Drawn to a Cowboy (Brother Duet #1) (17 page)

“Ma’am? Really? Do you see new wrinkles on my face? It’s true, I have been in the sun quite a bit.” She looked adorable wrinkling up her nose and squinting her pale green eyes.

“Sorry, Miss. You’re definitely not old. You’re absolutely gorgeous and I love the little freckles across your nose and cheeks. The sun has kissed you,” I said moving closer to her. Close enough that I was able to sprinkle her little dots with chaste kisses. She closed her eyes and leaned into my lips.

When I pulled back to chuckle, she thanked me, and dove into her food. So cute, but man could that cowgirl eat. “Hungry?”

“Starving! But then again, I’m always excited to eat the food they make in the kitchen. So yummy! Fresh! I may never leave…” She stilled for a minute as if she was waiting for my reaction. She probably expected me to get up and run, I didn’t. I just continued to eat and look at her. Finally, she turned her attention back to a fried chicken leg, “Delicious.” I laughed as she shook the piece of fowl at me.

“So you were painting in here I see?” I gestured to her creations.

“Yes, as I sat in the dining room earlier, eating incredibly, delicious blueberry pancakes with apricot jam on them, it hit me; the greenhouse! Bam! Vegetables. Herbs. Perfect for the dining room walls! I hurried to finish my extremely satisfying breakfast, then headed out here. I hope that’s okay with you?”

“Yes, I like your thinking. I’m not sure I would like the combination of blueberries and apricots, but your paintings sound right on track.”

“Hey! Don’t knock it until you try it. Anyhow, I had never walked through these buildings. Very impressive, I love the colorful peppers, cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, onions, cantaloupes, watermelon, strawberries, and all the varieties of lettuces. And the herbs, I’m guessing they’re basil, cilantro, dill, parsley, mint, chives, garlic, oregano, thyme, sage and rosemary.” She was making it very hard not to smile at her enthusiasm and how wildly she flipped her fork from her mouth and gestured around. “I love, love, love your greenhouses. Wow! You’ve done a spectacular job with them.”

“Very good on herbs,” I smirked, narrowing my eyes at her. “There are a few others that aren’t labeled, nice list.” I nodded my head in the direction of one of her scribbled drawings that she seemed to be reading from.

She giggled following my eyes, “You caught me, but seriously, what you’ve built… created in here is breathtaking!”

“It’s a passion. I like to feed my guests fresh, pesticide free produce. I have been trying several items. There’s been some hits, as well as misses. Knowing when to plant, how long gestation will take as the weather warms. You can only fool with Mother Nature so much. The climate is tricky even with indoor gardening.”

“Speaking of garden items, where are those strawberries you promised me?”

“Where are you putting all this food?” She playfully patted her belly and I laughed wishing to place my lips on the hint of skin that she flashed me. I shook my head. “Are you interested in other berries?” I asked, standing up and getting my bearings before going off to gather what she desired.

“I’ll try whatever you’ve grown.” I was just about to have her accompany me, but I really needed to step away, to clear my mind. Otherwise, I was about to pounce on her and make her submit to me. Make her call me Mr. Cowboy while she rode me or I drove her over the edge and beyond, orgasm after orgasm. Not that I truly thought that she would mind, however I thought it may be best to work my way back into her good graces before I worked my way back into her panties.

Back with a small bucket of rinsed berries, I dumped them on the tablecloth we had been using as a make shift table. “Good?” I asked and she nodded while clapping her hands with a smile on her face. “Dig in.”

At my words, she started to reach forward then stopped. “What’s so special about these greenhouses? And please tell me the truth, are you upset that I came in here without your permission?”

I shook my head, then opened my heart to her, tearing down the wall that I had built to keep me safe until I found what Hank had. I had to stop denying it. Actually, I had no choice, I needed to relieve the ache inside of me. My body and soul was telling me it longed for Jade.

“I told you that I fell in love with a farm girl in college. Well, I was wrong, I thought it was love. Feeling like I do right
now
, I’m sure it wasn’t a valid statement. Maybe it was just different, I don’t know. Sorry, I’m rambling, I’m a bit nervous.”

“You don’t have to be nervous with me. You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to.” She touched my wrist as she spoke, then removed it when I began to speak again.

“All through college I thought she was definitely the one for me. The closer it got toward graduation, I became more focused on agricultural farming and decided to stay a year longer. I changed my major. I was certain that it was the right path and scrapped moving on to veterinarian school. I loved working with animals, but I lost the passion for it. She lost her passion for me, or whatever she felt for me. The doctor title sounded better to her than farmer.”

“Did you ever bring her to the ranch?” Those words were more than just a mere question, I saw the pleading in her eyes as if she was willing me to say, “no.” Not to mention, her body’s antsy movements as I took too long to answer her. Mesmerized by her I had hesitated, not intentionally, but I couldn’t help it, observing her was one of my favorite pastimes.

With my answer, “no,” she seemed relieved, and I instantly wanted to take her into my arms. But she needed to hear the whole story and I needed to tell it. “She went home every summer to her country club lifestyle unbeknownst to me. We were worlds apart, but I didn’t know it. I thought she was a farm girl. However, she was just a girl whose parents owned horses on their fancy plantation in the South.” I was quiet before throwing out the final stab to my young heart. “I’m not sure I ever knew her at all. I don’t think she cared about me ever, the way I felt about her. The worst part was finding out that she had been pregnant with our baby, and terminated it after hearing my farming revelation.”

“Oh my God, that’s horrible,” her hand went to her chest as if she felt the pain too. “How did you find out? Did she tell you? Did you confront her?” Her hand touched me again, caressed my arm, as she waited for my answers. I liked feeling her touch.

“Apparently, her mother talked her into it at her graduation, saying that their family married doctors and lawyers, not poor farmers. And one of my friends told me that she saw her at the school clinic. When I asked her, she didn’t deny it either. She said she was making arrangements. She told me she wanted a different lifestyle. She wasn’t about to sponge off her parents because we couldn’t afford to raise a baby while I was off trying to cultivate organic crops in some god forsaken place. It wasn’t pleasant. In the end, it was her body, I couldn’t make her keep our baby.”

“I’m sorry.” It wasn’t a happy subject, and it was a lifetime ago, I was happy when she changed gears a bit. “So the greenhouses, your passion? Something you keep to yourself, afraid to share them with anyone?”

I sensed a double meaning in her last question. “Maybe, I hadn’t really thought about it that way. You didn’t ask to see inside, I refuse to push anyone…”

Stopping my words, I watched her move from her reclining spot onto my lap. With her arms and legs wrapping around me, her face up close to mine, looking straight into my eyes she spoke. “I think everything in here is so enchanting. I see so much love everywhere I look. It’s amazing, you’re amazing. I could live in this space forever.”

Those were the only words I needed to hear. I silenced her with my mouth, holding her tightly to me. I knew for certain in that moment that I would never let her go again. I was done running from her, from love.

“You are the truly amazing one, Jade,” I said as I began to pull her shirt over her head and then mine. No bra on, our skin melted together. “You are so talented and I would let you live in here forever.” All of my next words were said between kisses to her cheeks, forehead, eye lids, neck and lips. “You. Feel. So. Fucking. Good.”

She giggled, “You feel pretty good yourself.” And those were the last audibly, coherent words that escaped her mouth as I began to worship every inch of her body. Although, I did think I heard a couple of moans that sounded a lot like “love,” but they could’ve been directed to the orgasms that erupted within her. “More,” I definitely understood.

Listening to her, I moved away and stood to remove my own clothing as I looked down at her spread out perfectly. Probably not the most comfortable ground to be on, but it didn’t stop us the first or the last time that I pushed into her.

“God, I’ve missed you.” My words were clear, distinct, I wanted to know every good thing about her. No more walls, I thought, as hers tighten around me and pulled me deeper in. Well, those slick walls were a must, the emotional ones were not. “So tight. So wet. So perfect. So mine.” And there it was, I was like a miner that had struck gold for the first time and I was claiming it.

Apparently, she was okay with that as she said, “Yes, I’m all yours.”

Brave, I decided that I would take her back to my house, it was time. She loved my greenhouses, she thought I was amazing, that was close enough to a declaration of love. I was ready, I wanted to spend the night with her. I couldn’t continue to sneak in and out of her room, I wasn’t fooling anyone—they all knew how I felt about Jade, even if I wasn’t shouting the words like a morning rooster. “Come on, let’s get out of here. We’ll go to my house.” I attempted to pull her up from the ground.

She shook her head, staying in place. “Hey, I don’t need to go to your cabin.” She was giving me an out. I needed to explain and if she wanted… acted like she wanted to see it, I would take her there, even though I was still a wee bit apprehensive. Crazy, after everything I had just admitted in my head, I should’ve wanted her in my home and in my bed.

Sitting across from her, I wanted to explain. “I’ve never had anyone back to my house. It’s not because of you. It’s a private space. The only woman that has been in it is Hank’s Ginnylee. When I first moved in, I slept in the spare room, it felt so wrong. It was his room… their room.”

“Eventually, you moved into it?”

“No, I had the house reconfigured completely. I made two spare rooms upstairs into a master suite. The existing master room was on the ground floor so I made it into a game/theatre room. I didn’t stop there. I redid everything little by little over the last two years. Hank wouldn’t recognize it if he were to walk in the front door. Funny, I think he’d totally understand. We were a lot alike in many ways. He remodeled and expanded the place before he took it over from the former owner.” I let out a little laugh and shook my head imagining him coming inside the cabin in its newer state.

My vision disappeared as she moved to get up and began to dress standing in front of me, prettiest sight ever. “You really don’t have to explain to me,” she said as I stood and pulled my clothes on too. “I’m perfectly happy to take you back to my bunk, cowboy, and take advantage of you.”

Laughing, I pulled her in for a kiss, then gathered up her things and we headed for the stables.

Jade

A
s much as I wanted to take Sage up on his offer to sleep in his house, I wanted it to be something special. A formal invitation without stationery. Not just a, “let’s go back to my place.” Besides it was kind of fun being in his old stable room. Sneaking up the stairs made me feel a little bit more dirty… naughty cowgirl. Ha! I was fine with our situation for the time being.

In the greenhouse he had given me what I wanted. He had opened up to me, stopped running away from me. His story told me that he was afraid to give his heart to someone again. I had never given mine to anyone, I would give it to him gladly—all he had to do was ask. Meeting him, loving him was all new to me. For the first time in my life, I understood what my grandmother told me about love and marriage and what it was like to find the one that fit you perfectly. She always said that I would know by my own actions. That you had to be yourself with that person and you had to let them be who they were. You were two individual people coming together. You didn’t complete each other, you complimented each other. I believed that was true for us.

Our night spent together in my room was different…

Every move.

Every kiss.

Every touch.

Everything was charged with raw emotion.

I stilled the words that were dangling on my lips. Instead, I held on for dear life until the sun was visible. Breaking his usual ritual, he did not sneak out of the building and head to his house, he took a shower in the barn with me. He said it brought back some old memories. Although, he had never had a woman wrapped around his waist as I was. Dried off, he dressed in his denims and pulled on a t-shirt I had stolen from him. Then hand in hand, he walked with me to breakfast. A new beginning!

Finishing his meal before me, he kissed the top of my head, and went to his office to do a bit of work. Once I had filled my empty tummy, I went to meet him.