Forever Wild: A Camden Ranch Novel

by Jillian Neal

  Three washers, a locknut from the gear assembly, two screws, an exhaust stud, several bearings, and bushings from the transmission, what she suspected had caused the problem in the first place, lay in the box. “He took the whole damn thing apart, didn’t he?”

  “Luke is nothing if not thorough.” Holly rolled her eyes.

  Shaking her head, Indie refused to embarrass herself again by heartily agreeing, so she set to work.

  “No doubt you’ll have it working in no time, so I’m gonna leave you to it.” Holly offered her a slight wave as she headed back to the horse barn.

  Determination drove Indie as she reworked the transmission and corrected Luke’s mistakes on the overhaul. When the transmission proved to work correctly, she smiled. Finding engine problems, no matter how obscure, was her specialty. She loved the hunt and accomplishment that came from her work. Her happiest childhood memories were listening intently to her father’s teachings while peering under the hood of most any kind of vehicle. For her tenth birthday, he’d splurged and gotten her a diesel engine model and helped her build it. They used to drive her mother and sisters crazy at the dinner table each night. He’d list off several symptoms or diagnostic readings and she’d guess the problem. It was a game she’d always reveled in.

  “Gotta be the fuel system,” she commented to herself and began inspecting the lines and valves. She dragged the back of her hand across her sweaty brow and cranked the tractor, studying the diameter and timing of the bubbles in the fuel. “Bingo.” The engine didn’t need to be overhauled at all. The tractor needed a second fuel flow tube at the inlet. She located one on the tool bench and began reworking the fuel system.

  Luke’s grin expanded the width of his face as he watched her. God, she was adorable. He quickened his steps towards the shed. Her hair was done up in a messy topknot with what looked like a thin metal connecting rod she must’ve located in the shed sticking through it to secure it to her head. Grease was smeared across her forehead and right cheek, and oil was splattered on her jeans. That light he loved was glowing in her eyes as she worked.

  “So, how bad did I screw it up?”

  Smirking at him, she set down the wrench. “Raise your right hand.”

  Laughing, Luke held up his right hand, knowing where this was likely going.

  “Repeat after me,” she giggled. “I, Luke Camden, will never, ever take apart another engine because I have no fucking clue what I am doing.”

  He cocked his left eyebrow upwards and narrowed his eyes. “See, I will gladly take that vow, darlin’, once my sexy little mechanic agrees never to leave me high and dry with a tractor that won’t run and her not here to fix it.”

  An audible huff accompanied her eye roll. “It wasn’t the engine, cowboy. You were pulling too much air into the fuel lines. I added another flow tube and flushed your system. I also pressurized the tank for you and primed everything. Should run like new now.”

  “You’re gorgeous, you know that?”

  “Aww, I bet you say that to all the wrench-heads that fix the stuff you took apart and couldn’t get back together.”

  Laughing with her, he shook his head. “Nope, only you. Never had the urge to tell your daddy that, and I suspect he’d rethink us dating if I did.” He helped her gently lower the hood cover.

  Scoffing at that, Indie rolled her eyes. “You kidding me? You could probably commit murder and my father would still adore you. Pretty sure he thinks of you as the son he never had.”

  A dozen taunts Luke knew Indie had endured growing up immediately played in his head without his permission. Everyone, including her own mother, used to refer to Indie as the son her father had always wanted. Luke knew Ben never thought that way.

  Indie had come into the world mechanically inclined just like her father. Ben adored all three of his daughters, but the bond between him and Indie was special. Despite the fact that he’d named her after the Indianapolis Speedway, after a concession from her mother that she be called Anna, he’d never wanted her to be anything but his little girl.

  At the ripe old age of four, Indie had informed her parents that she hated being called Anna and would hence forth be referred to as Indieanna. The shortened version had come sometime around first grade. She’d quickly figured out that her nickname irritated her mother, and therefore she’d made certain it stuck.

  “I’m real good with just becoming his son-in-law.”

  “And people say I’m stubborn,” she huffed. “Let’s go check on Cassie. I want to give her another bottle.”

  “All right, but then I think I should give you a nice hot bath.” He licked his thumb and ran it across the grease smudge on her cheek, wiping her clean. “Although, you look so damn cute covered in grease, kinda makes me wanna leave you filthy. ‘Course, ain’t nothing sad at’all about having you wet and nekkid in my arms, either. I’m torn.”

  The purse of her beautiful lips spoke directly to his groin. “Hmm, I could think of a few other ways I could be filthy.”

  That was it. His fuse of rampant desire short circuited with the thought of his cum all over her body. He pinned her against the metal wall behind her, taking her mouth with fervor and greed. The softness of her lips, the sway of her lush body against his chiseled form, the way her right hand tunneled in his hair. The urgency of her tongue coupled with the wet heat of her mouth. The potent, intoxicating taste of her. It all fed the frantic need swamping his blood.

  His hands parted at her delicate neck, one travelling to her ass to pull her closer, the other cupping her left breast, feeling the heavy weight. Longing to keep her locked in the strength of his arms took firm hold of him. Sweet Jesus, she was just too tempting. How the hell had he ever survived without her?

  Guiding her with the hand on her ass, he circled her pelvis around his erection. Only problem with having her back in his life, he was constantly stiff and aching. His only relief came when she was naked in his bed nursing his cock either with her mouth or her pussy, and he was damn tired of waiting to have her fully.

  She circled his nipples with her thumbs, drawing a strained grunt from his lips. When her hands slipped to his belt buckle, he lifted his head and watched her reaction as she encountered the fierce bulge behind his zipper line.

  “I need more than what happened in your bed, Luke. God, I need everything. Take me; fast, hard, furiously, slow, gentle, tied to your bed, up against the wall, in the bed of your truck, whatever. I don’t give a damn how, just put your cock in me, fill me so full I ache come mornin’.” Her eyes closed as she traced lower, spinning her fingertips over his sac and then grasping his cock again. Luke’s breath stalled as he shuddered from the heavenly sensation and the imagery her words painted in his mind.

  “Oh, darlin’, I plan on taking you every single one of those ways over and over again. I woke up and you were gone.” He spun his tongue over the purple brand he’d left on her neck the night before. “Left my bed smelling like you and wet from your juices, honey. Drove me mad. Thought about jacking off all over my sheets, inhaling your sexy scent and thinking about you touching yourself in my bed, begging me to fuck you. That’s what I used to do, Indie. Every single time you came to me, spent all night making love with me and then left for Oklahoma, I’d wake up and relive it until I came all over the sheets right where you’d been laying. Then I remembered you were still here, and that you’d given me a chance to make you stay. I ain’t quittin’ this time. I ain’t giving up, so be ready. You still hurtin’, sugar? You still feel empty from coming around nothing at all?”

  “Yes, damn you. So, why don’t you do something about it?”

  Before Luke could order her to his truck, “Unka Wuke,” pealed through the air followed by Luke’s father Ev’s customary whistle.

  “Shit.” Luke spun and caught J.J. when he barreled into the shed with his arms extended. Indie clutched the work bench, trying to steady her frantic breaths. Luke did a quick inventory. A storm of fire in her eyes, lips kiss-swollen and ripe red, her
breasts swelled until they were spilling over the top of her bra, raw heat darkened her normally pale cheeks, and the hickey on her neck was a deep purple. Absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous, but it sure as hell wouldn’t take a genius to figure out what they’d been up to.

  Luke’s father, entered the shed a few seconds after his grandson. He couldn’t quite contain his chuckle as he took in the scene. “Well, if it ain’t Indie Harper back on my ranch. Girl, Jess and I have missed you.” He gave Indie a sweet hug, making her grin and further darkening the flush of her cheeks. “Luke’s complete horse manure when you ain’t here. You ever think about stickin’ around?” He winked at her.

  “Subtle, Dad. Real subtle,” Luke sighed, but he of all people knew his daddy always said precisely what was on his mind.

  Indie shot Luke an eye roll. “Oh yeah, because you’ve been so subtle yourself.” She returned her gaze to his father. “So, he’s got you in on this too, huh?”

  “Hey, I call ‘em like I see ‘em, sweetheart. You belong here. Always have, always will. Little man here is ‘bout to drive Summer up four walls and over a hay bale. Baby Hank was up all night. Austin finally got him to sleep, but they’re exhausted. Your mama’s got the tiny one, and I was given strict instructions from my daughter-in-law to wear J.J. out. He wanted to come find Uncle Luke, which worked out well, seeing as Tuck and Melony are up at the house lookin’ for you two. They went by your place, but obviously you ain’t there.”

  “Big twuck!” J.J. bounced in Luke’s arms, making Indie laugh.

  Luke turned so Indie could see his nephew fully. “J, this is Uncle Luke’s girlfriend, Indie.” Aunt Indie, he corrected in his mind.

  “No,” J.J. shook his head at her. “Twuck.”

  Ev chuckled. “Twice as stubborn as his daddy when he wants some’um.” It still struck Luke occasionally how much J.J. reminded them all of Austin, even though he was not Austin’s biological child. Some things were meant to be, just like him and Indie.

  “Aww, I like Uncle Luke’s new truck, too. Does he take you for rides in it?” Indie’s soft intonation with J.J. as she tickled his belly touched the deepest wells of Luke’s soul, the ones he’d shut up tight when she’d left, and never allowed himself to feel. The pain was occasionally more than he could handle.

  J.J. gave her an enthusiastic nod before he reached for her. Panic widened her eyes as he nearly leapt from Luke’s embrace to hers.

  “I don’t know how to ….” She shook her head while simultaneously cradling J.J. in her arms.

  “You’re fine. He thinks he’s found someone that’ll get him in my truck faster.” Luke couldn’t hide his broad grin as J.J. nuzzled his head against Indie’s shoulder. When his little hand landed on her ample breast, he cringed however.

  “Unka Wuke’s twuck!” J.J. commanded again.

  “All right, come here, little man. We’ll ride in Uncle Luke’s truck back to Granddaddy’s house, okay?” Luke reached for J.J., but he shook his head and continued to love up on Indie.

  “No! All awound!” J.J. lifted his head and shook it back and forth in an odd circle in what Luke assumed was an attempt to explain that he wanted ride all over the ranch.

  “Boy, you are about to get yourself in a mess of trouble.” Ev carefully lifted J.J. out of Indie’s arms. “Uncle Luke said he’d take you back to the house. Granddaddy’ll drive you on the tractor or in his truck after that, but you have to behave.”

  “Truthfully, I need to go back and check our new calf. What are Tuck and Melony here for?” Luke asked his father.

  “No idea, son. Just wanted the two of you. Grant and Natalie just fed the calf, and she walked around a little. She’s getting there. Tuck said you were up all night with one of Indie’s horses, and I know Brock got you out of bed long before sunrise, so I kinda thought you two might want a nap, too.”

  “How did Tucker know about Juliet?” Indie wondered.

  “Oh, sweetheart, you know how the Glen is. I ‘spect he and Melony went by your daddy’s place and he told ‘em. Don’t take long for news to spread around here.”

  Luke fought not to order his own father to shut it. He didn’t need anyone reminding Indie of the less than ideal parts of living in Pleasant Glen. He also had precious little patience left. His plan of punishing her for being ornery by not burying his cock balls deep in her pussy was supposed to be over as soon as they woke up from their nap. He was already treading water on borrowed time. He’d been on a knife’s edge of arousal for the past week just anticipating their reunion. Horses, calves, his nephew, his best friend, and her sister needed to take a number and get in line. They’d come up for air eventually. Sometime next winter if he had his druthers.

  “I still can’t get used to the idea that Mel is marrying Tucker,” Indie admitted.

  “He’s grown up too, sugar. Ain’t the player he used to be. He’s all about Melony all the time,” Luke assured her.

  “He better be.”

  “You think I’d let him mess around on your little sister? I would’a beat his ass.” Truthfully, Luke was mildly offended.

  She considered for a moment. “No, but remember this is the first time I’ve really seen them together.”

  “Twuck, peese!” J.J. huffed impatiently.

  “All right, go get in.” Luke gestured to his truck parked nearby. Ev set J.J. on his feet, and he took off. Everyone followed after him.

  “All babies I’ve ever been around look at ‘em and want desperately to touch them like that. I mean, to them I look like the freaking dairy truck just pulled in.” Indie shrugged. With gall driven impatience already surging through his veins, Luke drew his hand back and smacked her ass rather hard.

  “Luke,” she spat as she stumbled forward. “Your daddy is right there,” hissed through her teeth as she stabbed her finger Ev’s direction.

  “Do I look like that concerns me in some way?”

  “What the hell is wrong with you?”

  “You sayin’ shit like that about the woman I love is what’s wrong with me. You’re gorgeous, Indie. Fucking beautiful. Somebody else said shit about you that way I wouldn’t stop swinging ‘til they were flat on the ground and beggin’ for mercy. What the hell makes you think I won’t have something to say about you talking about yourself like that?”

  Halting abruptly, she spun and glared at him. “When I said I’d like to be spanked, that ain’t exactly what I had in mind.” She kept her voice to an infuriated whisper.

  “And what exactly did you have in mind, sugar?” he matched her tone as Ev loaded J.J.’s carseat into Luke’s truck and pretended to ignore them.

  “You know perfectly well what I had in mind.” Another round of seductive heat pooled in her cheeks. She discreetly glanced his father’s way to make certain he couldn’t hear.

  Luke couldn’t help but chuckle despite the irritation over her insistence that she was somehow unattractive. “I do. I was just kinda hoping you’d say it out loud.” He pulled her into his arms and gently rubbed the spot he’d just swatted, soothing the burn. “Look at me.”

  She complied with a nasty glare. “You are the most beautiful woman in the world to me. Please, stop saying shit like that. For me.”

  “See you at the house.” Ev waved as he climbed in his own truck.

  “Fine, but you can’t deny that my tits are still huge, even if I did have them reduced,” she continued after Luke’s father had driven away.

  Luke bit back a greedy growl of approval. “Your tits are gorgeous, just like the rest of you. Now, let’s go see what Tucker and your sister want, because I want to be alone with you for the next several days, and since that isn’t an option, I plan on taking you hostage until that stupid shower tomorrow.”

  “That another kinky fantasy, cowboy?”

  “If that’s what you want to call it, sure.”

  J.J. was making a decent attempt at diesel engine noises with his mouth from his car seat in the open truck.

  Indie giggled. “I think he
might like your truck more than I do. Kid’s after my own heart.”

  “Yeah, I noticed that you stare at my truck the very same way I stare at your ass. I’m a little jealous.”

  Her laughter sped his heart. The beautiful sound soothed a little of Luke’s impatience. If he could just keep her laughing and show her that he could be everything she’d ever want or need, this would work.

  “Aww, don’t be jealous. I stare at your package almost as much as I stare at your truck.” With the tip of her tongue between her teeth, she continued giggling and waggled her eyebrows.

  “I could make your whole damn night, sugar. Give you full access to my package in the back of my new truck.”

  “Mmm, gettin’ hot in here now. Always did love it when you and I went out with nothing but your old truck, a few blankets, and an all access pass to your junk.”

  “You have always had an all-access pass to what’s in my Wranglers, darlin’, and you know it.” He held the keys to his new F-450 in front of her face. “You drive. When I get rid of Tuck, I want you all turned on. Driving a dually diesel should work almost as good as wine and roses for boring women I got no time for.”

  “Aww, don’t I feel special? You’re lettin’ me drive your truck.”

  “Got the 6.7 liter Powerstroke.”

  Another round of laughter brought her beautiful smile to her face. “Do you have any idea what that actually means?”

  “Not a damn clue. I just know it’ll haul anything, and it makes you smile. That’s all I care about. Worth every penny I spent if it makes you grin.”

  “The 6.7 liter Powerstroke is a Ford thing,” she explained as he helped her climb up in the driver’s seat.

  “I’m built Ford tough too, ya know?” God he’d missed flirting with her. His determination doubled down with every moment they spent together.

  “Oh, I know you’re a stud, Luke Camden. Kinda likin’ that you’re mine again for a little while, too.”

  “Not just a little while, Indie Jane Harper. I figure if I say it enough at some point I’ll get it through that stubborn head of yours.”