by Addison Fox
And the answering tug of his own wild when he’d said yes.
Chapter 14
For years, Hoyt had considered and reconsidered the fact that he lived and worked with his family. He never saw it as a burden, but he could admit that most grown men didn’t live under the same roof as their two older brothers and younger sister.
More, most found a way to move on with their lives, build a home of their own and start a family. He’d hit thirty and done none of those things so far. Yet every time he considered leaving he dismissed the thought, acknowledging to himself that not only was it easy to live in the ranch house, but that he actually liked his siblings.
Love, sure. That was part of the deal. But like was a whole different ball of wax and he counted himself immeasurably lucky that he was as much friends with his brothers and sister as they were blood.
Besides, he’d always reasoned with himself, when he did start a family, there was more than enough acreage to build his own home right here on Reynolds Station land. The fuss and bother of doing it before then seemed like a waste.
Until today.
Three pairs of eyes—four, when he added Belle’s arrival just before dinner—sized him and Reese up, watching the two of them like lab mice in a cage.
Were they blushing? Showing signs of attraction? Were they too lethargic or too animated? Were their pheromones leaping into the air between them, infusing the entire room with some sort of exacting, lust-filled anxiety?
They were the weirdest thoughts, made only weirder by the fact that he’d looked at Reese so many damned times his vision was likely crossing. And as for those imagined pheromones, there was nothing imaginary about it. The woman’s essence filled the room, light and airy and driving him crazy.
The only thing that made any of it bearable was that Reese seemed to feel it too. He caught her eye more than once, and while he had the overwhelming urge to apologize for his nosy family, there was also that underlying feeling of being comrades in arms.
Was this what parenting would be like?
The two of them, paired up when their child inevitably had a streak of rebellion spill out or a tantrum well up in that special way only kids could truly manage. What about when they fought with one of their siblings? What would happen then?
His hand bobbled so hard Hoyt nearly dropped his fork.
Siblings? Co-parenting? Children? As in multiple babies.
No, he amended to himself.
As in a family with Reese.
“Would you pass the potatoes, please?” he asked Ace, attempting to cover up the clumsy move with the fork.
His brother did as asked, but Hoyt didn’t miss the smile that crinkled his older brother’s eyes. Or the large helping of potatoes already on his plate that he added to with the additions from the bowl.
“So, Reese,” Belle started in. “School starts on Monday. Do you know who you’re getting for your class yet?”
“I know most of the kids. I have a few troublemakers, but nobody I can’t handle. Besides, the few that do act out usually stand down once I explain the real meaning behind The Scarlet Letter.”
“I remember those days,” Tate said with a smile. “I had no idea that A meant something so interesting.”
“As I recall, you were rather fascinated with Moby Dick as well,” Belle said, elbowing him in the ribs.
“Which was nothing like I expected,” Tate said. “Who knew a book about a whale could be so boring?”
Reese reached for her water glass. “I taught that one year and swore to myself, never again. That’s when I got my own personal rule for teaching. If I can’t get through the book, I’m not making twenty fifteen-year-olds read it, either.”
The conversation spun out about remembered classes in school and a funny story Belle had from a traffic stop that afternoon and even a few discussions about ranch business. If he weren’t so wound up and stuck in his own head, those visions of multiple children still keeping him company, Hoyt might’ve enjoyed himself. Instead, all he could think about was Reese and him and this imagined future that had suddenly settled over him like a warm blanket.
“Do you still get excited for the first day of school?”
Reese nodded at Ace. “I do. It’s not the same feeling as when we were students, but there is still a lot of excitement. It always feels like a fresh start. Like a new opportunity stretched out before you to make a difference.”
“You don’t get bored teaching the same books every year?” Ace asked.
“Not really. I change it up and I have gotten into a rhythm with things I enjoy teaching. But the kids give me a new perspective every year so that even if I feel I know the book, every time they bring something new to it.”
“It’s sort of like the herd each year. The new calves. I always feel like it should be the same, but it never is.” Hoyt wasn’t sure where the comment came from, but now that it was out he realized it was true. Each season was different and not just because the family worked to refine and better the processes each year, whether it was their efforts to be both more green and more organic or testing new methods of herd rotation or alternative types of feed. That was the business.
But each season, the herd was different and that was ranching. New calves changed the dynamic. Their protective mothers responded in kind, managing their young and adjusting to each animal’s place in the herd. And all who worked Reynolds Station had to change and adjust along with them.
Clearly, his family hadn’t expected that sort of response from him, as they all stared at him from around the table.
“Come on. Ace? Tate? Don’t you feel it, too? Every time we go through calving season, it’s like something new to be hopeful about.”
Ace nodded, that teasing glance Hoyt had seen earlier nowhere in evidence. “Yeah, I guess it’s true, little brother. New life brings new possibilities. Always.”
* * *
Reese looked around the sitting room of Hoyt’s bedroom, and wondered how she’d gotten here. Oh, sure, she’d driven over to the ranch determined to have her way with him. An intention that had somehow gotten waylaid by an apology to Arden that had somehow turned into dinner. Dinner had turned into dessert. The dessert had turned into family movie night, with a spirited watching of the latest superhero movie to come out on DVD.
And now they were upstairs. In Hoyt’s bedroom.
To be fair, it seemed to be more of an apartment. With the exception of not having a kitchen, he had a large space that was obviously his home within the ranch, including a sitting area that boasted a predictably large television and a big comfy sectional set just off the entrance. His room was visible through another door, and she could see a large king-size bed covered in a rich green comforter.
Did that mean she was in his bedroom? With his family downstairs?
“I should probably get going.”
Hoyt stood at the opposite end of the sectional, the TV remote in hand but the TV still off. “I thought you wanted to talk.”
“I did. I mean, I do. But it’s late. I should be going.”
“What if I asked you not to?”
The heat and need that had been a constant presence in her life for nearly three months practically shouted at her to say yes, she’d stay. The heart she was trying desperately to ignore was already screaming that not only would she like to stay, but that she’d like a permanent invitation to forever.
But the practical, determined woman who rarely did anything out of character tried diligently to ignore them both and do the right thing.
Yet, even with that determination, she couldn’t hold back the truth. “I’d like to. But it’s complicated and we both know that.”
“Is it? Because I’m standing here, looking at you, and suddenly it doesn’t feel very complicated at all. In fact—” Hoyt edged closer around the couch “—it feels rather simple.”
/> “Nothing about our situation is simple.”
“No?” He closed those last few feet and came to a stop in front of her. “What’s not simple?”
“Us. The baby. The fact that we’re not even supposed to be together.” Oh, it hurt to say those words. But they had to be said. No matter what was between them, she wouldn’t settle for anything less than the truth.
“Not supposed to be together?”
“Well, yeah. We’re together because of a broken condom. We had one night together, that’s all. You know, the whole two consenting adults routine.”
“I’m still not following. Want to try a little harder?”
“Come on, Hoyt. Don’t be dense. We’re not in a relationship. We barely knew each other. Let’s not confuse things.”
“Don’t know each other? I find that hard to believe, especially because I have told you more over the past three weeks than I’ve told anybody besides the three other people that live in this house.”
He moved in close, the warmth of his body going a long way toward taking her defenses down another notch.
“And another thing.”
“What’s that?”
“I want you. You, Reese Grantham. And it has nothing to do about the baby, even though I want him or her very much.”
Everything she wanted in the world seemed to exist in that moment. Taking heart from that simple thought, she took the last step that separated them and reached up, entwining her arms around Hoyt’s neck. “If I’m being honest, this is the reason I came over this afternoon.”
A sexy smile played at the corners of his mouth. “I knew it. You’re here to have your way with me.”
“I guess I am.”
“Lucky me.”
“No,” Reese said, suddenly breathless as she lifted up on tiptoes and pressed her lips against his. On a light whisper, she added, “Lucky me.”
Her words seemed to spur them both into action, her whisper fading into the air as Hoyt’s mouth opened under hers. Fierce need drove them both, the air raw and electric around them. Their mouths fused together, tongues crashing against one another in a carnal play for dominance and pleasure.
Her hands were wild on his body, clawing at the T-shirt that hung loosely over the top of his jeans before dragging it up and over the hard length of his torso, chest and shoulders. And then she had him, his warm flesh beneath her palms and his body pressing closer and closer to her as his arms tightened around her waist. One large palm settled against her ass, pulling her tight against him so that the firm lines of his erection pressed urgently against her stomach.
Although she’d have gladly settled for the couch, she was momentarily disoriented when Hoyt shifted direction, his strong arms sweeping her up so that she was no longer vertical.
“Hoyt!”
“I’ve been waiting for this for months. We’ll save the couch for later.”
“Later?”
He pressed a hard kiss on her lips as he walked determinedly toward the bedroom. “I need some room to work now.”
“Is that a promise?”
“I like to think so.”
The gentle way he laid her onto the bed was at odds with the urgent frenzy that had gripped them both in the sitting room, but the hard body that followed her down, covering her with his delicious weight, quickly suggested otherwise. Before she could catch her breath, his hands were everywhere, roaming the length of her body and quickly divesting her of her shorts and T-shirt. Her bra followed next and she nearly cried out when his mouth came down over one nipple, the fullness of her breast achy beneath his mouth.
Vaguely, a memory of something she’d read in one of her daily pregnancy emails about breast sensitivity filled her thoughts before Hoyt shifted just so, his tongue tracing the edge of her nipple, and she cried out at the shot of pleasure that whipped through her body like wildfire. How was it possible to feel like this?
She’d have almost called her body a traitor, but the needs coursing through her were so bold and wanton and the sensations so sharp and pleasurable, she didn’t dare. Instead, she decided to live up to the promise she’d made to herself only moments before.
Lucky me, she thought.
And prepared to ride the storm.
* * *
He wanted her. Was there anything more simple than that? Or more powerful?
That night in June that had haunted him for nearly three months was finally replaced with the reality of Reese. In his arms, her flesh warm and exposed beneath his hands. Beneath his gaze. Just for him.
Hoyt traced her with his fingertips, even as the urgency to join their bodies pushed him toward more. Her skin was so soft, he marveled, as he ran his index finger over her cheek across the fullness of her lips and down over her neck. He continued on with the exploration, over her chest, admittedly turned on by the generous fullness of her breasts. While he’d had no complaints back in June, her pregnancy had rounded her out in the most beautiful of ways.
“What are you looking at?” she asked softly.
“You. And the beautiful evidence of your pregnancy.”
“Oh. You mean pregnancy boobs?”
He laughed at that despite himself. “I was actually thinking of them as the lush, ample hills of your bosom. But whatever works.”
“I’ve had friends who called this the side benefit but I think it was really their husband’s side benefit.”
Hoyt saw it the moment her comment registered, the light teasing that sparkled from her eyes fading. Before she could think too hard about their situation, he pressed on. “Who needs sides?”
He captured her lips, determined to erase any anxiety or concern that there was something missing from their relationship. He wanted that sparkle back, damn it.
He wanted her.
Hoyt knew the moment he was successful. Her tentative response to his kisses changed, her body growing restless beneath his as her lips grew bolder. A soft moan escaped the back of her throat and he pressed on, kissing her as his hands explored the rest of her body.
The curves of her breasts gave way to her still flat stomach. Although the evidence of her pregnancy wasn’t quite there, he could feel a softness that hadn’t been there in June. The reality of why slammed into him with all the power of a semi.
His child was cradled there. Nestled inside Reese’s body, growing every day.
His child.
Shifting his position, he moved down the bed so that he could rest his head over her stomach. With his lips, he pressed a kiss to its planes and then laid his head to the side so that he could listen. Although there was nothing to hear yet because the baby was still too small, he knew with undeniable certainty there was a heartbeat beneath his ear.
Reese threaded her fingers through his hair, clearly sensing his intention, her hand resting lightly on the back of his head.
They’d made a child.
He’d understood that in every way possible and had spent the past three weeks not only coming to grips with it but growing more and more excited at all that was to come. Yet, until this moment, he hadn’t truly understood what it all meant.
Hadn’t truly pictured the reality of the baby.
His child wasn’t something that existed in the future. His child was here. Now. A living entity between them.
The urgency and intensity that pushed them to that moment faded slightly. His feelings were no less intense, nor was the pounding of his heart anywhere close to calm, even as time seemed to shift around them. Like the quiet within a storm or the stillness just before an earthquake. Only instead of destruction, he saw hope and life.
“What?” Reese’s voice was a soft whisper.
“I can’t hear a heartbeat yet, but I know it’s there.”
“I know.”
Hoyt pressed one more kiss to her stomach before shifting once again to spre
ad out fully next to her. He lay on his side with his head propped on his hand, his elbow giving him leverage to look down at her. “There’s something between us, Reese. Don’t you feel it?”
“There’s a baby between us.”
“It’s more than that and you know it.”
Her mouth, still swollen from his kisses, settled into a firm line. “Is it? Can you honestly say we’d be here right now if it weren’t for the baby?”
Hoyt didn’t have an answer for her, but he knew that there was no other place he’d rather be.
Maybe it was time to tell her that. Whether it was reassurance or simply the need to tell her how he felt, he had no idea. But it was time to put to words all he’d held back.
“I wanted to call you, you know. After that night.”
“You did?” While she quickly hid it, Hoyt didn’t miss the mix of confusion and hope that lit up her eyes, turning them a deep brownish-green in the dim light that spilled into his bedroom from the living room.
“I did. Only every time I had the phone in my hand I realized I didn’t know what to say. Things happened so fast, and I didn’t want you to think I was only calling for a repeat performance.”
“You could’ve just told me that.”
“Would you have believed me? I’m a guy, and it’s not like we were going out. I didn’t want you to think—” He stopped, unwilling to continue down the path that sounded far too much like excuses. “I didn’t call. And that’s on me. But please don’t take that to mean I don’t care. And whatever you do, please don’t take it to mean that I don’t want you.”
“As long as we’re sharing secrets, I have one for you. I wanted you to call, too. And I came close to calling you myself a few times. But I didn’t want to seem like I was chasing you or was unable to handle a one-night stand.”
