by Ashlee Price
The door opened suddenly next to her and she was pulled out by a strong grip. She didn’t see who it was before he had gone back into the car and started to pull Shane out her side. It was the man that had warned her about him earlier and she didn’t know what to do but stand there and watch him pound his fist into Shane’s face. There was a satisfaction in seeing it and hearing the sound of each contact.
Finally she stopped him. “Enough, you are going to kill him.”
“So.”
“Well I don’t want that on my conscious or yours. Thank you for saving me…”
“Joel.”
“Joel.” She said his name lightly as his dark eyes looked concerned. “I’m fine, really.”
“Do you need a ride home?”
“No, I guess I need to call the cops or something. He might need an ambulance.”
Joel shrugged, “Someone will find him eventually. I don’t really need the trouble if you don’t mind.”
She looked down at the man on the ground, he wasn’t making any sound, but he was breathing, so she didn’t feel so bad. “Okay, I don’t want to give you any problems for helping me. I should have listened.”
“Let me take you home.”
Kendra almost said no, that she was fine, but she wasn’t. Her hands shook and after living in a big city most of her life, she had never felt so close to danger before as she did then. Joel made her feel safe and she could figure out getting her car the next day.
“Would you mind? I don’t want to put you out, but I am a nervous wreck right now.”
“Come on. Where do you live?”
“Off James Street. Turn right after Turner.”
“I know where that is. I have a friend that lives over there.”
“I don’t really know anyone yet, just got in town last night. First day of work and all.”
“Well don’t think we are all like him.”
How could she think that about Joel who had come to her rescue?
Chapter 3
Joel drove her back to her place in his dark red truck. Driving slow and making the ride the few miles seem to take a lot longer than it should of. She was still trying to work it all out in her mind. What was she going to do now? It wasn’t like there were a lot of job openings for making drinks in the area. She had spent almost all of her money and now she was stuck with no job.
“So are you going to go back there?”
“Of course not. I can’t work with that kind of guy. I don’t know what I will do, but going back isn’t an option.”
“Good, I wish somebody would put him out of business. Believe me when I say that you are not the first employee that he has tried that with.”
She looked at him strangely for a minute. “Do you know him?”
“Yes, he’s family unfortunately.”
That made what he had just done even more surprising. “I’m sorry if I caused problems with your family.”
“It’s okay. I just wish that he wasn’t related to me sometimes.”
“I have a few in my own family that way. Do you want to come in for a drink or something?”
“No, I am sure you need some sleep after such a stressing day.”
“Please. I don’t really want to be with alone right now. Just a drink?”
He finally gave in but it was clear that he wasn’t so sure about it. She didn’t like the way she sounded, desperate, but she was still shaking and did not want to be by herself. Joel was the only positive constant around her at the moment.
Putting the truck in park, he followed her up to the small apartment.
“So what do you do?”
“I work on a ranch like most people around here.”
She was having trouble with the keys and he took it from her to help it along. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Just shaky I guess. Not really what I expected when I moved here. I wanted an adventure, but this is ridiculous.”
“You came here for an adventure?” His look was sardonic when he pushed the door in. She moved passed him and turned on a table lamp when she got in. Moving towards the kitchen, Kendra tried to steady her hands, but they were just as bad as before. She was the type to freak out after an event happened and her mind was on a drink.
“Vodka or beer?”
“Those are some interesting choices. What are you having?”
“Vodka, definitely vodka.”
“Sounds good.”
She moved to the freezer and pulled out the chilled bottle. “I don’t have anything to mix it with, so shots?”
He nodded, his dark eyes taking in the woman in front of him. There was nothing else to look at, nearly everything still in boxes. She was tall and looked out of place in the surroundings. Her clothes were just too clean, her skin too pale for the daily dose of sun that most people got working outside. Her hair was long and black, her eyes the color of the stormy sky. When she looked back up at him and caught him staring, she smiled sheepishly.
She slid the glass to him, “Here.” Her own drink was downed with a disgusted face and then another poured. He didn’t think she drank like that usually, her face too expressive for that. “Might want to slow down.”
Kendra laughed. “I should have thought about that before I came here. Now I have to find another job here.”
“Everything always works out.”
She didn’t seem convinced, but after another drink, the numbing effects were taking over and her care was less. Still standing on the other side of the counter, Kendra walked back to the living room. “Do you want to watch a movie or something?”
He nodded, but Joel was not really thinking about movies. It was clear what his brother had saw in her, but she was in a way off limits to him now because of his mistakes. Sitting down next to her, he had to fight the urges that her body brought forth. She moved towards him, laying her head on his chest and she left him holding his breath. “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been there Joel. Thank you.”
Kendra was not used to drinking and she wasn’t too worried about anything. Her eyelids were getting heavy and she didn’t make it passed the first ten minutes of the film before she was asleep. Joel looked down at her closed eyes and then the semi-chub in his pants. It was not going to end with satisfaction and he groaned inwardly. Glancing around, he wanted to help her in some way, push her to stay in a small way by making sure that she felt at home. It was a strong thing to feel about a stranger, but Joel knew that he didn’t want her to leave.
He stayed next to her for some time, listening to her breathe and loving the way her small body felt against him. She may have been tall, but she felt like she weighed nothing against him. All Joel could focus on was the warmth emanating off of her and the way she whimpered every now and then. Her hands gripped his shirt front like she didn’t want to let him go. Joel’s heart softened as she slept halfway on top of him.
Moving away finally, he laid her down on the sofa with a pillow.
Pushing his cock down, he looked around at the undone mess around him. He had to be back soon, early mornings for him with the animals, but he didn’t want to leave her. Joel knew he had to, but he wanted to see her again, needed to even.
Writing a note, he stayed around for a while and then left quietly into the night. The day had turned out so differently than he could have imagined. He hadn’t even thought of being with another woman for a while and there she comes, seemingly out of nowhere to bring back the feelings he thought were lost forever.
Chapter 4
Kendra woke up on the couch with a small headache. It had been a while since she’d drank, but she remembered why she didn’t. She hated the way she felt the next day. She laid there with her eyes closed, her head spinning until she peeked out. Kendra was trying to remember what had happened and it came back to her with clarity. Her thoughts went to the dark-eyed man that looked at her with lust, but also tenderness. She knew nothing had happened, he had been a gentleman in it all, but Kendra kind of wi
shed that they had. He was gone of course, but everything around her looked different. All of the boxes that were stacked up were gone and most of her things were unpacked and put away. It felt like she was home finally and she caught herself smiling.
There was a note in front of her and it had her name scrawled in messy handwriting. It offered her a job and hoped that she would give Ashton a chance. There was an address and a phone number at the bottom, signed in equally messy cursive. She sat back and looked at the letter. He worked at a ranch, so she didn’t even know how he could get her a job being just an employee, but what would she do? She knew nothing about horses and livestock and what she was able to do did not sound like anything she would ever actually want to do.
Kendra would go though, just to see him again. She needed a job and well, any job was better than nothing, right?
She found her only pair of jeans and threw a T shirt on. Her nerves were frazzled, still thinking about everything, but the idea of seeing Joel again got her moving. Kendra got lost twice trying to find the place, but she finally pulled in and took a deep breath. She could do this.
There wasn’t an office, just a huge house and a few barns. The name on the front didn’t mean anything to her and she started to second guess herself. What if he couldn’t get her a job and they didn’t even know she was coming. Should she even be there?
“Hey Kendra. I’m glad you made it.”
“I didn’t know what time you wanted, the note didn’t say. Thanks for unpacking for me. That was really nice of you. Makes the apartment feel homier. I was actually thinking about leaving, but now I am all moved in.”
He smiled. It was exactly what he had wanted to happen, how he had wanted her to feel. “Good, I’m glad you have decided to stay for a while. Have you ever worked with animals before?”
Kendra shook her head. “I volunteered at an animal shelter when I was a teen, does that count?”
She didn’t look much older than that then and then he wondered how old she was. She had to at least be 21 to work at the bar.
“That will do. I was thinking more about answering phones and dealing with customer appointments. Stuff like that.”
She sighed and looked relieved. “Thank goodness. I didn’t like the idea of mucking out horse stalls and all of that.”
“Yeah that would be a sight. Maybe one day, but right now I need help with the phones and maybe filing some paperwork. I would rather muck out stalls than send in files for the accountant.”
Kendra liked the new arrangement and it was actually something that she could do. She wanted to hug him for helping her so much, but she didn’t want it to be taken the wrong way.
“Thanks you are a life saver. You will have to tell me a way that I can repay you.”
An idea shot in his head and fire leapt in his eyes, but he looked away, telling her it was no problem. “You fix my paperwork and that will be more than enough.”
He showed her to his office in the side of the house and it was a mess. There was no two ways about it and she sunk down into the chair. “Okay, you weren’t joking when you said that you didn’t like to do paperwork.”
He looked at her sheepishly. “Call me if you need anything.”
Joel left her to it and Kendra looked around at the stacks of invoices. She felt bad for his accountant and for herself for a few moments before she decided to that the only way to finish was to start on one side and work her way through the rest of it. Kendra would have been lying to herself if she didn’t admit that she had thought about just walking away a few times throughout the day, but by the time lunch rolled around, she could actually see the dark mahogany of the desk.
“Wow, I didn’t expect to see so much done. Did you just throw it away?”
She chuckled, “No, it’s all ready for the accountant. The rest is in the filing cabinets. It took me an hour to actually realize that is what they were. I thought they were stack of papers at first.”
“Yea, it’s gotten worse since I took over.”
“You own this place?”
He nodded. “My father left it to me. I’d always thought it would go to Shane since he was the oldest, but I got it instead.”
“Is this what you wanted to do?”
“Not hardly, but it is what I am doing now. I love the animals, been around them since I was a kid, but the rest of this, is beyond me. I wanted to just play in my rock band.”
“You play? I would love to hear you sometime.”
Joel turned away and it looked like he was actually blushing. It was the first moment of vulnerability that she had seen from him and she liked the look on him.
“I haven’t played in over a year now.”
“Sounds like you should get back to it then.”
She made it sound so simple, but it wasn’t that way to Joel. There was a reason he had stopped playing music and dating, he had stopped living in some respects.
“You’re probably right. Well I got customers coming in later so I need to get a horse ready. Of you want, I was wondering if you would like to stay for dinner.”
“Sure, that sounds good.”
Chapter 5
The day went by quicker when she had something to look forward to. Kendra had almost forgotten about the night before and she was trying to see all the positive that had come with the sudden changes. There was definitely some attraction between the two of them and she was wondering where it would go. He came and got her around quitting time and offered her a drink.
She helped him cook, their bodies touching once or twice accidently as they moved around each other in the kitchen. It was something that she had done with Cedric and she missed the intimacy of it. Joel worked well in the kitchen and before she knew it, there was dinner made and it was just so comfortable, it didn’t feel like they had only known each other a day. By the end of it, she felt like she knew him more, but there was something he was hiding, she just knew it. It wasn’t that he lied, or she didn’t think he had, but he seemed to be omitting a lot.
The two worked well together and after a week, she was even more smitten than she had been before. He had a way about him that drove her crazy, but it was the fact that he didn’t act on the lust in his eyes, that drove her mad. She wanted nothing more but to give him everything, even after learning it wasn’t always the best idea. Kendra didn’t want to say she was in love, but she was certainly in like. They had a date, an actual date set for the next day on Sunday before they went back to work. He wouldn’t tell her where they were going or what they were doing, but it didn’t really matter. All that mattered was that she was going to get to see him.
***
Kendra got dressed in something a bit flashier than the jeans and T shirts that had become her work clothes. It was all she ever wore and it was nice to get dressed up. She just hoped that he didn’t want to do anything too crazy with what she was wearing.
The red dress was short and her heels were tall. Kendra was pretty tall, so it was nice to be able to wear some heels for once without upsetting a man and his delicate ego. Joel did not seem to have any ego, just a self-confidence that made him even more attractive. He was so sure of himself and everything that he did, Kendra of course thought that it would translate into the bedroom as well.
It had been a couple of weeks since she had been with Cedric and the lack of sex was getting to Kendra. She was having trouble concentrating day after day around Joel in such close quarters and he hadn’t made a move. Kendra was ready to be the one to make the moves and though she was not dominate by nature, she was willing to try something new if it got her what she wanted and what she wanted was Joel.
She heard a soft knock at the door and she opened it. He was dressed up a little as well and his cologne stopped her in her tracks. He smelled so good that she leaned in for a kiss before she realized what she was doing. His lips were soft on hers and he hid his surprise well. Neither was ready for it and Kendra was molded against him panting by the time he pulled away.
“Sorry, I don’t know what came over me.”
“No need to be sorry, really.”
“In that case, you wouldn’t want to stay in, would you?” Her blue eyes looked up at him with need, leaving him no doubts as to what she really wanted.
“No, I thought we would go out, have a fancy meal and then go down to the park.”
It sounded nice, sweet, but it was not what she had in mind. Kendra tried to hide her pout and disappointment. She was not sure why she felt so horny, so full of need, but there was no denying the state he put her in with just one kiss. “Okay, let me just get my purse.”
He waited for her by the door, afraid to move forward to stop himself from going too far. It was not a good time for a romance, but Kendra had just shown up. There was still another week until he wanted to move to that level, until he was able to. He just had to wait, but as he watched her bend over to get something off a table, he groaned to himself. It was going to be a long week.
The fancy dinner was nice, but Kendra would have much rather had dinner at his place. It was more intimate and she would have had a better chance to tempt him. It was what she was doing, trying her best to tempt him into what she wanted from him.
After the meal, he took her out to a small park where he brought a blanket and they laid out to watch a meteor shower that was timed almost perfectly. Kendra found her way into his arms and sighed as they watched the cosmic show above them. It was one of those moments that she would always remember. Sighing against him, she snuggled deeper, her leg moving around him as she held him close. Kendra didn’t want to moment to end.
He turned to look at her and she moved forward for another kiss. His lips responded quickly to her and she moaned softly against his mouth. Her leg went to straddle his thighs and her body was on top of him as their tongue tangled together. There was a clear indication of his need against her hips, Joel grinding up against her made her mind muddled and her own hips moved harder.
