by Jessie Evans
As Grayson returned to the kitchen and ate a quick breakfast of cold toast and tepid coffee, he knew he had to see Reece again and find out why she’d run. He’d promised Dale Hearst he would exercise the green broke horses his other employees were afraid to ride while Dale was in Montana for the holidays. Grayson had planned to take Christmas Day off and spend it with Layla, but with his sister locked in her room and unanswered questions bouncing around in his head, he saw no reason to stay put.
He’d give Reece time to get home and then he’d go give his new neighbor a proper welcome.
CHAPTER THREE
Reece
Reece reached the ranch by mid-morning, ignoring the calls from Tulsi and her father that had her cell humming incessantly in her pocket as she trudged through the quiet woods near the property. They’d both been calling non-stop lately, but she just wasn’t up to a visit right now.
She’d get back to them later…if she felt like it.
She circled the house and scaled the tree next to her bedroom window, letting herself in the way she had years ago, when she would sneak out moments after she’d arrived home, refusing to obey her father’s insane ten p.m. curfew. Inside, she found her old room had been converted to a room for her niece, complete with a bunk bed swathed in pink and dozens of stuffed animals lining the shelves on the wall. As she moved into the upstairs hallway, she was surprised to find the air stuffy and stale, with none of the cooking smells or overpowering scent of Patty’s homemade potpourri that Reece associated with home.
The aging floorboards creaked as she walked down the stairs, but otherwise her childhood home was so silent she felt like a ghost walking through a graveyard. She didn’t belong here. That was clear from the absence of pictures of Reece on the crowded walls and the way the living room had been rearranged to make room for a toy box, miniature woodworking bench, and a crowded bookshelf filled with children’s stories.
This was a home where two grandparents doted on their grandchild and the beloved daughter who had given them another little girl to love. All the evidence of the black sheep of the family, who had once called the Hearst ranch home, had been erased, and life—and the hearts of the people who lived here—had moved on.
Reece knew how things stood between her and her parents, but wandering around the place she’d once called home and seeing no sign that she’d ever existed still made her throat tight. By the time she’d showered, changed into fresh jeans and a white fleece, and whipped up a breakfast of eggs and pancakes—making sure she had something in her stomach before she took another pain pill—she could feel the walls closing in around her.
As soon as the breakfast dishes were clean, Reece tugged on a fleece cap she found in the pile of coats and scarves near the door and headed out to the barn. Even back in the days when her senior picture still smiled down from the living room wall, Reece had always been more at home in the barn. Out in the barn, equations balanced. Outside, hard work, determination, and commitment were rewarded with a well-behaved horse, devoted to the girl who’d trained him. In the barn, it was easy to love an animal and feel that love returned.
In the house, everything was so much more complicated. Inside, Reece was expected to fit into a sweet, submissive mold that was anathema to her independent spirit. She didn’t want to be a good little girl who followed the rules and caught flies with honey. She wanted to be wild and untamed, like her dad’s rodeo friends. She wanted to break the rules and live on the edge and be whoever she wanted to be. She’d grown up defying her father’s expectations and made a career out of defying the world of professional bull riding. She’d proven to everyone who doubted her that size and sex don’t matter. The only thing that matters is a rider’s will, the will to train and fight for what you want and fucking hold on, no matter what.
But now she was out of the ring, for at least a few months—maybe more if her skull fracture didn’t heal the way the doctors were hoping—and she had no idea what to do with herself. She had enough money saved to get set up in a small apartment somewhere, but not enough to cover her expenses for longer than a month or two. She was going to have to find another job and rejoin the real world after over a decade on the road. If she were lucky, she’d be back in the saddle before summer, but that was only a temporary reprieve. This accident had forced her to take a hard look into the uncertain future.
She was nearly thirty years old—practically over the hill for a bull rider. Most of the kids on the circuit were in their early twenties. How much longer would she be able to keep holding her own against them? How long before her already damaged body gave out and her spirit lost the will to keep fighting?
If she were honest with herself, she’d been ready for a change for nearly a year. But in order to move forward, her gut told her she needed to look backward, first, and she wasn’t ready for that. Not now, maybe not ever.
Shit, even thinking about unpacking her baggage was enough to make her heart race and her throat threaten to close up.
As Reece stopped in front of the last stall in the barn, admiring her latest gift to her father, a foul-tempered stallion his former owner had been about to put down before she bought him for a song, she felt the ground tilt beneath her. She lurched forward, bracing herself on the door to the stall, fighting for breath as the horizon line dipped and swung and gravity turned against her.
The dizzy spell was the worst yet and silently Reece cursed herself for every stupid call she’d made in the past twenty-four hours. She should never have bought that bus ticket home. She should never have mixed alcohol with pain pills. And she should never have gone home with a stranger who could be telling Neil Parker all about the blonde he banged last night over Christmas morning breakfast.
Reece slid to the dirt floor with a moan, curling into a ball as the world continued to spin and her aching head threatened to spontaneously combust. She was so fucking miserable that she couldn’t place the voice calling her name from the entrance to the barn. It wasn’t until Broody knelt beside her that she realized why the voice sounded familiar.
“What’s wrong?” He ran a hand down her spine, touching her with a tenderness that made her wish she could remember what had happened between them last night. “Are you hurt? Should I call an ambulance?”
“No,” Reece whispered, blinking as the spinning feeling slowly began to abate. “It’s just a dizzy spell. I’ll be fine.”
“A dizzy spell could be a sign of something more serious,” he said, pulling a phone from his pocket. “I’m calling the paramedics. Better to get you checked out and know what’s wrong then—”
“I know what’s wrong,” Reece said in a stronger voice. The horizon was steadying, but she was still pretty sure she’d yack if she tried to get up off the ground. “I got kicked in the head by a bull. I’ve got a skull fracture. The doctors know about the dizzy spells. I’m fine as long as they don’t get any worse.”
“You’re on the ground and you’re white as a ghost,” he said, sweeping his thumb across the screen of his phone. “I think you’ve gotten worse.”
“Wait.” Reece reached up, closing her hand around his wrist. “I’m on pain meds and I shouldn’t have drunk beer last night, that’s all this is. I made a dumb decision, but I’m going to be fine.”
The man paused, holding her gaze. “Did the bull give you the bruises on your legs, too?”
“Yes.” Reece swallowed, cheeks flushing. “But I was already unconscious by the time that happened, so…”
This man had clearly seen every inch of her, but she couldn’t remember a damned thing about the body beneath his gray sweater and dark jeans. Which was a crying shame. Broody was even more handsome in the daylight, with his blue eyes catching the dim light penetrating the shadows of the barn and his cowboy hat settled on his head. And even in the middle of a dizzy spell, his touch made her stomach flutter and her skin heat up.
But it didn’t matter how much she’d like a second chance at a one-night stand with this cowboy. He was bad
news and had no doubt been running his mouth to Neil about last night. There was no other explanation for how he’d been able to find her so quickly.
“He told you my name, didn’t he?” Her voice cracked as she pushed into a seated position and fresh pain flowed behind her eyes. She took a breath and squeezed her lids shut, fighting through the moment of agony, not wanting to be vulnerable in front of this man for any longer than she had to be.
“Who?” Broody’s gentle hands returned to her back, holding her up when she would have tipped over.
“Neil,” Reece spat out, hating the feel of his name in her mouth.
“No,” the man said. “My sister did. Layla saw you running across the yard this morning while I was in the kitchen making breakfast.”
Reece’s thoughts churned, chugging slowly toward the logical conclusion. With her stupid brain refusing to work properly, it took a little longer than usual, but she eventually put the pieces of the puzzle together.
“You’re his son, the one in the army,” she said, cringing away from Broody’s touch. His hands felt nothing like his father’s, but she still couldn’t believe she’d slept with Neil’s son. The thought was enough to make her stomach heave, threatening to send her eggs and pancakes up for a second showing.
She gritted her teeth and swallowed against the sour taste rising in her throat. She refused to let this man see how disgusted she was. She wouldn’t give him any more stories to take home to his father.
“Air Force. Retired now,” he corrected. “But yeah. My name’s Grayson. We met a few times when you were little, when you were at the barn for lessons.”
“I don’t remember.” Reece kept her gaze on the dirt floor of the barn, fighting to show no sign of how uncomfortable this conversation was quickly becoming.
“I barely do,” Grayson said. “You were only eight or nine and dad had a lot of clients back then.”
Reece’s lip curled. “Yeah, well thanks for the trip down memory lane, but I’m fine and I don’t remember inviting you over for breakfast.”
He grunted softly. “What do you remember?”
“Us at the bar and…by the truck.” Heat flashed across her skin at the memory of that kiss in the parking lot. “And then not much until I woke up this morning and realized where I was.”
“You didn’t miss much,” he said. “You passed out right as I pulled up to the house. I carried you upstairs, changed you into a dry tee shirt since your clothes were damp from the snow, and tucked you in. That’s it.”
She looked up, meeting his gaze, that same intense, stare-through-a-girl’s-skin gaze from last night. “So we didn’t…”
“No, we didn’t,” he said. “Which is probably a good thing, considering your history with my family. But I can’t say I was happy to learn you ran away without saying goodbye. ”
Reece pulled in a deep breath, hating the way the air between them was becoming charged all over again. She didn’t consider many things off limits, but a fling with Neil Parker’s son was definitely on her short list of shit that was never going to happen. “Well, thanks for stopping by to check up on me,” she said, clearing her throat. “But I think it’s best if we forget we ran into each other last night.”
“Why’s that?” He continued to study her, showing no sign of standing up and walking away.
“Because,” Reece said with a snort.
He shook his head. “Because why?”
“Because Neil is a douche rocket, okay?” she snapped. “I hate his guts. If you really are a nice guy, then you’ll go away and never say a word about me, or what happened last night, to your dad.”
A pained expression tightened Grayson’s features. “That should be an easy promise to keep. My father passed away a few weeks ago.”
Reece pulled in a surprised breath.
Neil was dead. Dead. Gone. Forever.
If someone had asked her ten minutes ago, she would have insisted she’d love nothing more than to dance on Neil’s grave, but the news wasn’t as satisfying as she expected it to be.
“We buried him in the old cemetery near the rear of the property,” Grayson continued in an even tone. “Next to my mother.”
“Oh,” Reece said lamely. “Well, I’m…sorry, then. For your loss.”
“You don’t have to be sorry,” Grayson said. “Dying doesn’t wipe anyone’s slate clean. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry your relationship with my dad left a bad taste in your mouth. He had that effect on me, too, sometimes.”
Reece pressed her lips together, shocked to find the back of her nose beginning to sting. She hadn’t cried about what happened with Neil since that afternoon almost twelve years ago. She hadn’t cried about anything in years. The only tears that filled her eyes were the ones that sprung out of her tear ducts without permission when she broke a bone and even those she gave up grudgingly.
She didn’t know what was happening to her or why a part of her wanted Neil to be alive.
But he wasn’t. He was dead, and now she would never know if she would have mustered up the courage to face that particular demon, or to show him he had no power over her anymore.
“What’s going through that head of yours?” Grayson asked, this man who was not his father’s son. He was gentle, kind, and obviously took after his mother’s side of the family. He didn’t look like Neil, didn’t sound like him, and when he covered her hand with his, the last thing his touch did was make her skin crawl. “Are you okay?”
“Not really,” she said bluntly, rubbing at the backs of her aching eyes. “But you probably figured that out last night when I passed out in your truck.”
“All I figured was that you were a serious lightweight. I’ve never seen two beers put a woman out, even one as petite as you are, Shortstack.”
Reece’s lips twitched. “It was the pain pills. Usually, I could drink you under the table, cowboy.”
“I don’t know, my liver held up to some heavy lifting the year I was in Korea. I think I’d give you a run for your money.” His thumb swept lightly across the back of her hand. “Though I can think of a lot of things I’d rather do with you than drink. Could I take you to dinner tonight? The hotel restaurant is open. We could eat, talk, see if we get along as well with names involved as we did last night.”
Electricity surged across her skin from the places where they touched, but no amount of chemistry could make her forget the reasons Grayson was off limits. “Thanks for the offer, but it’s not going to happen,” she said softly. “You should probably head home.”
“Why?” he asked, in that sexy voice she remembered, the rough, gritty one that made her nerve-endings sizzle. “Because of your history with my father? Because I was thinking on the drive over…if you don’t care, I don’t. The past is in the past. I’m more interested in the present.”
“No, it’s not that,” Reece lied, shifting her legs beneath her, brushing Grayson’s hand away as she moved. “I’m only in town for nine days and I’ve got a bunch of shit to sort through. I need to make a plan, figure out where I’m headed next, find a job. I don’t have time for distractions.”
Grayson made a knowing sound as he stood and reached a hand down to help her up. “All right. But after last night, I didn’t peg you for a liar.”
Reece shot him a hard look. “And I didn’t ask to be pegged.” She ignored his hand and surged to her feet, only to ruin the show of strength when another wave of dizziness rushed through her, sending her staggering.
A moment later Grayson had swept her up in his strong arms and was carrying her toward the house.
“Put me down!” She shoved at his chest, hating the way her body was tingling all over, silently celebrating being close to Broody again.
Jesus, this man did something to her. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d craved a connection with someone the way she did with Grayson Parker. It felt so right to be close to him—exciting and safe all at the same time—but that was even more reason to keep him at a distance. She wa
sn’t in the market for more than a one-night stand, and she could tell already that Grayson was the kind of man who wouldn’t be easy to say goodbye to.
“I said, put me down,” she repeated. “Do you suffer from selective hearing, Broody?”
“I’ll put you down inside,” he said, stubbornly. “And then I’m going to go get Dr. Brown to come take a look at you.”
Reece scowled. “Listen, tough guy, I don’t know who the hell you think you are, but I’m not—”
“I’m someone who wants to help. And who’s sorry my dad hurt you,” Grayson said, the sincerity in his voice stealing all her angry words away. “He hurt a lot of people.”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she whispered, arms curling close to her chest. “And I don’t want a doctor.”
“I understand not wanting to talk.” Grayson let himself in the front door and strode into the house with the ease of someone who was used to making himself at home at the Hearst ranch. “But the doctor’s nonnegotiable. I promised your dad I’d look after the horses while he was gone. I’m sure if he’d known you were coming home, the same promise would have extended to his daughter.”
Reece laughed bitterly. “Shows what you know.”
Grayson stopped beside the couch and set her down so carefully she laughed again as she pushed his hands away.
“I’m not made of fucking glass, okay?” she said, rolling her eyes. “I ride bulls for a living. I’m not some fragile little flower who needs to be taken care of. And I’m not the kind of girl who needs rescuing, Mr. Bossy. Ever.”
Grayson crouched down, bringing his face even with hers. “Now I know you’re full of bullshit.”
“How’s that?” she asked, eyebrows lifting in a silent challenge. Of course, it would be easier to give this man shit if having his lips close to hers didn’t make her breath catch and her thighs ache to be wrapped around his hips.
“Because everyone needs rescuing,” he insisted. “At least every once in a while.”
Reece’s lips parted in protest, but before she could assure him that she ate knights in shining armor for breakfast, Grayson’s lips were on hers and her words melted in the heat that flared to life between them. His fingers cupped her jaw and his tongue demanded entrance to her mouth and seconds later he was kissing her the way he’d kissed her last night. The man kissed like he was staking a claim, with deep, rhythmic strokes that mimicked penetration of a much more intimate kind and turned her insides to molten liquid.
