Chapter Eight: Cole
I wake up sometime in the night with Sydney curled up against me. I flick a finger over a nipple and she sighs in her sleep, making me hard instantly. I gently roll her away from me and rise up over her. Her eyes are barely open as I slide myself into her velvety wetness and begin to fuck her awake.
I’ve had my share of women in my life, but none has ever felt as good underneath me as Sydney Baines. Her legs sleepily circle my waist and I drive myself into her over and over until we are both breathing hard and coming harder. It has never felt so gratifying to fill someone with my seed before.
I pull out and Sydney once again curls up at my side, falling asleep almost immediately. I lay awake for a while longer, listening to her breathe. I have never believed in love at first sight in my lifetime, but this girl has got me in a tailspin.
There is something strong and sassy, yet delicate and vulnerable about her. For all her intelligence and independence, she seems a little broken too. Like me. I hold her close to me and inhale to scent of her hair, trying to commit the feel and smell of her to memory. She’ll be gone in a few weeks and it will be all I have to remember her by. The thought makes my chest ache. I try to set it aside; I knew what I was getting into when I carried her in here earlier. Finally, I drift off to sleep.
I wake early in the morning and we make love once more before I leave her to start my day in the field. I pause in the doorway and watch Sydney sleep for a moment, wondering how I’m going to get her out of my system.
“So, how was your night?” Luke asks innocently as I step into the barn.
“Fine,” I say, trying to stifle a smile. The last thing I want to do is discuss my sex life with my baby brother.
Fortunately, Luke seems to get the hint and moves on to other subjects. We discuss the plan for the day and he heads out to rustle the cattle from the far pasture while I get ready to head into town and pick up the feed. As I’m about to climb into the truck, I see Sydney standing on the back porch. She is sipping a cup of coffee and waves to me. I wave back and trot over to where she is. As I approach her, I’m again struck by how beautiful she is.
“Morning,” I say, placing a quick kiss on her forehead.
“Morning,” she repeats, smiling up at me.
“Did you sleep ok?” I ask her, and she answers me with a wicked grin.
I feel my groin start to get tight again and back away. “I’m headed into town to pick up some supplies, do you need anything?” I ask her.
She shakes her head and then asks a question that somewhat surprises me.
“Can I come with you? I wouldn’t mind seeing what Sheepshead is all about.”
We head into town and I am acutely aware of the stares we are getting from just about everyone on the street. This is a small town and everyone is always up in everyone else’s shit. It’s one of the main reasons I keep my trips into town few and far between. I much prefer the solitude of the ranch.
Walking into the feed store, I am stopped by no less than four people asking me to introduce them to my “friend.” Sydney politely responds and answers their questions about where she’s from and how long she’ll stay. She agrees to visit the diner for Madge’s famous lemon meringue pie and to check out the farmers’ market one Saturday. I’m impressed by how well she is handling the scrutiny. Then again, looking like she does, she’s probably used to the attention.
After I pay for the supplies, I casually hook my arm around her waist and guide her out of the store. I know the tongues will be wagging before the door shuts behind us but I don’t much care. The people of this town, while nosy, are good at heart. After our parents died, the whole place rallied around our family and helped Aunt Nora however they could. As much as I’m annoyed at the invasion of privacy every now and then, I wouldn’t leave this place for anything.
We stop into the grocery store and grab a few things that Sydney wants and we head back to the ranch. As we drive with the windows down, her auburn hair floats about her and she looks almost angelic. The length of bare thigh I can see under the hem of her shorts is distracting and I force myself to keep my eyes on the road so I don’t drive us into a fence post.
“Everyone in town seems so nice,” she says as we pull into the driveway.
“For the most part, they are,” I tell her. “Though, you will be the talk of the town, so you know.”
She laughed. “I kind of figured as much from all the questions. Besides, they’ve got to be wondering who I am to have caught your attention. From what I gather, you’re Montana’s most eligible bachelor.”
I groan and roll my eyes. “Hardly. There’s just a bunch of old busybodies looking at me to take their daughters off of their hands.”
I feel the weight of her eyes on me as I back the truck up to the barn to unload the sacks of feed. I turn to look at her and she’s regarding me pensively. “What?” I ask.
“Why haven’t you?”
I shrug my shoulders and start to climb out of the truck. “I guess I haven’t found one I wanted to be tied down to yet,” I answer.
Before she can say anything else, Luke comes storming out of the barn, as pissed as I’ve ever seen him. He’s waving a piece of paper in his hand and a string of expletives is flying from his lips.
“Whoa, whoa. What the hell is going on?” I ask, though I have a sneaking suspicion I know what it is. There’s only one person who can get Luke this worked up.
“Motherfucking Ben!” Luke nearly shouts.
I open the tailgate and sigh. “Now what?” I ask.
“Look!” Luke says, shoving the paper he’s holding at me.
I look down at the letterhead in my hands and feel the color drain from my face. That son of a bitch.
“He wants to sue us for ‘his’ stake in the ranch!” Luke is nearly hopping he’s so angry.
“Yeah, I can read,” I spit back at him.
“He’s never worked this land one day is his miserable fucking life since mom and dad died. He is entitled to exactly jack shit!” Luke says.
Before I can answer him, Sydney steps up to us. “I don’t mean to eavesdrop, or pry into your business, but is there something maybe I can help you with?” she asks.
I suddenly remember that she is a lawyer and that she might be able to help us figure out exactly what to do.
“Maybe,” I say. “Let us unload the feed and we can meet you inside in about twenty minutes.”
Sydney nods and grabs the few bags from the grocery store, heading into the house to put them away. I watch her go, thankful that she is here. As much as I don’t want to waste the little time we have together mired in my family drama, if she can help us, I’ll take it.
Luke and I finish up in the barn and head toward the house where Sydney is waiting. We walk in to find a plate of sandwiches and three tall glasses of iced tea waiting for us. Damnit, she’s making this hard. I could get used to this kind of treatment.
We sit down at the table and Sydney distributes the sandwiches. “Ok so why don’t you tell me what’s up. Who is Ben and why does he want to sue you?”
“Ben is our selfish sonofabitch brother who doesn’t give two shits about this family, except for any money he can get from us,” Luke spits angrily.
“Pretty much what he said,” I add, sliding the paper toward Sydney.
She picks it up and reads the contents carefully. “Ok first of all I need to ask who owns this land? Is it the two of you or was it part of your parents’ estate?” she asks.
“A little of both,” I answer her. “When our parents died, they owned seventy acres. About eight years ago, Luke and I bought another eighty.”
Sydney grabs a pen off of the counter and begins to jot down notes. “Typically, the children would be entitled to equal parts of their parents’ estate unless otherwise stated in the will.”
“No that’s exactly what the will said,” I answer.
“Fine, whatever,” Luke chimes in. “But he wants a third of the whole operation! He can’t do that!”
“When you bought the additional land, what money did you use? Was it an inheritance or did you use proceeds from the ranch?” she asks.
I clear my throat, a sinking feeling starting to settle in my gut. “Proceeds from the business,” I answer, and can see from her expression that was not what she wanted to hear.
“Well I need to dig into Montana law, but if you bought the land from proceeds made off of this ranch that was gifted to you, he may be entitled to what he’s asking for,” she says.
Luke slams his hand down on the table hard enough that the tea sloshes from the glasses. “Goddammit!” he shouts. “But he’s contributed nothing to the business. Nothing!”
“Unfortunately, in a lot of cases, that doesn’t matter,” Sydney says apologetically. “But like I said, let me do a little research and I’ll see what I can come up with. According to this letter, you have thirty days to respond.”
Luke gets up from the table and stomps outside, leaving Sydney and I alone for a moment.
“I’m sorry I can’t give you better news,” she says, sounding genuinely upset.
I look at her and shake my head slowly, wondering how in the hell she’s managed to become so important to me so quickly.