Rough Rider Page 17

  He didn’t have to wait long for an answer. His phone rang before he’d even pulled into his drive.

  “Dirk here,” he answered brusquely, not recognizing the number.

  “It’s Janice.” She paused. “You didn’t mention any specifics on hours or pay.”

  “You didn’t ask.”

  “I’m asking now.”

  “I’m flexible, Red. Especially on the hours. I’ll let you work around your schedule at the Pioneer—at least until things pick up. Right now I have an issue with missing stock. Got some cows and calves that didn’t come down from winter gazing, and we’ve spotted wolves. I got to find them soon—or at least their carcasses.”

  “So you want me to hunt ’em down for you?”

  “No. I’ll do that myself, but I need someone to look after the rest of the herd while I account for the missing stock. There’s calves to wean, preg checking on the cows and heifers, and then culling any that are still open. The ol’ man can still do some of it, but he’s got a heart condition and can’t do everything he used to—just don’t try to tell him that. He doesn’t know yet, but Ma’s hoping to convince him to spend this winter in Arizona. It’s the only thing Wade and I agree on—that it’s time for him to retire. The tricky part is gonna be convincing him that it’s his idea.”

  “I can believe that!”

  He was encouraged to hear her laugh. It seemed to break the barrier of ice that had built up between them. “So whadaya say, Red?”

  “I’d like to give it a try.” She paused. “If you’re a bit cash-strapped, would it help if I just came out on my days off?”

  “Hell yeah,” he said. “When do you want to start?”

  “I’m off for the next two days. I just have to be sure Mama won’t mind watching Cody.”

  “You’re a godsend, Red. I can’t even tell you how important it is for me to track down my missing stock.”

  “I understand,” she said. “Cattle were once my livelihood too. I’ll be there by six.”

  “If you can make it by five thirty, I’ll cook you pancakes.”

  “Pancakes? You cook?”

  “Damn straight I do and not just breakfast. If I find my missing cows, I’ll grill you the best damn T-bone you ever had in your life.”

  “That offer’s hard to refuse.”

  “Then don’t—” He was about to blurt “refuse” and caught himself. Shit. It was too damned easy to forget. He almost believed he could be normal with her.

  “Don’t what?” she asked.

  “Don’t be late,” he replied tersely.

  “I won’t be. I’ll see you first thing in the morning.”

  Dirk waited for the click that ended the call. He’d told himself he was just helping her out. He really did need a hand, but who was he really kidding? He couldn’t wait to see her again—no matter the terms.

  * * *

  With a nine-year-old son, Janice was accustomed to staying up late and getting up early, but it had been years since she’d set her alarm for four a.m. It was a hellish hour. She dragged herself out of bed with a groan, showered, dressed, and braided her hair. She was glad she’d splurged on the automatic coffeepot. She poured a cup in a tall travel mug before heading out the door in her jeans and boots, grabbing her old hat and the sherpa-lined Carhartt jacket that always hung on a hook by the back door.

  It was almost October and the morning air was brisk enough to make her breath visible as she walked out to her truck. She looked out at the surrounding mountains and inhaled deeply, feeling lighthearted for the first time in forever. Until this moment, she’d felt like she was just going through the motions, trapped in someone else’s skin, but the prospect of going back to cattle work felt like a real homecoming to her.

  Ranch work was what she knew. It was what she’d been born into. It was damned hard. It was downright dirty, but it was what she loved. And it was the life she’d always wanted for her son. Grady had never shared that dream. Sure he’d wanted to raise bulls, but it was all for show, to be the star of the rodeo, not for the lifestyle. Real ranch work bored him. Dirk, on the other hand, was deeply committed to making things work at the Flying K.

  He’d surprised her with the job offer, but she reminded herself that’s all it was—a job. She refused to let her anxiety ruin everything. This was a business arrangement. There would be no personal involvement. He’d already made his feelings perfectly clear about that. He was simply her new boss.

  So why had she agreed to meet him for breakfast? Why had he even asked her? Why was her pulse accelerating and her palms sweating on the steering wheel as she turned into the drive and through the gate of the Flying K? When he’d walked into the bar yesterday he’d been so different from how he was just last week. She remembered his teasing parting remark that had sounded so much like he used to be.

  “C’mon, Janice,” she groaned. “Pull yourself together. All you gotta do is go to work, collect your paycheck…and guard your stupid heart.”

  * * *

  Janice paused outside the door to the old bunkhouse, the knot in her stomach tightening at the memory of how badly the last time had gone. She shook those thoughts off, inhaled a deep breath, and raised her hand to knock, but the door opened before she made contact. Finding herself facing a solid wall of hard male, Janice took a step backward. Her gaze tracked upward into a pair of ice-blue eyes.

  “G’morning,” Dirk said. “Didn’t mean to startle you, but I heard the truck. Diesels aren’t exactly stealth vehicles.”

  “No, they aren’t.” She gave a nervous laugh. “And mine’s in sore need of a new muffler. It’s one of many things I’ve had to put off due to lack of cash, which is also why I’m here.”

  “I’m glad you didn’t have second thoughts.”

  “No, but I don’t have much choice. I really do need the money. Then again, the day hasn’t begun yet. Maybe I’ll hightail it outta here once I’ve had a good dose of manure and bawling cattle.”

  “I wouldn’t blame you if you did.” He laughed. “But I suspect this kinda thing runs in your blood.”

  Her mouth curved into a reluctant smile. “Yeah. Sadly, it does.”

  “C’mon, breakfast is ready.” He stepped back and beckoned her inside. “Hope you’re good and hungry.”

  Janice scraped her boots on the mat and followed him to the kitchenette. She sniffed the bacon-scented air and her stomach gave an embarrassing growl. “Smells wonderful. I can’t recall the last time I ate anything in the morning besides Cap’n Crunch or Lucky Charms.”

  “Not exactly the breakfast of champions,” Dirk remarked dryly.

  He indicated a chair at the scarred oak table set for two. In the middle sat a plate of bacon and a large platter of blueberry pancakes. Janice sat down while Dirk piled a stack of four pancakes and as many strips of bacon onto both of their plates.

  “Cody never touched anything that wasn’t sugarcoated until Wheaties put Grady on the box,” she said. “Then for the longest time he wouldn’t eat anything else—breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I finally had to stop buying it. I feel a little guilty about that, but I was feeding an unhealthy obsession,” she chattered on nervously.

  Dirk seemed to fill the tiny kitchenette with his overpowering male presence.

  “Coffee?” he asked.

  She nodded. “Yes, please.”

  He filled her cup before sitting down with his own. “How old is Cody now?”

  “He’ll be ten in March.”

  “Is he really?”

  “Yeah. I can’t believe how fast he’s growing up.”

  “How’s he dealt with his father’s death?”

  Janice stared into her coffee mug. Recalling the look of stark incomprehension on her six-year-old’s face when she’d tried to explain that his father would never be coming home again.

  “Fairly well, act
ually,” she answered at length. “Once he was over the initial shock, his acceptance surprised me. But they were never very close. I used to resent that Grady didn’t take much interest in him, but maybe it was a blessing in disguise. On the flip side, I’m afraid I’ve overcompensated a bit.”

  “How’s that?”

  “I’ve kept him too close. He needs more freedom. He needs to be a boy.”

  “True enough.” Dirk nodded. “All boys need to raise a little hell.”

  “You’re right. And I think coming back to Montana has been really good for him. He’s already made some friends and now he’s learning to ride.”

  “He’s riding? You still got horses?” Dirk asked with surprise.

  She shook her head wistfully. “No, we don’t. He’s learning on a friend’s horse, but I hope maybe one day we can get a couple of our own. We still have a small paddock and a hay shed. It would be nice to ride again.”

  “Dig in,” he said, indicating her plate. “Syrup?”

  Janice noticed four bottles of gourmet syrup and laughed. “Where’s the Aunt Jemima?”

  “Only the good stuff here. I might have something going soon with this same gourmet foods company. They want to expand into high-end meats. Here. Try this one.”

  Janice poured the blueberry syrup on her pancakes and took a bite. It was delicious. So were the pancakes. Dirk hadn’t exaggerated his cooking skills.

  “If you want to ride, why don’t you bring Cody out here?” Dirk said after a time. “We’ve still got a couple dozen horses and Red Man’s the best babysitter you’ll ever find.”

  “You really mean that?” Janice’s gaze met his over her coffee cup. “I don’t even know what to say.”

  “They’re all getting fat and lazy. Hell, they need to do something to earn their keep.”

  “Thanks,” she said.

  Dirk flushed. He seemed almost embarrassed by his offer. “Eat up,” he grunted and then attacked his own plate, downing the pancakes in record time. He looked up in surprise when Janice pushed away her half-full plate. “You aren’t gonna finish?”

  “God no!” she exclaimed. “I’m about to burst.”

  “Waste not, want not.” He stabbed his fork into the remains of her stack and wolfed them down as well. It suddenly seemed so natural, so comfortable to be sitting across the table from him like this. She’d never had that with Grady. He was too restless…too preoccupied…or too absent. Afraid to linger on domestic fantasies that could never come true, Janice stood and started clearing the table.

  “Just leave it,” he said. “Time’s a wastin’.”

  “Cleaning up is the least I can do when you did the cooking,” Janice protested.

  “Fine. Just throw them in the sink.”

  But Janice was already filling it with hot, soapy water.

  Dirk came up from behind, reaching around her to turn off the tap. “You don’t take orders very well, do you?” he rumbled in her ear. “You need to know something straight up, Red. I don’t brook disobedience to direct orders.” His body was warm and hard behind hers, his breath sweetly scented. His tone, however, was anything but sweet.

  She froze with her hands braced on the countertop. She swallowed hard. “I—I was just trying to help.”

  His other arm came around her, trapping her body between his and the sink, his hands gripping the counter top beside hers. His chest and hips pressed against her back, sending a flood of heat to her core. She shut her eyes and tipped her head back, breathing him in, filling her lungs to capacity with the scent of musky male. Dear God, I want him. Right here. Right now.

  Did he feel it too? He must have but he continued, cool and controlled. “I know that, Red, but I’m in charge here,” he said. “You can chalk it up to my time in the Marine Corps, but I’m gonna expect you to do exactly as I tell you.”

  “Or what?” she asked breathlessly and arched into him.

  His breath hitched. His arms tightened. “You’re playing with fire, Red. You better think real hard what you’re doing, ’cause this time I’m not about to let you walk outta here.”

  He released the counter to skirt his hands slowly up her sides, cupping her breasts in his big strong hands, brushing his thumbs over her taut nipples.

  She gasped.

  “Last chance,” he warned, nuzzling his face into her neck and inciting another ripple of pleasure deep in her belly. “If you wanna leave, you’d better do it right-fucking-now.”

  “No. I don’t want to go,” she whispered, making no move to escape.

  He released her and took a half step backward before he anchored his hands on her hips and spun her around to face him. His pupils were dilated, his mouth compressed as he backed her up to the table.

  “What about the cattle?” she whispered.

  “Fuck the cattle.” He tugged her shirttail out of her jeans. “They can damn well wait…I can’t.”

  His mouth came down on hers, hard and possessive, his tongue sweeping the seam of her mouth demanding entrance. She parted on a moan and he plunged into her mouth, his tongue tangling with hers, every touch sending echoes of sensation straight to her sex.

  Janice opened eagerly, greedily taking him deeper and grinding her hips against his.

  He proved a fine multitasker, unbuttoning her shirt and unhooking her bra without even releasing her for a breather. Now he was working on her zipper. She wriggled out of her shirt and bra as he worked her jeans down. They were only as far as her knees when she found herself sitting on his kitchen table. He tugged her boots off. They hit the floor with a dull thud and then the jeans joined them. Grabbing a kitchen knife, his motions were clean and efficient as he slit the side seams to dispense with her panties. There was no doubt Dirk meant business this time.

  “Lie back,” he commanded low and husky.

  Janice complied, only to be surprised by the sensation of something cold and wet on her chest and belly. She opened her eyes to find Dirk grinning down at her, and her upper body dripping blueberry syrup.

  “Sorry, sweetheart. I couldn’t resist the temptation.” Hunching over her, he proceeded to lick her off with long slow lashes of his hot tongue, lingering to lick, suck, and bite her nipples

  “Please,” she begged, writhing in her need.

  His mouth and tongue were all over her breasts and then her belly, his breath hot and moist against her skin as his mouth worked steadily southward. One hand ascended her leg to stroke between her thighs. She shuddered with raw pleasure.

  He placed his hands on her ass, urging her to the edge, then gripped the table and lowered himself to his knees. “You don’t have to,” she protested, realizing what he intended. Her pulse raced with panic even as her body remembered the pleasure. “I’m ready for you.”

  “I want to,” he said. “Besides, if I don’t get you off first, you might not get another chance. Once I’m gloved inside you, I’m gonna be blind and deaf and so caught up in my need to come that I’m not gonna give a goddamn about anything else… I told you it’s been a long time, Red. A long fucking time.”

  He’d said almost the same thing the very first time they were together.

  He draped her thighs over his shoulders and rubbed his face in her mons with a low groan that vibrated clean through her. Janice shut her eyes, throwing her head back with a whimper at the first hot swipe of his tongue. By the second slow, wet sweep, she ground her pubis against his mouth, agonizing in the sweet torture.

  “Please. Don’t stop.”

  Their moans mingled while he worked magic with his lips, teeth, and tongue, teasing, circling, and sucking, turning her mind to jelly. She glanced down at his face to find his eyes nearly black with lust and his lips curved up at the corners. He knew damn well what he was doing to her. His every touch invoked an increasingly needy response from her body. Her initial resistance forgotten, Janice lost herse
lf in the pleasure of his mouth.

  He nudged her thighs wider, gripping her hips tighter, and pulling her harder against his mouth working her with his skillful tongue as he plunged two fingers in and out, hard and fast in synchrony with the sweeps and swirls of his hot, velvet tongue. Her need for release was ramped to a fever pitch. She was quivering inside and out, her breath coming shorter, harder, as her climax coiled deep inside her belly.

  “Give it up now, Red. Come for me. Now. I want all of it.”

  Her mind was so far gone, her brain so drugged by sensation, that she barely heard the words. As he closed his lips and sucked her clit, one thought exploded in her mind along with the sobbing climax that rocked her body. Be careful what you wish for.

  * * *

  Although his balls throbbed with need, Dirk wouldn’t take back watching her climax for anything. In those last seconds, with her lips parted, her eyes shut, and her face flushed in ecstasy, he’d felt whole again for the first time in ages. In those precious seconds he was a man who could still please a woman. The knowledge made his chest ache almost as much as his dick.

  He hauled himself to his feet with his mind conjuring visions of bending her over the table and plunging into her balls deep. Janice sat up and reached for his belt, but he’d already released the buckle and popped his jeans button. With shaking hands, he yanked his zipper down and released his erection. They were both panting with anticipation when he jerked her hips to the edge of the table and stepped between her parted thighs. He was primed and ready when he backed away, hissing a curse. “Shit! I almost forgot.”

  “You don’t need it on my account,” Janice blurted. “I can’t get pregnant again.”

  “Thank you, Jesus. We’re doing this bareback.”

  Parting her thighs, he took himself in hand, shutting his eyes on a groan at the sensation of his cock sliding through her wet folds. She raised her hips in invitation, crying out when he drove himself inside her, impaling his shaft to the hilt in a single deep, hard thrust. He stilled, his breathing ragged as he fought the urge to thrust again.