Primal Surrender (3 page)

Lowering his body so he was crouched next to the luxurious vehicle, he considered that perhaps this woman was out of his league. Her clothes were high end, her car was top of the line, and if he wasn’t mistaken the highlights in her blonde hair were professionally done. So it stood to reason she was privileged enough to take insult from his low class flirtations. Instead of deterring him, the challenge turned him on, and he braced his forearms on her window.

“I like to know a woman’s name before I ask her out.”

Her laughter was husky like her voice and it stroked through him like a caress on his soul, pressing a button inside of him that was unlikely ever to reset. “Are all ranchers so forward?”

Mack shrugged, “I figure if you turn me down it will be your loss. I’m a hell of a two stepper, Miss…”

His words drifted off into heavy silence. The blonde beauty held his gaze for several tense breaths before she snorted and rolled her eyes. “I’m Claudia, Claudia Schmidt.” She stared at him looking somewhat apprehensive, and he cocked his head as he wondered where he had heard the name before. “Schmidt as in Schmidt Properties.”

It all clicked and he barely managed to keep from groaning out loud. “Ah, the developer that’s buying up half of Stone River to build suburbs for Austin’s elite. Right?”

He knew the moment the words left his lips it was the wrong thing to say. Her eyes grew hard and her jaw muscle twitched as she clenched her teeth. The interest he had seen was clearly shelved for the day, as she withdrew further into her car and placed her finger over the button for the window. “Yes, that Schmidt. Now, if you’ll excuse me, Mr. Thompson I need to get going.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it the way it sounded.” Mack left his hand on the window frame so she wouldn’t shut it and essentially shut him out.

“Oh, you didn’t mean to imply I’m some kind of rich bitch who’s here to push poor people out into the cold so my kind of people can build mini-mansions on the land their families have owned for decades? Really? So how exactly did you mean it, Mr. Thompson?”

She was gorgeous when she was mad. Her hazel eyes darkened into a cappuccino color flecked with green fire, and her creamy white skin flushed pink as her blood pressure rose. He could imagine her in a different place altogether all rosy pink with passion and his cock suddenly throbbed in his jeans. Tearing his gaze away from her pursed lips, he tried to look contrite as her words sunk into his brain. “Look, I see now that work is a sensitive subject for you—”

“Goodbye, Mr. Thompson.” She pressed down on the button and the window began to close, carrying his hand with it.

“Just wait a damn minute!” Frustration made his voice sharper than he intended, but she paused in her motion and glared at him impatiently. “First of all, my name is Mack, not Mr. Thompson; second, I don’t care if you’re a member of the royal family here to start the second revolution, I still want to take you out. And third, your thin skin isn’t going to help you make friends in this part of Texas, Ms. Schmidt. Cowboys aren’t known for their tact, and as you just witnessed, I personally have a bad habit of putting my foot in my mouth.”

He was pleased when she removed her hand from the window switch. The window was still halfway up, but it wasn’t shutting any further, and he took it as a good sign.

“Now that we’ve cleared the air, I’ll get back to the point. I want to take you dancing tonight at Robin’s. I can’t promise you wine and roses here in Stone River, but I can promise a cold beer, good food, great music, and I swear I won’t step on your toes. What do you say?”

Her lip twitched like she was fighting to hold back a smile, “I say you’re out of your mind. You just insulted me and now you want me to go out on a date with you.”

Mack shrugged and grinned, “Maybe a little, but I figure you owe me.”

“I owe you?” She sounded haughty, but the husky tone of her laughter took any steam out of her annoyance for him. “Pray tell, how do you figure I owe you?”

“Well I did save you a lot of trouble by giving you gardening advice. Do you know how quick aphids will kill off a rose garden? The way I see it you owe me a beer to say thanks; however, I prefer to just take you out tonight and call us even.”

*****

Claudia stared at the big man outside her car window in astonished fascination. Somehow, she had gone from intrigued, to irritated, and back to intrigued in less than two minutes. How was that possible?

She had to give him credit for his creativity and his persistence. Not many people could argue her into a corner, and some of the best had tried. Instead of the requisite cowboy hat, his blonde hair curled out from under a red bandana. It was a stark frame for his wide face and crystal clear blue eyes. They were so light in color they almost looked gray in the bright sunshine, and she imagined staring into the shifting colors of his irises for hours without growing bored. When his smile stretched wider, highlighting the pair of deep dimples in his cheeks, she sighed heavily.

“Fine. One beer tonight at Robin’s, I’ll meet you there.”

His smile dimmed a fraction, “Meet me there? I would prefer to pick you up, but if it will make you more comfortable—”

“Take it or leave it Mr. Thomp—Mack.” His name on her lips felt right, and her heart flip-flopped when his nostrils flared and a smug look of satisfaction crossed his face.

“I’ll take it, Claudia. Eight o’clock, don’t be late.” Mack tapped his hand against her car door, and stood placing a huge denim covered bulge right in her line of sight. She swallowed hard as her mind ran screaming off into wild fantasies of what the big man had tucked behind his zipper and how he might use it on her. Before she could formulate a response, he had turned around giving her an unobstructed view of his equally tantalizing backside, swaggering across the parking lot to a huge blue truck.

Throwing her car into gear, she backed out of the parking stall a little too fast and had to resist flooring it and peeling out of the lot. On her way past, Mack gave her a wink and a wave that both delighted and irritated her.

What was she thinking agreeing to meet him tonight? She was only in Stone River because her father forced her to take the lead on his new subdivision project, Granite Estates. The project was being stonewalled at every turn under the leadership of another project manager. It seemed the town didn’t want to be bought up and turned into an extension of Austin, but it wasn’t like that mattered to Gaven Schmidt. He was a shark in the real estate business, and he always got his way. This is why he insisted Claudia pack her belongings and move to Stone River for the length of the project.

She might be a resident for the moment, but it didn’t mean she was here to play with the local cowboys. In her mind’s eye she could already see the disapproving look on her father’s face when he heard she had even dallied with a ranch hand. He would lecture her on her breeding and class, and remind her of the money he had invested in her boarding school and etiquette lessons.

Claudia Schmidt wasn’t just an average woman. No, she was a piece in her father’s game of chess, a prop in his theatrical event, and a tool in his war chest, but never just a woman. Swallowing back tears of frustrated loneliness, she refused to allow herself to get depressed over things that weren’t going to change. She was the only child of a wealthy and privileged only child, and that meant there was no understanding or freedom. No matter how much she would prefer to be a stay-at-home wife to a blue collar husband, and a stay-at-home mom for a pack of wild and hyperactive children.

Within moments she was parking her pretty red Benz in the tiny driveway of a two story house she had purchased to live in while she was here. It was her ideal home and the moment she had seen the listing she had called and placed an offer. It had two great perks: one, it was two miles outside the proposed borders of Granite Estates and two, it was all hers.

Two weeks after moving in, the place was just now starting to look like the home she wanted it to be. She had placed potted azaleas on the tiny front porch, and a wind chime jingled in the breeze where it hung from the eaves. The interior was still painted builders grade white as the previous family had left it, but she had selected furniture rich in color so the space was warm and inviting.

With four bedrooms and two bathrooms upstairs, she knew it was bigger than she needed, and it needed work. The kitchen cabinets were from the seventies, and the bathroom sink had a drip she had yet to fix. On the screened in back porch there were holes in the screens that needed repaired, and creaky hardwood floors ran through the whole house. It wasn’t anything like the homes Schmidt Properties built. It had character and charm, and she had recently begun to consider keeping it after she finished the Granite Estates project. The hour commute would be a bitch, but it would be worth it to keep distance between herself and her father’s world.

Dropping her oversized handbag on the purple sofa as she walked past, she left her shoes behind, but didn’t bother to change clothes before she headed out the back door. Mack had warned her aphids would kill off the magnificent heirloom rose bush that was the showpiece of her tiny backyard if she didn’t treat it quickly, and she wasn’t taking any chances. Schmidt Properties and Granite Estates would have to wait fifteen more minutes.

Chapter Three

“I still don’t see why you had to tag along,” Mack grumbled at Ryker as they walked through the gravel parking lot of Stone River’s only late night entertainment. Robin's was everything a country western bar should be, dark wood, smoky air, loud music, and good beer. It had become Ryker’s favorite place over the ten months he had been a resident of Stone River. He wasn’t looking too closely at whether that was because it wasn’t the cramped cabin he shared with Mack, or because of the alcohol.

Clapping his older brother on the shoulder, he laughed, “Because, my dear brother, I have to see this goddess among men. The way you’ve gone on and on about her and your
date
, you would think she was Aphrodite in the flesh.”

“Just wait until you see her, Ryk. You’ll be eating your arrogance. Not to mention kicking your own ass for not running to the Garden Hut for me today like I asked you to,” Mack said with a shrug. It was a standard Mack Thompson reaction. Nothing ruffled the man. Which was exactly why Ryker wanted to meet the woman who had him by the nuts and all twisted up.

“So if you’re already planning the wedding ceremony, tell me again why she wouldn’t let you pick her up for this date?”

“She was probably playing it smart. I’m a stranger in a strange town and she’s pretty small compared to me. I kinda like knowing she has enough brains to keep herself safe.” Mack stopped as Ryker opened the door of Robin's. “I’m going to wait out here.”

“What if she’s already here?”

“She’s not. Her car’s not in the lot yet. Hot red Benz, can’t miss it.”

Ryker rolled his eyes, “Suit yourself. I’m going to get a beer.”

The air in Robin’s was stuffy and warm, but Ryker embraced it like a comforting blanket as he headed into the bar. Signaling the bartender for a drink, he quickly downed half of it in one large gulp. The sour taste wasn’t pleasant, but the warm after burn was exactly what he needed. Half a dozen beers and he would be blissfully numb to the world again.

“Hey, Ryk! How are you, man?” Sawyer Brooks stood slightly behind and to his left holding the hand of his pretty wife, Rachel.

Forcing a semi-pleasant smile to his face, Ryker held out a hand of greeting to his friend. “I’m good. Hi, Rachel, where’s the rest of your caravan tonight?”

Rachel being Rachel, didn’t sense the don’t-touch-me vibe he was trying to send her way, or she just chose to ignore it as she gave him a tight hug. “They are all at home. Tonight is date night for the two of us.”

His face must have shown his surprise, because Sawyer snickered. “You didn’t think we did everything as a quintet did you? Really? Just because I share her with my brothers doesn’t mean we spent every waking moment together. We take turns sneaking away with Rachel for a few hours. Tonight is my turn.”

Ryker wasn’t sure how he was supposed to respond to that, so he just kept the awkward smile plastered on his face and nodded. “So you’re healed up enough to dance again, huh?”

Sawyer had injured his knee late last summer thanks to a jumpy horse. He’d had surgery, and he and Ryker ended up seeing the same physical therapist and becoming fast friends.

“Yep, the only time it bothers me now is when a storm is coming through, otherwise I’m perfect,” Sawyer said.

“So, what are you doing here alone?” Rachel asked, sliding onto the barstool next to him and accepting a beer from the bartender. Sawyer squeezed right in next to her, with her back pressed tightly to his chest, and his arm around her ribcage. They were like Siamese twins—and if they kept it up, he might hurl.

“Technically I’m not. Mack is meeting his date outside, and I rode in with him.”

Rachel’s eyes widened and her eyes narrowed, “Mack has a date? With who?”

“I don’t know. Some chick he ran into at the Garden Hut. Said she has a banging body and a hot temper. She runs some sort of property business,” Ryker said, waving his empty bottle at the bartender.

“Schmidt Properties is a real estate development company, and thank you for the compliment, I think.” A voice rough like fine grain sandpaper on his skin filled his ears and his heart jumped. When he turned to face her, he stopped breathing. She was everything Mack said she was and more. Her blonde hair was pulled high on her head in a tight ponytail that billowed out into thick waves and hung past her shoulders. He could envision it wrapped around his fist as her full lips wrapped around his cock and her hazel eyes stared up at him full of desire.

Mack cleared his throat and Ryker could hear someone—Rachel probably—giggling softly. “This is Claudia Schmidt. Claudia, the moron who just put his foot in his mouth is my younger brother, Ryker, and these two are two of my best friends, Sawyer and Rachel Brooks.”