Not that he looks like the type who needs to steal. I eyed his expensive suit and platinum cuff links. But one can never be too careful.
“So,” I said, clasping my hands together above the table, “tell me what it is you’re so desperate to offer.”
He arched a brow, acknowledging my jab. He’d taken off his glasses, and he observed me with his shrewd gaze for a moment before he spoke, “It occurred to me that you might be curious about my intentions toward the ranch.”
“That would be one way of putting it.” Suspicious was more like it, but I held my tongue, wanting to hear what he had to say. “I know that your company likes to buy up failing ranches and other properties and then turn them into housing developments.”
He nodded. “It’s true that we make the bulk of our profits that way,” he acknowledged, “but the truth is that I’m not here on behalf of Bradley and Radcliffe. I’m actually interested in this property on a personal level.”
“Is that so?” I found that hard to believe. “What would a man like you want with a working ranch?”
“Well, normally, I would never consider buying a property like this for my own personal use,” Samuel said, lowering his voice conspiratorially. “But the reason I’m so interested in this specific property is because a good source told me this place is sitting on a gold mine.”
“A gold mine?” I sat up straighter. “What kind of gold mine?” I couldn’t imagine there were actual gold deposits beneath the ground, though I supposed anything was possible.
“Oil.”
I barely managed to keep my jaw from dropping. The ranch is sitting on top of an oil well? Dollar signs began prancing through my head at the idea of the potential wealth. I could pay back all my debts and then some. I could open studios across the city. I could—
“Wait a minute,” I said, coming back to my senses. “You want to buy the ranch and turn it into an oil field?”
“That’s the idea,” Samuel said. “I’m not planning on becoming a rancher after all.”
My heart dropped into my stomach. The ranch would be completely destroyed, which was exactly what my great-uncle hadn’t wanted. But I didn’t say that to Samuel, knowing he would just argue the point.
“If that’s true,” I said slowly, “then why on earth would I want to sell the ranch to you? I could just drill the oil myself and keep all the profits.”
“That’s true,” he said, “but oil drilling is an expensive venture, and I doubt you have the capital to get it going. I, on the other hand, have connections to the oil-drilling industry, as well as the financial resources to get such a project going, and I am in an infinitely better position than you to capitalize on the potential wealth of this ranch.”
I opened my mouth to tell him that I had a resource in the oil industry as well and then stopped. I didn’t actually know Hunter’s brother, Eric, on a personal level, and there was no way he was going to step in and help me with a project that would go directly against Hunter’s wishes.
A project you aren’t even interested in doing anyway, my conscience reminded me.
Guilt flooded my chest.
“I must admit, I was pretty surprised at your initial offer of one hundred thousand dollars,” I said. “But now that you’ve explained the situation to me, it sounds like a pretty pitiful sum.”
“I agree,” he said. “That is why I’m now prepared to offer you five hundred thousand dollars, as well as ten percent of all future profits.”
I felt as if my head was going to explode. Five hundred thousand dollars . . . plus ten percent of the millions of dollars that Mr. Bradley was going to make in the future?
How on earth can I turn down all that money?
“You must be dead certain there’s oil on this land,” I countered.
“I have a very good source,” he insisted while opening up the briefcase he’d set on the table. He pulled out a several-page legal document. “Here’s a contract with all the particulars. It’s not an official bill of sale, but it does outline the exact agreement.”
I knew I shouldn’t take the contract, but my fingers curled around it anyway. “I can’t sign anything right now,” I said, infusing my voice with conviction I was no longer certain I felt.
“Of course,” he said smoothly. “I just wanted to update my offer and give you this document so you would have a chance to look it over yourself—and with a lawyer, if you would like.” He stood up, and I hastily followed suit. “I’m sorry to be abrupt, but I have to get going now.”
“I’ll show you out.” I walked him to the door, the contract still clutched in my hand, and followed him out to the porch so I could watch him get in his car. My instincts, which hadn’t quite been overruled by greed, still told me he couldn’t be trusted, and I didn’t want to let him out of my sight.
He paused on the top step and looked back at me, his glasses once more shielding his gaze from me. Nevertheless, a chill still raced through me.
“You know, any current agreement you’ve made with Hunter Golden is not legally binding. So, you can still let him in on this business opportunity.” He grinned, trotted down the steps, got into his car, and drove off.
I stared off into space for a long moment and then jumped as one of the roosters crowed, startling me out of my damn wits. Remembering my chore, I raced to the backyard to finish collecting the eggs and put the contract out of my mind.
CHAPTER 22
Hunter
I SLAMMED THE TRUCK door shut behind me and then checked the paper bag in my hand, making sure everything I’d picked up from the grocery store was still safely tucked in there. Satisfied that my toolbox was fully stocked, I stalked up the stairs and into the house, determined to find Kia and break down the walls between us.
It had been barely a week since she’d walked out on me in the stalls and erected a barrier between us, but to me, it felt like a lifetime. And every time I tried to take baby steps to repair our relationship, it had only caused her to withdraw from me further. Now, with only a few days left until our bet was finished, I knew I was on the cusp of losing her, and I couldn’t let that shit happen.
Drastic measures were going to be taken tonight, and as far as I was concerned, nothing was out of bounds if it meant getting Kia back.
As expected, Kia was pacing back and forth in the kitchen, worrying her lip with her teeth. As soon as she caught sight of me, she whirled around, stalking toward me.
“Where on earth is Mrs. Jones?” she asked, her voice shrill with worry. “I came back in an hour ago to find that she was gone, and she’s not in the back cottage outside. I can’t find her anywhere!”
“That’s because I gave her the rest of the day off,” I said easily.
“You what?” Kia froze. “Why on earth would you do that?”
“Because tonight is just about you and me.” Ducking down, I caught her by the waist, hefting her over my shoulder. Then I turned and headed for the stairs.
“What the hell? Put me down!” Kia began to pound her fists against my back. “I don’t want to go upstairs with you. I want to go downstairs and eat dinner!”
“Too bad.” I opened the door to her bedroom and somehow managed to close and lock it behind me despite Kia’s thrashing. “Mrs. Jones isn’t coming back until tomorrow, and you’re a horrible cook.” I tossed her unceremoniously onto the bed and then put the grocery bag on the nightstand. “Guess you’re just going to have to eat what I bought.”
“You bought dinner?” Kia eyed the bag skeptically. “Why? And why are we eating up here?”
“It’s a special kind of dinner,” I said suggestively, sitting next to her on the bed. “And one I think you’re going to enjoy.”
Perching on the edge of the bed, I started unpacking the grocery bag and bit back a grin when Kia’s eyes widened.
“Is that whipped cream?” she asked, sounding scandalized, but I didn’t miss the undercurrent of excitement in her tone. “And strawberries?”
“It sure is.
” I plucked a strawberry from the container, dabbed it in the whipped cream, and held it up. “You want some?”
Kia reached for it, but I placed the leaves in my mouth and bit down so that the strawberry was hanging from my lips. “Come and get it,” I said around the mouthful.
Kia stared at the berry for a long moment, and I waited in anticipation to see what she would do. For a moment, I thought she would lunge for the box on the nightstand, but ever-so-slowly, she leaned over and took a small bite out of the berry. Her eyes fluttered closed for a moment as pleasure flushed her cheeks, and I bit back a groan when she licked the whipped cream off her lips. She leaned in for another bite and then another until the berry was finally finished, and there was no mistaking the pulse fluttering at her throat in reaction to the sweet fruit. Being this close to her without touching her was testing every inch of my willpower, and I had no doubt it was doing the same to her.
“I . . . we shouldn’t be doing this,” she whispered, but she didn’t resist when I gently pushed her back on the bed.
“This was one of the erotic fantasies you told me about during our nights in the barn, right?” I asked as I grabbed another strawberry. This time, I dipped it in chocolate sauce and held it just above her mouth, allowing the chocolate to drip onto her luscious lips. “The one where a guy covers you in chocolate and whipped cream and strawberries and then licks it all off your body?”
“I didn’t think you remembered,” she gasped as I slid the chocolate-coated berry down her throat. Then I licked the area clean with my tongue. I repeated the process, dabbing the sensitive spots of her collarbone with the strawberry and then lapping up the chocolate residue.
“I’ve been thinking about it ever since, and I was trying to figure out a way to make it happen in the stables before you left,” I confessed, feeding her the strawberry.
A trickle of strawberry juice gushed from her lips and down her chin, and I licked it off unhurriedly, enjoying the way she trembled beneath my tongue.
“Then I decided, if you were going to be leaving me in a few days, there was no way I was going to let you go . . . not without fulfilling your fantasy.”
“Hunter,” she moaned as I dabbed her earlobe with a bit of whipped cream.
I sucked on it. She writhed beneath me, and I delighted in the rush of power I felt at holding her captive this way, mentally and physically. I’d played with food and sex before, of course, covering my cock in honey and making my current piece of ass lick it off, but there was something so much better about being the giver than the recipient. At least, there was with Kia.
When I got her all nice and riled up, I pulled away from her long enough to strip off her clothing. Then I returned with the can of whipped cream. With a devilish smile, I coated her nipples liberally and then sprayed a path down the center of her cleavage and stopped at her belly button where I left a particularly generous dollop. The scent of Kia’s arousal was thick in the air as she watched me, her body trembling in anticipation. When I finally lowered my mouth to lick the whipped cream off her left nipple, she moaned, and the sound was music to my ears.
“Ooh,” she moaned, clutching my head to her breast.
I lavished attention on each nipple, moving over, lapping, and sucking at the cream on her belly. I dipped my tongue into her belly button, chuckling at her squeal when I swirled my tongue around to get all the cream there. But when I spread her legs, she sat up with a gasp.
“You’re not going to . . . oh!” she squealed as I sprayed a generous amount onto her clit, careful to avoid her lips.
I immediately started licking and sucking at the area, showing absolutely no mercy as she screamed, her hips bucking against my face. I slid two fingers inside her, stroking her inner walls just the way she liked, until she came apart in my arms, crying out my name.
“You are mine,” I told her, stripping off my clothes and then sheathing my cock with a condom and mounting her.
She eagerly embraced me, not a shred of resistance within her, and I groaned out loud as her throbbing pussy clenched around my cock, nearly undoing me.
“All mine.”
I fucked her hard and fast, letting out all my frustration, anger, and desperation at once, and she took it all, meeting me thrust for thrust, clawing at my back, whispering dirty talk in my ear, and urging me on. Wanting to go even deeper, I pulled out and flipped her onto her stomach. Then I grabbed her hair and pulled her head back as I slid into her from behind. She seemed to like this too, grinding her ass into my pelvis as I fucked her, and part of me wondered how I had ever been satisfied with any of the women I’d fucked in the past. I’d done all kinds of things with them, much raunchier than anything I’d tried with Kia so far, yet something as simple as pulling on her hair and fucking her doggy style was enough to undo me.
“I want to hear you come, baby,” I growled in her ear, reaching around and massaging her clit.
I pleasured her with my hand and my cock, soaking up each cry and moan, and when she came, her pussy clenching hard around my cock, I followed suit, coming hard in a blinding rush of pleasure that stole my breath and what was left of my mental faculties.
I came back to myself a minute later and frowned when I noticed Kia was trying to inch out from underneath me.
“Where are you going?” I asked, rolling onto my side and hauling her against me.
She stilled in my arms, and I ground my teeth at the tension I could feel thrumming through her body.
“I figured we were done,” she said carefully. “Now that you’ve fulfilled my fantasy and all.”
“We are not done,” I growled, turning her around so that I could look into her eyes. In them, I saw fear and insecurity, and my heart ached fiercely with the need to take away her pain. “I didn’t come here just so that we could have one last night before we have to go our separate ways, Kia. I came here because I realized I can’t bear to see you go, and I need to make you understand how much you mean to me. I fucking love you, baby.”
Kia’s lips parted, and tears glimmered in her eyes before she blinked them away. “You can’t mean that,” she murmured. “You just can’t.”
“Why can’t I?” I asked gently, stroking the curve of her back.
“Because it’s going to break my heart when I have to leave you.”
“Just because you have to go back to New York doesn’t mean you have to leave me.” I kissed her nose. “You might not realize this, but I’m kind of a wealthy guy, and I have a lot of resources. There’s no reason I can’t divide my time between here and New York so I can be with you.”
“But your ranches,” Kia protested, confusion in her eyes. “Don’t you have, like, twenty of them to manage?”
“Yes.” I nipped at her chin. “And I can always hire on another manager to help me. I know a few guys.” I winked.
“You really mean it, don’t you?” she asked in wide-eyed astonishment. “You would cut back on your time out here to come and live with me?”
“Hell yes, I would!” I grinned. “Besides, at least a third of my time was spent traveling and blowing my money on booze and beautiful women,” I told her. “Now that I’ve settled my sights on you, I’ll have a lot more time freed up.”
“Is that a marriage proposal?” Kia asked, arching an eyebrow.
“Not yet,” I said softly. Then I pressed a kiss to her lips. “I don’t think you’re ready for that yet, especially since you haven’t even decided whether or not you love me,” I teased.
Kia rolled her eyes. “Of course I—”
The shrill scream of a horse cut her off, and it was like déjà vu all over again with both of us jumping off the bed, rushing toward the window. But this time, I didn’t bother to peer out of the glass or rush down the stairs. Instead, I quickly shifted into my beast and then jumped straight through the window. I was consumed by the desire to get to the shifter before he killed another horse.
I landed on the ground in a crouch, amidst a spray of glass, and then sprint
ed toward the stables, much faster in my hybrid form than as a human. My night vision easily spotted the open stall door, and I launched myself at the shifter who was attacking the palomino, barely avoiding getting his skull crushed by the frantic horse.
“You fucking bastard!” I growled, using inhuman strength to lift the shifter and toss him straight out of the building.
The shifter landed on its feet, a hulking wolf with glowing yellow eyes and fangs. We both charged each other at the same time, clashing in a ball of fur, fangs, and claws as we rolled around, fighting for the upper hand. The wolf’s claws scrabbled against my shirt as he snapped at me, but I sank my own clawed hand into the wolf’s throat and tightened my grip, squeezing.
“Oh my God!” Kia screamed.
I cursed inwardly at the realization that she was just a few feet away, watching the fearsome battle. I didn’t dare look away from the wolf, though. One misstep and the shifter would rip my throat out. Instead, I leaned forward, sinking my fangs into the wolf’s shoulder, causing it to howl in pain. The shifter thrashed furiously against me, but I refused to loosen the grip on either his jaw or his hand, and eventually, the shifter passed out, morphing from a gargantuan wolf into a gaunt human with black hair and pale skin.
A loud thud behind me told me that Kia, too, had passed out, and I sighed, resigning myself to a very long and unpleasant night.
CHAPTER 23
Kia
I WOKE UP ON the couch to see Hunter’s face hovering over me. It took my mind a few minutes to catch up with what I’d seen before I passed out, and when it did, horror engulfed me, driving all rational thought out of my mind.
“Get the fuck away from me!” I shrieked, backing up to the other end of the couch. I held my hands out, as if I could ward Hunter off. “You’re a monster!”
Hurt flashed across Hunter’s features, but he didn’t refute my claim. “I’m sorry you had to see that,” he said quietly, “and we can discuss it later, but for now, there’s something else we need to focus on.”
Operation Wolf: Hunter ~ Sedona Venez Page 11
