just have to come on Easter Sunday when we have tractor races. Of course, I’m the reigning champion. You got to be tough to beat Dylan Dawson,” Dylan bragged.

  “I think I’m tough enough to beat Dylan Dawson, and I’m lighter, too. The lighter the load the faster the tractor,” Madison said, in a cocky manner.

  Everyone grew quiet and Madison’s eyes grew wide as though she was scared she had just said something offensive.

  Then the entire table erupted into laughter, including myself.

  “Boy howdy, she’s right,” Wyatt said. “I never thought of that. Good call Madison!”

  “Dang it. I’ll lose ten pounds come Easter,” Dylan said, looking defeated.

  “Not me. I’m all muscle and muscle is heavy,” Connor said.

  “Nice job putting him in his place, Madison. Someone needs to shut up Dylan and his talk of tractor races. Seems like it comes up once a week at dinner,” Abi said, winking at Madison.

  Madison was all smiles. She looked at me and we locked eyes. I couldn’t help but smile. I really liked having her at the dinner table, it felt right. It was comfortable, like it was meant to be.

  She finally tore her gaze from mine and dug into the food. I looked to my father, and he nodded his head in approval. I didn’t realize that he had been watching the burning chemistry between us, but it was nice to have his approval of her as well.

/>   After dinner, everyone usually gathered between the porch and the living room, going back and forth. Father was sitting on the porch in his favorite rocking chair, with a glass of whiskey and a cigar in his hand. Meanwhile, my brothers were all over the porch roughhousing. Abi was in and out trying to serve slices of pecan pie, fresh from the bakery in town.

  “Oh boy, I just remembered my car is still at the research center,” Madison whispered to me.

  “I just remembered that my truck is parked in the field,” I added.

  We both looked at each other and laughed. Then we walked out onto the porch.

  “Hey Dylan, give us a ride to the back forty, would ya?”

  “Yes sir, the keys are already in the truck,” Dylan said, taking a leap and jumping off the porch towards his truck.

  Madison and I followed. “We’re getting in the bed, so drive slow,” I said.

  “Oh, you’re getting in a bed with Madison,” he teased. I hit him on the shoulder.

  Madison gave me a look. We both climbed into the bed of the truck and Dylan drove us down the farm road to the back forty acres. The wind was rushing through Madison’s long blonde hair, and she looked like a vision. I wanted to kiss her right then and there, but I couldn‘t.

  Moments later, Dylan had dropped us off and I was driving Madison in my truck toward the college.

  “No, don’t bother. I can get my car tomorrow. Can you just take me home?”

  “Sure, I can do that.”

  Soon, I pulled into the small apartment complex.

  “Walk me to my door, cowboy?” she said, in a flirty manner.

  “Absolutely ma’am,” I smiled.

  I walked her to her door. She unlocked it and walked in, as I stood in the doorway ready to say goodnight to her.

  Clunk. It was the sound of her bag dropping on the floor. She turned around to face me, then pulled off her t-shirt and threw it on the floor. She quickly unhooked her bra, letting her gorgeous tits loose. I couldn’t believe what she was doing. She’d known all along why she was getting me to bring her home. She unzipped her jeans and pulled them down to her ankles, kicking off her shoes.