Chapter 2

James

“She turned down our offer again?” I asked my lawyer incredulously. Damn, this girl was stubborn.

“Ms. Cooper was quite adamant that she doesn’t want to sell.”

“Fine,” I grumbled in frustration. “I’ll call you when I decide what to do next.” I hung up my phone and tossed it onto my desk. Try as I might, I couldn’t stop the image of my neighbor from creeping into my head.

Her emerald green eyes, rosy lips, and heart shaped face. A tight, round ass, full tits, and legs that went on for miles. Her body was made for sin. And, all that long, red hair . . . just the thought of wrapping my fist around it and pulling while I entered her from behind had me so hard it was painful.

This attraction to her was ridiculous. I didn’t even like her. An obnoxious little voice in my head reminded me that I didn’t actually know her. But, that was beside the point. The desire she inspired in me was as inconvenient as it was unwelcome. I wanted her to sell my family’s land back to me and take her sexy body back to where it came from.

I couldn’t figure out what her angle was. She obviously didn’t care about the ranch. She’d stopped spending her summer’s there when she was a teenager, and she hadn’t even bothered to come back long enough to see her grandfather while he was sick. Anger bubbled up inside at the memories of watching Nick Cooper waste away, alone. I’d tried to help as much as I could, but I had my own ranch to run, and he’d been as bullheaded about not selling as his granddaughter.

It wasn’t safe for her to be over there all alone. Her ranch manager, Andy, didn’t count when it came to protecting her. Nick and Andy were tight, so it was no surprise that he remained after the rest of the staff was let go. But, it was curious to me that he stayed on after Ophelia arrived. The only explanation I could think of was that he had to be the one keeping things running. Which was no job for a man his age.

The front door slammed, and I sighed in annoyance. “You break it, you buy it, baby sister!” I shouted.

A minute later, Rose danced into my office and over to kiss my cheek. I loved that she hadn’t outgrown that. It made me feel like she was still a kid instead of a teenager.

Rose hadn’t grown up at Locke Creek like I had. We were only half-siblings, though you’d never hear either of us admit it. Her long black hair and short stature, as well as the pixie-like quality of her face, were a big contrast to my six-foot-four height and blond hair. We did have the same dark blue eyes, though.

I was eighteen when my dad died, and I inherited the ranch. My mom had never liked living out in “the stix” as she often referred to it. She decided to leave within weeks and begged me to sell it and move with her. But, I loved everything about living on and running a ranch. I wouldn’t ever leave.

Two months after she left, she called to tell me she was getting married and that I would be getting a little sister. I was irritated that she seemed to get over my dad so fast, but it wasn’t until she gave birth three months later, that I realized the truth.

No matter what happened with my mother, I never let my anger and bitterness touch Rose. From the moment I saw her for the first time, I was wrapped around her tiny, three-month-old fingers. I didn’t get to see her a lot since I was so busy trying to figure out how to run my ranch. But, they’d only moved to East Wellsville, a larger town that was in the opposite direction of Fort Mavis.

Then, when Rose was fourteen, my mom and her husband were killed in a car crash, and I became Rose’s guardian. I was so nervous about suddenly being a surrogate father. I was the first to admit that I was a perpetually grouchy son of a bitch and didn’t know the first thing about teenage girls.

But, Rose was a ray of sunshine I hadn’t known had been missing from my life. She was a pretty easy kid to raise and despite the hard time I gave her about her non-stop chatter, the truth was, I loved it. Though, her incessant habit of trying to get me to date had been fraying my nerves as of late.

“How was school, Tulip?” I asked, leaning back in my chair and putting my hands behind my head. I started calling her by the names of random flowers when she was little, pretending I couldn’t remember her name. Then it became a habit.

Rose had decided to take a couple of extra credit courses in summer school, and I was incredibly proud of her. She flopped into a recliner I’d had put into a corner of my office, with a bookshelf and small table, just for her.

“Boring. I got sent to the principal’s office for smoking, drank a fifth of scotch at lunch, and stole the divinity teacher’s unicorn to get home. She’s tied up outside. I’m going to call her Cotton Candy.”

One corner of my mouth tipped up, my version of cracking a smile. This was our routine. I asked her how her day was and she came up with the most ridiculous stories she could think of. She had the imagination and talent to be a great writer and sometimes, she would take her little snippet and turn it into a full story. It boosted my “big brother” ego that I was the only one lucky enough to get to read them. I knew she had no desire to work on the ranch when she got older and I had no problem with that decision. I just wanted her to be happy.

“How about yours?” She pulled a binder and books from her bag and dropped them in her lap, but made no move to open any of them

“Same.”

Rose laughed and stood abruptly, her books and binder falling to the floor and spilling her papers everywhere. I quickly got up and rounded the desk to kneel and help her gather them. She smiled at me as she took back her stuff. “Thanks, bro. I’m going to go wheedle a snack from Cookie.”

“Homework?” I asked, looking pointedly at the papers and books she was holding.

She shrugged. “I’ll do it after dinner.”

I frowned in response and she looked to the ceiling and sighed as if I were greatly trying her patience. When she looked at me again, her eyes were wide with childlike innocence. I suppressed my snort of amusement.

“Cross my heart and hope to die,” she said solemnly, her finger making an X over her heart.

“Go on. But, supper is in an hour, don’t spoil it with junk, Daisy,” I gruffed, returning to my seat.

Rose rolled her eyes and tossed everything into her chair. “I’m not a little kid, James,” she pouted, cocking her hip out and resting a hand on it.

“I refuse to believe that,” I grunted. 

She laughed and pranced out of the room, the same way she came in. 

I worked a little longer, then ambled into the kitchen to wash up before dinner. Rose was helping Cookie pull pies out of the large double ovens. My mouth watered at the sweet and spicy smells wafting off of them. There were two already cooling on the counter and I stole over to them, intent on tasting. As I reached out to break off a piece of buttery, flakey crust, a spatula came down and smacked the back of my hand. I yelped in disbelief and snatched my hand back, glaring at Rose.

“Ah, ah, ah,” my sister scolded. “You’ll ruin your supper, bro.”

I scowled and mumbled, “You’re a pain in the ass, Dandelion.” She only grinned harder and shooed me toward the doors to the dining room.

We fed all of our employees breakfast and lunch in a dining hall built out by the bunkhouse. But, only a few of our staff lived on the ranch, and not all of them hung around for the evening meal. So we ate it in our large dining room at the house.

It was just Rose, Cookie, and a couple of our trainers for the night. I sat back and listened as I ate, only throwing in a short comment here and there. This wasn’t unusual for me, but I was more focused on my supper than usual as we were having lasagna. My favorite. It required a good deal of concentration.

“Are you going to the dance?”

Cookie’s question immediately caught my attention and my head whipped in Rose’s direction. Fuck. Dances? That meant boys.  No, no way was my baby sister getting mixed up with those horny little fuckers.

She shrugged, and I began to relax. Thank f—

“If I can find a date, maybe,” she answered.

“I don’t think so,” I growled.

Rose’s shoulders fell, and Cookie shot daggers at me, but I just stared back, unmoving in my decision.

“Bro,” Rose sighed. “We’ll save this discussion for another time, but I just have to say. You need to loosen the hell up. Maybe if you’d listen to me and go out on a date once in a while, you’d get laid and the rest of us wouldn’t have to suffer from your sexual frustration.”

My jaw dropped to the table for a minute before the shock started to wear off and I shook my head. “I don’t ever want to hear the words ‘get laid’ or ‘sexual’ anything from your mouth again, Rose. In fact, never mention anything to do with sex, ever. This shouldn’t be a problem since you aren’t allowed to date until I’m dead.”

Rose threw her head back and laughed so hard she actually fell out of her damn chair. Everyone joined her until I glared them into silence. My stomach was turning at the thought of my sister and boys. I stood abruptly. “I’ll be in my office.” I stalked to the door and stopped, spinning back around and pointing at Rose. “Not till I’m dead, got it?”

She saluted. “Yes, sir!” Her laughter followed me all the way down the hall. I was so fucking screwed.

My ranch manager and best friend, Garrison Keeler, dropped by later to discuss some business. Since I’d calmed down considerably, by the time we were done, I realized I was starving.

“Cookie made pie,” I informed him as I stood.

Garrison grinned. “I’ll never turn down Cookie’s desserts. I swear, I’m going to marry her red velvet cake. No woman could ever compare.” He turned around and stopped, stepping to the side so I could see Rose standing in the doorway. She was glaring at Garrison for some reason. Wonder what he did to piss her off this time. Those two couldn’t get along if their lives depended on it.

Rose’s blue eyes finally turned in my direction, and I was relieved to see the hardness in them fade. I hated when she was mad at me. “Hey, Poppy,” I said softly. “Sorry about earlier. It’ll just take me some time to get used to the idea of you dating.”

“Dating?” Garrison all but yelled. Then he turned to me and barked, “You can’t let her date. She’s twelve!”

Oh for the love of . . . I knew what was coming. 3..2..1...

“I’m sixteen you big jackass!” Rose shouted.

“You’re just a little girl!” Garrison shouted right back.

They bickered until I’d had enough. “Shut it!” I bellowed. “Both of you.”

Rose glared at Garrison for another moment, then turned to me and whispered that she was sorry before running from the room.

I debated whether to go after her, but I’d learned that after she and Garrison had words like that, she’d find me for comfort when she was ready. After she demanded that I “castrate him so he can never spread his diseased DNA to some poor, unsuspecting baby.” If their fight was relatively low key, she’d only demand that I fire him.

Garrison was looking at me sheepishly. “Sorry, man.”

I shook my head and shoved him from the room. “You just had to wind her up, didn’t you?” I muttered. “I’d go to sleep with a cup on tonight.”

We headed to the kitchen and as we walked, he looked at me over his shoulder. “She’s just a kid. She shouldn’t be dating,” he lectured.

“For fuck’s sake, Garrison,” I said with exasperation. “She’s sixteen. As much as I may hate the idea and will more than likely end up in jail for killing some punk who decided to touch my sister, I’d be a major hypocrite if I didn’t let her date.”

He continued to glare at me, barely watching where he was going. “You’re a guy. It’s different.”

“You’re right. That’s why I was dating when I was fourteen. And, don’t try to tell me you were a saint. I saw you going at it with Penny Tillhouse at a party when we were thirteen.” When he opened his mouth to speak, I held up my hand. “Besides, she’s the best kid in the world and you know it. I’m going to have to suck it up and accept the fact that she’s not gonna be my baby sister forever. Just like she’ll have to accept that any boys she brings home may not make it to their date.”

We reached the kitchen and Garrison just grumbled something under his breath and made a beeline for the aluminum covered pie tins.

I filled up on apple pie and then walked with Garrison out to the stables. I had two pregnant horses, and I wanted to check on them. As I did, we discussed some upcoming sales and possible new clients.

Despite the hour, it was still light when we finished up due to the long summer days. He tipped his hat and headed up the hill. He lived in a small house on the back of the property, near Locke Creek. It had originally been a hunting lodge, but I’d renovated it and it became part of the pay for the ranch’s manager.

Cookie was taking the back stairs up to her apartment in the attic when I walked by. I thanked her for dinner and wished her goodnight before going inside. Rose was slouched on the large, leather sectional in the living room with her laptop perched on her legs.

“Hey,” I called softly as I approached.

She looked up and smiled mischievously. “I want to show you something.” She patted the empty spot beside her. I sat down and threw my arm around her shoulders, then kissed her forehead.

“Is this the homework you agreed to do after supper?” I asked.

She poked me in the side and giggled. “I was kidding. I didn’t have any homework.”

“Now she tells me,” I groaned. “I’ve been practicing my lecture for hours.”

Rose snickered but focused on her computer screen. “Don’t get mad, okay? I did this because I love you.”

“Alright,” I said warily, scanning the window she had pulled up.

“I’m going to be leaving for college, and I don’t want you to be alone. Plus, I’d really like to be an auntie one of these days.”

I looked closer at the website. “Whoa, whoa, whoa.” I jumped to my feet and started to pace. “Back up. College is two whole years away, so we can think about that later. Much, much later. As for the . . . other thing. I don’t—that’s not—for fuck’s sake. We aren’t discussing this.” I sat down again and doubled checked what I thought I’d seen. Yep.

My darling little sister had signed me up for a dating website. Ranchersonly.com.