Kisses From My Cowboy Stepbrother
Tiffany Madison
Published by Tiffany Madison, 2015.
This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.
KISSES FROM MY COWBOY STEPBROTHER
First edition. April 27, 2015.
Copyright © 2015 Tiffany Madison.
Written by Tiffany Madison.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
About This Book
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
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About the Author
All characters in this story are 18 years of age or older.
About This Book
"You are so perfect, Emily," Connor whispered, as his fingers slid up my thighs. "How did I get so lucky?"
My mom had decided to get married to an old farmer named Richard. This meant that Richard's son, Connor, was about to be my stepbrother.
I didn't really mind having Connor in our family, though. He was the kind of manly protector that I had always needed. As a muscular rodeo cowboy, Grant had no problem protecting me from some trouble makers at a local bar near the farm.
But it was a double-edged sword. Everything that he did for me just made me fall in love with him even more and it wasn't long before I found myself desperately needing him physically.
The only problem, was that I wasn't sure how long we'd be able to keep our taboo relationship a secret. And no secret can stay hidden forever...
***
I looked over at him as we drove. He had one hand on the wheel and the other out the truck window. His black cowboy hat was tilted slightly to the side as he leaned his head back, relaxing into the seat.
“Look at the sky,” he said, pointing upward. “The stars are out tonight.”
I looked out the windshield, where a sea of stars blanketed the night sky. It was beautiful. It was a view that was impossible to find in the city.
“It’s gorgeous,” I said.
Connor looked over at me and then placed a hand on me knee.
“It’s an alright view,” he said. “But not nearly as nice as the one I have right here in the truck.”
I smiled at his compliment. It was a little cheesy I’ll admit, but it was also very sweet. I placed my hand on top of his as we pulled into the driveway.
“Wait,” I said. “Stop the truck. I don’t want to go home quite yet.”
It was only midnight and mom and I had been planning on driving back home the next day, so I wanted to spend as much time with Connor as I possibly could.
Connor turned off his headlights as he stopped the truck. Then he put it in park and turned off the engine. I watched as he opened the truck door and stepped outside.
“Come outside,” he said. “You should see the stars from out here.”
I stepped out of the truck and we both walked toward the back. Connor hopped into the bed of the truck and then held out his hand, helping me up. In the back were two hay bales.
“Have a seat, my lady,” Connor said, playfully.
We both sat down on the hay bales and then leaned our faces toward the sky. The stars were breathtaking. I wouldn’t have been able to count them all if I had tried.
A cool breeze kicked up from the cornfield nearby and I crossed my arms, shivering.
“You cold?” Connor asked.
I nodded as my teeth began to chatter. He immediately wrapped an arm around me, pulling me close to him and warming me up an instant.
“I really had fun dancing with you tonight. And I wanted to say thank you for protecting me at the bar,” I said. “But is it just me, or is this starting to feel like more than just a friendship?”
He gently moved his hand up and down my shoulder, caressing my skin. Then he turned toward me.
“I think you said it yourself this morning, Emily,” he responded. “It’s better to just follow your heart, right?”
Our faces were just inches from each other’s and I felt myself becoming hypnotized once again by his words and his sexy voice.
I guess he’s right. I did say that. And I don’t think I can deny these feelings inside of me any longer.
I looked deep into his eyes and I felt my heart rate increase as we leaned toward each other. I reached up and placed a hand on his face, feeling the thick stubble of his beard underneath my fingertips.
“This has to be our little secret, Connor. We can’t tell anybody about us...”
***
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Chapter 1
It was just three months after my divorce from my husband when I moved back home with my mom. It was the most disheartening move I had ever made in my life. I was only twenty-two years old but I felt like I was starting over from scratch. I had almost tried to cling onto my marriage just for fear of having to go back home, but I couldn’t take the verbal abuse and the adultery that my husband had been committing. I didn’t need that crap in my life, so I finally decided that putting my head down and moving back in with Mom was the best choice for me.
“Emily, I know you’re not excited about this move, but once you get back on your feet financially, I’ll help you find your own place.”
My mom was standing in the entrance of my old bedroom with a box of my belongings in her hands. I was carrying an armful of my clothes, as I stood in front of her.
“I know, Mom,” I said. “I just can’t believe that Randy got the house. I was the one who made most of the mortgage payments. Why in the hell did the courts give it to him?”
My mom shook her head and shrugged her shoulders.
“I guess because you were making pretty good money at the time and he wasn’t,” she responded. “It’s just the way the courts work. It doesn’t seem fair, does it?”
I set the armful of clothes onto my old bed and took a seat in the desk chair that was nearby, kicking my feet up on the desk.
“It’s not fair at all,” I said. “Especially now that I’m not even working at that job any more. I got laid off and it’s like they didn’t even take that into consideration.”
My mom stepped closed to me and placed a hand on my shoulder.
“Well, just be glad that you and Randy didn’t end up having kids together,” she said. “Can you imagine how much of a mess it would have been then?”
I looked up at her and nodded in agreement.
“You know, that’s a damn good point, Mom,” I said, as I placed my hand over hers. “That would have complicated things even further.”
I hadn’t really thought of that point until my mom had mentioned it, but it somehow brought a feeling of relief over me. She was right. I hadn’t had kids with Randy, which for years I was upset about. He didn’t want kids and I did. But looking back on the crappy marriage, I found myself actually very happy that we didn’t end up having children. I would have been stuck having to see Randy for years and years.
“I’m kind of glad you brought that up,” I said. “It actually makes me feel a whole lot better.”
My mom smiled warmly and then sighed.
“Well, I suppose we should finish unpacking your
car,” she said. “There’s still a lot of stuff we have to move inside.”
I nodded and drew in a deep breath.
“Yeah, I guess we should,” I said. “I wish Dad would come over here and help.”
My mom laughed sarcastically.
“Very funny, Emily,” she said. “I don’t think your dad has helped either of us with anything since he and I got divorced all of those years ago. You know that the only thing he was ever married to was his job. The man is a detective for the police department and that’s all he cares about in this world.”
I chuckled softly under my breath as I stood up from the chair.
“Yeah, I wish that wasn’t the case, but you’re right,” I said.
Mom and I began making our way downstairs and out to my car to finish unpacking my things. She wrapped an arm around me as we walked outside. I drew in a breath of spring air. It was kind of a smoggy day in the city, though, so I immediately found myself coughing.
“You’ve been gone for too long,” she said. “It’s like you’ve forgotten how bad the air is around here.”
I nodded my head as I cleared my throat.
“I guess so,” I said. “I spent so much time living out by the coast that I had almost forgotten what this city air is like.”
“Well, I’d love to move some day,” my mom said. “Maybe after I retire or something I’ll move to Florida. This Detroit smog is starting to take its toll on me. Maybe I should start dating again and try to meet a man who doesn’t live in the city.”
As my mom spoke, I started thinking. To my knowledge, she hadn’t been on a real date in years. And it wasn’t because she was unattractive. In fact, she was still gorgeous, despite being in her fifties. I started wondering if maybe I could help her to meet someone. I thought that maybe it could be her ticket out of her current situation.
“Hey, Mom, when was the last time you went on a date with someone?” I asked, as I grabbed some more clothes from the back of my SUV.
If felt strange to even bring it up, since we didn’t talk about it much. But I wanted to get it out on the table.
My mom chuckled in response and shook her head.
“It’s been years,” she said. “My job keeps me pretty busy and well, you know how the social scene is here. It’s not like I really get the opportunity to meet anyone.”
I looked at her for a moment, watching the breeze blow her brown hair across her face, temporarily covering her blue eyes. She had the same features as myself and sometimes it was almost like looking into a mirror.
“Why don’t you try online dating?” I asked.
My mom shook her head immediately.
“Oh, no, honey,” she said. “I don’t know anything about that world.”
“Mom, I’ll help you set up a profile. It’ll be fun!”
I started to get super excited at the idea of my mom dating. I thought that setting up an online profile could be fun for both of us.
My mom looked at me like I was crazy for a moment, and then shrugged her shoulders.
“Tell you what,” she said. “If you set up a profile for me, I’ll do it. I know nothing about technology, as you very well know.”
I giggled and started walking back into the house. I suddenly had a new energy in me. It felt good. I hadn’t felt excited about something in quite some time.
“Alright,” I said. “As soon as I get the car unpacked, we’re making you a profile.”
Chapter 2
My mom and I spent at least a couple of hours perfecting her profile. We posted a beautiful picture of her and wrote a great description to go along with it. Then I told her to search around on the website and see if she could find any cute guys.
In the mean time, I spent the next several days just getting settled in the old house. It felt weird being there again, after all of those years on the beach with my ex-husband. It felt especially strange spending time in the old neighborhood again. When I had first graduated high school, I had a ton of friends who all lived in the area. But I didn’t anybody now. Everyone had grown up and gone their separate ways. Which honestly, made the whole situation a lot more depressing to me.
Moving back home had made me feel like I was going backwards in life. I was starting over and suddenly, at thirty-three, I was in the same place as I was when I first finished high school: single, jobless and...free.
Holy shit, I’m free!
I sat up on the edge of my bed, a smile suddenly crossing my face.
“I’m free,” I said out loud, despite being the only one in the room.
“I’m completely free!”
Up until that point, I hadn’t fully realized it. But since my divorce was final, there was nobody that I had to answer to any more. There was no need for me to feel depressed! This was my time to be happy.
Who really cares that I’m twenty-two and living at home again?
I didn’t know anybody in that damned town anymore anyway, so who was going to judge me? And even if they did, I made a conscious choice right then that I wasn’t going to let people’s opinions bother me.
This is my life now. I can do whatever I want.
I stood up from my bed, twirling around in a circle and celebrating my newfound revelation. I felt like jumping up and down with excitement.
Sure, I was going to have to find a job and survive just like everyone else, but there was no real hurry for that. My mom was kind of enough to let me stay there and get on my feet, so I wasn’t rushed to find some crap job and some crap apartment. I could take my time and enjoy spending the days catching up with my mother.
“This will be good for me,” I whispered. “This whole transition is going to be good for me.”
It was the first time in a long time that I had spoken words of positivity. But I was starting to see clearly that sometimes change is a positive thing and that it shouldn’t be feared.
The smile was still on my face as I stepped across my room, placing my hands on the dresser and looking at myself in the mirror. My blue eyes glowed from the daylight that poured into my window. I looked at myself for a moment, noticing some dark bags under my eyes.
That stressful marriage sure did tire me out...I thought.
I shrugged my shoulders and then reached up, pulling my dark hair back into a ponytail.
“Oh well, whatever,” I whispered. “It’s time for new beginnings.”
With a smile on my face, I went ahead and cleaned up my room, unpacking everything and organizing my clothes in the closet. I found myself having a renewed sense of energy, excited about whatever life was going to give me next, good or bad. I told myself that no matter what happened, I was going to keep my head up high and make life as amazing as I possibly could. Not just for me, but for my mom also. I decided that I was going to take the reigns for once and do everything in my power to choose my days wisely and make the most of them.
With a new sense of peace in my body, I walked back over to my bed and laid down. I closed my eyes and drew in a long breath.
What a crazy ride my life has been so far, I thought.
For years I dealt with turmoil in my marriage, a stressful job, and countless sleepless nights. But there, laying in my old bed, I felt like I could finally relax. It was incredible. All of those bad times were behind me and my new life was just beginning. I couldn’t wait to see what other adventures were in store for me.
Chapter 3
Two weeks after making the dating profile for my mom, she called me downstairs to show me something.
"Emily, come down here to the office when you have a second," she said. "I think I may have met someone worth spending my time on."
My eyes lit up as I stepped out of my bedroom and made my way downstairs to the office. When I walked inside, I noticed that my mom had her dating website pulled up on the screen. She turned around in her chair as soon as I walked in.
"Hey, honey," she said, with a huge smile on her face. "What do you think of this guy?"
I stepped towar
d her and brought my eyes to the screen, where I saw a handsome man with thick, grey hair and a well-trimmed beard. He looked rugged and strong and was wearing a red plaid shirt in the picture.
"Wow, he's actually kind of cute," I said.
I had to admit that I was impressed. I didn’t expect her to find such a good-looking man so quickly online.
"Well, I'm glad you approve," my mom responded. "His name is Richard and we've been talking now for over a week."
I playfully pushed my mom on her shoulder.
"Mom!" I cried. "You've been talking to him for that long and you didn't tell me?"
My mom blushed and then nodded her head.
"I'm sorry, baby," she said. "I didn't tell you because it seemed too good to be true, but now I know that it's not. Richard and I started talking a few days after I joined the website and we just hit it off. I was instantly attracted to him."
I wrapped an arm over my mom's shoulder and gave her a hug as I squatted down next to her chair.
"Mom, I'm so happy for you," I said. "He looks like a really nice guy. What does he do?"
"Well, believe it or not, he's a farmer," she said.
My jaw dropped. My mother was the most purebred city girl I had ever known. In fact, I doubted that she had ever even seen a mud puddle in her life, or anything related to nature for that matter. I shook my head in shock as I made her repeat herself.
"What?" I asked. "He's a..."
"Farmer," my mom said, finishing my sentence. "He's a farmer, Emily. I know it's kind of strange for me to be attracted to him since we are such opposites. But actually, I think that might be why I like him so much. We compliment each other very well."
I was shocked, but definitely still happy for her. How could I not be? She had a smile on her face that I hadn't seen in years and her eyes were suddenly shining with youth.
"Well, I think that's really great, Mom," I said. "So, when do I get to meet this lucky guy?"
My mom kept her eyes locked with mine. She opened her mouth to speak, then hesitated for a moment.
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