Maxwell

I woke up from the craziest dream. Blondie was telling me that she was pregnant and I played with her belly, kissing and singing to my little baby inside. Thoughts of breeding her drummed in my brain and my sack. I didn’t know that I wanted to be married and settled down until I caught sight of the most adorable little thing in the world. Hell, adorable wasn’t fitting for her. She had a body that screamed Fuck Me and lips that tempted a man to lose his mind. Immediately, visions of her with some cowboy around here sent my damn blood boiling. Grunting my anger, I sat up on the sofa. The house had a very warm feel about it, except for the three sets of eyes glaring at me. Quirking my brow at them, I was confused. They must be the Davidson’s. The father called the son Billy, short for William, which was the name of the ranch’s delinquent former owner.

I looked past them, anxious to see the missing Davidson, the only one I really cared to see, but she wasn’t around. “Mr. Mason, how are you feeling?” Mrs. Davidson asked. Despite what my name meant to them, she still showed a great deal of kindness.

“I could be better,” I confessed, my eyes still looking around the room.

“She’s not here,” Billy boy grumbled.

“Where the fuck is she?” I snarled, completely forgetting my place and seeing both men clench their jaws and fists.

“What did I tell you earlier, boy?” I got his warning the first time, but nothing and no one was going to stop me from getting to her.

“I heard what you said earlier and it doesn’t mean shit to me. She’s legal, isn’t she?”

“Yes,” Mrs. Davidson said, ignoring her husband’s ire. She patted his knee and gave him a warning look to calm down and he did just that. I saw who ran this house, and it was clear the one I needed to please was blondie’s mom. Something told me that blondie would have me wrapped around her finger like that in the near future.

“Good. I need to make some calls, then you can tell me where she is. If you want to talk about the ranch, we can handle that, too.” I stood up, a bit light headed for a second before pulling my phone out of my pocket. Thanks to OtterBox, my phone wasn’t broken. I walked past them all and out onto the porch. It wasn’t respectful, but I wanted to get a move on with everything. My plans wouldn’t change, but seeing her only made them more urgent.

First call was to my assistant. “I need someone to order me two vehicles and deliver them to the Davidson ranch, asap.”

“Rentals?”

“No, brand new off the line. Make them two large pickup trucks with everything. Put them in my name.”

“Wow, now who’s the one with a stick up the ass?”

“Yes, well, it’s been a long fucked up day that’s got me impatient.”

“Got you impatient? I think you were born that way. Anyways, I’ll get that done. It’s still early enough to knock it out.” She sounded in a better mood than earlier, even if she was being a little shit.

“Thanks. By the way, is everything okay with the doctor?”

“Yes, everything is fine.” I heard the word fine and I knew damn well it wasn’t.

“If you need anything just say so.” I didn’t know how to do soft and gentle, so that was the best I could manage. It was nicer than I’d been in forever. Blondie had an effect on my personality already.

“I will, but let me get to it, so I can get out of the office.” I hung up with her, then sent a message to my father. He and my mother were going to the ballet tonight, so he wouldn’t be able to talk. Dad, in town, had a little hiccup with the rental, got to enjoy the Texas sun- Max.

Taking in a deep breath, I felt the heat burning my throat. The air was fresh and the noise almost nonexistent. Doing an about face, I opened the screen door and stepped in.

“Mr. Davidson, I wanted to apologize to you and your family for my behavior. It was wrong of me to be rude to the people who saved my life. But I’m serious as fuck when I say, I won’t give up where your daughter is concerned.”

“Maggie isn’t going to be your plaything.” Maggie, I played her name in my head, loving how it suited her.

“She’s not going to be my plaything.” Well, not all the time. “Where is she?” I asked again, hating that she wasn’t by me. Was she safe? Why didn’t Maggie stay to take care of me? I saw the way her body reacted to me even though I looked fucked up.

“She’s at work right now. Magpie doesn’t get out for three more hours.”

“How long was I asleep?”

“Maybe an hour. Perhaps you should get some rest.” Mrs. Davidson was a sweetheart, but I couldn’t waste time sleeping when all I wanted to do was kiss Maggie and claim what was mine.

“Thank you, but I can’t sleep right now. Where does she work, if it’s only a few hours?”

“At the ranch down the road as their cook.” Billy gave me a smirk, knowing damn well I was about to flip my lid and he was loving it. My eyes narrowed at him, then to his father. “Calm down. The owner over there wouldn’t let anything happen to her.”

“Yes, I looked him up, Alex Sanchez, only thirty years old and single. You think she’s safe with him?”

“Well, not everyone turns into a big fucking caveman over a woman.”

“One day, when you find the woman you want to marry, we’ll see how well you handle men looking at her.”

“You want to marry her? Buddy, you let that sun take ahold of your fucking mind.”

“Billy boy, my mind is just fine. She’s beautiful, kind, loving, and she can cook. Those are just the things I learned in a few moments in her presence. And now I know what worry for another human being who is not related feels like.”

“I’m sorry, but you can’t have my home and my daughter.”

“Keep your home. She’s mine.”

“You think this place matters more than my little girl or that I’d sell her to save this place?”

“No, I don’t, but if you all weren’t pissing me off, you’d know why I even came down here in the first place. When we acquire property, we don’t visit unless the place is empty and it sure wouldn’t be me. I came down here because my assistant and my father pointed out that something wasn’t adding up with your losses.”

“What do you care what we lost?”

“Mrs. Davidson, could I trouble you for some more lemonade or something else cold to drink please.”

“Sure thing, you must still be very dehydrated.”

“Thank you,” I said, nodding to her.

“I don’t know how you’ve been spending the money, but from what I could puzzle out, your ranch should be booming like your neighbors. The only costly non-business expense is his schooling, and again, none of that even adds up to your losses.”

“I’ve been wondering the same thing. I’ve been working on this ranch since I was a little boy. When my father died, I had to drop out of school and take over. I hired a family accountant and, over the years, never had a problem. Things were running perfectly. The changes and losses didn’t come out of nowhere. They started slowly. I thought a big part of it was the recession, but I couldn’t tell what’s going on. My education ended when I was fifteen.”

“I wish you would have told me, Dad. I would have taken over the books.”

“You don’t want to deal with the books. You’re following your dream, and that in itself makes us all proud. I’d rather lose it all than steal your dream from you.”

“Well, you’re not going to lose this place, at least not if I can help it. I want to work some stuff out, but I don’t want you to worry. It’s clear to me things are wrong. Part of me wonders if that neighbor of yours is involved.”

“He’s too full of honor for that.”

“Are you sure?”

“No…”

“Okay. Well, the bank already owns your property. I have until Friday to purchase it or it goes back on the market. I’m going to buy it. I have a couple of suggestions, but right now is not the time to talk about it. My head is still throbbing and I need to get clean. I feel like I was at the gym too damn long.”

“Here you go, Mr. Mason.”

“Maxwell,” I said kindly. Maggie’s mother was a beautiful older woman, and I saw Mr. Davidson slide his hand around her waist and pull her close to him. I took a drink and tried not to laugh.

There was a beep outside. “That was really fast.” I stepped up to the window, putting my cup down on the entry wall table. “Come on outside, please.” They followed me out with a few gasps.

“What the hell?”

“Mr. Mason?” A large man with his ten-gallon hat approached, another smaller man behind him, and a third person waiting in their car.

“Yes, that was really quick.”

“We just need a few signatures and these puppies are yours, of course, if they’re to your liking.”

“Mr. Davidson, is there one you like in particular?”

“They’re both beautiful.”

I didn’t say another word; instead, I signed the papers and took the keys from the men with a handshake. They walked away with a wave and congratulations.

“Boy, what are you doing? I told you I wasn’t selling my little girl.”

I counted to ten because I was ready to fucking snap. What was it with these people? Was it because I was rich? A New Yorker? They seemed to think I bought my way through life.

“I will not repeat myself to you. I don’t have to buy your daughter. This is a gift for the both of us. I almost died today. If it wasn’t for you two, I would have. I saw your beat up truck and thought you could use a new one. I assure you my father and mother would consider the truck nothing for my life.”

“We didn’t do it to get something.”

“I know you didn’t, but I am more than grateful. You can’t put a price on that. So please, have your pick. Whichever one you don’t take, I’ll be using until I leave, then it’s yours, Billy.”

“What? That’s nuts.” His eye bulged out in shock. He gave me a look like I’d lost my mind, but I had my own vehicles that I didn’t get to use very much back home.

Sometimes with smart stubborn people you had to play on their ego. “Aren’t you going to be a vet? You’ll need a ride.”

“Thanks. I’m sorry I was such a dick to you.” I saw the embarrassment on his face and heard it in his words.

I raised my hand and stopped his apology. “If I had a sister, I’d feel the same way.”

“Damn right, and don’t think these trucks give you the right to hurt her,” he reminded me.

I hadn’t even really known her, but I knew myself. “That’s something you don’t have to worry about.” I longed to see her again. We had so much to learn about each other, but there was nothing that could change my mind. I didn’t get hard at the sight of a beautiful woman and I sure as fuck didn’t fantasize a life with a woman. I saw her and everything I one day hoped for played in my head. I believed I had convinced her parents and brother. Now it was a matter of getting her to fall into my arms because, once she did I, wasn’t going to let her go.

“Don’t break her heart. She’s a good girl.”

I gave them a nod, then said my goodbyes. I had to shower and change to go pick her up from work. They gave me the information and I told them I would scoop her up and drop her off. Billy told her to call when she was ready and he’d pick her up, but it was going to be me. No other man was going to be taking care of my woman.

Driving my way back into town, I stopped at my broken-down rental and took my things out of it. Then I was off to the hotel to take a shower and get some more information on Sanchez.