Chapter Nine
Mav had gone and broke the wrong heart. Wynonna wasn’t a woman who’d sit around bawling her eyes out or watching sappy break-up movies.
She got pissed.
With cameras all around her, she could only act out so much, but she could throw herself into hard work to burn off some of her anger. She grabbed the pitchfork and went at the hay pile until it was down to the ground and the barn stalls all clean and fresh. Then she went to the chicken coop.
Next was the pigs, and luckily they didn’t have many pigs at the moment, because she hated shooing them from one end of the pen to the other while she mucked it out. Pigs had always worried her since she was five years old and one had chased her around and around until her father had thrown his arm over the fence and she’d latched on and climbed him like a tree.
“Aunt Wyn, are you mad?”
She turned at Buck Jr.’s voice and planted a more pleasant look on her face than the one she hoped Mav would see.
“’Course not, buddy. Just doin’ chores.”
“My dad says you’re mad.”
Damn her nosy brother. She’d teach him a lesson.
“Hey, where’s the puppy?” She hadn’t seen it in Mav’s room last night and assumed it was up at the foot of Buck Jr.’s bed.
“In the barn. Dad wouldn’t let me take it home.” He twisted his mouth in the way all Calhouns did when annoyed but holding back the words.
She dropped the shovel she was using and leaned her elbows on the fence to stare down at the boy. “I say it’s high time you gave him a name you like. Make him your own.”
He blinked. “Really?”
“Yeah. It’s obvious he’s your dog. He follows you everywhere. I’ll go into town later and buy you a doghouse you can put in your back yard.” Since my annoying brother won’t build you one.
Buck Jr. bounced up and down like popcorn in a cast iron skillet. “For real?”
She nodded once. “For real. I’ll bring it up to your place later on, okay?”
“Thank you, Aunt Wynonna!” He jammed the toe of his boot into the bottom of the fence and used it to hitch himself a few inches higher to throw his arms around her neck. She hugged him for a moment, smiling. Then he ran off and she got back to work.
Her life was tangled up right now. She didn’t know where she fit. It was nearly time to start the new rodeo season, and she couldn’t think of anything she wanted less. The thought of traveling all the time, of playing to the crowds… It exhausted her.
She really did want to stay home and get some nice horse stock to train up for other barrel racers. She’d done it a time or two, training a horse and then selling it for a good price to an up and coming racer. And with her name backing her and that national win under her belt, her stock would be prized.
But telling her family she wasn’t going with them to the first rodeo of the year? She didn’t know how to form the words. Letting them all down, the thought of her missing from the famous Calhoun circle when they crowded together and dedicated their rides and hard work to her father, would be impossible.
She chewed on her lower lip for a minute as she ran through a few conversations in her head. First, breaking the news to her brothers. And when that imaginary talk ended in them getting pissed, she turned to telling their wives instead and letting them break it to them.
She pushed out a grunt. That was the coward’s way.
“Hey, Wyn, your momma told me to tell you someone’s at the house to see you.” The cameraman with the pleasant smile appeared near her.
“’kay. I’ll be up, thanks.”
Who the hell could be visiting her? It wasn’t unusual for friends to drop in. But she’d seen most of them at yesterday’s memorial. She stood there another five full heartbeats before she realized it could be Austin.
Damn, she really wasn’t in the mood to face him, but she did need to return his ring to him. She hadn’t heard from him at all since the breakup phone call, but she was sure he could find out everything about her if he wanted. Her name was all over the news all the time.
She wiped her hands on her jeans and let herself out of the pig pen. She wasn’t worried about being grubby from all the work she’d done—she was a country girl. And the man on the front porch sipping a glass of fresh-brewed tea didn’t give a damn how dirty she was.
“Billy Blake! Are my eyes fooling me?” She kicked up into a jog, and he got up and met her on the stairs. He dragged her into a full hug, and she smiled up into his face. She swatted him. “Haven’t heard from you for a good year. What have you been doing?”
“Recovering from that shoulder injury mostly.”
“Well bless your heart. That hit really took you out, didn’t it? Come inside and let me wash up and you can tell me all about it. You’re staying for lunch, right? Don’t say no. You know you love my momma’s cookin’.”
She led him inside and welcomed the distraction of his presence while they sipped sweet tea and swapped stories of the happenings of the past year. She especially was glad he was here when Mav sat down at the table for lunch. Ignoring him was easier with Billy around. And it made her feel better that Mav was shooting her dark looks each time she leaned toward Billy to talk to him.
She caught her mother’s raised eyebrows but just gave her a breezy smile. If Mav didn’t want her, fine. But if he was just going to lie to himself about it, then she’d make his life bumpy as hell. Seemed like Billy being here killed two birds with one stone—she had someone to keep her mind off Mav. And talking to a handsome young country boy was ticking the stubborn man off just fine.
* * * * *
“Mav. You plannin’ on ropin’ that steer anytime soon?” Ryder’s voice slammed him out of his daydream. The one where he picked up this Billy guy and tossed him out of his moving truck several miles from the Calhouns’ place.
He gripped his rope and tossed. The rope missed the steer’s head entirely and slid off. He yanked it back in and made to throw again, when Ryder brought his own lasso squarely down on its horns. He dragged backward, using his horse and muscle to bring up the cattle.
Ryder sent him a sidelong glance. “You don’t usually miss.”
He grunted but said nothing.
“Couldn’t be something to do with my sister, would it?”
He twisted in his saddle to stare at him. “Why would it have something to do with her?”
“Because you don’t like men sniffing around her. She seems to have forgotten she’s engaged, with all that flirting she did at lunch.”
Ryder was watching him too closely, and Mav fought to arrange his features in some way that said I don’t give a fuck. When really there was a tight fist of worry in his gut.
He’d forgotten Wyn hadn’t told her family about her broken engagement, besides her momma. He eyed her brother. Should he let the squalling cat out of the bag so Ryder didn’t believe his sister had become a cheating flirt?
“Haven’t seen her with Austin, have you? Haven’t heard her mention the guy,” Mav said, guiding his horse alongside the herd to separate another from the group. He needed to get the bulls separated so they could breed them.
“You’re right,” Ryder said. “Maybe she dumped him and didn’t tell us? Seems like a Wyn thing to do.”
Mav could think of a lot more Wyn things that went on. The woman was a force to be reckoned with. He didn’t believe for a minute she was unaware of what talking to Billy was doing to him.
The entire lunch, he’d sat brooding, matching their faces and trying to picture them as a couple. The asshole was attractive—and Wyn stunning beyond measure. But together, they didn’t exactly look like a wedding portrait.
“I’ll have to ask my brothers and see if they know anything. Here’s your chance, Mav. Gonna take it or sit in the saddle all day?”
The steer rushed past, and Mav collected himself enough to toss the rope. It fucking missed, and he let out a bellow. Ryder just laughed and watched him give it another go.
“Man, you’re really off your game. Why don’t you stop pretending you’re not in love with my sister and just ask her to marry ya?”
He almost fell off his horse. “Jesus, what?” Amidst all the confusion of pounding hooves and lethal horns, all he needed was more distraction. Yet Ryder seemed to be amused as hell.
“I know you’ve been in love with Wyn for a long time. Why are you procrastinatin’? Or do you like running off all her boyfriends?”
“How do you know I do that?”
“We’ve all seen it firsthand. I recall seeing you talking to some guy named Joe and then the kid hightailing it out of here as fast as he could go. Left ruts in the driveway.”
Mav almost grunted a laugh. The sight had entertained him for a long time afterward. But he hadn’t realized anybody else noticed what he’d done.
Yeah, he wanted Wynonna. And he’d let the best thing in his life walk away angry after loving her so thoroughly that she’d practically sobbed his name at the last.
Ryder didn’t seem remotely disturbed that he believed Mav was in love with his little sister either. That was some cud to chaw on now, wasn’t it? He managed to get the rest of the steers separated from the herd and clean up for dinner. He was glad to see the annoying little prick was still here, because he had something to show him out in the barn.
He got him alone when Wynonna was helping her mother with dinner and faced him squarely. The kid plucked at a straw of hay and stuck it in his mouth. His casual, confident manner annoyed the fuck out of Mav.
“You know she’s engaged, right?”
Billy’s eyelids flickered. “What?”
“Yeah, to a guy named Austin from up in the Boston area. Good solid family. Wedding plans underway.”
“Shit, I didn’t know. I thought she seemed odd and I wasn’t sure… Well, never mind.”
“Her brothers won’t like you flirting with their sister, seein’ how she’s taken and all. Maybe best for you to make your departure.” He drawled the last word and was surprised that he didn’t sound like anything but a native Okie. Why shouldn’t he? He belonged here, after all.
Billy scratched a spot between his brows, in obvious confusion about what had been going on all day with the redhaired temptress. “Yeah, guess I’ll do that. Tell them something came up for me, would ya?”
Mav gave a single nod and watched the kid get back in his truck and leave. Seeing those taillights gave him the first smile that day.
* * * * *
“He left?” Wynonna looked around at her family gathered around the table. But she didn’t need to look far to see who was to blame.
Mav. Damn him. He didn’t want her but he didn’t want anybody else to have her either. Dammit, it wasn’t the first time he’d interfered with her boyfriends either. She knew of a few others he’d sent away.
She drew her shoulders back and sliced open her roll so she could butter it. “Guess it’s for the best, seein’ how I have Brandon Dahl coming up to help me in the morning.”
“Help with what?” Mav bit hook, line and sinker. She hid her smile by biting into the roll. He watched her chew and she made a show of running her tongue over the butter coating her lips.
“I’m thinkin’ about getting some horses. Brandon knows a lot, and he’s coming to offer his advice.” He really wasn’t, but a phone call would remedy that. “Oh, and I should tell y’all that Austin and I are through.” She waggled her fingers of her left hand, which had never sported the ring anyway.
Several gasps sounded from her sisters-in-law. “No wedding?” Joy asked.
“Nope. Wasn’t meant to be, I guess.” She shrugged and noticed Buck shaking his head and smiling. “You’re gonna tell me you told me so, and I don’t want to hear it. I realized my mistake, and that’s all that matters.”
“Speaking of mistakes. I found Buck Jr. smiling like a monkey with a new banana earlier today. Any idea why?” He raised a brow at her.
“No idea what you’re talking about.” She shoved the rest of the roll in her mouth, keeping it too full to speak.
“He’s talking about the dog house, Aunt Wyn!” Buck Jr. nearly popped out of his seat with excitement. When she’d pulled into Buck’s place and Billy had helped her unload the plastic dog igloo in the back yard, along with food and water dishes and a nice rubber squeaky toy, Buck Jr. had been so happy, he’d cried his little eyes out.
She gave him a conspiratorial smile.
“Ah, so you do know something about the puppy ending up at my place despite my saying he wasn’t living there.”
“Boy needs a dog, Buck. Stop being a pain in the a—” She cut off her curse. “Stop being a pain and let the kid keep the puppy.”
“I named him Skippy. That’s his adopted name, right, Aunt Wyn?”
She nodded. From the corner of her eye, she saw Mav looking at her with that soft expression that he’d worn the previous night when he’d told her she was the best thing in his universe. Right before he’d kicked her out of his bed.
Yeah, a call to Brandon was in order. She could use the advice on horse prices, so she wasn’t exactly using him. And she was free to speak to whomever she pleased.
* * * * *
When Wynonna stepped off the front porch step, Mav considered her fair game. He hooked an arm around her waist and yanked her flush against him. Letting her feel how hard and how serious he was.
She pasted a hand to his chest and stared up at him. “Mav…”
“You know exactly what you’re doing, coming out here. Don’t pretend you felt like taking a walk under the moon. I intend to fuck you under this moon.” He’d dumped the past and was living in the present. Wasn’t sure about the future just yet, but maybe he’d decide soon.
Her breath hitched and then she issued a soft, shivery sigh. He bent his head and kissed her, foregoing the sweetness and going straight for the claiming. She bowed under his touch, loose and pliant in his arms as he tweaked her stiff nipples through her tank top and plundered her mouth.
“You can’t take me out here in the middle of the yard.”
He gazed down at her, unsmiling. “Wanna bet?” He gripped her waist and spun her so she faced the end post supporting the porch railing. “Hold onto that and spread your legs.”
A shudder skittered through her, and she made a soft noise even as she grasped the post. She bent her head forward, all that pretty red hair dripping over the wood, dark blood red in the moonlight.
His pulse throbbed in his temples. If he didn’t get inside her tight, wet body and make her scream his name soon, he was going to lose his mind.
He fumbled her top up so it rode above her breasts. As he ran his palm over her smooth stomach, goosebumps broke out over her. He bent to her ear and nuzzled, inhaling her freshness. Fuck, he’d missed her.
“Your hard nipples say you want me.” He eased his hand lower and cupped her pussy through her damp cotton shorts. “So does this.”
She panted.
He released her. “Arch your back.”
“What?”
“Do it.”
He stared at the hollow of her spine, where it flared into sumptuous hips and the curviest, sweetest ass he’d ever seen. He barely suppressed a groan and slid his fingers between her thighs. She tensed, holding her breath. When he eased his fingers under the crotch of her shorts and found her soaking wet center, she let it out in a rush.
“Mav!”
“You want me. No one else.”
“Yes,” she practically cried.
He sank his fingers into her opening, not enough to erase the pressure tormenting her but just enough to add more. She wiggled, but he locked a hand on her lower back. “Don’t move. We do this my way.”
“Because I took the control away from you earlier. You’re punishing me.”
“You should watch who you flirt with, Wyn honey,” he crooned into her ear. She squirmed as his hot breath tickled her. He swirled his fingers around her opening and sank them a fraction deeper.
“Oh God. Mav, please touch me.”
He yanked his fingers free and painted her juices over her taut nipple. It puckered harder, and his cock strained.
“You don’t want to call me your own. You turned me away and now you’ve changed your mind.”
He didn’t answer—there weren’t words for what was going on in his mind. How could he explain when she only saw a happy ending? If they gave it a shot and she wanted to break things off, he’d have to leave the ranch. He’d lose his home. Hell, the Calhouns were family, more than his own.
And it would break him to watch Wynonna move on with another man.
But she was under his hands right now, and he wasn’t going to waste a moment.
He turned her into his arms. Her eyelids fluttered as she stared up at him, and her lips were swollen as if she’d been biting them. He couldn’t stop himself from kissing her—it was a natural disaster and he knew it, but damn if he could stop it.
As their tongues swirled, he pushed her shorts down to puddle around her dainty ankles. Then he lodged his thigh between hers and nudged them apart.
“Unbutton my pants.”
Her lips fell open as she went for his waistband. When she pulled his rigid cock out and clasped her warm, silky fingers around his length, he released a growl. He cupped her bottom and lifted her. He settled her over him, pussy lips stretching to accommodate his girth.
Every inch deeper he sank, she breathed faster. “Mav, you feel so damn good. I fucking love you inside me.”
“You’re such a terrible cusser. Give me that dirty mouth.” He took it as she surged upward to feed him kiss after kiss. He rocked his hips and the pressure growing in his groin was out of control. He wouldn’t last long at this rate.
She dug her nails into his backside, and he set the pace. Hard, quick thrusts that drove them both upward in a minute. Her wet walls clutched at him with every downstroke, and oh fuck, he was so close.
“Mav.”
“Look at me when you come.”
Small gasps left her, and she bit into her lower lip hard enough that the flesh swelled around her teeth. Her momma was just inside, after all. And the camera crew tucked away in their trailers around back.
He jerked his hips and shoved her down on his cock at the same moment. She squeezed him tight, eyes rolled back in bliss as her orgasm struck. He didn’t get two more pumps in her hot, pulsating pussy before he shattered.
Their rough breaths filling the night air was the first thing he noticed when he regained his wits. Wynonna held him around the neck, her lips at the corner of his mouth, moving back and forth with that tenderness that undid him every damn time.
He kissed her thoroughly. This had to be the last time. He couldn’t take her again.
Then he pulled free and let her slip to her feet. She leaned into him, and he took a moment to right her clothing and then shoved his cock firmly away. No more play time for him.
“Go back inside, Wynonna.”
Her brows pinched, but her whisper came out furious. “You’re sending me away again? I gave you what you wanted and that’s it? You’re finished?”
Oh, now she was really getting fired up, her hands braced on her hips and her head at that certain angle that meant she was about to give him a big piece of her mind.
He disarmed her with a brush of his knuckles over her cheek. The fight went out of her stance. “There’s a million stars in this sky, and you’re the brightest one I see. But I’m a mere mortal, and you’ll tire of someone not as bright as you. Go on inside.”
She gaped at him. He could see he’d silenced her for the night. Come morning, he’d face some gunfire, for sure, and he deserved it. If he didn’t want her hung up on him, then why had he sent that friend of hers away? Why had he sent all of them away?
Damn, he needed time to think, about something besides burying himself in her and looking into her eyes, watching her laugh. All her antics thrilled him, and he was drawn to her like an addict to a drug.
Hell, he was confusing her more than anything, and that was the most unfair. He had to figure out how to stay away from her and let her live her life.
He took a step backward and without a word, turned toward the barn. Where he wouldn’t get a wink of sleep and would drift into the yard several times to stare up at her window and wonder if she was lying there thinking of him too.