by Avery Gale
“Is she still sleeping?” Ryan had followed him down to his room to check her pupils. She’d slapped at him before rolling over and going back to sleep. “I know she was annoyed with me, but it couldn’t be helped.”
“You bothered her after insisting she rest? Good grief, no wonder she was annoyed.” Joelle rolled her eyes, and everyone but Ryan and Brandt laughed.
“Minx, how many times have we discussed eye rolling?”
Joelle didn’t seem fazed, and her open defiance only fueled Kip’s speculation his brilliant sister-in-law was in the early stages of pregnancy. “I’m sorry.” Kip wanted to laugh out loud, because she so obviously wasn’t. “But sometimes people say things that are so baffling it makes my eyes roll around from the effort required to hold back what I really want to say.”
“And what would you like to have said, baby?” Ryan’s voice was pitched low, and no one in the room could miss the subtle shift in the energy. His brothers were swinging into full Dom mode, and he looked to Sage, hoping his brother could stall the change of direction until they’d wrapped up the terms of the sale.
Sage gave him a subtle nod and then turned his chair to face Brandt and Ryan. “Hold that thought. Let’s get the details of this hammered out before we adjourn to the playroom.” Joelle’s grin showed why Brandt called her a minx. If she’s pregnant, it’s going to take a damned accounting firm to keep track of her punishments.
It didn’t take long until the final details were worked out. He’d been impressed with the support they’d gotten from the wives; each one had offered to contribute financially. But even more importantly, none of them had complained about their husband’s personal funds being used for the purchase. Before they headed downstairs, Kip hugged each of the women he considered sisters. He thanked them for everything they’d done and asked for their help making Caila his. They’d all promised to help in any way they could before moving to the lower level play room.
Kip turned the lights out and made his way into the kitchen and was surprised to see his dad sitting at the counter, drink in hand. “Damn, those granddaughters of ours are hell on wheels tonight. I swear, we raised five sons, and I never felt this overwhelmed.”
“Maybe it’s because they work as a group. The five of us showed up one at a time.” He knew his words were falling on deaf ears when his dad shook his head. “Okay, I admit they are a handful. What are they up to tonight?”
“After raising five sons, I thought your mother should be nominated for sainthood. Now? Hell, she’s a shoo-in. Thank heaven Sage put those safety straps on their furniture, because Hope used the drawers of her chest as a ladder then proceeded to do a damned swan dive onto her bed. Of course, she bounced off the bed and took Charity down with her. Christ, they’re both going to look like they lost a damned boxing match.”
Kip tried to hold in his laughter, but wasn’t quite able to manage it. “Ryan’s downstairs if you need him, although you might want to let me get him.” His dad’s grin let him know the older man knew exactly what the others were doing.
“No, they’re okay. And everyone is sleeping for now, including your mother. Hell, we only flew home for a couple of days because we were worried about Caila. I have to tell you, having another pilot in the family is damned handy.”
“Aspen is a lot prettier than Sage, too.”
“No shit.” His dad leaned back and studied him carefully.
Kip might be a grown man, but there would always be a small part of him that wanted to squirm under his dad’s scrutiny. “I know your brothers have talked to you about this already, so I’m not going to say much. But I wouldn’t feel like I’d done my job as your father if I didn’t weigh in on this.” Kip nodded his head and leaned against the end of the counter so they were close enough his dad could speak without broadcasting whatever warning he was going to give to the entire first floor.
“Caila holds a special place in my heart for a lot of reasons—some you know, some you probably don’t. Unlike the others, I think your head is finally in the right place.” Those words surprised him, and he couldn’t help the surge of pride that followed. “I just want to remind you that inside the young woman who seems so fearless is a fragile soul who’s spent most of her life idolizing you.” Kip started to argue, but his dad raised his hand, silencing his protest before it even crossed his lips. “You may have been an ass, but the truth is you couldn’t have ever lived up to the man she’d imagined you to be. Hell, that man doesn’t exist anywhere.”
Dean Morgan had always been the wisest man Kip had ever known. Suddenly, he flashed forward, imagining himself sitting in his dad’s seat, talking to his own son about his future. He was trying to guide the younger man in matters of the heart, but his rebellious son wasn’t listening. Scrubbing his hand over his face, Kip realized the vision of the future was real, but the conversation he was reliving was the one they’d had before he’d gone to Caila’s birthday party. If he’d listened to his dad that night, he might not be in this mess now; he certainly wouldn’t be in this deep.
Taking her virginity against a fucking tree was subhuman behavior for any man. Hell, as drunk as he was that night, he’d known it was a real prick move, but it hadn’t stopped him. She had to have been scraped and bruised from that tree’s rough bark, but the real damage had been to her heart. It had been months before he’d seen her again; he made sure of it. When they’d finally come face to face while she was working at her dad’s clinic, she’d refused to meet his gaze. His dad had pinned him with a knowing look, but hadn’t asked any questions. Kip always assumed his dad hadn’t known the reason for Caila’s disquiet. Now he wasn’t so sure.
“Son, a lot of people have treasures with a few dings in them. It doesn’t make the treasure any less valuable or precious, because real love sees the beauty of the whole, not the small flaws. Old World masterpieces complete with their cracks and torn edges are the most prized paintings in the world. When you look at them, the flaws are eclipsed by the magic of beauty. Flaws give a work of art character, even though they also mar masterpiece’s perfection.”
Pausing for several seconds, his dad finally broke the heavy silence and smiled. “Your mother tells me all the time these wrinkles make me more handsome because they’re proof of our years together. I can promise you I don’t see hers—she is the same stunner I married forty-five years ago.”
Kip didn’t want his dad wading any further into their relationship—not somewhere he wanted to go. “Want to cut to the chase, Dad? I’d like to get back down to my suite and check on Cal.”
“Awww, the impatience of youth. Okay, here it is. Right now, you’re pretty rough around the edges, but if I know that beauty like I think I do, she’ll see around your flaws if you treat her right. Life hasn’t been very kind to her, Kip. She was damned young when she lost her mom, and her dad buried himself in his work trying to numb the pain.”
“And now she’s going to be forced to make a lot of difficult decisions where her dad is concerned. I know all this. Can you please just say what you want to say?” Kip could have sworn he’d heard the soft snick of a door closing down the hall, and he was more than a little anxious to check on Caila.
“You’re getting another shot, and I didn’t say second chance because I’m sure you blew past that mark a while back. Don’t fuck this up, boy. Most people don’t get to waste so many opportunities, and I doubt you’ll ever get another. That girl has, for all intents and purposes, been a member of this family almost as long as you have. You best keep in mind we’ll take it personally if anything or anyone changes that.”
Ooookay, well, I guess that was clear enough.
“Understood. And I assure you I have no intention of failing her again. I’m going to do whatever it takes to make her mine. I know it’s not going to be easy, but a wise man once told me nothing worth having ever was.” His dad’s expression softened, a ghost of a smile dancing in his dark eyes. Grabbing a large bottle of water and a couple pieces of fruit, he slapped
his dad on the back as he walked by. “Thanks for believing my heart’s in the right place. That means a lot to me. For what it’s worth, I deserve every bit of this struggle, but I’m going to make it up to her. And then I’m going to convince her I’m worth keeping.” His words might not have been exactly what his dad said earlier, but Kip was convinced the interpretation wasn’t far off.
His dad nodded. “You do that, son.”
Caila crawled back into Kip’s enormous bed and mulled over the conversation she’d overheard. The conviction in Kip’s voice surprised her, but after learning the Morgan brothers had purchased her dad’s ranch, she was even more confused. The house was in decent shape, but it wouldn’t ever compare to the beautiful home Kip still lived in. The last she knew, the home he’d built for himself behind the much larger main house was all but finished. Why hasn’t he moved into it? She didn’t have time to think about that now. There were too many other things she needed to focus on.
When the door to the suite opened, Caila pushed herself farther down between the soft sheets. I’m putting high thread count Egyptian cotton sheets on my bucket list. The mattress dipped beside her, and she gasped in surprise. How had he managed to walk through the small living room and into the bedroom without her hearing his footfalls on the wood floors? Fuck a duck! Maybe he hadn’t heard her quick inhalation of breath. She was supposed to be sleeping, and he probably hadn’t meant for her to be wandering the house alone.
“I know you’re awake, baby. Might as well give up the act.”
Shit. She’d never been good at playing opossum.
Rolling over, she looked up at him. The moonlight steaming in the window highlighted the small bump on his nose. She remembered the summer he’d planned to spend traveling the rodeo circuit with Colt. He’d only been gone a week when he’d returned home with a broken arm and two black eyes compliments of a broken nose. She’d ask him what happened to change his mind, and he’d shrugged off the question. Later, she’d learned how lucky he’d been. The wood paneled fence at the back of the bull chute he’d been standing on collapsed, dropping Kip under the confined animal. The ground under twenty-two hundred pounds of startled animal trained to buck wasn’t a place anybody wanted to be.
His fingers trailing along the side of her face brought her attention back to the man sitting beside her. “Where’d you go?” Smoothing the worry lines from between her brows, Kip tilted his head in question. “Your entire expression changed. What were you thinking about?”
She’d never told him she knew about what happened in Cheyenne, but she was certain he would keep asking until she answered his question. Raising her hand to his face, she traced a line down his nose, pausing briefly on the barely visible bump, and felt him still beneath her touch. “I was thinking about how you got this and how lucky we all are you weren’t killed. I have no idea how your mom survived watching Colt ride all those years.”
He took her hand in his and pressed a kiss to the tip of each finger. “Raising five boys on a ranch probably numbed her a little. Ask her sometime. She’ll tell you that love makes you strong when you have to be and lets you be vulnerable when your soul needs to rest.” Caila had heard Patsy say that, but she’d never fully understood what the other woman meant until now.
“As much as I appreciate your concern, it was a long time ago, and the bump on my nose is a small price to pay for the lesson. Even Colt told me I’d better heed the sign. I don’t think anyone wanted me to tempt fate again—well, at least not in that particular way.” She was surprised he hadn’t sidestepped her concern. He was well practiced in dancing around a topic. He’d once jokingly told her it was a consequence of being the youngest son, that “Lying is a survival skill when you have four older brothers, Cal.”
“You are supposed to be sleeping. Doctor’s orders. And I can tell you from personal experience he’s a bossy bastard. It would behoove you to cooperate.” His words would have had more impact if he hadn’t continued stroking the side of her face. It undoubtedly wasn’t meant to be a sexual caress…she was probably misinterpreting the hypnotic gesture, but her entire body was responding, and she started to squirm.
“I did sleep for a while, but my brain won’t shut off. I’m worried about Pops. I don’t know anything about geriatric medicine. Give me a cow, and it’s all good, but I know zilch about people. What if he’s forgotten to pay our insurance? Oh my God, I have no idea. I need a checkup, but now I’m afraid to go.”
“Cal, please try to set some of these concerns aside and rest. I’m checking on the insurance, but it doesn’t look like it’s been paid for a few months. Senator Tyson is helping us get it reinstated since it lapsed due to his undiagnosed illness.” The blood drained from her face, and she fisted her hands in his shirt as if that would help anchor her during the emotional storm moving over her.
“It just keeps getting worse and worse. How could I have missed all these signs?”
Kip shook his head, “Don’t go down that path, baby. I’m not going to sit here and let you play the blame game. You were busy finishing up school. That required all your energy. And one thing we’ve all noticed is your dad seems to do fine when he’s focused on work. Everyone says his work is still top-notch if he remembers where he’s going and when he needs to be there.”
“I’m relieved to hear he hasn’t hurt anyone or any of the animals he’s cared for.” She didn’t think it would matter how much his mind slipped. Dr. Ben Cooper’s soul would wither and die if he hurt one of his beloved patients. She’d never known anyone who loved creatures great and small as much as her father. “I’m grateful for everything you’ve done, Kip. I know things haven’t always gone…um, things haven’t always been smooth sailing between us.”
Caila was thankful the room was only illuminated by moonlight and hoped her blush would be hidden. Her expression must have given her desire to keep the embarrassment from Kip, because he brushed the back of his finger down her cheek and shook his head. “You blush beautifully, baby. I can hardly wait to push my cock deep inside you and watch the rosy hue spread from your heart. Making you come is the most wonderful feeling in the world—it’s a privilege I can’t wait to reclaim.”
His words sent sexual heat flowing through her body, and even though she knew she shouldn’t, Caila found herself wishing for the same thing.
Chapter Fourteen
Caila was so beautiful she took his breath away. How the hell had he ever walked away from her? What kind of fool did something that stupid? She might be a handful, and God only knew what a damned trouble magnet Dr. Caila Cooper could be, but her submissive streak was bone deep. When Caila loved, she did it from the bottom of her heart, but there was a restless part of her that craved a Dom’s firm hand. Feeling adrift as a young girl had left a deep-seated need for the grounding of a D/s relationship. Nate and Taz had both cautioned him she might require more than he was comfortable giving, but he was determined to learn whatever skills it would take to help her reach her potential.
He’d been a member of Mountain Mastery since it opened, but had never played seriously. It was a fun way to have sex, but Kip enjoyed making love to a woman on a soft blanket under the stars just as much as tying them down. At least he’d thought so before he’d taken Caila at the club a month ago. Watching her flex against his restraints, knowing she was bound for his pleasure, had been a heady feeling he hadn’t expected.
Colt had trained Kip in the use of ropes, but he’d rarely used them because his scenes had never been about sensuality or seduction. Before Caila, it had always been about reaching the finish line. She’d pushed him into full-blown Dom mode without even knowing the effect she’d had on him. Since the first time he’d slid into her, she’d had the ability to turn him inside out—it was part of the reason he’d avoided her.
Jesus, Joseph, and Mary, he’d made her come so many times during their scene at the club it was a damned miracle he’d been able to walk out of the club under his own power. To say the experienced rocked h
im to his very foundation would be an understatement. But by the time Caila finished answering Brandt’s questions that night, he’d panicked—again.
Fuck, he’d been an ass of the first order. Leaving her to deal with everything she’d been through a month ago was even worse than walking away from her the first time. Shit, at least he’d had alcohol to blame for his idiocy at her birthday party.
“Would you just hold me for a little while? Maybe it will help my mind slow down. So much is tumbling around inside my head it’s like someone is playing several different radios in the same room and they’re all tuned to different channels. It’s noisy, and nothing is making any sense.” God, she amazed him. After everything she’d been through… all the damned bombshells they’d dropped on her since returning to the ranch, all she’d asked him for was a bit of comfort.
“Absolutely, baby. But we need to get one thing straight, right now—when we are in bed together, there is nothing between us.” He helped her to her feet then stepped back. “Strip for me, Caila. I want to watch as you unwrap the greatest gift anyone’s ever given me. It may not be mine to claim, yet, but I’m damned well going to enjoy the view before you torture me all night with all that lovely bare skin pressed against me.” Fuck, it was going to kill him to hold her naked all night without fucking her. Hell, his cock was already pressing against his zipper trying to get to her. There were times he’d swear the damned thing really did have a mind of its own. Removing his own clothing was a relief. Maybe, just maybe his cock wouldn’t have a permanent zipper tattoo after all.
